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Teaching English to Young Learners: An Activity-
based Guide for Prospective Teachers

Edited by
Esim GÜRSOY Arda ARIKAN

Authors

Erhan ALABAY Murat HİŞMANOĞLU

Arda ARIKAN Yasemin KIRKGÖZ
Cem BALÇIKANLI Şule KORKMAZ
Simla COURSE Özgür KÖSE
Muhlise COŞGUN ÖGEYİK Hülya KÜÇÜKOĞLU
Servet ÇELİK Kemal Sinan ÖZMEN
Bengül ÇETİNTAŞ H. Sezgi SARAÇ
Feryal ÇUBUKCU Olcay SERT
Derya DÖNER YILMAZ Gonca YANGIN EKŞİ
Şehriban DÜNDAR Ece ZEHİR TOPKAYA
Esim GÜRSOY Mehmet Galip ZORBA

2012
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ÖN SÖZ

ISBN
978-605-5472-xx-x

© Copyright 2010, Norrsken Ltd. Şti.

Bu kitabın basım, yayın, satış hakları Norrsken Ltd. Şti.’ye aittir. Anılan kuruluşun izni alınmadan kitabın tümü ya da
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Yayın Koordinatörü, Mahmut YILMAZ
Yayıma Hazırlık, Elif GÖÇMEN
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: Theoretical Considerations................................................. 1

Learning Theories.................................................................................................1
Çiğdem Karatepe
Curriculum .......................................................................................................... 21
Yasemin Kırkgöz
Materials.............................................................................................................. 33
Gonca YANGIN EKŞİ
Lesson Planning................................................................................................. 57
H. Sezgi Saraç
Theme-Based Teaching: Environmental Education............................... 75
Esim Gürsoy
Autonomy.............................................................................................................. 87
Simla Course
Classroom Management................................................................................ 105
Erhan Alabay
Mehmet Galip Zorba
Nuremberg Recommendations.................................................................... 127
Bengül Çetintaş

PART 2: skılls and aspects.............................................................. 141

Listening.............................................................................................................. 143
Murat Hişmanoğlu
Speaking .............................................................................................................. 165
Olcay Sert
Listening and Speaking.................................................................................. 189
Ece Zehir Topkaya
Reading................................................................................................................. 219
Muhlise Coşgun Ögeyik
Writing................................................................................................................. 237
Arda Arikan

Learning Theories v
Vocabulary ....................................................................................................... 247
Mehmet Galip Zorba
Arda Arikan
Grammar.............................................................................................................. 263
Derya Döner Yılmaz

PART 3: text and tools..................................................................... 281

Drama.................................................................................................................... 283
Şehriban Dündar
Games.................................................................................................................... 305
Şule Korkmaz
Music and Puppets........................................................................................... 327
Esim Gürsoy
Literature........................................................................................................... 343
Feryal Çubukcu
Culture ............................................................................................................... 355
Servet Çelik
On the Web.......................................................................................................... 377
Cem Balçıkanlı
Kemal Sinan Özmen
Digital Stories................................................................................................... 393
Özgür Köse
Hülya Küçükoğlu

About the Contributors............................................................................... 405

PART 1
Theoretical Considerations

vi Theoretical Considerations Learning Theories vii

 Learning Theories
Çiğdem Karatepe

Teacher candidates should develop a solid understanding of cognitive aspects of

both learning and teaching processes where not only students but also teachers
learn new things. The literature in the field of teacher education reports that
teachers’ understanding of how particular topic is taught is heavily influenced by
how they were taught about it (cf. Stofflett & Stoddart, 1994). It is also reported
that teachers show a strong resistance to change their preconceptions regarding
teaching. Therefore, it is essential for future teachers grasp a strong body of
knowledge on teaching and learning so that they are able to remain well- informed.
Teachers and teacher candidates should have an in-depth knowledge about
child development. Here the term child development refers to child’s cognitive,
intellectual, psychological, linguistic, social and physiological development. As
language teachers, we cannot ignore the factors related to our students’ non-
linguistic development. We need to adopt a holistic view of child development.
Crowded classes are really an important obstacle on the way to success in education.
Teachers often do not spare time to find out about pupils’ specific learning needs,
such as learning styles, preferences, and strategies (Brown 2000; Lightbown &
Spada, 1999). However, finding out about these individual learner attributes is
important as these will enable teachers to use contextualisation techniques in
order to relate language to learners’ lives (Yılmaz & Karatepe, 2010). Unfortunately,
the entire Turkish education system is ruled by tests and test scores. That is, it
leads everyone participating in the system to product oriented learning while the
processes of learning are ignored. The caricature depicts the contradiction between
test based teaching and a child’s instinct to be in interaction with his environment.

Dismal learning is not the path to success

viii Theoretical Considerations Learning Theories 1

 Discussion questions
• Look at the caricature above and discuss why those students are drawn
as such.
• What does the girl see when she looks out of the window?
• The bird flies a ribbon. It reads ‘Arts’. Why do you think the artist who
drew this caricature wanted to highlight ‘Arts’?
• What does ‘P.E.’ on the signpost stand for? Why do you think the artist
wanted to draw our attention to this issue?
• The teacher in the caricature warns the child by saying ‘Do you want to
be a child left behind? ’ But the child’s does not seem to mind this.
▶ Discuss the teacher’s and the pupil’s attitudes toward teaching and
learning.
▶ Discuss whether it could be possible to teach English in conjunction
with arts and sports.
Teachers are always anxious to cover the textbook because central exams are
entirely based on the knowledge given in those textbooks. It seems that similar
situation is experienced by many teachers and students in countries such as Canada
and the USA. Below is an excerpt from former President George W. Bush’s speech in
Congress on 27 February, 2001 titled ‘Courage in a Time of Blessing’. While reading
this citation, pay special attention to how education is viewed. The former president
of the USA argues that politicians and state officials would like to see results and the
only way of seeing results is ‘to teach to the test’.
Discussion question
▶ Discuss what other ways can there be to see the results of teaching and
learning as an output of educational system by reading the following
passage.
Children should be tested on basic reading and math skills every year
between grades three and eight. Measuring is the only way to know
whether all our children are learning. And I want to know because I
refuse to leave any child behind in America. Critics of testing contend
it distracts from learning. They talk about ‘teaching to the test’. But
let’s put that logic to test. If you test a child on basic maths and reading
skills, and you are ‘teaching to the test,’ you are teaching maths and
reading. And that’s the whole idea (Washington Post, 28 February,
2001: A10; cited in Kinginger 2002, p. 258).
Wells (1999) complained that “a major influencing factor is the increasing
pressure of accountability for delivering a centrally determined curriculum and for
increasing students’ scores on standardized tests basic skills and memorized items
2 Theoretical Considerations
of information” (p. 51). Certainly, such pressure on teachers does not encourage
innovatory practices as educational administrators and parents alike limit their
expectations to high scores. It seems that the USA education system suffers from
the same problems but apparently, this did not bother the former president. As a
result, there is a danger for teachers to confuse means and ends. They need to be
aware of the fact that the textbook is just a tool not an end in itself. However, with
test based education in mind, teachers can easily find themselves off-track.
Therefore, students should be made aware of the consequences of mishaps of the
context of education within which they will practice in the near future. For this very
reason, they need to learn how to develop ‘a learning-centred perspective’ (Cameron,
2001: p. 1). Cameron distinguishes ‘a learning-centred’ teaching from ‘learner-
centred’ teaching by stating that “learner-centred teaching places the child at the
centre of teacher thinking and curriculum planning” (p. 1) which resembles what is
happening in our country. Various disadvantages of this is described by Cameron
(2001) as “if a teacher’s concern is centred on the child, there is a temptation to stay
in that first place to follow the child” (p. 2).
In addition to a solid background on learner psychology and development, teachers
need to understand the socio-cultural environment where learners have been
brought up and the context of education in which they teach. Unfortunately, this
issue is ignored by educationalists, educational administrators and teachers. EFL
teacher candidates are expected to be able to synthesise their knowledge about
contemporary theories of child development and learning with their knowledge of
socio-cultural environment where their students have grown and their own context
of education. This is not an easy task to do. Those teachers who are not aware of
the magnitude of this assignment may even give up the profession as a result of
frustration and desperation. Or remain in the profession as a sordid school teacher.
Discussion question
Think about what ‘human action in context’ means. Human beings exist in their
cultural environment. Their behaviours are shaped up by their cultural and
traditional context as well as their perception and understanding. Although
languages have universal features and human values overlap to a great extent
but still individuals’ family background plays a very important role in how we
perceive the world.
▶ In the light of this view, discuss to what extent it is viable to borrow or
export foreign educational practices and attempt to apply in all schools
country wide.
Piaget
Piaget was a biologist by profession. He started to develop an interest in child
development after having his own children. He proposed his theory as an alternative
to that of the behaviourists. Unlike the behaviourists, he thought babies’ mind was
not like a blank slate and they did not learn via trial-and-error. Rather, they have
Learning Theories 3
some innate structures of knowledge (schema). Without this innate schema, babies
could not have progressed forward from sensory experience (sensorimotor stage)
in order to begin to develop cognitive reasoning.
Piaget proposed that children’s capacity develop gradually to understand what
is happening in their environment. That is, they need to be mature enough to
undertake certain tasks. He argued that this maturation process has got its stages.
These stages can be seen as important milestones in the life of a child. For example,
18 months, 7 years and 11/12 years are such kind of thresholds. Children become
cognitively more mature after transiting the next stage.
According to Piaget, each child goes through the process of cognitive development
following the same order of stages though some individuals may develop faster or
slower.
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Sensory-motor (birth-2 years): The baby can
• differentiate self from objects,
• realise that s/he can take an action and begins to act intentionally, for
example can hit a toy to the table to make noise and s/he shows that s/he
enjoys it.
• fUnderstand that things continue to exist even when they are not visible
(Object permanence).
Pre-operational (2-7 years): The child
• Learns language and represent objects by images and words.
• Classifies objects based on a criterion. For example s/he can group
together all the red blocks no matter what shape they have.
• The child’s thinking is still egocentric. He cannot understand other
people’s view point.
Concrete-Operational (7-11 years): The child can
• Think logically about events and objects.
• Achieve conservation of number, mass and weight.
• Classify objects according to several features and can order them in series
according to a single characteristic such as size.
Formal Operational (11 years +): S/he can
• Thinks logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses
systematically.
• Becomes concerned with hypothetical (What happens when oil reserves
run out?) and ideological (how to combat poverty in the world) problems
(Summarised from Wollfolk,1998).
Piaget proposed that all children were born with a kind of genetically inherited
mental structure of knowledge. Unlike the behaviourists, he thought that the
4 Theoretical Considerations
amount of learning and knowledge a child experiences was not as important as its
quality. He believed that as the child matured his/her cognitive skills became more
sophisticated, which was a sign of intellectual development.
Piaget regarded thinking as a kind of action whether it was performed physically or
not. Babies are born with the minimal innate cognitive structure. They begin with
perceptual capacities and reflexes. Piaget regarded intellectual growth as a process
of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. These are followed by three generalised
adaptive processes
a) Perceptual capacities
b) Reflexes
c) Three generalised adaptive processes:
1. Assimilation
2. Accommodation
3. Equilibration
In the process of maturing, babies gradually become more active and mobile.
This is made possible as a result of developing muscles and joints. As the baby is
physically active, s/he can begin to act on objects in the environment. A very young
baby cannot move his body intentionally. His / her movements are rather reflexes.
However, in time, s/he finds out how to control these reflexes such as the grabbing
reflex. For example, when a child grabs an object and drops it while sitting on his
chairs/he sees it falling down and s/ he realises that s/he can act on objects. Then,
the child develops knowledge about the consequences of an object that is dropped.
Ability to develop control over reflexes leads to more thinking and learning through
three generalised adaptive processes.
1) Assimilation
Assimilation happens when a child uses his/her existing knowledge to make sense
of new experiences.
2) Accommodation
Accommodation happens when a child modifies his/her existing schema to make
sense of a new situation. If there is no available existing schema, a new one needs
to be developed. The child adjusts his/her thinking to fit the new situation. For
example, a child can create a new schema for an entirely foreign animal in addition
to other animals in his/her mind. This is why; s/he shows accommodation by adding
the new scheme to his/her existing scheme (Woolfolk, 1998).
3) Equilibration
According to Piaget equilibration is ‘the act of searching for a balance’ (Woolfolk
1998: p. 29). Piaget hypothesised that human mind preferred consistency and
order. In human mind, there is a conflict between our wish to learn something new
and what we already know (via assimilation). It also shows resistance to alteration
of existing structures (via accommodation). Assimilation and accommodation are
adaptive processes of behaviour and thinking and they occur together.
Learning Theories 5
Piaget thought individuals do not like disequilibrium. They all have a kind of innate
desire for establishing equilibrium. This innate capacity motivates learning. As a
result, it can be said that disequilibrium is a precursor for learning.
Discussion question
Discuss, with concrete examples, how you have experienced equilibrium and
disequilibrium in your lives by paying special attention to such experiences
related to your learning.
McLaughlin (1992) borrowed the idea of accommodation in developmental
psychology and referred to it as ‘restructuring’ in second language learning. An
example of restructuring in this sense can be as in the following example. A group
of Turkish EFL learners may have already developed a schema for pronunciation of
borrowed words in Turkish, such as television and telephone. When they realise that
these words exist in the English language, they appear to think that it is all right to
pronounce these words in Turkish way. However, they may gradually come to realise
that they need to adapt their existing knowledge of pronunciation to the phonetics
of the English language. That is, they restructure their existing knowledge and find
out the right way.
Piaget saw child development as gradual accumulation of knowledge and thinking.
The final stage of this intellectual maturation is the development of formal and
logical thinking. He agreed that not all individuals could develop a fully mature formal
and logical thinking. Piaget believed that children tried to make sense of objects and
events in their environment through thinking and language development is a result
of this intellectual growth.
According to Piaget, development of object permanence in a child’s life is an
important step towards developing linguistic ability. Object Permanence enables
children “to use symbols to represent objects that are no longer present; these
symbols become the child’s first true words” (Bohannaon & Bonvillian, 1997: p.
281). The child’s accumulation of knowledge about the world is reflected in his /
her language skills. The child needs to know animate and inanimate things existing
in the world. Therefore, when reporting an action carried out by an animate or an
inanimate object, the child will follow this order (S+V+O). This kind of knowledge
is not only reflected on the child’s knowledge of syntax but also semantics as s/he
comes to know the difference between them as he or she matures.
Discussion question
Hickman (1985) reports that native speaker children were able to use determiners
(a/an, the), pronouns, and possessive pronouns accurately only after the age of
10 (Cited in Wood 1999: 155).
Discuss, in the light of this finding, how appropriate to teach grammar in
traditional sense to young learners before the age of 10 in Turkish classes.
6 Theoretical Considerations
Criticising Piaget: Methodological criticism
Many researchers have criticized Piaget’s research methodology. They argued that
his tasks were too difficult and his questions were not really good ones to guide
his child subjects. Particularly the research methodology he used while working
with very young children has been criticised. His sensorimotor tasks required a lot
from young children. Failure in removing a piece of cloth or being unable to grasp
an object does not always mean that the child cannot think. Piaget disregarded the
issue that this might be a result of under-developed motor skills.
Piaget has also been criticised for using complicated language and unfamiliar
materials in his tasks. As a result, children could not show high levels of success. He
also did not present his tasks within a context which was familiar. For this reason
children may have misinterpreted or misunderstood what they were asked to do.
Besides, he carried out his study on a small number of children. He did not analyse
the findings of his study statistically. For this reason, other researchers find it hard
to compare and contrast their findings with that of Piaget’s. His findings are based
on cross-sectional studies not longitudinal. Therefore, he did not really observe
developmental stages through which children matured in a long period of time.
He claimed that he worked with every individual child one-to-one so that he could
observe how each one of children reason and make sense of the world. While this
could be one of his strengths, results based on more number of children would be
more valid and reliable.
Researchers, such as Donaldson (1978) argue that in such studies, children should
be presented familiar tasks within a familiar context of situation and researchers
should use clear and simple language. Some studies such as Light and others (1979),
and Donaldson (1978) reported on Piaget’s studies. These researchers used clear
and simple language and familiar tasks during which the children performed better.
These results suggested that the context of the task could be a very important factor
in determining the response from children. Light and others (1979) for example,
created little stories within contexts where children were convinced that there was
a good reason for performing a particular task and they performed it much better
than the ones who had participated in Piaget’s study.
Piaget claims that language is not a separate ability on its own. It is rather one of
several abilities which develop as a natural consequence of cognitive maturation.
He argues that
… language is structured or constrained by reason; basic linguistic developments
must be based upon or derived from even more basic, general changes in
cognition (Bohannon & Bonvillian 1997, pp. 279-280).
According to Piaget children acquire structures as a result of continuing interaction
between the child’s present level of cognitive abilities and his/her verbal or non-
verbal interactions with the environment. Language errors in children’s speech
can reveal valuable information not only about their knowledge of the structure
of the language but also the structure of their knowledge in general (Bohannon &
Bonvillian, 1997).
Learning Theories 7
Criticising Piaget: Theoretical criticism
Piaget argues that there is a correlation between particular cognitive skills and
the emergence of particular linguistic skills, such as emergence of a word. This
hypothesis has been retested by various researchers. Although there is some
evidence to support it, many researchers are still not entirely convinced about the
existence of such kind of correlation. This hypothesis claims that thinking develops
before the language does. However, Vygotsky argues just the opposite.
Vygotsky in fact reverses Piaget, arguing that speech is initially social, is
then internalized, and subsequently leads to inner and private (or egocentric)
speech (Thorne 2009: p. 219).
Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky argues that first language emerges through verbal
interaction with caregivers which leads to thought. Vygotsky sees language having a
higher-order mental function. He regards language use as a symbolic activity which
is based on socio-cultural aspect of life although Piaget hypothesised that learning
is an individual activity. In other words, for Vygotsky learning is a social activity.
Discussion question
Language topics in the curriculum and textbooks are ordered from easy to
difficult. The units start with concrete topics such as the names of clothes and
move towards more difficult topics such as tenses (the present perfect) and
expressions of probability.
Discuss the rationale behind this kind of ordering from Piaget’s perspective.
The next part is about Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of learning. He is one of the
important researchers who shaped up our understanding of human development and
thinking. His opinions formed a basis for Bruner whose ideas revolutionised education
during the second half of the last century. Vygotsky and Bruner believed that children
were not alone in the process of understanding the world. They are supported by an
adult or a more knowledgeable member of the society.
Vygotsky
Vygotsky was a Russian developmental psychologist. In his short period of life, he
carried out numerous experiments and wrote many scientific books and articles.
But his name could only be heard outside of the Soviet world quite later in the 20th
century. His ideas have been very influential in shaping up the modern day education.
Learning according to Vygotsky
He believed that development and learning were two parallel and integrated
processes. These two processes are embedded in children’s social environment.
Children learn from their interactions with the environment and the people in the
environment. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky believed in the supportive role of child’s
interaction with adults and with more knowledgeable others within his/ her close
environment.
8 Theoretical Considerations
He attributed a significant role to language in this process. It is a critical tool because
it is the symbol system, by means of which knowledge is coded and organised.
This was quite different to Piaget’s main idea as he saw the child alone during the
process of intellectual and cognitive development. He was more interested in what
a child at a certain age could or could not do. But Vygotsky came up with the idea
that child’s cognitive development is actualised collaboratively by the child and
others (Wood 1999; Woolfolk 1998).
Language as an innate ability
Vygotsky believes that children have an innate ability to learn a language with some
contribution coming from the environment. Vygotsky argued that initially language
was only a tool for the child to interact with his/her parents. Gradually, the child
learns to use the language by talking to himself while he is playing. Then s/he begins
to think aloud and then this thinking aloud shifts into inner talk. All these shape up
the child’s thought processes and these thought processes shape up language skills.
Language becomes the source of structure of the child’s thoughts (Woolfolk 1998;
Wood 1999).
Learning as social transaction
Vygotsky argues that ‘the child’s capacity to learn through instruction’ is a very
important feature of human intelligence. It also shows to what extent is the child
ready to co-operate with others. Vygotsky puts ‘instruction’ or in other words,
‘interaction’ at the heart of development. With instruction, a child’s potential for
learning is revealed. One of his most important contributions to the field was his
proposal of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). He described the construct as
…the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by
independent problem-solving and the level of potential development as
determined by problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with
more capable peers (Vygotsky 1978, p. 86).
With this construct, he underlined the fact that intelligence was not to be measured
as the child’s individual performance. He believed that a child’s intelligence was
understood better while the child was performing with the help and guidance of
another person. The child’s ability to follow instructions and ability to make use of
the tips given by his/her partner is also an indication of the child’s level of cognitive
development. In the process of such kind of interaction, the child receives help. .
If the child has got the capacity to analyse the situation and synthesise the extra
information with what s/he knows already, s/he can achieve the task. Children may be
more dependent on the other person while solving problems or performing tasks but
gradually they will learn to act more independently and they will gain self- confidence.
Learning Theories 9

Discussion questions
“In order to understand the individual it is necessary to understand the social
relations in which the individual exists (Werthsch 1991:26 cited in Sullivan 2000).”
In the quotation above, the writer would like to emphasise the importance of
understanding learners’ background in a careful manner so as to teach in a more
successful way.
▶ Discuss what he meant by saying ‘to understand the social relations in
which the individual exists’.
▶ What kind of social relations could he mean? Begin with the family
environment and extend it to his/her neighbourhood and circle of
friends.
▶ Describe your own social relations and think about how those factors
which have led you to motivate you to learn English.
Domains of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Vygotsky described three domains through which ZPD operates.
a) Assessment
The first one is related to assessment. Since it indicates the difference between
individual performance and assisted performance, it enables educational
psychologists to assess a learner’s educational potential in a more dynamic way.
That is, instead of assessing the learner in one setting by means of a single test,
the notion of ZPD advocates a multi-dimensional assessment where the child’s
potential is evaluated on how s/he negotiates meaning during interaction.
b) Scope of concepts and topics
The second one is about the scope of the concepts and topics to be introduced
through interaction as Vygotsky describes in the quotation above. Vygotsky does not
restrict the scope of variety of topics and issues. They can be everyday topics, such as
how to brush one’s teeth or teaching and learning about photosynthesis. Therefore,
with ZPD, Vygotsky attempts to explain how knowledge about life and science is
built through interaction between child and adult / or a more knowledgeable peers.
10 Theoretical Considerations
Discussion questions
One day I was travelling on a bus. One of the passengers, a 7-8 year of boy kept
asking ‘Mom, what is this?’ (Pointing to something in the bus). His mom kept
quiet. But the boy was insisting. After a while she said ‘shut up’ with an angry
tone of voice. As a consequence, the boy kept quiet.
▶ Discuss the reasons why the mom kept quiet first and then scolded the
boy.
▶ What could she said to support curiosity of this perceptive boy? What
would you say if you were the mom? You need to adapt such a strategy
that the child should feel that you are very pleased that your son pays
attention different things around him and wants to learn about them.
▶ Write a dialogue between your son and you where you explain the boy
this symbol.
c) Pretend play and imagination
The third dimension was related to how Vygotsky regards play. He proposed that
during a role play activity, the child personifies an older person (for example, a
doctor or a mother), who has more knowledge or more authority. Such kind of
rehearsals prepares the child for the role s/he may take up in the future. That is,
the child would like to be
higher than his/ her average age, higher than usual everyday behaviour; he
is in play as if a head of himself (Vygotsky 1933/ 1966: pp. 74-75 cited in
Valsiner & van der Veer 1993: p. 44).
According to Vygotskian view, adult guidance is needed to start up and to
extend role- play and drama activities so that children could experience
some kind of micro-world of what happens in real life. This way, children can
learn about social role and social relationships in society. In this respect, play
contributes not only to cognitive development but also to social development.
Language plays a very significant role in pretend play. In this respect, role play,
drama or any kind of game activities are very beneficial tools both for learners and
teachers in an EFL classroom. Play can have a positive effect on learners as it can
help them to gain confidence through actions, such as talking to oneself to plan
what one is going to say and by actually saying it in his/her part in the play. How
these activities can be exploited and practised will be presented in detail in the
coming chapters in this book.
Pretend play and cognitive development
Pretend play is regarded as one of the first signs of child’s developing cognitive
ability to enable him / her to separate primary (real) representations of objects
from pretend representations (Leslie 1987). For example, pretending that a banana
is a telephone receiver and speaking to it is a play for a young child. Goswami and
Bryant (2007) summarize that
Learning Theories 11
 “During pretend play, this primary representation [banana as a fruit] must
be detached or ‘quarantined’ from the pretend representation [banana as a
telephone receiver] …The pretend representation is not a representation of
the objective world, rather it is a representation of a representation from that
world. It is metarepresentation. Thus the emergence of pretend play marks
the beginning of a capacity to understand cognition itself - to understand
thoughts as entities” (p. 11).
Discussion questions
▶ In what ways, do you think having interaction during a play can
contribute to child’s development? Look at Figure 8. There you see
boys in a village in Bursa playing with the stethoscope of a medical
school student who visits the village school with other university
students. These boys have met male and female university students
and a doctor candidate.
▶ Try to figure out how these three boys feel at that moment. Perhaps
the boy who holds the equipment has felt like a doctor.
▶ Do you think even this feeling can motivate the child to study more to
become a doctor?
▶ Do you think for a learner just pretending as if talking to foreigners in
English in a role play activity, can have a similar activity?
▶ Communicative Language Teaching is in favour of the use of situational
drama and role play activities where learners personify a character and
speak pretending that their role is real.
▶ Think of such an activity and make a list of the benefits that learners
can gain during the performance of this activity.
For Vygotsky imagination was a special cognitive activity which had significant
effects on cognitive self-regulation. The main role of pretend play in the process of
cognitive development is that rules of any pretend activity require children to be
patient and smart enough to act against their impulses. This was how they learn to
develop control over their thoughts and actions (Goswami & Byrant, 2007).
Vygotsky never talked about a scene where an adult preached children about a
grammar rule or meanings of words. He had the adult as a facilitator in his mind.
The adult creates curiosity and desire to understand what other children think or
feel. As a result, children come up with real questions. These questions lead to
answers, all of which build up a dialogue. This is what he means with knowledge
building. As children find answers to their questions real understanding takes place.
Kinginger (2002) refers to this kind of responsivity of children in the process of
dialogue building as ‘co-authoring’. She concludes that
A broader understanding of the ZPD as an activity of ‘co-authoring’ might
assist in furthering the agenda of communicative language teaching, one
12 Theoretical Considerations
where the role of learners’ contribution of awareness and creativity is better
conceptualized…It is language awareness that can bring into relation with
one another reproductive and creative needs of foreign language education…
(p. 257).
Co-authoring can support communicative language teaching by fostering learners’
creativity. It can also contribute to the development of language awareness if/
when used to increase interaction in foreign language classrooms.
Scaffolding and teachers’ roles in the process
The term scaffolding was first used by Vygotsky and Lauria (cited in Van der Veer
& Valsiner 1991, p. 226). Their aim was to explain the role of adults in the process
of introducing children to the culture they lived in. Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976)
developed the term scaffolding. It is a metaphor which appears to describe the role
played by the interaction between the child and the adult/ more knowledgeable
peer. By means of interactional skills, the adult or more knowledgeable peer guides
the child to build up learning.
Hammond and Gibbons (2005) describe scaffolding in the context of classroom
interaction as “in the context of classroom interaction, the term scaffolding has
been taken up to describe the temporary assistance that teachers provide for their
students to assist them to complete a task or develop new understandings, so that
they will later be able to complete similar tasks alone” (p. 9).
Bruner states that new learning is based on what is familiar in the child’s world.
Burns and de Silva Joyce (2005) summarise the process of scaffolding and the role
of the adult in it as follows:
• Effective scaffolding is tuned to the needs of learners and constantly
adjusted in response to what they are able to do.
• Support is gradually reduced as skills and knowledge are acquired.
• Learners are more likely to be successful when tasks are broken down
into achievable parts.
• Demonstrating and modelling are important aspects of scaffolding
learning.
• Focussing continually towards the whole task and the goals to be achieved
is central to effective scaffolding.
• Learners have success with new tasks when they are located within
formats and routines that are already familiar. (pp. 4-5).
Scaffolding can be accomplished during a task performance or it can assist learners
while they try to understand a new concept. In both cases asking questions which
would lead up to comprehension may be the simplest technique to initiate the
process. It is important for teachers that they do activities not for the sake of doing
them. They use activities in the classroom to support learning. For this purpose,
teachers need to know what their learners know presently. In order to this they
Learning Theories 13
need to find out what children can do and cannot do with their present level of
knowledge. Timing is very important. Timely support plays a key role in assisting
learners to overcome challenges.
In this respect, it is crucial to know their learners’ weaknesses and strengths.
Teachers should be able to estimate to what extent they need to downgrade the
challenge of a task into manageable small tasks. However, they should avoid
getting lost in details and prevent learners from doing so. Teachers should have
tried the task themselves in advance so that they can present a good role model.
They should figure out how long the support should be provided for the learners.
The support should be tailored to the demands of the task. The support should be
reduced gradually in the right time to allow time and space for learners to perform
independently (Guerrero & Villamil, 2000). Perhaps most importantly, teachers are
expected to be aware of the principles of how to contextualise a language topic in
order to present it within a familiar format which is based on what learners know
(Hadley 2002, Yılmaz & Karatepe, 2010).
Scaffolding is the kind of support which would lead to learner autonomy and
independence. It aims “to know not only what to think and do, but also how to think”
(Hammond & Gibbson, 2005, p. 10).
Discussion question
Remember Cameron (2000) distinguishes ‘a learning-centred’ teaching from ‘a
learner-centred’ teaching.
• Where do you think scaffolding fits in according to Cameron?
• Discuss whether scaffolding supports a learning-centred teaching or a
learner-centred teaching.
Bruner
Bruner developed a theory of cognitive growth in the 1960s. Bruner’s theory of
Constructivism has been influenced by Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s ideas. However,
in contrast to that of Piaget’s, he was interested in how environmental and
experiential factors shaped up cognition. He regarded learning as constructing
knowledge of the world.
• Unlike Piaget, he saw the child in social interaction while learning.
• He agreed with Piaget on the issue that intellectual ability developed in
stages.
• But he diverges from Piaget’s thinking by arguing that how the mind is
used during these stages determines this process of development.
• In this respect, Bruner’s thinking was very much influenced by the ideas of
researchers such as Vygotsky.
• Bruner criticised Piaget for not taking social and cultural factors into
consideration which have a significant potential in affecting intellectual
growth.
14 Theoretical Considerations
Bruner argues that education should treat children as active problem-solvers. They
should be guided to explore new things and ideas themselves. Bruner based his
research on human cognition on the ability of categorization. He argued that all
primary cognitive activities were performed in order to categorise things and ideas.
In a way, he associated mental functions
• perceiving,
• conceptualising, and
• learning with categorising. He thinks human mind interpret concepts in
terms of similarities and differences between them.
Hands-on task
Remember McLaughlin argues that in order to acquire a language item, learners
need to notice it in the first place. Then, they need to relate it to the similar
concepts that they have already learned. In the final stage, learners restructure
what they knew in order to integrate what they have just learned. Keeping this
in mind, make an attempt to describe the process of teaching a closed set of
vocabulary (clothes, family members, seasons) by diving it into three mental
functions (perceiving, conceptualising and learning) as Bruner described.
Make a lesson plan for teaching such a set of words a group of 10-year old pupils.
Note down the audio-visual materials, games and other fun activities you would
like to use in the lesson. Find examples which are related to typical 10 year-olds
lives.
Bruner’s two-primary modes of thinking
Bruner also claimed that there were two primary modes of thinking: narrative
thought and paradigmatic thought. Narrative thought requires action-oriented, detail
driven and sequential mental processes, such as storytelling. The narrative mode is
more about daily life and it is used to express beliefs and intentions. The language
used in narratives can show variation depending on the speaker’s/ writer’s thinking.
It reflects his/her idiosyncratic style.
Young children’s narratives are embedded in the immediate context of situation.
While telling about past events and giving information, children need to use
decontextualised language which is described as the kind of language that refers to
people, events, and experiences that are not part of the immediate context (Wood,
1999). This ability develops gradually. Around the age of 10, children master the
use of decontextualized language (Wood, 1999).
Paradigmatic thought requires analytical, systematic and categorical mental
processes such as logical reasoning (Bruner, 1978). The paradigmatic mode is
logical and scientific. The language which is used to express this kind of thought is
consistent and non-contradictory. This is the kind of language high school students
and university students are required and expected to use in their assignments and
presentations (this kind of teaching does not match young learners’ features at all).
Learning Theories 15
As the child matures, s/he develops ability to use both modes of thought. If s/
he has a more academic family background, s/he is expected to have readiness to
develop mastery of paradigmatic thought. If s/he listened to many stories, if s/he
was allowed to tell a story at a young age and motivated to do so, s/he can get the
chance to develop mastery of narrative mode of language.
Bruner’s three types of cognitive representation
Bruner’s theoretical framework focuses on how learners construct new concepts
by drawing on their background knowledge. According to Bruner, learner is very
active in this process. S/he decides which part of new information to focus on
and transforms it based on his/her past experiences. While doing this, s/he forms
hypotheses and figures out how this new bit of information and background
knowledge are related. This is how human beings perceive, understand and then
learn new concepts. Bruner describes three types of representation in the process
of cognitive development in children:
• The enactive mode: The infant gets to know the world through physical
contact mostly. This way s/he stores information as muscle memories.
The stored information is mostly a consequence of his/her physical
actions such as grabbing an object, shaking it and perhaps tasting it.
This experience is recorded and stored as a nasty or perhaps enjoyable
experience. Thinking is based on these physical actions. Bruner refers
to thinking as internal representation. He believes that infant learns
through doing not thinking. Thinking requires internal representation of
information and processing it. However, this is not possible during this
early period of life.
• The iconic mode: Information is stored as sensory images. Some children
develop a very good photographic memory. But they lose it later in life.
Thinking is based on mental images (icons) of things and senses the child
experiences.
• The symbolic mode: Information is stored as symbols. In this stage,
language is a powerful symbol. The child can now store information as
verbal memory. Representation of the world is mainly through language
but music and numbers are also employed as a symbol system (Bruner,
1978).
Bruner’s theory of instruction and spiral curriculum
Both Piaget and Vygotsky attempted to understand how children think and learn.
Vygotsky described how interaction supports learning. However, Bruner’s theory is
regarded as a theory of instruction. Bruner assigns an unconventional role to the
16 Theoretical Considerations
instructor. S/he is there to guide the learner not to teach him /her in the traditional
sense. By means of active interaction between the learner and the instructor
they can discover the way of doing this. During this dialogue, the instructor can
encourage the learner and support learning process by asking guiding questions.
However, the curriculum should also be designed so that it could facilitate this kind
of learning process. Bruner suggests designing curriculum in a spiral manner. This
can assist learners to build upon existing knowledge.
Four major aspects of Bruner’s theory of instruction
Based on this argument, Bruner (1996) proposes four major aspects that a theory
of instruction should have:
• Readiness for learning: He argues that any subject can be taught
effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage
of development Bruner (1960, p. 33). With this argument, he clearly
disagrees with Piaget, who argues that children’s cognitive skills develop
in time. Since learners construct ideas and concepts based on their
existing knowledge, instructors are to prepare background knowledge for
the upcoming concepts and issues, before introducing them in detail. This
takes us to his idea of spiral curriculum.
• Spiral curriculum: The ways of how new information is structured to
enable learners to grasp it. The idea behind spiral curriculum is that “a
curriculum as it develops should revisit this basic ideas repeatedly building
upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that
goes with them” (Bruner 1960, p. 13).
• Intuitive and analytical thinking: These two types of thinking contradict
with one another. Piaget seems to favour analytical thinking. For this
reason, teachers appear to aim to help their learners to think analytically.
They like to use tasks to foster their analytical thinking. However, Bruner
argues that children should learn how to make use of their intuitions.
They should also gain self-confidence to depend on their intuitions.
Instruction should be designed to help learners to infer and discover. That
is, instruction is to facilitate learners’ thinking so that they are able to
go beyond the information given and / or read between the lines when
needed.
• Motives for Learning: Bruner states that the best way to motivate learners
is to present the course material in an interesting structure. It would
motivate them better than exams or fear of future. It would certainly
foster learning.
Bruner sees education as “the establishment of knowledge” (1966, p. 72). He thinks
learners should take part in the process of “knowledge –getting” (ibid). To contradict
today’s exam-oriented education he argues that these scores do not tell us what
learners know and how much they have developed during the process of education
Learning Theories 17
as it is a kind of end-product. Because he believes “knowing is a process not a product”
(ibid). (author’s emphasis)
While Piaget and Bruner agree on issues related to abstract thinking, they fall apart
on the issues of ‘logic’ and ‘intellectual development’. Piaget gives ‘logic’ prime
importance. He argues that it is “a framework for understanding the nature and
development of thinking” (Woods 1999, p. 10). However, Bruner claims that “logic
is not the basis of mature adaptive thinking” (Woods 1999, p. 10). He sees logic as
one of the ways of thinking.
task. Therefore, English language education principles are not incongruence with
the country’s assessment and evaluation conventions. As a consequence, teachers
end up teaching to the test. That is, they adopt a learner-centred perspective. As
a result, our teaching principles may be based on those proposed by Vygotsky and
Bruner, but the principles and conventions for assessing and evaluating the product
of this teaching are based on the principles of Piaget’s.

Bruner versus Piaget

Bruner carried out experiments on adults to understand adult reasoning. He
concluded that people did not make use of a single method or logic while solving
problems. They utilized a variety of strategies. These might not be equally effective
and good strategies. Bruner was interested in the process through which people
solve problems. In other words these are the processes of creative thinking (Wood
1999, p. 9). On the other hand, Piaget was interested in the structure of mature
thinking. That is, Piaget focused on what they could do or could not do. In a way, he Review questions
was more interested in the product not the process.
• For many children in Turkey, learning English is not really relevant to
According to Woods (1999), both Piaget and Bruner emphasised the importance of their lives. Suggests ways for making pupils feel that learning English
action and problem solving. can have a place in their lives.
From both perspectives, [instruction] that teaches children only how to • Using games and fun activities will definitely attract pupils’ attention.
manipulate abstract procedures (e.g. learning how to solve equations) However, there is always a danger for both teachers and pupils to
without first establishing the deep connections between such procedures and confuse the means and ends. It usually is the case that the main aim
the activities involved in the solution of practical, concrete problems (which of a fun activity is to have fun only. The language point in it gets lost in
the procedures serve to represent at a more abstract level) is bound to fail the process. Suggest ways to avoid this.
(Wood 1999, pp. 9-10). • Bruner argues that “knowing is a process not a product”. However,
Teachers typically teach modal verbs for example, without relating their usage to when the outcome of teaching and learning is assessed according to
speech acts such as requests and suggestions. As a result, modal verbs will only the learners’ test results, how can teachers have an idea about the
remain as a grammar topic (abstract) in learners’ minds. Whereas, they could easily process through which pupils have gone in the process of learning?
be related to real life contexts. Learners know how to perform speech acts in their L1. Suggest alternative ways for assessing learning.
Therefore, teachers can easily make use of social conventions to lead the learners on
the issues such as appropriate language use. This can easily help learners to grasp
both meaning and usage of modal verbs in a more concrete and meaningful way.
Bruner insisted that new topics should be based upon existing knowledge.
Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner favour collaborative learning and teaching and
the child’s ability to follow instructions provided by their partners in group work.
They support that this way leads to learning-centred teaching. Remember that
communicative language teaching as favoured in our country, aims to establish
interaction in the classroom via various communicative activities although the
assessment and evaluation system in our country takes assessment and evaluation
individually. Centrally-run multiple choice tests or True-False tests cannot measure
a learners’ ability to use English while performing a task during a co-operative

18 Theoretical Considerations Learning Theories 19

 Curriculum
Yasemin Kırkgöz

Discussion questions
▶ What do you know about a curriculum?
▶ When was the English language first introduced in Turkish primary
education?
▶ What are the underlying principles of the newest ELT curriculum?

What is curriculum?
Curriculum is a large concept which can be described in a number of ways. A
very broad definition is that “it includes all of the planned learning experiences
of an educational system” (Nunan, 2001: 55). Curriculum development was first
systematized by Tyler (1949) who put forward four basic questions that must be
addressed by any curriculum developer:
• What educational purposes should a school aim to attain?
• What educational experiences can be provided to attain those purposes?
• How can the educational experiences be effectively organized?
• How can we determine whether these purposes have been attained?
In the context of language teaching, the first two questions are related to syllabus
design, the third with methodology and the final question concerns with assessment.
In relation to curriculum development for young children, Wood and Attfield (2005)
point out that “all curriculum models reflect a set of beliefs and values about
what is considered to be educationally and developmentally worthwhile in terms
of children’s immediate needs; their future needs and the wider society” (p. 138).
This requires a curriculum framework that considers what is important for children
based on research and experience to ensure that children attain what they need in
order to promote their learning of foreign language, and to support practitioners.
Therefore, we need a curriculum that must be able to respond to how children learn
a foreign language by addressing the following questions:
• What is believed to be important for young children in primary education?
These are the values, aims and principles that the curriculum is based on.
• When is it considered best to focus on particular learning experiences
in the curriculum, and how such learning experiences be taught? This
includes the designing of the content relevant to children in primary
education, and the processes involved in learning and teaching; in other
words, the pedagogy.
This chapter, which begun with a definition of curriculum, continues with a discussion
of the English Language Curriculum in Turkish Primary Education. In this section,

20 Theoretical Considerations Curriculum 21

essential components of the new English Language Teaching (ELT) curriculum are classroom,
introduced. This chapter closes by highlighting certain issues which continue to be • a detailed step-by-step illustrated lesson reflecting the philosophy on
relevant, and raise further questions concerning the links between the curriculum which the revised curriculum is based,
objectives and the actual implementation of those objectives in practice by the
• a sample lesson plan illustrating how young learners’ acquisition of the
practitioners.
foreign language can be facilitated through the use of games, stories,
The English language curriculum in Turkish primary education songs, dramatization and model materials, and
The English language was first introduced in Turkish primary education in 1997, • sample tests based on the communicative view to ELT.
following a major Curriculum Innovation Project in ELT. This curriculum initiative
Outline of the syllabus
resulted in an increase in the duration of primary education from 5 to 8 years.
The curriculum objectives have been made concrete in the syllabus. Within the
In addition, English started to be taught in primary schools in grades 4 and 5 to
broad category of goals, a list of objectives is specified. A short extract from the
young learners (aged 9-11) as a compulsory school subject, nationwide (See
syllabus of primary grade 4 is illustrated in Table 1.
Kırkgöz, 2006; 2007a for details). In 2005, the curriculum was revised to improve
the English language teaching and learning in primary education, and to adapt the
UNIT 2: MY CLASSROOM
ELT curriculum to the European Union (EU) language teaching standards (Kırkgöz,
TOPIC SKILLS CONTEXT FUNCTIONS TASKS
2007b). The revised curriculum was implemented gradually; in the 2006-2007
(Situations
teaching year, it was implemented only in grade 4 classes, and in consecutive years
and Texts)
the revised curricula was followed into the upper grades.
Part A: Listening Choose the Asking for Doing
Aims of the curriculum Classroom * Listening to recorded short appropriate and giving picture
Language texts to assimilate meaning ones from the information puzzles.
The revised primary ELT curriculum was prepared by a curriculum development
Reading list. about
committee appointed by the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MNE) (MEB,
* Recognizing familiar names, classroom
2006). The curriculum is set out in a document containing the rationale, aims and
words and simple objects
objectives, structured content and assessment approaches for each of the primary
phrases Following
levels 4 to 8 to children aged (9-13) which will be referred to as young learners in
* Reading simple phrases for classroom
this chapter.
general comprehension with instructions
The curriculum document, which can be accessed and downloaded from the MNE visual support. Giving
website, provides detailed theoretical information on various aspects of the ELT * Using clues to make classroom
including: predictions commands
• curriculum design issues, * Following short, simple
directions and instructions
• selection of appropriate teaching materials for different grades,
Writing
• the distinction between language acquisition and language learning and * Writing simple phrases and
• how young learners (Grade 4–5 students) and adolescents (Grades 6–8 sentences about their
students) learn foreign languages, a crucial point to take into account classroom
when teaching both age groups. Speaking
The goals and objectives to be achieved for each grade are given with their * Asking and answering
corresponding structural items, illustrated with topics (famous cities), functions simple questions
* Initiating and responding to
(describing locations), sample tasks or projects (naming some famous buildings)
simple statements in areas of
students are expected to carry out, following a functional-notional and skills-
immediate need
based model (MEB, 2006). In addition, the new curriculum provides comprehensive
* Identifying what he/she
guidelines to teachers on the following issues:
means by pointing to it
• how much English and the mother tongue to use in the English language
Table 1. Extract from the MNE’s syllabus of primary grade 4 (MEB, 2006: p. 65).

22 Theoretical Considerations Curriculum 23

Components of the curriculum
The new curriculum incorporates recent methodological trends in ELT, and is
comprised of several components, as illustrated in Figure 1, below:

Figure 2. An illustration of Gardner’s multiple intelligences

Figure 1. Components of the new curriculum (Kırkgöz, 2011: p. 183)
Communicative language teaching
As in the 1997 curriculum, the communicative dimension of the new curriculum
aims at promoting learners’ communicative competence in English by fostering
integrated development of four language skills. The role of the teacher is considered
as the “guider” and “facilitator” of the learning process.
The curriculum proposes a variety of activities to be used in ELT for Grades 4 to 5
students including songs, plays, and games encouraging the active involvement of
the learners. The curriculum of upper grades (6 to 8) encourages learner autonomy
through giving assigning projects to complete, and the training of strategy so that
learners can have opportunities to learn according to their own individual styles and
preferences.
Drawing on the theory Multiple Intelligences, and as illustrated in Figure 2 with
reference to nine types of intelligences; Logical-Mathematical, Visual-Spatial, Bodily/
Kinesthetic, Musical-Rhythmic, Interpersonal/Social, Intrapersonal/Introspective, Verbal-
Linguistic, Naturalistic and existential intelligence, the new curriculum encourages
teachers to present lessons in a variety of ways so that individualised learning styles
and interests of students may be addressed (see Kırkgöz, 2010).
Study and discuss
Table 2 illustrates intelligence types and different activities taken from various
English textbooks used in primary education. Can you match each of the activities
with intelligence types by writing the letters under the intelligence types? Then,
compare your findings with your partner.

Multiple intelligences
The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI), proposed by Gardner (1983), has had a
considerable impact on the design of the foreign language curriculum in many
countries. As proposed by MI, students come into the classroom with different sets
of developed intelligences, which means that each child will have his or her own
unique set of intellectual strengths and weaknesses.

24 Theoretical Considerations Curriculum 25


Intelligence Types Activities
a. Look at the words below and write them
1. Spatial/visual in the correct place.
……………………….................................. b. Look at the sun signs below and sing the
song ‘sun sing’.
c. Read the horoscopes again. Which sun
signs do you think will have a good week
2. Musical
and which ones will have a difficult week?
………………………..................................
Write them in the chart.
d. Do you know the main characteristics of
your sun signs? Are they true for you?
Talk to a partner.
3. Verbal/linguistics
……………………….................................. e. Imagine you are the writers of the daily
horoscopes for the Spot Magazine.
Work in the groups of three and make
predictions for the sun sign for tomorrow.
4. Logical/mathematical f. Find out and make a list of the sun sign of
……………………….................................. your family members.
g. Think about differences between a laptop
and a computer.
h. What do you think about the future? Will
5. Intrapersonal
the life be easy or difficult?
………………………..................................
i. Say what you have got in your suitcase.
Write the clothes in the suitcase
j. Write an e-mail
6. Interpersonal k. Connect the dots from 60 to 100. Then
……………………….................................. colour it.
l. Prepare a poster to protect animal rights
m. Imagine you are the writers of the daily
horoscopes for the Spot Magazine. Work
7. Spiritual/ existential
in groups of three and make predictions
………………………..................................
for the sun sign for tomorrow.
n. Listen to the sounds of nature. What’s the
weather like?
8. Naturalist o. Do the actions
……………………….................................. p. Read the body parts and categorize them
Table 2. Sample activities addressing different intelligences
26 Theoretical Considerations
Integrating language and content
The new curriculum adopts content and language integrated learning (CLIL). A
selection of topics from non-language cross-curricular subjects such as geography,
mathematics, music and sports, which are scheduled to be taught in the students’
regular programme are integrated into the ELT curriculum to enable certain cross-
curricular topics to be learned in L2.
Developing content learning through lessons is an important example of designing
young learners’ curriculum so that it can relate to their growing world. The rationale
for integrating cross-curricular topics into the new curriculum is explained below by
the curriculum document:
In most of the Turkish schools, English is taught as an isolated subject in the
curriculum; hence, a possible innovation is thought to be teaching English
through a cross-curricular model. Cross-curricular studies can be a way of
teaching English through content in which the target language is the vehicle
of interaction and knowledge, not the subject matter. Cross-curricular
studies facilitate learning, integrating all subjects through the use of foreign
language, allowing learners to inquire and connect experience and knowledge.
By bringing together several disciplines and making content connections
across subjects (subjects: mathematics, science, arts, music, social studies,
etc.) in the classroom, we can show learners that a topic is relevant, related
to their real world and previous experience (MEB 2006, 22).
Discussion questions
Find some primary school ELT textbooks and study them carefully to decide
what content area is being integrated into the young learners’ language learning
experiences. Discuss the weak and strong points of these textbooks.
Constructivism
The curriculum is also influenced by the philosophy of constructivism, which is
founded on the premise that learners make sense of new ideas and concepts in
terms of their existing knowledge and skills (Brooks & Brooks, 1993). As confirmed
by Halliwell (2000: p. 3)
Young children do not come to the language classroom empty-handed.
They bring with them an already well-established set of instincts, skills and
characteristics which will help them to learn another language. For example,
children are already very good at interpreting meaning without necessarily
understanding the individual words; they already have great skill in using
limited language creatively; they frequently learn indirectly rather than
directly; they take great pleasure in finding and creating fun in which they
do; they have a ready imagination, and above all take great delight in talking!
In the constructivist learning, teachers need to make the most of the learners’ prior
knowledge through setting up learning situations, tasks and problems, monitor
Curriculum 27
students’ exploration, and guide student learning. Based on constructivist approach
to learning, is the 5 E’s Model, recommended to be used by the teachers. This
instructional model is based on the premise that learners build up or construct new
ideas based on their prior knowledge (Carin and Bass, 2005).
As illustrated in Figure 3, each of the 5 E’s
in the model describes a particular phase
of learning:
Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and
Evaluate. The 5 E’s allows students and
teachers to experience common activities,
to use and build on prior knowledge and
experience, to construct meaning, and to
continually assess their understanding of
a concept or a new material.
• Engage phase of the 5 E’s starts the process. An “engage” activity is
aimed to make links between past and present learning experiences. At
this phase, the teacher prepares the learners linguistically, cognitively and
emotionally through various activities. Students should become mentally
engaged in the concept, process or skill to be learned, focussing their
thinking on the learning outcomes of the activities.
• Explore phase of the 5 E’s provides students with a set of experiences.
During this phase, students are required to actively explore and manipulate
materials. The teacher can also set up a language task.
• Explain phase of the 5 E’s helps students explain the concept or material
they have been exploring. Students can express their conceptual
understanding or demonstrate new skills. In this phase, teachers can ask
questions, introduce the necessary explanations for concepts or skills.
• Elaborate phase of the 5 E’s extends students’ conceptual understanding
and allows them to practice skills. By gaining new experiences, learners
develop deeper and broader understanding of the task and obtain more
information about the material being studied.
• Evaluate phase encourages learners to assess their understanding and
abilities. Teachers can evaluate students’ understanding of key concepts
and skill development.
In addition, tasks are integrated into the new curriculum. Teachers are expected to
assign students stimulating real life tasks in meaningful context. It is also expected
that tasks be relevant to each topic covered in the curriculum for practising and
consolidating varied skills.
28 Theoretical Considerations
Experiential learning
Young learners need to be offered classroom experiences that relate to their
growing world (Slatterly and Willis, 2001). Getting a young learner to make or create
something is one way of achieving this. In the new curriculum, drama, arts, and
craft activities are suggested to promote experiential learning, to improve learners’
creativity and their social, cognitive, artistic, and linguistic skills.
Art offers plenty of opportunities for self-fulfillment in the classroom due to its large
number of materials and processes enabling students to choose appropriate ways
for communicating their ideas, feelings and thoughts exploiting their imagination.
Participation in such art related activities as painting, drawing, connecting dots also
assists development of psychomotor, emotional, and cognitive skills.
Craft activities usually enable students to participate in the production of some
kind of a work. Making and creating new things, for example, a finger puppet, a
postcard or a fortune telling toy through English, helps to bring the language alive
making it entertaining and satisfying for young learners (Holderness and Hughes,
1997). This, consequently, motivates learners and encourages them to be involved
in the activities actively (See Can 2007 for more details). Due to numerous benefits
yielded, art and craft activities are suggested particularly for grade 4 and 5 students
(MEB, 2006).
Assessment
The new curriculum offers an update for the assessment system proposed by the EU,
of which Turkey is trying to become a member. It calls for more performance-based
assessment as an appropriate alternative assessment tool to evaluate the learning
outcomes of young learners, and to complement the traditional product-oriented
formative assessment system extensively employed in Turkish state primary schools
(Kırkgöz, 2006). Portfolio is proposed as an example of performance-based and
authentic assessment, which is claimed to be more congruent with the principles of
the communicative language teaching. Portfolio, a purposeful collection of students’
work, documents a student’s language progress and performance in a given area
(vocabulary, grammar, the macro skills, etc.). It also allows students to assume
responsibility for their own learning.
To attain an international standardization in assessment, the ELT curriculum is
benchmarked to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which is
used as the framework for the description of the language proficiency students are
expected to have attained by the end of each grade. Accordingly, primary learners
by the end of grade 4 and 5 are expected to have reached Level A1, and by grade 8
to Level A2, to the level of basic users of the language, as described in CERF (Council
of Europe, 2001).
In line with CEFR, self assessment is another alternative form of assessment that
is recommended to be used in language classrooms. Through self-assessment
language learners gain responsibility for monitoring their own language learning
Curriculum 29
processes. Learners can set their needs and objectives for learning a foreign
language, they can monitor their learning to see to what extent they have reached
those objectives through self-assessment using can-do statements as proposed by
CERF. For language learners this way of monitoring and assessing their own language
learning processes provides opportunities for them to be more autonomous in
learning the target language.
The English language teaching resources
Textbooks function as a basic teaching tool in the regular teaching and learning of
English, and they supply much of the language input learners receive in the classroom
(O’Neill, 1982). In Turkey, the MNE is responsible for coordinating the compiling of
English textbooks for all levels in primary schools. In 2005, following the revision
in primary school ELT curriculum, the MNE renewed textbooks. Currently, all state
schools use MNE-approved textbooks, which are also financed by the MNE to all
recipients of primary education. To help provide students with listening practice,
listening scripts are now available in MNE website to be downloaded and used by
teachers and students, alike.
Teachers are recommended to find stimulating ways to increase learning
opportunities in the classroom via the use of technological support. Many schools
are now equipped with computer facilities with the internet access. This provides
opportunities for school tasks as a way of making learning meaningful through
projects and activities.
Teaching hours
innovation (Carless, 2001; Fullan, 1991) teachers, as practitioners, are the key
players in the curriculum implementation process, and they have a crucial role
in putting the curriculum objectives into their teaching practice effectively. It is
therefore crucial that teachers have an adequate knowledge and understanding of
the underlying principles of curriculum goals and objectives.
Since the introduction of the new curriculum, the MNE organised seminars and
conducted in-service training workshops in different cities in order to familiarize
teachers with the goals and objectives of the new curriculum, and the methodologies
underlying the new curriculum (MEB, 2008). Currently, a national programme of
in-service teacher development is being offered to ensure the attendance of teachers
on a large nation-wide scale. It is hoped that with these teacher development
support, teachers will be able to appropriately implement the new curriculum in
their primary lessons. Now, having read this chapter, you can carry out the following
mini research tasks to apply the theory into the practice. Do not forget that, as
Richards (2001) argues, good textbooks serve to turn the guidelines in the official
government syllabus into a rich source of content.
Mini-research I
Visit the MNE web-site. Study the MNE’s curriculum for the primary school English
language teaching courses. Discuss its relevance to the needs and qualities of
Turkish young learners of English.
• Is the curriculum appropriate in relation to the age and interest level of
the learners?

In terms of the teaching hours, currently, 4th and 5th graders are allocated three • Are the objectives achievable?
hours of English classes and the upper graders (6 to 8) are allocated four hours per
week. Mini-research II
Choose an English textbook currently used in a state primary school. You can
Some challenges of curriculum implementation
develop a textbook evaluation checklist to guide your evaluation.
This chapter has illustrated the concept of curriculum, and the new English language
1. Find out the intelligence types that are catered for in each unit.
curriculum in Turkish primary education. It is true to point out that the achievements
2. Complete this analysis for the whole book to determine the book’s
in ELT curriculum since 1997 are remarkable, and there is much to appreciate in
intelligence profile.
the attempts to improve the content of the curriculum. The MNE has engaged in
sustaining continuity in curriculum innovation in primary ELT, providing an outline of 3. Also, identify some of the problems involved in such an analysis.
a curriculum document and securing provision of textbooks to all recipients in state
primary education. However, to realize the very ambitious ELT curriculum specified
for primary education, it is very important that the teachers have an adequate
understanding of what the curriculum implies for them, and they need to be familiar
with the new methodological trends recommended by the policy document.
Ball (1994) maintains that policy refers to both text and action as well as to words
and deeds. It is also enacted as well as intended. Policies are “always incomplete
insofar as they relate to or map on to the ‘wild profusion’ of local practice” (p.
10). As implied, and acknowledged by several researchers involved in curriculum

30 Theoretical Considerations Curriculum 31

Further reading
These publications may provide you with additional information on various aspects of
the curriculum.
Arikan, A. (2009). Problems with course books in EFL classrooms: Prospective
teachers‘opinions. EKEV Academic Review, 38, 309-315.
Arikan, A. (2010). Effective English language teacher from the perspectives of
prospective and in-service teachers in Turkey. Electronic Journal of Social
Sciences, 31, 209-223.
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Kırkgöz, Y. (2011). An evaluation of English textbooks in Turkish primary education:
Students’ and teachers’ perceptions. Eğitim Arastırmaları- Eurosian Journal of
Educational Research, 44, 188-206.
Tekir, S., & Arikan, A. (2007). An analysis of English language teaching course books
by Turkish writers: Let’s speak English 7 example. International Journal of
Human Sciences, 4(2), 1-18.
Materials
Gonca YANGIN EKŞİ
What are “language teaching materials”?
Teaching English to Young learners (TEYL) has become a popular area of study in the
last 30 years as early foreign language instruction has become a mandatory part
of primary school education in more and more countries worldwide. Improvements
have been made in teacher education programs and in development and publication
of materials for young learners so as to keep up with the demand. As much as the
student and the teacher, materials probably play the third most important role in
language learning. Nunan (1988, p. 28) points out that “At their best they (materials)
provide concrete models of desirable classroom practice, they act as curriculum
models, at their very best they fulfill a teacher development role. Good materials also
allow models for teachers to follow in developing their own materials”.

Toth, M. (1995). Children’s games. London: Heinemann Publishers. Discussion question

Wood, D. (1988). How children think and learn. New York: Blackwell Publishers. Before you continue, discuss what other materials can be used in the classroom
Wood, E., & Attfield, J. (2005). Play learning and the early child curriculum. London: with young learners other than the coursebook.
Paul Chapman Publishing.
Yolageldili, G., & Arikan, A. (2011). Effectiveness of using games in teaching grammar
to young learners. Elementary Education Online, 10(1), 219-229. Audio-Visual Print
Materials Materials

• Videos • Students’ book

• Casettes • Teachers’ book
• CD-Roms • Workbook
• DVDs • Readers
• Pictures • Handouts
• Flashcards • Stories
• Posters • Dictionaries
• Wall charts
• Cartoons
MATERIALS
• Web sites
• Multimedia tools

Authentic
Materials Real Objects

• Childrens’ litreature • Realia

• Magazines Activities • Puppets
• Postcards Natural part of • Toys
• Maps children’s world
• Signs
• Brochures
• Leaflets
• Calendars • Games
• Menus • Puzzles
• Comics • Craft activities
• Drama activities

32 Theoretical Considerations Materials 33

Although it is often the coursebook (together with the teachers’ book and the What kind of language teaching materials should be used with young
workbook) that is most frequently used and cited as “language learning/teaching learners?
materials” in the classroom, materials can be anything that is used with the aim of As mentioned before, in the hands of a creative teacher with some imagination
teaching the target language, increasing the knowledge and experience of learners anything can be used to teach or facilitate the learning of the target language.
with the language and facilitating the learning of the language. Because children Activities or items that can be used as language teaching materials are determined
learn through experience and by interacting with the physical world, a wide variety of by the general characteristics of the age group. The term young learners can be
objects and activities should be used to convey meaning to young learners. In other used to describe: (a) preschool learners, (b) primary school learners, and (c) early
words, language learning materials for children cover a wide range of items- puppets, secondary school learners. The abilities and interests of these children vary greatly
toys, realia, crafts, textbooks, storybooks, workbooks, dictionaries, grammar books, among these age groups, therefore, the materials and activities used for them
readers, cassettes, CDs, videos, photocopied handouts, flash cards, posters, real should vary accordingly.
language examples such as magazines or restaurant menus, web-based games and
Apart from textbooks written specifically for age groups, projects, chants, songs,
websites. Briefly, language teaching and learning materials cover a wide variety of
craft activities, games, stories and tales, dramatizing, web-based games and
materials which facilitate and increase the learning experience of learners.
activities, puppets, toys and realia constitute other materials to be used for young
Why use textbooks at all? learners. No matter what the child’s age is, teachers should bear in mind some
crucial features of materials to be chosen and used. Materials for young learners:
The teacher of the young learners is sure to have her/his hands too full with a
• should be meaningful, comprehensible and relevant to the child. Language
group of energetic children seeking action, variety and fun in the classroom. The
should be presented in natural, real or understandable contexts. It should
textbook may become a lifesaver for the teacher. Along with accompanying printed
build on what they already know. The activities should be purposeful as
or multimedia supplementary materials and the teachers’ book, the coursebook or
well. Children would be thrilled to discover and use the target language to
the textbook saves teachers from having to create everything from scratch and thus
do things.
alleviates the teacher’s burden to a great extent.
• should be developmentally appropriate. The activities should be
Discussion question
adequately challenging (i+1). Materials should be interesting for young
Discuss and list potential benefits and shortcomings of textbooks before you read learners, should engage them affectively and cognitively. They should be
further. When you have finished, compare your list with the one below. appropriate for the motor, cognitive and socio-affective development of
the child.
Pros & Cons of Textbooks
• should be related to their world. Children are interested in issues that are
Coursebooks offer potential benefits for Coursebooks might have some drawbacks
belong to their natural world. The real objects and issues that are “here
teachers because they… because they...
and now” in their real world, and stories and fantasy in their imaginary
• serve as a syllabus with systematic • are often written for global audiences;
and balanced selection of language. therefore, they may fail to cater for world should be used.
• provide a wide range of materials and needs of specific groups of learners. • should be recycled for better retention. Children may learn slowly and
tasks with appropriate levels (which • cannot cover everything and might forget fast. Plenty of exposure to language that involves all senses and that
save time for the teacher). have gaps in coverage.
• offer professionally developed • strict adherence to coursebooks may
cater for different learning styles and intelligences should be provided.
materials that are compatible with dictate what is taught in what order. Materials need to involve constant review and recycling in different ways
currently popular syllabus types • may bring boredom. and different contexts.
• provide invaluable help for novice • do not bring real life language use
• should contain physical action. Physical action is part of children’s world.
teachers. into the classroom; do not provide the
• come in packages whose components examples of natural use of a language. They are full of energy, therefore activities that involve movement are
are compatible with each other. welcome by children such as games, songs, singing, dancing, TPR story-
• involve work or activities that learners telling, etc. Children learn by doing. They love arts and crafts activities, so
can do on their own (and thus foster
materials for young learners should involve lots of hands-on activities.
autonomy).
• provide a source of practical ideas for • should contain proper and accurate use of the target language. The
the teacher. language presented should contain correct grammar and proper word
• give a sense of progress and purpose. choice.

34 Theoretical Considerations Materials 35

 • should be attractive. Materials for young learners should be appealing,
even at first sight, with lots of illustrations and color.
• should be varied. Materials of different types and sources would appeal
young learners. Story books, puppets, audio and visual materials such
as songs, rhymes, flashcards, posters, animations, videos, and so on.
Technology is being incorporated into schools more and more each day
so computers and language learning software and web sources should all
be utilized whenever possible.
book offers and what we as teachers and students need”. Coursebooks cannot cater
for the needs of particular groups of students; therefore, coursebooks must not
constitute the whole programme and they should not be seen as the curriculum
itself. The teacher is expected to be a “materials developer” in the sense that s/
he needs to be able to select, evaluate, adapt and produce materials to ensure a
match between the given students and the materials they use when there is a loose
fit or mismatch between course aims and learner needs on one hand, and what the
coursebook offers, on the other.

• should be integrated. Young learners start learning a language mainly What are the principles of materials adaptation?
as an oral process, but should gradually cover the four skills after the
Effective language teachers do not show a strict adherence to the coursebook,
initial emphasis on speaking and listening skills. The activities should
instead they make the best of it by a selective approach. Materials adaptation is
be purposeful to let children discover and use the target language to do
altering the materials to improve or make them more suitable for a particular group
things.
of learners and can take several forms: Omission, addition, reduction, extension,
• should increase their natural curiosity for motivation. Materials for young modification and replacement (McGrath, 2006; Tomlinson, 1998; Cunningsworth
learners should develop children’s imagination and creativity. Content 1995; McDonough & Shaw 1993).
has to be attractive but at the same time should provide some routines,
Gabrielatos (2004, p. 3) addresses some key points to consider in materials
because children need certain routines in their lives. To increase their
adaptation for teachers:
motivation, fun and an element of puzzle should be an integral part of the
lessons. Adaptation Alternatives
• should involve the right type of grouping according to the age requirements. • Aims
Younger children like playing in the presence of others but by themselves • Topics
and may be less likely to cooperate whereas older children and teenagers • Texts
are more sociable and like group activities in which they can play with What can I adapt? • Visuals
classmates. The materials and activities used in the classroom should • Guidelines and Explanations
be appropriate to the social behavior and development of the child. The • Exercises, Activities and Tasks
activities should also encourage cooperation and respect among students. • Games, Quizzes, Questionnaires

Why should teachers develop or adapt materials? • Omit

• Reorder
Teachers should hold an adapt-do-not-adopt approach to make the most of
• Replace
coursebooks or other materials at hand. Materials adaptation is making changes to How can I adapt it?
• Change
materials in order to improve them or to make them more suitable for a particular
• Combine
type of learner. The teacher often needs to adapt materials in order to increase the
• Add
effectiveness of the programme and materials used for their particular learners.
• Same CB
The teacher may also need to create or supplement materials to bridge the gaps
• Other ELT books
in the coverage of the textbook. That is to say, every teacher should be a materials
• Publications (Newspapers,
adapter and developer in their profession from time to time.
magazines, encyclopedias, novels,
It is advisable the teacher take the initiative to reorganize, adapt or supplement the Where do I find alternative
etc.)
content when needed. Cunningsworth (1984, p. 6) expresses the rationale that lies materials?
• Media (radio, TV)
under materials adaptation: “No course book will be totally suited to a particular
• Internet
teaching situation. The teacher will have to find his own way of using it and adapting
• Corpora
it if necessary. So we should not be looking for the perfect course book which meets
• Own materials
all our requirements, but rather for the best possible fit between what the course

36 Theoretical Considerations Materials 37

 The content and sequencing Omitting There is nothing wrong with
Discussion question
of the textbook are Replacing eliminating lessons if they do
Teachers can make changes in the content or the organization of the material to inappropriate. not work properly.
optimize its effectiveness. Look at the chart above, discuss what possible problems
The activity or task does not Use own material that is
can be encountered with materials and discuss effective adaptation strategies to
work properly. more appropriate.
deal with them. Write a list and check your answers with the chart below.

The table below summarizes effective adaptation strategies in given problems:
EFFECTIVE MATERIALS ADAPTATION STRATEGIES
Problem
Learners need more
practice.
The activity is insufficient.
The learners need to revise
language or skills.
Learners do not need more
practice.
The activity is too lengthy
and boring.
The activity or task does not
work properly.
The task does not fit
the learning style of the
learners.
Strategy Suggested Action
Extension Add supplementary material
Adding and activities.
Use other coursebooks or
workbooks.
Design or write similar
activities.
Make use of the textbooks
strengths and cover the gaps
or insufficiencies with the
teacher’s own preferences.
Reduction Eliminate or shorten some
activities.
Use as many as needed.
Assign different activities to
different learners/groups.
Changing Change the activity or task
keeping the educational
Replacing
objective. (e.g. convert a
mechanical activity into a
more meaningful one by
providing it with purpose and
an element of puzzle)
Redesign the task or
activity addressing for all
intelligences and learning
styles.
The task or activity is too Changing Make the activity more
easy or difficult. challenging or less
challenging.
Expand the task or divide it
into more manageable steps.
Offer guidance.
The learners are already Omitting Use the time for something
competent. else.
The learners need to learn Reordering Change the order of the
or practice items in a material.
different order.
The material or task is not Replacing Devise a more appropriate
appropriate to the learners’ activity.
age/ experience.
There are areas not covered. Adding Supplement areas or tasks
that are not provided
sufficiently.
Hands-on tasks
1. It is now time to adapt some materials with all the reflection you have done so
far. Look at the activity in Appendix 2 and add supplementary activities for it.
2. Work in pairs and design a puzzle or guessing game that does not require
much language proficiency. For a sample activity, see Appendix 3.
Where do authentic materials fit in within teaching English to young
learners?
Authentic language is a piece of real language taken from the real world, produced
by a real speaker or writer for a real audience and for a concrete reason. Authentic
materials are not created or edited for language learners. Most everyday objects
in the target language qualify as authentic materials. Types of authentic materials
that can be used in the language classroom are various, such as printed materials
(newspapers, articles, brochures, leaflets, calendars, ads, etc.), audio materials (CDs,
DVDs, songs, news, commercials, announcement at the airports), visual materials
(postcards, maps, signs, photos), realia (coins and currency, cultural tools or any real

38 Theoretical Considerations Materials 39

object brought into the classroom), children’s literature (stories, poems, tales, etc.),
music, films, TV programs and radio broadcasts, the Internet, the press media, and
comics and so on.
Materials for young learners should also provide exposure to English in authentic
use in meaningful ways. Teachers may be reluctant to use authentic material for
fear that authentic materials are too difficult for young learners. However, this is not
necessarily true. Even younger learners with little English can handle some authentic
but simple materials and activities. The teacher of the young learner should be
careful to avoid authentic materials that are likely to contain difficult language and
infrequent vocabulary and can be too culturally biased. Authentic materials, with
the wide variety available, offer “real” English, which is intrinsically motivating and
interesting. Thus, they provide a sense of achievement and confidence in the learner.
Despite the possible drawbacks, they are too valuable tools to be ignored in language
learning. It can be time-consuming to find the suitable material and the teacher’s
task is not an easy one, when tailoring it for the needs of the class; yet, it is worth
the effort. The teacher may simplify the material, or just simplify the activity or the
task.
Below are some questions to for teachers to help them decide whether the authentic
material will be of use with young learners. If the positive answers are fairly more,
the material is worth a try as it is or with little adaption:
• Is the material appropriate for the learning points to teach or skills to
develop?
• Is the language comprehensible?
• Is the language appropriately challenging? (slightly above the students’
present level / with a fair ratio of known and guessable items?)
• Are the activities in line with age, needs, interests and background of the
students? Are they likely to create interest?)
• Are there illustrations/pictures/title(s) that support the text? How is the
sound quality? Do the visuals support the audio/text?)
• Is the material or text, affordable and easy to access?
• Are unfamiliar cultural elements appropriate? Do the students have at
least some experience with the topic?
Some authentic language and activities that can be used with young learners in
the classroom are children’s stories, cartoons, children’s programmes on television,
websites and magazines for children, currencies, prices, sizes and dimensions,
thematic lexis, fixed and semi-fixed expressions, imperatives, filling out forms,
categorizing, projects and posters, arts and crafts and so forth. For more examples
of authentic materials for young learners see Appendix 4.
40 Theoretical Considerations
Hands-on task
Bring into the classroom some authentic material to be used as or converted into
language learning material. Decide what language can be presented or practiced
through it. Brainstorm any activities that go with it.
What is the role of children’s literature as materials for young learners?
Using children’s literature can be an effective and enjoyable way of teaching a foreign
language. Children’s literature is different from readers created for specifically
EFL young learners and can be regarded as part of authentic material for they are
written for native children. Examples of children’s literature can provide young
learners with new and illustrated vocabulary and a clear context in which language
is repeated. As stories often share universal features, the content is often familiar or
easy to infer; which makes them invaluable authentic materials for young learners
not to mention the sense of accomplishment upon finishing a book and all the fun
and fantasy that it can provide.
The challenges awaiting the teacher are choosing the right book and preparing a
story-based lesson with appropriate teaching materials. Teachers with a creative
approach can use children’s literature effectively as the context for an integrated
skills EFL lesson.
When choosing the right book, teachers should make sure that the story is:
• adequately challenging. The story should not be too long or complex.
Simple, short stories with repetitive language work best.
• not overloaded with new vocabulary. If novel-familiar vocabulary ratio is
not fair, children may fail to comprehend and get frustrated.
• attractive at first sight. Colorful illustrations helping to make meaning
clear and pages with attractive layout and suitable type and spaces are
likely to be encouraging.
• engage children. Children would be enthusiastic to read about a story that
they like.
Once the right book has been found, the story can be shortened and simplified if
needed. The teacher should also decide the teaching objective. After identifying
what language or vocabulary to highlight in the lesson, the teacher develops types
of activities that will be most valuable to the children and that fit their needs. The
activities and materials used may be varied such as puppets, flash cards, slide
shows, songs, drawing, craft activities, TPR activities, drama and role-play activities
and so on. One final point of consideration for teachers is that the activities should
be various to cater for the learning styles and multiple intelligences of children.
Materials 41
Hands-on task
See Appendix 5 for the story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Work in groups to
decide the language objective. Simplify the material if needed. Develop activities
for different learners. Provide puppets or toys to demonstrate the flow of the
story.
How about computer-based, multi-media materials?
The developments in technology have brought innovation and new tools in language
teaching. Computer- and web-based materials and resources can be utilized to
present and practice language, to stimulate interest and to integrate sound, color
and movement into the classroom. Websites for children, learning games, videos,
multimedia packages that publishing houses offer are just a few to mention.
Below is a task designed to reflect upon opportunities offered by computer-based
technologies.
Hands-on tasks
3. Web sites for children, if appropriately selected and organized, can offer
language learning experiences for young learners in a playful context.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using digital stories.
4. Refer to the list at the end of the chapter for resources for early
introduction to EFL. Surf among the sites and look for activities (digital
stories, songs, games etc.) that can be used. Discuss the language
content and teachability of the activity.
How can teachers evaluate and choose textbooks?
Tomlinson (2003, p. 15) defines materials evaluation as “a procedure that involves
measuring the value (or potential value) of a set of learning materials”. Teachers
should also know how to select the most appropriate coursebook for class use
among the ever growing number of coursebooks on the market. Evaluation and
selecting the right coursebook is highly important although assessing materials
impressionistically may lead to superficial judgments and wrong choices. “Materials
evaluation is essentially a matching process in which the needs and assumptions
of a particular teaching-learning context are matched to the available solutions”
(Hutchinson, 1987, p. 41). Teachers need to develop some criteria to ensure a good
match and even pre-service teachers of English can evaluate coursebooks and
propose alternative solutions to the problems identified (Arikan, 2009).
The evaluation and selection of materials is worth the time and effort put to it. A
wrong choice might cause waste of money and time, not to mention the frustration
on the part of both the children and the teacher. A deeper evaluation of materials
can help select the most appropriate coursebook among the available ones and
identify any mismatches between what the coursebook offers and what a specific
group of pupils need, thus what needs to be tailored. Even if a perfect book for
everyone cannot be found, choosing the one that is most appropriate in a particular
42 Theoretical Considerations
learning situation can reduce problems during classroom implementation.
The process of choosing the right book is not an easy task and the process might
inherently be very superficial and subjective. There are a number of models and
frameworks for assessing coursebooks and attempts can be made to carry out a
more systematic and principled assessment. Below, approaches and criteria to be
employed in the selection and evaluation of instructional materials will be reviewed.
Rea-Dickins (1994) summarises three kinds of evaluation:
• pre-use evaluation which can be done prior to the use of a coursebook
(for the purpose of checking the construct validity and the match with the
needs)
• in-use evaluation
• post-use evaluation, measured in terms of learners’ performance.
McDonough and Shaw’s (1993) two-stage model for coursebook evaluation is an
apparently logical and practical framework for conducting a detailed analysis of a
coursebook: the external (outside the core of the student’s book) evaluation which
offers a brief ‘overview’ of the materials from the outside (cover, introduction,
table of contents), which is then followed by a closer and more detailed internal
evaluation’ (p. 66). Having externally evaluated the book and decided that it is
potentially suitable as a coursebook, McDonough and Shaw’s model prescribes
an in-depth internal evaluation of ‘at least two units (preferably more)’ (p. 75).
It provides a greater perception of the book’s strengths and weaknesses, which
enables the teacher to focus on the weak points and adapt or supplement them
accordingly.
Teachers spend much more time in the classroom, observing and practicing than
anybody else in the field and they are supposed to know much about their learners.
Undoubtedly, what teachers believe to be valuable and useful is important. In some
cases, teachers have the last word regarding the selection of a coursebook for the
program; in some other cases they may have some or very little influence on the
selection of the textbook among the available ones. In both cases, they need to be
provided with an outline to pick up the coursebooks, or the materials, that have the
most potential benefit for the given students.
With the increase in commercially produced language teaching materials, the need
for a more systematic approach to materials evaluation emerged. Evaluation forms,
mostly in the form of checklists, have been used to determine, or predict, the extent
to which the materials fulfill suitability for use in particular teaching contexts.
Checklists offer systematic and comprehensive evaluation and comparison.
They are also cost and time effective. In this chapter, we offer a teacher-friendly
materials evaluation checklist (see Appendix 1). The checklist offers a quick and
handy evaluation of coursebooks. Several checklists are reviewed and integrated
so as to ensure a wider coverage (Breen & Candlin, 1987; Cunningsworth, 1984;
McDonough & Shaw, 1993; Tanner & Green 1998; Varela, 2003). Hopefully, it will
Materials 43
serve a valuable tool for teachers and school administrators. For other checklists materials currently in use or order to find out to what degree, how and why they
to evaluate and compare materials for young learners, refer to Halliwell (1992) and facilitate the learning of language.
Varela (2003).
What are some useful links for teachers who work with young learners?
Discussion question
Here are some of the hundreds of useful links for teachers of young learners for
1. Discuss what features should be assessed while evaluating materials. Write their professional development and resources for materials to be used with young
in list form the areas to be assessed. Compare your list to the one in the learners. Thanks to the World Wide Web, teachers from all around the globe can
suggestions below. access and share materials, experiences and suggestions.
• General Appearance
http://www.pumpkin.com
• Layout and Design
http://englishstorytime.pbworks.com
• Methodology
http://www.esl4kids.net/
• Appearance
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/
• Language Skills
http://www.kindersite.org
• Language content
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
• Topic Content
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/
• Level and Activities
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/kid_frame.html
• Supplementary Resources
http://www.onestopenglish.com/
• Teachability and Flexibility
http://www.supersimplesongs.com/
• Assessment
http://www.mes-english.com/
• Adequacy in terms of Ministry of Education requirements
http://www.english-4kids.com/
2. For each area above, write at least two statements indicating level of
agreement or disagreement, and then compare your list to the checklist http://www.englishclub.com/young-learners/
provided in Appendix 1. http://eslcafe.com/search/Kids/index.html
http://www.kidsonthenet.org.uk/
So as to obtain a comprehensive view of what is happening in teaching English
as a foreign language to young learners in different countries, the British Council http://www.dltk-kids.com/
conducted a survey titled “Worldwide Survey of Primary English” in 2004 which http://www.countryschool.com/ylsig2/
involved 42 countries (including Turkey). The survey revealed that teachers of http://www.genkienglish.net/index.htm
young learners use various materials in their classrooms: original materials http://www.the-bus-stop.net/
devised by themselves, lesson materials they adapt from several published sources,
http://www.teachchildrenesl.com/
international published coursebooks, and local published coursebooks and so on.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/younglearners/
It appears that the creation of suitable materials is of primary importance. When
English for young learners is newly introduced in an education system, international
materials are often used. Then local authors and publishers take into action to
produce more context-specific materials that cater for the needs of given learners.
Most governments fund large scale textbook projects run by ministries of education.
All these vigorous efforts are to meet the relatively new demand on teaching English
to young learners.
This chapter is concerned with what language teachers could do in order to improve
the quality of materials used for the teaching of English to young learners in primary
schools. The chapter also focuses on how to carry out systematic evaluation of

44 Theoretical Considerations Materials 45

 APPENDIX 1

Excellent
COURSEBOOK EVALUATION CHECKLIST

Good
Poor

Fair
The topics are interesting and relevant for
children.

The content is graded in terms of difficulty.

The content is free of material that might be

offensive in terms of accepted community
standards.

The content serves as a window into the target

language culture.

The cultural aspects presented are significant

Mark the scale to indicate your agreement or disagreement with each statement. and appropriate for children.

There is a broad and diverse presentation of

Excellent
other cultures and countries.

Good
Poor

Content
Fair

The content is up-to-date and accurate.

The content is adaptable to students’ needs,

interests and abilities.
The cover is attractive.
The cover and binding are durable. The content covers a wide range of activities
The illustrations are appealing for children. and materials.
The illustrations are suitable for the cognitive
First Impression

The vocabulary and language are significant

development of children.
and presented appropriately for the age group.
The illustrations successfully convey the
concepts. The skills (listening, speaking, reading
The layout is appropriate (densely cluttered and writing) are integrated and practiced
pages, appropriate print, large margins etc.). appropriately for children.
The price is fair.
There is constant revision of the vocabulary
The book contents and supplementary
and structures learnt.
materials look fun and interesting to children.
The units are well organized and offer easy The language is introduced in a meaningful
progression. context.

46 Theoretical Considerations Materials 47

 The More The Merrier

Excellent
Good
SB TB WB Cassettes CDs

Poor

Fair
flashcards puppet videos software
What components make up the total with multimedia website posters
course package? Circle any available. picture dictionary free tests
graded readers photocopiable extra
The teacher’s book gives useful and complete
materials cut-outs
guidance.
Your comments about the overall quality of the coursebook:
It offers extra activities (optional activities for
• What are the outstanding features of the book?
various types of learners, photocopiable sheets
• What are the shortcomings of the book?
etc.).

The suggestions for the teacher are flexible

and adaptable to a variety of student needs?
Teacher & Learner Issues

The solutions to the activities and exercises are

correct and clear.
Learner Issues

The book is part of a series, all of which are

suitable for other levels in your school.

The book covers the syllabus of the school to a

sufficient extent.

The coursebook meets the long-term and

short-term goals specific to your learners.

The activities focus on different ways in which

students learn (various learning styles and
multiple intelligences).

The activities and tasks are appropriate for

children in terms of context and level.

The material provides adequate opportunities

for learner assessment.
Assessment

The material provides periodical revisions for

diagnostic purposes.

The material offers various tasks that allow for

portfolio assessment.

48 Theoretical Considerations Materials 49

 APPENDIX 2 APPENDIX 3
• Below is an activity from “Spot on” Grade 6. Supplement the activity for
learners who need more practice. On the 1st and 3rd columns describe the
animals in Sheet A. Cut the red lines and
make windows. On the 2nd and 4th columns,
insert pictures of animals in Sheet B. Stick
them on top of each other. Read about the
animal. Guess what that is. Then open
window to check.
Have fun! 

50 Theoretical Considerations Materials 51

 APPENDIX 4 Lemon Lion Cupcake Recipe (imperatives)
Below are some sample authentic materials that can be used with young learners:
Listen to the song and number the lines in the correct order.
Sing along and circle and match pictures with lines of the lyric.

CLOSE YOUR EYES GO TO SLEEP

___ a. Just to guide you on your way,
___ b. Close your eyes, go to sleep
___ c. And the stars, in the sky
___ d. And the moon, up on high
___ e. Mr. Sandman is waiting
___ f. Will be twinkling for you
___ g. Shines his light on your pillow
___ h. With his basket full of dreams

(retrieved on September 8, 2011 at http://bussongs.com/songs/close_your_eyes_go_to_

sleep.php

(Retrieved on September 9, 2011 at http://kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/littlekids/lemon-

lion-cupcakes.html

52 Theoretical Considerations Materials 53

 APPENDIX 5
Below is the story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Read through the story, and
devise activities for the story. Decide your learners’ age and level. You may need to
simplify or shorten the story. At the end of the story, you will find some questions
for reflection and suggestions for activities11aa.
Goldilocks and The Three Bears
This is the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Look! Here are the three bears.
Father Bear is very big. Mother Bear is big. And Baby Bear is small. And here is their
house. It is in a forest.
The three bears like porridge. Every morning, Mother Bear makes porridge. This
morning the porridge is very hot.
“Let’s go for a walk,” says Father Bear. “We can eat the porridge later.”
Here is Goldilocks. Goldilocks is not a good girl. She is a naughty girl. Goldilocks is
walking in the forest. Look! She can smell the porridge. And she is hungry.
Goldilocks sees the house and she climbs through the window.
Now, Goldilocks is in the kitchen. She sees three bowls of porridge on the table. There
is a very big bowl. There is a big bowl. And there is a small bowl.
First, Goldilocks tries the very big bowl. “Ouch! This porridge is too hot,” she says.
Next, Goldilocks tries the big bowl. “This porridge is too cold,” she says.
Then, Goldilocks tries the small bowl. “Mmmm! This porridge is nice,” she says. And
Goldilocks eats all Baby Bear’s porridge.
Next, Goldilocks goes into the living room. She sees three chairs. First, Goldilocks sits
on the very big chair. “I don’t like this chair. It’s too big,” she says.
Next, Goldilocks sits on the big chair. “I don’t like this chair. It’s too big,” she says.
Then, Goldilocks sits on the small chair. “I like this chair,” she says.
But Baby Bear’s chair is not very strong. It breaks. “Oh dear!” says Goldilocks.
Then, Goldilocks goes into the bedroom. She sees three beds. First, Goldilocks sits on
the very big bed. “I don’t like this bed. It’s too hard,” she says.
Next, Goldilocks sits on the big bed. “I don’t like this bed. It’s too soft,” she says.
Then, Goldilocks sits on the small bed. “I like this bed,” she says. Look! Goldilocks is
asleep now.
54 Theoretical Considerations
The three bears come home. They are very hungry. They go into the kitchen.
Father Bear looks at his bowl of porridge. “Oh, no!” he says. Mother Bear looks at her
bowl of porridge. “Oh, dear!” she says. Baby Bear looks at his bowl of porridge. “There
is no porridge in my bowl!” he says.
Father Bear is very angry. Mother Bear is angry too. And Baby Bear is very upset.
“Let’s look in the living room,” says Father Bear.
The three bears go into the living room. “Look!” says Father Bear. “There is porridge
on my chair.”
“Look! There is porridge on my chair too,” says Mother Bear.
“Look! My chair is broken!” says Baby Bear.
Father Bear is very angry. Mother Bear is angry too. And Baby Bear is very upset.
“Let’s look into the bedroom,” says Father Bear.
The three bears go into the bedroom. “Look! My bed is untidy,” says Father Bear. He is
very angry. “Look! My bed is untidy too,” says Mother Bear. “Mum, dad look! There is a
girl in my bed,” says Baby Bear. He is very shocked.
They come and look at the girl. They are very angry. Father Bear opens his mouth and
growls. “Rooarrrr!”
Goldilocks wakes up. And she sees the three bears.
Goldilocks screams. “Aaaaaaghh!” She jumps out of bed. She runs out of the bed. And
she runs through the forest and far away.
The three bears never see Goldilocks again. And Goldilocks is never naughty again.
Brainstorming and suggestions:
• The story involves enough repetitive language. What language can be
studied with the story? For which age group do you think this story is
appropriate?
• How can you make it easier for your students to comprehend the story?
(Body language, demonstration, puppets or toys can be used to dramatize
the story to make meaning clear. Beautiful color illustrations depicting
scenes will definitely help. You can devise a craft activity in which learners
color and cut out pictures of the bear family and a little girl. Then, they
can stick them to straws and thus have puppets for the story. You can use
puppets to act scenes out).
• Are there any vocabulary items that need to be simplified? (e.g. rather
than using “porridge”, you can use “soup” which is probably familiar with
the learners).
• If you need to shorten the story, which parts can be eliminated? (how
about one of the repeated patterns?)
• What kind of activities can be conducted about the story? (e.g. drawing,
coloring, matching, TPR, puzzles, flashcards. You can even write simple
play script depicting scenes from the story. Your students would be
thrilled to act scenes out).
Materials 55
 Lesson Planning
H. Sezgi Saraç

Planning a lesson: Why do teachers need it?

Each class should have a design in its own since a class is the core of the whole
education, curriculum and teaching/learning process. Just as the building blocks
of a construction, a class time ranging from fort-five to sixty minutes constitutes
one block of the complete structure. Teachers need to design such classes that
each of them should be interconnected with the other classes, the sources used
and the curriculum. For professional teachers, prior lesson planning is not optional
since it is the indispensible part of language instruction and it is the decision
making process on what and how they are going to teach. Otherwise, teachers
who do not establish their objectives and activities beforehand will find themselves
captured by the coursebook in a mechanical way or improvising classes deprived
of material, timing and purposive concerns (Pearse, 2000). Even though flexibility
and improvisation are crucial aspects of classroom teaching, students can easily
distinguish between an unplanned and planned teacher, which identifies their level
of interest and respect towards the subject matter.
Novice teachers usually prefer detailed instructional plans designed prior to the
lessons; nevertheless, as time passes, the experience gathered in the profession
enables practitioners to have less detailed written designs functioning as reminders,
and the rest of the plan resides in the teacher’s mind. Until gaining sufficient
experience in teaching, detailed prior plans of teaching provide relief and assurance
for teachers. Lesson plans are not pre-structured or restrictive rules of a class time
but a guidance leading practitioners all through the lesson. The aim of this chapter to
inform the readers on how to write lesson plans for the teaching of English language.

Preliminary Questions
Before reading the chapter, go over the questions below and state your ideas related
to them.
1. What is a lesson plan?
2. Why do we need lesson plans?
3. What are the points a teacher needs to take into consideration before
planning a lesson?
Think about it:
4. What should be the
stages of a lesson How much time do you allocate as a teacher to
plan? take the attendance of a class of 20 students?

1 minute? 5 minutes? 15 minutes?

56 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 57

Things to do before planning a lesson

Pre-Planning
A number of crucial factors are to be taken into consideration before starting to plan a
lesson. Some of these factors are namely; the students’ level of language proficiency,
their learning needs, educational and cultural background, their types of motivation
and their probable learning styles (Harmer, 2001). A teacher needs to observe
and collect data on the target group of learners’ personal needs and preferences
of language learning and of achievement level as well as their previous learning
experiences. In addition to the knowledge on learners, a practitioner is to tailor the
lesson plan content in accordance to the previous classes, syllabus and the curriculum.

Coursebook exploration and evaluation

If you as the class teacher or the institution you work for have chosen a coursebook to
follow, the first issue to accomplish is to explore the coursebook content. However, if
you do not have an adequate textbook selected for your learners, then the planning
processes is more involved. The teachers should review different teaching materials
and sources to bring together before planning the syllabus and lesson plans. This
way or the other, a teacher needs to explore the content of a source or sources,
which will lead them to the coursebook or material exploration stage.
Actually, what the coursebook suggests can guide the teachers; nevertheless, it is Material Adaptation and Development
a material published for national or international market of mass education, not
After discovering the content and nature of materials, it is time for teachers to adapt
specifically for the group of learners that you teach: One size definitely does not fit
them in line with “practical realities” (Harmer, 1991). The logistics of classroom in
all! Even though teachers appreciate the key role of coursebooks in giving direction
which practitioners give the language instruction; such as,
and continuity to language learning, they prefer substituting some items with other
ones which are more relevant for the students they teach (Senior, 2006). Therefore, Think about it:
the first stage in planning is the evaluation of teaching material, identifying its - After exploring the activity above, discuss in
strengths and weaknesses by taking into consideration the learners you teach. The what way or ways you would make changes in it or
class size, students’ learning needs and the teaching goals you target to achieve will have additions to it.
guide you during the exploration and evaluation process.
After identifying the coursebook content and its aim, it is possible to make • student population,
modifications related with it. As it is acknowledged by Doff (1988), the teaching
• existence or nonexistence of technological devices,
material may focus on a particular
topic for the purpose of vocabulary • time allocation,
Think about it:
teaching; such as, learning the names • seating arrangement and alike identify the practical reality of the
- Do you know the coursebooks used in
of colors or practicing the lexical items instructional settings. In a language class of thirty students, teachers may
primary education in Turkey?
to buy clothes. The focal point may prefer adapting their individual work materials, and may turn them into
also be a particular structure; namely, - What do you think about these books? pair or group work activities. Besides, in crowded classes again, individual
describing actions in the present hand-outs can be shared via a transparency on the overhead projector, if
progressive aspect. Last but not least, the content might be targeting the practice there is one in the classroom.
of a specific skill or of integrated skills. Depending on the knowledge of classroom and its logistics, teachers either adapt,
Have a look at the example coursebook activity below and discuss what the aim which is making slight changes, or develop new materials in order to respond their
seems to be: learners’ language needs. Taking into consideration the skill or language aspect the

58 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 59

learners need to improve more, practitioners may Writing a Lesson Plan
• rearrange the sequence of applications suggested in the coursebook, Teachers usually experiment with different styles and content of lesson planning.
• adapt the content of some of activities and/or Even though the variations are plenty in lesson plan organization, there happens to
be an agreement on the essential parts of planning among teachers. When teachers
• change one or more applications with others.
find the format that suits well with their instructional style and preferences, they
One definition of teaching might be the manipulation of instructional materials
keep on using it with minimal changes.
for the sake of fulfilling target group of learners’ needs and interests. The more
Within a lesson plan, you can find the information on the target language, group of
you redesign and restructure the material you have in hand, the more you attain
learners, materials used and time span allocated for each application. The plans
purposeful teaching.
also report to the reader on aims, objectives and the procedural plan.
Think about it: Explore the activity below
- What are the -practical realities- of state prepared for the 5th graders. Section of description
schools in Turkey? Discuss what kinds of adaptations Having a close look at the materials selected and completing the adaptation
you would suggest to turn it into procedure, a teacher identifies the goal and objectives of a lesson plan, which is the
- What kind of teaching materials would be
both a group work and an info- framework of a class hour of teaching. However, while writing the lesson plan, before
more beneficial for students in Turkish state
gap activity. starting with the goal and objectives, teachers provide the related descriptions of
schools?
context in detail. Teachers prefer including such an initial section as they write
lesson plans for managerial reasons as well; such as informing a substitute teacher
before taking the class over or a supervisor coming to class to observe (Celce-
Murcia, 1991). The content of this section may include any type of information on
the instruction, students and setting. Some of the items that can be included in the
section are as follows:
a. Grade / School
b. Date
c. Name of instructor
d. Students:
Demographics, learner characteristics, etc.
e. Duration of lesson:
The time allocated for teaching.
f. Learners’ background knowledge:
The previous course material the students reviewed.
g. Teaching materials and aids:
The instructional materials to be used; namely, the coursebook, CD player, OHP, etc.

Goal(s)
A goal describes the overall purpose of a lesson to be accomplished by the end of the
class time. It can be stated in general terms but provides a framework of reference
for the design of activities and procedure. A lesson may include one or more goals
depending on learner variables
Think about it: and instructional concerns. The
Review the list of items in the description samples of goals are given as
section. What other items would you like to follows:
include in the list and why?

60 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 61


Students will read and write a personal letter.
Students will ask and answer questions about what they like and dislike.
Students will talk about their future plans.
Students will give and ask for information on quantities and numbers.
Students will give simple descriptions of people.
Think about it:
Have a look at the extract from the content page of a coursebook for young
learners of English. Discuss what could be the goal or goals of such a unit.
Adapted from Bates-Treloar, F. and Thompson, S. (2007, p. iv), Start with English B: Pupil’s Book.
Ankara: Nüans Publishing.
Objectives
Objectives are explicit statements on what the teacher aims to achieve in each
stage of the lesson. A goal may describe the overall aim of a class, but objectives
are in detail and procedural descriptions of how to achieve the goal/s. Therefore,
objectives describe the learning outcomes expected at the end of each class time.
The overall aim of a class might be to improve the listening skill; nevertheless, the
objectives of such a class can be:
• identifying the gist of the spoken text,
62 Theoretical Considerations
• distinguishing between literal and implied meanings, and/or
• taking notes to outline the text.
If the objectives are stated in the same sequence of pre-planned in-class applications,
they provide an illustration of a mini lesson plan with steps, stages and procedure.
A teacher may accomplish one objective at a time and go on with the following one
until the class is over.
In order to form an objective, the teacher selects and brings together the related
in-class activities. If an application is comprehensive enough, it can be described
in one objective. However, usually two or more different applications enable the
practitioner to achieve an objective. These applications can be from the same
coursebook or might be a compilation of different sources at the end of a material
exploration procedure and by keeping in mind the specific group of learners’
language learning needs. While deciding upon lesson objectives, the practitioner
needs to predetermine what s/he targets to accomplish in a class hour. Besides,
these objectives should follow such a sequence that they maintain unity and
coherence for a purposeful and well flowing class.
As illustrated in the suggested activities taken from the coursebook below, learners
get involved in three different applications to set sentences and describe occupations
in the English language:
Adapted from Herrera, M. and Pinkley, D. (2005, pp.50, 51), Backpack 2. New York: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Applying these three activities of warm-up, simultaneous listening and reading and
finally speaking, the teacher aims at enabling learners describe people’s occupations.
Therefore, the objective of these applications can be stated as:
Lesson Planning 63
 natural connection between the Think about it:
By the end of the class, the learners will be able to describe people’s objectives determined and the
What other key words would you add to
occupations by setting spoken sentences. sequence of activities planned for
each category in the table above?
application. Therefore, it is better to
Think about it: Some keywords can be included in more
start with easier tasks and process
Think about it: What are the stages of teaching a skill-based class? towards the harder ones. It is also than one category. What are these
What are the stages of a grammar class? suggested that practitioners have keywords?
quiet activities before the lively
While writing objectives, it is highly recommended that teachers avoid using vague ones because of the classroom management concerns. What is more, practitioners
statements such as ‘learn’, ‘do’ or ‘understand’ (Brown, 2001). Since the learning aim to achieve smooth and easy transitions among different applications and end the
outcome described in an objective is supposed to be observable and measurable, class with a positive note in order to enable the learners leave the class with the sense
the language used to write an objective should be specific enough (Wiseman, et al., of achievement (Ur, 1996).
2002). Instead of using unverifiable statements, prefer setting such statements that Explore the activities below. What do you think should be the sequence of application
you can confirm their realization. As in the example objective suggested above, the of these activities?
success of such an objective may easily be observed if learners can come up with
their own sentences to describe occupations.
The taxonomy suggested by Bloom, et al. (1956), which is over fifty years old
now, suggest a working framework of cognition levels which can be made use of
while writing objectives. These levels of cognition are categorized in six groups of
‘knowledge’, ‘comprehension’, ‘application’, ‘analysis’, ‘synthesis’ and ‘evaluation’.
The key verbs of each category can help practitioners write appropriate objectives:
Evaluation

Synthesis Evaluate

Analysis Summarize Criticize

Application Categorize Argue Prove

Comprehension Predict Analyze Organize Support

Knowledge Describe Explain Compare Conclude Confirm

Choose Explain Choose Contrast Combine Assess

Define Discuss Perform Distinguish Create Support

List Summarize Interpret Infer Reorganize Determine

Match Express Order Question Synthesize Defend

Name Identify Relate Conclude

Underline Outline Prepare Adapted from Gray, E. (2001, pp.17, 19). The express picture dictionary for young learners:
Label Classify Activity book. Berkshire: Express Publishing.

Write
Repeat
Since a lesson is composed of parts of applicational units, each objective indicates
one section of a whole class time. Depending on what a teacher wants to achieve,
the number and sequence of objectives are identified. There is supposed to be a
Now, write the objective for the in-class activities above:
By the end of the class, the learners will be able to ……………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………….....................................

64 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 65

Examine the activity given below and decide what other activities you would add introduced to the learners. In the Practice stage, learners are involved in usually
before and/or after it. guided language exercises, and then in the Production stage, learners take part
in free or open-ended activities by using the target language item or items. In a
more detailed format of teaching the language item, the usage is introduced in the
Familialization stage: the teacher usually opens up a conversation using the target
structure. In the Presentation stage, the item is illustrated in a written or oral text
for learners’ self-discovery of pattern or usage. The following stages are devoted
to application in a staged structure, which are Controlled, Guided and Free practice.
In Controlled practice, learners’ possible language productions are ‘controlled’.
Learners usually select from multiple answers to identify the correct usage; for
example, they take part in:
• multiple choice questions,
• fill-in-the-blank exercises,
• drills,
• reading aloud,
• dictation,
• sequencing a dialogue/text given in jumbled order,
• role play demonstration.
In Guided practice, learners are ‘guided’ to use the target structure. The students
do not come up with their own complete language productions yet, but they use the
structure in a limited setting:
• completing sentences,
Bates-Treloar, F. and Thompson, S. (2007, p. 13). • writing the missing parts of speech or phrases,
• suggesting an end for a paragraph,
Now, write the objective for the series of activities you suggested for the previous
application. • adding a line to a poem,
• suggesting a title for a paragraph.
By the end the class, the learners will be able to ....…………………………… In Free practice stage, learners create language productions on their own. Even
though Guided and Controlled activities aim ‘accuracy’ via limited language outputs
……………………………………………………………………………………….....................................
by learners, Free practice activities are more expanded with a focus on ‘fluency’.
Some of the example in-class applications for Free practice are:
Sequencing the activities: Procedure • simulation,
Determining the goals and objectives, the teacher decides on the sequence of • interview,
activities as well. Within a lesson plan, the interrelated organization and planning of • problem solving,
a class-time is reflected in the procedure part. The practitioner explains each stage • paragraph/composition writing,
of a lesson in detail under the title ‘procedure’. Depending upon the aim of a class,
• drama,
which might be the teaching of skills, vocabulary or grammar, the sequencing is
determined. • discussion,

In a traditional language class, the sequence of activities is based upon: Presentation- • conversation,
Practice- Production (PPP). In the Presentation stage, the new language item is • games.

66 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 67

 Think about it:
Review the stages below and decide how much time you would allocate for
Read the procedure taken from a lesson plan and decide if it is a ‘controlled’, each stage if you applied it in a class of fifteen students and why?
‘guided’ or ‘free’ activity.
Stage Procedure Time
Procedure:
Lead in Learners brainstorm on what they do on _______ mins.
Students work in pairs and they receive two copies of the same ‘holidays’.
letter with some missing parts (the missing parts include the target
Pre- The teacher introduces five vocabulary _______ mins.
structure). To create info-gap, the missing parts in each letter are
reading items (canoeing, drowning, life-jacket,
different. When a student reads the letter, the other student writes
life guard , compass) via visuals and
the missing sentences in his/her letter. Finally, the completed letters
realia .
are checked by reading out the original letter once .
While- Students read and match six pictures _______ mins.
Now, suggest descriptions of procedure for the stages other than the one applied reading with the paragraphs in the text.
above.
Students complete six paragraphs with _______ mins.
six sentences given in hand-outs.
For the teaching of skills, practitioners usually follow Pre-, While-, Post- stages of
application. Especially for the teaching of listening and reading skills, this three-
staged cycle of applications are preferred in designing the lesson procedure. Pre- Think about it:
reading or Pre-listening stages enable the teacher to present the content, activate What kind of a post-reading activity would you suggest for the procedural plan
learners’ prior knowledge and pre-teach active vocabulary. During While-reading/ given above?
listening, learners work on the written or audio text for comprehension. In the Post
How much time would you allocate for the post-reading stage?
stage, the teacher applies a follow-up which usually targets the integration of skills
via practicing a different skill with the same content. For the teaching of speaking While applying a pre-planned lesson in the classroom, the practitioners are often
skill, the initial stages of procedure are usually devoted to ‘controlled’ language advised to be -flexible-. No matter how well the class procedure is designed,
practice which is followed by ‘freer’ practice stages. For vocabulary teaching, there might be unexpected results or reactions that might be obtained during the
different teaching techniques are sequenced for the teaching of different items application phase. In such a case, it is required to take action; such as changing the
which are graded from easy to difficult, simple to complex and concrete to abstract. sequence of applications, adapting the content of applications accordingly and/or
For lessons designed in line with task-based approach, teachers usually prefer to changing the time span devoted for activities. In each lesson plan, a contingency
follow the sequence of Pre-task activities, The task cycle, The language focus, and a plan section needs to be included so that the teacher can change an activity that
Follow-up task. does not work with the contingency one. Besides, if there happens to be extra time
While deciding upon lesson sequencing, one of the main constraints is ‘timing’. left in a class hour, the teacher will apply that contingency plan so that s/he can
The teacher needs to make decisions on timing by taking into account the learner make the most of class time.
variables; such as, language proficiency level, motivation, classroom population and Lesson plan format
so on. It is required for practitioners to estimate how much time an activity will take
The teacher can design lesson plans which are;
and to allocate a time span accordingly.
• vertical or
• horizontal in format.
In addition, the explanations included in plans may be provided in:
• full sentences or in
• phrases.
If a practitioner wants to make sure of the instructions to be used during the class,
s/he can include them in the lesson plans as well. Besides, for the sake of being

68 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 69

specific, the procedure stage might be written in: Examine the sample lesson plan and the suggested materials given below and
• sample dialogues between the teacher and students; otherwise, the identify the aim of the lesson:
descriptions stated in Date:05.04.2012 Grade: 7th
Instructor: Senem Özkul
• sentences or only in phrases are sufficient. Students: 25 students with high motivation School: Ata Primary School
Among various ways of designing lesson plans, the teacher selects the one which is but easily distracted. They are very keen on Materials:Visuals, Coursebook.
more practical and useful. pair and group work.
Duration: 45 minutes.
Learners’ background knowledge: They
Remember: read and spoke on daily habits and different
What is a teacher supposed to do before preparing a lesson plan? personality types: introverts and extroverts.

What are the items you are required to include in a lesson plan? Aim: ………………………………………………………………………………………….
Objectives: By the end of lesson, learners will be able to
Which items do you think the most important ones in a lesson plan?
deduce information from a listening text to describe a person in distinct written
Which items might be optional in a lesson plan? sentences and by giving reasons.
describe their own habits, likes and dislikes in a written paragraph.
Procedure:
a. Lead-in and warm up: The teacher starts a conversation on free-time
activities and pre-teaches vocabulary by using visuals. The vocabulary
3
items to teach are: trekking, playing cards, cycling, scuba diving and
mins.
motor racing.
b. Speaking and brainstorming: The learners make guesses on what the
2
main character likes doing in her free time and set spoken sentences
mins.
on activities by giving reasons.
c. Listening and note-taking: The learners listen to a text and take
5
notes on activities of like/dislike and the related reasons. They listen to
mins.
the text for two times.
d. Writing and speaking: The learners write complete sentences on
what the main character likes and dislikes doing by stating the reasons 10
as well. Later, they work in pairs first and then as a whole group to mins.
check their statements.
e. Outlining and speaking: The students create an outline on their habits,
10
routines, likes and dislikes. Then, they work in pairs and compare their
mins.
outlines.
f. Free writing: The students write one or two paragraphs on their 10
habits, routines, likes and dislikes. mins.
g. Concluding: The teacher let some students read their productions 5
and reviews the target vocabulary and expressions to conclude. mins.
Contingency Plan:
The students write three or four sentences about their habits, likes and
dislikes on different pieces of paper and fold them. A learner picks one
folded slip of paper, reads the sentences and the whole class tries to
guess the writer of sentences.

70 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 71

 Think about it: Think about it:
Within the lesson plan, there exist two instructional objectives but seven steps You can design the sample lesson plan by using the procedure used for
in the procedure. Discuss and identify which steps belong to the first and second the teaching of writing: pre-, while- and post-. In addition, the procedure:
objectives. ‘controlled’, ‘guided’ and ‘free’ writing can be also used.

The coursebook materials used in the lesson plan are given in jumbled order below. Choose one of the alternative procedures, decide which applications can be
Find the applications that are covered in each procedural step. included in that procedure and redesign the plan accordingly.

Tasks for further study

1. Write an objective for the in-class activity given below.

A big enough picture showing various numbers of things that

Materials:
are happening in a street.
Show the picture only for one or two minutes, then hide it
and ask learners to write down as many sentences as they
Procedure: can remember. Check students’ productions with the picture.
The activity is done as a group competition on which group
can remember the most activities (Ur, 2006).

Objective: …………………………………………………………………………

2. Suggest procedures for the objectives given below.

By the end of the class, the learners will be able to draw and describe an
animal.

By the end of the class, the learners will be able to give and follow instructions
stated in imperatives that are in the written and spoken form.

By the end of the class, the learners will be able to list and explain the rules in
their homes and school.

3. Design a lesson plan which aims the teaching of coursebook materials given
below. You can adapt the materials suggested or add different materials depending
on the lesson aim you identified.
Adapted from Arıkan, A., et. al (2011). English Break: A2. Ankara: Gündüz Yayıncılık.

72 Theoretical Considerations Lesson Planning 73

 Theme-Based Teaching: Environmental
Education
Esim Gürsoy

In this chapter, theme-based teaching and the integration of environmental issues

to young learner language classroom will be discussed. The section will provide
information about organizing language lessons around some environmental issues.
Considering the characteristics of child learners and their cognitive abilities, some
tips will be given to make language lessons interesting.
Preliminary questions
1. Do you think that children are or can be interested in environmental
problems such as global warming, air pollution, endangered animals,
recycling … etc.?
2. Do children have developed cognitive abilities to understand
complicated concepts related to the environment?
3. Why is it important to use environmental issues as part of language
lessons?

Adapted from Arıkan, A., et. al (2011). English Break: A2. Ankara: Gündüz.
Theme-based teaching
Theme-based teaching, also referred to as topic-based teaching, refers to designing
a lesson by organizing it around a topic (Moon, 2000). In theme-based teaching, the
teacher’s aim is not to teach the whole topic in every detail but to help the learner
use the topic to learn the certain aspects of the language (Bourke, 2006). In other
words, the theme becomes the context of the language learning material.
Theme-based learning has several advantages: First, the use of appropriate topics
would attract children’s interest. This focused attention creates a need to use and
comprehend the foreign language being learned (Gürsoy, 2010). Topics and themes
provide meaningful contexts for learning a foreign language by giving children a
concrete setting for learning. Moreover, meaningful contexts enable the use of
different skills and discourse types (Yang, 2009).
Providing a concrete reason for children to learn a foreign language at the primary
level is challenging for teachers. Children do not have a need to learn English as
they can perfectly communicate in their mother tongue. So, language learning
in a classroom environment is nothing but an obligation for children as they do
not know why they are learning it. Of course, most of them may hear from their
parents or older siblings that it is important to learn English, but as opposed to ESL
environments, learning English is not an immediate need that they can relate to.
Learning the formal rules of the new language is challenging and meaningless for
children as the rules are abstract and children up to the age of 11 cannot develop
understanding of the abstract. According to Piaget, the period of formal operations
is the final stage of cognitive developmental stages and children move to this

74 Theoretical Considerations Theme-based Teaching 75

final stage around age 11. Therefore, it is necessary for every foreign language
teacher (and every parent alike) to give young learners a reason to learn a foreign
language. As children do not have realistic future plans, reasons should be given
within the ‘here and now’ principle. Short term objectives can affect the classroom
environment positively and motivate students by creating a desire to learn. Thus,
providing students with interesting topics, games, and projects would give them
opportunities for meaningful language use.
Children love dealing with themes. Theme-based teaching helps children associate
their own life experiences with a specific topic (Scott & Ytreberg, 1990). When
children’s learning is supported with children’s previous knowledge and experience,
it becomes easier for children to learn the new information by connecting the
past knowledge with the newer one. This goes hand in hand with the principle
that children’s learn materials and processes should move from the known to the
unknown and from the concrete to the more abstract (Moon, 2000).
In theme-based teaching, content and language knowledge are integrated by taking
children’s ways of learning into consideration. Thus, theme-based teaching;
1. involves students with concrete activities during which they focus on meaning,
2. includes activities that trigger the use of multi-sensory approach by helping
children gain first hand experiences,
3. stimulates the desire for communication and socialization (Moon, 2000).
Discussion questions
Which theme (topic) given in each pair is more suitable for young learners’
interests and expectation. Explain your reasons by giving specific developmental
reasons.
1 3
employment the type of music I like
my father’s job the songs I like
2 4
education colors
schools sounds
Cameron (2001) argues that theme-based learning helps children’s vocabulary
learning positively. Theme-based teaching supports the learning process by enabling
children in linking certain vocabulary items, structures, and/ or situations via the
theme selected. Such an activity helps the storage and retrieval of information
(Scott & Ytreberg, 1990). Finally, during the detailed exploration of a topic (Scott
& Ytreberg, 1990) children develop ideas, emotions, and awareness related to it
(Gursoy, 2010). Dealing with certain themes also helps the development of critical
thinking skills. In theme-based teaching, the lesson is organized with the use of
different types of activities that are linked to each other. This type of organization
is called activity-based learning, which is perfectly appropriate with children’s
76 Theoretical Considerations
characteristics, and their cognitive and social development. The benefit of planning
the lesson around a theme with activities is twofold:
1. Children have opportunity to “learn and practice language, concepts, and
skills” (Moon, 2000, p. 119),
2. L2 is used in a meaningful and purposeful way (ibid.).
Cameron (2001) also argues that theme-based teaching suits children’s natural
way of learning. Therefore, in many primary schools, language learning is usually
organized around themes to facilitate children’s comprehension. Examination of
any ESL/EFL coursebook will show us that the units are always categorized under
certain topics such as family members, school, pets, seasons, toys, clothes, and
many others. Themes that are chosen according to the “here and now” principle and
that are interesting help children create a map of related issues in their minds. They
help to activate their schema by organizing their knowledge around the same topic.
Theme-based teaching is meaning-focused rather than form-focused. Hence,
children learn the language without being aware of it through a process that is
similar to their first language acquisition. When using theme-based teaching, the
teacher accomplishes two goals: content goal and language goal. Children not only
learn some information about a topic but learn the language meaningfully and
purposefully for communication. A recent study conducted with primary school
children in Turkey by Alptekin, Erçetin, and Bayyurt (2007) showed that children
who received a themed-based syllabus outperformed the others who followed the
Turkish Ministry of National Education’s regular curriculum for fourth grades.
The success of theme-based teaching on language outcomes and content outcomes
brings a responsibility to the teachers in the selection of the themes. In addition to
the topics that are relevant to the children’s lives, topics that also help developing
their social awareness and critical thinking skills must be chosen for children’s
social, cognitive, and emotional development. Issues related to the global problems
such us poverty, violence, human rights, environmental issues such as pollution and
overpopulation are important themes that may help creating awareness. Due to
children’s cognitive abilities, not all topics may appropriate to be used in primary
schools (i.e. domestic violence, hate-crimes, brutal fights). However, as children
grow older, these topics can also be integrated into the curriculum little by little and
without making the classroom a scene of horror, disgust, and hatred. Environmental
problems are one of the global issues that can be used in the primary school because
of two main reasons. First, these problems are already known or at least heard by
these students (schema theory). Second, these themes can be made more concrete
with visuals, cartoons, videos, and games and by simplifying the concepts so that
they are appropriate for children’s level of cognitive and conceptual development.
In most cases, environmental education starts at secondary school as a part of
science and biology lessons. However, some researchers argue that an early onset
for environmental education is more beneficial, thus it should start at primary school
(Erten 2004; Şimşekli, 2004). Owing to the fact that attitudes, behaviors, and value
Theme-based Teaching 77
judgments start developing during childhood (Gürsoy, 2010), students’ awareness
in environmental issues such as human and animal rights, pollution, drought, global
warming, forest degradation, and recycling can be developed through the use of
appropriate lesson plans. Children can learn about and experience these issues the
result of which can be learning to protect our environment by reducing our waste,
reusing and recycling them, planting and saving the trees, saving energy, and being
active citizens who project their opinions on such matters openly and responsibly.
Environmental education
Discussion
- Should environmental problems be a concern for language teachers or should
we leave this to science teachers?
- How responsible do you feel yourself about environmental issues?
- What do you do to minimize the negative consequences of our environmental
problems?
Environmental problems that we are experiencing today are not the concern of
a single country or a certain group of people. We suffer from the results of these
problems globally. Solutions to these problems lie behind environmental awareness
which is developed through environmental education. According to Pooley and
O’Connor (2000) the aim of environmental education programs is to change the
learners’ behaviors by increasing their knowledge about the environment and
environmental problems. In its broader sense these programs start by creating an
awareness on the issues, help learners make change their behaviors, and finally,
take action in solving these problems (Erten, 2004; Simsekli, 2004).
According to UNESCO-UNEP (1976, cited in Goatly, 2000, p. 256) environmental
education has six objectives identified by the United Nations;
1. Awareness of environmental problems.
2. Basic understanding of the environment and its problems and human beings’ role
in relation to the environment.
3. Attitude of concern for environmental problems.
4. Skills in overcoming environmental problems.
5. Ability to evaluate proposed solutions to environmental problems.
6. Participation in solving environmental problems.
As can be seen from the objectives, the first step of environmental education starts
with creating awareness and develops step by step to participating in the solutions.
To this end, starting environmental education at younger ages is even more
important to help children become aware of these problems as early as possible.
The lessons designed concretely with the help of activities, projects, videos, and
visuals not only help the development of awareness but also help children develop
78 Theoretical Considerations
understanding and concern. Moreover, classroom projects are valuable to take
action in these issues.
Arikan (2009), by pointing at Freire’s (1999, cited in Arikan, 2009) ‘critical pedagogy,’
argues that the relationship between school and society needs to be re-built. Freire’s
(ibid.) ‘critical pedagogy’ is a reaction to traditional classrooms in which the teacher
is the center of the teaching-learning process (Arikan, 2009). However, the newer
approaches to language teaching and learning put the learner in the center of the
process by giving them the responsibility to learn. During this change of focus from
teacher to learner, focus on the form also shifted towards focus on the meaning.
Contextualization in language learning became prominent more than form focused
learning. Contextualized language learning enables the learners to “interact, share
ideas, develop social and language skills, and gain social and language awareness”
(Gursoy, 2011, p.47). In this perspective theme-based teaching becomes a valuable
tool for language educators as it helps contextualization. In other words, the context
of the language input can be conceptualized as a socially responsible activity within
which students practice the language.
Environmental education as one of the many topics of Global Issues in Language
Education (GILE) which aims to “enable students effectively acquire a foreign
language while empowering them with the knowledge skills and commitment
required by world citizens to solve global problems” (Cates, 1990, p.41). The
objective of GILE fits in the definition of socially responsible teaching (SRT) such as
peace education and human rights education. According to Arikan (2009), “socially
responsible teaching assumes that students are active agents who have power
to solve our social and ecological problems if they are encouraged to focus on
such issues” (p. 89). SRT encourages the development of critical thinking skills by
helping individuals to think about and take action in global problems such as the
environment.
Integration of environmental issues can be considered as an SRT which is and should
be the responsibility of all teachers regardless of their teaching field. However,
the teaching of environmental issues has been considered as the responsibility of
science teachers and lessons (Sağlam & Gürsoy, 2010). With the use of theme-based
teaching topics related to the environmental problems can be used to contextualize
language learning, help children gain awareness on global issues, develop critical
thinking skills, enhance vocabulary acquisition, support meaningful learning, and
give children a reason for using English.
Discussion
What can be some ways to make topics of environmental issues attractive to
children? (Consider children’s characteristics).
Integrating environmental issues to the language classroom
For students to pay attention to environmental issues they need to be attractive
and presented in a concrete way via pictures, cartoons, videos, games, puppets.
Theme-based Teaching 79
Hands on activities, problem-solving activities, displays, and projects are also great
ways to engage students. Children are visual, kinesthetic, imaginative, creative, and
talkative. If the activities enable the children to use these characteristics, it is no
doubt that the learning outcomes will be higher.
You can use many of the environmental topics and simplify their instruction to
children’s age and language level. Some of these topics are;
• Planting (making our environment healthy and beautiful)
• Protecting animals
▶ street animals,
▶ animals in the shelters,
▶ endangered animals
• Energy saving (home and school)
• Recycling
In addition to brainstorming about the do’s of energy saving, don’ts could also be
• Global warming
added to the map. After completing the initial stage of topic work several activities
• Water pollution
can be done depending on the teacher’s linguistic goal. It is always very important
▶ sea life that you select and use activities that are interesting for children and that have
▶ drinking water clear teaching goals and learning outcomes. Moon (2000) lists the characteristics
• Air pollution of a good language learning activity;

After selecting a topic it is best to start with graphic organizers to activate schema, - has clear language-teaching goal
and learn about students’ expectations. One of the graphic organizers that can be - has a clear and meaningful goal or purpose for learners
used is KWL charts. These charts are filled in together with the classroom on the - has a clear outcome(s) for the learners
board and they can be used before and after starting the topic work. Let’s say that
- involves learners in work or activity which requires the use of the L2
our topic is street animals, here are some things that students might say while
- facilitates language learning (p. 88)
filling in the KWL chart below.
It is crucial that the activities selected involve students rather than just occupy
Before the application After the application
them. The sequencing of the activities is as important as their selection. When
What do I know? What do I want to know? What did I learn? sequencing the teacher should pay attention that they are moving from easy to
difficult, concrete to abstract, known to unknown, and receptive to productive. In the
St1. They live in the St.4. How can I help St.7. I can leave some
following section you will find some activities that can be used with children.
streets. them? water in the summer.
St.2. They eat garbage. St. 5. How can I feed St.8. I don’t throw food in
Prepare a lesson
St.3. They don’t have a them? the garbage. I give them
to street animals. Choose an environmental topic, identify your content and language objectives,
home. ….. St.6. How can I protect
select skills that you will focus on and organize a lesson around your theme. Think
them? St.9. I can adopt one of
about how you will introduce the topic and take students’ attention. Consider your
….. them and keep him or
learners’ linguistic and cognitive capabilities.
her home. I will have a
new friend!
Another way to start topic work might be via semantic maps. Children and teacher
brainstorm about what they know about the topic. As they generate ideas teacher
puts them on the board by showing connections. Here is an example about energy
saving;

80 Theoretical Considerations Theme-based Teaching 81


1. Video activity: Air pollution and global warming
ȤȤ Start the lesson with a video on air pollution and global warming, ex: http://
www.climatechangeeducation.org/videos/youtube/home_sweet.html
ȤȤ Brainstorm on the video with the students. Ask them what they see, what the
video/cartoon is about such as: “Is the world happy or un happy? Why does
the world cough? What happened then? Is the world happy now? Why?
ȤȤ Relate the topic to students’ lives so that they can make a connection with
what they know and what they are about to learn. Ask questions such as:
“Do you like flowers and trees?; Do you have flowers at home?; Do you like
walking/playing in the forest/park?; Do you throw garbage on the street or
keep them? etc…
ȤȤ Give examples of your own and ask for examples from your students. For
example: “I like green. I like trees and flowers. I have got many flowers at
home. I have got beautiful trees in the garden. I like reading a book under a
tree. In summer, it is very cool under a tree. I plant trees with TEMA. Do you
know TEMA? I walk to school every morning. I don’t drive my car. Sometimes
I take the bus. I recycle. Do you recycle? I don’t throw my garbage on the
streets etc.
ȤȤ Ask some critical thinking questions. Provide students with the key vocabulary.
Ask questions such as: What happens if we cut trees? What happens if we
drive cars? What happens if we don’t walk? etc…
ȤȤ Start making a semantic map as you talk along.
82 Theoretical Considerations
2. Linked activities: Recycling
� Step 1: Enter the classroom with a plastic bottle half full of water and a
candy bar in your hand. Without saying anything, drink the water and throw
the bottle on the floor. Then, eat the candy bar throw away its plastic/ paper
cover. Open your bag, take a newspaper, look at the title and throw away. Do
similar actions with things that you can bring in the classroom. You can also
use students’ possessions (as well as yours) to show how serious the problem
may be.
� After you are finished with these non-environmental actions ask children how
the class looks like (dirty/clean) and if they like or dislike it. You can generate
more questions depending on the students’ linguistic knowledge such as “Did
I do a good thing?” or “Am I a good person?”
� Then ask “What can I do?” When they say “throw them in the garbage” you
can talk about recycling.
� Put the visual material given here about recycling on the wall. Ask whether
they recognize it.
� Step 2: Show a video on recycling. Ex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l
WQlFk0PLAI&feature=related . (You can find more videos at the end of the
chapter.)
� Talk about the 3 R’s (reduce-reuse-recycle).
� Step 3: Initiate a classroom project! Start recycling in the classroom ….
� Divide the classroom into four groups. Ask each group to bring in a big box
and green, blue, yellow and white paper.
� Tell each group to cover their box with one of the colored papers. And write
either “glass, plastic, paper, or metal” on the boxes. Select a place for your
boxes and start recycling.
� Note: The project could be done school-wide with the cooperation of other
classes.
Theme-based Teaching 83
3. Project work: Energy saving !
Language Skills: Speaking, Writing
� Tell students to observe their family’s energy use at home. You can
give them a table or prepare one all together. They should be able
to note down their family’s habits in energy use. Do they leave some
lights on although they do not need it? Do they use energy saving light
bulbs?
� Ask students to report their observations in the classroom. Then, tell
them to draw/take pictures of do’s and don’ts of energy saving and
paste them on appropriate places at home.
4. Project Work: Global warming!
Language Skills: Speaking, Reading, Writing
� Initiate a school project that aims to increase awareness on global
warming. After the preparatory work in the classroom divide the class
into groups of four.
� Tell each group to prepare a slogan to hang on the school corridors.
� After the groups decide on their slogans they write them in fancy ways
to take attention, including visuals and post them on the walls.
Give a home to birds and bees!
Plant trees!

� Tell them to prepare a chart indicating the times that the tap/lights
etc. left on/off, the electronic devices unplugged, family members
using the shower or the bath. After a week of observation ask them
about the results of their energy saving project.

03.09.2012 04.09.2012 05.09.2012 06.09.2012 07.09.2012 08.09.2012

Tap XXX XX

Lights XXXX X

Electronic XX
Devices

shower

Note: This can be done in the classroom orally with the help of Language
Experience Approach. The teacher asks students their experiences and writes
them on the board. Later on, the discussion and the writing can be used to help
students write their reports. At the end, the children will decide whether their
families have become energy-conscious or not.

84 Theoretical Considerations Theme-based Teaching 85

5. Activity: Plant a flower and observe its growth
Language Skills: Speaking, Writing
� Divide students into groups and tell them to bring in pots, dirt, and
seeds to plant a flower.
� First of all, by using appropriate teacher language show students how
to plant a flower. Than step by step give instructions (commands) to
children to plant their seeds. This process is valuable for students
listening comprehension as well as exposure to meaningful input.
Ex: Put the dirt in the pot.
Put the seed on the dirt
Add some more dirt on the seed.
Water the seed.
Put the pots in front of the window etc….
� Then help students make their plant book by folding two A4 sheets/
cardboards and stapling them.
� Tell each group to give a name to their book. Ex: My plant book/ My
beautiful flower /My Observation Book…
� Tell students to spare a sheet to write their observations of their plant
every other week.
� After the flowers bloom talk about how they feel about it, whether they
like their classroom or not, etc…
Note: You can, later on, plant these flowers on your school yard.
Discussion questions
1. Why do you think it is a teacher’s job to implement socially responsible
teaching (SRT) to their classroom?
2. How does the integration of environmental topics help children’s
cognitive development?
3. Do you think that children can develop appropriate behavior for the
environment with the activities done in the English classroom?
4. Are children capable of taking action in protecting the environment?
86 Theoretical Considerations
Autonomy
Simla Course
There has been a growing interest in learner autonomy in the last decades. Although
there are different approaches regarding learner autonomy, there is a consensus
that learner autonomy is “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (Holec as
cited in Benson, 2009, p. 17). Advocates of learner autonomy propose that language
learners are not empty vessels to be filled in by the teachers, but active beings
who make sense out of what they learn in relation to their worlds (Reinders, 2010).
This premise suggests that people, as active agents of their lives, are capable of,
and indeed in need of, making sense of their learning and being in charge of it. In
this chapter too, the stance that is adopted is that people are already autonomous
beings in their interaction with their environment. Therefore, learner autonomy is
not a skill that teachers will need to teach from scratch, but is an ability that the
learners already exercise in different areas of their lives and that teachers need to
foster in educational settings.
To get a deeper understanding of what learner autonomy is and how to foster it,
we should take a look at autonomous learners. Autonomous learners are those
who are capable of and willing to reflect on their own learning needs, strengths
and weaknesses; of setting learning goals; deciding which path to follow to achieve
these goals; and, as an essential component of learner autonomy, monitoring and
evaluating their own progress (Benson, 2011; Sinclair, 2009). That is, they should
be in control of all aspects of and pay conscious attention to the process of their
learning (Little, 1999). As Sinclair puts it, “learner autonomy consists of the ability
to make informed decisions about one’s own learning” (2009, p. 184).
Such a shift in the roles of learners and teachers can be a daunting and intimidating
task. In traditional educational settings, it is the teacher’s responsibility, together
with the policy makers, to decide on all the aspects mentioned above. The
teacher decides what she expects the learners to achieve, which specific goals
and objectives, in which lesson, through the use of which materials and activities.
The teacher is also the authority to decide who has achieved how much. In a
classroom where learner autonomy is fostered, however, these decisions are made
by the learners, in collaboration with the teacher. Therefore, in learner autonomy,
contrary to misconception, learners do not work in isolation and teachers are not
redundant. Unsurprisingly, teachers are as vital in autonomous language learning
as in traditional language classrooms.
As it is remarked above, all learners are autonomous beings. However, anyone with
some experience at school, either as a teacher or as a student, can provide firsthand
accounts that not every student is autonomous. In other words, the inherent
autonomy does not necessarily translate into formal educational settings. While
one learner decides that she should learn names of the neighbouring countries in
Autonomy 87
the target language (L2), or reflects that she needs to read faster in L2, another
learner can be quite content with the lack of such vocabulary or reading at a slower
speed. Not all learners are going to be willing and ready to assume all responsibility
of their learning in a formal educational setting. So how do we foster learner
autonomy? How do we mobilize the need and curiosity to learn, that is already
present in human beings? One way to do this is to look at the relationship between
autonomy and motivation. Autonomous learning is a self-sustaining, continuous act
and understanding why and how some learners choose to be actively involved in
their learning will provide an insight on how we can help our learners be more
autonomous. To do this, we need to look at why some learners are motivated to take
responsibility of their learning.
Discussion
Please discuss the following questions with a colleague.
1. What motivates infants to learn to talk and to walk?
2. Why do people of all ages learn to use new technology such as computers,
smart phones, DVD players and so on every day.
Studies on motivation suggest that people are motivated to learn a skill or a set of
knowledge due to its inherent value in the learners’ lives. Please consider a baby
learning to walk. He will not need his parents to convince him that walking will be
“good for him”. Nor will he require rewards to take his first steps. He will do so
because he has places to get to and because he needs to be able to interact with the
world. We keep learning new skills and information in every stage of our lives. We
do so in order to be competent in our surroundings.
Yet it seems that when we are in a classroom we are often in need of being reminded
of the inherent value of learning that specific subject or of engaging in a specific
activity. In school education, language teachers often find themselves in a position
where they have to convince learners of the value of learning that language.
Although it is not uncommon to find teachers dealing with this through promise
of a better life, as Ushioda (1996) suggests, such remote rewards have the risk
of fading away unless stages of learning generates meaningful relationship with
the learner’s life and the learner can drive a sense of enjoyment and achievement
from it. In addition, when learners are motivated to receive external rewards, such
as stickers, praise, gifts, or even grades, they are more concerned with the reward
than learning, which suggests that they will not take risks in learning a language but
will stick to what they know the best in order to receive that reward (Lamb, 2009).
However, we would like the learners to take risks, try to get their meaning across,
notice the gaps in their L2 knowledge and pay conscious effort to make up for those
gaps. It is well established now that it is important for the language learners to
notice gaps between their existing L2 knowledge and the knowledge required to
complete tasks in L2 (Hedge, 2000). It is in this process of noticing that the learners
will see what is missing in their interlanguage, and what they need to focus on and
88 Theoretical Considerations
learn to cope with a similar situation.
In short, we would like our learners to be consciously paying effort to learning
that language, reflect on what they need to learn and keep working towards their
goals. Research shows that learners are motivated to do these when learning is
interesting, enjoyable, and when the skill or knowledge learned has an inherent
meaning in the learners’ lives (Ushioda, 1996). Such motivation is referred to as
intrinsic motivation. People are intrinsically motivated when they see the value of
what is learned in their lives, i.e. when they can relate to learning in a meaningful
way (Ushioda, 1996). Although motivation is not sufficient for autonomous learning,
it is necessary to initiate taking responsibility of learning.
As argued above, when learners see learning as making them competent beings,
they are more motivated to learn (Ushioda, 1996). In a language classroom this
means communication in L2. Communicating with speakers of that language can
help the learners see what they can do using L2 and this will help them feel more
competent in their relationship with the world. Thus, providing genuine opportunities
for the learners to communicate with each other, with the teacher and with other
speakers of the target language using L2 is essential in increasing motivation as
well as fostering learner autonomy (Little, Ridley, & Ushioda 2002; Ushioda, 1996).
Such opportunities will help the learners to see that learning a language is not
just learning grammar or memorising extensive vocabulary lists; but that using a
language they can actually communicate with real people. Therefore, L2 should be
used as a means to communicate rather than as an end in itself, i.e. a subject of
study (Ushioda, 1996).
Authentic materials are beneficial in creating a sense of competence through
genuine communication (Ushioda, 1996). They can help learners see that using L2,
they can actually be included in the communication intended for the actual speakers
of that language. They will also help the learners have a sense of achievement,
which is important to increase and sustain motivation.
Another important point in motivation is that when people feel that their actions are
not imposed by an external agent but that they have control over their actions, they
are more willing to be engaged in that task (Benson, 2011). In a language classroom
this entails involving the learners in decision making process of the course. For
example including the learners in selecting, organising the materials or tasks to be
used in the course, will not only give the learners a sense of control, but also will
help relate the classroom procedures to the learners’ lives.
Issue of control over one’s learning is an indispensable aspect of autonomy and
perhaps one of the most challenging aspects for both the learners and teachers,
where the traditional roles need to be altered. Involving learners in decision making
process of selecting materials and tasks will be explored in more detail in the next
section.
Autonomy 89
 Discussion
Please discuss the following questions with a colleague.
1. In your context, who is in charge of making decisions for teaching/
learning L2?
2. To what extent are the following involved in making decisions for
teaching/ learning L2?
a. Learners?
b. Parents?
c. The teacher?
d. The school administration?
e. The ministry of education?
f. A centralised exam system?
You might find that the answers to the questions, to the left, are more complicated
than it seems at first sight. In a language classroom in formal education settings,
the answer is probably all of the above. Traditionally it is the policy making
institutions like the ministry of education or the school administration that are
in charge of setting goals and objectives in a macro level while the teacher is in
charge of implementing these in a micro level, i.e. classroom setting. To foster
learner autonomy, however, there is a need to involve the learners in every step
of this process. It is essential that learners have control over their own learning.
As Little et al., remark, “being in control of one’s own actions and responsible for
their outcomes is a prerequisite for self-fulfilment” (2002, p. 15). Being in control of
one’s own learning requires being in charge of setting goals for their learning (very
often within the constraints of overall goals set by policy makers), being in charge
of selecting, ordering and/or designing one’s own materials and tasks to best aid
achieving the previously set goals; and continuously reflecting on and assessing the
learning process and outcomes.
One common misconception about learner autonomy is that giving control to
learners means leaving the learners alone to learn on their own. In an autonomous
classroom, the teacher does not wash her hands off teaching, she is the one that
teaches. However, the learners take the responsibility of their learning. To this end,
it is important that the teacher is explicit about the overall goals of the course from
the beginning and works with the learners to help them set their own individual
goals depending on their own needs, weaknesses and strengths. She encourages
and helps the learners to work both inside and outside the classroom to achieve
their goals. Besides, she is willing to hand in the control over learning process by
involving the learners in selection of such aspects as materials and tasks when they
are ready to assume this control; and from the start, she works toward helping the
learners to assume such control.
Although it is the stand taken here that all learners have a capacity for autonomous
behaviour, it is also acknowledged that learners can find taking the responsibility of
90 Theoretical Considerations
their own learning intimidating and the likelihood of making mistakes disheartening
(Little et al., 2002, p. 15). Moving away from the security of their old roles as
learners, where they are familiar with what is expected of them, can be a frustrating
experience (Porto, 2007). It is important, therefore, that the teacher first of all
bears this in mind and does not expect a miraculous transformation from day one,
but provides constant guidance, keeps the channels of communication about the
learners’ experiences open throughout the process, and is able to adapt classroom
procedures according to the learners’ needs.
It is also acknowledged that the range of autonomous behaviour will be dependent on
the learners’ characteristics. Learners’ age, proficiency level, and past experiences
will play an essential role in how ready they will be to assume control in setting their
own goals and in planning their learning around them. In such cases, the teacher
will have to provide more guidance in the process. One way to do this is providing a
variety of options for the learners to choose from at the beginning. Giving options
can help the learners assume responsibility and take control gradually until they
reach a stage where they will feel more confident and competent to take control
themselves and plan their own learning (Little et al., 2002).
As suggested above, it is the teacher’s job to raise learners’ awareness on what they
are expected to achieve within the overall learning goals and objectives set by the
curriculum and policy makers. Being explicit about the overall goals and objectives
of the course, i.e. what the learners are expected to achieve in that course, will not
only give control of the learning process to the learners, but will help them see
what they are expected to achieve in a specific time frame and help manage their
own learning (Little et al., 2002). In the absence of such a policy, where learning
is regulated solely by the learners’ needs, the teacher is in charge of guiding and
facilitating the learners, as an expert, on how to achieve what they set out to achieve.
In addition, in both cases, the teacher will need to help the learners set a course of
action and facilitate evaluation of their progress. In an autonomous classroom, the
teacher is still the expert in L2 and learning it. The learners will need to make use
of her expertise.
Asking the students to set their own goals can still sound as a daunting task to some
language teachers. To start with, the learners can be prompted to reflect on their
strengths and weaknesses, needs and priorities. However, learners do not always
have the metacognitive knowledge to express their strengths and weaknesses in
depth (Reinders, 2010). Indeed some learners may be aware that they have to work
on, say, their reading skills but may not be able to voice what exactly they need
to improve in their reading. Similarly, some learners can set unrealistic goals for
themselves not taking their current capabilities, time and context limitations into
consideration (Cotterall, 2000). Therefore, the teachers will need to act as mentors
and help the students in this process through direct communication and negotiation
to clarify and raise their awareness on what exactly it is that they would like to
improve and to work on. Doing needs analysis can be beneficial at this stage. It can
be a good investment of time to develop a needs analysis questionnaire or simply
Autonomy 91
adopt or adapt one from a wide selection that is available to language teachers,
which can guide the teacher in providing options to her learners and help raise
metacognitive awareness of their learners (Reinders, 2010).
Having set their goals, the students should take action to achieve these goals through
homework, projects or in-class tasks. This means being in control of selecting and
creating the resources to achieve these goals and consciously working to achieve
them. For example, a group of learners who decide to work on offering and responding
to apologies in L2 can collect authentic samples of spoken and written language; or a
group of learners working on reading for the gist can bring in and/or produce written
texts themselves. As the students start working actively to achieve their goals, the
teacher will need to keep working as a facilitator and counsellor.
However, if the learners find selecting or creating their own materials and tasks
challenging to start with, the teacher may need to direct them to resources initially,
until the learners feel more confident, or can provide options. For, example as Miller
(2009) remarks, after setting a task for the whole class, asking the learners to set
their own goals for that specific task is an option. Cotterall (2000) reports a study
where in addition to setting their individual goals for a common task, the learners
were asked to reflect on their performances upon completion of the task to support
goal setting and reflection practice. Miller also suggests that, for example, in a
writing task where a teacher asks the students to write ‘love letters’, encouraging
the learners to decide who they will write their letters to, e.g. a sibling, an aunt, etc.
will help give more control to the learners; so will asking the learners to consider
their own goals in a reading task and deciding whether to read, for example, for
“complete comprehension versus general understanding” (2009, p. 114). The
teacher should also make use of “regular whole-class planning and evaluation” to
help learners develop a sense of direction and progress (Little et al., 2002, p. 18).
Thus, it is important to devote regular sessions to class discussion of what has been
achieved by the learners, individuals and group, and decide on what to focus on next.
Of course, the degree of control handed to the learners depends on the context and
learners. For example, Smith (2003) asked his learners, university students learning
English, to decide on classroom activities. Based on their decisions, the students
formed groups and started working on different tasks designed by themselves
such as writing poetry, transcribing, watching and discussing movies, reading, free
conversation, and so on. While initially evaluation of the learning progress was
directed by the teacher to a great extent, in time, evaluation was undertaken by the
group members themselves. Similarly, Smith (2003) was more involved in planning
the activities initially but in time, as he realised that the learners were capable
of planning, he handed the control of these to the learners. Porto (2007), on the
other hand, had more control over classroom procedures as a teacher and asked
her learners to choose activities from a variety of options as the “learners had
never before engaged in any form of autonomous learning” (p. 673). The learners
could withdraw from any activity, were given activities to practice out of class and,
were free to select a topic to talk about before each lesson (Porto, 2007). Both
92 Theoretical Considerations
these studies report very different levels of learner control. What they both have
in common, though, is an increase in such control. It is up to the teacher to see
initially to what extent the learners are ready to assume control and consider other
contextual factors.
Dam uses logbooks to help the learners take control of their learning (2009). They
record their goals, in form of learning contracts, the work they undertake to achieve
these goals, everything that goes on in the classroom and evaluation of their work
in their logbooks (Dam, 2009). In her language classrooms over the years, learners
were responsible for deciding their own homework, classroom activities and small
projects. All this work was shaped around the goals that the learners had set for
themselves and recorded in their individual logbooks. She reports that logbooks
not only help the learners evaluate their own progress, a key feature of learner
autonomy, but also help the teacher see individual learners’ progress in achieving
these goals and provide further support for them (Dam, 2009). Logbooks are useful
in learners’ self-evaluation helping them see what they intended to achieve, how
they went about it and what they achieved. They are not, however, the only means
for self-evaluation. Another commonly used tool is the European Language Portfolio
(ELP). Little provides detailed accounts of using ELP to foster learner and teacher
autonomy through self-evaluation and planning. (Little, 2009; Little et al., 2002).
Similarly, Gonzales reports that ELP not only helped the learners to self-evaluate
but also increased their metacognitive knowledge (2009).
Another important point in Dam’s studies is the use of L2 in the classroom. L2
is used by and encouraged to be used by the teacher for both oral and written
communication (2009). Therefore, both the logbooks and the feedback provided by
the teacher are written in L2. In Dam’s studies logbooks include:
• personal aims and objectives within the overall curricular guidelines and
objectives;
• plans and the carrying out of these plans in the daily work in class;
• what has been learned and achieved and how;
• individual homework, according to the aims and goals set up; and
• an evaluation of the work undertaken
(Dam, 2009, p. 133)
The use of L2 as the medium of all communication in the classroom clearly can
be challenging for learners of different ages and proficiency levels, particularly for
young learners and beginner level learners. Having worked with young learners for
a long time, Dam remarks that initial stages of logbooks while working with young
learners can be a mixture of L2 and L1 (2009). However, as the teacher insists of
using, and encourages the use of L2 by the learners, the language used in logbooks
in later stages shift to L2. The role of using L2 in increasing a sense of competence
and motivation is already discussed in the previous section. Also, as Little et al.,
remark, using L2, the teacher scaffolds the language to be learned (2002). Besides
scaffolding, teacher’s use of L2 also helps the learners to think and talk about their
Autonomy 93
learning process using that language, which as will be discussed in the next section,
constitutes an internal dialogue, an essential aspect for learning (Little et al., 2002).
To have classroom full of students working for their own objectives can sound cacophonic
and unrealistic at first. However, collaboration with students and the teacher is a key
aspect in fostering learner autonomy. Besides, in a classroom where the learners
share similar proficiency levels and overall goals of learning, they are likely to have
short-term goals that are relevant to each other. A group of your beginner learners, for
example, might decide that they would like to learn 15 high frequency words. Learners
sharing this goal can work together and build on their initial 15 words. Regular class
discussions, presentations, posters will provide the whole class with an extensive list
of vocabulary items from these students. It is also possible to have a class discussion
and select certain words to present to whole class to keep each other informed and
promote collaboration (Dam as cited in Benson, 2011).
Collaboration will also enable better learners to provide support for weaker
learners. Dam (2009) reports how better learners were able to not only provide help
to their weaker project partners, but also prioritise the needs of their weaker peers.
Making use of posters, peer-teaching and presentations as well as class discussions
evaluating the tasks/ activities used by different learners, will also enable the
learners to know where they are with regard to other learners and will add to the
repertoire of the class as a whole (Dam, 2009; Little, 2009). Having control over
one’s learning calls for the teacher working together with the learners, and for
the learners working with each other. Learner autonomy, therefore, is a product of
collaboration, as will be discussed in section 4.
Discussion
Please discuss the following questions with a colleague.
1. Please remember how you learned to
a. cook
b. address a stranger asking directions in your native language.
2. Please remember how infants acquire L1. What is the role of caregiver
speech?
94 Theoretical Considerations
We all learn through interaction. Those who learned cooking from an older parent,
sibling, or friend were interacting with others. They observed, imitated, and probably
asked questions. Those who learned it from a cookbook did not learn in isolation from
others either. They interacted with and found answers to their questions through a
written medium, the cookbook, which was written by a person with similar interests.
In short, we all collaborate with others while learning.
According to Vygotsky, we learn as a result of reflection and reflection is the product
of “an internal dialogue between the self and the ‘me’, between the individual and
the member of society” (Riley 2009, p. 45). As fostering learner autonomy demands
reflection, to achieve this, collaboration between learners, where they will replicate
this internal dialogue with their peers, is of great value (Little et al., 2002).
Vygotsky also argued that it is through the guidance of a parent, adult, or a more
capable peer that the children move beyond their current capabilities and learn to
solve problems that they cannot on their own (Little et al., 2002). He called the distance
between the current capabilities of a child and his potential capabilities under the
guidance of a more capable peer, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Little et
al., 2002, p.12). To support learning, a more capable peer provides support regarding
the problem or task at hand until the learner is capable of performing that task on
his own, at which point the capable peer withdraws the support. This is very often
referred to as “scaffolding” (Little et al., 2002, p. 12). In an autonomous language
classroom, it is the teacher that will provide scaffolding. She will do so through her L2
use as well as her role as the expert in L2 providing guidance to the learners on every
aspect of their learning, from planning to evaluating their learning.
Please remember your answers to the questions at the beginning of this section.
When you learned to cook, say pasta, you probably had questions regarding the
timing, order of actions, etc., and you probably imitated, followed, and sought
further support, e.g. asking a friend or parent or checking the recipe again, until
you felt confident you could cook on your own. Similarly, when children learn to talk,
they are given constant support by adults or more capable peers through repetition,
slow speech, intonation, and so on.
What these suggest for a language classroom is that collaboration will provide
reflection on learning through negotiation between the teacher and the learners
and will provide scaffolding. Student-student interaction will provide input that is
close to the learners’ current capability, which is an important aspect of ZPD. Please
remember the caregiver speech. The caregiver speech is much simpler than adults’
speaking to each other, since the child’s limited current capabilities play a role on
how much he can learn in that instance from the adult.
The merits of student-student interaction for providing scaffolding have been
debated for a long time. We should remember that there are studies suggesting
student-student interaction does not always provide rich enough input required to
improve L2, however, at the same time bear in mind that student collaboration
is crucial in providing opportunities for the learners to reflect on their learning
Autonomy 95
through interaction with other learners. It is also critical in providing opportunities
for the learners to use the target language for genuine communication. It is through
genuine communication that the learners can reflect on their learning, seeing what
they can and cannot do with L2, and what they need to work on to be able to close
that gap. Students asked to inform another student on what they did the day before,
are more likely to notice the grammatical and lexical gaps regarding past structures
in their interlanguage, compared to, for example, when they are asked to put a
group of words in correct order to make a grammatically accurate sentence. In the
former case, there will be a genuine need for them to use past structures. It is this
need that will draw their attention to these lexical and grammatical structures and
will facilitate using them in communication.
Student collaboration also provides opportunities for the learners to acquire the
metacognitive awareness they need for learning. Dam’s studies show that student
collaboration raises their awareness in their own learning process, which is what
Vygotsky suggests as internal dialogue (Dam, 2009). Please have a look at the
example below, between two beginner learners of Turkish, giving directions to
each other to go home from school. In this example, A’s gap in his interlanguage to
produce the possessive suffix in Turkish leads both learners to move away from the
message and talk about the language structure.
A: Sağa dön. Benim ev orada.
B: Uh, benim ev, evim?
A: Evim? Ev...
B: Evim, erm, my house (pointing to self).
Besides, genuine communication will help the learners develop a sense of
competence, which is important in motivation, as argued above (Benson, 2011).
It is important to remember that language is learned through use. Learners will
need to be given an abundance of opportunities to practice language taking on
different roles, “initiating as well as responding” in communication (Little, 2009,
p. 153). Adopting different roles and having many opportunities to communicate,
student collaboration will also increase strategy use (Benson, 2011), which will be
discussed below.
Discussion
Please discuss the following questions with a colleague.
1. Which strategies do you use while reading in L2?
2. Which strategies do you use to learn vocabulary?
3. Which strategies do you use to manage your learning?
4. Which strategies do you use when you cannot remember a word while
engaged in a conversation?
Recent research looked at what good language learners do to answer the question of
how to learn/ teach a language effectively. The strategies good language learners use
provided insight into which strategies should be made available to weaker learners.
96 Theoretical Considerations
Language learning strategies are “specific plans or steps – either observable, such as
taking notes or seeking out a conversation partner, or unobservable, such as mentally
analysing a word – that L2 learners intentionally employ to improve reception,
storage, retention, and retrieval of information” (Oxford, 2003, p. 81).
Learners use strategies to improve language learning, to cope with communication
when their interlanguage is not quite enough to cope with the situation at hand, to
cope with the affective and motivational aspect of language learning, or to plan and
organise their learning (Gao, 2010; Griffiths, 2008; Hedge, 2000). These strategies are
often classified into groups that include cognitive, metacognitive, communication, and
socio-effective strategies (Gao, 2010; Hedge, 2000; McDonough, 1999). Socio-effective
strategies deal with the motivational and emotional aspect of language learning.
Cognitive strategies are those that are used to deal with the information, language
or task presented. These include a wide variety of processes usually determined by
the skill or task that the learner faces. These strategies include guessing the meaning
from the context, making use of the pictures, illustrations and context surrounding the
text (written or spoken), making written or mental notes, paraphrasing, summarising,
forming expectations about the text, forming visual representations of the words,
skimming, and scanning, among many others (Hedge, 2000; McDonough, 1995).
Communication strategies are those that a learner uses when his interlanguage is
not enough to express his meaning (Hedge, 2000). These include circumlocution,
appealing for help, switching to L1, using body language, restructuring, and reduction
among others. It is possible to help the learners use these strategies by teaching
them the structures they can use for appealing for help, e.g. “How do you say... What
do you call a person who...” (Hedge, 2000, p. 53).
Teachers can choose to give explicit training on language learning strategies or
raise awareness of the learners on their own strategy use and possible other
strategies available to them. Regardless of which approach they take, such training
will help improve language learning. Cohen’s study reports that strategy training
improves task performance (1999). Nunan, Lai, & Keobke (1999), on the other hand,
suggest that when used together with reflection, strategy training fosters learner
autonomy. Learners involved in their study reported that they used a wider variety
of listening materials, set more relevant learning goals for specific materials and
a better identification of listening problems and strategies to be used to deal with
these problems (Nunan et al., 1999).
These findings suggest that making learners more aware of their strategy use and
the strategies available to them are vital in fostering learner autonomy. Besides
the strategies used to deal with the task at hand, it is also important to raise
learners’ awareness of the strategies to plan their own learning, i.e. metacognitive
strategies. Metacognitive strategies “deal with pre-assessment and pre-planning,
on-line planning and evaluation, and post-evaluation of language learning activities,
and language use events” (Cohen, 1999, p. 62). In becoming autonomous, it is
essential to reflect on one’s learning and set a course of action, as has been argued
above on many occasions. Therefore, it is beneficial to provide an awareness of
Autonomy 97
these strategies in a language classroom if we want learners to be able to have the language functions. The participants in this study spoke English more often than
tools to reflect on their learning and select the strategies to use from a collection their peers as they used these technologies to complete tasks, which they then had
available to them. For example, asking students to bring in newspapers and short to report to their peers.
stories to compare the way they read classified ads and short stories; or giving them Where, technology is available to the learners, it is often used in language classes
a text devoid of any visual aids, titles and asking them to compare reading it with to provide opportunities for the learners to engage in meaningful communication
a text with the usual visual aids present will help raise learners’ awareness on how
and to encourage collaboration (Warschauer, Shetzer, & Meloni 2000). One common
different texts are read employing different strategies.
method is ‘tandem learning’ (Benson, 2011, 131), where two individual learners or
As well as raising learners’ awareness on strategy use and their own learning, it is two groups of learners use the target language to exchange information. Recently,
also important that the teachers raise student awareness on how the mechanics communication technologies such as e-mails or video-conferencing are being used
of the language works by providing explicit awareness raising activities or explicit to facilitate tandem learning (Warschauer et al., 2000). Regular exchange of e-mails
language instruction on language patterns (Sinclair, 2010). This will develop
with speakers of the target language on specific themes can be motivating as well
the metacognitive knowledge needed to talk about their learning and about the
as providing genuine communication. Deciding on the themes collaboratively will
language. As reviewed in the previous section, talking and thinking about the process
also increase student control. Using the Internet to complete tasks by collecting
of learning is valuable for learning, as Vygotsky argued. Sinclair remarks that it is
information, i.e. WebQuests, student publishing through blogs, journals, student
important that the learners are aware of what they are doing or expected to do,
collaboration through, for example, discussion lists are also among the uses of
how and why it is important for their learning. It is also important to provide the
communication and information technologies use to foster autonomy. Software such
learners with explicit instruction on the patterns in L2 to foster learner autonomy.
as concordances are also available to access authentic language for meaningful input.
It is possible to provide language patterns, i.e. grammatical or lexical patterns, and
ask the learners to hypothesise when these patterns are used, or to provide input in
L2 and ask the learners to find the patterns in that input (Sinclair, 2010).
Since autonomous learners are those engaged in their learning beyond the
confinement of language classroom, and are capable of directing their own
learning, self-access centres are beneficial in providing the learners with the
resources to be used in their learning. As Benson remarks, “a self-access centre can
be broadly defined as a purpose-designed facility in which learning resources are
made directly available to learners” (2011, p. 128). The resources in a self-access
centre can include audio and video recordings, books, other printed materials, and
computers, software designed for language learning. Bearing in mind the value of
real communication and authentic materials in fostering learner autonomy, in the
absence of such facilities like a room to be allocated for this use, computers, TVs,
video-audio recorders, it is also possible to develop a resources centre or a corner
in the classroom by simply collecting resources in time. In the experience of the
author asking the students to contribute to this collection will also include them in Since fostering learner autonomy requires teachers to negotiate with the
materials selection and creation and will increase the collection in volume as well learners to help them set goals for, plan and evaluate their learning, the
as resulting in an increase in learner motivation and collaboration teachers themselves need to be autonomous in their own practice (Benson,
2011). However, as Nakata (2001) suggests, teacher autonomy is not a
Information technologies such as computer-assisted language learning (CALL),
necessary precondition for fostering learner autonomy (2011). Teachers also
computer mediated communication for language learning (CMCL) are widely used
should have a “readiness” to help learners become autonomous (p. 901).
in teaching and learning a language. CALL offers software designed to facilitate
language learning. The students can be involved in tasks where they can practice L2 We need to remember that autonomy is a pre-requisite to self-fulfilment, therefore,
and evaluate themselves. Such software clearly offers resources for the learners to people have a need to be autonomous in their actions (Little, 2009). For teaching,
work on in their own time and pace. Where CALL is not readily available to learners or this would entail having the freedom and control on one’s own practice, to be able
teachers, the Internet is widely used to provide means for genuine communication. to promote learner control. Teachers need to consider at this point to what extent
Dias (2000) accounts a study where the learners were asked to use information and they will need to negotiate with their colleagues, the institution they work in, and
communication strategies including, the internet and e-mail exchange, in learning sometimes parents and learners for such control. Although it is not uncommon to

98 Theoretical Considerations Autonomy 99

find a sense of resignation from the teachers saying they do not have control over identification of an area of improvement, planning and a new course of action based
their own teaching practices and that the control is held by the institution they work on the results. Therefore, it is cyclical in nature:
in, in most cases, as Benson (2011) remarks, such control can be useful to serve as
a benchmark in teaching.
Please remember that some students will be more ready to assume autonomy of
their learning while some will be more inclined to attribute all control and outcome
of their learning to the teacher. One student in Lamb’s (2009) study, for example,
remarks that she would be more successful if the teacher was more encouraging.
Interestingly, similar mindset can also be present among teachers, or surprisingly
even among teacher trainees that an encouraging curriculum, the principal,
colleagues, and/or course books; or more responsible learners are pre-requisite to
develop more professionally, or to foster learner autonomy. We need to remember
(McNiff, 1988, p. 22)
that the teachers, much like the learners themselves, will need to operate within the
framework of the educational settings they work in to develop professionally and Depending on the context, the learners, and the teacher- researcher, these cycles
to foster learner autonomy. This suggests that they will need to find ways of doing are likely to expand or multiply (McNiff, 1988).
this within the context they teach. When faced with constraints from the educational
settings, as Benson argues, teachers can respond in different ways.
There are no pre-set rules to foster learner autonomy, as remarked above, but
different learners with different characteristics, such as age, educational background,
needs, goals, will call for different approaches. To be well-equipped for such diversity,
the teachers will need to develop continuously. Just as learners need to reflect on
their learning, teachers will need to reflect on their teaching. To do so, teachers often
use action research, which will be discussed below.
As maintained above, it is not uncommon for the teachers to feel disempowered
in their practice of teaching. Action research is used commonly as a means for
promoting teacher autonomy. It is based on the principle of empowering practitioners
to produce theory and practical knowledge and of drawing on this new knowledge
to improve practice (Reason & Bradbury, 2001). Therefore, in educational settings,
action research is an ongoing process to improve teaching and learning (Macintyre,
2000).
(McNiff, 1988, p. 44)
Action research typically starts
Please discuss the following questions with a
with identifying a problem in Just as learner autonomy requires collaboration, teacher autonomy and action
colleague.
the teaching/learning process, research too requires collaboration with the colleagues. Besides, the teacher-
whereby the teacher-researcher researcher should reflect on the current practice, identify what she needs to
1. Should teachers do research? Why/ Why
plans a change to solve the improve in the teaching / learning process, much like the reflection stage in learner
not?
problem or to improve teaching autonomy. The next step of setting a course of action and evaluating, reflecting on
2. Suggest possible stages of research
practice. Following the planning the outcomes of this course are also common stages with learner autonomy. To
designed to improve teaching.
phase, the teacher-researcher carry out such evaluation the teacher will need to take a closer look at the specific
3. Please remember that teaching and learning
implements the plan and reflects aspect that she set out to improve and to be able to do this, she will need to evaluate
are not done in isolation. Who would a
on the outcomes of that course the change implemented. Vieira (2007) suggests keeping teacher journals in the
teacher doing action research need to
of action. It is common that such process to help evaluation. Other instruments such as questionnaires, interviews,
collaborate with? At what stage of research?
reflection will give rise to further student logs, portfolios, achievement tests, among many others, are also available

100 Theoretical Considerations Autonomy 101

for evaluation, depending on the nature of the problem and the change implemented. autonomy. Language learning software and the Internet, as well as audio and
We need to remember that learning, formal or informal, exists in every stage video recordings will give valuable prospects for communication, collaboration,
of our lives. We are predisposed to learning to be able to function effectively in planning and reflection/evaluation. In the absence of such technologies and physical
our interactions with others and with the world. In teaching a foreign language, constraints to use these, the teachers can develop self-access facilities in time by
it is this need to be competent that we need to mobilise. By providing genuine collecting resources and offering an open access to these.
communication opportunities, providing tasks that relate to the learners’ lives, To be able to meet the demands of fostering learner autonomy, the teachers
giving them a sense of enjoyment and achievement in learning, we can motivate themselves, will need to be autonomous. Although teacher autonomy requires
learners to be more actively engaged in their learning. Motivated learners will be freedom over the process of teaching, in contexts where the teacher is bound by
more inclined to carry on learning both inside and outside the classroom. However, the curriculum or an exam system, she can use these as overall goals and operate
to ensure a self-sustaining learning, we also need to foster autonomous behaviour, within them. Similar to learner autonomy, teacher autonomy requires reflection on
which is also present in every individual at varying degrees. the process of teaching, setting goals, collaboration and evaluation of the process.
Autonomous learners reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, and the progress of Action research is a beneficial tool in promoting teacher autonomy as it facilitates
their learning. They are capable of setting goals and working towards these goals. reflection, taking action and evaluation.
They will be willing to work collaboratively with others to facilitate their learning Helping learners become more autonomous in language learning is by no means
and will not be afraid to take risks. An essential component of fostering learner an easy process. The teacher will need to adopt additional roles besides teaching.
autonomy, then, is giving more control to learners. To be able to do this, language However, autonomous learning is the goal of all teaching as we would like the
teachers will find themselves in a position where they have to negotiate with the learners to keep learning beyond the allocated hours in classrooms and relate
policy makers, colleagues and stakeholders, such as parents and learners, as they what is learned to their lives if we want learners to be independent, empowered
move away from the traditional classroom. They will also have to be very clear individuals.
and explicit about the overall aims and goals of the curriculum, within which the
learners can plan their own learning.
While some learners can be more ready to assume such control, some others can be
more inclined to stay within the safety of traditional roles where they are told what
they need to produce when and how. Also, a change in roles can cause frustration if
the learners are not clear about the aim of the change and what the new roles entail
for them. Therefore, fostering learner autonomy is a gradual process where the
control is handed to the learners as they grow to be more ready for it. In addition,
it is crucial that the teachers act as mentors, facilitators, and guides and negotiate
with the learners about their learning in this process. The teachers should help the
learners set goals, provide the setting where learners can collaborate with each
other, help them set a plan to achieve their goals and evaluate their progress. It is
also the teacher who should organise communication between individual learners,
groups and class as a whole; and direct the learners to resources until they are
ready to do this themselves.
Student collaboration is an important aspect of learner autonomy and should be
encouraged to ensure a metacognitive awareness about the learning process, which
is essential in learning. Language learning strategies also play an important role in
developing a metacognitive awareness. In fostering learner autonomy, it is possible
to give direct instruction on learning strategies as well as raising awareness of the
strategies used and those that are available to learners. Whichever approach is
adopted, language learning strategies will offer a repertoire for the learners.
Use of technology and self-access centres are also instrumental in fostering learner

102 Theoretical Considerations Autonomy 103


Follow-up questions
1. What does the term learner autonomy mean to you?
2. Would you consider yourself to be an autonomous learner?
3. Would you consider learner autonomy to be an important educational goal?
Why/ Why not?
4. What would you say characteristics of autonomous learners are?
5. What is the role of teacher in autonomous learning?
6. What should language teachers do to foster learner autonomy?
7. Which of the following would you say autonomous learners have a say in?
a) What they learn;
b) How they learn,
c) Evaluation of the learning process and learning outcomes
8. Can you think of any problems that learners and /or teachers encounter
while fostering learner autonomy? If yes, please list them all.
9. What does the term teacher autonomy mean to you?
10. In your opinion, how are learner and teacher autonomy related?
11. Please list means of reflection to be used to foster autonomous learning?
12. Besides logbooks and portfolios, what other means of self-evaluation are
available?
13. How can discussion lists be used to help learners reflect?
14. Please suggest ways of including the learners in decision making process of
a listening course for beginner level learners.
15. Please suggest ways for the learners to create and select their own
materials for a reading course.
16. Please suggest a variety of tasks for the learners to choose from in a writing
course for advanced level learners.
17. Please suggest speaking tasks for genuine communication designed for
beginner level learners.
18. Please find a beginner level and an advanced level course book in English
and analyse strategy training provided in the book.
19. Suggest ways of raising learners’ awareness on listening, speaking, reading
and writing strategies.
20. Design a mock-action research project. Identify a specific point you believe
you need to improve as a language teacher, for example giving instructions
in L2, teaching collocations, etc. What is the first step you would do to
improve it? What are the following steps? How would you evaluate your
improvement?
104 Theoretical Considerations
Classroom Management
Erhan Alabay
Mehmet Galip Zorba
Classroom management is an essential part of education. Although it is often seen
as setting the rules to prevent undesirable behaviour, it is in fact much more than
that. Evertson and Neal (2006) define classroom as a place where teachers focus on
learning. Classroom management has a significant role for providing appropriate
atmosphere in classrooms and much cannot be expected from the other teaching
activities as long as problems related to classroom management are not solved
(Sherwood, 2008). According to Evertson and Neal (2006) classroom management
is a matter of maintaining control of students and their learning activities. Although
this definition is acceptable, it does not seem comprehensive enough because it
only covers controlling of students and their learning activities.
In addition to the first definition, classroom management can also be defined as the
teacher’s ability to manage the time, space, resources and student roles and student
behaviours to provide a climate that encourages learning (Alberto & Troutman,
1986, p. 404). Capel, et al. (1999) state that classroom management refers to
arrangements made by the teacher to establish and maintain an environment in
which learning can occur, e.g. effective organization and presentation of lessons so
that pupils are actively engaged in learning (p. 92). It is apparent in these definitions
that teachers’ role in classroom management is undeniable since there is a direct
relation between a successfully managed classroom and effective teaching and
learning activities (Harmer, 2001). Marzano et al. (2003) state that effective teaching
and learning cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom.
Approaches to classroom management
There are many approaches to classroom management. However, choosing the most
appropriate approach for your students is key for effective classroom management
(Evertson & Neal, 2006). There are two basic approaches traditional approach and
contemporary approach.
Figure 1. Classroom management approaches
Classroom Management 105
 Traditional approaches are based on behaviorism Table 1 explains briefly the differences between traditional and contemporary classroom
which prioritizes individuals’ observable and management approaches.
measurable behaviors (Aksoy, 2001). Traditional
approaches put teacher-centeredness at the
Traditional Classroom Contemporary Classroom
center of classroom management. In other words,
Management Approaches Management Approaches
students are passive in every kind of learning-
teaching activities occurring in classrooms • Teacher-centered • Student-centered
whereas teachers are relatively more active. In • Strict and unchangeable rules • Flexible rules
traditional approaches, teacher-student • Rules are set up by teachers • Teachers and students
interaction is limited with clear-cut borders (Başar, • Students do not have voice in co-construct the rules
1996). In that sense, students’ opinions or classroom management • Students have voice in classroom
thoughts are ignored in decision making processes • Only inside of school are taken management
since teachers are the sole authority in classrooms (Başar, 1996; Lewis, 2009). into consideration (Internal • Both inside and outside of school
Traditional approaches are based on strict, unquestionable and unchangeable Factors) are taken into consideration
rules set by teachers. Thus, teachers are regarded as authority figures. Black • Teacher is the sole authority (Internal and External factors)
(2005) states that since these approaches leave no room for democracy and • Alienation • No central authority
student-centeredness, it is unlikely to achieve contemporary humanistic teaching • Autocratic atmosphere in • Promote development
and learning goals through them (cited in Akın, 2006). Therefore, one of the most classroom • Democratic atmosphere in
negative effects that traditional approaches may cause is alienation. Alienation • Students are passive classroom
hinders students’ awareness in the learning process. During such an alienation • Condemnation, judgment and • Students are active
process, students react less strongly to what they are learning, and thus the feeling punishment • Discussing and mutual
of not being a part of classroom emerges. As a result, students feel alienated and
• Aims are decided by teachers understanding in classroom
become desensitized to learning processes.
• Students are expected to • Aims are decided by whole class
Contemporary classroom management approaches emerged as a reaction to
memorize knowledge • Students are expected to think
traditional approaches that hinder learning process. The most distinct characteristic
on and question knowledge, and
of contemporary approaches is student-centeredness. Student-centeredness
construct new knowledge
requires valuing students’ opinions and thoughts (Kauffman et al., 2006). In other
words, students are not the object of education; on the contrary, they are regarded Table 1. The differences between traditional and contemporary classroom
as the main actors in the teaching and learning process. Hence, as Roses (1990) management approaches
elucidates, students should have a say in the decision making process of significant
educational actions taken in classrooms such as classroom rules, the teaching What would you do?
method that teachers follow and the setting of the goals of the course. Esra was a novice teacher of English at a state school. One day, she had an English
Compared with traditional approaches, lesson with class 6B. When she entered the classroom which was the one after the
contemporary classroom management Physical Education lesson, she realized that the class was too noisy. Most of the
approaches require flexible rules. These flexible students were still running in the classroom. Similarly, there was no fresh air and
rules can be changed according to emotional, it was also dusty. At first, Esra wanted to open the windows and then she noticed
cognitive and physical developments of students. that she was unable to manage the class after opening the windows. Some of
Besides, contemporary approaches involves the students were sitting on their chairs but others were chasing each other or
both inside and outside of the classroom. In this drawing pictures on the blackboard. Esra was not sure what to do in such a case.
sense, classrooms, students, teachers, education programs, educational
Regarding the contemporary classroom management approaches, what would
environments and materials are considered as internal factors whereas social
you do or how would you react if you were Esra? In your opinion, through which
environments and families are regarded as external factors (Marzano & Marzano,
approach will you be able to receive positive feedback?
2003). Effective classroom management requires successfully managing both
internal and external factors since all of these factors play significant roles in As mentioned above, classroom management approaches are generally divided
students’ behaviors in classroom environment (Özdayı, 2004).

106 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 107

into two sections; traditional and contemporary. However, different approaches are
available for classroom management as well and teachers can adopt these different
approaches according to their contextual needs (Başar, 1999).
These approaches are given as follows:
1. Reactive classroom management approach
2. Precautionary classroom management approach
3. Developmental classroom management approach
4. Holistic classroom management approach
Reactive classroom management approach
Reactive classroom management approach aims to eliminate undesirable behaviors
through the principle of action-reaction or reward-punishment (Bull & Solity, 1996).
When teachers observe am undesirable behavior, they try to eliminate it through
direct involvement.
Preventative classroom management approach
Preventative classroom management aims to determine and prevent undesirable
behavior before such behavior occurs. Therefore, teachers have great responsibilities
since this approach requires profound observation and experience so that teachers
predict and/or determine potential problems both in classrooms and school
environment (Küçükahmet, 2000). After determining potential problems, teachers
should take preventative actions through setting necessary rules and/or principles
so as to prevent or change undesired behaviors. Prediction and prevention of
problematic behaviors and situations before they even occur are crucial part of
this approach. Preventative classroom management, however, does not offer any
solutions when problems or conflicts arise.
Developmental classroom management approach
This approach is based on students’ development, and thus classroom rules and
principles are decided through considering students’ physical, psychological, moral,
emotional and mental developments. This approach aims to design a classroom
model that includes appropriate teaching methods and subject areas to students’
developmental levels as well as students’ behaviors. Jacobsen et al. (1993) divides
this approach into four developmental stages:
• Stage 1: It involves the period until the age of 10. In this period, students
learn how to be a student, how to behave in classroom and school
environment, and thus teachers have great responsibility at this stage.
• Stage 2: It includes the period between the age of 10 and 12. The focus
on classroom management diminishes. Students are willing to obey
classroom rules and please their teachers.
• Stage 3: It involves the period between the age of 12 and 15. Students
behave collaboratively in order to enjoy and receive support. They may
108 Theoretical Considerations
cause problems in the classroom in order to receive appreciation of their
friends, and they question classroom rules and the reasons behind them.
• Stage 4: It involves high school years. Students begin to understand who
they are, how to behave and become socialized.
In developmental classroom management, teachers need to know students’
developmental levels so that they decide on how to find solutions to undesirable
behaviors considering students’ age.
Holistic classroom management approach
Holistic classroom management is a mixed approach that synthesizes the other
three approaches. In this approach, educational and social environment affecting
the classroom are considered as a whole.
Apart from the four classroom management approaches, Martin et. al. (1998)
divides classroom management approaches in three. These are;
a. Interventionist classroom management approach
b. Non-interventionist classroom management approach
c. Interactive classroom management approach
Interventionist classroom management
approach Interventionist classroom
Interventionist classroom management approach management leaves
is based on traditional approaches. In this students’ thoughts and
approach, teachers are responsible for controlling emotions aside, and ignores
students’ undesirable behaviors. Thus, classroom individual differences.
rules are set up by teachers. The rules are
explained clearly and briefly, and students are expected to obey all the rules. As
teachers are the sole authority in classroom, they never avoid using their authority
to prevent or stop undesirable behaviors. Besides, reward and punishment have
significant roles. Instant intervention to undesirable behaviors is the key element of
this approach. (Martin, et. al. 1998).
The main principles of interventionist classroom management are as follows;
• Teachers have the total control over class.
• Teachers are the sole authority that establishes the rules.
• The focus is on behavior.
• Sınıf yönetiminde kurallar konulurken bireysel farklılıklar önemli değildir.
• Reward and punishment are crucial for managing behaviors.
• The most important power is reward and coercive power.
• Teaches need to take action while intervening to undesirable behaviors.
(Zirpoli & Melloy, 1997; Martin et al., 1998).
Classroom Management 109
Non-interventionist classroom management approach authorities with students. Furthermore, teachers give particular importance to
Non-interventionist classroom management students’ needs. When an undesirable behavior occurs, teachers seek solutions
According to non- through collaboration with students.
approach is based on humanist and students-
interventionist classroom
centered views. It assumes that students have Expert and legal power play crucial role in interactive classroom management. It is
management, it is important
an innate ability to control their own behavior. important that teacher should consider classroom as whole, struggle for classroom
not to judge students’
Therefore, it is students’ responsibility to control rights and prevent individual behavior that prevents classroom rights (Martin &
behavior. Teachers should
their own behavior whereas teachers’ main role Baldwin, 1993).
avoid instant intervention to
is to arrange educational environment in which The principles of interactive classroom management are summarized as follows:
undesirable behavior.
students learn how to control their behavior (Levin
• Teachers and students have equal responsibility in classroom management.
& Nolan, 1991; Aksoy, 2001). The reason behind
• Students’ opinions are taken into consideration while setting up classroom
undesirable behaviors is confusion in emotion and thought. Hence, teachers should
rules.
draw students’ attention to their behavior (Yılmaz & Çavaş, 2008).
• Behavior takes precedence over emotions and thoughts.
The first step against an undesirable behavior is giving a silent message. Silent
messages play significant role in non-interventionist classroom management. • Individual differences have importance at medium level.
Through these messages students are expected to realize and abandon undesirable • Teachers protect classroom rights.
behavior. However, silent messages may not always be suffice for preventing • Teachers give time to students so that they can realize their behavior.
undesirable behaviors. In such cases, teachers should discuss students’ behaviors
• Group meetings, the techniques for overcoming undesirable behavior are
through one-to-one interviews with problematic students.
significant in this approach.
Martin and Yin (1997) summarize the main principles of non-interventionist
classroom management as follows:
• The main responsibility in controlling their behaviors belongs to students. What would you do if you were ……….. ?
• Students decide on classroom rules under the guidance of teachers. Ahmet was working as a teacher of English in Malatya. At the beginning of the
• Emotions and thoughts are the basis of this approach. term, he assigned personal projects to his 7th grade students. After a month,
Ahmet collected students’ drafts so as to see students’ developing work. When he
• Individual differences are highly considered.
examined the project reports, he noticed that two of the students had submitted
• Teachers give time to students so that they realize their undesirable the same project reports. Upon this situation, he started to think about the reaction
behavior. that he was going to take against these two students.   
• Silent messages and one-to-one talk are used to prevent undesirable If you were Ahmet, how would you react to these two students? Explain in
behavior. accordance with each one of the approaches mentioned above.
In addition to the principles mentioned above, Martin and Yin (1997) also consider
expert power as one of the most necessary elements that teachers need to have.
Lunenburg and Ornstein (1991) explain that the term expert power is a special power
that is based on knowledge since students tend to respect teachers who know what
they are doing (Harmer, 2001). Expert power provides teachers self-confidence,
and thus they teach their lessons more effectively (Borich, 1996). Therefore, as
Lunenburg and Ornstein (1991) claim, teachers who have expert power have a great
influence on students and gain their students’ respect and admiration.
Interactive classroom management approach
According to interactive classroom management, students and teachers share
responsibility for controlling students’ behavior (Aksoy, 2001). Teachers and
students set up classroom rules together, through which teachers share their www. zacchw.glogster.com

110 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 111

Key factors in classroom management Traditional seating chart: In traditional
Effective teaching-learning process can only be provided through effective classroom seating chart, seats are placed one
management that involves a well-planned organization and control that a teacher after another and side by side, and
has over the flow of activities in a classroom while getting students to obey the each desk looks at the blackboard (see
classroom rules (Oliver & Reschly, 2007). In addition, classroom management must Figure 3). Although this kind of seating
also include the ability to deal with behavioral disturbances in classroom. There chart is useful for some organizations
are key factors that influence these behavioral disturbances (see Figure 2). Thus, such as conference and displays, it does
teachers need to be aware of these key factors while minimizing their negative not allow for discussion. Therefore,
effects (Jones & Jones, 1998). traditional seating chart leaves no room
for communication and interaction.

Figure 3. Traditional Seating Chart (Lesson Plan Inc., n.d.)

Seating chart for discussion: Seats are placed in the shape of semicircle or circle (see
Figure 2. Key Factors in classroom management Figure 4). In this way, students can easily see one another. Therefore, students make
discussions through semicircle or circle seating chart.
In-class Factors
The structure of educational environment
The structure of effective educational environment provides positive atmosphere
in classroom since the physical and socio-psychological structure of educational
environment have influence on students’ behavior (Robert, 2007). Almost everything
that can influence students’ behavior are considered such as the classroom
size, illumination and air conditioning, seating plans, appropriateness of in-class
materials to students’ developmental levels, the number of educational materials Figure 4. Seating Chart for Discussion (Lesson Plan Inc., n.d.)
and suitability of these materials to students’ needs.
Seating chart for group work: Two or more seats are combined, and hence students in
One of the most important elements mentioned above is the seating plan. Thus, the same group can see each other, easily cooperate (see Figure 5).
teachers should give importance it according to the aims of lessons. There are various
ways to organize how students sit. Konza et al. (2006) state that a well-planned
seating plan is helpful for establishing a more effective classroom management.
Seating plans can be organized according to the teaching methods and techniques
or behaviors that students display in the classroom. Seating charts organized
according to teaching methods and techniques have three main types;
• traditional seating chart,
• seating chart for discussion
• seating chart for group work (Lesson Plan Inc., n.d.)
Figure 5. Seating chart for group work (Lesson Plan Inc., n.d.)

112 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 113

In addition to seating charts organized according to teaching methods and techniques, Placing students displaying undesirable behavior
seating charts can also be organized according to the behavior that students display may cause different problems. When teacher place a Front and center seats
in classroom. Sitting a talkative student next to a shy student or sitting a student who disruptive student in the front or at the center, the are not appropriate
has concentration problem on a seat where he/she can make an eye contact with whole class sees his/her. Therefore, these seats are
for students with
teacher easily can be given examples for this type of seating charts. not suitable for students displaying such undesirable
behavior. One of the best things to do is to place these ADHD (attention deficit
However, there are some rules for seating charts organized according to students’
students in the corners so that the other students pay hyperactivity disorder).
behavior. The first rule is to find a specific seat for students considering their
behavior. The second rule is to place students who display undesirable behavior less attention to them (Shindler, 2010).
at seats where teacher can easily keep close eye contact with these students. For
Education programs, methods and techniques
instance, placing students with ADD (attention deficit disorder) in the front may
Education programs and methods and
help to provide more effective classroom management since students in the front
techniques employed in the scope of
and center of classroom receive the most eye contact from teachers. Figure 6
these programs have a significant role
shows seating charts that are organized for students displaying different kind of
in preventing undesirable behavior in
undesirable behavior.
classroom. In education programs that
do not reply to students’ development
levels, their interests and needs, it is
inevitable to encounter undesirable
behavior in classroom. Therefore,
it is necessary that teachers need
prepare lesson plans considering
students’ development levels, their interests and needs. Besides, it also necessary
that teachers need to have experience and backup plans that help them solve
unexpected problems that y arise suddenly throughout course duration. Through
these measures, undesirable behavior that may result from such factors as fear of
failure and lack of interest are prevented (Başar, 1999).
Each student’s experience, developmental level, interests, needs, expectations,
way of learning and family structure are different. It is possible to minimize these
differences and so undesirable behavior
resulted from these differences through
a well-planned program.
No matter how successful and well-
designed program teachers have,
failure is inevitable without well
implementation. Therefore, teachers
have great responsibilities in classroom
management since having students
monotonously engaged in activities that
are prepared in terms of the aims and
gains of programs is likely to trigger
undesirable behavior in classroom. Total
silence in classroom does not indicate
Figure 6. Seating charts according to students’ behavior (Lesson Plan Inc., n.d.) effective classroom management.

114 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 115

Therefore, implementation of methods and techniques which promote interaction
and students’ efforts, instead of traditional ones, is helpful for preventing undesirable
behavior (O’Leary & O’Leary, 1972).
Teachers’ features
Teachers’ features are one of the elements that have an influence on in-class factors.
Teachers’ behaviors may sometimes cause undesirable behaviors and hence the
way of teaching and teacher-student relationship can help prevent such behaviors
(Harmer, 2001). Filene (2005) states that attitudes that teachers display are the
most important features because teachers should display democratic attitudes
both inside and outside of classroom through which they can prevent undesirable
behavior while establishing a peaceful educational environment.
Tolerance is another attitude that teacher should
Teachers should bear in display, through which teachers encourage whole class
mind that tolerance does to display positive behavior. Besides, tolerant attitude
not mean “to ignore”. of teachers help students understand that each
undesirable behavior or mistake does not always
require punishment because making mistake is in our nature.
Another attitude that influences classroom management of teachers is emotional
actions or decisions. However, this attitude may cause problems in classroom
management if teachers take actions contrary to the classroom rules due to
emotional reasons. Day (2004) states that teachers should not discriminate against
any of their students under any circumstances. Therefore, emotional objectivity and
fairness is highly crucial for classroom management.
In addition to these, interest and enthusiasm profoundly influence students’
behaviors in a positive way. Therefore, teachers always try to find ways to attract
students’ interest and promote their enthusiasm. On the other hand, students’
enthusiasm can also be generated or improved through teachers’ performance.
Harmer (2001) draws a framework of how teachers should perform during certain
classroom activities (see Table 2).
Table 2. How teachers should perform
Activity How teachers should perform
Team game energetically, encouragingly, clearly and fairly
clearly, encouragingly, retiringly and
Role-play
supportively
Teacher reading aloud commandingly, dramatically and interestingly
Whole-class listening efficiently, clearly and supportively
(Harmer, 2001; p. 64)
To sum up, teachers need to control their attitudes. Teachers should take leadership
role in classroom. However, this leadership role, as Poggi and Germani (2003) state,
includes treating their students like one of their friends or parents when necessary.
116 Theoretical Considerations
Students’ features
Students’ features have as significant role as
teachers’ features in classroom management.
Behavior that students display in classroom
is closely related about their individual
and developmental features. It would be a
huge mistake to expect that each student
have psychically and developmentally same
characteristics. Thus, teachers should be
aware of these differences and consider
them while establishing classroom rules.
Some students may have more easily
offended, aggressive, introverted or reserved
characteristics compared to their peers due
to their developmental features or social environment. These characteristics may
cause serious problems in classroom. Therefore, teachers should aware of these
different characteristics through detailed observations, and find solutions to them
by employing different methods.
In addition to the elements mentioned above, students’ special attention needs
have strongly influence in classroom management since each students’ are in need
of special attention at different levels (Yurtal & Yaşar, 2008). This is closely related
to students’ social environments and their families. For instance, a student coming
from an isolated environment may be in need of socialization in classroom whereas
another student coming from a single-child and high-income family may expect that
his/her wishes are immediately granted.
Undoubtedly, all these needs, interests, individual and social differences prompt
students to behave in completely different ways in the same environment.
What would you do if you were …….?
Işıl was in charge of the English lessons in a private school in İstanbul. The school
that she was working for was one of the prominent schools in the city. Children
of the wealthiest families of the city were all in her class. Mehmet (14) was her
most problematic student. He disobeyed any rule set. As a result, all students were
influenced by this situation negatively. Işıl was trying to ignore this problem and
continue her lessons as if nothing went wrong. However, she was also aware that
Mehmet was a real problem to be dealt with in the classroom atmosphere.
What would you do if you were Işıl? Which elements of the classroom management
would you pay attention to most?
Out-class factors
Out-class factors play as significant role as in-class factors does. These factors
are family, social environment, information and communication technologies and
school environment.
Classroom Management 117
 Family classroom management, teachers should consider not only students themselves
Students’ experiences in their families but also close and distant environment students live in while establishing classroom
have profound effect on their classroom rules. (Ming-tak & Wai-shing, 2008).
behaviors (Harmer, 2001). The attitudes
The media
and behaviors that family members
The media is one of the factors that can
display directly influence students’ since
negatively or positively affect students’
family relations are the most intensive
classroom behavior. The media,
personal relations that students are in.
particularly television and the Internet,
Therefore, interactions between families
lead students to get used to continuously
and their students lead to either negative or positive changes in students’ behavioral,
changing and dynamic stimuli.
emotional and mental development. Negative changes, however, pave the way for
undesirable behavior in classroom by influencing students’ behavior and attitudes. When the negative effects of television
on children are examined, one of the
Parents’ attitudes are another factor that causes undesirable behavior in classroom.
foremost negative effects is stimulation
It is unlikely to expect that all parents take the same attitude towards children
of violent and aggressive feelings, and
(Evertson & Weinstein, 2006). There various kinds of attitudes that parents display.
thus children who watch movies or TV
Some parents show authoritarian attitudes toward their children, some adopt
programs containing violence tend to
indifferent attitude whereas some take over-protective attitude. These undesirable
have aggressive feelings and thoughts.
attitudes affect students’ classroom behavior as well. For instance, a student
Children learn through observing behavior and taking the characters as role models.
brought up by over-tolerant parents is expected to display selfish, bad-tempered
In addition, children tend to act what they observe and learn. Therefore, movies and
and impatient behavior in classroom environment when he/she does not encounter
TV programs containing violence provides different kinds of negative role models
with the same attitude that his/her parents take at home.
and behavior for children, and consequently it is inevitable to act these behavior in
Economic conditions of families, their education levels, number of family members real life (White, et. al., 2011).
and absence of one of family members or being a member of a divorced family are
The Internet is another element that affects students’ cognitive and affective
all included in familial factors that lead to undesirable behavior in classroom.
development. The Internet can be either
Social environment a quite useful tool or a time-killing activity
depending on your purposes. It provides
Social environment has great influence
various resources and information if it
on people from all ages, and thus it
is used properly. Haphazard use of the
is inevitable to encounter its either
Internet leads to waste of time, and
positive or negative effects in classroom
may negatively affect individual, social
since social environment becomes
and cognitive developments. On the
stimulus of our some behavior whereas
other hand, games play via the Internet
it prevents some. Social environment
contain violent and lead to addiction.
can be discussed in two subtitles; close
In this sense, the Internet provides negative role models for children as well, and
environment and distant environment.
reflects undesirable behavior in classroom that they acquire from these role models.
Close environment includes people and
places that are part of students’ everyday School
life such as school, classroom, family, surrounding playgrounds and other places Classrooms are subunits of schools, and hence the structure that schools have
where students spend their past times. Distant surrounding, on the other hand, directly affects students and so classroom management. Structure of schools
includes life styles, beliefs, customs, political and social structures of the society in includes various elements from organizational structure, atmosphere, culture,
which students live. The main goal of teachers is to minimize or overcome possible decision making processes to supporting services provided teachers and students,
negative influences that may result from both close and distant environment of teaching and learning processes, school rules and attitudes towards learning. One of
students so as to prevent undesirable behavior in classroom. Therefore, for effective the main aims of schools is to arouse sense of belonging towards school. The fact that

118 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 119

 schools provide students opportunities
to take part in decision making process
and promote sense of belonging not only
minimizes undesirable behavior but also
improves academic success (Marzano, et.
al., 2006).
As one of the out-class factors that
affect classroom management school
can be examined in two sections. These are administrative structure and psychical
structure. Administrative structure includes, as mentioned above, inclusion of
teachers and students in decision making process related to schools. In addition,
school administrators should take
actions in order to improve teachers’
and students’ motivations. Motivating
organizations and activities promote
sense of belonging, socialization and
interaction between students and
teachers. Psychical structure, on the
other hand, includes appearance,
cleaning, health conditions, practicality
and equipment of school. Psychical
structure affects teaching-learning
process. Besides, teachers’ or students’ displeasure resulting from psychical
structure lead to setbacks in teaching-learning process.
http://leadingfromtheheart.org/category/classroom/
120 Theoretical Considerations
What would you do if you were ……?
Muzaffer was working as a teacher of English at a state school. There were 15
students in total in his class and materials to be used in the lesson were adequate
enough to conduct the lesson in an effective way. However, 12 year-old Ömer was
not participating in the lesson and he was dealing with the things that were not
related to the course content. This situation was quite distracting for both the
teacher and his classmates. When Muzaffer inspected Ömer’s file, he found out
that Ömer’s parents were recently divorced. Muzaffer, who was experiencing such
a situation for the first time in his career was aware that he had to do something
but he couldn’t come up with any solution to this problem.
What kind of a strategy would you follow if you were Muzaffer?
Effective classroom management
Having quiet students listening to their
teachers does not indicate effective
classroom management. Classroom
management involves strategies and
attitudes that teachers employ so as
to organize educational environment.
Therefore, there are factors that
teachers need to consider for effective
classroom management. These factors are;
• Communication
• Rules
• Time management
• Undesirable behavior method
Communication
Communication can be defined as an action directing and changing the behavior of
the individual or group in a desired way. Communication is a purposeful initiative
that includes specific elements and procedures.
The main elements of communication are source, message, channel, receiver and
feedback. Source is the person who initiates communication and defines the target.
Message is the thought, feeling or behavior that the source intends to share with
the receiver. In communication process, teachers should prefer short, brief and
understandable message so that students can understand the message. Channel
can be defined as a method or technique through which the source conveys the
message to the receiver. For instance, e-mails and SMS are the channel people
use via the Internet and mobile phones. Receiver is the target person to whom the
source intends to convey a message. Feedback is the reaction that the receiver
displays in order to inform the source whether the message is received or not (Ergin
& Birol, 1995).
Classroom Management 121
 A breakdown in the communication
What would you say in place of these sentences?
channel resulting from any of the
elements of communication leads Teacher says: Alternative Sentences:
to an inefficient flow in information. • I don’t want to see all the sloppy • ……………………………………........
Students are unaware of what their papers that I saw the last time. • ……………………………………........
teacher expects of them. This may lead • Stop talking or I will kick you out. • ……………………………………........
to undesirable behavior by negatively
• I told you guys to get to work. • ……………………………………........
affecting teaching- learning process.
• When are you ever going to learn? • ……………………………………........
Therefore, communication process is
required to be well planned by teachers. • There is too much noise in the room. • ……………………………………........
In classroom communication, everything that is said and how it is said is significant • You are always talking. • ……………………………………........
and that, as Kohl (2002) suggests, “small things such as comments, questions, • You are not listening to what I am • ……………………………………........
responses, phrases and tone often make a big difference in students’ attitudes, not teaching but I’ll ask every one of
only towards their teacher, but towards what their teacher teaches” (p. 145). The them in the exam.
use of language in the classroom defines the nature of how teachers make meaning, • I wonder how you can’t understand
and thus has a powerful influence on students. such as simple thing.
In the communication process, there are some ways that help teachers while
(Adapted from Schindler, 2010; p. 43)
communicating with students. One of these ways is to use “I language”. It is the
language that teachers use while describing students their undesirable behavior Rules
and how their behavior affects other students and teachers (Çağdaş, 2009). For Rules play a vital role in preventing
instance, some teachers utter such sentences below after encountering surprising undesirable behavior. Furthermore, they
results of an examination. help students realize how to behave
“You are all lazy.” “You’ll learn nothing.” both inside and outside of classroom.
“You are all failure.” “You are useless.” However, the most important point is that
rules should not be established through
In sentences above, “you language” is employed. It is the language used for blaming
teacher-centered decisions. Otherwise,
someone. Teachers that use such kind of messages make students feel totally
the rules established without students’
inadequate. Besides, students exposed to such messages may ignore them after
views and suggestions result to autocratic
a while or withdraw Instead of such messages, teachers should use constructive
atmosphere in classroom instead of
messages such as “Your exam result are highly surprising for me and they made me
plurivocal and democratic atmosphere.
upset. However, if we work on harder together, we can get more successful results.”
However, students that take active role
For students, such messages sound more constructive. Besides, these messages in the decision making processes of classroom rules tend to obey these rules more
show students that their teachers share their failure with them. Thus, these enthusiastically, and feel themselves valuable (Ming-tak & Wai-shing, 2008; Wragg,
messages incline students to realize undesirable behavior instead of displaying 1995). Classroom rules are helpful for putting students in order and improve academic
defensive attitudes. success. Moreover, they prepare students for the world outside of classroom. Defining
effective classroom rules are import for peace and harmony in classroom along with
effective learning. Therefore, effective classroom rules should be applicable and
preventative in a way to facilitate learning (Ming-tak & Wai-shing, 2008).

Time management
Time management means to use a certain amount of time most effectively. It is
unlikely that teachers suffer from time limitation in classrooms where effective
classroom management whereas in classrooms where effective classroom

122 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 123

management does not exists the allocated time for educational activities is Some students insistently use their mother tongues without making any efforts. One
insufficient (Tauber, 2007). Therefore, managing time in an effective way is a of the reasons behind that is the difficulty of activities. Activities that are unsuitable
vocational requirement for teachers. However, there are some useful tips that help for students’ levels impel students to use their mother tongue since they cannot
teachers for better time management. First, it is impossible to get back the time. take the expected action due to the fact that they are linguistically incapable of
Hence, teachers should well-planned how to use time before each lesson. However, (Harmer, 2001). Another reason why students use their mother tongues in classroom
everything may not go according to your plans so teachers need backup plans that is students’ unfamiliarity with new language. Code-switching between the mother
they can use in case of different problems. Second, it is not likely that teachers are tongue and foreign language is gradually developed (Elridge, 1996). Thus, it is quite
able to do all the things they wish in a lesson time. Order of priority and need in natural that students, especially at elementary and intermediate levels, use their
time management is crucial. Therefore, teachers make a list that shows students’ own language while learning a foreign language (Harmer, 2001).
needs and expectations, and then put the items on the list in order of priority. Lastly, The reason of mother tongue use is teachers’ themselves. Students perceive that
teachers should use the allocated time according to the educational purposes that mother tongue use is acceptable when teachers frequently use it (Harmer, 2001).
they intend to accomplish. Therefore, teachers should display attitudes to mother tongue use in classroom.
There are various strategies that teachers can use to promote the use of English.
Reacting to undesirable behavior
Some of them are given as follows;
Before discussing how to react to undesirable behavior, it is useful to discuss the
Setting clear guidelines: Teachers should set clear guidelines so shat students know
reasons behind it. Undesirable behavior that students display has three main reasons.
when mother tongue use is permitted (Harmer, 2001). The use of English in classroom
These reasons are individual behavior, peer and teacher-student interaction.
is definitely essential, and teachers should raise awareness about it whereas for
Undesirable behavior that is based on individual behavior is student-centered.
some activities or actions in classroom mother tongue use is tolerable such as
Kıran (2005) summarizes this type of behavior as attending to lessons in a sloppy
grammar explanations, giving instructions, discussing classroom methodology and
manner, displaying indifferent behavior towards lessons, speaking without asking for
giving of announcements (Harmer, 2001). The more important thing is teachers’
permission, coming to lessons late, lying, bullying other students, finding excuses
adherence to the guidelines that they set; otherwise students get confused about
for failure, using slang expressions, disobeying rules of good manners, studying
them.
another lesson during the lesson time and wearing inappropriate clothes.
Choosing suitable activities: Teachers should choose Too difficult activities
Nicknaming, looking down on, disturbing and annoying other students, and taking
activities that are suitable to their students’ level. may lead sense of failure
other students’ belongings without permission are such behaviors. The first method
Too difficult activities may lead to adverse effects on whereas too easy ones
that teachers should employ while reacting to undesirable behavior is to use positive
students’ enthusiasm and motivation (Harmer, 2001). hinder learning.
statements while talking to their students (Bakioğlu, 2009). Although negative
However, this does not mean that teachers need to
statements are effective, they do not provide long-term changes. Therefore,
give up engaging students in challenging activities. In this sense, teacher should
teachers should prefer constructive statements and encourage positive behavior
careful while choosing activities.
(Harmer, 2001). Since these statements do not bruise students’ self-esteem and
Creating an English atmosphere: Making English classroom language may help
self-confidence, they promote long-term positive changes in students’ behavior.
promote the use of the target language. In order to that anglicizing students’ names,
In addition to using positive statements, reward and punishment is another method
as teachers who use Suggestopedia do, may be useful (Harmer, 2001).
used for overcoming undesirable behavior. However, as Belvel and Belvel (2010)
Persuading students: Although giving direct warnings against mother tongue use
argue, punishment is not as effective as reward in the long run. Therefore, instead of
often works, reward and punishment can also be used. In most of the language
punishment, teachers should prefer rewarding while dealing with undesirable behavior.
classrooms in Turkey, teachers make students pay a fine when they use their own
Praising can be used as a reward. However, teachers should consider students’
languages (Harmer, 2001)
age and the amount of praise given. Otherwise, it may cause problems among
students such as annoyance and envy.
.
Promoting students to speak English
The most common undesirable behavior in language classrooms is students’
reluctance to speak in English especially in communicative activities (Harmer, 2001).
However, there are understandable reasons that lie behind students’ reluctance.

124 Theoretical Considerations Classroom Management 125


http://www.classroommanagementonline.com/
What would you do?
Zafer was a teacher of German in Afyon. At the beginning of that term, Zafer and
his students determined the classroom rules together. It had been two months
since the beginning of the term. However, by raising her hand, 14 year-old Zehra
asked the reason for having more strict rules than other classes. Zafer was aware
that class rules should be determined together with students but it was the first
time that he was directed such a question and he was not sure how to answer this
question. He let Zehra sit her desk and continued his lesson.
If you were Zafer, how would you answer to Zehra’s question?
126 Theoretical Considerations
Nuremberg Recommendations
Bengül Çetintaş
The Nuremberg Recommendations for Early Foreign Language Learning (hereafter NR)
was published by the Goethe Institute in 1996 (and revised 2010) in collaboration
with experts from 22 countries from all around the world, following a series of
seminars on 4 to 10 year old young learners’ learning of foreign languages. The
recommendations “were drawn up with the objective of placing early foreign language
learning on the most widely acceptable curricular basis possible” (Nuremberg
Recommendations, 2010, p. 4). As a document containing recommendations on
young learners’ experiences in foreign language teaching, it remains as the most
comprehensive body of documents that contain valuable information for language
teachers of young learners.
In this chapter, some important aspects of these recommendations are discussed to
inform future foreign language teachers about features of teaching foreign languages
to children. Also, these recommendations are given as points of discussion rather
than rules that must be obeyed without questioning. That’s why reflection activities
are given to you to develop your own understanding of foreign language teaching
to young learners.
The document is composed of three headings, namely;
• new influences on the learning environment of children,
• early foreign language learning today and perspectives for the future,
• basic conditions for early foreign language learning.
Under the first heading titled “New influences on the learning environment of
children”, it emphasizes the individuality of the young language learner regardless
of his or her regional or local background. Under the second heading titled “Early
foreign language learning today and perspectives for the future”, the following
issues are discussed:
• language policy actors,
• language choice and language sequence,
• appropriate concepts for childhood foreign language learning,
• standards in early foreign language teaching.
Under the third and main heading titled “Basic conditions for early foreign language
learning”, the issues discussed are:
• the child-centered language programme,
• linguistically qualified pre-primary staff and language teachers,
• parents,
• physical environments for learning,
Nuremberg Recommendations 127
 • objective: the interculturally aware child,
• appropriate content for an early foreign languages programme,
• methodology and pedagogic principles,
• media ,
• diagnosis, progress recording, and evaluation.
For the purposes of this book chapter, I will only focus on the third heading by
specifically discussing, through direct quotes taken from the NR, the issues that I
believe are the most necessary for our context in Turkey. Specifically, because of our
contextual needs, I focused on the child-centered language programme, linguistically
qualified pre-primary staff and language teachers, physical environments for
learning and appropriate content for an early foreign languages programme.
Although the document is necessary as a whole for a foreign language teacher to
develop, the ones I mention are specifically important for teacher trainees because
they are the ones that have direct practical value.
According to the Nuremberg Recommendations, foreign language learning consists
of highly complex factors which affect each other in a connected manner. In this
system of many factors, known as “Didactical octagon”, the “kid” is at the center of
foreign language education. Teachers who are responsible for the foreign language
education of the kids have a special place in this system. The other factors that are
effective in the Didactical octagon are the institutions in which foreign language
education takes place, the aims they put forward, the contents and methods which
are generated to achieve these aims and the course materials which are used in
running of the courses. The last factor in the Didactical octagon is assessment
and evaluation of the developments in foreign language education. The following
figure shows the factors which affect the process of children’s learning of a foreign
language.
(by P. Chighini, & D. Kirsch 2009, 18)
The illustration by Chighini and Kirsch (2009) displays that school learning is not an
isolated form of education, but is connected to humans, science, and society. The
128 Theoretical Considerations
triangle is a helpful diagram that can be used to answer our practical needs and
problems in our classrooms. Let’s say the following is our problem: “Our school (or
school system) aims for education all students to attain ‘native-like’ pronunciation.”
How could that aim be realized? Answers to this and similar questions can be
formulated with the help of this triangle as follows:
Teachers should be qualified enough in order to guarantee the exemplary
pronunciation. The institution must be concerned about the smaller classes.
Content-wise songs and rhymes must be given priority. Reading and repeating
could be the predominantly used methods. Reading texts in a creative way
could be used as a means of evaluation. The language lab could re-accelerate
in order to enable individual training. The child remains in the line in such a
goal setting (p. 19).
Hands-on activity
Take the following problems and formulate recommendations to solve them by
using the triangle suggested by Chighini and Kirsch (2009):
• Our students cannot write well-thought paragraphs.
• Foreign language classrooms must be seen as areas of fun, enjoyment,
and action.
• Teachers should be knowledgeable in cultures of the target language.
• Environmental issues must be covered in foreign language classrooms
in a way to develop students as responsible citizens.
The child’s linguistic development
According NR, there is still no consensus on the precise sequence of child-hood
language acquisition phases. It is accepted that human beings are capable of
learning one or more new languages at any time in their lives. However, findings
from research on language acquisition and from brain research have produced
evidence that the acquisition of an unfamiliar language should take place as early
as possible in order to master the phonetics of the language learned. It has been
shown, for instance, that children up to the age of six can learn to speak a second
language without an accent. Up to the age of puberty, syntax and morphology can
be acquired with less effort.
Nuremberg Recommendations
• The childhood foreign language acquisition process should be viewed
in as close association as possible with linguistic development in the
mother tongue.
• During the language learning process, the child should be given
sufficient opportunities to try out newly learnt material in social
interaction, e.g. with the teacher or with fellow pupils (p. 13).
Nuremberg Recommendations 129
▶ Reflection
Children acquire their first language during the first few years of their lives. The
acquisition of the first language, especially that of the mother tongue occurs
“naturally” and “unconsciously”. In theory, if a small child (until the ages of three
and four) grows up while learning two languages, he or she acquires two mother
tongues at the same time. In such situations, one could talk about primary
bilingualism (Apeltauer 1997, 10-11).
• Give an example to the situations in which the child encounters
two languages concomitantly and in which he or she acquires both
languages as his/ her mother tongues.
The acquisition of an additional language which occurs after the acquisition of
the first language (during adolescence) is described as secondary bilingualism.
The acquisition of every additional language differentiates itself fundamentally
from the acquisition of the first language, since one language has already been
acquired and the structures of the first language are already known (Apeltauer
1997, 16).
• Give some examples in which the child learns a second language
The child’s needs
unconsciously and in its natural environment and learns it after the
A child needs to
acquisition of the mother tongue.
Children who encounter a foreign language already at the ages up to three and
four find themselves in a situation similar to that of the children who acquire two
languages concomitantly. The younger the children are and the less they have
already acquired their first language, the better their learning situation of both
languages at the start will be. Thus, parallel progress will be made in the learning
of the first and second language (Apeltauer 1997, 11).
• Children acquire the first language relatively quick, especially until the
ages of three to four, when the learning of a foreign language takes
relatively much longer time. Which consequences do you draw from the
fact of this early start to foreign language learning at schools?
Different from the acquisition of a language, learning a new language is described
as “the conscious and goal-oriented language processing. The learning of a
foreign language happens mostly in instructional contexts” (Apeltauer 1997, p.
14).
• Give examples to the situations in which the foreign language is
“learned.”
130 Theoretical Considerations
Reflection
With the new 12-year-compulsory and dubbed educational application, the
Ministry of National Education has introduced changes in foreign language
education. In accordance with this new application, foreign language education
has moved back from the 4th grade/ year to the 2nd grade/ year (of primary
education). Considering that the 60-66 month-old children will be attending the
first grade, the first language education will start with 6,5-year-old pupils, that
is, three years earlier than it was in the previous system.
• Discuss the new regulation of the Ministry of Education within the new
4+4+4
• educational application by putting emphasis on its main reasons for the
earlier start of
• foreign language education.
• Apart from the reasons you have stated above, explain your personal
reasons and hesitations about the approximation of foreign language
education to the acquisition of the mother tongue in our country.
• feel safe and secure while in the learning environment,
• receive affection and be able to show affection,
• express feelings, be happy, and make others happy,
• communicate with others, to express thoughts and feelings,
• play, be active, move, romp about,
• express him- or herself creatively,
• experience successes and be praised,
• encounter new things by experience, by learning, by discovery, or through
conscious research,
• re-run new experiences and insights in role-play (or similar) and thus
assimilate these emotionally (p.14).
Nuremberg Recommendations
In planning and implementing the aims, content and methods of early foreign
language learning, the practitioner or teacher should always ensure that the
child’s needs are taken into account (p. 14).
Reflection
In your experiences as a student, has a teacher’s warmth and playful attitude had
a positive impact on your interest in his or her class or your overall learning?
Remember those experiences of yours and discuss the issue’s importance with
your friends.
Nuremberg Recommendations 131
The child’s rights
According the NR, the basic right to language education paves way to many further
rights. People are able to read and write, and while doing so, for example,
they will learn to communicate in a more complex way in one or more foreign
languages as well. Early foreign language learning should abide with the following
language-related rights of children:
• The right to early and comprehensive linguistic education (aimed at equal
opportunity). This comprises both the development of competence in the
mother tongue (or language of origin) and the extension of the child’s
linguistic resources through early learning of foreign languages.
• The right of access to learning material of an intercultural nature and to
the opportunity to engage in intercultural communication.
• The right to have the child’s innate potential in all its aspects developed
to the maximum by the language programme. That includes learning
through the use of all senses for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.
• The right to autonomous action and to participation in joint decision-
making in the context of the language- learning programme.
• The right to commit linguistic errors unpunished.
Reflection
According to NR, children must be informed about their rights during their
education. In your case, do you such informative activities happening in Turkish
primary schools? Are they sufficient?
Activity
There are 54 items in the list covering children’s rights as published by the United
Nations. Research and find 5 of these items that are related to foreign language
learning. Then, write a report to discuss how these items are covered in our
primary schools.
1. ……………………………………………………………………….
2. ……………………………………………………………………….
3. ……………………………………………………………………….
4. ……………………………………………………………………….
5. ……………………………………………………………………….
Nuremberg Recommendations
The early foreign languages programme should provide as many practical
opportunities as possible, specifically tailored to the age-groups concerned,
for children to experience and appreciate children’s rights, and thus for the
individual child’s sense of self to be strengthened. This includes listening
to children, inviting them to express themselves, permitting questions, and
exercising sensitivity and discretion in the correction of errors (p. 15).
132 Theoretical Considerations
Linguistically qualified pre-primary staff and language teachers
According to the NR, teachers have an important role in foreign language learning
at early ages since, in classrooms, teachers are the sole figures from whom students
learn the foreign language. Effective teachers are believed to have adequate and
sufficient professional knowledge of the language, culture, and pedagogy.
Teachers should use of the target language in an exemplary way not only in terms
of its phonetics, but also in terms of its speech melody and intonation. Hence, it is
the teacher’s responsibility to introduce the children to the language and culture in
a profound and acceptable manner. The teacher, then, must work as a mediator in
exposing students to cultural and linguistic knowledge of the target language through
his or her methodological competence at work. While doing that, the teacher must
be approachable, ready to communicate and open not only to his or her students but
also his or her colleagues and students’ parents as well. Such a positive approach
can help intensifying the overall quality of the educational interaction created by the
teacher. Assets of such competences are outlined below: In addition to professional
requirements, teachers also should have further qualifications given below:
• natural enjoyment of communication,
• capacity and desire for intercultural communication,
• capacity for analytical, problem-oriented thought,
• competence in identifying, mediating and implementing learning
strategies,
• endorsement of lifelong learning as a principle for oneself and all learners,
• ability to inspire openness to new ways of thinking and learning,
• ability to cooperate as harmoniously and productively with colleagues as
with children (p.17).
Nuremberg Recommendations
• Practitioners and teachers who are to be involved in early foreign language
learning should be trained in courses of study specifically geared to child-
appropriate language teaching.
• The study courses should be competence-oriented and as comprehensive
as possible both in imparting the underlying theoretical principles and in
developing and fostering practical competences.
• For early foreign language learning at nursery education and primary
education levels, the practitioners and teachers should have a command of
the language rated at level B2 to C1 of the European Reference Framework,
so that the language model delivered may be as error-free and authentic as
possible.
• During the course of study the foreign language should be the working
language and be used as often as possible.
• The syllabus content should have an intercultural emphasis:
Nuremberg Recommendations 133
 • That is to say, the two languages and cultures – the source language and
culture and the target language and culture – should both receive attention,
and their relationship to each other should be explored.
• Ideally, courses should prepare students to put the didactics of multilingualism
into practice – i.e. prepare them to take cognizance of, and turn to good use,
all the languages that might potentially be spoken within a learning group,
along with the children’s past experiences of language learning.
• During the period of training there should be the opportunity to try out
pedagogical principles and methods in practice and to review them critically
in group discussion.
• As part of the training course, students should also be provided with the
linguistic resources needed for child-relevant topics and situations, and with
the lexical material they will need for directing the learning process.
• Students should be given the opportunity to acquaint themselves with relevant
developments in languages policy, and to discuss such developments amongst
themselves, not least with reference to their own professional situation.
• The training course should feature a period of residence abroad, either as an
option or as an integral part of the syllabus. (NR, 1996, p.19)
▶ Reflection
According to the NR, teachers who teach foreign language unto children are
preferred to be graduates of classroom teacher programs (Tr. Sınıf Öğretmenliği
Lisans Programları) because these teachers can easily connect the contents of
the foreign language courses with other fields of studies or lessons (for instance,
social sciences and science). The teachers who graduate from foreign language
programs do not have such background in wider areas of study. Hence, even
when foreign language teachers are responsible for foreign language courses, it
is recommended that they definitely work in cooperation with classroom teachers
(NR, 1997, p. 22).
• When your teacher training program is considered, who will perform
more effectively in primary schools as foreign language teachers? You
or classroom teachers?
• It is known that there exist different programs or systems that educate
future teachers to be foreign language teachers for children. Find one
foreign language teacher education system from another country and
compare it with ours.
Physical environment
According to the NR, to meet the criteria for qualified learning programs, the
locations provided must ensure a safe environment for the children in terms of
size, furnishings and equipment, must allow the learning processes to be
directed in child-appropriate ways, and must be so designed as to exclude any risk
of impairment of children’s health as they learn (p.22).
134 Theoretical Considerations
Nuremberg Recommendations
The classrooms in which children learn should be used on as sustained a basis
as possible, so that the children can develop in an environment where they can
feel secure (p.22).
Reflection
Environment, space, and physical conditions of classrooms are undoubtedly very
important for the teaching of foreign languages ​​successfully. According to NR,
teaching of foreign languages ​​at an early age is recommended to be conducted
in classrooms spared only for foreign language instruction. Do you think schools
should have separate foreign language classroom? Support your decision with
real life examples.
Discussion
The principle of continuity in foreign language instruction, which the EU has
frequently mentioned in recent years is also mentioned in NR. Discuss the situation
in our country by focusing on to what extent continuity is established in foreign
language education. Can a student start primary school and graduate from high
school by continuing his or her foreign language education in a reasonable and
level-based manner?
Appropriate content for an early foreign languages programme
According NR, selection of thematic and linguistic content should be oriented
towards children’s interests and current developmental stages. The content
should both appeal to and expand their interests, emotions, and readiness for
commitment while fostering their imaginative and creative powers in an enjoyable
manner (p.29).
Nuremberg Recommendations
• The teaching content of an early foreign language learning programme should
touch on general topics such as those listed below and should be designed to
introduce relevant vocabulary along with each topic. the content elements
specified should be embedded in communicative contexts.
• Topics and situations
• Everyday life and childhood culture:
The child in various contexts, e.g. my family/friends and I, nursery/primary school,
play, hobbies, sports, animals, travel, seasons/weather, food and drink, the body
and health, clothes, festivals and popular customs, environ-mental protection/
sustainable living etc.
• Aspects of general knowledge:
In contexts provided by the topics enumerated above, new information and new
insights relating to human beings and the world we live in are imparted.
Nuremberg Recommendations 135
 Discussion
• Intercultural geographic aspects:
Study the following extract taken from a 6th grade coursebook by Erin (2006) to
Learning from examples about everyday life/customs and manners in the target discuss to what extent this part successfully meets the recommendation given
language country and comparison/contrast with those of the own environment. below:
• Vocabulary:
“Learning from examples about everyday life/ customs and manners in the
Within the parameters of the topics and situations specified above, child- target language country and comparison/contrast with those of the own
appropriate vocabulary featuring as far as possible all parts of speech should be environment.”
learnt.
• Those selecting content and linguistic structures relevant to pronunciation
should bear the following considerations in mind:
Pronunciation;
• Correct pronunciation and intonation should be treated as important from an
early stage.
• The child learner should be made aware of differences between the mother
tongue and the foreign language.
• The pronunciation training offered should include both exercises in listening
and speaking.

Linguistic structures and language use

• Communicative aims should be embedded in syntactically simple structures
(predominantly main clauses), especially when the productive work required is
direct oral communication. In the case of (listening and reading) comprehension
texts, structures of greater complexity may be gradually introduced with a
view to extending receptive language grasp.
• A certain measure of awareness of linguistic rules and of underlying logical
principles can lead to improved transparency in early foreign language
teaching, and lays a foundation for future analytical thinking about language.
This must not be confused with the teaching of grammar, and should only arise
out of communicative or content issues. Schematically conceived exercises,
deductive introduction of grammar rules, and references to metalinguistic
terms are wholly inappropriate to the stage of cognitive development that has
been reached by children of approximately four to ten years of age, and do not
lead to the desired outcome of a communicative use of language.
• Extra-linguistic and paralinguistic modes of utterance are an integral element
of the relevant content of early foreign language teaching:
Non-verbal modes of communication
Communicative situations should be accompanied both by confirmatory practical
actions (pointing to something, mimicking an action etc.) and by appropriate
paralinguistic-tic body communication (gesture, mime, body posture, bodily or eye
contact etc.). The marked cultural specificity of paralinguistic modes gives them a key
role in the success or failure of a communication (p.29).

136 Theoretical Considerations Nuremberg Recommendations 137

Reflection A sample activity prepared about the topic “sheltering”
According the NR, topics and situations in the early foreign language must A sample activity prepared by sheltering considers the three-dimensional point
include: of view as follows:
1. Everyday life and childhood culture; aspects of general knowledge, and • My crazy house.
intercultural geographical aspects. • I live with others.
2. Apart from these, topics should include the child’s areas of interest.
According to NR, child has eight areas of interest:
• The world.

1. Treasure hunt My crazy house

According to this area of interest, the child has a natural motive for being a Children build a house with teachers from carton or other materials in the
hunter and a collector. Collection and accumulation of something is a motive classroom environment.
that begins in childhood and extends to adulthood. Remember that in our � Linguistic gains: Words for the materials used in construction.
childhood, some of us collected soda pop caps and some of us collected stamps. � Child learns by playing and gains linguistic behaviors.
2. I am making a home that belongs to me! I live with others
According to this area of interest, the child needs to be safe in his/ her own
Children are asked to tell the story which narrates the lives of those with whom
space. For example, children build tree houses or tree forts.
they live together in the house. They simply learn by narrating.
3. I protect and look after you!
Between the tent and the apartment building
According to this area of interest, the child tends to look after, protect, and
nurture someone. For instance, he or she looks after pets, given them food and Children are asked to research the forms of sheltering from different countries
water, etc. and around the world. One student, for instance, compares native Americans’
tents to their own apartment houses.
4. I want to go out or I can do this, too!
According to this area of interest, the child develops the spirit of discovery and
creativity.
5. Ben de varım!
According to this area of interest, the child imitates and tries crafts and trades.
For example, they buy and sell hand crafts made by themselves in bazaars and
buy used books.
6. I, you, and others
Children are interested in forming groups, etc.
7. Hot, cold, strong, and weak!
According to this area of interest, the child wants to to recognize the limits of
her/ his own body and explore the area around. For example, they climb trees in
order to raise their adrenalin flow.
8. Too far away, and inside my head ... There is a wonderful country!
According to this area of interest, it expresses that child activates the need for
dreaming,
For instance, creating imaginary heroes or buddies (NR, pp. 13-14).
How do you implement these areas of interest of children in the foreign language
courses? Topics should be handled from three perspectives or dimensions
starting from the self and moving towards the others and ending in the world.
Choose a topic (area of interest) and prepare a lesson plan of activities to teach
vocabulary as can be seen in the following sample lesson plan.

138 Theoretical Considerations Nuremberg Recommendations 139

Project
What follows is the first part of the contents page from a 6th grade coursebook by
Erin (2006). Discuss to what extent these topics are relevant to children’s areas
of interest as expressed in NR.

PART 2
skılls and aspects

140 Theoretical Considerations Nuremberg Recommendations 141

 Listening
Murat Hişmanoğlu

This chapter which focuses on teaching listening to young learners is made up of

seven sub-sections. In the first section, a general introduction is made to the subject
of listening. In the second section, key concepts of listening; the concept of listening,
characteristics of listening, top-down and bottom-up processing, schema theory and
types of listening are presented. In the third section, pedagogical considerations;
common listening situations, materials used for listening, listening skills, techniques
for teaching listening to young learners, teaching phase and activities for teaching
are explained. In the fourth section, activities for teaching; typical activities for
teaching phase are listed and based on theoretical background, sample listening
activities are created for young learners. The chapter ends with final remarks, mini
research questions and references. Prior to reading the chapter, please answer the
preliminary questions below individually and discuss your ideas with your peers.
Discussion questions
Read the following questions and keep them in mind as you work through the
sections below. By the time you have completed the chapter, you should be able
to discuss all of these points and come up with your own ideas about how to teach
listening to young learners.
• What is listening? What are the main characteristics of listening?
• What are two views of listening that have dominated language pedagogy
over the last two decades?
• What are some useful techniques for teaching listening to young
learners?
• What are some typical activities for teaching phase?
• What are some sample listening activities for young learners? How can
language teachers make use of these activities in a foreign language
classroom?

The ability to listen is the most fundamental skill to make a child successful at school
in an EFL setting. Children enhance listening before any other foreign language
skills (Myers, 2001; Miles, 2002). Learning to listen and listening to learn are key to
lifelong success and should be directly taught (Jalongo, 1995; Hoag, 1996; Smith,
1998). Many educators support the view that listening comprehension plays a crucial
role in foreign language teaching, especially with young learners (Grabielatos, 1995;
Rost, 1990; Shorrocks, 1994).
Former views of listening exhibited it as the mastery of discrete skills or microskills,
such as knowing reduced forms of words, knowing cohesive devices in texts, and

142 Skills and Aspects Listening 143

describing key words in a text, and that these skills should make up the core of
teaching. Later views of listening were based on the field of cognitive psychology,
which introduced the concepts of bottom-up and top-down processing and brought
attention to the role of prior knowledge and schema in comprehension. Listening
came to be viewed as an interpretive process. At the same time, the fields of
discourse analysis and conversational analysis unearthed a great deal about the
composition and organization of spoken discourse and gave rise to a realization
that reading written texts aloud could not establish an appropriate foundation for
promoting the abilities necessary for processing real-time authentic discourse.
Hence, current views of listening stress the role of the listener, who is viewed as an
active participant in listening, utilizing strategies to ease, observe, and evaluate his
or her listening (Richards, 2008).
What is listening?
Listening is a complex amalgam of many components: hearing acuity, auditory
perception, that is, the ability to understand similarities and dissimilarities in
sounds, intention, attitude, consideration, experience and training (Giri, 1998).
Listening is a process consisting of three steps: receiving, attending, and assigning
meaning. In the first step, listeners receive the aural stimuli or the combined aural
and visual stimuli provided by the speaker. In the second step, listeners concentrate
on significant stimuli while disregarding other, distracting stimuli. Since a number
of stimuli surround students in the classroom, they must attend to the speaker’s
message, concentrating on the most prominent information in that message. In
the third step, listeners understand or assign meaning to the speaker’s message.
Responding to the message is not viewed as part of the listening process; the
response occurs afterward, and it sets another communication process into action
where the listener becomes the message sender (Wolvin & Coakley, 1995).
In Wolvin and Coakley’s (1995) view, people actually employ different types of
listening for these four purposes:
• Discriminative listening to discriminate sounds
• Aesthetic listening for pleasure
• Efferent listening to learn information
• Critical listening to evaluate information
Children use discriminative listening as they improve phonemic awareness, the
ability to coalesce and categorize the sounds in spoken words, describe rhyming
words, and spell words. They utilize aesthetic listening when listening to teachers
read stories aloud, poets recite poems, singers sing songs, etc. Children often use
efferent listening when listening to teachers read books aloud or viewing videos
as part of social studies and science thematic units. As for critical listening, it is a
broadening of efferent listening. As in efferent listening, listeners try to comprehend
a message, but they also filter the message to spot propaganda and emotional
144 Skills and Aspects
appeals. Students utilize critical listening to listen to debates, commercials, political
speeches, and other arguments (Wolvin & Coakley, 1995).
Discussion question
Which type of listening is the most important /the least important for young
learners? Write three possible reasons.
Characteristics of listening
According to Giri (1998), there are seven main characteristics of listening, which
are informality of language, brevity, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, noise, and
redundancy.
� Informality of language: Most of the spoken language we listen to is casual
and natural; the speaker makes it up as s/he goes along rather than
reading aloud reciting from memory.
� Brevity: It is usually segmented into short chunks. In a conversation, for
instance, people take turns to speak, generally in short turns consisting of
a couple of seconds.
� Pronunciation: The articulation of words is often slurred, and remarkably
different from the phonological representations given in a dictionary.
Some examples are “can’t” for “cannot”, “aright” for “all right” or “She we
go? “ for “Shall we go? “.
� Vocabulary: The vocabulary is often colloquial, that is, in spoken language,
we might, for instance, utilize “guy”, whereas in written language, we use
“man”. Similarly, in spoken language, we use “kid”, whereas we use “child”
in written language.
� Grammar: Informal speech is inclined to be somewhat ungrammatical.
Utterances may not be divided into sentences logically; a grammatical
structure may change mid-utterance.
� Noise: There will be some bits of the discourse that are incomprehensible
to the hearer, and therefore meaningless for the hearer. This may occur
because the words are not articulated overtly, or unfamiliar to the hearer,
or because the hearer does not attribute importance to these words.
� Redundancy: The speaker normally says more than is absolutely necessary
for conveying the message. Redundancy covers such things as reiteration,
rephrasing, self correction and the deployment of fillers such as “I mean”
and “well”.
Top-down and bottom-up processing
Two views of listening, the ‘bottom-up’ processing view and the ‘top-down’
interpretation view, have dominated language pedagogy over the last two decades.
In the bottom-up processing model, listening is a process in which phonemic units
are decoded and linked together to make words, words are linked together to make
phrases, phrases are linked together to make utterances, and utterances are linked
Listening 145
together to make complete meaningful texts. It can be stated that listening is a linear
process where meaning itself is derived as the last step in the process (Nunan, 1999).
In the top-down processing model, the listener utilizes incoming sounds as clues
to actively construct (or, more precisely, reconstruct) the original meaning of the
speaker. In this reconstruction process, the listener employs prior knowledge of the
context and situation where the listening takes place to understand what he or she
hears (Nunan, 1999).
Context of situation covers such things as knowledge of the topic at hand, the
speaker or speakers and their relationship to the situation as well as to each
other, and prior events.
Schema theory
Schema theory, an important theoretical underpinning to the top-down approach,
was originated by the psychologist Bartlett (1932). This theory has had a
prominent impact on researchers in the areas of speech processing and language
comprehension ever since. Bartlett asserted that the knowledge we have in our
heads is grouped into interrelated patterns. They are like stereotypical mental
scripts or scenarios of situations and events, which are constructed from a number
of experiences of similar events. We construct literally hundreds of mental schemas
during the course of our lives and these mental schemas assist us in making sense
of the many situations we find ourselves in during the day; from catching the train to
work, to joining a business meeting, to having a meal. From time to time, especially
in cross-cultural situations, when we employ the wrong or improper scheme in a
situation, it can get us into trouble (Nunan, 1999).
Research has shown the insufficiency of a strictly bottom-up approach, that is,
research has revealed that we do not store listening texts word-for-word as
suggested by the bottom-up approach. Listeners recall some bits, omit some bits,
and often incorporate bits that were non-existent in the original listening when
being asked to listen to a text, and then write down as much as they can recall. To
put it differently, it is highly probable that the pieces that are successfully recalled by
listeners will not be recorded in exactly the same words as the original message. It
indicates that, in designing listening courses, materials, and lessons, it is prominent,
not only to teach bottom-up processing skills such as the ability to discriminate
between minimal pairs, but it is also prominent to assist learners in using what they
already know to comprehend what they hear. The listening itself can be preceded by
schema building activities so as to provide learners with some of the terms which
they will encounter in the body of the unit if teachers view gaps in their learners’
content, grammar or vocabulary knowledge (Nunan, 1999).
Types of listening
There are eleven types of listening, which are discriminative listening,
comprehension listening, critical listening, biased listening, evaluative listening,
appreciative listening, sympathetic listening, empathetic listening, therapeutic
listening, dialogic listening, and relationship listening (http://changingminds.org/
146 Skills and Aspects
techniques/listening/types_listening.htm). In the following section, these eleven
types of listening will be explained.
� Discriminative listening
Discriminative listening, which is the most basic type of listening, is based on the
identification of differences between different sounds. This means that we cannot
make sense of the meaning expressed by sound differences if we cannot hear
differences between different sounds. Moreover, listening is both a visual and an
auditory act, as we communicate much through body language. Hence, learners
should also distinguish between muscle and skeletal movements that communicate
different meanings.
� Comprehension listening
The next step beyond distinguishing between different sounds is to make sense
of them. To get the meaning involves possessing a lexicon of words and also
grammatical rules via which we can comprehend what others are saying. The
same is valid for the visual components of communication, and a comprehension
of body language enables us to comprehend what the other person really means.
In communication, some words are more prominent and some are less prominent,
and comprehension often benefits from deducing basic facts and items from a long
spiel.
� Critical listening
In critical listening, we make evaluation and judgment by forming opinions about
what is being said. Judgment involves evaluating pros and cons, agreement and
confirmation. Critical listening involves prominent real-time cognitive endeavour
because the listener examines what is being said, linking it with existing knowledge
and rules, whilst synchronously listening to the continuing words from the speaker.
� Biased listening
In biased listening, the listener generally misinterpretes what the other person says
based on the stereotypes and other biases that he or she possesses. The person
only hears what s/he wants to hear. In many cases, such prejudiced listening is very
evaluative in nature.
Evaluative listening
In evaluative listening, we make judgments about what the other person is saying.
We try to evaluate the truthfulness of what is being said. We also judge what the
other person says by considering our values and assessing them as good or bad,
worthy or unworthy. When the other person attempts to convince us to alter our
behavior or beliefs, this type of listening is especially appropriate. In evaluative
listening, we also distinguish between intricacies of language and understand the
deep meaning of what is uttered. Further, we evaluate the strengths and weaknesses
of an argument, specifying whether it makes sense rationally as well as whether it
is beneficial for us.
� Appreciative listening
Listening 147
In appreciative listening, we try to find out certain information which will appreciate,
for instance, that which enables us to meet our needs and goals. We utilize
appreciative listening when listening to good music or poetry.
� Sympathetic listening
Sympathetic listening is a type of listening in which we care about the other person
and exhibit our concern in the way we pay close attention and express our sorrow
for their illness and happiness at their joys.
� Empathetic listening
When we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to find a truer comprehend
how others are sensing. This involves good discernment and close recognition to the
nuances of emotional indicators. When we are being truly empathetic, we actually
feel what they are feeling. To get others to expose these inner parts of themselves
to us, we should also exhibit our empathy in our manner towards them, asking
sensitively and in a way that stimulates self-disclosure.
� Therapeutic listening
In therapeutic listening, the listener has a purpose of both empathizing with the
speaker and utilizing this deep connection to enable the speaker to comprehend,
change or develop in some way. Therapeutic listening not only occurs when you go
to see a therapist but also in a variety of social situations, where friends and family
try to both identify problems from listening and also to assist the speaker in curing
themselves, perhaps via some cathartic process. This type of listening also occurs
in work places, in which managers, trainers and coaches try to help employees to
learn and develop.
ȤȤ Dialogic listening
Etymologically, the word “dialogue” comes from the Greek words “dia”, meaning
“through” and “logos” meaning “words”. Hence, dialogic listening, also known as
relational listening, indicates learning via conversation and an exchange of ideas and
information in which we actively try to learn more about the person and how they think.
� Relationship listening
In listening, to improve or maintain a relationship is sometimes the most significant
factor. It is because of this reason that lovers talk for hours and give importance
to what each other will say when the same words from somebody else would seem
to be rather uninteresting. Relationship listening is also significant in areas such as
negotiation and sales. If the other person likes you and have confidence in you in
such areas, it becomes useful for you.
(http://changingminds.org/techniques/listening/types_listening.htm)
Pedagogical considerations
In this section, common listening situations, materials used for listening, listening
skills, techniques for teaching listening to young learners and teaching phase are
included.
148 Skills and Aspects
Common listening situations
Common listening situations are as follows:
• listening to live conversations
• listening to announcements made at airports, railway stations, bus
stations,etc.
• listening to the news, the weather forecast on the radio
• watching the news, the weather forecast on TV
• listening to the radio for entertainment (e.g. listening to a radio drama)
• watching TV for entertainment (e.g. watching a movie)
• listening to songs
• following a lesson (at a school, college or a university)
• listening to a lecture
• listening to a presentation at a conference, symposium, congress
• listening on the telephone
• following instructions
• listening to someone giving a speech
• listening to someone giving a public address
(http://www.hufs.davidboesch.com/GSE_YLDownloads/2010.ppt)
Discussion question
Which listening situations are problem causing for young learners? Why?
Materials used for listening
Three types of materials can be utilized in teaching listening to young learners.
These three types of materials are authentic materials, semi-authentic materials
and prepared materials. Among authentic materials are radio broadcasts, recordings
(e.g. of movie times, airport announcements), videos of TV shows or movies, lectures
and phone conversations. Among semi-authentic materials are unrehearsed tapes;
role plays with native speakers who speak at normal speed. Lastly, commercially
prepared tapes and videos are known as prepared materials for teaching listening
to young learners (http://www.hufs.davidboesch.com/GSE_YLDownloads/2010.ppt)
Listening skills
Craven (2012) lists some of the basic listening skills with a brief description of what
each skill covers as follows:
ȤȤ Listening for general understanding - students listen to identify the general
ideas presented in the whole recording.
Listening 149
 ȤȤ Listening for details – students listen for details at sentence level.
ȤȤ Listening for specific information – students listen for specific information
at word level.
ȤȤ Predicting – students attempt to guess key information included in the
recording prior to listening.
ȤȤ Inferring relationships – students listen to describe who the people in the
recording are and what the relationship is between them.
Discussion question
Which listening skill(s) is/are difficult to develop for young learners? Write three
possible reasons.
Techniques for teaching listening to young learners
Teachers can utilize a variety of techniques such as songs, stories, digital stories,
games, dictation and cartoon films to teach listening to young learners. In the
following section, these techniques will be explained.
Songs
Songs can be utilized as a beneficial teaching and learning tool (Millington, 2011).
Songs can help young learners to enhance their listening skills and pronunciation
(Murphey, 1992). Purcell (1992) stresses that students can become demotivated by
continually listening to a narration or dialogue when they try to comprehend the
meaning of new words or phrases in context. However, listening to a song over and
over again can be more colorful due to the rhythm and melody
Stories
Using stories is an effective technique for teaching listening to young learners.
Paul (2003) emphasizes that teachers can read stories to young learners from
storybooks, memorize the stories then tell these stories to them or play them on a
tape. When reading stories from storybooks, teachers can change stress, pitch and
intonation patterns or tone of voice to refer to different characters of the story.
Thus, young learners can have better chance to experience the suprasegmental
features of the target language.
Digital stories
Digital stories can be very helpful in promoting young learners’ listening skills
(Verdugo & Belmonte, 2007). They are inclined to be visual, interactive and
reiterative. The interactivity of Internet-based stories may pave the way for learning
in that children are actively engaged in decoding and comprehending the story
(Donato, 1994). Students can proceed at their own pace, which provides them with a
high level of individual control. The reiterative composition of the digital stories can
also help children progressively learn the foreign language. Lastly, gains in listening
skills and comprehension can bring benefits to promote young learners’ reading
comprehension (Biemiller, 2003; Sticht 2003). See the chapter on digital stories in
150 Skills and Aspects
this book for further information about them.
Games
Games are one of the most effective techniques for promoting young learners’
listening skills. As Tang (2012) states, listening games with animal sounds help
children to promote their ability to distinguish the dissimilarities and similarities
between sounds, and to maximize language skills from sounds. Georgiou (2010)
stresses that young learners get pleasure from games and thus take part in games
without anxiety. Games can maximize young learners’ motivation greatly and they
are activities which are usually familiar to children in terms of structure, rules, etc.
It is because of this familiarity that they link back to the young learners’s home
background.
Games are especially beneficial for young learners commencing to learn a foreign
language. Children just commencing to master a new language need some time to
adapt to the language, its sounds and rhythms. They should be exposed to input
before they produce language. While some young learners produce the new language
with ease, some others can be shy and they may need more time to produce the
language. This ‘silent’ period should be provided to the young learners and they
should never be forced to produce language. At this juncture, games present a
significant tool which enables young learners to listen to and understand language
without necessitating production. Young learners can take part in all the activities
completely without being forced to produce the language (Georgiou, 2010). Some
sample examples that can be utilized in a listening class are as follows:
Game 1
Matching game
Skill: Listening to the animal sounds and matching them to the correct animals
Group Size: 4 to 30
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
Interest Level: ages 4 to adult
Ability Level: upper beginning to intermediate
Procedure: The teacher shows students pictures of ten animals and asks them
to listen to the animal sounds in the recording and match the sounds to the
correct animal. If the child chooses the correct animal, the animal glows and
pop-up bubble reads ‘’Well done!’’.
(Tang, 2012)
T: Listen to the animal sounds in the recording and match the sounds to the correct
animal.
Listening 151
 Game 2
A
Then game (Shakeel, 2010).
1. __________ Animal Sound 1 Skill: Listening to an uttereance made by a peer and adding an utterance to
finish the first utterance
Group Size: 4 to 30
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
B Interest Level: ages 6 to adult
Ability Level: upper beginning to intermediate
2. __________ Animal Sound 2 Procedure: Younger learners can play the game entitled “Then”. Two players
are necessary to play this game. The first child makes an utterance ending in
a “then”. The second child adds an utterance finishing the first utterance. To
illustrate, the first child utters: “The boy throws the ball, then…” and the second
C
child utters: “…. the ball rolls down the hill.”

3. __________ Animal Sound 3 Game 3

Clapping game
Skill: Listening to the claps made by the teacher and doing a physical action
Group Size: 4 to 30
D
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
Interest Level: ages 6 to adult
4. __________ Animal Sound 4 Ability Level: upper beginning to intermediate
Procedure: The teacher tells the children that one clap means stand, two claps
mean march on the spot and three claps mean sit. Either the teacher or a child
stands in the centre and claps instructions. The children listen to the clapped
E
instructions very carefully and they follow these instructions correctly.
(http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/english/listening%20and%20
5. __________ Animal Sound 5
concentration%20games.pdf)
Game 4

F My father went to the shop

Skill: Listening, repeating and producing by adding
6. __________ Animal Sound 6 Group Size: 4 to 30
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
Interest Level: ages 6 to adult
Ability Level: upper beginning to intermediate
G Procedure: Children sit in an inward facing circle. One child commences by
uttering ‘my father went to the shop and bought…’ and names an item like bread.
7. __________ Animal Sound 7 The next child repeats the utterance involving bread and adds another item. Each
child in turn repeats the utterance, all the former items and adds a new item,
until someone makes a mistake. The utterance then commences again.
(http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/english/listening%20and%20
concentration%20games.pdf)

152 Skills and Aspects Listening 153

Game 5
A B C
Story roundabout
Skill: Listening, repeating and producing by adding
Group Size: 4 to 30
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
Interest Level: ages 6 to adult
Ability Level: upper beginning to intermediate
Procedure: The children sit in an inward facing circle. A child or teacher
commences a story which each child in turn continues by adding a sentence. A
variation is to add only one word each.
(http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/english/listening%20and%20
Name: Name: Name:
concentration%20games.pdf)

Dictation B. Watch the cartoon film and write Tom, Jerry or a lion into the blanks

Dictation exercise is a very useful technique for teaching listening to young learners.
If the teacher simply articulates the words and students write these words in their
notebooks, dictation exercise can be demotivating for young learners. However, if
the teacher applies it in language games, young learners can get pleasure from it to
a great extent. Some of the listening games which contain the principles of dictation
are Bingo and Chopstick Spelling. For instance, in the listening game entitled Bingo,
the teacher gives each of the children a bingo card. The teacher dictates words and
the children select which square to write them in. Each of the dictated words is then
put into a box. The child dictating the letter, or the other children, draws the word
from the box one at a time, and the children mark them off on their cards. A child
getting a whole row, column, or diagonal, calls out, Bingo! (Diyanti, 2010)
Cartoon films
Cartoon films can be used to teach listening to young learners. Because young
learners have the chance to listen to the language within a visual context, they
can better comprehend what they listen to. For instance, the teacher can have the
students watch the episode entitled Jerry and the Lion (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=6ifVoUzFxRM) in the classroom. After the students have finished watching
the episode, the following activity can be used in the classroom.
A Sample Activity Based on Jerry and the Lion
A. Watch the cartoon film and write names of the characters
1. The radio anouncement was about a ________ escaping from a circus.
2. __________ tries to keep the lion out of the house.
3. __________ feeds the lion.
(Expected answers: 1. a lion 2. Tom 3. Jerry)
Discussion question
Which listening technique/s can be more supportive for young learners? Why?
Teaching phase
Rixon (1986) divides the listening process into three stages. These stages are as
follows:
ȤȤ Pre-listening stage
This phase is made up of things that students do before the listening, to assist
students in getting the most out of what they are going to listen to. To put it
differently, this stage prepares students for the listening activity.
ȤȤ While-listening stage
The second phase is made up of activities and exercises to be carried out while the
learners listen to the listening text, to direct them to get the main message of the
passage. To put it differently, it is the way the teacher controls the listening activity.
ȤȤ Follow-up stage
The third phase contains activities to be done when the students have learned the
meaning and content of the passage and are ready to look back, to reflect on some
aspects of language in it, or to do some extra work relying on the content of the
listening text.

154 Skills and Aspects Listening 155

Activities for teaching Discussion question
In this section, typical activities for teaching phase; typical pre-listening, while- Which while-listening and follow-up listening activities do you think language
listening and follow-up listening activities are listed and sample listening activities teachers should use most in a listening class? Why?
are presented via examples.
Sample listening activities
Typical pre-listening activities In this section, sample listening activities are presented under four subcategories,
which are listen and do activities, listening for information, listen and repeat
• Pictures to activate background knowledge
activities and listening to stories.
• brainstorming what students know about the topic with a word map
• exhibiting real objects related to the topic (ex: a menu or a movie schedule) Listen and do activities
• pre-teaching vocabulary (with pictures, realia, examples in context…)
(http://www.hufs.davidboesch.com/GSE_YLDownloads/2010.ppt)
Activity 1

Raise your hand

Typical while-listening activities
Young learners can be asked to raise their hands when they hear a particular phonetic sound,
or when the teacher misses a number while counting or when they hear a new or previously
• listening for gist learned word (http://www.tefllife.com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/index.php). For instance,
• listening to background noise to create setting and topic they can be asked to raise their hands when they hear [Ɵ] sound in a given short text on how
• describing specific words to brush teeth. Here is the English text given to the students:
• finding relationship by listening to tone of voice
• listening for specific intonation (statement, question tag, or yes no question) Brushing your teeth is vital for good dental health. Wet your toothbrush slightly.
• raising hand when catching certain words Squeeze a pea-sized amount of toothpaste onto your toothbrush. Try to concentrate
• true/false questions on one tooth at a time. Start with the front of your teeth. Brush your molars. Brush the
• indicating stress or intonation “inside” of your teeth. Rinse out your mouth. Rinse your toothbrush. Use mouthwash.
• matching (http://www.wikihow.com/Brush-Your-Teeth)
• multiple choice questions
• ordering/numbering items Activity 2
• finding mistakes
Mime stories
• writing short responses
• performing a task such as filling out a form, taking an order The teacher tells the story and the
• making a decision relying on the information students and the teacher do the
• note-taking from a lecture physical actions (http://www.tefllife.
(http://www.hufs.davidboesch.com/GSE_YLDownloads/2010.ppt)
com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/
index.php). A simple example can
be: “We are on a sandy beach. We
Typical follow-up listening activities are sunbathing (The children mime
• interviewing with native speakers sunbathing) Oh! What’s that? I can
see a young man doing water-skiing
• role playing
(The children mime water-skiing) and
• reading and/or writing about the topic the story continues…
• discussing the topic
• listening to another example
• designing a poster
(http://www.hufs.davidboesch.com/GSE_YLDownloads/2010.ppt)

156 Skills and Aspects Listening 157

 Activity 3
Touch parts of your body
The teacher has the children watch the video
entitled “ Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’’ by
accessing the web site http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=d8FwBSITW-4 and asks them to touch
parts of their body while singing the song.
Activity 4
Drawing
Listen and draw is an enjoyable classroom
activity. However, the teacher should keep in mind
that drawing takes time so the pictures should
be easy to draw. The teacher tells the student
what to draw but s/he does not say the name
of the actual object. This activity is beneficial
for developing listening as well as checking
vocabulary, prepositions, numbers and color
(http://www.tefllife.com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/index.php). For instance,
the teacher tells the student how to draw a box in the following way:
Teacher: Draw a square to make the front of your box.
Student: (Students connect the top left extending corner to the farthest
bottom left corner to finish the outline of the box.)
Teacher: Color the top of the box, the right side, and the side facing you.
Student: (Student colors the top of the box, the right side, and the side facing
him/her.)
Listening for information
These activities can be used to check what the children know and to give new
information. Listening for the mistake, gap filling, putting things in order, listening
and coloring and identifying are some of the activities focusing on listening for
information (http://www.tefllife.com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/index.php). In
the following section, these activities will be exemplified to better depict how to
utilize these activities in a classroom context.
Activity 5
Listening for mistakes
The teacher shows a picture to the students and reads a short text related to the
picture. However, the teacher makes mistakes in the text s/he reads. The students
listen to the teacher read a text and try to find out the mistakes by looking at the
picture (http://www.tefllife.com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/index.php). For
instance, the teacher shows the students a picture of children playing in the garden
and reads the text below related to the picture:

Student: (Student draws a square to make the front of the box.)

Teacher: Draw straight lines going up and right from all four corners of the Text
square. Four children are playing football in the garden. Two of the children are female,
Student: (Student draws straight lines going up and right from all four corners whereas two of them are male. Female children are wearing a pink T-shirt. The
of the square.) male child is wearing a green T-shirt with number 10. In the garden, there is
also a woman wearing a red and a white colored T-shirt. The woman is wearing
Teacher: Connect the 2 top extending lines to make the top of the box.
glasses.
Student: (Student connects the 2 top extending lines to make the top of the
box.)
Teacher: Connect the 2 bottom extending lines to make the bottom of the
box.
Student: (Students connect the 2 bottom extending lines to make the bottom
of the box.)
Teacher: Connect the top right extending corner to the bottom right extending
corner to make the right side of the box.
Student: (Students connect the top right extending corner to the bottom
right extending corner to make the right side of the box.)
Teacher: Connect the top left extending corner to the farthest bottom left
corner to finish the outline of the box.

158 Skills and Aspects Listening 159

Activity 6
Gap filling
Students can fill in the missing words of a table, a time-table, a song, or a text
(http://www.tefllife.com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/index.php). For instance,
students listen to a text about favorit colors of various people and tick the answers.
Text
John: My favorite colors are white and red. White is the symbol of purity and
innocence and red is the color of strength, health, and vitality.
Robert: My favorite colors are green and blue. Green is the harmony and balance
and blue is the color of deliberation and introspection, conservatism and duty.
Amy: My favorite colors are pink and orange. Pink is th color of love and affection
without passion. Orange is the color of luxury and pleasure.
Activity 7
Putting things in order
Students listen to a recording on evening routine and put the pictures in the right
order. The recording may be as follows:
Text
Every evening, we wash our hands. We set the table. We eat dinner. After dinner,
we put the dishes in the sink. We take a shower. We put on our pyjamas. We drink
our milk. We brush our teeth. We tidy our rooms, put our toys away and fold our
clothes. We close the curtains. We read a story and finally we go to sleep.

Favorite Colors John Robert Amy

Yellow

Red

Blue

Green

White

Black

Orange

Brown

Pink

Grey

160 Skills and Aspects Listening 161

Activity 8 Activity 9

Listening and coloring Identifting exercise

The students can listen to their teacher read the short text below aloud and they can Students can listen to the recording and tick the correct picture that is identified.
color the picture based on what they hear. Text
Text Have you seen Caroline’s little daughter? She is so cute with her blue eyes and
The man on the left side of the picture is wearing a blue shirt, black trousers and fair hair. She is eating a candy and she is wearing a pink sweater.
black shoes. He is also wearing a black belt. The man on the right side of the
picture is wearing a pink shirt, dark-blue trousers and black shoes but he is not
wearing a belt.

Listen and repeat activities

The teacher has the children watch the nursery rhyme entitled “ Ten Little Indians’’
by accessing the web site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7CFQLeFuj8 and
asks them to repeat it. Thus, students can have the chance to practice the rhythm
and intonation of the English language.

One little, two little,

Three little Indians.
Four little, five little,
Six little Indians.
Seven little, eight little,
Nine little Indians,
Ten little Indian boys.

Ten little, nine little,

Eight little Indians.
Seven little, six little,
five little Indians.
Four little, three little,
Two little Indians,
One little Indian boy.
One little Indian boy.

Listening to stories
Listening to stories plays a crucial role in young learners’ linguistic development.
Listening to stories enables young learners to make up their own inner pictures.
When telling a story to young learners, the teacher should adapt the language to

162 Skills and Aspects Listening 163

the students’ level, repeat and go back, utilize gestures and facial expressions and Speaking
make eye contact with the students to draw their attention to the story (http://www.
tefllife.com/virtualcourses/teyl/section_2/index.php). Olcay Sert
An interesting activity for young learners is the teacher’s creating stories with them.
In this activity type, the teacher poses questions to the students and the responses
given by young learners proceeds the story. Because young learners are embedded
Preliminary questions
into the activity and the end of the story is just like a crossword puzzle for them,
1. What does interactional competence mean to you?
they enjoy the teacher’s creating stories with them.
2. In what ways does the teaching of speaking skills to adults and to young
In this chapter, listening instruction for young learners was presented. The chapter
learners differ?
formed a background to the teaching of listening. In the chapter, information on key
concepts of listening; the concept of listening, characteristics of listening, top-down 3. How should teachers treat errors of young learners during speaking activities?
and bottom-up processing, schema theory and types of listening was presented. 4. How can teachers make use of audiovisual materials to develop children’s
Common listening situations, materials used for listening, listening skills, techniques speaking skills?
for teaching listening to young learners, teaching phase and activities for teaching
The new millennium has witnessed a sharp turn in the conceptualisation of foreign
were also included. Further activities for teaching were listed and some sample
language learning by placing interaction to the heart of language development both
listening activities were suggested.
in and outside of classrooms (Firth & Wagner, 2007). Although the theoretical and
Mini-research questions practical innovations built upon communicative approach has had a considerably
1. Explain why listening is a complex amalgam of many components with positive impact on pedagogical practices, practitioners have failed to implement an
reference to recently conducted research studies. interaction-friendly framework, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
2. What is the role of the language teacher in promoting students’ listening skills contexts. This problem can particularly be observed in young learners’ classrooms,
in today’s language classrooms? where ‘spoken interaction’ and ‘participation’ should be given primary emphasis
in carrying out classroom tasks and activities. According to Halliwell (1992), the
3. What are the benefits of using technology-based listening materials (e.g.
instinct for interaction and talk is the most important instinct a young child brings
Internet-based listening materials) for young learners?
to learning a foreign language at school. However, making use of this instinct is not
4. What are the common types of listening materials that young learners would an easy task for language teachers, especially considering the physical limitations
be interested in? like overcrowded classrooms.
5. What problem(s) do you think language teachers are likely to encounter in
teaching listening to young learners? What are some concrete ways to overcome
these problems?

An EFL young learners’ classroom in Turkey

The primary aim of this chapter is to present a workable framework for developing

164 Skills and Aspects Speaking 165

speaking skills and interactional competence in EFL classrooms for young learners.
The main argument is that participation is key to learning, and a teacher needs
to facilitate learning opportunities by engaging students in talk and giving them
appropriate prompts for oral production not only at word level but also at discourse
level. In the following section, the idea of interactional competence and its
significance for young learners will be clarified. Following this, by using examples
from microteaching sessions at a state university and previously published extracts
of recorded interactions from young learners’ classrooms, the interactional
management of speaking activities will be illustrated in whole class interaction, chain
activities, and pair/group work. In the fourth section, scaffolding and correction in
young learners’ classrooms are discussed by arguing whether we need to correct or
let student mistakes pass is highly dependant on the pedagogical goals of a given
task or activity. The chapter will be finalised with a discussion on the use of dialogues
from audiovisual materials.
Young learners and interactional competence
Concerning the starting age for learning a foreign language, ‘the younger the
better’ is a belief that has dominated pedagogical agendas in EFL globally. However,
according to Linse (2005), contrary to popular myth, younger children learning
English “do not develop English language skills more readily than older learners”
(p. 49). Yet, a clear advantage of young learners is their tendency to acquire target
language pronunciation in a considerably successful way (Munro et al., 1996).
Although pronunciation skill is an integral part of learning a foreign language, it
should be kept in mind that the primary aim of learning a language is to be able to
communicate in the target language. Therefore, foreign language teachers should
prioritise interactional competence over other competencies.
Young (2008) defined interactional competence as a “relationship between the
participants’ employment of linguistic and interactional resources and the contexts
in which they are employed” (p.101). Markee (2008) proposed three components of
interactional competence:
1) language as a formal system (includes pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar),
2) semiotic systems, including turn-taking, repair, sequence organization,
3) gaze and paralinguistic features.
These definitions suggest that language use does not solely consist of exchanging
utterances between participants in talk, but it also includes employment of verbal
and nonverbal resources through turn-taking mechanisms in order to co-construct
meaning. This said, interaction does not only involve speakership, but it also involves
active listenership and a constant negotiation for meaning. This is one of the key
differences between communicative competence and interactional competence, since
communicative competence puts emphasis on individual performance as opposed to
interactional competence, which considers interaction as a co-constructed and joint
enterprise. Space precludes us for a discussion on these differences, but see appendix
1 for a comprehensive understanding of the distinctions.
166 Skills and Aspects
Since our concern in this chapter is ‘instructed learning settings’ (i.e. classrooms),
particular attention should be paid to the concept of ‘classroom interactional
competence’ (Walsh, 2011; 2012). According to Walsh (2011), classroom interactional
competence (CIC) can be defined as “teachers’ and learners’ ability to use interaction
as a tool for mediating and assisting learning” (p. 158). An important feature of CIC
is that a teacher’s use of language should be convergent to the pedagogic goal of
the moment. For instance, if the main aim of a classroom activity is to focus on
linguistic forms, then an immediate correction can be more suitable to avoid further
student errors. While this is the case for form-and-accuracy contexts (Seedhouse,
2004), different techniques like embedded correction or even avoiding correction
can be more appropriate when the focus is on meaning.
Discussion
Read and respond to the ideas presented in the following part by considering
student motivation and error correction relationship:
“If the main aim of a classroom activity is to focus on linguistic forms, then an
immediate correction can be more suitable to avoid further student errors.”
It should, however, be noted that we cannot expect advanced communicative
skills from young learners at early stages of language learning. At beginner levels
and during early weeks of teaching, we should first get them acquainted to short
segments of language so that they can use these in the future to further co-construct
and negotiate meaning in classroom activities. This does not necessarily mean that
students will be expected to just memorize and repeat orally the isolated language
structures that are free from context. Developing interactional competence requires
exposure to meaningful exchanges of utterances in a contextualized way, for
instance by making use of adjacency pairs (e.g. question-answer; offer-acceptance/
rejection; invitation-decline). In the following section, different speech events in
young learners’ classrooms will be examined and extracts from real interactions
will be given.
Interactional management of speaking tasks/activities
According to Cameron (2001), there are two guiding principles for teaching speaking
skills to young learners: (1) meaning must come first, and (2) to learn discourse
skills, children need both to participate in discourse and to build up knowledge
and skills for participation. In this line of thinking, speaking activities and tasks
prepared and enacted by a teacher play a crucial role for developing young learners’
speaking skills and interactional competence. It is obvious that materials and tasks
cannot guarantee successful learning, but the interactional management of these
by the teacher can help learners engage in interaction, and therefore may create
opportunities for learning.
Teacher-fronted talk and whole class activities
No matter how much time we dedicate to create more learner-centred classrooms
for young learners, it is obvious that a great deal of classroom interaction consists of
Speaking 167
teacher-fronted talk. As we have seen in other chapters in this book, young learners
should be taught with activities that are fun and interesting for them. An important
point here is that it is mostly the teacher who introduces new language by making
use of a variety of materials. The way a teacher uses her language to introduce
these learning materials determine successful uptake of young learners. Therefore,
teachers’ instructions as well as her use of language while introducing new words
play a significant role for learners to understand the target items. Firstly, in a
classroom full of children, a teacher should pay attention to the pace of her talk and
should emphasise a new item by using pitch and stress. In other words, she should
speak slow enough to make her utterances intelligible, and she should display the
08 Ss: hmm
significance of the new language item by emphasising it at suprasegmental level.
09 T: it’s a rectangle (1.1) it has (.) two short sides (.) and two lo:::ng sides (1.1)
Secondly, she should maximise interactional space through increased wait-time
lo:ng. (0.6)
(this is not always the case though, especially while asking students to repeat newly
introduced words). Thirdly, she should keep monitoring student understanding by
asking questions where relevant.

Mini- research
Go on to Youtube and search for a video clip of an EFL classroom for children.
Watch the video carefully and try to find out how a young learners’ teacher
modifies her language use while speaking to kids.

In order to illustrate these variables and to further exemplify different features

including the use of non-verbal language, we can have a look at the extract below.
This extract is from a microteaching session for young learners, prepared by a teacher 10 T: can you make a rectangle?
candidate at Hacettepe University. It is clear that speaking first starts by uttering 11 Ss: yes.
individual words and sounds, and for very young learners, the teachers may first
12 T: short one (0.5) lo::ng (0.6)short (0.7) long again. ((showing the sides on the
introduce vocabulary and encourage students to say and repeat lexical items. This is
picture))
the very first step in developing speaking skills. Yet, we should not simply introduce
the target items through texts and repetitions, but give students rich prompts by ((the students all draw the sides on the air like the teacher))
making use of colourful materials, which will connect the image and the sound in a 13 yes:.
successful way (Sert, 2006). In this microteaching session illustrated with extract 1 14 T: what is it? ((holds the picture up))
below, the teacher introduces shapes by using colourful pictures on the board.
15 Ss: it’s a rectangle.
Extract 1: Rectangle
This extract represents many features of CIC, although at first one may think that
01 T: this is my friend, rectangle. (0.7) it is a typical teacher presentation mode which is mechanical and which does not
02 Ss: °rectangle°. provide opportunities for student participation. It seems that the focus is not much
03 T: RECtangle. (0.3) on meaning, but on form; yet, this is the pedagogic goal at the moment and we
should consider the meaning making process from that perspective. Firstly, as can
04 Ss: rectangle.
be seen in the figures, the materials are colourful and appropriate for young learners
05 T: rectangle has, one (0.9) two (0.6) three (0.7) four sides= ((shows the sides in many ways. In line 1, the teacher introduces the new word (rectangle) and this
on the material)) is immediately followed by a chorus repetition by the learners, which is a typical
06 S1: =like a square. example of traditional turn-taking mechanism in multi-party classrooms. This helps
07 T: like a square but is it a square? (0.9) the teacher to monitor problems in pronunciation and she uses this opportunity
to help students to produce correct utterances by putting emphasis at word-initial

168 Skills and Aspects Speaking 169

position in line 3. When they are first introduced new language items, young learners young learners’ knowledge in spoken language from segmental and word level to
need this kind of repair work from the teachers at phonological level. conversational level, teachers need to expose them to question-answer exchanges.
Another teacher skill that can be observed here is that she keeps her pace down, This is because an adjacency pair is the minimal unit of interaction through which
utters each individual word slowly, and leaves considerably long silences between participants co-construct meaning. Therefore, although at the beginning they may
utterances. This makes the spoken language more intelligible for learners. In line sound a bit mechanical, question-answer chain drills introduced through games or
5, the teacher also uses deictic gestures (i.e. pointing), and imitates the shape of different tasks can be very helpful for young learners. In the following section, we
rectangle, which is also repeated by the students. In line 6, we see an example of will look at a video-recorded example of a question-answer chain game.
student initiation that elaborates on the teacher turns, which is a desirable goal
Interactional features of chain work
since it shows that there is student participation even in a mechanical exchange like
As mentioned earlier, adjacency pairs form the basis of social interaction and
this. In line 7, the teacher acknowledges the student contribution and expands her
meaning making process. When the students start learning vocabulary or grammar
sequence with a further question. Meanwhile, as can be seen in the first figure, she
rules, they also need to be able to use the new language items in meaningful
matches the two materials on the board, therefore making meaning clear for the
conversations. Question-answer chain drills give young learners the opportunity
learners. This is again followed by hand and arm gestures through which the sound
to practice simple interactional patterns in line with the pedagogical goals of the
form (stretching the ‘o’ sound in ‘long’) matches with the meaning of the word.
teacher. In extract 2 below, a teacher candidate at Hacettepe University uses a ‘ball
The extract finishes with further non-verbal displays, teacher question and student
throwing game’ to teach question-answer exchanges about dresses. Prior to this
repetition of the whole sentence in chorus. Students were successfully enabled to
interaction, the trainee teacher introduced different words using audio-visuals and
produce the target items both in sound form, and then in word and full sentence
the students have previously covered colours and other required vocabulary. The
form. Beyond that, although the extract starts with just repetition at the beginning,
primary pedagogical aim of this activity is to simply practice question forms using
we see adjacency pairs after the students are confident enough to use the new
question-answer adjacency pairs. One of the main advantages of such an activity
items in a question answer exchange (lines 10-11 and lines 14-15).
is that many students find opportunities to practice spoken language by not only
Discussion questions using statements, but also question forms. In this way, the activity becomes more
1. Why do you think teachers should also use their body language while speaking meaningful, also considering the fact that the students are using their own clothes
to children? to answer the questions. What is more, the turn-taking mechanism is more student
2. It is often argued that teachers’ pronunciation of words sounds awkward friendly compared to traditional teacher fronted conversations, since students are
rather than natural. In the example above, the teacher says “lo::ng (0.6).” free to perform next-speaker turn allocation by throwing a ball.
By considering this, explain, in your own words, how teachers should speak. Extract 2: Ball game
Should we aim to be understandable and audible or simply natural? 01 T: now it’s time to play a game (.) i have a ball (.) and I am giving it to you (.)
02 you will throw the ball to one of your friends (.) and ask her or him
Remember to…
03 ‘what are you wearing?’ (.) and your friend will give you the answer,
• start with a good modelling of the spoken language!
04 ‘i’m wearing a black skirt’ for example (.) belma can you start?
• keep your pace down!
05 (3.0)
• leave pauses between utterances/items when possible!
• start from the sound (line 3), move to the word,
• then to an utterance (e.g line 9),
• and finally to an adjacency pair (e.g. lines 14 and 15)
• use deictic and iconic gestures! (as seen in the figures)
• elaborate on student utterances if possible! (line 7)

As mentioned earlier, at the very beginning stages, conversational skills of

young learners cannot be expected to be like adult learners, who can engage in
extended conversations using more complex structures. However, in order to take

170 Skills and Aspects Speaking 171

06 B: what are you wearing Mine.
07 M: i’m wea- wearing blue skirt.
08 (5.0) ((Throws the ball to U))
09 M: what are you wearing?
10 (2.0)
11 U: i’m wearing a black skirt.
12 (1.2)
13 T: a black skirt? ((checks the colour)) yes good ((students laugh)) can you
throw it?
14 (1.1)
15 U: what are you wearing naz?
16 (1.0)
17 N: I’m wearing a blue t shirt.
18 T: Okay, well done.
From lines 1 to 5, the teacher gives the instructions of the activity that will be carried
out. An important feature of her instruction is that she uses a number of micro-
pauses between her utterances so that the learners will be able to understand the
procedures of the activity. Secondly, she models the language (beginning of line 3
and line 4) that will be used by the students to make sure that the students will use
appropriate question-answer forms. Modelling the language this way is a crucial
step while giving the instructions to young learners at the beginning of any kind of
activity. She also displays the throwing action so that the students have a better
understanding of the activity sequence. At the end of line 4, she allocates the turn to
Berna and the chain activity starts after three seconds of silence. In lines 6 and 7, B
and M successfully exchange information using the modelled adjacency pair by the
teacher. Although B does not use a rising intonation at the end of her question, the
teacher lets this mistake pass, maybe because the utterance was syntactically well-
formed. Besides, in line 7, the student does not use the indefinite article ‘a’ which
is not corrected by the teacher. After 5 seconds of silence, M initiates the turn to U,
this time with the correct question form and intonation pattern. In line 11, U gives
the required response and the activity proceeds smoothly in the following lines.
It should be noted that in line 18, the teacher acknowledges the student contributions
and praises the student (well done). Young learners need to receive positive feedback
after successful turn initiations, and it is a well-known fact that this may have a
positive effect on their motivation. Another important thing in this activity sequence
is that there are shorter gaps between the turns as the activity moves forward.
This indicates that the students are getting used to the flow of interaction and it
becomes more rapid and fluent. In addition to this, although there were problems
with question intonation and use of indefinite article at the beginning, the students
started to be more accurate while forming the adjacency pairs.
Remember to…
• check your pace while giving the instructions!
• use an object like a ball that will help to run the turn-taking mechanism
run smoothly!
• give students the opportunity to allocate turns!
• model the question answer exchange before the activity starts!
• constantly monitor student utterances and spot potential problems
• avoid correcting each minor mistake at the beginning!
• however, act on immediately if other students fail to produce accurate
forms
• use praise words to motivate your students!
There are many other techniques a teacher can use to teach basic conversational
patterns. Use of puppets, especially in young learners’ classrooms, is a creative way
to introduce adjacency pairs before conversational chain drills. Apart from traditional
puppets that have been used in young learners’ classrooms worldwide, using finger
puppets can also be a very entertaining technique, since the students can also make
their own puppets, which will bring a hands-on dimension to the learning process. In
this image, we see a snapshot from an activity in which a trainee teacher uses finger
puppets to teach family members to young learners. One important technique she
uses is to use an animated voice while modelling the dialogues. This makes the
learning process more fun for kids. Additionally, children feel more secure when
personifications are included in the learning process. See appendix 2 for an activity
that aims to teach basic interactional patterns using finger puppets and question-
answer chain drills.
Mini- research
Find a coursebook prepared for young learners and search for dialogues that
can be used to teach basic adjacency pairs which can be used in question-answer
chain drills. Pay attention to the functions of language (e.g. invitation, offering
etc.)
Opportunities for language use and learning in pair/group work
Resent research in the field of foreign language education showed that task based
language teaching (TBLT) is a powerful method that provides opportunities for
students’ language use in classrooms. Tasks provide young learners with motives
that enable them to use oral language in meaningful contexts. Space precludes
a full account of TBLT in this chapter, but I will briefly mention some crucial
points that are relevant to developing speaking skills of young learners. Firstly, by
accomplishing given tasks and using the target language while doing so, children
co-construct understanding and negotiate meaning which is conducive to language
acquisition. Secondly, by carrying out tasks in a foreign language, children ‘learn by

172 Skills and Aspects Speaking 173

doing’. Learning by doing is achieved through successful means of language use.
Additionally, negotiating of meaning leads to ‘modified output’, which is a desirable
goal in language learning. A picture-matching task or a map task is one of the most
popular tasks used in young learners’ classrooms, since they provide opportunities
for negotiation-for-meaning. Especially in map tasks, the students need to ask
questions and exchange information, which enables them to use different question
forms, confirmation checks and acknowledgement tokens. See appendix 3 for a
sample.
Discussion question
What kind of difficulties may a teacher experience during pair work activities in
young learners’ classrooms?
Pair work and group work tasks and activities are quite popular in TBLT. Of course,
it is not easy to deal with classrooms full of children. There are two major problems
that teachers can encounter. Firstly, disciplinary issues can arise like too much
‘off-task talk’ and noise. Secondly, when left alone, students tend to switch to
their L1 and neglect using the target language for accomplishing the given tasks.
To resolve these problems, during group work and pair work activities, teachers
should monitor each pair and group effectively and make sure L2 is used as much
as possible. Teacher intervention in such cases is not always a bad thing. While
monitoring children, teachers can spot mistakes in language use, and can provide
input, guidance, and feedback.
Oliver et al. (2008) investigated the impact of teacher input, guidance, and
feedback on ESL children’s task based interactions in Australia. They examined
three experimental conditions representing a continuum of teacher guidance: task
instructions alone, task instructions with examples, and task instructions followed by
on-task guidance and feedback. An important finding from their study is that older
children (11-12 year olds) benefited most from on-task guidance from the teacher
compared to younger children (5-7 year olds), evidenced by the number of modified
output from the learners. One of the most significant educational implications of
this is that teachers need to be very clear in giving pre-task instructions before
pair work and group work while they are teaching to very young learners, and they
need to provide feedback while they are dealing with older children. This can be
illustrated with the extract below, which comes from a pair work interaction in a
young learners’ classroom (11-12 year olds):
Extract 3: On task support and recast (adopted from Oliver et al., 2008, p. 141)
01 S2: Does does what is this?
02 T: It’s called a desert
03 S2: Does horse live in cosert [desert]?
04 T: desert
174 Skills and Aspects
05 S2: //desert//
06 T: //desert//
[10 turns later, teacher is not present]
07 S1: Yes does cow live in Jungle?
08 S2: jungle> no does cow live disert [desert]?
09 S1: disert dusert [desert] no does cow live in a farm?
10 S2: No>
In this extract, the teacher provides support for learners in the form of a vocabulary
item (line 2) and recasts student production into a target-like form in lines 4 and
6. Following this teacher support, the students recall the word ‘desert’ and use it
appropriately when the teacher leaves the interaction, although they mispronounce
it (lines 8 and 9). So it is obvious that no matter how good tasks are planned by
teachers, a constant monitoring of student interaction is vital for language learning.
By spotting potential problems in such speaking activities, teachers can act on
immediately and provide structural, topic-oriented, and interactional feedback. Yet,
is immediate correction always good for learners? Should we correct every single
mistake made by students? Furthermore, how can we provide language support
indirectly? How can scaffolding be performed effectively? In the following section, I
will address all these issues by using excerpts from published transcripts.
Remember to…
• give very clear instructions before a task!
• provide students with examples of language items that can be used during
solving a task!
• monitor the students and be aware of potential problems! Let them know that
you can be of help when they need it!
• provide on-task guidance and feedback!
• use recasts where relevant!
• avoid simply giving the correct answers: help them with the language, but
let them complete the task. Feeling of accomplishment is very important to
motivate young learners!
• be alert when they start using their mother tongue dominantly!
Scaffolding and correction
In a broad sense, ‘scaffolding’ in interaction refers to the linguistic support given
by a tutor to a learner (Bruner, 1985). It should, however, not be understood as
simply providing young learners with accurate language forms when they encounter
difficulties in retrieving language items from their memory. It is used to lead learners
to an understanding of the task by, on the one hand, a teacher’s provision of challenge
to maintain involvement, and on the other, support to ensure understanding (Walsh,
2006). Being able to ‘shape children’s oral contributions’ during interaction can be
Speaking 175
considered as a more general feature of classroom interactional competence of
teachers, which includes scaffolding as well as modelling, repairing learner input
(e.g. embedded correction), and seeking clarification (Walsh, 2012). Recent research
(e.g. Yazigi & Seedhouse, 2005) shows that scaffolding practices (mainly in the form
of embedded correction, which will be described in the following paragraphs) can
be observed in ‘Sharing Time’ activities in young learners’ classrooms. ‘Sharing
Time’ activities are generally enacted as follows: young learners sit or stand in a
circle, and a child speaks at a time and shares feelings or ideas with the rest of the
group. The focus is “on creating a sense of community and developing social and
interactional skills” (Yazigi and Seedhouse, ibid., p.1).
A snapshot from a Sharing Time activity in a kindergarten in Turkey
Extract 4 below comes from recorded interactions in a Sharing Time activity in a
second grade young learners’ classroom in Abu Dhabi. The extract shows how the
teacher uses a number of resources to secure the flow of conversation and to make
sure the student uses spoken language fluently and share her experience.
Extract 4: Car wash (Adopted from Yazigi & Seedhouse, 2005, p. 15)
01 L: yesterday ya my uncle took me where they wash cars.
02 T: to the car wash?
03 L: ya the car wash and also I started uh washing them.
04 I worked with them too sometimes.
05 T: the workers?
06 L: ya.
07 T: what did you do? did you wax the car after it was washed?
08 L: ya.
09 T: you helped waxing it?
10 L: ya and also inside.
11 T: oh. what did you do inside?
12 L: uh::: first thing my uncle putted everything in the back:::
13 T: uhu..
14 L: and then the back was so heavy so he couldn’t drive
15 very good so we moved...everything...so it was
16 so we started cleaning, then we putted them back
17 again where they were next to each other:::
18 T: uhu..
19 L: ya..and after ..we opened at the back and we also
20 started cleaning ya and now my uncle’s car is so:::
21 T: very clean.
22 L: ya. very clean.
23 T: when you said the back of the car you meant the boot?
24 L: ya. the boot of the car.
25 T: O.K. thank you Nabil.
After the learner starts sharing her experience in line 1, the teacher performs a
vocabulary expansion in line 2. This leads to a student uptake in line 3 (the car wash)
and proves to be an effective way to help the student produce correct utterances.
Following a message-oriented repair in line 5, T again helps the flow of conversation
using appropriate questions in lines 7, 9, and 11. Note that the students’ linguistic
mistakes (e.g. hitted) from line 14 to 17 are not corrected by the teacher, so that
the primary aim of this activity is achieved: to let the student share her experience
and talk as much as possible. In line 21, T initiates a message-oriented repair and
again ensures flow of the interaction by completing the learner’s utterance with
an appropriate expression. The student again displays uptake of the repaired item
by repeating it in line 22. In line 23, T refers back to lines 12 and 14 and initiates
repair of the expression the back of the car, replacing it with boot. The student again
displays uptake by using it in line 24 (Yazigi & Seedhouse, 2005).
What we have observed here, based on the authors’ analysis, is that a teacher
can create space for learning by shaping learner contributions in different ways.
It was showed that the teacher repairs (e.g. lines 3, 21) were picked up and used
by the student. Another interesting phenomenon to be considered is the teachers’
avoidance of correcting student mistakes (e.g. hitted). One can argue that this is
definitely in line with the pedagogical goal of the moment, since the main aim in this
activity is to ensure that the interaction flows smoothly. The vocabulary expansions
offered by the teacher, without immediate corrections, is a feature of scaffolding
strategy and teachers should make use of such resources in speaking activities for
young learners. According to Yazigi and Seedhouse (ibid.), Sharing Time activities
should be adopted in young learners’ classrooms for a number of reasons:

176 Skills and Aspects Speaking 177

 1. To establish teacher-student rapport and a sense of community.
2. To build self-confidence.
3. To encourage fluency and the use of English for talking about real life
issues.
4. To address a need felt by students.
5. It is an enjoyable activity and a good induction to the day.
In Sharing Time activities, remember to…
• arrange the physical environment to a circular position!
• let young learners choose and share an experience of their own!
• acknowledge any logical topic selected by the learner!
• refrain immediate corrections so as not to interrupt the flow of interaction!
• use embedded correction that may lead to learner uptake!
• initiate listenership tokens (e.g. lines 13 and 18) that displays understanding
of learner turns!
Discussion question
Examine the different classroom excerpts given below. Discuss with a peer
whether you find the types of corrections (if any) appropriate or not. Remember
to consider the pedagogical goals of the teacher.
According to Scott and Ytreberg (1990), when pupils are working with controlled and
guided speaking activities, if they make mistakes they need to be corrected at once.
Yet, should this always be the case? There are two issues that should be taken into
consideration while thinking about correcting young learners during interaction. The
first one is of psychological nature. Linse (2005) states that responding to too many
errors can discourage children from communicating and talking. The second issue
is a pedagogical one. According to Seedhouse (2004), there is a reflexive relation
between pedagogy and interaction, and organisation of repair (e.g. correction) is
dependent on the micro-context (e.g. form-and-accuracy or meaning-and-fluency)
of the moment. For instance, in extract 4, as we have discussed in this section, the
focus is on a student’s experience, therefore on meaning. For this reason, an explicit
correction from the teacher may not be appropriate. However, correction does not
always need to be explicit. Embedded correction, that is a repair done in the context
of a conversational move, is a more indirect and suitable way of repairing student
utterances.
Extract 5 below, from a young learners’ classroom in Abu Dhabi, illustrates how
a teacher can perform an embedded correction following a grammatical mistake
made by a student in a speaking activity:
Extract 5: They will came today (Adopted from Yazigi and Seedhouse, 2005, p. 12)

Excerpt B: Explicit negative 01 L: yesterday I don’t know my grand my grandfather

Excerpt A: Embedded correction
T: What did you do during the weekend
Cem?
Cem: I goed to cinema with my father.
T: Oh you went to the cinema with your
father?
Cem: Yes. We watched The Monsters
Inc.
Excerpt C: No correction with
acknowledgement tokens
S: I thinked Super Man is best.*
T: Uh huh.
S: But Spiderman weren’t good like
him.*
T: Yeah I agree. I like Super Man better
too.
assessment and immediate
correction
T: okay. repeat after me Selim.
I should (ʃʊd) see a doctor.
Selim: I ʃʊld see a doctor. *
T: No. Be careful. I ʃʊd see a doctor.
Selim: I should (ʃʊd) see a doctor.
T: Well done Selim.
Excerpt D: Explicit negative
assessment and immediate
correction
T: Who wants to share his feelings on
the cartoon?
Yes Bora.
Bora: I finded it too funny*.
T: Found. you must say found. it is an
irregular verb.
Bora: I found it too* funny.
T: Very funny!
02 and m.. and with my bay.. with their baby ya
03 and with my grandmother I don’t know they will came today.
04 T: they will come today? they’re coming? Your grandmother and grandfather?
05 where from?
06 L: Australia. (Arabic pronunciation)
07 T: oh, they’re coming from Australia to visit you here in Abu Dhabi?
08 L: ya.
In this example, the teacher treats the error (line 3, they will came today) indirectly,
and first models the language at the beginning of line 4, and then asks for
confirmation with more questions. We can observe another embedded repair in line
7 where the teacher specifically addresses the pronunciation of the word ‘Australia’
with a full statement. Embedded correction helps students in a variety of ways.
Firstly, it is not an explicit negative assessment, and therefore does not de-motivate
young learners. Secondly, the language is modelled to both the student who made
the mistake and to other students who are listening to the conversation. Lastly, it
ensures a successful flow of conversation. Activities like Sharing Time are very useful
especially if the young learners are at a level where they can express themselves in
a foreign language. It is obvious that this will not be possible with learners who have
a limited spoken proficiency level. In the following section, we will again consider
young learners at the very beginning stages of foreign language learning and show
what kind of roles audio-visuals play in the teaching and learning process.

178 Skills and Aspects Speaking 179

Using Dialogues from Audio-visual Resources
An important strategy that helps a child engage with a context is to use fantasy
or role-play (Stables, 1992). Role-plays give young learners the opportunity to use
spoken language in an entertaining and meaningful way. As role-play activities may
consist of dialogues that reflect various functions of spoken language, they become
an invaluable resource for children to practice speaking in a foreign language.
According to Cameron (2001), dialogues provide a model of different question.
According to her, dialogues may offer:
Although course books include dialogues for young learners to practice
conversational patterns, they are mostly artificial interactional sequences, which do
not reflect all features of spoken interaction. Films, TV series, and cartoons, on the
other hand, can be a more fruitful resource for young learners due to many factors
(Sert, 2009). Cartoons are especially useful in young learners’ classrooms since they
supply audio-visual input, reflect native-speaker talk, and are fun to watch for kids.
In the example below, there is a very short clip from the animatied film Monster Inc.
In the very first days of teaching, this short clip can be used to

ȤȤ genuine samples of spoken language;

ȤȤ contextualised sentence patterns;
ȤȤ written sentences that resemble what people might say;
ȤȤ practice of sentence patterns;
ȤȤ scripts, rather like short theatrical plays (Cameron, 2001, p. 69).
Children’s short stories may include a variety of
repetitive sentence patterns as well as dialogues
that may help to develop speaking skills. The
key point for making use of them is the ‘fun
factor’ that easily engages young learners in
classroom activities. Wu (2008) suggests that
folk plays like Three Little Pigs may be used
as they include repetitive language, sentence
patterns, and rhythmic refrains, which can be introduce basic greetings and introduction patterns. Of course, these kinds of
chanted and sung in an appealing way. Below is sequences can be found in course books and the teacher can make use of different
an excerpt from this folk tale: materials to teach such adjacency pairs (e.g. greeting– greeting). However, there
are some advantages in bringing a material from a cartoon like this to a young
Excerpt 1 Excerpt 2 Excerpt 3
learners classroom. Let’s have a closer look at the interaction here:
One, two, three, the One, two, three, the One, two, three, the
Extract 6: Greetings and introduction, Adopted from Monsters Inc (2001).
three little pigs. three little pigs. three little pigs.
01 Mike: Hey.
One, two, three, the One, two, three, the One, two, three, the
three little pigs. three little pigs. three little pigs. 02 Mom: Oh! Well, hello there.
House, house, a new House, house, a new House, house, a new 03 What’s your name?
house, house, house, 04 Mike: Mike Wazowski!
I want to build a new I want to build a new I want to build a new
What actually happens in this interaction seems pretty simple at first. Mike
house. house. house.
greets the other monsters; the mother monster greets back and asks his name.
Straw, straw, Sticks, sticks, Bricks, bricks,
However, how this is done is quite different from typical artificial dialogues that
Dog has some straw. Goat has some sticks. Bear has some bricks,
we find in course books. We normally teach young learners two different ways to
Straw, straw, Sticks, sticks, Bricks, bricks,
greet someone during initial encounters: ‘Hi!’ and ‘Hello!’. In extract 6, on the other
Please give me some Please give me some Please give me some
hand, Mike uses a more informal greeting (Hey!) which is frequently observed in
straw. sticks. bricks.
native speaker discourse. The response from the mother is also distinctive: ‘Oh well,
I want to build a house I want to build a house I want to build a house
hello there!’. The mother enacts the surprise factor with a change of state token
of straw. of sticks. of bricks.
like ‘oh’ (Heritage, 1992), also using the discourse marker ‘well’, which is again

180 Skills and Aspects Speaking 181

frequently used by native speakers in daily interaction. She completes her turn with
an alternative greeting that should be taught to beginner learners of English: ‘hello
there’. Then the sequence is closed with a question-answer adjacency pair that can
illustrate young learners how introductions are accomplished.
By making use of dialogues from cartoons like the one above, young learners, firstly,
are exposed to native-speaker input. Secondly, the conversational exchanges are
contextualised with an audiovisual material, which has the potential to enhance
learning. Lastly, rather than using written dialogues from course books, the children
are exposed to more real-like interactional patterns which include alternative
greetings (e.g. ‘hey’, ‘hello there’) and they also get acquainted with a variety of
features of daily spoken interaction including change of state tokens (‘oh’), and
discourse markers (‘e.g. ‘well’). Therefore, even a short and simple dialogue like
this can prove to be a very rich teaching material that can enhance children’s
interactional competence. In appendix 4, there is an activity that can be used with
young learners who have a higher proficiency level.
While using dialogues from cartoons, remember to…
• bring to the classroom the kind of cartoons that the kids would love to watch!
• choose dialogues that are appropriate for the children’s level!
gives opportunities for participation and learning; and may fail to do so if she cannot
conform her discourse to the pedagogical goal of the moment. Some of the features
that were found to be useful were to give learning space with decreased pace of talk,
use of suprasegmentals for emphasis, use of vocabulary expansions, and scaffolding
and embedded correction. Finally, I argued that use of carefully selected audiovisual
materials can be fruitful for children. In doing so, teachers can use dialogues from
cartoons that are similar to real-life conversations carried out by native speakers.
To conclude this chapter, I suggest that interactional competence should be the core
aim in English language classrooms in Turkey. This is exactly what we have failed to
do so far considering that English language learners in Turkey have a considerably
low spoken proficiency level compared to their proficiency in other skills.
Study questions
1. What are the primary differences between interactional competence and
other competencies (e.g. grammatical competence, lexical competence,
communicative competence) that have been covered in this book?
2. How should teachers adapt their language use in terms of pace, emphasis,
and non-verbal cues while speaking to young learners, especially while giving
instructions?

• make sure the dialogues reflect ‘functions of language’ rather than a focus on 3. Why are question-answer chain drills important for young learners?
‘forms’! 4. What are the two major problematic issues that a teacher may face during
• use dialogues that include question-answer exchanges! pair/group work activities with young learners?

• include English subtitles so that they also get to see the written form! 5. What is scaffolding? How can it help to develop speaking skills for young
learners?
• avoid bringing dialogues which include accents that are not easily intelligible!
6. What are the two issues that should be taken into consideration while
• help your students model the language they hear!
correcting (or not) young learners during classroom interaction?
Conclusion 7. What are the criteria to select appropriate dialogues from audiovisual
Some important features of spoken interaction in young learners’ classrooms are materials for young learners?
discussed in this chapter. In discussing all these features and related classroom
activities, ‘the oral use of language’ and ‘interactional competence’ was at the
centre of this chapter’s argument. It is obvious that before being able to use
language orally in meaningful interactions, children need adequate amount of oral
input from the teacher or from audiovisual materials, and they need to practice
short segments of language. After adequate amount of input at sound and word
level has been achieved, they need to be exposed to and to use adjacency pairs to
co-construct meaning with their interlocutors.
By making use of samples from micro-teachings and previously published extracts
of real classroom interactions, it is illustrated how interactions unfold in a variety of
contexts including teacher-fronted talk, chain work, and ‘Sharing Time’ activities. The
main argument here was that the way a teacher controls her discourse and the way
teachers shape learner contributions have the potential to determine the quality of
student output. By using scaffolding and fine-tuned correction techniques, a teacher

182 Skills and Aspects Speaking 183

Appendix 1 Interactional competence vs. communicative competence (Walsh,
2011, p. 165)
Appendix 2 Sample question-answer chain drill activity using finger puppets
Aim: To teach conversations on clothes and kinship using chain drills and finger
puppets
Level: Young learners, aged between 8-11
Materials: Paper finger puppets representing the members of The Simpsons
Pre-activity stage:
The teacher brings pictures of The Simpsons family and introduces them to the class
with an emphasis on the kinship terms and clothes. For example:
This is Marge Simpson. Marge is Bart’s mother. Marge is wearing a blue dress.
Then she models sample conversations between the family members using the
finger puppets she prepared in advance. Remember that use of animated voice is
important at this stage. For example:
Bart: Hi Mom.
Marge: Hi Bart.
Bart: What are you wearing today?
Marge: I am wearing a blue dress. What about you?
Bart: I am wearing a red t-shirt.
Preparation:
The teacher gives copies of the papers that the students need to cut and create
finger puppets. Then the students need to colour the dresses on the characters.
The question-answer chain activity:
After each student prepares her/his own finger puppet, they start taking turns and
ask each other what their characters are wearing, by also using the kinship terms.
The teacher has to make sure that each student uses both the question form and
then the statement in an accurate way. The students should be advised to pretend
that they are the characters themselves, so they use first person singular form.
They can also be asked to use animated voice, which will make the activity more fun.

184 Skills and Aspects Speaking 185

Appendix 3 A sample map task to be used in pair-work (adapted from Scott & Appendix 4 A learning activity adapted from a sample dialogue in The Monsters Inc.
Ytreberg, 1990, p. 43) Aim: To teach conversations on describing objects.
Procedures: Level: Young learners, aged between 8-12
Provide each pair of students with two maps (see below). In one of the maps, places Materials: The DVD of The Monsters Inc. with English subtitles
like library, cinema, and hospital are not shown, while in the other map the student
Pre-activity stage:
knows where each place is. The student with limited information asks the other
Make your learners familiar with the cartoon The Monsters Inc. before you show
student the location of, for instance, the library and tries to figure out where to draw
them the specific video clip and the extract given below. Make sure you have
the library on his empty map. Here is a sample interaction that may occur during
previously covered how people describe objects in English, with reference to colours
such a task:
and shapes.
A: Where is the library?
B: It is on Grey Street.
A: Where on Grey Street?
B: Next to the Sweet Shop.
A: Next to what?
B: The Sweet Shop.
Task outcomes:
By completing this task, the students will potentially use question answer exchanges
as well as requests for clarification, which are conducive to language acquisition.
They will, in addition, be able to use the items they have learned in meaningful
contexts. Before starting such task, a teacher needs to make sure that the language
to be used is properly modelled to the students. On-task guidance by the teacher is
also a desirable feature of such activities in the classrooms.
The procedures:
Play the video clip with English subtitles a couple of times and ask your students to
focus on how M1 describes the door.
M1: Mike, that’s not her door.
M2: What are you talking about? Of course it’s her door. It’s her door.
M1: No, her door was white.
M2: No.
M1: And it had flowers on it.
M2: No. It must have been dark last night, because this is the door.
After making sure the students understand the dialogue, ask them to discuss
in pairs the physical features of the girl’s door. Following this, ask each pair for
their responses and make sure the students use utterances like: ‘Mike thinks the
door was white’. Also pay particular attention on how the monsters co-construct a
disagreement sequence (e.g. with utterances like ‘What are you talking about?’) and
how they resolve this finally.
Alternatively, you can give students the script with blanks after they listen to the
dialogue, and ask them to write the missing words in the text.

186 Skills and Aspects Speaking 187

 Listening and Speaking
Ece Zehir Topkaya

Consider the following preliminary questions before you continue reading:

• Do you think listening and speaking skills are given priority in EFL classes?
• How much place did listening and speaking cover when you were learning
English at primary and secondary school?
• What were the most common activities you did? How did you do them?

What is listening?
To put it simply, listening “is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what
we hear” (Helgesen, 2003: p. 24). However, it should be noted that in listening we
may as well respond to non-verbal messages. Therefore, in a broader sense, we
may define listening as “the process of receiving, constructing meaning from and
responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages (ILA, 1995).
Listening, alongside speaking, is also described as an oral skill. That is, we make
sense of what is spoken to us. Besides, it is also viewed as a receptive skill “because
the focus is on receiving information from an outside source” (Linse, 2005). When
this description is taken into consideration by itself, it is often thought that receiving
information does not require a response in the hearer. This misconception may lead
us to think that listening is a passive skill. However, just to think about what we
do or how we react upon hearing something will give clues about how much we
are involved in active listening. For one thing, in most of the cases upon receiving
an oral message, we give immediate answers; we usually relate it to some other
background information we have. The list may continue forever. In conclusion,
listening is a communication process in which the listener works actively to make
meaning and evaluation of a message before a response is produced.
Activity 1: Just to see how much active listening you do, please note down at
least five things you have listened to so far today and how you have reacted to the
incoming information.
What I have listened to so far today How I have reacted to the input

188 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 189

The above discussion makes the connection between listening and speaking obvious.
Developing listening skills also support other skills such as reading since people use
similar listening and reading processes in the comprehension of input. For example,
making intelligent predictions about a text is a skill that students need to develop
both in listening and reading. Similarly, distinguishing the main ideas or recognizing
discourse markers such as but, however in a text, whether it is to be read or listened
to, are among those skills that are utilized in listening and reading comprehension.
As Linse (2005: 28-29) puts it, training children to listen to attentively means
giving them the opportunity to develop their reading readiness especially in the
comprehension of stories.
Listening can be regarded as a set of skills, or micro skills that include discrimination
of sounds; recognition of words; recognizing cohesive devices in texts; identifying
key words; understanding sequence of events, organization of ideas; getting the
main idea(s) in a text; recognizing people’s attitudes and opinions; capturing the
cultural information and etc. (Willis, 1981; Rost, 1991; Richards, 2008). Dividing
listening into sub-skills can help teachers in two ways: in the first place, being
knowledgeable about them will help them observe their learners and diagnose their
listening problems using these skills as a checklist and second, this information will
help them to identify the purpose of a listening activity as given in a coursebook.
Activity 2: Look at the English Language Teaching Program for primary school
learners in the national curriculum. Choose any two grades and list down at least
5 listening skills that are cultivated in the program, please.
Grades
............. Grade ............ Grade
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
Recently there has been more emphasis on the cognitive processes involved in
the act of listening. In other words, how we process what we hear, i.e. the input,
is another question we need to tackle at this point. From this perspective, there
are two major approaches to explain the listening process: bottom-up and top-
down approaches or processes. The former “refers to decoding a message that
the listener hears through the analysis of sounds, words, and sentences [in other
words linguistic elements]” and moving to trying to understand the whole text
while “top-down processing refers to using background knowledge to comprehend
(the meaning of) a message” (Gebhard, 2006: 148). This background knowledge
could include the “previous knowledge about the topic of discourse, situational
or contextual knowledge… or plans about the overall structure of events and the
relationships between them” (Richards, 2008: 7).
190 Skills and Aspects
However, in many cases we do not solely depend on one process to make meaning
of what we hear. Most of the time, we combine bottom-up and top-down processing
to arrive at the intended meaning of what we hear. For instance, imagine that you
are at a clothes shop and you see that the shop assistant is coming towards you.
You may instantly think what she may say to you thus you start predicting the
likely words or sentences, hence use your background information. Then the shop
assistant arrives and says “Is there anything special you are looking for?” By hearing
the sentence, you pick up the words special and look for and you may understand the
message of the question, hence, use bottom-up process. As seen in this example,
most of the time we integrate the two processes in our attempts to understand
what we hear, which is called interactive processing (Helgesen, 2003).
The two notions, i.e. approaching listening as a set of skills and as a cognitive
process could be merged in one figure (see Figure 1).
Top- down processing
Using general/local/socio-cultural knowledge
Identifying implied meanings
Identifying general meaning
Identifying specific meanings
Bottom-up processing
Identifying grammatical groupings of words
Recognizing non-verbal signals
Recognizing stress-intonation patterns
Recognizing words
Discriminating sounds
Predicting the content before listening
Figure 1: Listening as a set of skills and a cognitive process
As indicated above, in real-life listening we use a combination of the two processes.
However, it should be noted that there is generally more emphasis on one of these
processes depending on our reasons for listening. In other words, sometimes we
use more top down processing and sometimes more bottom-up. In the classroom,
on the other hand, these two processes can be practiced separately. For example,
showing learners some pictures related to the listening text and then having them
predict the content of it is an example for top-down processing. After students
listen, asking them to identify what words they hear related to a category (e.g. food)
is an example activity for bottom-up processing.
Listening and Speaking 191
 Activity 3: Write 5 listening activities in the table below. Do they activate bottom-up
or top-down processing more? Some examples are already given for you.
Listening activities Information processing
Listen to the story and put the pictures in order Top-down
Listen to the dialog and find out where it takes place Top-down
Listen to the dialog and note down the ages of the Bottom-up
people in the dialog
Listen to the description and find out which picture Bottom-up
it is.
Recently there has been more emphasis on developing top-down processing skills
in ELT. However, in young learner classes at beginner and elementary level, when
students’ cognitive development and their target language proficiency level are
considered, they could be engaged in more bottom-up skills where they are asked
to retain input while it is being processed. Recognition of word and clause divisions;
recognition of key words, key transitions in a discourse; recognition of grammatical
relationships between key elements in sentences; recognition of the use of stress
and intonation to identify word and sentence functions are just some of these basic
bottom-up skills (Richards, 2008: 5). See the box below for activities where students
are required to use these skills (Box 1).
Box 1
Possible activities including bottom-up processing
1. Circle the words you hear. (a number of words given and students circle the
one they hear)
2. Circle the sentences you hear. (a number of sentences given and students
circle the one they hear)
3. Number the words as you hear them.
4. Number the sentences as you hear them.
5. Write the words you hear under the related categories such as fruits/
vegatables.
6. Fill in the nursery rhyme/song/dialog/mini story etc. with the words you hear
7. Note down the animals/vegetables/flowers/numbers/classroom objects as
you listen to the nursery rhyme/song/dialog/mini story
8. Correct the words of the nursery rhyme/song/dialog/mini story as you listen.
9. Place the items (fruits, objects, animals, shops, furniture, clothes) in the picture
as you listen to the descriptions.
10. Listen and do what you hear.
192 Skills and Aspects
Although young learners in beginner and elementary groups may be engaged in
bottom-up processing, this does not come to mean that overall comprehension
should be discarded. Activities that require learners to use their background
information and listen for general meaning could easily be designed to develop
their top-down processing (see Box 2 for possible activities).
Consequently, it should be kept in mind that combining these two listening processes
is vital for successful listening. For this reason, teachers should seek ways of
exposing students to these different ways of processing information which can be
achieved by teaching a variety of tasks with a variety of listening texts.
Box 2
Possible activities including top-down processing
1. Look at the title, pictures, some extracted words/sentences and guess what
the listening text is about/where it takes place.
2. Look at the pictures and decide which of the given sentences you can hear.
3. Look at some key sentences extracted from the listening text and write some
questions that you might find the answers in the text. Listen and check if you
can find the answers.
4. Listen to the speakers and identify their emotions.
5. Read the information about the listening text you will hear then listen to find
whether or not the same points are mentioned.
6. Listen to the dialog and guess what kind of relationship they have.
7. Listen to the text and identify the general idea.
8. Listen to the text and identify the topic.
9. Listen to one speaker’s part in a dialog and predict the other speaker’s part,
then listen and compare (Richards, 2008)
10. Listen to the story and then write and ending to it. Then listen and compare.
A typical listening lesson includes three stages: pre-listening, while-listening and
post-listening. Each of these stages has different purposes. See Figure 2 for listening
lesson procedural steps (see Figure 2):
Pre-listening Preparing learners for the while-stage
Comprehending the listening material:
Set task
While-listening
Listen as many times as needed
Check task
Assessing the task/self
Post-listening Extending the topic through other skills
Personalizing the topic
Figure 2: Lesson design for listening
Listening and Speaking 193
Stages
Pre-listening stage
In this stage, teachers can undertake five major tasks, all of which aim at facilitating
learners’ comprehension of the listening material during the while stage. These
tasks are:
a. introducing the setting and the characters (if there are any characters)
b. activating learners’ background information related to the topic of the
listening
c. engaging learners in guessing activities
d. revising and/or pre-teaching vocabulary
e. revising and/or pre-teaching structures
Let’s take each of these tasks one by one and try to understand how they can be
implemented in classroom teaching.
Introducing the setting and the characters: It is one of the most important steps
in that it facilitates top-down processing while learners have the opportunity to
clearly locate and understand where the listening material is taking place and who
is engaged in. Although some listening texts do not have any characters to introduce
(for example, the ones where students listen to announcements, advertisements,
rhymes etc.), all texts have settings. During this step visuals such as newspaper
cutouts, pictures, photos, realia, videos (with sound on or off as appropriate) can be
used to concretize the character(s) and the setting. See the example pre-listening
stage below to clarify this step (Box 3):
Box 3
An example lesson procedure for introducing the character(s) and the setting
in pre-listening stage
Grade: 7th graders
Level: Pre-intermediate
Material: picture of a girl, several pictures illustrating different types of holidays, a
short listening text where a Japanese girl, Keiko, is talking about her last summer
holiday.
Pre-listening
a. Set the scene and introduce the character
ȤȤ Show the learners the picture of the girl. Introduce her : “This is Keiko”.
ȤȤ Have learners guess her age and nationality by asking questions: “How old is
she? What do you think?” “Where is she from? What do you think?”
ȤȤ Elicit/Give the answers “She is 12. She is from Japan.”
ȤȤ Write the answers on the board if you wish.
ȤȤ Set the scene. Say “Last year Keiko went on holiday. Look at the pictures. Was
it a winter holiday or summer holiday?”
ȤȤ Elicit the answer “summer holiday”.
194 Skills and Aspects
As the procedure above makes it clear, during this step student talking time should
be monitored. To this end, teachers should avoid monologues and seize every
opportunity to involve students. The easiest way to do is to use Question-Answer
technique. However, in mixed ability groups where stronger students usually
dominate the class, teachers may wish to use some written prompts given with the
visuals so that even the weakest students can give answers to the questions.
Activating background information: As well known, students learn and remember
new information best when it is linked to relevant prior knowledge (Beyer, 1991).
To activate background information simple techniques such as brainstorming (i.e.
listing all the information that comes to mind as learners think about a key concept),
semantic mapping (i.e. writing all the ideas as in brainstorming but this time
organizing them under certain headings) and prequestions can be used effectively.
Similarly, these techniques can be controlled and guided through the use of visual
materials. During this step learners could be asked to cooperate with their pairs or
can be put in small groups. See the example pre-listening stage below to clarify this
step (Box 4):
Box 4
Pre-listening (continuing from step a in Box 3 above)
b. Activate background information
ȤȤ Show students several pictures related to summer time activities, food, drinks,
clothing etc e.g. swimming, reading, watermelon, swimming suit, sunglasses
etc. Ask questions related to them.
ȤȤ Draw a large circle on the board and write summer holiday in it.
ȤȤ Put students in pairs and ask them to write whatever comes to their minds
related to summer holiday
ȤȤ Set the time and start the activity
ȤȤ Monitor the students and give help if necessary
ȤȤ Finish the activity, elicit all the ideas and put them on the board.
Engaging learners in guessing activities: Guessing the context and content of
the listening material is an important listening strategy that native speakers use
prior to the listening process. There are three major questions to be asked related
to this step: What do learners guess? How do they guess? and should teachers
facilitate their guessing?
To start with, learners may be asked to guess the topic, the words, and the sentences
in the listening material. While engaging students in this activity, however, teachers
should encourage intelligent guessing and this could be achieved by providing
students with some prompts which can be in the form of pictures, sounds, words,
etc. As for the last question, it should be remembered that guessing activities can be
frustrating for students with limited language as is the case in most young learners’
classes. Teachers may also feel dissatisfied for not so much is produced during such
Listening and Speaking 195
activities. One way to round this problem is to prepare activity sheets through which
learners are asked to guess. For example, for a typical “guess the words you may
hear” activity related to our fictional character, Keiko, and her holiday, rather than
inviting students to guess the words, the following material can be given to them
on which they can work either individually or in pairs (see Box 5).
Box 5
A sample guessing activity sheet
Keiko is talking about her last summer holiday...
Which words can you hear? Circle your guesses, please.
enjoy food family bored
photo
bicycle visit hospital
Related to this step as explained so far, the following brief summary could be made:
What do learners guess? Topic, emotions, relations, words, sentences, the
whole dialog etc.
How do learners guess? By looking at pictures, listening to sounds, listening
to videos with sound off (if the materials have
videos), by reading extracted sentences, words,
summaries etc.
Should teachers Depends on the proficiency level of the learners.
facilitate? If the teacher foresees some problems related to
limited language use, then:
- Ready-made materials can be given.
- Pairs/small groups or individual work can be used.
-Answers may be elicited and teachers may tell
the learners if they have guessed correctly or not.
Alternatively, teachers may move onto the while-
stage and ask learners to check their guesses
through listening.
Revising and/or pre-teaching vocabulary: One of the key tasks in the pre-listening
stage is revising/pre-teaching vocabulary. Here the major decision to make is about
which vocabulary to revise/pre-teach. The vocabulary selected for revising/teaching
196 Skills and Aspects
should be that most needed for completion of the tasks that are to be set (Scrivener,
1994:80; Riddell, 2003).
What is expected from teachers is, then, to read the tasks and the possible answers
that learners will give and then to anticipate what vocabulary should be clarified for
the learners, firstly, to understand the tasks and then to complete the tasks. This
strategy helps teachers save time without spending valuable class time on those
vocabulary items which will be unhelpful to the learners in completion of a task.
Moreover, it should be kept in mind that in real life, foreign language learners have
to cope with unknown words as they listen to various sources. Thus, teaching only
the necessary vocabulary will develop their tolerance towards unknown vocabulary
and when they succeed in making meaning of what they listen to, this will strengthen
their confidence in listening.
While revising the necessary vocabulary, different activities can be used effectively
rather than writing a list of words for the learners to keep in mind while listening.
Matching pictures with words, unscrambling the letters to find the words, using given
words to complete some sentences extracted from the listening text are just some
possible vocabulary activities to be used for revision. As for pre-teaching vocabulary,
a more straightforward approach could be adopted. Teachers may directly teach the
necessary vocabulary using visual or verbal techniques as appropriate.
Revising and/or pre-teaching structures: The principles for revising/pre-teaching
vocabulary as explained above also apply to revising/pre-teaching structures.
Generally speaking, due to the language proficiency of young learners, listening texts
used at this level rarely include new structures since listening texts not only serve
to develop skills of listening but also focus on language systems, i.e. vocabulary
and grammar, learned prior to listening activities. For this reason, it is common
that listening texts for young learners also give practice of language systems. If
this is the case, it is wise to revise the structure recurring in the text prior to the
while-listening stage. This kind of revision could also be done through predicting
activities. Sometimes, however, to support peripheral learning, listening materials
may include some new structures. If this is the case, as explained above, teachers
should consider the tasks to be completed when deciding to pre-teach structures.
If the tasks do not require catching and understanding these bits of language, then
there is no need to teach them.
In conclusion, the pre-listening is the stage that ensures the following while-listening
stage activities will work. Surely it would not be possible to make room for all these
tasks in the pre-listening stage. Teachers, therefore, should consider learners’ age
and cognitive maturity, learning outcomes, and the while-stage activities while
choosing which tasks to undertake during this stage. For example, if the following
finger-play is to be used as a listening activity with young learners at elementary
level, pre-teaching vocabulary, setting the scene and a prediction activity can be
done prior to the while-listening stage. See Box 6 for sample lesson procedure and
Box 7 for the prediction activity sheet.
Listening and Speaking 197
Box 6 Box 7
A example pre-listening stage lesson procedure for the fingerplay “Zebras in The prediciton activity for the fingerplay
a Zoo”
Age: 9-10
Level: Elementary
Learning outcomes: Predicting the structures in a listening text prior to listening;
identifying the structures in a listening text via listening
Material: The finger play “Zebras in a zoo”; related pictures
Pre-listening stage
Activating background information & Vocabulary teaching
ȤȤ Bring the pictures of monkey, elephant, giraffe and zebra (or toys animals) to
the class.
ȤȤ Show them to the students one by one and ask “Which animal is this?” “Do you
like monkeys?” etc.
ȤȤ Elicit the answers and invite students to write the names on the board as you
put the pictures on it.
ȤȤ Ask in L1 “peki şehirde yaşıyorsak bu hayvanları nerede görebiliriz?”
ȤȤ Elicit “hayvanat bahçesi” and provide L2 equivalent for the term “zoo”.
ȤȤ Have the students repeat the word chorally/individually and put the picture of
a zoo on the board and write “zoo” near it.
ȤȤ Ask around the class “Do you like zoos?” “Do you go to the zoos?” “What do
you do there?”
Set the scene and prediction activity
ȤȤ Say to the students “bugün bir tekerleme dinleyeceğiz sizinle” “Hangi Türkçe
tekerlemeleri biliyorsunuz?” and elicit some answers from the students
ȤȤ Set the scene “bizim tekerlememiz “Five zebras in a zoo””.
ȤȤ Have the students repeat the title and write it on the board
ȤȤ Hold your left hand up and introduce the zebras from one to five. Have all the Zebras in a Zoo
learners repeat “The first zebra, the second zebra etc.” There are five zebras in a zoo--
ȤȤ Say to the students “Bu zebralar bize bir şeyler diyorlar. Acaba ne diyor (Wiggle five fingers.)
olabilirler? The first zebra says, “I love cakes .”
ȤȤ Elicit some ideas and encourage them to say their ideas in English. (Touch thumb.)
ȤȤ Give the instructions “Look here. Burada zebraların söyledikleri var ama The second zebra says, “I do, too!”
sıralı değil. Acaba hangi zebra ne diyor? Think. Match the zebras with their
(Touch index finger.)
sentences, please.”
ȤȤ Check the students understanding “What will you do?” The third zebra says, “My name is Sue.”
ȤȤ Pair the students and give out the activity sheets (Touch middle finger.)
ȤȤ Monitor the students. Remind them this is a rhyme and they should look for The fourth zebra says, “Hello! It’s nice to meet you.”
rhyming words and finish the activity (Shake ring finger with other hand as if shaking hands.)
ȤȤ Elicit the answers and put them on the board. Do not give them the right The fifth zebra says, “What can I do?”
answers and move to the while stage to have the students listen and check (Wiggle little finger.)
their ideas. (adapted from http://www.naturallearning.com/fingerplays.html)

198 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 199

While-listening stage Box 8
This stage is where learners are exposed to listening and are asked to do things An example while-listening stage lesson procedure
during or immediately after listening. It should be kept in mind that the written form
Learning outcomes: Identifying the general idea of the listening text; identifying
of the listening texts should not be given to learners since this turns the listening
words related to feelings
lesson to a reading lesson.
While-listening stage
In the implementation phase, the following procedure can be followed if learners
are asked to give written information after listening (see Figure 3): Activity 1
ȤȤ Tell the students “Now you will listen to Keiko. What is she talking about?”
Give the task before students listen ȤȤ Elicit “Her last summer holiday”.
Set the task and let them read. Check if they have ȤȤ Set up the activity “OK. Listen to her. Did she like her holiday?” Answer this
understood the task. question, please”.

Play the audio

Play the audio player. Alternatively, ȤȤ Put the question on the board.
player
you, a student or students may read ȤȤ Check the students’ understanding.
the text.
ȤȤ Play the first part of the listening material.
Let learners check their answers in ȤȤ Stop the audio player and have the students check their answer in pairs.
Do paircheck
pairs. ȤȤ Play the audio player again if needed and have the students check their answer.
ȤȤ Elicit the answer.
Get/Give Elicit the answers and give whole class Activity 2
feedback feedback. ȤȤ Tell the students “She liked her holiday. OK. but how do you know? Which
words does she use? so we understand she liked her holiday?”
ȤȤ Set up the activity “Listen to her again and write the words.”
Figure 3: Procedure for while-listening stage
ȤȤ Check the students’ understanding.
See the example while-stage for the material, “Keiko’s last summer holiday”, used ȤȤ Play the audio player and monitor if the students are able to catch the words.
in the pre-listening stage (Box 8). ȤȤ Stop the audio player and have the students check their answer in pairs.
On the other hand, it should be kept in mind that written tasks can be demanding for ȤȤ Play the audio player again and use pausing strategy if necessary.
young learners especially at the beginning proficiency level. For this reason, more
Total Physical Response (TPR) activities can take place where students are asked to
ȤȤ Have the students check their answer.
do things while listening. As Linse (2005: 30-31) suggests at early stages simple ȤȤ Elicit the answer. Ask the students to come to the board and write the words
commands such as open the window, go to the door can be used. As students gain on the board: “superb, wonderful, enjoy”.
more proficiency, TPR storytelling can work well where firstly teacher tells a story
Part of the listening material
using puppets, pictures or different items and then asks students to manipulate,
show and/or move around with them as she retells the story. This listening activity Keiko: Do you like summer holidays? I LOVE them. My last summer
may also be turned into a speaking activity when students are invited to tell the holiday was superb too. I enjoyed it a lot. My parents and I had
story while the others act it out. wonderful time. Where did we go? What did we do? Wait a second
I will tell you all about it.....

200 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 201

Similarly, games that require listening and responding quickly are valuable activities Activity 4: Use the following rhyme for your beginning level young learners to
in young learners’ classes. For example, an interesting activity that requires an teach listening skills. Decide what materials you need and also identify student
immediate response to what has been said is “Who wants to be a millionaire?” as learning outcomes. Then, design the pre and while-listening stages of your lesson.
adapted from the famous TV show. It is good as a revision activity and also gives
Materials: ..........................................................................................................................
students meaningful listening practice in a fun way. In this activity, teacher splits
the classroom into groups and has them take turns answering Wh-questions until Learning Outcomes: ........................................................................................................
they choose to stop and win all the money or until they get a question wrong and .............................................................................................................................................
lose everything. Teacher writes the prize money on the board from 0 TL to 1 000 Lesson step Procedures
000 TL and asks the first student in a group a question. If they get it right, teacher
Pre-listening
moves to the next student. The questions get harder. For example, the first question
can be “What do cows give us?” but another one is “What is the capital city of South
Africa?. After each question they get right, the teacher asks them if they would like
to continue or not. When the group fails to give a right answer, it is another group’s
turn to continue the game (adapted from http://www.funenglishgames.com).
Songs, chants and rhymes are also among those most successful, motivating teaching While-listening
tools. Many course books for young learners include them but most of the time their
quality is low. For this reason, they should be chosen wisely. Another problem with
songs, chants and rhymes is poor exploitation (Clavery, 2001). The most common
activity type is fill-in-the blanks which do not do justice to the rich content and
possibilities of exploitation of them. Here are some activities that can be used both
in the pre and while-listening stages when using songs, rhymes and chants (see Box Rhyme:
9): Take a snowball
Box 9 Take a snowball, put it on the ground,
Possible activities for songs, chants and rhymes Push it, roll it, make it big and round.
1. Give students a list of verbs/words/sentences to order while listening.
2. Listen how many times do you hear …..? (a word/verb/ auxiliary/article etc) Look, your snowman is big and tall
3. Change some words in the lyrics and students listen and correct the words. but has no eyes, no nose at all.
4. Split the sentences from the song/chant into two halves and students match
them before listening. Then they listen and check their answers.
Two stones will do, and a carrot, too.
5. Jumble the parts of the song/chant and students reorder them before listening.
Now, Mr. Snowman, how are you?
Then they listen and check their answers.
(Geyer, 2001)
6. Give them related pictures. As they listen, they put the pictures in order.
7. Give them the title of the song/some key words in the pre-listenging stage. Post-listening stage
Students guess if the song is a happy one/sad one etc. They listen and check The last stage in a listening lesson is the post-listening stage that provides a follow
their answer. up to the listening activity. It serves three major purposes:
(Clavery, 2001; Geyer, 2001) a. Assessing the activities, material and self
b. Personalization
Thus, as this list of activities suggest songs and chants can be treated as listening
c. Extending the topic of listening through other skills
texts and used effectively to teach listening skills. To see how much is learned so
Assessing the activities, material and self: One of the tasks that may be done
far, the following activity (Activity 4) can be done where pre and while-listening
in this stage is encouraging learners to assess listening activities, material and
stages should be designed for the given rhyme.

202 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 203

their own performance in listening. Generally speaking, this kind of task requires
reflection and an ability to look back on what has been done in the classroom and
one’s own performance during the listening activities objectively and critically.
Therefore, while involving students in this task, their age and cognitive maturity
should be considered for older students tend to do these better. However, it should
be kept in mind that students can be taught to critically think about the activities,
material and self as well. For this reason, starting from earlier ages, teachers could
ask learners to give their opinions about the different components of the listening
lesson. This can be done by asking some informal questions such as “Was the
listening difficult/easy?”, “What parts did you find more difficult? Why?”, “Was the
topic interesting?”, “How was your performance during the listening activity?” or
“Are you happy with your performance?” etc. If students’ proficiency level does not
allow doing this in English, L1 can be used as well. Moreover, written assessment
can also be employed by simply designing assessment sheets where, for example,
students are asked to rate their performance, the difficulty of the text, tasks or
whether they were motivating using a rating scale from 5 to 1, 5 representing a very
positive opinion and 1 a low one.
As it could be easily inferred, this kind of task can easily be used to guide students
to set goals for more successful listening. Also, teachers could introduce effective
listening strategies and tactics in this stage. Besides, this task helps teachers to
view their activities and materials critically by allowing them to revise, modify or
completely leave aside any components of the lesson prior to another teaching
segment.
Personalization: This task is a very common one employed by teachers at all
proficiency levels. It allows learners to extend the content of the lesson by thinking
about their own experiences, ideas, plans etc. Asking questions such as “what would
you do if you were him/her?”, “Did anything like this ever happen to you?”, “the
character likes rock music? How about you? What kind of music do you like? Who
are your favorite singers?” are examples for personalization. Teachers may prefer
to put students in pairs or small groups before whole class discussions /elicitations
and depending on students proficiency level and how complex the activity they may
assign it as a writing or speaking activity.
Extending the topic of listening through other skills: This task includes the
extension of the topic, content of the listening text through speaking, writing,
and reading. It aims to utilize the knowledge, vocabulary, structures gained from
listening. If the listening text is a dialog, to write the rest of it or a different ending
to it or to choose the best ending from among the given ones are examples to these
kinds of tasks. See the following post-listening procedure for the material “Keiko’s
last summer holiday” to exemplify how this stage could be designed (Box 10):
204 Skills and Aspects
Box 10
An example post-listening lesson procedure for “Keiko’s last summer holiday”
Post-listening
Extending the topic of the listening through reading
ȤȤ Tel students that listening is over.
ȤȤ Ask them” OK. Where did she stay in her last summer holiday?” and elicit
“hotel”.
ȤȤ Set the task and give the instructions.
ȤȤ “Look at this sheet. There are 3 hotels here and some information about them.
Read it. Which hotel did Keiko and her family stay last year? Circle the hotel,
please.”
ȤȤ Check students’ understanding.
ȤȤ Pair the students. Hand out the activity sheet and the listening text.
ȤȤ Set the time and start the activity.
Final suggestions for teachers
Here is a list of suggestions that summarizes the points discussed so far and
presents a few new ones (Rost, 1991; Scrivener, 1994; Clavery, 2001; Riddell, 2003).
• Make English the language of the classroom. Practicing listening starts
with teachers.
• Bring a variety of materials containing a variety of speakers with a variety
of accents.
• Always boost students’ motivation. Think of their age, cognitive
development, interests while selecting materials and designing activities.
• Do not skip the pre-listening stage. It ensures student success in the
while-listening stage.
• Before learners start listening, it is a good idea to familiarize them with
the task (not the text!) they are to do while listening. It should not be
forgotten that if students do not understand the task, it is not possible for
them to complete it (Scrivener, 1994)
• Let learners listen as many times as they need to.
• Have students check their answers in pairs.
• Monitor the learners while they listen and do tasks in order to see if any
parts in the task present a problem to the majority of the learners. If this
is observed, then use pausing strategy, i.e. pausing the audio player/stop
reading the text at those points where students are having difficulty in
understanding. This way, students can catch the parts they need to hear.
• Do not give the listening material during the while-listening stage. It turns
listening lesson to a reading one. However, if there is a relevant activity in
the post-stage that students should use the listening text to complete the
Listening and Speaking 205
 activity, then they are given the written form of it (see Box 10).
• If the material is taped, have a plan B. Think what you will do if the
electricity goes out. Have the script ready to read aloud.
• If you are to read aloud, be as dramatic as you can. Change your voice, use
stress and intonation well when reading aloud.
• Do not ask extra questions. Stick to the task you assign for listening. If
that extra question is important for the students to catch, write it on the
board and let learners listen for it again.
Activity 4: Choose a listening text. Identify the age and language proficiency level
of the learners that the text is appropriate for. Identify the learning outcomes and
design a complete listening lesson. What would you do for pre-listening? What
task(s) would you give in the while stage? What post-listening activity would you
use for this particular age group and proficiency level?
Speaking
What is speaking? What are speaking skills?
Speaking is a “productive aural/oral skill” (Bailey, 2003: 48). It is productive because
it requires generating the right sounds, words, putting them in grammatically correct
structures. It is aural/oral because speakers hear the upcoming messages and
respond orally. Similar to listening, speaking is a composite skill made up of several
micro skills. In other words, it involves producing the right sounds, intonation and
stress; choosing the right words and structures as well as getting a clear message
across which has appropriate content to fit the situation (Clavery, 2001). Some of
these speaking skills are presented in the box below:
Box 11
A list of speaking micro skills
ȤȤ Producing vowels, consonants, stressed/unstressed syllables (segmental
features) at word level sufficiently correctly for communication to take place.
ȤȤ Using intonation, stress in sentences, word-linking and weak forms
(suprasegmental features) correctly in spoken utterances.
ȤȤ Using a range of vocabulary, phrases and structures at sentence level.
ȤȤ Marking the main points or important information in utterances through
emphasis
ȤȤ Expressing information or knowledge in informal and semi-formal utterances
ȤȤ Talking about a range of topics (food, family, sports etc).
ȤȤ Selecting appropriate vocabulary, structures depending on the degree of
formality/informality
ȤȤ Using intonation to convey meaning
ȤȤ Using a set of speaking strategies to cope with insufficient language resources
(paraphrasing, inventing a word, using gestures, asking for clarification etc.)
206 Skills and Aspects
Taking the age and proficiency level of young learners some of these skills certainly
need to be emphasized more. For example, with true beginners and elementary
learners, producing sounds, stress correctly at word level; using a range of
vocabulary, structures and phrases at sentence level are focused on more while at
pre-intermediate level being able to talk about a range of topics; express personal
information with ease and not much hesitancy; using a range of scripts (buying
something at a store, ordering food in a restaurant etc.) are emphasized more.
One of the issues to consider in teaching speaking is accuracy and fluency. Accuracy
indicates correctness. In speaking it comes to mean producing the correct sounds,
stress, choosing the right grammar and vocabulary. Fluency, on the other hand,
refers to being able to convey one’s messages effortlessly, quickly and efficiently.
One of the dilemmas for language teachers is which one to focus on and when.
“Fluency activities are essential at all levels but the balance between fluency and
accuracy tasks will differ” (Clavery, 2001). Generally speaking, in beginner and
elementary learner classes more emphasis is put on accuracy. However, fluency is
also a goal at this level but within the limits of the structures being practiced since
the speaking tasks at this level are usually limited by grammar, vocabulary and
length of utterance (Brown, 2001). Therefore, not much creativity is expected at
this level and there will be more support and controlled work in speaking activities
(Clavery, 2001).
Activity 6: Look at the following speaking activities. Do they focus on accuracy or
fluency more? Give reasons for your answers as well.
Accuracy or
Speaking activities
Fluency?
Extending or continuing a dialog
Reproducing a written dialog verbally
Guess the story behind a picture
Describing a picture to partners. Partners draw and ask
questions to draw it better
Making a mini-speech on a topic of interest
Completing a questionnaire by asking their partners
the questions
Asking “Twenty-questions” to guess the object/
celebrity/place etc.
Inventing a conversation for characters in a picture
Stages of a speaking lesson
Speaking activities are usually parts of a lesson package. In other words, students
are not thrown in these activities without a reason (Riddell, 2003). At beginner and
elementary levels they are placed after vocabulary and grammar work, usually
following a listening activity. See Box 11 for a typical example:
Listening and Speaking 207
Box 11 Step C above is a typical controlled practice or oral practice activity, which requires
learners to use the newly learned vocabulary and structures. Such lesson sequences
A. Listen. Connect the picture to the answer.
fit the PPP- present, practice, and produce- lesson procedure well (see Figure 4).
1. A: What’s the weather like in Paris?
B: ………………………………………… Teacher introduces a set of vocabulary /
Presentation
structures

2. A: What’s the weather like in London?

Students practice these limited structures in
B: …………………………………………… Practice
familiar contexts to manipulate them

Meaningful, purposeful, and creative

3. A: What’s the weather like in İstanbul?
Produce communication, involving some exchanges
B: ………………………………………….. of information

Figure 4: PPP procedure and the place of speaking

4. A: What’s the weather like in Athens? Practice stage (Oral Practice)

B: …………………………………………..
B. Practice the dialogs with your partner.
C. Look at the map. Ask and answer with your partner.
A: What is the weather like in Bursa?
B: It’s windy.
In the PPP lesson procedure, practice stage includes drilling, doing exercises,
writing, listening, reading as well as speaking. At this stage, speaking practice aims
at providing students with opportunities to use and gradually automatize the newly
learnt structures in meaningful ways. The sample activity given in Box 12 is a good
example for the type of oral practice done in this stage. Here are some classroom
activities that could be used at this stage (http://waze.net/oea/; http://www.eslflow.
com/; Clavery, 2001; Willis, 1981):
One question survey: Each student either receives or writes down a different
question and conducts a survey of their classmates taking notes of their answers,
for example, after learning How often? pattern. To control and guide the practice,
teacher may write some actions on the board e.g. watch horror films, feed birds, get a
haircut, etc. Thus, students write a question and ask around the class. As a variation,
after running the activity for a while, the teacher may ask the students to write
another question and continue the activity.
Surveys: Each student receives a blank survey they walk around talking to other
students and taking notes of their answers. This type of activity can easily be
adapted to several language areas for speaking practice purposes. See Box 13 for
an example survey for elementary learners. The follow-up writing activity given in
the example links speaking to writing and achieves integration of skills.
Find the differences: Students speak in order to find the differences between two
similar pictures. This activity can also be applied to several vocabulary area and
language structures: vocabulary for describing people, clothes, rooms, houses, there is/
are, have/has got, comparatives, present continuous tense etc. In the implementation
phase, if the aim is not to give practice of already learnt structures and vocabulary,
this activity may also move towards oral fluency practice (production).

208 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 209

 sentence rather than just a word or words. The sentences recycle the vocabulary,
Box 13
structures, phrases that the students have learned previously. In a variation of
Family Survey
this activity for elementary and pre-intermediate learners, teachers may give 4-5
Talk to 5 friends and fill in the table sentence-long stories or chains of actions. One student from the group comes and
What do/ takes the first card and starts miming. When the rest of the members get the first
does … like sentence right, another student comes and takes the next card. Miming and story
What is your Do you have What do/ Where do/ doing on the building (or chain of actions) continues until the group gets the all sentences right.
name? a ….? does … do? does … live? weekend? Meanwhile, the teacher or a student may write the sentences on the board. In Box
15 a sample story for miming is provided:
brother
uncle Box 15
grandmother
pet Dan
sister 1. Dan is in the kitchen.
Now write about 5 friends 2. He is making a cake.
e.g: Selin has a brother. He is a student. He lives in Çanakkale. He likes going 3. He is reading the recipe.
fishing on the weekend. 4. Now Dan is breaking an egg.
1……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5. He is very happy.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...................... 6. Today is his birthday.
2………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………......................

Questionnaires: In these activities, after students complete the questionnaire for ( the story is adapted from http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~lfried/index.html)
their partners, they do the scoring. This type of activity provides a very controlled Act the joke out: Jokes are great fun at all proficiency with all age groups. They
speaking practice since what students do is basically reading aloud (Clavery, 2001). also provide meaningful listening and reading. For this reason, this activity can
However, in such groups where teachers need to build students’ confidence in easily be done as part of a reading or listening lesson. While in the pre and while
speaking activities, they could be helpful as starters. See the example in Box 14: stages, students work on the text and comprehend the text completely, in the post
stages, students can be invited to act the jokes. When choosing jokes, teachers
Box 14
should look for those which include dialogs. Besides, since students should be able
How healthy are you? to understand the humor, Teachers may rewrite them if their language is difficult.
1. Do you eat vegetables every day? Box 16 presents an example.
Your points:
a. Yes b. No
2. Do you regularly play any sports? 0-10 points: You need to see Box 16
a. Yes b. No a doctor soon. Stop eating fast
A joke about the cute dog
3. How often do you eat fast food? food and start eating fruits and
a. Never vegetables more. ………
A man walks into a shop and sees a cute little dog. He asks the shopkeeper, “Does
b. Every day 11-20 points: You like eating your dog bite?”
c. Once a week healthy food but ……...
The shopkeeper says, “No, my dog does not bite.”
d. Once a month
The man tries to pet the dog and the dog bites him.
Guess the mime: This activity can be done as whole class or in small groups. “Ouch!” he says. “I thought you said your dog does not bite!”
Students are given cards and they have to tell the other group members the
The shopkeeper replies, “That is not my dog!”
information on the card without speaking. The others have to guess the whole

210 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 211

In such lessons, several jokes can be used rather using only one for the whole group.
After students complete the reading/listening lesson segment, students are put into
groups and given a joke to act out. If there are more than one groups with the same
joke, the groups may compete for best performance at the end. Students rehearse
and get ready to perform within a given time limit and at this stage, fluency,
appropriate use of stress, intonation, and gestures should be encouraged. In the
final stage, students perform in front of the other students. As suggested, some of
the students could be a panel of experts and choose the best performers.
Picture clues with substitution tables: This activity can be used with true beginners
and early elementary learners. It gives controlled practice of the structures learned
in the strictest sense and may be seen as a very mechanical oral activity. However,
these activities can easily be made more meaningful and interesting with the use
of visuals. For example, with the following substitution table students are asked to
make true sentences in pairs by looking at the picture in pairs (Box 17).
Find the picture: This is a very simple activity that could be used to practice
describing people, objects, places, events etc. Teacher brings several pictures to
the class and sticks them to the board or the walls. The necessary vocabulary and
structures can be put on the board as well. The activity may start as a whole class
activity. One student starts describing a picture and the others try to find it. When
students get used to the activity they can be put in pairs to give all the students
time to speak.
Box 17
Make sentences about the picture.
e.g. There is an umbrella in the picture.
four boys
a cat
is two umbrellas
two boys
a man in the picture.
There
an umbrella
two dogs
three woman
are
a dog
three beach balls
212 Skills and Aspects
Production stage (Oral fluency)
Production stage (oral fluency), on the other hand, makes more room for unexpected
vocabulary, structures. In beginners and elementary groups, this stage may not be
activated as much as the previous one, but teachers should allocate time to give
students practice opportunities for purposeful, fluent communication where the
focus is not getting the linguistic structures right but communicating messages.
Oral fluency activities are less teacher-controlled ones but teachers should prepare
students for the fluency work in terms of vocabulary, possible structures and ideas
before the activity.
The thumb rule here is to “focus on language areas students can recall and use
well” (Clavery, 2001: 41). Another important point is the correction mode teachers
choose in fluency activities. As known, during oral practice immediate corrective
feedback is usually provided by teachers since this stage aims at speaking
accurately. However, during oral fluency activities teachers do not interrupt unless
they observe the activity is stuck because of a communication breakdown. Thus,
in this stage teachers keep notes of the problems that are common to majority of
students without interrupting them. When the activity finishes, as a follow up they
may draw students attention to these problems either asking for clarification for
the correct usages or clarifying the problems themselves. Below are some example
fluency activities to be used with young learners (http://www.squidoo.com; http://
waze.net/oea http://www.eslwriting.org ; http://www.tesolzone.com):
The memory circle: In this activity students stand up in a circle. Teacher or a
student says a sentence “I watched a film last night”. The next student says, “She
watched a film last night, and I made a cake”. The next student repeats the sentences
and adds a new one. If someone misses and gets it incorrect, they sit down and the
game is over. The teacher may restrict the use of tenses and vocabulary by setting
a rule at the start of the activity.
Celebrity backs: This is similar to “Twenty questions” activity. Here teacher brings
adhesive labels to class with celebrities’ names on them and stick these labels to
students’ backs. Students mingle and ask questions in pairs. Prior to the activity,
some vocabulary and structures can be revised.
Draw a picture: When the vocabulary and structures are strictly controlled (for
example particular vocabulary for body parts, clothes, descriptive adjectives), this
activity serves as an oral practice activity. However, when students are given more
complex pictures which require the use of a wide range of vocabulary and structures,
it becomes a fluency activity. For this activity, pairs sit back to back and one person
describes a picture while the other draws.
Say as many things as you can: In this activity, teacher writes several topics on
slips of paper, such as countries, words about weather, emotions, wild animals, sea
animals, furniture, cities in Europe, musical instruments. Students sit in pairs. One
partner picks a topic (preferably out of a box, for it is better if students do not see
the topics beforehand), the other student says a list of things related to the topic
Listening and Speaking 213
in 60 seconds. They keep a total of the answers. The winner is the person with the
most answers.
Setting up Teacher introduces the activity.
Question & answer contest: For this activity, first, the class is divided into teams.
Then teacher asks each team a question, giving three or 4 seconds for them to
answer to get a point Depending on the characteristics of the students, though,
teachers may decide how many seconds they will allow the students to think for an Running the activity Students do the activity.
answer. To give all the students a chance to practice, domineering students should
be observed and the game rules must be set.
Taboo: This is a very well known word guessing game. The rule of the game is for
a player to have his partners guess the word on his card without using the word Teacher gets feedback; do follow-on
itself and four or five additional words on the card. In young learner classes, this Elicitation/ Feedback work etc.
could be a whole class game. To include everyone in the group enough cards should
be prepared beforehand. With lower level students, this can turn to a word-level
Figure 5: Steps of a simple speaking activity
guessing game. However, as students gain more proficiency learners, they should
be encouraged to form sentences rather than only words.
Setting up
Box 17
Whether the speaking activity is a part of a skill lesson (reading/listening) or an
Example Taboo cards activity that stands alone, the first step is to familiarize students with the content,
characters, event, when necessary (e.g. Act the joke out, Guess the mime). Therefore,
WATCH TEACHER SNOW there can be a brief lead-in such as looking at pictures, watching a video or telling
a personal anecdote or asking a couple of questions at the beginning. Similarly,
Time Teach Cold revision of vocabulary/structures should also be considered especially for oral
practice activities and useful language items should be placed on the board for
Wear School Winter
everyone to see and use during the activity.
Wrist Students December The next important point is to give the instructions and, if there are, set the rules
clearly. Here oral explanations should be kept to minimum and demonstration,
showing, modeling the activity alone or with the help of students should be used
Complete the dialog: This is a great fluency activity that could be played with all
effectively. Teachers should not forget to check the instructions to make sure
age groups at all proficiency levels. First, students are divided in pairs/groups. Then
everyone has understood what to do. This could be done through oral elicitation or
teacher says a sentence that can be a part of a dialog, e.g. “Today’s a nice day”.
simply by asking students to show what they will do. Similarly, where applicable, e.g.
Students make up short dialogs including the sentence given by the teacher. A rule
short exchanges of information such as “Have you got any brothers and sisters?”
for the length of the dialogs can be stated, e.g. “Make up a dialog with 6 sentences”.
“Yes, I have./No, I haven’t.” starting the activity with open pairs (i.e. two students,
Afterwards, they can act their dialogs for the whole class.
preferably from different corners of the class, do the activity while others observe)
Steps of a simple speaking activity is a good way to ensure that everyone understands what to do. Pairing/grouping
Setting up activities in the classroom is as important as choosing and planning them. students should also be taken care of during this step.
There are three main steps to consider when implementing a speaking activity,
Running the activity (Speaking practice)
either oral practice or fluency, in the classroom (Figure 6):
After setting the time, teacher starts the activity. During oral practice activities
students may need teachers’ help more. So, teachers should circulate and when
necessary help learners when they are stuck. However, a more fly-on-the-wall
approach should be adopted during oral fluency activities. During these activities
teachers walk around, listen and take notes for common mistakes (or brilliant ideas,
well-formed sentences etc.) to give feedback later.

214 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 215

Elicitation and feedback
In this step, if the activity is short enough to be performed to the whole class,
students can be invited to do so or students can be asked to report back on to
the whole class, telling their partners’ ideas/choices/preferences, comparing the
results etc. For example, “I like apples but Ekin likes bananas. Mert doesn’t like
bananas but he likes oranges”. As part of this step, teachers also give feedback to
the whole class about the common mistakes. To do this, mistakes are written on
the board and students are invited to think about the mistakes and, if necessary,
teachers make explanations. Similar to the listening skill post-stage task, asking
learners to evaluate the material(s), activity, and their own performances will be
enlightening for both students and teachers.
Activity 7: Choose a speaking activity. Identify the age and language proficiency
level of the learners it is appropriate for. Identify the learning outcomes and
design a speaking activity. What would you do to set up the activity? What seating
and grouping arrangements would you use? What would your instructions be and
how would you give them? What would you do at the elicitation/feedback step?
Study Questions
1. What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up listening
processes?
2. Name two listening skills related to top-down processing and two for
bottom-up, please.

Final suggestions for teachers 3. What are the stages of a listening lesson?

Below are some final tips and the summary of ideas discussed so far related to 4. Why is pre-listening stage important? What kinds of tasks can be
teaching speaking skill (Riddell, 2003; Scrivener, 1994; Brown, 2001): undertaken at this stage?

• Consider the age, cognitive development, proficiency level, interests of 5. Name five principles to keep in mind while running the while-listening
your students when choosing activities. They should be close to their lives, stage, please.
meet students’ needs and the learning outcomes. 6. State the difference between accuracy and fluency practice, please.
• Plan your activities well and anticipate likely problems that may engender Discuss these two concepts in relation to age groups and proficiency
the flow of the activity prior to implementation phase. Especially levels?
classroom seating, pairing/grouping options should be considered well. 7. What are the stages of a simple speaking activity?
• Oral production activities should be based on “language that is lower than
the language used in intensive study (e.g. reading texts)” (Clavery, 2001:
41). Do not forget students should be able to recall and use the necessary
words and structures to be used in the activity easily.
• If you need written materials for the activity, prepare them with care.
They should be legible, with the instructions, some examples (for oral
practice activities) or some clues.
• During mingling/pair/group work activities think of ways of starting and
stopping activities for there may be some noise in the classroom especially
at the end of the activity.
• Plan your instructions and how you will give them. Show, demonstrate,
explain! Include students to model the activity.
• Put a time limit for activities. Think of the feedback step you need to do.
• Monitor the activity well. During oral practice, i.e. accuracy work,
students may need help and more immediate corrective feedback from
you. However, during oral production do not interrupt unless you observe
communication failure.
• In monolingual classes keeping students in the target language is difficult.
For this reason, remind students to speak English as you walk around the
classroom.

216 Skills and Aspects Listening and Speaking 217

 Reading
Muhlise Coşgun Ögeyik

Discussion questions
ȤȤ What are the main purposes of teaching reading to young learners?
ȤȤ How can you define reading?
ȤȤ What are the common reading techniques used in the classroom?
ȤȤ How can you motivate young learners to engage in reading activities?
ȤȤ What kind of materials work better in young learners’ reading classes?
There has been an increased focus on the teaching reading to children. Children who
have learned to read in their mother tongue can be exposed to reading in foreign
language, thus they may understand the technical features of written language and
the communicative nature of reading. Since literacy instruction to young learners
in EFL contexts has increased, various instructional methods and techniques have
been implemented. It is important to introduce reading after students have some
basic knowledge of the spoken language so that it quickly becomes meaning-based
and not simply decoding (Brewster & Ellis, 2004). The teacher can support students’
association of letters and words through various materials. Instead of monotonous
and repetitive activities, students need to be involved in purposeful and enjoyable
activities.
Reading is a set of skills that helps meaning making by decoding the printed word.
Thus, in order to read learners must be able to decode the printed words and also
comprehend what they read (Linse, 2005, pp. 69-71). While reading a piece of
writing, readers’ background and linguistic knowledge and previous experiences
affect their decoding and comprehending processes. By the impact of background
and linguistic knowledge, learners develop reading strategies. Research has shown
that learners actively use comprehension strategies to understand both spoken and
written passages more effectively (Wallace, 1992).
While beginning to teach reading to young learners, phonics instruction is used as
an approach to strengthen children’s phonemic, phonological and morphological
awareness. By developing their word recognition skills, that is, by focusing on letter
and sound relations, students’ literacy skills are built as a bottom-up strategy.

What is reading?
Reading is decoding, comprehending, and interpreting.
ȤȤ Decoding: Reading starts with the decoding process. Decoding is the
process in which learners read and recognize the written symbols making
up the words. Decoding is also making sense of individual words within

218 Skills and Aspects Reading 219

 a context for getting meaning. Phonics instruction helps to recognize
individual sound-letter correspondence to defeat challenging aspect of
decoding.
ȤȤ Comprehension: To know how to pronounce written symbols correctly
does not mean that reading is achieved; that is, without comprehending
the information in the context, it is impossible to claim that reading is
implemented. Therefore, reading requires higher order of understanding
the meaning. Comprehension may vary from reader to reader. Different
readers may respond to a single text in different ways. Thus, how to
analyse and synthesize the information can be best constructed through
a well designed instruction.
ȤȤ Interpretation: After decoding and comprehending the written text, thinking
/talking about it is the complementary part of reading process. Through
the interpretation of learners, reading process is completed. The teacher
can make assessment on the base of the interpretation of learners to
decide on whether the text is read and understood appropriately or not.
In real life, readers have specific purposes when they start reading. While some may
read for gathering information, some others may read for pleasure.
Reading for Information
Reading for information can be implemented in any situation. For instance, reading
the instruction guide to help you use a tool or machine, a menu in a restaurant,
instructions on the walls of the school corridor, a book on monkeys, and others. Such
kind of reading may not vary while interpreting the meaning. Similar messages may
be comprehended by readers, if they have similar cultural environments.
Reading for Pleasure
Some readers may read for pleasure without having other benefit of reading in mind.
When they get pleasure while reading, they can be more motivated for reading in
the foreign language. In this sense, reading for pleasure may not have any purpose.
It is just related with readers’ preferences in reading. For instance, literary texts are
mostly read for pleasure. While readers get pleasure during reading, they also gain
some benefits from such readings such as developing linguistic use of the language
or being exposed to cultural themes or practices.
The reading process
Whatever the purpose, during reading process learners activate their schemata to
get information from the text. By activating the schemata, they bring experience,
memories, knowledge to the text in front of them. Two types of schemata are
activated while reading: content schemata: general world knowledge and formal
schemata: knowledge about discourse structure; i.e. linguistic knowledge (Williams,
1987). Activating schemata is implemented in two types of processes:
1. Bottom-up Processing: In bottom-up processing, readers use the linguistic
220 Skills and Aspects
knowledge which is necessary for the decoding process. They also start
from the parts and move to the whole text.
2. Top-down processing: To comprehend and interpret the meaning of a text,
readers refer to their experiences and background knowledge by starting
from the whole and going to the parts.
Types of reading
Skimming: Skimming is a reading type applied for identifying the main ideas in a text
quickly. While reading the text, the text is not read word-by-word, instead, it is read
at a speed faster than normal reading in a limited amount of time (Brown, 2001).
For instance, any piece of writing may be read to get idea about what it comprises.
Skimming can be accomplished through various strategies. For instance, just by
reading the introduction and conclusion parts of any article, specific information
can be gathered. Instead of comprehending the whole text, an overall idea can be
obtained from the text.  
Scanning: Scanning is a technique mostly used to find out a precise item from
the text (Brown, 2001). Just by looking up the words, signs, or phrases, the search
may be completed. While searching, the reader focuses on the specific item s/he
is looking for. Scanning is also used for determining whether the type of source is
consistent with the reader expectation.
Reading Aloud/ Oral Reading: Reading aloud is predominantly used to encourage
readers to correspond between spoken and written English, particularly for beginner
level students. While reading, readers can check the pronunciation of the written
word.
Silent Reading: During silent reading, readers interact with the text and try to
understand the text on their own without being interrupted by the teacher. Thus the
reader engages in both bottom-up and top-down processing. Such reading helps
readers develop a fluency in reading.
Intensive Reading: Intensive reading is carried out in the classroom through some
activities such as skimming, scanning. It provides a basis for explaining difficulties
of structure and for extending knowledge of vocabulary and idioms (Rivers, 1981,
p. 278). To increase interest in classroom readings, reading passages need to be
chosen regarding learners’ interests and needs. Besides, the activities and tasks to
be applied in the classroom should be interesting as well. While reading the text,
learners are observed by the teacher to check their performances. Reading as a
classroom-oriented activity helps teachers assess their students’ development in a
systematic way (Hedge, 2003).
Extensive Reading: Extensive reading is carried out as an activity processed and
completed outside the class. Students choose the materials and topics they enjoy
and read them outside their classroom hours (Hedge, 2003). The teacher may
provide them the material and encourage them to bring in their oral or written
reports about what they have read outside.
Reading 221
Reading instruction
During reading instruction, teachers devote a great amount of time to encourage
learners to develop reading skills by using the contextual clues, activating schemata
(using background knowledge), and using reading strategies. While comprehending
the text, readers need to be directed with appropriate comprehension techniques to
organize the information in the text.
It is argued that not all ESL/EFL learners may be motivated enough to read a text,
and when a motivational problem is faced, the teacher is usually at a loss about
what to do (Gebhard, 2009). Therefore, reading instruction should be designed
for motivating and encouraging them to comprehend the value of reading issue.
Reading programme should be organized to develop individual ability and maturity.
In this respect, reading is a complex process. Grabe (1991) has identified six general
component skills and knowledge areas within the complex process of reading:
1. Automatic recognition skills: a virtually unconscious ability, ideally
requiring little mental processing to recognize text, especially for word
identification
2. Vocabulary and structural knowledge: a sound understanding of language
structure and a large recognition vocabulary
3. Formal discourse structure knowledge: an understanding of how texts are
organized and how information is put together into various genres of text
(e.g. a report, a letter, a narrative)
4. Content/world knowledge: prior knowledge of text-related information
and a shared understanding of the cultural information involved in text
5. Synthesis and evaluation skills/strategies: the ability to read and compare
information from multiple sources, to think critically about what one reads,
and to decide what information is relevant or useful for one’s purpose
6. Metacognitive knowledge and skills monitoring: an awareness of one’s
mental processes and the ability to reflect on what one is doing and the
strategies one is employing while reading
Young readers at the initial stage may not bring all those components into the
reading process at once as fluent readers may do. To encourage them to bring
the components into the process, the reading programme needs to be designed
for facilitating and implementing the components in an order in the process. An
effective program may contribute to making the process work.
Therefore, first of all the teacher should be aware of learners’ characteristics. Young
learners and adult learners have distinct characteristics. DeKeyser (2003: p. 335)
explains the differences between young and adult learners in the following way:
The shift during childhood from implicit to explicit processes explains the
two findings about age differences in second language learning: children
learn better and adults learn faster. Children do better in terms of ultimate
222 Skills and Aspects
attainment because many elements of language are hard to learn explicitly;
adults learn faster because their capacities for explicit learning let them make
short cuts. As a result, given ample time in an unstructured environment,
children come out on top. In a traditional school context, however, where
time is limited and learning is highly structured, adults and other children
learn more in the same amount of time.
In reading classes, for motivating young learners to read and helping them activate
their background (top-down processing) and linguistic knowledge (bottom-up
processing), the activities should take learners’ attention to both surface and deep
structures of the text. A reading course is usually implemented through three stages:
• Pre-reading Stage
In this stage the reader’s engagement is provided. The engagement is
supported by activating learners’ schemata and constructing new knowledge
before reading process. Another aim is language preparation for decoding
and comprehending the text. Since learners are expected to recognize the
linguistic features for comprehension, language preparation activities will
construct concentration (McRae, 1991). In this respect, pre-reading stage is
the key part of the whole learning process because the learner understands
the reason for reading the text.
• While-reading Stage
While-reading stage is the interactive process through which the learner’s
ability in engaging in texts is developed. In this process, learners rely on
bottom-up and top-down processes by decoding and comprehending the
text through some reading techniques such as silent reading, reading aloud,
intensive reading, and etc.
• Post-reading Stage
Young learners may have comprehension problems and need guidance
in constructing meanings when their knowledge does not match the
requirements of the text, thus post-reading activities such as matching
exercises, cloze exercises, cut-up sentences, comprehension questions can
improve reading comprehension (Haller, 2000).
Discussion question
Explain, with examples, how your world knowledge affect your reading
comprehension?
Reading activities
Teachers can use different classroom activities for young learners who have
mastered reading in their mother tongue. For example, a child at the age of eight is
already familiar with individual words and word divisions, sentence links, paragraph
structure, sound-letter relations, etc. in his or her native language. However, in
Reading 223
foreign language, at the initial stage, young learners may mostly have problems
with how letters relate to sounds. Therefore, phonics can be used as an approach
in reading classes for teaching letter-sound relations in English. Then, learners’
attention can be drawn to words and phrases to help them recognize the individual
items in a sentence (bottom-up processing). Thus, whole sentence reading can be
implemented to make learners understand the words or phrases carrying meaning
within a context. Based on the mentioned initial activities, whole text reading
activities can be applied. Some of the reading activities common in young learners’
classes are presented below:
Reading a story
Reading stories such as simplified and authentic ones in reading classes is
one of the most enjoyable activities. This activity is mostly implemented by
teachers, then learners. When teachers read stories aloud, the learner can
learn how to read the story.
a. While listening to the story, learners may form their own inner pictures
in their minds.
b. While reading the story, the teacher may point to the word so that learners
can recognize it. Thus, they may understand sound-letter relation by
connecting the spoken and the written word to understand the word
(bottom-up processing). In this process, the words should be read under
normal speed, keeping the intonation correct.
c. Learners can be directed to ask questions and discuss their ideas if they
desire.
d. Learners should be encouraged to talk about the story. The teacher can
ask questions in the mother tongue if they do not understand the question
in English.
e. After finishing reading, learners are motivated to read the story silently.
f. The teacher can read the story again. S/he can let learners complete
some of the sentences while reading, because word recognition is an
essential component in the mastery of reading:
Teacher: That’s a.....
Student: House
Teacher: It’s....
Student: Big
Teacher: Yes, that’s a house. It’s big.
g. If learners cannot point to the word, the teacher should help them through
graphic organizers, story maps, Venn diagrams, and etc. to check their
comprehension.
Reading a class story
224 Skills and Aspects
Some traditional fairy tales that they are familiar with such as Little Red Riding
Hood can be read to motivate them to read (top-down processing). Since learners
have familiarity with the themes of such stories, they can comprehend the story
easily. Therefore they are good resources for teaching reading to young learners.
Reading familiar nursery rhymes and songs
This activity can be very effective in reading classes. Since most of the children learn
nursery rhymes and songs in their mother tongue, they can read and learn them
easily (top-down processing).
Reading techniques
Reading aloud: This technique can be useful for beginners in a language. Reading
aloud can be carried out individually or in small groups. It can be used as an
assessment tool to check pronunciation and intonation.
While reading a dialogue text, reading aloud can be done in pairs. Sometimes teacher
can read the text and learners repeat it. Such reading can encourage readers and
build up self-confidence.
Silent reading: Most people read silently in their daily lives. For young learners, it
may also prompt conscious language development and comprehension. Thus, they
can understand the reading material by bottom-up/top-down processing. After the
teacher reads the text loudly, learners may be asked to read the text silently in the
classroom.
Intensive reading: In classroom, when learners are exposed to intensive reading
either through reading aloud or silent reading or both, they can be assessed by the
teacher by means of some activities such as comprehension questions, discussion
questions, and etc. Or the teacher can ask learners to summarize the story with
their own words. While doing this activity, the other classmates can help the one
who is summarizing the story. They can also do self-assessment during reading
activity.
Extensive reading: As mentioned before, extensive reading is mostly implemented
out of the class. For young learners, it may be a daunting task; if the teacher
hands out some extra material to read at home, they can read it as homework.
Although young learners may face some difficulties while reading and discussing
extra materials on their own, those materials can be used just for making them
struggle for comprehending the reading materials. They may spend some time to
read and understand the text. In the classroom, the teacher may help them after
they implement extensive reading.
Scanning: This technique is useful to take learners’ attention to specific word/
words. Thus, learners recognize the sound of the word/words by making sound-
symbol relationships. Sample scanning activities are:
ȤȤ Finding a specific information in a text
ȤȤ Finding an item in a text
Reading 225
 ȤȤ Finding a particular number, name, programme in a text, and so on.
Skimming: Skimming is an activity used to understand the main ideas in a text
quickly. The text is read at a faster speed. Thus, learners are trained to skim any
reading passage for general understanding. It can be used as a starting strategy
to reading activities. Since young learners are not proficient readers in foreign
language, they may develop their own strategies to understand the overall idea.
They may also predict the meaning of some unknown words from the context.
Sample skimming activities are:
ȤȤ Matching headlines with texts
ȤȤ Matching pictures with texts
ȤȤ Matching statements with the topic of texts
ȤȤ Using keywords to make predictions about the topic
Discussion question
Which two of the reading techniques explained above are most helpful in young
learners’ learning of English? Which two are the least helpful? Explain by giving
specific examples from their developmental stages and qualities of their age.
1. Tell the students they will read a shaped poem and create their own
poems about fruits.
2. Read the shaped poem you prepared.
3. Hand out the poem to the students.
4. Teach the meaning of the words: mushy, ripe, soggy, warm, gooey,
stickiness, loathe.
5. Have them repeat the words (word recognition)
6. Ask them to read the poem (reading aloud)
7. Ask questions about the banana described in the poem.
8. Encourage them to use the adjectives used for banana (scanning)
9. Use graphic organizers, for example a semantic map, to encourage the
students to describe the banana in the poem.

Sample reading activities

A shaped poem
Age: 10-12
Aim: Reading and writing a shaped poem
Materials: A shaped poem

10. Divide the class into pairs.

11. Ask the students to choose the subject of their shaped poems and to write
five sentences to describe it (skimming)
12. After they finish writing their sentences, ask pairs to change their
sentences and to create poems.
Discussion question
What are the benefits of using shaped poems for young learners in reading
classes?

Hands-on task
Find or prepare a shaped poem and develop classroom activities to teach how to
skim and scan for information.

Procedures

226 Skills and Aspects Reading 227

 The Lion and Monkeys Procedures
Age: 8-11 1. Introduce the topic and talk about animals in their mother tongue to take
Aim: Learning some adjectives their attention to animals (top-down processing)

Materials: Short texts about animals, pictures 2. Tell them you have two guests today.

A lion is an animal. It has four legs. But it has short legs. It has a short tail. It lives
in the woods. It has short fur. Its fur is brown or white. Its ears are big. Its teeth are
big and strong. It is a wild animal. It eats meat.
3. Hand out the texts.
4. Before reading the texts write down the adjectives from both texts on the
board.
5. Show some pictures to the students. The pictures should display the
adjectives you teach; for instance, you may show a picture combining both
short and tall pencils.
6. After introducing visual materials, read the first text about “lion”
7. Have your students skim the text and find out the overall idea.
8. Then read the second text.
9. Ask your students to compare both animals. You can use a Venn diagram
to compare the animals. In the middle, they will write the similar features
of the animals. On the left and right diagrams, they can show the different
features of each animal (skimming)
10. Ask your students to find out the similarities and differences between
those animals (intensive reading)
lion

monkey

four legs

A monkey is an animal. It has four legs. Its fur is short. It is brown or black. It lives short fur
in the woods. It has a big mouth. It has a long tail. It is not a wild animal. It eats
bananas.

11. As a follow up activity, divide the class into pairs and ask each pair to tell
some characteristics of each animal without looking at the text. As one
student tells the characteristics, the other student shows the relevant
visual material. This activity may motivate the students for understanding
the text while having pleasure, because drawing animals with/without
text is fun and easy.
12. Hand out some pictures of animals and get the students to write the main
characteristics of the animals in the pictures.

228 Skills and Aspects Reading 229

 The donkey says “It’s not fair! I want to live in the house, too.”
One day, the donkey leaves the stable and goes into the house. It plays in the house.
It breaks the furniture and the glasses and the cups and the plates. It sits on the
Look at that cat!.....................................................................
man’s knee!
“Get out of the house!” shouts the man. “You have got a nice stable!”
What is good for a little dog may not be good for a donkey.

That is a rabbit! .......................................................................

That is a big cow. ....................................................................

It’s a parrot. ..............................................................................

The donkey and the little dog (Wright, 2004) Pre-reading stage
Age: 8-12 1. Tell the students that you are going to read a story. Teach them the
Time: 30+30 minutes unknown words given in the story. You can teach the words by drawing,
Language Skill: Reading showing the pictures you have prepared, or miming.
Preparation before the class: 2. Repeat the words to make your students recognize the sounds of the
1. Select the words you will teach words (word recognition)

2. Make a photocopy of the story for each child 3. Ask the students to match the written words with the pictures on the
board to check whether they have understood the words.
3. Prepare pictures of the animals given in the story (a dog, a donkey, a
stable, a room with furniture, a plate, a cup, some hay). While-reading stage
1. Tell the story by acting out.
4. Draw the pictures of the story in separate sheets.
2. Use the pictures you have prepared while you are telling the story.
5. Prepare the sheets on which sentences from the story are written in order
to make the students put them in an order. 3. After telling the story, hand out the photocopies of the story to the
students.
A man has a donkey and a little dog.
4. Read the story loudly to the class. While reading the story, act out the
The donkey lives in a warm, clean stable and it has hay and water. The little dog lives
story again.
in the house. It sits on the man’s knees in the evening and sleeps in a chair in front
of the fire in the night. It eats meat and biscuits. The man gives him biscuits as he 5. Have the students to read the story silently (silent reading)
eats dinner. 6. Ask one or two of the students in the class to read the story (reading aloud)

230 Skills and Aspects Reading 231

 7. Choose three students to read the story. One is reading the parts of Follow-up activities
donkey, one is reading the parts of the man, and the other is reading the You may ask your students to create their own stories similar to the one they have
descriptive parts of the story (reading aloud) read. They write their own stories and change the stories with his/her pair. The pairs
8. Repeat this reading activity a few times with other students. read each other’s stories and make comments (top-down processing)
Post-reading stage
Fruits
1. Ask questions about the story to check whether the students have
Age: 8-12
understood it.
Time: 30 minutes
a. What are the names of the animals in the story?
Language Skill: Reading
b. Who lives in the stable?
Preparation before the class:
c. Who lives in the house?
1. Select the words you will teach.
d. Why does the man shout?
2. Make a photocopy of the poem for each child.
e. Why does the donkey want to live in the house?
3. Prepare pictures of the fruits in the poem (grapes, an apple, a pear, an
f. Why can’t the donkey live in the house?
orange, a banana, strawberries).
1. Hand out some sheets on which the parts of the story are written and ask
4. Prepare sheets on which sentences from the poem are written in order to
the students to put them into the correct order.
make the students choose the suitable word.
2. Put the sheets on which you have illustrated the story and ask the students
I like grapes
to put the drawings in the correct order and tell the story with their own
Little black grapes
words by looking at the drawings.
I eat grapes
3. Let the students find the words on their own in the puzzle given (bottom-up
processing) Little tasty grapes
Find the words I like apples

donkey stable hay furniture knees A big red apple

dog cup house water I eat apples

A big green apple
k n e e s t t p s I like pears
Sweat yellow pears
w h y d o g r f h I eat pears
Sweet yellow pears
x a k o h o u s e
I like oranges
v y s l c u p s w Delicious oranges
I eat oranges
d o n k e y b y a Delicious oranges
I like bananas
u k s t a b l e t
Tasty big bananas
f u r n i t u r e I eat strawberries
Delicious small strawberries.
z m x o g e m n r

232 Skills and Aspects Reading 233

Pre-reading stage
1. Write the names of the fruits on the board. Teach the students the names
of the fruits in the poem. You can teach the fruits by drawing or showing
the pictures you have prepared.
2. Repeat the words to make them recognize the sounds of the fruits (word
recognition)
3. Ask the students to match the words written on the board with the pictures
to check whether they have understood the words.
4. Clean board and ask the students to say the names of the fruits by showing
their pictures or drawings.
ȤȤ Which fruit is big?
ȤȤ Which fruit is yellow?
ȤȤ Which fruits are delicious?
2. Give some blank cards to students and ask them to draw and paint any
fruit they have read in the poem.
3. Collect the cards and then give other cards on which the colours of the
fruits are written and ask the students to draw and write the names of
the fruits.
4. Form pairs. Each student asks a question to his/ her partner. The question
can be modelled by the teacher at the beginning. For instance, the teacher
can ask the question “Which fruit do you like best?” With such a question
and answer activity, the pairs can comprehend the poem easily.

Follow-up activities
You may ask your students to write their own poems by changing the adjectives of
the fruits in the original poem with some other fruits.

Discussion question
Do you think teaching vocabulary items in the pre-reading stage is more beneficial
than teaching them in the following stages? Why?

While-reading stage
1. Read the poem aloud.
2. While reading the poem, show the pictures of the fruits by one by. After
reading the poem, hand out the photocopies of the poem to the students.
3. Read the poem loudly to the class once more and have the students
repeat after you.
4. Divide the poem into parts with a different fruit. For instance, the part
with grapes will be read by student A, the part with the apple will be read
by student B, etc. Repeat this activity with all students present in the class
(reading aloud)

Post-reading stage
1. Ask questions about the characteristics of the fruits in the poem (scanning)
ȤȤ What colour are the grapes?
ȤȤ What colour is the apple?

234 Skills and Aspects Reading 235

 Writing
Arda Arikan

Preliminary questions
ȤȤ How do you define writing for young learners? Is it writing a paragraph,
sentence or a word?
ȤȤ What are the challenges associated with teaching writing in English language
classrooms at primary schools?
ȤȤ Why is it difficult for the learner to learn how to write in English?
ȤȤ What should the teacher’s role be to facilitate learning how to write in English?
Writing and young learners
For young learners, writing in English is the most difficult skill to develop for many
reasons. First of all, young learners’ writing habits are not fully developed in their
home languages. Hence, they cannot really succeed in writing in English accurately.
Secondly, in addition to the differences between Turkish and English punctuation
rules, English spelling system poses a big problem for them simply because a single
sound (or a single phoneme) has many different spellings (paw, poor, pore, pour,
daughter, Sean) as exemplified by Harmer (2001, p. 256).
Apart from the difficulty posed by the nature of the language being learned, students’
personal states poses additional problem that hinders their development in writing.
Chastain (1998) claims that “writing is difficult even under the most supportive and
natural circumstances,” hence, “students’ psychological and emotional attitudes
toward written communication assignments and to plan toward reducing or
eliminating their potential negative effects on the students’ attitudes” (p. 251). As
Phillips (2001, p. 57) rightly put, “it is best to introduce English through listening
and speaking first, then reading, and writing last.”
The teacher’s role in teaching writing unto young learners is important in developing
this skill. One of the most important roles of the teacher while teaching to write in a
foreign language is motivating the learner (Cuenca & Carmona, 2012). Because we
are dealing with young learners, we cannot often motivate our students by lecturing
them about how writing will be helpful to them in their future in a rigid manner-
doing so, in fact, will make them feel detached from writing for sure! Thus, teachers
should share his or her own writing with her students, including her mistakes
in writing, in a light way and invite her students to participate in re-writing and
editing. Such a simple step can break the thick ice while making students feel more
comfortable and valued.
Writing, in the past, was considered to be individual work. Today, we know that
writing can be conceptualized and practiced as a pair or group work which facilitates

236 Skills and Aspects Writing 237

communication among students (Cuenca & Carmona, 2012). Such conceptualization Hands-on activity
also helps integration of skills because students can both speak, listen, read, and
By considering the ideas given above, study the coursebook activity given below
write while working together on a piece of writing. In this process, because young
(Genç, Oruç & Şeremet, 2006, p. 72). Try to explain to what extent this activity
learners do not tend to think directly and formally as adult learners do, their
helps brainstorming for ideas, exercising imagination, and leading to publishing
imagination works to its fullest which should not be taken as a threat by the teacher.
materials.
A snow drop can be red, a dog can eat flowers or, worse, a badly written sentence is
in fact the best sentence one can ever write. The teacher, hence, should support her
students to write for communication and not for perfectness. However, many EFL
coursebooks in Turkey continue to take writing as putting the letters in the correct
order through without actually helping students to write in meaningful and creative
ways.
Hands-on activity
Study the following writing activity extracted from Time for English Grade 4 (p. 61).
Discuss to what extent it helps developing young learners’ writing skills.

Literature on young learners’ writing activities suggests that writing activities tasks
should:
1. brainstorm for ideas and vocabulary together as a group or class (Kim,
2003, p. 65)
2. require the students to exercise imagination (Cuenca & Carmona, 2012, The above discussion gives us hints about the nature of writing as well as the hierarchy
p. 45). of skills to be taught in young learners’ classes. As Cameron (2005) discusses,
in young learner classes, “the helpfulness of the written language is limited, and
3. lead to published material (Linse, 2005, p. 101). This is more likely to
using reading passages, writing up words of songs or using written labels for new
result from young learners’ eagerness to touch, feel, and show what they
vocabulary may cause serious difficulties for pupils” (p. 66). In short, writing cannot
have accomplished in their classrooms (Remember how children love
be taken by teachers as the major macro skill to be taught or developed in young
showing and talking about the pictures they draw or poems they write in
learners’ foreign language classrooms. In fact, it should be given a subordinate role,
the classrooms). This reality is strongly emphasized by Boldizsár (n.d., p.
one that is only aiming to support the development of the other skills. In that sense,
56) in the context of the Common European Framework.
writing should be integrated in English language learners’ classrooms with other
skills to enhance students’ learning.

238 Skills and Aspects Writing 239

 Discussion
Discuss the possible effect of the following activity taken from Spot on 8 (Kurt et
al., 2011, p. 154) on 8th graders’ language development by considering Cameron’s
(2005) note on difficulties posed by exposing students to writing in young learners’
classrooms. What are the problems with this activity when the issues verbalized
by Cameron are considered?
Planning writing
We are well aware now that our background information has the most influential role
in what we make both in life as well as in language teaching. Even when we master
all the grammar rules and vocabulary items necessary for writing or speaking, we
can hardly drop a line unless we know about what we are to write. Think for instance,
240 Skills and Aspects
even in your native language, what you can write about the relationship between
cacti and lizards. How well can you write on this ‘awkward’ topic unless you do some
research about the poor lizards and the hurtful spines of the cacti? Your mastery in
Turkish grammar and vocabulary does not help you much, does it? Specific to young
learners, here and now principle is accepted as a framework for all of the content
of young learners’ classes. Here and now principle underlines that any content
addressed to young learners must only include what they know as topics existing in
their immediate environment (‘here’) and what they can hear, see, and find out in
their current time (the ‘now’).
Foreign language learners, similar to any learner, must be taught to plan well before
starting writing. Brainstorming for ideas is the simplest way for documenting what
to write in an organized way. Have a look at the following mind map a foreign
language learner produced. Discuss how this and similar maps may help young
learners write easily and more successfully.
Activities
Writing with images
Writing can be conceived as a symbolic activity for young learners involving the use
of symbols and images that paves way to writing through words. In this activity,
students write, but not with words. They use images to write. Phillips (2001, p. 58)
writes “Choose a suitable text and rewrite it, substituting pictures for some of the
words. The children should write the words, perhaps with the help of their picture
dictionaries.” The text she suggests looks like as follows:
This is my ……. . She eats ……….. and drinks ……….
She further advises that students “can write a story one line at a time, folding their
papers over and passing them on after each sentence. The final story will be a
nonsense story made up of several children’s sentences” (p. 60).
Teachers can come up with numerous different activities that can be used young
Writing 241
learners’ classrooms by playing with activity and text types in a creative way.
Study the handout and discuss how this activity contributes to young learners’
development in writing.
A. Here is Mike’s e-mail to Clara. Read it and put the correct images into
the blanks. There is one extra.
June 23, 2012
Imaginative story completion
As mentioned before, imagination and young learners’ learning are closely related.
In this activity, students use the verbal and pictorial clues to create a short story.
Simply, tell your students to look at the pictures and complete the story which you
started (a similar activity is suggested by Cuenca and Carmona (2012) but their
activity does not include the pictures and is rather weakly contextualized).

Dear Clara,
I am going to ………………………………………. with my ………………………………... Use three of these
pictures to complete
We are going to fly tomorrow. I am happy because I will see an ……………………………………..
the story.
! I will also see a ………………………………… because we will travel from Rome to
Florence. I want to eat a lot of …………………………………….. in Rome. I will write to
you later!
Mike

Alex wants two pets ……………………………………………………………..

Well-known stories told the other way around

I have adapted this activity from an activity suggested by Cuenca and Carmona
(2012, p. 46) carrying the same title. I have added the brainstorming sections that
make use of the visuals I suggested.

A. Write about Snow Snow White

B. Write three things about Mike’s trip by finishing the sentences: White and the Evil
Queen. Who are they?
1. Mike is going to …………………………………………… with his …………………………………
What do they do?
2. He is happy because he will ………………………………………….
3. He wants to eat a lot of …………………………………….. The Evil Queen
C. Draw a picture about your trip. Write an e-mail to your friend about .................................. ..................................
your picture and your trip. .................................. ..................................
.................................. ..................................
.................................. ..................................
B. Write what happens in the story.
C. Give the Witch’s qualities to Snow White and Snow White’s to the Witch.
Re-write the story.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

242 Skills and Aspects Writing 243

Writing a poem posters to inform their friends about such serious problems. Such an activity may
Students can experiment with writing poems in a creative way. Phillips (2001, p. 64) especially be helpful in practicing the imperatives or subject verb agreement
writes that “the children can write a counting poem from one to ten. Each line could patterns in a contextualized manner (Arikan, 2009).
be a noun-adjective combination or a complete sentence, for example:
Free writing with visuals
One dog sleeping in the sun
Visual materials are stimulating for young learners. Just show students some
Two cats washing their ears photographs or pictures and ask them to write as much as they want about these
Three children playing in the grass visuals. For example, students can stick their favorite cartoon characters or draw
Four mothers drinking tea…. them on a piece of paper and describe or introduce them to their classmates. Free
writing with visuals can also be a good way to start a learner portfolio because what
An animal haiku is also interesting and useful for young learners (McKay & Guse,
students create becomes their own original material.
2007). Haiku is a Japanese lyric poem. It is a single stanza containing 3 lines. There
are 17 syllables (5 in the first line, 7 in the second line, 5 in the last line). In this Project
activity, students write a haiku in an enjoyable way.
Study the writing activity given below in a detailed way by applying what you
A. Choose an animal and write its name here: ………………………………….. have learned in this chapter. Report to your friends the benefits and challenges
B. Write, with your friends, what you know about this animal: ……………………………………. associated with such activities like this (Yalçınkaya et al., 2004, p. 37)
C. Write a haiku with your friend by filling in the spaces below. Use your dictionary
to see how many syllables there are in each word.
…………………………………… (name of your animal)
_____
_______
_____

“What is a….?” writing game

Ask a question and write on the board. (i.e. What is a cloud?)
Ask students to brainstorm ideas and write their ideas down. Inform them that they
can be as imaginative as possible. As long as their ideas tell us something about a
cloud, it is fine. After the students complete their responses, they exchange their
opinions with their classmates. (Some possible answers are: It is a) white b) a sheep
(in the sky) c) water d) cotton balls e) light f) a happy boy. / It has a) many shapes b)
colors c) cloud friends d) a big nose.

Guessing games
Ask students to write three facts about an animal, place, city or object. Students
then say and write their clues for their friends to guess what that animal, place, city
or object is. For example: one student writes/ asks about the hospital by writing
these: 1. It is a large building. 2. Sick people stay there. 3. Doctors and nurses work
there.

Poster preparation
Young learners are interested in and sensitive about global and natural issues such
as earthquakes and forest fires. Students can choose a global issue and prepare

244 Skills and Aspects Writing 245

Hands-on activities
Vocabulary
1. What are the negative consequences of asking students to write in English in Mehmet Galip Zorba
the foreign language classroom? Discuss this especially in terms of how errors
Arda Arikan
are made and dealt with especially in crowded classrooms. Write a brief report
to show your views.
2. Ask young learners about their interests and prepare a list of topics that can
Warm Up Questions:
be helpful in preparing materials and activities for students to write about.
1. Considering your own language learning experiences, how did you learn
3. Go over some coursebooks used in primary school English lessons to choose
vocabulary in your classrooms?
two well prepared writing activities and two that are badly written. Explain, in
detail, what makes you believe that these activities are good or bad for use 2. Was vocabulary instruction neglected while you were learning a foreign? Why
with young learners. or why not?
3. How do you (plan to) teach vocabulary? How do you think young learners learn
vocabulary items best?

Most scholars believe that vocabulary instruction plays crucial role in a foreign
language teaching. Wilkins (1972, p. 111) has long ago emphasized the importance
of vocabulary instruction by arguing that “without grammar, very little can be
conveyed. Without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.” Although, as Allen (1983)
claims, vocabulary instruction was neglected in English language teaching education
programs, today there is much more attention given to vocabulary instruction in
many ELT programs.
Linse (2005) states that developing vocabulary is essential in foreign language
learning. It is true that we need words or visual representations of them to pass
a message across. For instance, even when you are with someone who cannot
speak the language you are speaking, non-verbal messages such as gestures are
translated into verbal ones in minds so as to continue communication. Teachers
must be careful about non-verbal messages for two major reasons. First, they
will inevitably use them while teaching vocabulary unto those who have limited
vocabulary knowledge. Hence, non-verbal communication (such as those body
movements made through drama) will help passing the message across or making
the verbal understood through the non-verbal. Second, there are important cultural
differences in the meaning of non-verbal messages about which students must be
informed. For instance, I remember my close friend who was visiting me in the US
utter the sound “Eh!” in response to an American’s question about whether or not she
could speak English. For her and any other Turkish speaker in Turkey, this utterance
means that she could “somehow” speak English. However, it has no meaning in
the US as such. Hence, the question remained unanswered and they both decided
not to continue their “awkward” communication probably thinking that neither of
them wanted to continue that conversation. Below, you can see some non-verbal
messages passed across through our bodies. Have a look at it and add more culture
specific and universal non-verbal messages that you may think of.

246 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 247

 several different learning processes. Direct and indirect instructions are two of
Non-verbal messages that has verbal effect (message) in these several processes. Direct instruction; Linse (2005) defines, refers to teaching
communication the words and their meanings. Therefore, direct teaching proceeds in a planned and
Talking manners Appearance programmed manner. In this method, teachers often give words and their meanings
Sounds
Stress on words, Being clean-shaven, then have students used these words in sentences. Teaching lexical items such as
Humming, coughing
intonation, pauses well- dressed, dirty chunks, phrases, prefixes and suffixes are at the center while teaching vocabulary.

Body posture Closeness Facial expression Sample Activity

Leaning or relaxing the Standing too close or Raised eyebrows, lip Aims: To present vocabulary (animals)
muscles stepping back movements, smiling Description: To match the pictures with the animals
Eye movements Hand movements Procedures:
Others
Eye contact, winking, Placing hands on knees, 1. Show students the pictures.
...........................
staring, etc. playing with hair, etc. 2. Then write the names of the animals randomly.
3. Have them match the names with the pictures.
Nation (1990) claims that knowing and using of sufficient number of vocabulary has Text:
a pivotal role in effective communication in a foreign language since vocabulary a. dog d. rat
is central to the development of language proficiency with its close contact with b. cat e. bird
pronunciation, spelling, meaning and grammatical properties of the lexis (Riazi c. chicken f. fish
& Alavi, 2004). Much more concerns have been discussed and many strategies, Pictures:
techniques and activities are suggested for better vocabulary instruction. However,
Allen (1983) underlines a must rule in vocabulary teaching, that is the best time
for vocabulary learning is when students feel a certain word needed. Hence, it is 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
necessary for teachers to find ways to arouse interest and curiosity, and to create
needs for vocabulary in the classroom so as for better vocabulary instruction.
Indirect teaching, on the other hand, refers to helping learners learn appropriate
There are differences between teaching a
Cartoons, realia, songs, strategies so that they can figure out the meaning of words on their own (Linse, 2005;
foreign language to children and adults.
flashcards, games, puppets, and p. 124). Indirect teaching involves a subconscious process which learners learn new
Children lose their interest and motivation
toys are suitable materials that words in an unintentional way through exposure to a wide variety of words.
easily whereas they are more enthusiastic
can stimulate young learners’
about and less embarrassed at talking Vocabulary in context
imagination in language
in learning a new language (Cameron, Memorizing lists of words is boring, difficult and not practical since meanings of
teaching.
2001). Hence, in vocabulary teaching, words change in terms of different contexts. Thus, learning new words in various
characteristics of young learners should be contexts help learners guess the meanings of these words. Nattinger (1988) claims
taken into consideration before planning the materials and lesson plans and during that the meanings of new words are mostly figured out through guessing the meaning
the instruction. Providing young learners with different learning opportunities help from context. On the contrary, Beck and McKeown (2003) state that students should
them to improve not only their vocabulary but also overall language ability (Linse, be taught that there may be times when they are not able to figure out the meaning
2005). Nation (2003) suggests that teachers should facilitate vocabulary learning from context (cited in Linse, 2005). Sedita (2005) argues that not all contexts carry
by teaching learners useful words that they sufficient information for a reader to guess or understand the word meaning. In
Tongue twisters, riddles and are likely to encounter and by teaching that sense, clear and meaningful contexts must provide the reader with meaningful,
storytelling are helpful in strategies to help learners figure out the detailed, and transferable knowledge of the
attracting young learners’ meanings of words on their own. words used. Putting words into categories
attention while making the Ellis (1994) defines vocabulary acquisition help students to contextualize
Context clues are words, drawings or non-
learning process enjoyable. as a complex phenomenon that includes the words.
verbal messages that provide necessary

248 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 249

information to guess the meanings of unfamiliar words. In written texts, these items Sample Activity
are generally lexical, grammatical and/or visual. The materials that teachers use Aims: To present vocabulary, to practice guessing meaning from context.
must include lexical items in accurate and meaningful contexts so that students can
Description: Bring together a reading text that is written in students’ own
understand vocabulary items easily. Students need strategies such as anticipating
language. The text must include some English words that are planned to be
and inferring in order or figure out unknown words from context. These strategies
taught/ practiced. Students are supposed to use the context to guess the meaning
also help them improve their communicative competence and learner autonomy. In
of the words.
young learners’ classrooms, teacher talk is accepted as the main context clue from
which students attain facts about the context. Stages:
1. Write the title of the text or tell your students what they are going to do.
Hands-on activity
2. Show a picture of the things you are aiming to teach and ask students to guess
Study the context clues given by the teacher to her students and the words
what the text is about.
planned to be taught in these contexts. Decide which context clues are well-
3. Tell them that the text is in their own language but there are some words in
written or said so as to make learners’ guessing easier. Also, point at the badly
English.
written clues that do not make guessing and learning easier. Discuss your reasons
with your friends. 4. Ask them to work in pairs to find the words by guessing.
Sample Text:
Context clues Words to be taught
Oğuz’un okulda en sevdiği ders resim dersiydi. Resim dersinde öğretmeni Oğuz’dan
Dogs have it. a tail doğa resmi çizmesini istedi. Oğuz önce büyük bir güneş çizdi ve onu yellow’a
boyadı. Sonra blue renkli kalemiyle gökyüzünü çizdi. Ardından gökyüzüne white
Children love drinking it. coke
renkli bulutlar çizdi. Resmine ağaçlar ekledi. Ağaçların gövdesini brown’a boyadı.
It’s a flower. a rose Ağaç yapraklarını ve çimenleri de green’e boyadı. Sonra gökyüzünde uçan black
renkli kargalar çizdi. Son olarak da çimenlerin arasına güller çizdi ve onları red’e
In Isparta, you can see these flowers everywhere. roses boyadı.
Pictures:
You play with it in the playground. a ball

It’s white and yellow and you make omelets with it. an egg
Using visual aids
We live in it. a house
Visual devices or objects used by a teacher to help learning are called visual aids.
We have ten of them on our hands. fingers Visual aids are available in many forms. Charts, pictures and flashcards are the
most common visual aids used in language learning classrooms. In addition, readily
It’s a pet animal and it likes sleeping on your lap all day a cat
accessible objects in classrooms such as boxes, bottles and scissors are visual aids
long.
as well. These objects are useful to help students understand the meanings of
It’s something white that you put on your food. yoghurt words. It is accepted in foreign language education that foreign words associated
with imagery are learnt more easily than words alone (Saghayer, 2001). Allen (1993)
Our flag is white and… red
states that real objects are often better than pictures in terms of their effect on
the viewer. Using real objects are also more practical especially when teaching
vocabulary items that can be found in any classrooms such as body parts, clothes
and classroom objects. However, they are not always sufficient since it is impossible
to find or bring every kind of real object in classrooms. Pictures are thus useful in
such cases. Especially when it comes to teaching actions or action verbs, handouts
such as the following one can be helpful.

250 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 251

 Aim: Visualizing the daily actions students do the spread of videos as instructional materials. Now, videos are accepted as useful
Task description: Students put the pictures in the chronological order. resources of vocabulary learning especially for young learners simply because they
Stages: expose young learners to colorful and enjoyable scenes in which the language being
Ask students about their daily routines. learned is used in communication. A typical video-based vocabulary instruction may
follow the procedures given below (Wang, 2012):
Have them put the pictures into the chronological order.
1. Previewing
Ask them to fill in the blanks with the names of the actions.
Actions: 2. Watching the video for the first time

- brush my teeth - go to school 3. First comprehension check

- wake up - have breakfast 4. Giving or highlighting the word list

- take a shower - go to bed 5. Watching for the second time

- do my homework - have dinner 6. Exploring the words

Pictures: 7. Class discussion
8. Watching for the last time
9. Wrapping-up (p. 220).

Hands-on activity
Watch an episode of Peppee and try to
........................... ........................... ........................... ........................... follow the 9 steps suggested by Wang
(2012) to teach a list of vocabulary
items given in that specific episode.
Then, report your lesson plan and
improve it with the help of your friends.
........................... ........................... ........................... ........................... Note that you will be teaching “Turkish”
to foreigners. So, wait until Peppee
Multimedia and vocabulary teaching
starts speaking in English to use his
Fast developing computer technology, with the help of the Internet, offers great videos in your English lessons.
potential for language learning (Hu & Deng, 2007). Seghayer (2001) states that
the use of multimedia in language learning is an effective and useful tool that There are also many CDs that are prepared for young learners’ development of
provides context that is enriched with texts, pictures, videos and sound. The use foreign language teaching. Even pre-kindergarten (illiterate) learners can make use
of multimedia in vocabulary teaching helps students to work with information at a of them easily because of their sound-based and/ or pictorial (image-based) set-up
high cognitive and personal level. In addition, vocabulary items are more likely to and use. Below you can see a CD called Caillou prepared by Brighter Child Publishing
be remembered through the use of multimedia in vocabulary teaching (Linse 2005). in 2003. The young learner using this CD follows the verbal and sound-based
Furthermore, students more easily establish connections between new words and instructions to complete the tasks by clicking the images accordingly. Learners both
their prior knowledge by the help of multimedia (Ref. needed). play and learn with these tools while developing their technological and motor skills
along with their learning of a foreign language largely due to the exposure to the
Allen (1983) suggests three ways to show the meanings of vocabulary items:
language being learned through the medium itself.
1. Pictures,
2. Explanations in students’ own language,
3. Definitions in simple English, using vocabulary that students already know
(p. 12).
At this point, we have to remember that much has changed since Allen wrote the
above mentioned ways in 1983 such as the birth and the evolution of the Internet and

252 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 253

 Dictionary use: Sample activity
Aim: To categorize the words given.
Description: Put the words below into categorizes according to the context to
which they belong.
Words
dog-wolf-hen-cow-pig-lion-tiger-horse-donkey-shark-bear-snake
Dictionary use
Categories
Undoubtedly, dictionaries are the best resources that provide meanings of
Farm animals Wild animals
words. Moreover, some dictionaries provide further information such as suitable
prepositions for words, synonyms, antonyms and examples of how words are used. ……………….. ………………..
Therefore, dictionary use has a significant role in improving vocabulary acquisition ……………….. ………………..
and comprehension. ……………….. ………………..
From students’ point of view, dictionaries are considered as useful tool that facilitate ……………….. ………………..
communication in the target language; yet, as Leffa (1992) states, dictionaries
……………….. ………………..
help learners enhance their vocabulary knowledge and increase their awareness
……………….. ………………..
of common grammatical errors. In addition, according to Knight (1994), students
learn more words when they use dictionaries, and thus they achieve higher reading ……………….. ………………..
comprehension scores. With the emergence of the Internet, the number electronic Teaching vocabulary in classroom
and/or online dictionaries have gradually increased, which means that students can
Richards (1976) and Nation (2001) point out the different things learners need to
access the words they look up for with just typing the letters and clicking the button
know before teachers can say that they have learned it. These are:
instead of searching words between hundreds of pages. Compared with conventional
dictionaries, electronic or online dictionaries certainly save much more time. • The meaning(s) of the word

Keeping a vocabulary notebook provides young learners with opportunities to • Its spoken and written forms
develop a variety of vocabulary acquisition strategies while helping them have • What “word parts” it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and “root” form)
control over their learning (Carroll & Mordaunt, 1991; Fowles, 2002). Through using • Its grammatical behavior (e.g., its word class, typical grammatical patterns
an old address book or any notebook, students can create their own dictionaries. it occurs in)
They can record new words that they are learning and can also enrich them with
• Its collocations
pictures or other visual materials (Linse, 2005). In this way, students are actively
• Its register
involved in the use of the language they are learning.
• What associations it has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in
meaning)
• What connotations it has
• Its frequency (cited in McCarten, 2007, p. 18)
It would be unrealistic to teach everything there is to know about a word the first
time it is presented to students (McCarten, 2007). Therefore, while teaching a foreign
language to young learners at beginner level, teachers should prefer to start with
teaching cognates at the first step. Cognate is a word in one language that has
the same origin as a word in another language such as police. In addition, teacher
should also prefer teaching words that young learners are familiar with or can easily
encounter or even touch in daily life (such as classroom objects) while they hear the

254 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 255

foreign names of these words. In this way, the meanings of these words can easily
Mini-research
be made clear for students. Moreover, students need to learn these words so as to
communicate basically in classroom and to define more difficult words that they will Study the following vocabulary study activity given in a 6th grade EFL coursebook
learn as they progress in foreign language learning. Basic vocabulary may be hard (Erin, 2006). Write two positive and two negative consequences of asking students
to be learnt since students have already learnt them in their mother tongue. Hence, to study vocabulary through such an activity like this.
teachers should not expect that each student in the class learn these basic words
easily. However, teachers can facilitate vocabulary learning process for their students
through enriching lessons with different kind of materials such as flash cards.
Learning vocabulary largely depends on remembering. Besides, students generally
need to see, say, and write newly learned words many times before they can be said
to have learned them (McCarten, 2007). Therefore, teaching words for once is never
enough for vocabulary learning. Multiple exposure to new vocabulary items play
crucial role in vocabulary teaching (Linse, 2005). Teachers need to use the words
that they have taught in different activities in order to keep them fresh. Songs and
games are the best way for keeping vocabulary fresh. For further levels, writing
activities should also be preferred.
Young learners have a short attention span, and thus it is significant that activities
focusing on vocabulary teaching should be enjoyable, attract students’ attention
and more importantly these activities should not occupy much of the lesson time.
Teachers should use the pictures that students draw as visual aids for learning
vocabulary (Allen, 1983). Much of the basic vocabulary represents things that can be
easily drawn such as tree, cloud, moon and mountain (Allen, 1983; McCarten, 2007).
Having students drawn the pictures of basic words help them get involved with the
use of language they are learning, and also provide students with opportunities to
personalize these words more easily (Linse, 2005).

256 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 257

Hands-on activity
Study to material given below (Özer & Kaptan, 2010). Explain how this activity
might develop young learners’ skills. Specifically, which specific skill or sub-skill
is aimed to be developed through this activity? Vocabulary? Spelling? The sound-
system? Or ordering?
Mini-research
Language materials, if not prepared well, may hinder students’ learning of
the language. Look at the material below (Kaptan & Özer, 2010). What are the
problems with these activities? How can you improve them?

258 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 259

Hands-on activity
Project work
Both of the activities below (Kaptan & Özer, 2010; Kurt, et. al., 2011) aim to
Target vocabulary lists have been used to make the curriculum (coursebooks) more
develop students’ knowledge of collocations. Compare the weak and strong sides
concrete. However, problems with appropriateness have been a major concern
of each activity. Choose which one you would prefer to use by explaining your
shared by teachers, students and coursebooks writers alike. Have a look at the
reasons.
target vocabulary list of a coursebook intended for 8th grade Turkish classrooms
(Kurt, et. al., 2011). By considering the age, interests and communicative needs
of 8th graders, tick the items you find appropriate and cross the ones you find
inappropriate or useless at this level or for these learners’ communicative
needs. Then, compare your results with your classmates. Discuss your possible
suggestions or solutions to minimize the negative effects of such problems.

260 Skills and Aspects Vocabulary 261

 Grammar
Derya Döner Yılmaz

Preliminary questions
1. How do you define grammar? What does it include as a body of knowledge?
2. What do you understand from the terms ‘explicit’ and ‘implicit’ knowledge?
3. Is it possible to integrate grammar learning into the teaching of meaningful
communication?
4. Do we really need to teach grammar in young learners’ classrooms?

When teaching English to young learners, we do not really take the issue of teaching
grammar into consideration as an important aim of the course. There is a general
consensus in that children cannot and should not learn the structures of the language
because they lack meta-linguistic awareness while having limited cognitive abilities
both in their L1 and L2. Hence, young learners should learn a foreign language for
communication purposes only (Wood, 1998).
This is not only a concern in the matter of teaching English to young learners. In
fact, language teachers are confused about the role of grammar in the language
teaching at all levels. Some of the teachers feel that teaching grammar does not help
learners to use the language and they claim that their learners can learn a language
without explicit grammar instruction. Yet, some others insist on a more traditional
view that language learning equals learning the grammar of that language.
There has been continuous debate in ELT circles about the place and importance
of teaching grammar. There are researchers such as Fotos and Ellis (1991) who
suggest that ‘learners need to engage in communication based on an exchange
of information’ (p. 605). Krashen (1982) makes a distinction between acquired
knowledge and learned knowledge by arguing that acquisition only takes place when
learners are exposed to roughly tuned input which they are able to comprehend and
that learning is limited to a few simple practical rules.
On the other hand, there are other researchers who are in favour of teaching grammar.
For example, White (1987) stands against the notion of comprehensible input by
claiming that grammar cannot be acquired only on the basis of comprehensible
input and learners need to receive formal instruction. Moreover, Lightbown (1985)
argues that ‘knowing a language rule does not mean one will be able to use it in
a communicative interaction’ and ‘ being able to use a rule may not mean that
one will be able to state it explicitly’ (p. 177). Thus, as Brewster, Ellis and Girard
(1990) claim ‘appropriate language use requires knowledge of both the form and
the functions of a language’. At this point, it is worth considering what we really
mean when we talk about teaching grammar.

262 Skills and Aspects Grammar 263

What is grammar?
It is obvious that we need to consider this issue from a broader perspective and
emphasize the important role of form-focused instruction. We realize that in the
ELT literature, there is a distinction between meaning-focused and form-focused
instruction. Meaning focused instruction refers to the kind of information which
engages the learners in communicative tasks during which their attention is on
expressing their message. The form-focused instruction, on the other hand, takes
the learners’ attention to linguistic forms.
Lightbown and Spada (1990) state that students in meaning-oriented language
classes often experience difficulties with accuracy. Then again, Genesee (1987) who
searched immersion classes stated that the emphasis on expressing and exchanging
messages in communicative classes promoted fluency. However, it is also observed
that this kind of instruction has not really helped learners to achieve grammatical
accuracy.
Van Patten (1990) claimed that especially learners would not achieve high level of
linguistic accuracy by means of communicative activities alone because of cognitive
constraints (once again due to their lack of metalinguistic awareness). Since low
level proficiency learners may have limited processing capacities, they cannot easily
attend to both meaning and form at the same time (Van Patten, 1990). Thus, we
can see that young learners in our case cannot really be expected to achieve high
level of linguistic accuracy. However, they are not likely to learn a foreign language
without being exposed to some simple language structures either.
Contextualizing grammar
Discussion Question
Why is contextualization an important issue in the matter of teaching English to
young learners?
Celce-Murcia (1991) suggested that teachers should attend to forms through some
grammar instruction. They emphasized the need to integrate grammar instruction
in communicative teaching by presenting grammatical features contextually to the
learners. The contextualization of grammar instruction is a very crucial element
of teaching language structures to young learners. We highly value this fact in this
specific chapter since we know that we cannot really engage learners in meaningful
communication without giving them basics of the grammar of the English language.
Children would not be able to take part in communicative activities unless they
learn the grammar of the basic communication patterns.
However, it is equally important to determine how we would present grammar in
the English lessons. In fact, Fotos and Ellis (1991) try to show that ‘it is possible
to integrate the teaching of grammar with the provision of opportunities for
communication involving an exchange of information’ (p.611). They manage to do
this with the help of the grammar tasks which the learners perform interactively.
Nevertheless, we cannot really expect young learners to be engaged in complex
264 Skills and Aspects
interactive tasks that require the use of higher order cognitive skills. Yet, it is
still possible to help children develop cognitive and social skills while practicing
grammatical structures via communicative tasks that are meaningful and contextual.
As Nunan (2000) claims, in genuine communication beyond the classroom, grammar
and context are often so closely related that appropriate grammatical choices can
only be made with reference to context and the purpose of the communication (p.
192). It is, thus very important to teach grammar within meaningful contexts but
not through exercises which emphasize formal mastery of language structures out
of context. To this end, teachers are expected to provide learners with tasks that
present the relationship between language structures and contexts within which
they are used. We clearly understand that the learners should have the opportunity
to see the relationship between form-meaning-use in a transparent way. That is
what we will consider in the following sections.
Cameron (2001) also believes that ‘grammar does indeed have a place in children’s
foreign language learning, and that skilful grammar teaching can be useful’ (p.96).
What she understands from grammar is actually ‘something more than the lists
of labels and rules found in grammar books and that grammar is closely tied into
meaning and use of language’. At this point, it is worth considering a classification of
teaching grammar which falls into 3 main categories which is similar to Cameron’s
(2001).
Natural way of learning grammar
This model assumes that the learners will learn the language by using it to
communicate with other people. It is like the children’s process of acquiring
their own mother tongue. Acquiring their L1, children learn to communicate
through socialization by gradually and progressively improving their linguistic
performance and competence being grammatically and sociolinguistically accurate
and appropriate. In other words, they just cannot help learning the grammatical
structure naturally. Grammar is considered as unimportant and is not paid any
attention. In that case, for example, as Fotos and Ellis (1991) suggest native
speakers are generally unable to describe the rules they use when they make their
sentences. This can only be possible in the natural context. If you take a Turkish
child to Britain and let him live there for some period, he will learn/acquire the
language in a natural way mostly for survival. This will require implicit knowledge
which is ‘intuitive and procedural’ (Fotos & Ellis, 1991)
This model does not help us to teach English as a foreign language in Turkey since
we need to follow a prescribed syllabus to be exploited in limited class time.
Teaching grammar directly
In this methodology, the most important part of the language is its grammar.
Here the grammar rules are presented in an order explicitly and most of the time
metalinguistic labels are used to introduce grammar structures. In that case, as
Cameron (2001) states the learners are expected to learn the rules and practice
Grammar 265
using the rules to construct sentences. Then the learners are expected to use the of the language to encourage their children to learn it. In such a situation the
rules automatically. This way of teaching grammar is referred to as linear model teachers have greater responsibilities to motivate children to learn the language
of language learning by Nunan (2000). He argues that this model works on the and to create a communicative purpose to use the language in meaningful contexts.
premise that learners acquire one target language item at a time, in a sequential, Activity
step-by-step fashion. In most cases, learners are given isolated sentences and Story completion: Read and show the first two paragraphs of the story to
they try to internalize those through exercises involving repetition, manipulation your students and then ask the students to complete the story by ordering the
and grammatical transformation. The learners do not have the chance to see the scrambled sentences given.
systematic relationships that exist between form, meaning and use (Nunan, 2000).
Aim: Exposing students to simple present tense in a story context. This activity
However, young learners would not really be able to cope with this kind of instruction
helps the learner to identify the story sequence by exposure to meaningful input.
since they are not cognitively developed yet. The rules of a language are abstract.
Memorization of these rules is meaningless for children. Children go for meaning Clever Thief
and they cannot analyze these rules due to their abstract nature. According to Devan is a clever thief. He robs the rich and gives all to the sick and the needy.
Piaget’s cognitive developmental stages abstract thinking develops around age The other thieves are jealous of him. They plan to get rid of him. They try to
11. Thus, earlier attempts to learn and memorize the rules will be an ineffective, steal the King’s Pyjamas.
boring, and meaningless strategy for children. Hence, young learners will need a Devan accepts the challenge. After that he prepares to execute the new
more organic approach where they are exposed to the target language within a challenge. He makes a plan to steal the King’s Pyjamas.
meaningful context. Give the sentences below in a jumbled order. And ask the students to re-order
the sentences.
Teaching grammar indirectly
Another way of presenting grammar is within a meaningful context by highlighting
some specific grammatical structures on the syllabus in an indirect way. Cameron Devan goes to the King’s Palace .
(2001) noticed that focusing on meaning only in the classrooms does not guarantee
language development and learners need help to notice grammatical patterns of
the foreign language. Moreover, they need help to focus on the accuracy and the
language use, though not in an explicit way.
He finds the King sleeping .
Cameron (2001) suggests that teachers should be aware of the grammatical
issues in the first place and should possess a range of form-focusing techniques.
Thus, they will be able to teach grammar whenever necessary in a non-formal
way. They are expected to make use of the situations that arise to present some
He opens a bottle of red ants on the bed.
specific grammatical issues. With the help of the techniques such as stories, songs,
games etc., they can take the young learners’ attention to the grammatical issues. The ants bite the King badly. He cries for help. The servants rush in. They
Moreover, she claims that; pretend to look for ants.
Good learning-centred grammar teaching will be meaningful and
interesting, require active participation from learners and will work
with how children learn and what they are capable of learning (p.110).
Devan removes the King’s Pyjamas and escapes.
Cameron (2001) also emphasizes the importance of socio-cultural context of foreign
language lessons which will strongly influence what happens in the classrooms.
Devan makes fun of the other thieves. The other thieves accept Deven as their
Thus, it is also very important that the teacher is successful in relating language
leader in the end.
learning to children’s background knowledge and real life experiences. However,
in an EFL country like Turkey, it is very difficult for children to see language as Story adapted from :http://www.english-for-students.com/Clever-Thief.html
something real and relevant. They are not exposed to the English language in their
daily lives and many of the families may not have relevant background knowledge

266 Skills and Aspects Grammar 267

In the following section, we will try to deal with some possible different ways of
presenting and practicing language structures and encourage teachers to use one
or more of these techniques.
Reflection: How did you learn English grammar? Think back your previous
learning experiences and try to identify good and not so good techniques of
teaching grammar.
Discussion question
Which way of grammar teaching do you think is the most appropriate one in
Turkey? Why?
Having reviewed some of the possible models to teach grammar, we can conclude
that in an EFL context such as Turkey, children can be taught grammar indirectly.
Since they are not cognitively developed and do not have linguistic purposes (Moon,
2000) they are not able to learn grammar rules presented to them directly. On the
other hand, since exposing them to the natural English speaking environment is not
possible they cannot be expected to learn the grammar structures in a natural way.
In that case, the only true way to teach grammar will be presenting language
structures within meaningful contexts which will appeal to learners’ interest.
However teachers will have a syllabus which considers grammatical structures.
Different ways of presenting language forms
In this section, we will look at some different ways of presenting grammar and will
try to offer an example activity to give you an idea how you can plan and prepare
English lessons emphasizing a specific grammar point.
The use of classroom language
First of all, we can consider the idea of indirect learning. We know that children
have the ability to go for meaning (Moon, 2000). They have got the natural ability
to make sense of the situation or event from the context without really knowing
how the structure works. They will tend to focus on meaning and try to understand
what goes on in that specific situation. It is simply because as it is typical for this age
group, they mostly focus on the total meaning rather than the individual components
of sentences. Thus, it is also possible that children will not be concerned about the
structure but instead may just pick up the phrases or chunks since they have got this
kind of ability (see Moon, 2000). As Cameron (2001) states ‘this kind of learning of
pre-fabricated phrases or chunks of language, is also on the fringes of grammar, but
it is probably very important in the early stages’ (p. 98). Thus, we can make use of
chunks and ready-made language such as classroom talk in an attempt to introduce
some grammatical patterns. This requires teachers to consider their own use of
the language in the classroom and carefully plan to use some specific grammatical
structures deliberately and exploit them in the classroom. Cameron (2001) also
states that ‘classroom discourse and routines can serve to introduce new grammar,
with access to meaning supported by action and objects’ (p.111). When we are
working with young learners, the use of routines can help us to provide a context in
which we can teach some structures.
268 Skills and Aspects
For example if the teacher uses expressions as presented in the following examples
in a systematic way intentionally, the learners will pick up some specific structures.
ȤȤ May I open the window?
ȤȤ Let’s look at the pictures!
ȤȤ Who will help me?
ȤȤ Now it is my turn!
ȤȤ What is this picture?
ȤȤ Who wants to play now?
The use of this type of language will help the learners to see the real use of language
for a communicative purpose and they will tend to use the same expressions
whenever they need them.
Listen and do activities
These kinds of tasks will help young learners to be exposed to the natural language
without any pressure to produce language. Since they would not be expected to
take any risk, they will feel confident when they join in the activity. Moreover, they
can listen to a piece of talk and fill in a table using what they understand. In the
meantime, they can deal with the grammar point which is planned to be presented
through the task.
What is the weather like today?
At the beginning of the activity; the teacher presents a social talk and asks
students some questions about the weather; i.e. “What is the weather like today?’’
Then, she explains that they will listen to a weather forecast a few times and take
some notes to match the countries and the weather situations that are hanging
on the board.
After they complete this task, volunteers come to the board in order to match a
picture and a country one by one. By the time students finish the matching, the
teacher asks students to work in pairs to exchange information as follows:
ȤȤ “What is the weather like in Portugal?’’
ȤȤ “It is sunny.”
Students then role-play by impersonating a weather forecast reported called
Sam:
There are a lot of different weather conditions around the world today. In England,
it is rainy now. In Portugal, it is sunny. In Japan, it is foggy. In Australia, it is very
hot. In Sweden, it is snowy. In China, it is windy. In Egypt, it will be cloudy. In India,
there will be storms.
These kinds of activities will help the learners to practice different grammatical
structures within a meaningful context.
Grammar 269
The use of stories Story: Brown Bear
Stories can also be seen as another way of presenting some specific grammatical Read the following story to your students. Identify the chunks and structures your
patterns of English in a meaningful and contextual way. This meaningful context students are likely to grasp.
helps them get the meaning in a natural way. Since children love to listen to stories Brown Bear
again and again, this will give them a chance to pick up the structures without any
direct grammar teaching. Moreover, children will naturally be involved in the stories
where they are expected to join in the repetitive parts. Brown bear, brown bear

When we use stories as a means to introduce grammatical structures, we can What do you see?
consider using puppets to play out the story. Young learners will definitely pay more
attention to the puppet talk. This will give the teacher a chance to present grammar I see a red bird looking at me
indirectly but effectively. Furthermore, the repetitive patterns in the stories will Red bird red bird
provide a good opportunity for language practice. What do you see?
For example, the story of Pinocchio can be a good way of presenting the simple
present tense.
I see a yellow duck looking at me.
The picture of Pinocchio is attached on the board to introduce the main character.
Yellow duck yellow duck
Some eliciting questions are used to find out to what extent they are already familiar What do you see?
with the character and the story.
Some pictures showing Pinocchio in action are also put on the board and then
I see a green frog looking at me………. Etc.
Pinocchio starts talking about what he does every day. But as a famous liar,
Pinocchio tells some lies.
The use of songs and rhymes
In the meantime the class is divided into groups and they are expected to spot his
Apart from stories, they will be exposed to specific language patterns through songs
lies. After each lie is found, a student adds a nose to the Pinocchio picture, then he
and games. Likewise, the songs and games will also have repetitious patterns
will have a longer nose each time.
and will be useful means for introducing grammatical structures. They will have
Some of the sentences from Pinocchio: opportunity to practice the structures in a natural way and young learners will
ȤȤ I get up early enjoy themselves. Since songs will stimulate learners’ interest, they will be highly
ȤȤ I have my breakfast. motivated and want to be involved in the activity.

ȤȤ I go to school. Cameron (2001) suggests one way of using rhymes where younger learners are

ȤȤ I have my lunch given the rhyming words on cards and they are asked to put the cards in the correct
order. When they are doing this they will probably repeat the rhyme many times
ȤȤ I do not spend all of my money. and this will be very effective way of attending to the form.
At the end of the activity they will have a picture of Pinocchio with a very long nose
on the board.

270 Skills and Aspects Grammar 271

 a. to look at the digital clock and
BATH SONG
b. to show the time on the model clock and
Can you wash your hair? Can you wash your shoulders? c. to tell the time. If they do this correctly they gain one point.
I can wash my hair. I can wash my shoulders. Then they make sentences such as, ‘I have got Maths at four o’clock on Mondays’ and
Can you wash your feet? Can you wash your toes? put the picture representing the school subject on the right side of the timetable.
I can wash my feet. I can wash my toes. Each time a group makes a correct sentence, they gain 3 points. The more points
the groups collect, the more successful they are. However, correctness should not
Can you wash your face? I can wash my hands.
be confused with perfection. Students may make minor mistakes which can be
Can you wash your knees? I can wash my nose.
corrected together while their answer remains correct and rewarded with 3 points.
I can wash my knees. I can wash my nose. This game will give them a chance to practice certain structures in an enjoyable way.
I can wash my hair. I can wash my shoulders. They will do a lot of repetition but would not really realize that they are repeating a
I can wash my feet. I can wash my toes. structure but will consider it as a fun activity.

I can wash my face. I can wash my hands.

I can wash my knees. I can wash my nose.
This is the way we take a bath. This is the way we take a bath.

We need a doll, a sponge, a bathtub and three paper clowns for this activity. We play
the song and do the actions on the doll pretending to wash the baby.

The use of games

Games are very important in foreign language teaching situations especially for
young learners because they can encourage meaningful language practice. There
are actually many different advantages of using games in the young learners’
classrooms. However, we will be more concerned about the fact that games can be
an ideal way of grammar teaching.
Here we have to refer to some studies which have already dealt with the impact of
game when practicing some grammatical structures. For example, Yıldız (2001)
stated that young learners can learn and remember grammar rules more effectively
when they are practiced within a game. Moreover, Taşlı (2003) investigated young
learners’ success in the practice of numbers and ‘what time is it?’ structure and he
found out that playing games for this purpose seemed to influence their learning The use of surveys and questionnaires
performance positively.
It is generally common to make use of surveys and questionnaires. In fact, some
Yolageldili and Arıkan (2011) investigated teachers’ attitudes towards using games specific grammar practice is very suitable for such material; for example, when
in teaching grammar in EFL classrooms and concluded that according to the children are learning ‘Do you like..?’ structure, they may be asked to use the survey
teachers, games are believed to be effective in increasing learners’ proficiency in technique to find out about their friends’ favourite food and drinks. In that case,
practicing grammar communicatively although teachers do not use them effectively they will have a real purpose to use the necessary language structure and will have
during their teaching. the chance to practice it at all levels.
We can play a Time Wheel game to practise telling the time and talking about school
schedule and subjects with our students. Here, there are four groups competing
with each other. Each group turns the spinner and chooses the symbolic picture of
any school subject and one of the days of the week. They are expected to recognise
the word. Then, they are asked

272 Skills and Aspects Grammar 273

More Games and Activities
Guessing Game: MEETING AT THE AIRPORT
Activity 1: MAKING A PIZZA Aim: To practise describing appearance
Aim: To practice like/ dislike Context: The teacher presents a simulated story for the students. There is an
international meeting in our city for the Children’s Day celebrations. One of us
Context: The English teacher announces that they are going to a picnic as a class.
will have to go to the airport to meet the guests but he does not know who is
They will have a big pizza to eat there. But they have to create their own pizza
coming and we will try to help him/her by describing the guests.
according to their likes and dislikes.
Material: a number of stick figures
Materials: The picture of a pizza base, different pizza ingredients made from
cardboard and a spinner Procedure: First the teacher asks ‘Who wants to volunteer to meet our first
guest?’
Organization: Whole-class activity
Then one of the volunteer students gets out of
The Procedure: The teacher puts a plain pizza base on the board and sticks all
the classroom and the others choose a figure
the ingredients next to pizza. The ingredients are olives, pepper, mushroom,
among the bunch and after examining the figure
cheese, pepperoni, salami, sweetcorn and etc .
very carefully they put it back.
Then volunteer gets into the classroom and
starts asking questions such as ‘ Is the guest
a girl or a boy?’, What does s/he wear?, What
color is her hair? The students try to describe
the figure and the volunteer tries to recognize
the figure.
They need other volunteers to meet the other
guests at the airport. When all the guests arrive
safely the activity is over.

The students will come to board, turn the spinner and if it stops at ‘Like’ they will
choose something they like from the ingredients on the board and stick it on the
pizza saying ‘I like salami on my pizza’. Then teacher asks the other students
‘What does she like on her pizza’ and the class answers ‘She likes Salami on her
pizza’. If it stops at ‘don’t like’ they take something they do not like from the
board and drop it in a cup saying ‘I don’t like mushrooms on my pizza’. Likewise
the teacher asks and students answer the question.
When there is not any item on the board, the pizza is done and ready to eat. The
activity is completed.
This type of activity will help the students to practice ‘Likes/Dislikes’ in a
meaningful context without realizing that they study grammar.

274 Skills and Aspects Grammar 275

Activity 2: A BIG BIG COOKING POT
Aim: To practise ‘can’ structure for ability
Context: In this activity the teacher becomes a chief cook and comes to the
classroom with a big pot and a spoon. The teacher tells the students that they
will cook an ability soup that day.
Material: A real cooking pot , a wooden spoon, colorful name tags
organization: Individual work
Procedure: Students are asked to pick up colorful number cards presented by
the teacher and they write their names on the cards. This way they know when
it is their turn to present their abilities. Then students come to the board in turn
and teacher asks
‘What can you do best?’
‘I can dance very well’.
The student presents some dance figures and as a class they decide to put the
name tag of that student in the soup if they really like the dance. If not, the
student may try another action after all the students finish their performances.
‘I can jump high.’
As the activity continues the pot is now full of colorful name tags representing
the ability soup and the students have a lot of ‘can’ practice.
276 Skills and Aspects
Alien Land
Aim: to practise ‘has got ‘ structure to describe physical appearance
to practise affirmative /negative and question form of ‘Can’ structure
Context: In this activity The students are asked to form an alien land. Fort his
end, the do handcraft work first. They design their own aliens and assign some
characteristics. They cut and colour their aliens. The purpose is to form an alien
land.
Procedure: After they prepare their aliens they bring them to the classroom and
introduce their aliens to the class.
‘It is a big green alien. It has got one big eye. It has got a big mouth.’
Then the alien is accepted to the Alien Land(sticks his figure on the board).
After the land is ready full of all different aliens, now each of them talks about
the abiliteis of their aliens and their classmates are encouraged to ask questions
about the aliens.
‘He can eat a lot. He can dance well.
‘Can he fly? Can he speak English?’
Grammar 277
Activity 3:CATERPILLARS AND FLOWERS ON THE BOARD
Aim: To practise simple present tense
Context: Students play with cardboards
Materials: Colorful cardboards, pictures, glue and scissors
Procedure: The students form their own groups and then one of the group
members is asked to come to the teacher’s desk first and choose a picture which
describes an action such as a girl drinking water. Then the student goes back
to his/her seat and with the other group members they try to guess what the
picture describes. Under the Picture they will find a clue about the subject of
the sentence and the form of the sentence (positive, negative or question). By
choosing the relevant cardboards on the table they will make their sentences
to describe their Picture. If the sentence is positive, they form a flower, if it is
negative, they form a caterpillar but if it is a question they can make a centipede.
278 Skills and Aspects
Activity 4: EVLIYA ÇELEBI TRAVELS AROUND TURKEY
Aim: To practice ‘ famous for’ structure
Context: The teacher invites Evliya Çelebi to the classroom. A stick puppet is
provided. The teacher tells the students that he has just finished his Turkey tour
and arrived at Bursa. The students are now going to play a game with him about
the places in Turkey and ask what they are famous for.
Organization: Individual work
Materials: Turkey map, Evliya Çelebi puppet
Procedure: Students come to the board, examine the map and choose a city and
they ask ‘What is Isparta famous for ?’,
Evliya Çelebi shows a picture of a rose and the students is expected to say
‘Isparta is famous for rose.’
The activity continues with different cities of Turkey.
Grammar 279
Tasks for teaching
1. Choose one of the task types that have been mentioned in this chapter.
Determine a specific grammar point such as ‘can’ or ‘there is/ there are.’
Prepare a lesson plan to teach this grammar point and micro-teach this
lesson.
2. Consider different kinds of teacher talk that is likely to take place in the
classroom and specify a grammar point that can be used in the talk.
Prepare a lesson plan to exploit this grammar point.
3. Examine the English syllabus which is used in public schools in Turkey and
determine the language structures which are aimed to teach at the grade
you choose. Choose one of the structures and then decide what you will
do to contextualize this structure in a meaningful way. Prepare a lesson
plan to teach it.

PART 3
text and tools

280 Skills and Aspects Learning Theories 281

 Drama
Şehriban Dündar

Before you start!

Have a look at the photograph. As you can see, students act out traditional
Roma folktales during a summer camp. Brainstorm ideas to explain the benefits
and challenges associated with being a part of such an activity while learning a
foreign language. How would you feel if you were a part of that group of students
who study a foreign language through activites such as this?

Photo source: http://hungary.usembassy.gov/event_07232011.html

Education is concerned with individuals; drama is concerned with the individuality

of individuals, with the uniqueness of each human essence. (Peter Slade)

In Turkey, it is still possible to see the traces of traditional language teaching methods
which don’t let learners go beyond repeating the same set of language patterns that
have limited communicative value. Learners are exposed to a number of courses in
English as a part of curriculum with many compulsory standardized multiple choice
exams. Consequently, learners and teachers hardly achieve the communicative
purposes in all age groups. Savignon (1983) considers drama activities (theatre arts)
as the most important language teaching program because it involves learners in

282 Texts and Tools Drama 283

the experience of language as a network of relations among people, things and
events. Furthermore, drama pedagogy for FLL is both realization and an extension
of communicative language teaching aimed at developing communicative (Conale
& Swain, n. d.) and interactional competence (Kramsch, n. d.).
Drama literally means “a play written to be acted”, “acting”, “activity” and “acting”.
Drama method which helps learners gain concrete experiences in the learning
environment is an important teaching method that lets leaning by doing and
experiencing (San, 1990; Adıgüzel, 1993; Üstündağ, 1997a; Üstündağ, 1998; Kelly,
2003; Önder, 2003; Karadağ & Çalışkan, 2005; Piekkari, 2005; Açıkgöz, 2006). The
aim of drama activity in the classroom is to learn an abstract concept, behavior, an
idea or knowledge by playing (Adıgüzel, 2007).
Schejbal (2006) claims that drama in FLT context doesn’t mean a classical play or
a theatre performance, as the aim is to assess the learning process together with
the product. While it doesn’t exclude the elements of a play or a performance, it
also includes a number of other aspects theatre performance or a classical play.
However, it can be said that drama is a reflection of performance arts into the FL
classrooms, which put the young learners into various roles and situations that are
quite possible in real life so that they can communicate through target language
using four language skills, the lexis and grammar effectively. Smith (1984), a
professionally trained actor and a teacher of English as a second language draws
a parallel between the theatre arts and the language learning. He suggests that
actors and learners share a common goal of communicating intended messages,
have similar obstacles of dealing with new roles and language, and therefore can
use the same strategies to overcome the difficulties and achieve the aims. Smith
proposes that language learning will benefit linguistically or socio-linguistically
from the techniques applies in the theatre arts.
The history of drama in foreign language teaching
The use of drama in foreign language is not a new concept. Having been used to
teach foreign languages since the MiddleAges, drama plays an important role in
teaching the target language and culture (Tüm, et al., 2010). Drama has played
small but consistent role in language teaching in Britain and the United States
since the1970’s (Dodson, 2000). The early, most-well known advocates of drama in
the L1 classroom were Heathcote and Bolton (1984) who encouraged teachers to
integrate theatre into what they did. Bolton (1984), in particular, championed the
use of drama in classes for all subjects making it “the center of the curriculum.”
Later on, L2 practitioners adopted drama in their practices and drama gained
popularity in foreign language teaching. Drama was firstly started to be used in
history and literature classes at secondary schools in 1951 in Turkey (Tüm, et al.,
2010). From 1980 onwards, drama technique has being commonly used in mother
tongue instruction in Turkey (Öztürk, 2008).
284 Texts and Tools
The relationship between drama and child’s developmental stages
Drama can be considered as an appropriate tool for young language learners, as
drama fits into child’s developmental stages. According to Brazelton and Greenspan
(2000), a child has three developmental stages, social/emotional, physical, cognitive
and moral development. Language teachers, who are aware of those developmental
stages, can provide young learners with developmentally appropriate instruction.
Drama and emotional/social development
According to McClellan and Katz (2001), the following are the attributes of young
learners:
ȤȤ being in a positive mood
ȤȤ displaying the capacity for humor
ȤȤ approaching others positively
ȤȤ expressing wishes and preferences clearly, gives reasons for actions and
positions
ȤȤ expressing frustrations and anger effectively and without escalating
disagreements or harming others
ȤȤ showing interest in others by exchanging information
ȤȤ accepting and enjoying peers and adults of ethnic groups other than his
or her own.
Demirel (2007) describes drama is a way through which learners will learn how to
behave accordingly in certain situations by direct experience, improves problem
solving and communication skills. Thus, improving individuals’ basic skills, drama
contributes to needs of communication, meeting the requirements of contemporary
society, giving rational decisions and continuing the learning (Öztürk, et al., 2008).
Taking Demirel’s and Öztürk’s description of drama into consideration, functions of
drama and a young learner’s emotional/social development go hand in hand. Drama
not only contributes to linguistic development but also to other developmental areas
of young learners such as social development. Drama characteristically requires
social interaction in the classroom either between the teachers and learners or
among learners, for instance, role play, reader’s theatre, skit and scriptwriting
requires preparation and collaboration in order to prepare scripts to be performed,
sometimes costume and stage, rehearse beforehand in contrast to other drama
activities such as improvisation, simulation, mime, drama and language games and
frozen image building. Thanks to this preparations, young learners’ anxiety levels
will be lowered as they have chance to know their peers closely by communicating,
exchanging ideas, expressing preferences without harming their peers but showing
respect and thus, teachers will have created an appropriate environment; socially
interactive classroom atmosphere to carry out other drama activities and others to
teach the language.
Drama 285
Drama and cognitive development
Attributes of cognitive development (McClellan and Katz, 2001):
ȤȤ understands the concepts of symbols such as numbers and letters
ȤȤ likes reading or being read to
ȤȤ like playing with words, numbers, or abstract symbols
ȤȤ comprehends concrete and/or abstract cause and effect relationships
ȤȤ can follow a sequence of events
ȤȤ can classify concrete pictures, objects, and/or abstract concepts
As young learners are capable of comprehending both concrete and abstract things
easily, teachers can vary the items that they are using for drama activities, there
is no point in sticking to just printed resources. In any classroom activity including,
learners can’t be expected to produce something except pre-listening, -reading,
-writing and speaking which requires prior knowledge, therefore, teachers can bring
texts, graded readers, fairy tales, cartoons and comics which include the target
language focus that learners are going to practice in drama activities. Furthermore,
drama plays of American and British literature can be provided for young learners to
create bridges between target language and culture either for classroom activities
or out off classroom activities. Teachers can read or get learners read fairy tales,
drama plays to foster learners’ creativity for drama activities that learners are
going to be involved or to get learners digest what they have learnt, because they
like reading and exploring and discovering something new or interesting. Jumbled
words, pictures, objects, events and letters can be distributed and then learners
can be asked to sequence them, create a new story and subsequently, perform role
play, mime, improvisation, simulation, improvisation and frozen image building
activities. Grammar teaching can take place inductively, by including the grammar
points in drama activities, thus learners can recognize the target grammar point
and its function and then can practice that into other drama activities which include
language outputs that belong to learners.
Drama and physical development
Attributes of physical development (McClellan & Katz, 2001),
ȤȤ demonstrates the muscle and hand-eye coordination,
ȤȤ demonstrates the muscle and foot-eye coordination,
ȤȤ is able to skip, hop, run, hop, run, jump, and dance or move to music,
ȤȤ demonstrates muscle control when using scissors, pencils, markers,
paintbrushes.
It is not just the mind but also whole body is active during the all drama activities.
Drama involves children at many levels, through their bodies, minds, emotions,
language and social interaction (Zalta, 2006). What is expected from young learners
is not just perform the drama activities that are provided or preparing their own
286 Texts and Tools
scripts to perform, but also, preparing the stage or costumes such as masks and
puppets is also expected sometimes as long as time allows. Especially mime
activities accompanied by music require ear and whole body coordination, and
learners are expected to put things into action accordingly, which shows that drama
not only cares about cognitive development but also physical development of young
language learners.
Reflection
Discuss the developmentally appropriate instruction for young language learners
and answer “What makes drama a developmentally appropriate tool for young
language learners?”
Advantages of using drama with young language learners
Zalta (et al., 2006) has stated the following reasons for using drama with young
language learners. As he argues drama;
ȤȤ helps children to activate language and have fun.
ȤȤ encourages children to speak and gives them chance to communicate
even with limited language, using nonverbal communication, such as body
movements and facial expressions.
ȤȤ can reduce the pressure that students feel, so they become ready to talk
sooner.
ȤȤ motivates children as dramatizing a text is motivating and it’s fun, thus
English language skills will be developed successfully if learners are
motivated.
ȤȤ is familiar to children as dramatizing is part of children’s lives from an
early age. They play at being adults in situations that are part of their
lives. Children try out different roles in make believe play. They rehearse
the language and the “script” of the situation and experience the emotions
involved, knowing that they can switch back to reality whenever they want
to. Such pretend play prepares children for the real-life situations they will
meet later on: it is a rehearsal of the real thing. Make-believe encourages
their creativity and develops their imagination and at the same time gives
them the opportunity to use language that is outside their daily needs.
ȤȤ helps children build confidence. By taking on a role, children can escape
from their everyday identity and lose their inhibitions. This is useful with
children who are about using English, or who don’t like joining in group
activities. If you give these children special roles, it encourages them to
be those characters and to abandon their shyness or embarrassment.
This is especially true when you use puppets and masks.
ȤȤ helps children build skills in group dynamics. Children often work in
groups or pairs when dramatizing. Children have to make decisions as a
group, listen to each other, and value each other’s suggestions. They have
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 to cooperate to achieve their aims, find ways of settling their differences,
and use the strength of each member of the group.
ȤȤ is appropriate for children’s different learning styles. Dramatizing appeals
to all kinds of learners. We receive and process information in different
ways; the main ones are through sight, hearing, and our physical bodies.
One of these channels tends to be dominant in each of us. When children
dramatize, they use all the channels, and each child will draw on the one
that suits him or her best. This means all the children in a class will be
actively involved in the activity, and the language will “enter” through the
channel most appropriate for each of them.
ȤȤ allows language personalization as dramatizing allows children to add an
emotion or personality to a text that they have read or listened to. Take
any word, sentence, or short dialogue (two to four lines) and ask children
to practice saying it “in character.” By interpreting the words, children
make them their own. This also makes language memorable. Children
especially enjoy interpreting the words with a puppet in hand.
ȤȤ helps learners learn the language in context. In the classroom, we often
expose children to small bits of language, such as individual words, rather
than whole phrases or “chunks.” When speaking, children are not often
asked to combine the different structures they are learning. Drama is
an ideal way to encourage children to guess the meaning of unknown
language in a context, which often makes meaning clear. Similarly,
children will need to use a mixture of language structures and functions if
they are to communicate successfully.
ȤȤ provides cross-curricular content. For instance, when using drama, your
aims can be more than linguistic. You can use topics from other subjects.
For example, children can act out scenes from history. You can work on
ideas and issues that run through the curriculum, such as respect for the
environment, and road safety. Important messages can be conveyed and
explored through sketches and role plays. Drama can also be used to
introduce the culture of the new language through stories and customs
and with a context for working on different kinds of behavior.
ȤȤ can change the pace or mood in the classroom. It is especially appropriate
for young learner’s short attention spans. Dramatizing is learner-centered,
so you can use it to contrast with the more teacher-centered parts of your
lesson. It is active, so you can use it to make a class more lively after
quieter or individual work.
To sum up, drama provides many advantages for emotional/social, cognitive and
physical development areas of young language learners. Furthermore, drama brings
a refreshing change into the classrooms motivating all different learner styles to
learn the language in context and in cross cultural content and to communicate with
self confidence in a stress free classrooms.
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Reflection
1. Have you ever took part in drama or theatre activities in your school life?
In the light of your experiences, what do think of using drama with young
learners?
2. In your drama and theatre experiences, what kind of drama techniques did
you use? Do you know about drama techniques that theatre performers are
using? How can we benefit from theatre performers’ drama techniques in
young language learners’ classes?
3. Talk about the drama techniques that you are familiar with and suggest ways
how to utilize them in young language learners’ classes.
Nine drama activities for foreign language classrooms: Benefits and
challenges
Dodson (et al., 2000) says that drama is an ideal way to bring the skills of grammar,
reading, writing, speaking, listening and pronunciation together in a course where
the focus is not on the form but rather fluency and meaning. Therefore, nine drama
activities which are told in this chapter are intended to improve young learners’
four language skills, the lexis and grammar and to increase the knowledge of
target culture by contributing to learners’ emotional/social, cognitive and physical
development.
Drama and language games
Drama and language games can serve as a natural introduction to dramatic
activities and as preparation for role-play, improvisation, and other drama
experiences (Davies, 1990). Drama games include ice-breakers, energizers, brain-
teasers, etc. These are usually of short duration and are used as introductory or
concluding activities. Drama and language games can be considered as warm-up
activities. They are meant to create immediate motivation as well as physical and/
or mental stimulation, which will draw students into or sustain active learning that,
is centered on authentic/actual communication in the target language (Stoate,
1984 and Dougill, 1987). According to a study titled as “Awareness levels of primary
school foreign language teachers in using drama activities and their perceptions on
using drama”, nine of ten teachers have admitted that they are using drama and
language games mostly in their classroom to motivate learners and keep learners
attention alive. As the main focus of drama and language games to create relaxed
language learning environment in the first, they don’t have to carry a language
focus, rather, they are means of lowering affective filter, enhancing team spirit,
fostering socialization among peers.
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 Activity
(This activity has been adapted from Tim Tuck’s Drama Warm-Ups, D1, Fun and
Easy Drama Activities, Lower, Middle and Upper Primary:
Name of the activity: Five…Four...Three…
Aim: To practice forming groups quickly before carrying out any classroom
activity this requires collaboration and classroom interaction
Allocated time: maximum 5 minutes
Materials: one children’s song which last maximum four minutes and is preferably
active and favorite of young language learners
This activity requires whole class participation and is suitable for middle primary
and upwards language learners. Large and open play area should be prepared
quickly if the physical setting of the classroom allows.
Procedures
Prepare the play area
Have learners move around
Stop the music and call out “Groups of five…four…three…two…one….stop!” You
can call out the numbers depending on the activity which requires different
size. Sometimes instead of calling out the numbers, you can beat the group size
number on a drum, board, desk or any material.
Learners must form a group of the designated size before you have finished
counting down.
Observations have indicated that the less structured games allow students the
easiest switch to their mother tongue. Unstructured games also demand very
minimal teacher control so the class can be out of control (Gaudert, 1990). It is
important to choose an appropriate time and integrate them into the regular
syllabus and curriculum. However, because of the limitations of the syllabus, games
often cannot be used, as much as they should be. Therefore, it may be challenging
for teachers to try to add some games in class in order to develop students’ English
proficiency of the target language (Deesri, 2002). In order to prevent switch to
learners’ mother tongue, drama and language games should be doable so that
young learners can communicate with their peers even with a couple of words and
clear guidelines must be provide beforehand, if necessary an example should be
done by the teacher.
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Activity
This activity can be practiced either as an introductory activity in the first ten
minutes of the lesson to revise the what has been learnt in the previous lesson
or to motivate the learners or as a concluding activity in the last minutes of the
lesson to revise what has been learnt and detect learners’ weak points in the
learnt structure.
Name of the activity: Stop the music
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Purpose: While it helps learners get to know each other, it also helps practice
learnt structure with its linguistic and social functions.
Language focus: like and don’t like, vocabulary (fruits; banana, grape, apple,
orange, peach, apricot, lemon, cherry, pear)
Materials: a song which can include names of the fruits
Procedures: When the music is on, all participants stand up, walk around the
classroom or dance. When the music stops, learners have to find a partner and
find a one thing in common by asking questions “Do you like banana, apple,
pear etc.? and answering that questions by “Yes, I like banana or No, I don’t like
banana, I like apple.” When the music plays again, learners move around and find
another partner and one thing in common. When the teacher stops the activity,
learners can report what they have found about each other.
Role play
Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody
else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary
situation (Budden, 2004). According to Kodotchigova (2001) role play prepares L2
learners for L2 communication in a different social and cultural context. Role play is
really a worthwhile learning experience for both the students and the teacher. Not
only can students have more opportunities to “act” and “interact” with their peers
trying to use the English language, but also students’ English speaking, listening,
and understanding will improve (Huang, 2008).
Teachers often feel that a great deal of preparation is required from the teacher
because the students must be given clear guidelines as to how to carry out the
role play. Although this is true, the same could be said for any classroom activity
which is not tied to a course book. The presentation needed for a role play activity
is not much more than for other non-course book activities (Gaudert, et al, 1990).
Another objection which has been expressed is that role playing is too emotionally
demanding because the task is performed in front of others. However, role play
doesn’t automatically mean that the task has to be performed in front of others. In
the pair-work described earlier, for example when students greet each other they
are not performing for the other person. The whole class could be working in pairs
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at the same time so no one is performing for anyone else. The question of task being Activity
emotionally demanding therefore doesn’t arise. It is important in fact, not only for
Aim: This activity aims to get learners learn some basic expressions required for
role play, but for all drama activities in the classroom, that there is no audience
meeting someone new. While it can be carried out in pairs, it can be carried out
(Gaudert, et al, 1990). Role-plays require more imagination by students and teacher
more than two student by preparing cue and index cards accordingly.
and can be difficult to manage because they are unpredictable (Stocker, 2006).
Time allocated: 10-15 minutes
It is imperative for teachers to select role plays that will afford learners the opportunity
to practice what they have learnt or discussed in class, whilst simultaneously Materials: cue card
stimulating their interest so as to ensure maximum participation (Athiemoolam, Meeting cue card
2004). It is important to consider the learners’ level of language proficiency when Student A: Hello, what is your name?
implementing role play activities in the L2 classroom. Once you have selected a Student B: My name is ………………….. What is your name?
suitable role play, predict the language needed for it. In this regard it is important
Student A: My name is ………………….
to ensure that the learners are exposed to new vocabulary before commencing with
the role play (Athiemoolam, et al., 2004). Richard Amato states that as role plays Student B: How old are you?
are less controlled practice than drills and dialogue activities learners may not use Student A: I am …………… How old are you?
the target structures as much as teachers would like, therefore it is important to Student B: I am …………………
choose situations and contexts in which the target structure occurs naturally. There
Student A: Where are you from?
are usually several ways to successfully communicate meaning, so role plays can
Student B: I am from …………….Where are you from?
be considered as an opportunity for learners to practice a range of speaking and
listening skills, rather than a single structure. Student A: I am from……….
Clark (1992), Richard-Amato, and others support the use of index cards for role play Student B: Nice to meet you!
as young learners and beginners may need support, especially in early stages of Student A: You too!
participating in role plays, yet, they will benefit and become more independent and Procedure: The role play dialogue stated above can be noted on cards provided
confident with practice. The use of index cards with written cues or the complete with visuals is distributed to the learners. Learners are asked to perform the role
role-play exchange will help students know what to say. At later stages, you may be play activity assuming that they haven’t seen their classmates before, thus they
able to leave blanks on the cue cards or just write the idea that each student should can practice needed expressions for meeting someone new. Learners can change
try to express. their partners as long as time allows.
Improvisation
Landy (1982) defines improvisation as an unscripted, unrehearsed, spontaneous
set of actions in response to minimal directions from a teacher, usually including
statements of which one is, where one is and what one is doing there. In
improvisation, students must create a scene, speak, act, react, and move without
preparing (Davis, n.d.). Maples (2002) emphasized improvisation provides learners
with opportunities to not only improve their language communication skills, but
also to improve their confidence, which will ultimately lead to the development of
positive self-concepts. Improvisational exercises provide three main goals: student
pronunciation improves, proper use of a grammatical structure is reinforced, and
vocabulary practice is enhanced.
While implementing improvisation, the situation has to be clearly stated, easy to
act out and to have dramatic story twist. When students are fairly fluent in English,
they should be able to create a plausible conversation around the given situation,
complete with appropriate facial expressions and gestures (Barbu, 2007). It
is important to note, however, that the purpose of improvisation in the L2 class

292 Texts and Tools Drama 293

is not to entertain others but to provide the participants with a medium of self
expression (Athiemoolam, et al., 2004). At the beginning students will be hesitant
and shy to participate in the activities, but after a few sessions they will become
more enthusiastic and there will be a phenomenal improvement in their confidence
level (Davis, et al., n.d.).
Activity
The name of the activity: First day at school
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Aim: To get learners practice the phrases of “Introducing yourself”
Procedures: Teacher writes on the board “First day at school” and says “You are
on the first day of your school life; you don’t know your each other and introduce
yourself to your desk mate, put your pencils and notebooks under the desks.”
Learners are expected to use the questions of “What is your name?, Where are
you from?, How old are you?, and answer accordingly to introduce themselves.
As soon as teacher says “you can begin”, learners should start to introduce
themselves, without writing their scripts and rehearsing. When the time is over,
teacher can ask a couple of learners to perform their activity in front of their
peers. Passive improvisation which works great with young learners can be used
as a drama technique, as well. The teacher can tell a simple story to the young
learners and they can act it out as teacher says it. There need to be loads of
simple actions in the story that they will understand and will perform easily. Thus,
the teacher can work on learners’ listening skills as well as their ability to act
(Bertrand, 2010).
Mime
Dougill (1987) defines mime as “a non-verbal representation of an idea or story
through gesture, bodily movement and expression”. Mime emphasizes the
paralinguistic features of communication. From the point of the teacher, miming
may as well be a good method how to integrate even those students whose language
abilities are not the best and in most of the activities want to keep back (Hillova,
2008). Savignon (1983) says that the mime helps learners become comfortable
with the idea of performing in front of peers without concern for language and that
although no language is used during a mime it can be a spur to use language.
Long and Castonas (1976) warn us that mime clearly has its limitations in the
communication of many language items and shouldn’t be relied upon for teaching
them. Cleary it shouldn’t be the sole teaching technique used to teach any language
item. The problem with the mime form is that it is difficult to remove the personal
aspect from it entirely. Students who are quite happy to watch a mime may not
be willing to perform. The teacher has to be sensitive to those students and plan
activities so that there is a way out for these students not to perform, for the teacher
not to have to insist that they perform, and yet encourage those who might like
to perform but need that final push to do so (Gaudert, et al., 1990). Furthermore,
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teachers should be careful while using mime to convey a message, as a class which
host multicultural learners, makes mime activities difficult to use. Because, the
message the body language, facial expressions and gestures carry with can differ
from culture to culture and from region to region even in the same country.
Activity
Name of the activity: I can run
Time allocated: 10-15 minutes
Language focus: grammar (I can ……., Can you?) and vocabulary (action verbs;
run, jump, skip, swim, hop)
Materials: “I can run” song and the action verbs flashcards
Procedures: After the introduction of action verbs and grammar structure “I can
run. Can you run?” by the teachers through visuals, in the last 15 minutes of the
class hour, the song “I can run” played, however, learners shouldn’t be exposed
its video version, then learners are asked to perform the actions (I can run, I
can swim, I can jump, I can hop, I can skip) in the song without singing the song.
After enough mime practice take place, learners can asked to sing the song by
performing the actions. Later or, teachers ask questions (Can you run?, Can you
jump?, Can you swim?, Can you hop?, Can you skip?) to the learners by miming
the actions and learners are expected to answer the questions and miming the
action. This activity can be done in pairs, as well. Or, learners are asked to walk
around the classroom and pick as much as information they can about their
friends by using “can” grammar structure and miming the action verbs. While
sharing the information collected from their peers, learners can be taught to say
“Ayşe can run, she can run or Ahmet can swim, he can swim” thus, learners will
have learned the use of “can” with third person singular (he, she).
Simulation
Jones (1980) calls a simulation as case study where learners become participants
in an event and shape the course of the event. The learners have roles, functions,
duties, and responsibilities within a structured situation involving problem solving.
Simulations are generally held to be a structured set of circumstances’ that mirror
real life and in which participants act as instructed. A simulation activity provides a
specific situation within which students can practice various communication skills
like asserting oneself, expressing opinions, convincing others, arguing eliciting
opinions, group-problems-solving, analyzing situations and so on (Smith, 1984).
Participants must step inside the function mentally and behaviorally in order to
fulfill their duties and responsibilities in the situation (Jones, 1982). The role of
students in simulations, therefore, is (1) taking the functional roles such as reporter,
survivor, or customer as a participant, (2) stepping into the event, and (3) shaping
the event, carrying out their duties and responsibilities. In simulations, a provided
environment must be simulated. In order to fulfill the essential condition of being
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a simulated environment, there must be no contact between the participants and
the world outside of the classroom (Jones, et al., 1982). It is important that the
essential “facts” of the simulation environment are provided, not invented by the
participants, to preserve reality of function (Jones, et al., 1982).
Activity
The name of the activity: Asking for direction
Time allocated: 15 minutes
Language focus: grammar; imperatives used for giving directions (go left, turn
left, take a left, go right, turn right, take a right, go ahead, go straight ahead, go
straight on), vocabulary; building names (the school, the hospital, the swimming
pool, the supermarket, the park)
Materials: a big city map covering the blackboard and titled as New York, audio
recording which reflects city life (noises of cars, street sellers) or toy buildings and
traffic lights or other materials which reflect city life can be situated in different
parts of the classroom beforehand by the teachers
Procedures: Teacher should make ready necessary equipments necessary for
the activity by herself in order to get learners believe in that they are in New York.
If the learners are involved in the preparation period of the activity, they won’t
believe in the reality of the situation. That’s why this activity can be practiced
at the very beginning of the class hour so that learners can get astonished and
motivated entering the classroom. Teacher can start with saying “Today, we are
New York City, do you know New York?” and putting a doll of the Statue of Liberty
which reflects New York in the middle at top of the map. Then, teacher assigns
the roles of learners as a local person and a stranger. Learners are assumed to
know the names of the buildings. Teacher can write question of “How can I get
there? (the school, the hospital, the swimming pool, the supermarket, the park)
and the imperatives; go left, turn left, take a left, go right, turn right, take a right,
go ahead, go straight ahead, go straight on. The dialogue between learners is
expected to happen naturally without any preparation beforehand or using pen
and paper. Learners can get help from the cues written on the board. A learner
(stranger) states his present point and asks question of “How can I get there?” to
reach the place that he wants. The dialogue between the learners is going to be
as following:
Learner A (stranger): Excuse me? How can I get to the school?
Learner B (local person): Go straight ahead; turn right, it is on the right.
Learner A (stranger): Thank you.
Readers’ Theatre
According to Sloyer (1982) readers’ theatre is an oral presentation of drama, prose
or poetry by two or more readers. Readers first read a story and then transform
the story into script involving several characters. The script is then performed for
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an intended audience. To portray a character, readers strive for, “voice flexibility,
good articulation, proper pronunciation and projection”. Reader’s Theatre has been
adopted in Western educational settings to improve the reading fluency and to
enhance the reading comprehension of students (Henry, 2011). Because readers’
theater focuses on vocal expression, and students have the opportunity to practice
repeatedly, pronunciation is a key component (Davis, et al., n.d.). In creating RT
scripts, students increase their knowledge of language structure (vocabulary, syntax
and meaning), and language use (forms and functions of language use) and the
meta-linguistic awareness such as the ability to talk about the language (Hill, 1990).
According to Patrick (et al., 2008) there can be some limitations to using the RT in
the classroom, particularly if students are not familiar with theatre as a genre or
they may have not linguistically ability to produce their own scripts. The teacher
needs to ensure that every student is involved by getting students to create sufficient
characters by relating to the topic. The teacher may include the role of a narrator to
create the atmosphere for the play. Ensure that each student has sufficient lines for
the teacher to asses him/her on speaking skills. Ensure that each student has a copy
of the script. Impress on the students the importance of having a good plot, genuine
characters (stress the use of a good dialogue to liven up a character). While students
are rehearsing their script, the teacher should try to reinforce, certain vocabulary,
grammar or sentence structure if necessary. Although readers theatre reinforce
learners’ the knowledge of language structure, language use and meta-linguistic
awareness in the scriptwriting period, it can be challenging for young learners to
prepare scripts after reading stories, as learners can’t be linguistically competent
enough and fail in producing scripts and begin to use mother tongue which is not
preferable or teacher can get involved in the producing script, however, teachers
should balance her involvement in preparing scripts or learners won’t fully accept
that the script is their own language production. In order to prevent this outcome,
teachers can bring prepared scripts as Robertson (2009) suggests learners can read
stories scripted like a play, and they act out the story together. Learners may practice
their parts several times before acting the story out in front of the class, which gets
them thinking about their characters and the plot in a focused way. Rather than
using elaborate props, costumes, or scenery, students can be encouraged to use
vocal, facial, and physical expression to engage with the script and their character.
Since the activity is meant to practice reading, students don’t need to memorize
their lines, which keeps the spotlight on the reading practice, not the performance.
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Activity
The name of the activity: The sad little worm (pdf version can be downloaded
from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/file-share/integrating-drama).
Allocated time: 30 minutes
Language focus: adjectives; little, big, tall, short, pretty, ugly
Aim: improving reading fluency
Procedures: Before reading takes place, teacher introduces the characters (the
sad little worm, the big cow, the pretty ant, the long snake, the boy, the apple,
the tree, the sun) through flashcards and assigns the roles and one learner take
the role of narrator on. In order to foster the reading comprehension, vocabulary
learning takes place as a part of pre-reading activity. Learners are taught the
adjectives (little, big, tall, short, pretty, ugly) which describes the characters’
physical appearance. Silent reading takes place in order to get learners familiar
with the character they are going to act out. Learners should read just their part
not the narrator’s part like “the cow shakes his head and laughs”. Before staging,
learners rehearse their play and scripts. Teacher walks around the classroom to
check whether learners are reading with expression and pronouncing correct.
Learners can create simple props for the play if they wish. Teacher carries out
sample reading for the learners and tells how they are going to be evaluated.
Learners can be evaluated based on the following items; volume, clarity of
pronunciation, expression, posture and eye contact as Amber Prentice suggests.
When the preparation is completed, performance can happen. Teacher observes
the learners during the performance, jots down learners’ mistakes according to
the evaluation items and focus on problematic areas after the performance. As a
post reading activity, learners can be asked to talk or write about the characters
which learners have performed.
Frozen image building
Frozen Image Building is a technique in drama education where participants
initially create “frozen pictures” which are later developed into animated situations
involving a series of interviews with the characters incorporated in the respective
images (Jarayseh, 2010). This technique could be implemented very effectively
in the English second language class as it enables the participants to work with
other members as a team to create their images. Second language learners
definitely gain more confidence when they are encouraged to share ideas and to
work in groups (Athiemoolam, et al., 2004). L2 learners who lack the confidence
to communicate in the target language could be gradually initiated into using the
language by first enabling them to create their still images and later to add words
to their presentations (Athiemoolam, et al., 2004). As a frozen image will compel
the observers to come up with informed guesses and multiple possible meaning
interpretations, it encourages students’ linguistic output. This allows the teacher
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to identify the forms the students have already mastered as well as those they
still need to learn in order to convey their thoughts and ideas appropriately and
idiomatically, and to introduce and reinforce these forms based on the needs of
communication (Liu, 2002).
Sometimes it can be hard to implement frozen image building drama technique,
not because young learners will be unable to build frozen images, but because they
can be in trouble with interpreting the frozen images due to the lack of limited
vocabulary and grammar structure. On the other, young learners don’t have set up
a complete sentence to interpret the frozen image, it will be enough if they utter a
word to interpret the frozen image as long as they are willing to participate in the
activity and putting effort to find out the frozen image.
Activity
The name of the activity: Sports
Allocated time: 15 minutes
Language focus: grammar; present continuous tense, vocabulary; dancing,
basketball, swimming, golf, football, climbing, skateboarding, gymnastics,
baseball, running
Materials: the sports flashcards
Aim: To reinforce the use of the present continuous tense with personal pronouns
“I, he, she” in its affirmative, negative and question forms using the sports as a
tool.
Procedures: While this activity can be done in pairs or groups, it is suggested to
done as a whole class activity to make the interpretation process fast with whole
class participation and gain time for other activities. To implement this activity,
learners are expected to have been introduced the sports and got familiar with
grammar structure of present continuous. Teacher brings the sports flashcards.
One learner is selected or becomes voluntary and then picks one flashcard
and builds (freezes) the image on the sports flashcard. Teacher asks “What is
s/he doing?” to start the activity. Learners begin their guesses such as “you
are dancing”, “you are climbing”, “he is playing football”, and until the correct
guess is called out, frozen image builder doesn’t break his image. This activity
can be practiced with different learners again and again until the teacher feels
that learners grasp the point. Furthermore, this activity can be implemented by
dividing the classroom into two groups promising a reward for the winner group,
then learners will become more enthusiastic to break the frozen image, on the
other hand, too much noise can arise, but there is no need to worry as learners
are challenging themselves to use the target language.
Scriptwriting
Scriptwriting is an activity in which students write their own words (and sometimes
actions) to dramatize. Students may write what they will say, the cues for movement,
and other scene-setting elements. This can be as simple as a short dialogue or as
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long as a full-length play. After students write their script, they can act it out (Davis,
Activity
et al., n. d.). Scriptwriting can be done individually, in pairs, or in groups. Scriptwriting
The name of the activity: Little Red Riding Hood
helps students focus on register, adjacency pairs, vocabulary in context, and fluency.
A script can be edited and re-drafted to focus on the writing process. The added Time allocated: 1 week
benefit is that the students can perform their script when it is completed (Davis, et Language focus: the simple past and the past continuous tense
al., n. d.). An easy way to engage students in the learning of new vocabulary is to Aim: to revise what has been taught, to carrying language learning out of
have them create very short scenes in which they dramatize certain concepts. Aside classroom, to foster learner autonomy, to create cooperation among peers, to
from practicing newly learned vocabulary, students can focus on specific grammar enhance learners’ creativity through writing
features. Likewise, students may write scripts for scenes that focus on specific
Materials: It depends on the learners deciding on what to use. However, the
pronunciation issues (Davis, et al., n. d.). According to Porcaro (2001), while primarily
following pictures should be certainly provided for the learners by the teachers
a writing exercise, role-play scriptwriting provides an opportunity to integrate with it
as the scripts will be written according to pictures.
the other basic language skills of reading, speaking, and listening in EFL instruction.
It provides an opportunity for thoughtful expression and exercise of imagination;
it effectively integrates all the basic language skills; it involves participation by all
members of the class and is quite informative and entertaining.

Procedures: As story of Little Red Riding is commonly read and known by all
young learners, preparing scripts of the story won’t be challenging. On the first
hand, groups including the Little Red Riding Hood, Mum, Granny, Woodcutter
and Narrator should be settled by the teacher. Learners are expected to write
a different scenario and a script taking the pictures into consideration. Writing
process won’t be included in the class hours therefore, teacher is going to help
learners about vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, writing, characters, stage
decoration and costumes and encourage learners to meet with their peers in
their groups and work in cooperation. Stage decoration and costumes should be
optimal and shouldn’t be exaggerated or learners will focus on stage decoration
and costumes more than writing the scenario and script. There should be balance
and this balance should be regularly controlled by the teacher. Although it is aimed
that learners are let be free while writing their scenario and script, the number
of lines of their script and timing of staging should be determined beforehand, in
order to give chance to each group to perform their plays in the given time. While
learners are being assessed, the following items can be considered; working in
collaboration with peers, regular consultation with the teacher, organization of
writing, spelling in the writing, use of vocabulary and grammar both in writing
and in speaking, performance including pronunciation; tone of voice, stress,
miming, being able to reflect the character. The performance of the learners can
be recorded and kept for future uses.

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Skits
Skits which can be of various lengths and purposes include any activity from acting
out a scene in a storybook to present a full theatrical production. This type of drama
can be a project extension from a class reader, or even a textbook passage (Senf,
n. d.). Skits created and performed by students can be a successful supplement to
the classroom experience (Shiue, n. d.). In addition, the nature of the task requires
cooperation, communication and creativity, i.e. involvement and practice is the key
to success in learning language. Motivation is the most frequently given reason for
the use of skit in EFL and ESL classes. Skit activities can assist in relieving flagging
interest and frustration which is often a feature of L2 learning (Hsu: 1975; Via,
1976). Skit can provide a strong motivation for language learning as play production
can foster cultural proximity allowing learners to participate in the new culture,
this developing sensitivity to speakers of the target language. Dramatizations of
skits, with a fixed set of lines where students don’t have to create expressions,
yet where they can instill their own creative interpretations and emotions, were
thought to constitute a good intermediate point between practicing the form and
communicating the message (Nolan & Patterson, 2000).
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Activity
The name of the activity: Halloween Skit (adapted from It’s the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown)
Time Allocated: 30 minutes
Aim: To get learners know the target culture; Holloween. Trick or treat is
customarily practice for children on Holloween in many countries. Children in
costumes travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy (or
in some cultures, money) with the question “Trick or Treat?” The trick is a threat
to the homeowners if the threat is not given.
Materials: A haunted house on the chalkboard with a door, paper masks and bags,
a bowl of candy for the homeowner.
Procedures: The teacher forms the groups of four and assigns the roles; the
homeowner, kid 1, kid 2, kid 3. The teacher talks about the story briefly and
focuses on the unknown vocabulary; trick, treat, vampire, werewolf, ghost, candy,
cookie and rock and distributes the script and then gives time for rehearsal
and stage decoration and costumes. Learners can keep the scripts during their
performance; however, it is better to encourage them not to keep the scripts
in order to teach natural speaking, just in case learners forget their lines, the
teacher is there for the immediate help.
Script:
Kids (Altogether): (Knocks on the chalkboard door. After the home owner opens
the door) Trick or Treat!
Homeowner: (To first kid1) Who are you?
Kid1: I’m a vampire (A vampire mask on his head).
Homeowner: (Homeowner gives candy to Kid1 and turns to Kid2) Who are you?
Kid2: I’m a werewolf.
Homeowner: (Homeowner gives some cookies to Kid2 and turns to Kid3) Who
are you?
Kid3: I’m a ghost.
Homeowner: (Homeowner secretly gives a small rock to kid3) Good bye!
Kids (Altogether): Goodbye!
(Homeowner shuts the door and the kids come together to see what everyone
got.)
Kid1: I got candy!
Kid2: I got cookies!
Kid3: I got a rock!
Drama 303
Review questions Games
1. Do you think of any other drama technique that can be used in foreign
Şule Korkmaz
language teaching?
2. Turkish foreign language learners are considered to be good at receptive skills.
What can be the reason for it? How can teachers balance young learners’
receptive and productive skills utilizing drama? Games of childhood are origins for future life of children; in them is released and
3. Do you think that you will be able to use the drama activities mentioned in developed the whole man, his dispositions and inner tendencies. Whole future life of
this chapter in your practice considering the curriculum, the coursebooks, man has its origins in the age of childhood.
language classrooms, and teachers’ professional competence? Suggest (Fröbel, 1826; cited in Vankus, 2005)
ways to create and improve the current settings for drama use in language
classrooms.
4. Why do think that theatre performers and language learners drama
techniques? Reflect your ideas with reasons. Discuss in groups.
5. What are young learners’ needs and preferences? Reflect your ideas depending
on your experiences in primary school and observations at primary schools.
How can drama respond to these needs and preferences?
6. What makes you use drama in your future practices?
7. What kind of challenges do expect to come across in your future practices
while using drama? What kind of solutions can put forth to deal with those
challenges?

4th Grade students at Öğretmen Hasan Güney Primary School

Children are born with an innate sense of play. They like exploring the world around
them. Therefore, language teachers should use games that are entertaining, relaxing,
and motivating in order to facilitate language learning for young learners (Sandford
& Williamson, 2005). Children have natural tendencies to play a game reflecting
their social world in which children learn to accept the rules, how to behave and how
to cooperate with others, thus become ready to enter society (Roth, 1998).
Traditionally, teachers tend to separate instruction from recreation by ignoring
the characteristics of young learners. They use games as reward which decreases
learners’ desire to finish the assigned task. Educators should realize the necessity for
integrating learning with game and play (Sandford & Williamson, 2005). A positive
environment where learners feel at home is a crucial point affecting young learners’
positive attitudes towards learning English (Moon, 2000). Hence, learning a language
through games is a very appropriate and efficient technique that provides a positive
atmosphere in young learners’ classrooms (Linse, 2006). Today, games are seen
as a part of any instructional program in the current educational context which
extends and enriches the content and delivery of many subjects (Mayer & Harris,
2010). However, much has to be learned about games and play simply because this
educational area is still in formation.

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Preliminary Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever played a language game when learning English? If yes, share
your experience with your classmates? Which language component was the
game about? Was it an efficient game for you? Why or why not?
2. Could we design a game to practice any subject in English? Could we play a
game any time throughout the lesson?
3. To what extent do you think children get benefit from learning English through
games?
4. What potential problems might English teachers have when integrating games
in their teaching? What might be the role of teachers to overcome these
possible problems?
5. What do you think is meant by a ‘good language game’? What essential points
are necessary for a successful language game?
The present chapter aims to build the base for the role of games in the field of
English language teaching by examining their potential in children’s foreign
language learning process. Therefore, the following points will be handled in this
chapter respectively; the definition of a game from different viewpoints; the reasons
for using games in language classes; the characteristics of games and the criteria
for choosing the most appropriate one; a variety of crucial points when integrating
games in language teaching together with recommendations for teachers; discussion
of the timing of games; the role of peers when playing games; possible problems
and the role of teachers in solving them; finally, types of games with a few samples
in order to practice different components of a language. The following points will
help you to capture the assumptions that inform the contents of this chapter.
What is a game?
It is important to define what it is that makes a game a game which is a natural way
of children’s learning. We are now in a position to present a definition of a game
which varies according to researchers but shares common features with all. To
that end, firstly, we need to understand the complex relationship between play and
games. Depending on how it is framed, games could be either smaller than play or
play could be a subset of “game”. All activities can be considered as play; however,
not all plays can be labeled as games. Because, unlike plays, games are more
organized, include a formalized set of rules and have an element of competition.
Moreover, in some situations within the larger phenomenon of game, the play of
game is only one component of games among three such as rules, play and culture.
Rules contain formal game design schemas, play contains experiential game design
schemas, and culture contains contextual game design schemas. Including these
three components, a game is defined as ‘a system in which players engage in an
artificial conflict, defined by rules that result in a quantifiable outcome or goal’ (Salen &
Zimmerman, 2004: p. 83).
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Games are activities with clearly defined goals, explicit rules, and fun elements
(Khan, 1991). They are also defined as entertaining and engaging activities in which
competition is minimized and challenge is maximized and in which the learners play
and usually interact with others aiming at doing their best (Wright, Betteridge, &
Buckybuy, 2006). ‘A game’ is considered as a voluntary activity, separate from the
real life, creating an imaginary or immersive world (De Freitas, 2006). As is seen,
different authors have defined games within their own contexts; however essential
components are common in all definitions such as clearly defined goals, specified
rules, a quantifiable outcome/closure, and engaging, challenging and entertaining
tasks.
Discussion
What is a language game for you? Have you thought about your own definition of
a game as a prospective English teacher or practicing teacher?
Integrating games with language work
Learning a foreign language requires learners’ constant effort, thus well-designed
games are invaluable as a technique in young-learner classes. In Turkey, primary
school English teachers have to follow a coursebook designed by the Ministry
of Education; thus, games can be used either to supplement the mainstream
coursebook depending on the flexibility of the program or to replace inefficient
parts of the units in the book. Depending on the aims of the lesson, the reasons
for using games might vary from introducing new subjects, practicing newly learnt
language items or particular themes to relaxing and energizing a class. Teachers
should come to believe that integrating games into their methodology enhances
whole class participation, thus offers children various benefits when learning a
foreign language. Here are some advantages learners will have if language games
are integrated in young learners’ classes:
• Learners find opportunity to experience desire and pleasure, anxiety and
release, wonder and knowledge when playing games (Salen & Zimmerman,
2004).
• Games give students a break and also allow them to practice language
skills by using meaningful and useful language in real contexts (Ersöz,
2000).
• Games help and encourage many learners to make an effort and sustain
their interest and work when learning a language.
• Games help the teacher to set up situations in which learners need and
want to communicate in a meaningful and intense way in that they need to
use language to have a turn at playing, to point out the rules, to challenge
another player.
• Learners can experience language with variety of opportunities to
negotiate meaning rather than only study it, which helps them to develop
games 307
 language skills more rapidly than the students who do not play games.
• Games help students learn English subjects better and repeated use of
particular language items within games helps the learners absorb the
language better.
• Various types of games help teachers to cater for individual learning
styles.
• Games elicit social interaction, particularly icebreakers and warmer
games help learners be creative, risk-takers, thoughtful, communicative,
and happy to work together with other learners.
• Learners in this fun and comfortable environment become more likely to
take risks (Wright, Betteridge, & Buckybuy (2006).
• Learners experience the skills required to share and learn with others
through either cooperative or competitive interaction when playing
games.
• Learners increase their problem solving strategies through observing
other students who are interacting with information and solving problems.
• Learners grow as learners in that they learn failing is natural and they can
learn from their mistakes and still continue on to succeed within different
learning experiences.
• Games, particularly from social aspects, help learners to explore some
real-world skills and realities such as ethical choices and their results
when gathering and using information (Mayer & Harris, 2010).
Reflection time: Your beliefs about games
How far do you agree with the views below?
Learning a foreign language through games for children …….
• ‘…..is integrating the authentic language with real life experiences.’
• ‘…..is communicating in real life, as English is not a lesson but a living language.’
• ‘…..is in need indeed.’
• ‘…..is enjoyable; however too noisy.’
• ‘…..is very motivating and attractive for them because they like moving at
these ages and through games they have a chance to learn kinesthetically.’
• ‘…. is fun, but because of the general teaching methods children still tend to
see games as grammar activities. Some children have a tendency to divert
from the games. They need modeling and clear instructions…’
Games and students’ success
Positive effects of games on students’ success have been confirmed with a number
of studies conducted in Turkey with regard to different subject areas such as history,
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physical science, social science, English, German, French, mathematics, and music.
The study by Taşlı (2003) revealed that 4th grade primary school students who learnt
the numbers and telling the time through games indicated more positive results
compared to traditional ways of teaching.
The study by Bilsoy (1992) and Yıldız (2001) showed that young children learnt
grammar rules easily and more effectively when the material is presented and
practiced through games.
Another study by Kaya (2007) revealed that 5th grade primary school students
who learnt giving directions, classroom language and shopping in English through
games indicated higher success than the students who learnt same subjects through
traditional methods. The study by İnan (2006) indicated positive results with regard
to the use of games, drama and music when learning vocabulary instead of learning
words with their Turkish equivalence.
Despite these positive results, there seems to be a problem using games in
foreign language teaching in Turkish EFL classrooms. Yolageldili and Arıkan (2011)
investigated the perspectives of the Turkish EFL teachers working in primary
schools with regard to the use of games when teaching English. Results of their
study revealed that although they valued the use of games in teaching grammar,
they still followed a rule-based approach. Moreover, the study by İnan (2006)
and Çelik Korkmaz (2010) revealed another problem in Turkey. Although English
teachers agreed on the necessity of using all those techniques such as games,
drama and music, they stated that they barely used these techniques in the realms
of language classrooms because students, as they believed, had to be prepared
through traditional ways of teaching so as to get higher marks in national placement
tests such as SBS.
It is frustrating to know the low frequency of using such techniques like the games in
Turkish primary schools. Only by raising their awareness with regard to the positive
results of teaching English through games teachers can come to understand the
value of integrating games into their teaching. Therefore, as teachers, we should
study our own beliefs and opinions on games to get rid of what makes us fall behind
in using games in our English language classrooms.
Discussion
1. What might be the reasons for those teachers who do not use these
contemporary techniques when teaching English to young learners in Turkish
primary schools? What are your solutions for your comments?
2. Do you think they are not motivated enough to use these techniques when
teaching English or is it because of the reasons regardless of the teachers
such as dense curriculum, crowded classes, exam-oriented education system
etc.?
Features of games
What are the features of a good game? The involvement of significant features in a
games 309
game might influence the extent to which learners get benefit from playing games ȤȤ “Öğretmenim siz ama bütün gruplara artı koydunuz. Hangi grup kazandı?”
in order to be more successful. Therefore, it is vital for teachers to consider the ȤȤ “All of you won.”
following points so as to design and teach with games effectively.
ȤȤ “Kim kazandı?”
The following ludic principles offered by Khan (1991) are crucial to turn different
activities into games and to find ways for developing new games. Games scaffold
ȤȤ “Group A, B and C won.”
learning in that they challenge and support players to approach, explore, and solve ȤȤ “Berabere mi kaldık öğretmenim”.
complex problems. If games merely include skills, there appear to be a few winners ȤȤ “Yes, berabere.”
and as a result, playing games might reduce the involvement of the majority of the The example above shows that pupils were striving to be the best; however, the
class. Adding luck into a game in order to increase the excitement of players and student teacher was trying to emphasize the importance of learning rather than
balance the combination of chance and skills helps learners get more benefit from winning in a competition. Most probably because she did not want her students to
playing games. deal with the negative feelings of losing a game, she focused on winning together.
Different types of games require the involvement of competition or cooperation Language teachers should integrate more cooperative and less competitive games
or combination of both. In fact, every game in itself includes competition to some to enable pupils to experience challenge, fun and participation together through
extent, but cooperation is usually required to compete and win the game. In order to which they communicate rather than compete without much conversational
reduce the negative outcomes of a competitive game the teacher can form mixed- meaning.
ability groups to compete with each other. Thus, while the students work together
Criteria for choosing games
cooperatively within their groups they can continue to compete with the others. As
Teachers need to answer which games to play and the criteria of choosing them,
a result, the winner of the competition will not be a single student but a group of
when to play, and how to play. Piaget studied marbles and other institutional games
students. In games, where there is only one winner, the rest of the class is labeled
and asserted that there was a close relationship between children’s intellectual
as losers. Also, when considering that only the higher achievers can have a chance
growth and the game activity. Based on his developmental stages, children follow
to win language games, certain groups of students are destined to be losers all the
motor play, egocentric play, beginnings of cooperation, and codification of rules.
time. However, one of the aims of foreign language teaching at the primary level
As the age of learners increases, the nature of the games changes with regard to
is to help the learners develop positive attitudes for the language. Forming mixed-
players’ rule system (Piaget, 1932, Piaget, 1946 cited in Linaza, 1984).
ability groups is a solution for giving equal opportunities to each group to become
the winner. Before choosing a game for your particular language classroom, consider not
only what is required for children’s intellectual growth, but also other individual
As competitive games are fun and create a desire to get involved, another way
differences such personality, interest, language level, background knowledge,
to organize competitive games is to having students compete against the time or
attention span, attitudes towards playing games, learning styles and intelligence
the game itself rather than their peers. By this way losing the game will not be as
types. In addition to such criteria, teachers need to evaluate the game in terms
disastrous as losing it against a classmate.
of the time required, availability of resources, class size, and appropriateness for
Finally, another solution to overcome the negative effects of competitive games is
the culture and opportunities for language practice (Lewis & Bedson, 1999; Mısırlı,
to varying the type of games constantly so that each student/group has a chance to
2007).
win at least once. If the teacher only uses grammar games or vocabulary games it
is highly that only students with strong grammatical and vocabulary knowledge will Hands-on task
win. Considering the fact that children might have different strengths at different Evaluate the following extracts taken from Time for English Grade 4 Student’s Book
skills a variation in activity and game types will prevent injustice on the part of in relation to the features of a successful game. Identify the qualities that make
the learner. Hence, the teacher should be careful about game choice giving equal each of those games effective or ineffective.
opportunities to everyone who has varying strengths in speaking, writing, listening,
reading, grammar, and/or vocabulary.
The fact that players need to negotiate for meaning when cooperating with each
other provides learners with establishing successful communication. The following
conversation taken from a student teacher’s practicum reports indicates the
energizing nature of games:

310 Texts and Tools games 311

Extract 1 Extract 2

312 Texts and Tools games 313

Extract 3
When to play games
When should we play games in a language classroom? This might be one of the questions
teachers have in mind when they plan to integrate games in their structured lesson plans.
Steinberg (1983) answers this question and claims that children benefit from playing a game
at any moment during the lesson. At the beginning of the lesson, to welcome children back and
refresh their memories and to warm them up for learning a new subject; in the middle of the
lesson to revive the class and make learners alert and attentive; and at the end of the lesson
to finish the lesson at its peak. If games are carefully chosen considering the characteristics
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of children in the classroom and if they are well-designed and well-prepared by the teacher,
children are likely to benefit from the games whenever they play them.
When playing games in a language learning classroom, all players might not have the
same expertise in the target language and in that particular game. Therefore, some
students need ‘peer support’ to benefit from the game played in the classroom.
Peers who are familiar with a game and who are at higher levels may work as
partners or coaches. They help each other to initiate the game, to give advice on
how to interpret and interact with information, and to provide support and feedback
about how to play the game. Moreover, they continue exchanging information and
sharing their experiences with their peers to increase their social development.
Preparing a game
Preparing a game is particularly related to our knowledge of material preparation
which is tiring and demanding for many teachers as resources cost money, time and
effort to teachers. However, as Moon (2000) suggests, teachers can involve children
in material preparation processes or collaborate with other English or art teachers
in their own schools or via the Internet.
Some children might not feel competent enough in playing games in another
language. Therefore, it is vital for teachers to identify the learners’ active and
passive language knowledge with regard to the requirements of the game (Lewis
& Bedson, 1999) and to make children be aware of the reasons for playing games
(Read, 2007). Otherwise, children tend to use their native language and this causes
students to lose a point or a turn when playing games (Linse, 2006). In order to
reduce the time allocated for use of L1, the following are some tips for teachers to
consider;
• Avoid using complex games and remember that the simpler the game
they use, the better the results they have.
• Keep your introduction and explanation short and make sure everyone
understands what to do.
• Adjust the language for students’ level when giving the instructions.
• Demonstrate how they are going to play a game.
• Write the key language and/or instruction on the board (Slattery & Willis,
2001).
Organizing the class is an important part of using games. Here are some tips for you
to consider to get the best results:
• Make sure you clearly define the goals.
• Demonstrate parts of the game by rehearsing it with your students. When
you show them what to do through clear and understandable instruction,
you also provide a real purpose for listening, thus learners could absorb
new vocabulary and intonation patterns (Slattery & Willis, 2001).
games 315
 • Establish discipline with a set of agreed rules but without ruining the light
spirit of the class and the game.
• Decide the most appropriate organization (whole class/ individual /pair /
group work) for playing games.
• Maximize the ways for making every student get involved in the game
and experience success (Slattery & Willis, 2001).
• Be fair to every individual/ pair/ group.
• Do not interrupt the game in order to correct errors (Wright, Betteridge,
& Buckybuy, 2006).
If we aim to teach the language to children through games, we need to integrate the
subject matter knowledge with a game-play in a creative and powerful way. Teachers
should find games which are compatible with the curriculum (Foster & Mishra,
2009). In addition, the information which is used in the game should encourage
learners to combine their background knowledge and the new information. Games
used in language classroom should enable learners to develop language skills
and competencies. Therefore, teachers should be aware of what they expect from
children to do. Try to find games with which students are familiar in their own
language and culture. Children rediscover the same games and rejoice in playing
them. You can follow the popular TV games children like and adapt them to be used
in your classrooms.
for communication. The games below utilize different components of language and
skills and were prepared and micro-taught by student teachers in order to perform
tasks required for practical parts of English for young learner courses.
Speaking games can be teacher-led and children could be encouraged to use
English by playing a game with the help of concrete materials such as a ball, a hat,
a microphone, or a puppet. No child should be forced to speak until they feel ready,
so involving them into other activities in which they could show their understanding
can be helpful. As Moon (2000) states, children are talkative and sociable, thus they
are likely to be motivated to speak within the activities which are carefully designed,
which are stimulating and fun for children.
Suggested games
Guessing games and memory games are effective to enable children to be familiar
with and practice new vocabulary in an enjoyable way (Slattery and Willis, 2001).
Therefore, this game which was adapted from a TV program by a group of student
teacher provides learners to increase their curiosity and activate their background
with regard to words they have learnt.

Hands-on task
1. Identify one of the English language subject matters mentioned in our primary
school curriculum which children might consider difficult or boring.
2. Decide the objectives of the game.
3. Decide the required materials to play the game.
4. Decide the best organization to play the game
5. Decide the rules of the game you have planned.
6. Write the procedure including the role of the players and the teacher.
7. Be prepared to perform the game you have prepared in the classroom.

Types of Games
Language games do not refer to traditional, competitive games such as Jeopardy,
Password, or Hangman. Language games might simply include problem solving
activities which require the use of the target language. For instance, student A has
a diagram or a picture and has to describe it in the target language and Student
B has to draw it. After finishing the task, the diagrams or pictures are compared
to check for similarity. This kind of game provides learners with the opportunity
to exchange information with each other, thus to achieve communication (Young,
1991). Moreover, they should include information gap activities and a real need

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A vocabulary game (Turnstile)
Age: 10-11
Organization: Two groups
Aims: To revise the name of words related to parts of face, animals, fruit and
vegetables, clothes.
Language focus: Revision game for animals, fruit and vegetables, clothes etc.
Materials needed: Five big cards on each of which a name of the target word is
written, something like hooter as a button.
Procedures:
• Divide the class into two groups (each group has 5 competitors for the first
categories.)
• Choose 5 students to show the cards to the group members.
• One competitor from each group comes to the front of the class in order
to answer the teacher’s questions for the first category (What are the most
common transportation vehicles?)
• The one who pushes the button at first answers the question.
• For instance: one of the competitors says ‘plane’. If one of the students holding
a card has the plane picture, s/he takes a step to the front to show the picture.
If the answer of ‘plane’ is correct, that group continues game by saying other
transportation vehicles.
• If that group gives two wrong answers, the turn is on the other group. If they
say only a right answer, the first group will lose all of the points that they get
from transportation category.
• The group with more points will be the winner of the game. The cards which
are not opened will be shown to the groups.
Rules:
• Push the button only once to answer the question.
• After giving the answer, you cannot change.
• Answer the question in 10 seconds.
• You cannot talk to group members while answering the question.
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A revision game: Dressing Minnie and Mickey Mouse
Age: 10-11
Organization: Two groups
Aims: To revise the name of words related to clothes and colors.
Language focus: Revision game for clothes and colors.
Materials needed: Scissors, glue, colorful cartons to prepare the models of
Minnie and Mickey Mouse and different articles of clothes.
Procedures:
• Stick the paper models and articles of clothes on the board.
• Divide the class into two groups and put the numbers from 1 to 20 for each
group in the baskets on the table.
• Put the written forms of clothes in the colorful envelopes on the table.
Moreover, write different points into the envelopes in order to include luck into
the game.
• Choose a number from the basket to call a student from each group to start a
game.
• Each group member (E.g: number 4 from group A and number 11 from group
B) chooses one of the envelopes on the table and opens it to see the written
form of one of the names of clothes. The group members should firstly stick
the written forms on the clothes then stick the article of clothes on Minnie or
Mickey Mouse‘s cartoon.
• If the each group member sticks the written forms on the clothes correctly and
puts the right clothes on Minnie or Mickey Mouse‘s cartoon, they get the points
written in their envelopes. After dressing up the models, the groups with more
points win the game.
games 319
A grammar game (Bingo game)
Age: 10-11
Organization: Whole class activity
Aims: To make students perceive the structure of the present continuous tense
and to increase learner attention.
Language focus: The Present Continuous Tense.
Materials needed: Pictures of the actions, sentences written by students and a
marker.
Procedures:
• Uncompleted sentences written on a piece of paper are distributed to the
students. They complete them using “The Present Continuous Tense”.
• E.g.: I___________________________ (watch) T.V.
• “The BINGO table including pictures of the actions” is hung on the board as a
sample and the copied bingo cards are handed out to each student.
• The sentences completed by the students are collected and put in a bag and
the students come one by one and choose a paper from the bag.
• The student who chooses a paper reads the sentence in present continuous
tense aloud and other students listen to the sentence carefully and check the
pictures in front of them to find the same sentence on the board and put the
sentence on the suitable picture. Finally, they complete THE BINGO.
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A listening game/ Action game/ TPR game
Age: 10-11
Organization: Group game
Aims: To increase students’ listening ability and to enable children show their
understanding in the target language through a TPR game.
Language focus: Imperatives including colors and shapes.
Materials needed: Flash Cards, Platform colourful shapes on it, and the materials
which the students do the action with such as earnings, water, balloon, book,
comb, ball and basket, banana, pen, lipstick, scissors, gum, strip. Etc. Pictures of
the actions, sentences written by students and a marker.
Procedures:
• Divide the class into two groups and give a number to each group members to
be a competitor.
• Put the cards with instructions in the box.
• Demonstrate the activity with the help of a student in the classroom (One
will read the instructions written on the card and the other will act on the
platform).
• Call a member from each group by choosing number from the bag (E.g: number
6 from group A and B).
• Let them choose a card randomly and read the instruction to each other.
• Let them do the action on the platform of by using the objects on the teacher
table (The competitor can say “pass” if s/he can’t do the action without getting
any points).
• Give each group 5 points for each completed action (The group with higher
score will be the winner of the game).
games 321
A reading/ listening game (Coloring the clown- or any other object)
Age: 10-11
Organization: Individual or pair work
Aims: Increasing learners’ reading/ listening ability and to check whether the
students show what they have read throughout the game.
Language focus: The structure of ‘has got’ with body parts and colors.
Materials needed: A colorless picture of a clown (see the example given), the
original colored clown poster and pastel crayons.
Procedures:
• Give the reading materials or do it as a listening activity to describe what the
clown has.
• Each member has to paint the clown after reading or listening to the description.
• Stick the original (colorful) picture of the clown and give feedback to children.
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A reading game: Giving advice
Age: 10-11
Organization: Group game
Aims: To improve learners’ reading ability and to let them show what they have
read.
Language focus: ‘should’
Materials needed: Colorful pieces of clothes and equipments which are made
of cardboards (magnet, glue, scissors), a model woman made of cardboard to be
Aunt Mary, pieces of papers to write the problems of Aunt Mary and envelopes to
put them in.
Procedures:
• Introduce Aunt Mary to the classroom.
• Divide the class into 4 groups. Give an envelope to each group in which one of
the problems of Aunt Mary is explained as a paragraph.
(Example problem: Aunt Mary will have friends for dinner. She needs to prepare
some food for them. What should she wear?)
• Show the first example by reading one of her problems and by writing her
advices on the board. Put the required clothes on Aunt Mary to solve her
problem.
• Give 10 minutes to the groups to read her problem and write their advices by
using ‘should’.
• Call each group leader to come and read their problems and the solutions they
have written.
• Get them to put the suitable clothes and items on Aunt Mary one by one.
• Give five points for each correct written advice and extra five points for
dressing Aunt Marry according to the advice they wrote.
• The groups with more points will be the winner of this reading game.
games 323
Lets’ talk through puppet clock A speaking game: Describing pictures
Age: 10-11 Age: 10-11
Organization: Two groups Organization: Two groups
Aims: To improve students’ speaking ability in an enjoyable way. Aims: To improve students’ speaking ability in an enjoyable way.
Language focus: What time is it? Language focus: Present progressive, there is/are?
Materials needed: A hand made big puppet clock which is wearable and a lot of Materials needed: A dice made of cardboard, different pictures to stick on the
hair with cards designed to practice different times (you can play the same game floor, a box with numbers to nominate learners.
with various different clocks). Procedures:
Procedures: • Divide the class into two groups and hand out numbers to each group member.
• Hand the puppet on your arms to take students’ attention and increase their • Stick one picture in each step of the game road stuck on the floor.
curiosity. Ask them “Who am I? Can you guess my name?” Introduce this
• Call a member from each group by choosing a number from the box.
wearable clock such as ‘I am Mr. Clock’.
• Want them to throw the dice and let a student with higher number start the
• Choose a student to help you when introducing the game they are going to
game.
play in order to practice the structure “What time is it?”
• Let them throw the dice to understand which picture s/he is going to talk
• Want him/her to pick up a hair of Mr. Clock with which a paper is tied. Want
about (E.g: 3 on dice means that the student should move three steps further).
him/her to answer the question by using the information written on the paper.
• Ask to the student to describe what is seen in the picture in two minutes.
• Teacher: What time is it?
• Give 5 points for each correct sentence.
• Student: It is half past ten.
• Change the group members for each turn.
• Want him/her to show the time on Mr. Clock.
• The group which finishes the road with higher numbers will win the game.
• Divide the class into two groups and call two members from each group to
start the game.
• Give 10 points for each correct conversation to the groups and give extra five
points for each correct demonstration on Mr. Clock.
• Finish the game when they finish all the hair on Mr. Clock.
• Count the points after completing the activity to decide on the winner.

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A writing game: What are there in the village?
Age: 10-11
Organization: Group work
Aims: To make students produce the structure of there is /there are besides
practicing already learnt vocabulary with regard to the village context.
Language focus: There is/ there are
Materials needed: A big cardboard with colorful parts, small colorful boxes with
some pictures showing already known vocabulary in it.
Procedures:
• Divide the class into five groups.
• Hand out different boxes made of cardboards whose colors are the same with
the parts on the cardboard.
• Assign a monitor for each group.
• Explain the context and the activity (describing the village)
• Let one of the group members choose a box for their group task.
• Keep the time (3-5 minutes is enough).
• When the time is over, check their sentences. For each correct sentence, let
them stick the picture on the big board.
• The group with more pictures on their board will be the winner of the game.
Chapter review questions
1. What are the pros and cons of playing games in language classrooms?
2. Explain and illustrate the difference between play and game.
3. What are some central issues in the use of games in teaching English through
games?
4. To what extent do teachers’ beliefs play an important role in integrating a
game into a language classroom?
5. What are the roles of a teacher to make a game meaningful and fun for
learners?
6. To what extent do peers help each other while playing a language game?
7. Explain how to design a language game step by step.
8. Why is it so important to include ludic principles into the game to be played in
the classroom? Give an example to support your ideas.
326 Texts and Tools
Music and Puppets
Esim Gürsoy
“A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the
pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron .”
Horace Mann
The aim of this chapter is to provide a framework for teaching EFL to young learners
via music and puppets. The first part of the chapter will present background
information on the importance of integration of music to the teaching environment.
The benefits of using songs, chants, finger plays, and rhymes in the language
development of children will be discussed and examples will be given. In the second
part, the role of puppets in children’s social, affective, and linguistic development
will be discussed. Ways of using puppets in language teaching will be examined
and different examples of making puppets will be exemplified. Before reading this
chapter, brainstorm the following questions.
Preliminary Questions
1. Which language skill develops first in infants? Does it tell you something about
which language skill should be developed in EFL first ?
2. What are the initial musical pieces with which children encounter?
3. Discuss the developmental importance of music for children.
4. For what different purposes can music be used in classrooms?
5. How can puppets facilitate learning and teaching?
Why music?
Being different from adolescents and adults, EFL children do not have a reason for
learning another language. Due to the lack of a need to communicate, teaching
methods and strategies that would normally apply for older learners do not usually
work with young learners. The age difference among learners is an important
consideration for teachers which requires knowledge about the characteristics of
the student group. Children bring in their skills and instincts that they developed
musıc and puppets 327
while acquiring their mother tongue to the language classroom. In that sense,
classrooms for young learners should be seen as extension to their social world if
we want to develop their present skills without much burden to them.
Children naturally like to have fun when they play, interact and learn. Any “serious
task” proposed by the teacher can become a game, a reason for laughter or
detachment and loss for children. Children learn by doing and seeing; therefore,
being “still” while learning in the classroom is very difficult for young learners.
What’s more, children are very talkative. They like to talk about things with which
they are familiar among which one’s own life is the most popular topic for this age
group.
According to Piaget’s cognitive developmental stages, children do not develop
hypothetical thinking until the age of 11 and can only understand what is concrete.
Thus, teaching English to young learners needs to be organized around the “here
and now” principle. Young learners do not have a concern for the hypothetical. The
question interrogating the meaning of life is totally meaningless to many of them.
They also do not really concentrate on the past or future simply because what is
happening at the moment is more interesting and energizing. Activities and topics
that are abstract are not appropriate for children as they cannot relate to their lives.
Relating language learning to students’ lives is crucial for them to be able to build a
connection with what they experience as a child and what they are learning.
Hands-on task
Fill in the following table to show your opinion on what 9 year old students may
like or dislike talking about. Use the topics given below. And one additional one
for each category.
horses democracy pollution friendship spaghetti working mothers
colours mobile phones love marriage a lost child cartoon characters
They are likely to like They are likely to dislike
Children need to be actively involved in the learning process. Active involvement requires
emotional, physical and mental involvement. Children’s attention span is very short. Thus,
it is essential to change the flow of activities in the lesson frequently by using different and
interesting activities that would involve them physically and mentally. The activities should
involve students rather than just occupy them. The activities should provide opportunities for
talking and be meaningful, purposeful, and enjoyable at the same time.
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Discussion question
Think of two different activities that would involve children emotionally, physically
and mentally and are purposeful and enjoyable at the same time. Explain how
these activities cater for the needs of children.
Unlike adults, children can learn only when the information is presented to them
indirectly. Traditional teaching methods of explaining the rules directly, translating,
or repetitious drills do not help children learn although some of these techniques
may work well with adults. With the traditional teaching methods such as drills,
children cannot develop an interest in the task. If they cannot relate what they
already know to what they are learning, the teaching process becomes confusing.
Part of this problem can be seen in children’s L1 acquisition. Parents do not correct
their children’s grammar errors or pronunciation as they acquire their mother
tongue. Even if parents correct their children, it is not possible for the child to
understand the error and self-correct as s/he is focused on the meaning rather
than the form. Teachers should shift their focus from form to meaning and design
activities accordingly. In addition, children have a natural capacity to grasp the
meaning although they may not understand every single word (Halliwell, 1992).
They can interpret the meaning from the visual clues such as gestures, body
language, pictures, or the context in which the language is used. Thus, it is not an
effective strategy to try to give L1 equivalents of every single word that is uttered
in the classroom. With the adequate use of visual aids, children can perfectly grasp
the meaning which is an outcome of their ability to learn indirectly.
Discussion question
Look at the cartoon and discuss why
the child does not correct his grammar
error in his native language.
One way to help children use their natural characteristics in the classroom is via
integrating songs and rhymes to our syllabus. According to Gardner (1993), musical
intelligence emerges earlier than the others. The first musical piece that we hear as
musıc and puppets 329
infants is usually our mothers’ lullabies. Mothers use lullabies to soothe and comfort classroom language should avoid book language and present examples of everyday
the baby. Lullabies also help to build a warm connection between the mother and language in order to provide meaningful input. Authentic children’s songs can
the child. As we grow older, we learn to make our own music by constantly hitting provide informal daily language and can provide meaningful language input.
a pan with a wooden spoon or our plate with a fork. Children learn to build social In addition, learners benefit from authentic language use. Listening, speaking,
relationships and connect with each other with the songs that they sing and dance reading, and writing skills as well as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and
together. At the same time they can come across with grammatical rules, stress, suprasegmentals such as rhythm, intonation and stress patterns are developed by
intonation and pronunciation as well as vocabulary through music. Songs and means of employing appropriate tasks and activities. Songs, chants, and rhymes
rhymes constitute the first patterned texts that children acknowledge. This way, create wonderful opportunities in developing language skills without the boredom
music plays an important role in the smooth transition from lyrics to the printed caused during the formal teaching of these skills.
word. Music can create a positive and enjoyable classroom atmosphere. Music not
Hokey Pokey
only helps children’s social and emotional development, but also their language
development. You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out,
There are multiple reasons for using music with young learners. According to
You put your right foot in
Krashen (1982), for learning to be facilitated, learners need to lower down their
And you shake it all about.
affective filter. The weakness in the affective filter would result in more positive
You do the Hokey Pokey
attitudes and would encourage learners to take risks. Songs create a comfortable
And you turn yourself around,
and relaxed environment that would help reduce negative feelings such as stress
That’s what it’s all about.
and anxiety. The fun and enjoyment that is created while listening to music or
singing songs as a group help students reduce their affective filter. You put your left foot in,
You put your left foot out,
Study the concept You put your left foot in,
The affective filter is a mental mechanism that can either facilitate or hinder And you shake it all about.
language production. When the affective filter is high, we may experience anxiety You do the Hokey Pokey
that may hinder our success in learning a language. Having a low affective filter, And you turn yourself around,
on the other hand, encourages risk-taking behavior through which students use That’s what it’s all about.
the language as naturally as possible. You put your right hand in,
By providing opportunities to develop automaticity due to the repetitive nature of You put your right hand out,
the songs, music can contribute to children’s cognitive development. As argued by You put your right hand in
Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988), language fluency requires the knowledge and And you shake it all about.
production of language in a rapid manner without any pauses. Within the context You do the Hokey Pokey
of communicative language teaching methodology, unlike meaningless repetitive And you turn yourself around,
drills, songs provide purposeful and enjoyable repetition as they are usually That’s what it’s all about.
accompanied by physical activities in a meaningful context. In addition, lyrics create You put your left hand in,
opportunities for students to make innovative contribution by writing their own You put your left hand out,
verses to the song (Linse, 2007). Using music, rhymes, and finger plays have not You put your left hand in,
only affective and cognitive gains, but also linguistic ones. Majority of children’s And you shake it all about.
songs have repetitions that are valuable for children to notice the chunks, which are You do the Hokey Pokey
ready-made pieces of language that can easily be used elsewhere, when needed. And you turn yourself around, Activity
Chunks are very useful for beginning level learners as they help the child join in That’s what it’s all about. etc. Identify the chunks that students
conversations. With the confidence that comes with the use of chunks, learners get might pick up from these songs.
more language practice (Moon, 2000). Explain why they are easy for
Due to the fact that children need and use informal language in their daily lives, children to be learned.

330 Texts and Tools musıc and puppets 331

Using music in the classroom not only provides cognitive, affective, and linguistic phonological awareness, it is essential that the learner can segment the words and
gains, but also practical gains such as smooth activity transitions and classroom identify the sounds in isolation. In addition, through the identification of auditory
management. Music can be used to signal the start of different types of activities, or phonological patterns, children get prepared for the visual patterns with which
can facilitate transitions between activities, and change the energy flow in the they will come across. Also, rhymes facilitate the process of detecting phonological
classroom. For instance, repetitive use of certain musical pieces at the beginning patterns. As most English songs, chants, and finger-plays have rhymes, the use
of certain activities would inform children about the upcoming activity. The of them in the classroom would enable the young learners during the decoding
musical piece used before a story-telling activity should be different from the piece process.
that is used to indicate a game. This way, transitions between the activities are
made smoothly and in an enjoyable way. It is usually chaotic to help students to
LITTLE STAR
concentrate on a reading activity after a kinesthetic activity. When the children
get excited and physically active they tend to continue with a type of activity that Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
makes them use their body in an active way. We call such activities as “stirring/ How I wonder what you are.
rousing” activities where children get involved in a physical game, a role-play, and/ Up above the world so high,
or a TPR activity. However, when it is time to focus on other skills such as reading,
Like a diamond in the sky.
writing or any type of intrapersonal activity, it becomes difficult for students to
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
settle down and move on with what’s called a “settling” activity. Thus, music can
be used to help the transition between stirring and settling activities and facilitate How I wonder what you are.
classroom management by preventing chaos after kinesthetic activities. The type of
music chosen for a kinesthetically active game could energize the children to play
the game, whereas, a softer, calming tune could help children to settle down to do TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR
an individual activity or to read and write. Thus, music can be used to prepare the Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
students emotionally according to the type of the activity to be used. Moreover, Touch the ground.
music can be used as background to trigger students’ musical intelligence and to Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
create a warm and secure classroom atmosphere. Turn around.
Finally, with the use of music, children find opportunity to use their creativity and Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
develop cultural awareness. The use of authentic songs provides cultural information Show your shoe.
about the target language. Indirect presentation of cultural information can help Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
children develop a multicultural understanding towards differences and similarities That will do.
of the L2 community. Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Studies in the field of psycholinguistics indicate that using songs in the learning Run upstairs.
process facilitate language acquisition process by activating both right and left Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
hemispheres. The left hemisphere is responsible for analytic processing of the Say your prayers.
language. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is dominant in processing Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
nonverbal stimuli such as the melody and the body. Therefore, using songs as a Blow out the light.
language teaching material would enable the learners to be more active learners by Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
engaging them fully with the learning process in which both hemispheres are used. Say good night.

The listening skill

Listening is the foundation of all the other skills. Naturally, listening is the first
skill that develops in an infant’s language learning experience. Through listening to
the sounds that are in the environment, the baby learns to distinguish them. Good
listening skills will help the development of the reading skill as the children learn
to match the symbols with the sounds to decode the words. In order to develop

332 Texts and Tools musıc and puppets 333

Various listening comprehension activities can be done with songs, chants and The speaking skill
finger plays. To help children develop phonological awareness, it would be a good The speaking skill is the second skill that develops. One of the basic characteristics
exercise to ask children to identify the rhyming words in the song. A fill-in-the of children is that they are talkative. Most of the time, it is very difficult for the parent
blanks exercise can be transformed into a drawing activity. Instead of writing the and the teacher to stop them from talking. Children always have “important” things
words in the blanks students can draw them. The second time they sing, they can to tell. The trick in the classroom is to use this instinct in a way that it contributes
sing by using the clues given through their own drawings. This way, they will be to their language development. Therefore, the classroom activities and tasks should
emotionally, psychologically and kinesthetically involved in the process while both involve a certain amount of speaking interaction. In addition, in order for students
of their hemispheres are triggered. to speak, the activities need to be meaningful, purposeful and enjoyable. Songs
and chants are always a source of joy for children; however, the activities that are
This Old Man
associated with the songs are even more important to create a reason for children
This old man, he played to talk. The repetitions in the songs provide students with enough practice for the
pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation. In addition, pronunciation, stress, intonation
He played knick-knack on my ; and rhythm, the topic of the song can be used as a start to a speaking activity as
Knick-knack paddywhack, well. The song titled The Mulberry Bush, for instance, can be used to talk about our
daily routine or to discuss how the students do the so-called actions. Moreover, the
Give a dog a ,
chunks in songs serve as ready-made pieces of language that can be used later on.
This old man came rolling home. In order to have the utmost fun
The Mulberry Bush while singing, it is best to associate
Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush the lyrics with actions. This way it
This old man, he played two,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush becomes easier for students to learn
He played knick-knack on my; Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush the vocabulary and decode meaning.
So early in the morning The actions reduce the amount of
Knick-knack paddywhack,
This is the way we wash our face translation while making meaning
Give a dog a bone, clear. In addition, as children are
Wash our face, wash our face
This old man came rolling home. This is the way we wash our face predominantly visual and kinesthetic,
So early in the morning singing songs with actions requires
This is the way we comb our hair the use of multiple learning channels,
This old man, he played three, invokes multiple intelligences, and
Comb our hair, comb our hair
This is the way we comb our hair thus enhances learning by facilitating
He played knick-knack on my ;
So early in the morning the internalization process. Seeing
Knick-knack paddywhack, others perform the actions is helpful
This is the way we brush our teeth
for visual learners, singing the song
Give a dog a bone, Brush our teeth, brush our teeth
is helpful for those having musical
This old man came rolling home. This is the way we brush our teeth
and verbal/linguistic intelligences,
So early in the morning
and doing the actions is helpful
Activity This is the way we put on our clothes for bodily/kinesthetic intelligence.
This old man, he played four, Choose a children’s song and Put on our clothes, put on our clothes Auditory, tactile, and visual learning
He played knick-knack on my ; design a listening activity either This is the way we put on our clothes channels work all at the same time
for developing comprehension So early in the morning while increasing comprehension.
Knick-knack paddywhack, or pronunciation. Take
Give a dog a bone, children’s characteristics into The reading skill
consideration as you design The reading skill is the third skill in the natural order. It requires the recognition of
This old man came rolling home
your activity. sounds and symbols and associating them with the meaning that they represent.

334 Texts and Tools musıc and puppets 335

Linse (2007) defines reading as “a set of skills that involves making sense and
deriving meaning from the printed word” (p. 81). Reading itself is not just decoding
the words, it also involves comprehension. According to Anderson (2003), the aim
of reading is to understand the meaning. Reading in a foreign language is rather
difficult for children as it requires solid knowledge about the sound and letter
system. What children hear is reflected in different ways in languages where there
is no one-to-one correspondence with the symbols and sounds as is the case in
English. Therefore, it is essential that learners come across with the written text.
Songs can give a reason for reading. Not just the lyrics of a song but also a short
reading text that compliments the context of the song could be used with young
learners. As students get familiar with the song with actions and pictures, reading
comprehension is facilitated. Moreover, using songs helps the development of the
listening skill, which, as discussed earlier, is essential for children to learn to match
the symbols with the sounds.
The writing skill
Being the most problematic skill not only in L2 but also in L1, it is difficult to engage
young learners with writing. The major problem in writing is lacking a reason for
writing which is followed by organizing the thoughts and ideas that will be put into
a text. In Turkey, young learners are mostly required to write at the sentence level.
However, writing without a context is even more complex for children. The best way
to provide a context is via songs. After being familiar with the context of the song,
students can easily shape their thoughts. Thus, initial writing experiences of young
learners can be via “innovations” (Linse, 2007). For example, writing new versions
of a song is referred to as innovations. Children can create their own verses to
familiar songs. This is easier than writing a whole paragraph from scratch as the
pattern is known and the chunks are also helpful. In addition, it is an opportunity to
create fun with the freedom of being silly. This could be arranged in group writing,
where students work in groups to write their own verses.
The “prewriting” stage helps children get together to organize their ideas and get
prepared for the writing process. At this stage, they can decide on the vocabulary
they will use, find rhyming words, and decide on the chunks they will put together.
In the second step, “writing”, children put down all the ideas that they have thought
in the prewriting stage, without worrying about their errors. The major objective of
this stage is to put down all the ideas on paper. In the third stage students “revise”
what they have written by checking the flow. Later on, at the “editing” stage,
students check for the grammatical or spelling errors. Finally, at the “publishing”
stage, they make their work public by presenting it to the others in the classroom.
In this case, when writing innovations to the songs they have sung before, they can
sing it together to their classmates (Linse, 2007).
Activity
Use the “Hokey Pokey” or the “Mulberry Bush” songs to make your own innovations.
Write new verses to the songs and share it with your peers.
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Using Puppets
Using puppets is a great way to practice in English with young learners. First of all,
it reduces the anxiety that children may have due to learning something unfamiliar,
irrelevant, and not so purposeful. For young learners, learning a foreign language
is a new experience that might be difficult to relate to their own lives. Therefore, it
is crucial for the language teacher to relate language learning to something with
which students are familiar. By this way, students’ negative feelings will be reduced
to minimum.
Children’s perception of reality is different from adults. Reality for young learners
contains elements of imagination and creativity. Children frequently personalize
what they do when they take part in make-believe games. Therefore, it would be a
very good strategy to bring children’s daily habits into the classroom. Personalization
in games is great for imagination and creativity. The tools that children use for
personalization are usually the toys with which they play. They can successfully use
anything as an instrument for communication mostly by role-playing. They often
pretend to be adults through exaggerated mimics by focusing on the events and
situations that belong to the world of the adults’. It is very likely to see or hear a
child talking to a doll as “Don’t cry little baby, mummy will give you your milk” as an
imitation of her own mother’s behavior. Playing with a car and personalizing the toy
such as “I’m driving in super turbo mode. I’ll jump over the bridge and win the race”
is also a common activity one can see when around a child.
Caregivers also use role-playing with the use of puppets when playing with their
children. They use puppets as a tool to talk about appropriate behaviors, to explain
things, events, to set examples, to help children talk about their feelings etc. Puppets
are amusing for children. They enjoy listening to the stories from a puppet and they
can easily interact with the puppet. Some children’s programs use puppets not just
to amuse children but to teach something with the use of a fun character to take
children’s attention. Puppets are in the natural and everyday environment of most
children. Therefore, it is wise and effective to use them as a resource in language
teaching. The integration of puppets to language teaching is also affectively
facilitative. According to Slattery and Willis (2004) children feel more comfortable
when talking to a puppet as they reduce the anxiety of talking to an adult.
How to use puppets
The basic strategy when using puppets is to give an identity and a personality to the
character/ puppet. The person who uses the puppet usually has a distinctive voice
to get attention and to be funny. Because of the amusing features of puppeteering,
children learn social concepts and behaviors without consciously being aware of it.
Moreover, talking to a puppet is more comfortable then talking to an adult. Especially
for shy and introvert children using puppets is an effective way to engage them in
talking. Puppets, as they engage children in talking, help them express themselves
and are used as a problem solving device.
musıc and puppets 337
Without doubt, a resource, that is frequently a part of children’s daily life and L1 Puppets from paper plates
development, can be useful as well if it is used with L2 children. L2 teachers can This is one of the easiest ways to make puppets. It is as
use the puppets for similar reasons such as to reduce anxiety caused by talking simple as drawing the face of a character on the back of a
to an adult, reduce psychological barriers, bring fun into the classroom, join shy
paper or plastic plate and decorating it. Here, in the example
students in classroom talk, develop social skills, and to teach appropriate behavior
below, these paper plate puppets are used for teaching about
etc. In addition, they can be used to foster some language skills and can be used
animals practicing some language work through the voices of
as an indicator of certain classroom activities. Puppets are great for teaching
the animals. Students are expected to role play by using these
songs, chants and teaching pronunciation. For instance, with songs such as “Old
puppets in a dramatic way.
McDonald’s” puppet and children can sing the song together by sharing the lyrics:
P: Old McDonald has a farm Finger Puppets
C: EIEIOOOO There are different ways to make finger
P: And on his farm puppets. As simple drawings on cardboards
C: He has some chicks …etc. can be turned into finger puppets, empty egg
shells can also be used as materials to draw
Puppets can also be used to correct pronunciation while singing the songs with a
faces on and to play with. Here, in the example
room for exaggeration. Or the puppet can be an excellent method of error correction.
below, egg-shell finger puppets are used for
It can make the children’s errors itself so that it won’t be the children who are being
teaching countries and nationalities.
corrected or who are making errors, but the puppet. It would be even more effective
if the children help the teacher to correct the error. Thus, puppets can be used as a String Puppets
method of self-correction.
String puppets are not only enjoyable to
Puppets are a teacher’s biggest help. The teacher can use the puppet as one of the make, but also delightful to play with. It is easy
classroom members to introduce a topic, to give instructions, to demonstrate an to create a story with different characters.
activity, to tell a story, to start a game, to use in a role play, to activate schema, to
As students speak for the puppets and move
create a warm classroom atmosphere, to create fun, or to work on certain grammar
them around they are involved in the language
and pronunciation errors implicitly.
learning visually and kinesthetically. They will
Activity not only improve their speaking skills, they
Design an activity by using puppets to aid the teacher in accomplishing one of will have fun, use their creativity, imagination,
these goals listed above. Describe how you will use the puppet. and find a way to use their kinesthetic energy.
As well as being a valuable resource, making puppets can be an opportunity for Sock puppets
children to produce their own resources. Involving students in making resources
Children might need some help when producing sock-puppets as they require some
brings in many benefits. First of all, while engaged in the process children are exposed
sewing, but still they can be involved in the production by bringing in socks, buttons
to meaningful input from the teacher. The instructions provided by the teacher will
(for eyes), and knitting yarn (for hair, whiskers, etc.). During the process, students
give a real reason for listening comprehension. Moreover, the repetitions and the
chunks used while giving the instructions are likely to enable the children catch the will be exposed to meaningful input while the teacher is giving instructions such as:
language patterns and chunks to be used elsewhere. Secondly, it gives them an ȤȤ Give me two brown buttons for her eyes.
opportunity to use English purposefully. Therefore, the language practice occurs ȤȤ What color is Sally’s hair?
naturally. In addition, being involved in making resources children become more ȤȤ Bring me some brown knitting yarn.
willing to use them and responsible to protect them when using. ȤȤ I need the scissors, who has got the scissors?
Types of puppets
ȤȤ Now, help me glue it, please.
In addition to the linguistic benefits, children will also learn to work collaboratively
Puppets can be made by using different materials and can be made by involving to accomplish a common goal. They learn social skills by working as a team. In the
children in the process. Puppets can be made from socks, paper bags, plastic plates, pictures below the teacher is using sock-puppets to tell a story to children.
wooden spoons, milk boxes or cardboard rolls from paper towels. Finger puppets
can be made by simple character drawings and coloring tied around the fingers.

338 Texts and Tools musıc and puppets 339

 Study questions and projects
1. Choose a welcoming song for children when they first come to the classroom.
Puppets from fruits and Consider using this song each time before you start your lesson. Why would
vegetables you choose that song? What might be your selection criteria for that song
By using the fruits and vegetables found (length, lyrics, rhythm, etc.)?
in the fridge, we can make puppets as
2. Make a puppet that you would continuously use to aid your teaching. Give
well. These can be used for describing
it a name and some characteristics. What would be some characteristics of
people, or talking about fruits and
the puppet? Why? When you give a character to your puppet think about the
vegetables through personalization.
purposes of using puppets and things that would interest and enjoy children.
They are very easy to make. With the
3. Examine a primary school course book, choose a unit and try to find songs
help of chopsticks, toothpicks, and/or
relevant with the topic or the structure of the unit. Think different ways and
wooden sticks and with a little bit of drawing it is possible to make different puppet
purposes of using the song as well as the appropriate section of the lesson
characters. We have to make sure that after using the fruits and vegetables, we eat
(warm-up, presentation, practice).
them after washing them thoroughly to set an example to our students for we don’t
waste our food!

Puppets from plastic cups and balloons

Plastic cup puppets are very easy to make. The plastic cup is used as the body of the
puppet. A slightly blown balloon is used as the head and inserted in the hole that
is made at the bottom of the cup. Then, they are decorated by using knitting yarn,
drawings, and colorful paper for dress. The puppets in the example below are made
to teach different moods and facial expression. We, again, must make sure the we
don’t use too many cups and put them into the waste bin. We use and reuse them
for instructional purposes so as to save our planet!

Cardboard puppets
Another way to make simple puppets
is via using cardboards. A desired
character is drawn and cut out from a
cardboard. Two copies of the figure are
glued to each other from the sides so
that a pocket is left in the middle to put
the hand in. The figure is colored and
decorated with crayons, colorful cards,
buttons etc. Then it is ready to use.

340 Texts and Tools musıc and puppets 341

 Literature
Feryal Çubukcu

Discussion question
When you were a child, did you enjoy listening to stories? What made you like
them?
Children and literature
Children love stories, fairy tales and folk tales a lot and they love to hear and tell the
stories. Storytelling is an ideal introduction to foreign languages as stories provide
a familiar context for the child. Moreover, if teachers want to attract children’s
attention they must propose a motivating activity such as story telling. Children
start enjoying literature from an early age by the teacher’s use of extensive reading
of stories. Literature, in general, allows pupils to understand and appreciate cultures
and ideologies different from their own. Consequently, children learn to respect
other cultures and to be involved in them. In addition to this, storytelling provides
contexts for speaking, listening, reading, writing and other activities such as dancing
and dramatizing. According to several critics (Gomez, 2010, pp. 31-34), there are a
number of reasons why teachers use children’s stories:
• are motivating and fun,
• create a desire to communicate,
• help developing positive attitudes,
• exercise imagination,
• are a useful tool in linking the fantasy and imagination with the child’s
real world.
Literature has a social and emotional value, which is a vital part of its role in the
development of children’s language learning skills. Storytelling provokes a response
of laughter, sadness, excitement and anticipation, which can encourage the child’s
social and emotional development. In addition, there is always a sort of interaction
between the reader and his listeners so s/he can ask for listeners’ collaboration to
say what happens next, for instance. Listening to stories is a natural way of acquiring
language. The child learns to deduce what happens next, to deduce the meaning of
words from the context or visual aids.
Children enjoy listening to stories over and over again. This allows certain language
items to be acquired while others are being overtly reinforced. Little by little they
make sense out of the listening. In addition, repetition also encourages participation
in the narrative, thereby providing a type of pattern practice in a meaningful context.
Telling stories is a resource of linguistic input. The process of making input
comprehensible is an active constructive process (Genesee, 1994, p. 53). An important

342 Texts and Tools literature 343

condition for language acquisition to occur is that the student understands the input
that contains a structure ‘a bit beyond’ his/ her current level of competence. Hence,
they can understand most of it, but still be challenged to make progress (Brown, 1987,
p. 188). Stories allow the teacher to introduce or revise new vocabulary, sentence
structures and pronunciation in meaningful contexts by means of pictures, gestures,
intonation, facial expression, and dramatizing. Children acquire them unconsciously as
they listen to the story for meaning in order to know what is going on. Consequently,
children must be active participants in the construction of meaning.
Stories can be used to reinforce conceptual development in children (colour, shape,
time, size etc.) and they are a way of getting children to learn for themselves.
Stories reinforce thinking strategies (comparing, classifying, predicting, planning
etc.), develop strategies for learning English (guessing the meaning of new words,
training the memory etc.) and improve study skills (understanding and interpreting
charts and graphs, organizing work and so on.).
Stories help children lower their affective filter by making them feel relaxed. Knowing
that “relaxed students learn more easily” (Dulay, 1982, p. 266), stories should
be a part of any foreign language teaching process. A low affective filter, which
may result from feelings of relaxation, well-being or success, maximises learning
efficiency (Ellis, 2000). In this positive atmosphere, the affective filter is down and
the acquisition of the new language is easier. In addition to this, all learners are
involved and their work is valued, which makes them feel comfortable. In this sense,
Broughton and others (1980, p. 170) assert that no child should feel pressed to
learn. Moreover, children will learn more if they have a positive attitude towards
what they are doing and if they want to do it (Williams, 1998, p. 204).
In general terms, children acquire first the general semantic characteristics of words
(Galeote, 2002, p. 167). Their meanings are contextualized and can be inferred from
the pictures or teacher’s gestures. Moreover, the teacher usually reads slowly and
gives them time to think about the meaning and look at the pictures. Many traditional
stories abound with powerfully repeated phrases such as Goldilocks – Who’s been
sitting on my chair? And who’s broken it? Added baby bear... Who’s been sleeping in
my bed? Baby bear adds: and who’s still sleeping there now? These examples can
be used as an almost subliminal grammar input (Morgan & Rinvolucri, 1983, p. 2).
Stories help children develop their narrative skills. Narrative with children has
been studied as a key genre in classroom work (Collerson, 1988; Cope & Kalantzis,
1993). Stories have a plot structure with a clear beginning, some turning-points and
their resolutions. There is strong human interest in the events and motivations of
story characters and how they solve problems (Cortazzi, 1993; Linde, 1993). This
narrative thinking is a unique mode of thought which is distinct from the logical
kind of thinking in that ‘narrative knowing’ is particularly important for children’s
learning (Bruner, 1986). That is why educators have called for a ‘narrative curriculum’
based around storytelling, especially for the primary stage (Egan, 1988; Lauritzen
& Jaeger, 1997).
344 Texts and Tools
Discussion
Read the following extract and discuss how narrative curriculum may deliver
Mathematics as well English lessons. Try to come up with one narrative curriculum
activity for each of the lessons.
Constructing stories in the mind/ storying, as it has been called/ is one of
the most fundamental means of making meaning; as such it is an activity
that pervades all aspects of learning… Through the exchange of stories,
teachers and students can share their understandings of a topic and bring
their mental models of the world into closer alignment. In this sense,
stories, and storytelling are relevant in all areas of the curriculum. (Wells,
1986, p. 194)
Forster’s (1927, p. 82) definition of the plot as ‘The king died and then the queen
died of grief’ (without the last two words, Forster argues, this is not a plot) tells
us what a plot is. Our experience with this kind of framework is that learners can
benefit for the support of using the series of questions (roughly from top to bottom
in cumulatively to generate, first, a short simple story, then gradually increasing the
length and complexity successively prompted by questions). With teacher support,
young learners can remember a long oral story because of the repetitions involved
and visual props.
Discussion
Why are the last two words (underlined for emphasis) of this sentence important
to accept it as a narrative? Discuss your reasons and think about it in relation
to how this understanding of a plot affects your storytelling in young learners’
classrooms.
‘The king died and then the queen died of grief.’
When it comes social aspects of developing narrative and narrative learning, there is
substantial research on how children learn to tell stories (Applebee, 1978; McCabe
& Peterson, 1991; Bamberg, 1997). Progressions in children’s development include
using connectives (such as ‘then’, ‘so’ or ‘but’) to show chains of chronological
events and causation. Later developments may involve embedding events within
a larger framework and perhaps understanding and using flash-backs and flash-
forwards and giving clearer accounts of motivation and character. However, much
of this research pays insufficient attention to the content and meaning of children’s
stories and to the cultural settings and situations in which children hear or tell
stories. These aspects are relevant to learners because cultural variations may
imply that narrative skills may be valued and realized differently in the range of
cultures represented by these learners. Children are socialized into the narrative
ways of their own culture. Through narrative they are, in turn, socialized into the
shared knowledge, social experience and cultural values. Thus ‘narrative learning’
may be conceptualized as “learning a narrative” and “learning through a narrative.”
literature 345
 Discussion
Discuss the difference between “learning a narrative” and “learning through a
narrative” by giving specific real life examples from your own culture as well as
from your learning of a foreign language and culture.
Narratives revolve around the following parts of the narration:
• Prior events: What happened before?
• Context: Where? When?
• Causes: Why? How?
• Sequence of events
• Consequences: Why? Because….
• Characters, their motives, and reactions
Using visual means and clues is an important complement to developing oral
narrative skills. The process of hearing and producing English through visuals
could be regarded as an aspect of graphic literacy (Cortazzi et al., 1998) as visuals
represent the content knowledge (Mohan, 1986). The content of a chart or map,
for instance, can be verbalized in different ways but listening to many versions of a
story and writing or telling one’s own version while using visual support means that
both the content and the relevant language are likely to be remembered.
It is suggested that teachers tell (rather than read) stories by using plenty of
gestures, facial expressions, and a degree of dramatization accompanied by using
the voice and mime (Colwell, 1980; Grainger, 1997). Such dramatization clarifies
the meaning through enactment and repetition and can be practiced. Masks, hats,
puppets, posters and theme-based displays of stories, actions, songs, and role plays
can enrich this narrative experience. Such creative activities provide a format to
recycle the language and concepts in a story and make curricular links (Morgan &
Rinvolucri, 1983; Garvie, 1990). Further activities may include:
• identifying and labelling people, locations, items and props,
• describing attributes (colour, size, shape),
• examining relations by comparing, contrasting, sorting into sets and
categories,
• predicting and sequencing of events in time or by establishing cause and
effect relationships.
For many young students, eras and events of the past in folk tales and fairy tales
seem totally unrelated to their lives. But by acting out those stories, students can
get intensely involved in history. As Booth (1985, p. 195) wrote, through drama,
“teachers help children acquire the means to more fully understand what they have
experienced. Students need to interact with both the author’s thoughts and their
own thoughts in order to bring about true learning.” As Bodrova and Leong (1996,
p. 146) explained, by retelling familiar stories, children learn about general patterns
common to all stories. Using these story patterns (also known as story grammar)
346 Texts and Tools
foreign language learners learn how to put the events in logical sequence while
understanding why a specific sequence is more appropriate in that language and
culture. In strengthening their sense of story grammar, students do not just build
some abstract skill but they also develop an understanding of logical sequencing of
historical events (Kornfeld & Leyden, 2005).
Collie and Slater (1987) and Wessels (1987) focus on the positive contributions of
language learning through literature while pointing to the values and uses of drama,
which can help the teacher to achieve ‘reality’ in several ways by overcoming
students’ resistance to learning the new language by
• making the learning of the new language an enjoyable experience
• setting realistic targets for the students to aim for
• creative ‘slowing down’ of real experience
• linking the language-learning experience with the student’s own
experience of life
• the use of ‘creative tension’ (situations requiring urgent solutions);
• putting more responsibility on the learner as opposed to the teacher.
(Wessels, 1987, pp. 53-54)
Children and selection of stories
Stories must be chosen depending on the age and the linguistic level of the
pupils. Stories, which are culturally familiar, may be especially helpful because
prior knowledge of characters and plots may make the stories potentially more
comprehensible to the learners than unfamiliar ones. If students already know the
story in their first language they will be able to follow the English version of the
same story through body language or using pictures. Real language use is another
criterion to develop students’ language skills and provide them the real language
use.
Another important aspect is illustrations. Children like stories full of illustrations
in bright colours and with interesting characters. They make the meaning of the
story easier to understand than a story without any illustration at all. A story with
illustrations is accessible, useful and relevant for children learning English because
they can understand the story on their own.
In selecting stories for the classroom, Morgan and Rinvolucri (1983, p. 9) consider
two main criteria. First, the teacher would enjoy telling that story and second,
pupils might find that story entertaining. Ellis and Brewster (1991, p. 12) also
give criteria for selecting storybooks. For them there are several points of view:
The first is linguistic (that is the difficulty of structures and vocabulary, the facility
of pronunciation given by rhymes, rhythms or intonations and the content, if it
is relevant and interesting). The second is psychological (if there are attractive
visuals, if the story encourages participation by using repetitions or prediction, if it
is motivating and if it arouses curiosity). Finally, the third one is cultural (if the story
literature 347
creates positive attitudes towards the target language and the target culture and,
finally, if the language is authentic and appropriate for the children). Wright (1996:
p. 15) has got similar ideas about choosing a story as well. He argues that the story
chosen must be appealing to the children. They must like it. The story must be
suitable to the students’ age, linguistic level and maturity. The school children must
understand it in order to enjoy it.
Story-based activities
Critics (Gomez, 2010, p. 39) claim that the environment, which is created in class for
the story telling, is important. It must be relaxing. Asking the pupils to sit in a circle
on the floor can change the boredom traditional classroom setting by signaling that
what they are going to share is something special. Also, if the students feel relaxed,
they may feel more open to what they are about to hear.
Pupils’ enjoyment will increase if the teacher ensures that their understanding is
supported in several ways such as
ȤȤ relating the literary text to their personal world by asking and answering
questions. Children relate the theme to their knowledge and understanding
(Carter & Long, 1991, p. 45).
ȤȤ setting the scene by drawing upon the children’s own experiences or
knowledge about the subject and language used in the story.
ȤȤ providing a context for the story and introducing the main characters.
ȤȤ either providing a brief outline of the main storyline beforehand or
reminding pupils of what has happened so far in the story.
ȤȤ explaining the keywords, expressions or cultural information, even in their
mother tongue. Dramatizing with the learners can be really helpful at this
stage.
ȤȤ Asking the pupils to predict what will happen next in the story.
ȤȤ Providing visual support with realia, published materials, the teacher’s and
pupils’ drawings on the blackboard, cut out figures, masks, puppets or the
illustrations about the story in order to make the story understandable.
Reading like this is seen by many teachers as the most reliable path to the
development of reading skills (Brumfit, Moon, & Tongue 1991: p. 178). Having a
repertoire of ideas and a collection of prototype materials to support the narrative
of the stories helps the teacher to tell the story (Kennedy & Jarvis, 1991, p. 57).
On the other hand, a teacher’s story telling skills are very important. There are a
number of techniques s/he can use in order to make the experience more enjoyable
and successful. The teacher must notice if the pupils are accustomed to story
telling or not. If they are unfamiliar with story telling the teacher should begin with
short sessions that do not demand too much from them. Many critics agree on the
importance of story telling and give some ideas in order to improve their story
telling techniques such as
ȤȤ sitting on the floor around the teacher.
ȤȤ reading slowly and clearly, giving pupils time to think, ask questions, look
348 Texts and Tools
at the pictures and make comments.
ȤȤ making comments about the illustrations or asking and answering
questions about the story.
ȤȤ encouraging pupils to take part in the story telling by repeating key
vocabulary items and phrases or dramatizing here and there.
ȤȤ using gestures, body language, facial expressions, varied intonation, pace and
tone, disguising his/her voice for different characters as much as possible to
help convey meaning. This keeps the pupils’ attention intact as well.
Red riding hood
Two visual means of conveying story meaning are the use of keywords and story
maps. As the first step, children look at the pictures of a wolf and the red riding hood
who is a little girl dressed in a red hooded cloak. The teacher familiarizes them with
the words they do not know in the story. The teacher activates students’ schema
about the wolf and animals and grand mother, providing a context for the story and
introducing the main characters. This helps students to feel involved and to link
their experiences with that of the story to set the scene and then they hear a story
in English through using large pictures; the pictures are not simply illustrations, but
are later placed one by one on the board as prompts for the children to retell the
story in English. This leads to better retellings than simply relying on memory. The
pictures help them to organize their knowledge of the story.
As the second step, the teacher works with the class to choose keywords (nouns and
verbs representing stages of the content), write them on cards and use the cards as
prompts for another retelling. This has a limited effect, since the written words are
not themselves organized visually to support the children’s narrative, so the teacher
then sticks the words on the board in the story order
and joins them with arrows to make a story ‘map’. The learners then retell the
story using the map, and then remove the cards and replace them in sequence,
while themselves retelling the story step by step. As the third step, the teacher asks
students to change the end or ask them how they feel if they are in the shoes of
a. the red riding hood
b. the wolf
c. the hunter
d. the mother
e. the grandmother.
literature 349
Nasreddin hodja repeated word. As the follow up activity children use actions or gestures to indicate
a word and other students guess the word. This game can be played in teams (one
team shows the actions and asks the other team to guess what the words might
be) or as a big group (one student shows/mimes and the others guess). The teacher
makes a set of miming cards based on the content that students have been studying.
Students pick one up and mime and the class guesses what is being mimed and
Story makes a sentence about the story.

One night, Nasreddin Hodja and his wife A variation is the teacher writes down the names of different characters from
wake up with noise. His wife, in panic, says stories that the students have been reading. The name of one character should be
`Effendi, there are thieves downstairs. written on each card. Each student selects a card, then writes a few sentences from
We should go down!’ The Hodja does not the point of view of the character. The student then reads the sentences aloud, using
care. `Woman, there is no need. First, the mannerism, tone of voice, etc. of the selected character. The rest of the class
they have to find something to steal. If guesses who the character is. The teacher brings alot of different items of clothing
they find something, then we’ll go down.’ into the class and students guess which character has which item of clothing.
The teacher asks students to come up with the different aspect of each character
Procedures by miming. Students vary the reactions of the characters such as the step mother
is ill , or she is sick, the Prince Charming is not so charming. For the final section,
After the teacher reads the story, she divides the class into (Hodja, his wife, and
the teacher might have students practise learning the different parts and put on the
burglars) and asks them to dramatize and repeat the dialogue. Then students share
play for other classes and/or parents.
their ideas on narratives revolving around the following parts of the narration.
Aesop’s fables
Cinderella
Students learn the gestures to go with words that are A father has sons who always quarrel.
repeated in a story. Then, as the teacher reads the They never listen when he tells them about the danger of disagreement.
story, the children do the actions when they hear the This father decides to give his sons a practical lesson.
key words. He takes a bundle of sticks and asks each son in turn to break the bundle.
None of his sons are able to do this.
Then the father opens the bundle and gives his sons separate sticks.
Mother Mime an affectionate mother by showing hugging or cuddling Of course the sons could break these sticks easily.
Father Mime a man with moustache The father says, “Our family is like this bundle of sticks.
While we are together, nothing can break us.
Step mother Mime a bad person
When we are divided, our enemies will break us as easily as these sticks.
House Draw a house in the air
The teacher starts the lesson by asking some adjectives for “fathers” and each
Long Stretch both arms out straight to make a long “line”
student comes up with an adjective to describe the characteristic of father. In
Beggar Mime a poor old woman literary texts, it can be used to deepen characterization. In case the level of the
learners’ questions remains literal, or barely relevant, the teacher should intervene
Happy Mime that you are happy
and give lead. This technique operates in a controlled manner and is, therefore, very
Shoes Point to the shoes useful for the teacher who is new to drama. Texts about characters who have done
Prince Charming Draw /show a handsome star’s picture heroic feats, lived an adventurous life or wise in giving advice can be used for . Then
the teacher reads the story through mimes.
Sad Mime that you are sad
The class is told that they are going to interview the character following his/ her
The teacher practices these gestures for the repeated words and slowly reads
adventures. The character (a learner who has volunteered to take on the role) sits in
the story aloud, and has students do the appropriate gestures as they hear each
the front, facing the rest of the class and answers questions posed by the reporters.

350 Texts and Tools literature 351

He is interviewed for no more than 10 minutes. The interviewers ask not just approaches to language teaching, where the learner rather than the language or
questions, but, also take notes in order to write a news story or a more descriptive indeed the teacher is at the centre of the learning process. Drama in the English
feature article for the next edition of their paper. In case of a large number of language classroom is ultimately indispensable because it gives learners the chance
learners in the class, about three learners can team together and prepare questions to use their own personalities. It draws upon students’ natural abilities to imitate
to be asked. After the interview is over, the teams work together for the write-up. and express themselves, and if well-handled should arouse interest and imagination.
The learner who has been questioned in the role of the character can join one of Drama encourages adaptability, fluency, and communicative competence. It puts
the teams. As a variation, different learners can volunteer as the character to be language into context, and by giving learners experience of success in real-life
interviewed. situations it should arm them with confidence for tackling the world outside the
classroom.
Telephone conversations
Hands-on activity
This technique helps enhancing the speaking and listening skills of the learners.
The learners work in pairs sitting their backs touching each other’s so that they 1. Choose a fairy tale and a grammar point that suit it.
can only hear their telephone conversation partner. The learners in each group are 2. Prepare activities to teach that point along with this tale.
to imagine that they are two different characters of the story. They try to have the 3. How do you scaffold students’ learning of English? What are already known by
conversation on the phone. them? What is there to learn?
Soliloquy/ Thought Tracking 4. How would you increase students’ interest?
Each student has a monologue with himself about the conflict in the situation. For To sum up, stories can develop
example, the student role-plays a father to have a monologue with himself about • an understanding of human nature,
what he should do about his spoiled children. After this drama activity, students
• an understanding of feelings,
mime the characters after the father has given his advice “While we are together,
nothing can break us. When we are divided, our enemies will break us as easily as • an awareness of the role characteristics people assume,
these sticks.” Hence each student mimes an emotion (relieved, happy, joyful) and • an understanding of sequence,
the class tries to guess this emotion. • language skills (vocabulary, grammar, syntax and pronunciation),
Bloor (1991, p. 129) contends that children learn a foreign language better in • their attention span and their ability to listen,
situations in which attention is focused on meaning rather than on language itself.
• their ability to follow instructions,
That happens with a tale. It attracts children’s attention and they understand the
• their ability to co-operate with others,
plot of the story. The vocabulary is not abstract but concrete. Moreover, it is useful
because children can understand the new vocabulary without any translations into • an understanding of concepts
their mother tongue. In this sense, Halliwell (1994, p. 3) stands out that young
children are good at interpreting the general meaning. Teachers can make use of
voice intonation or body language to facilitate the process of meaning understanding.
The use of drama activities has a definite place in the classroom. Such activities
provide meaningful and enjoyable language practise, and they encourage learners
to explore the wonderful world of the English language through drama. Drama
activities also develop students’ intelligence by stimulating their imagination and
creativity.
Perhaps one of the greatest advantages to be gained from the use of drama is
that students become more confident in their use of English by experiencing the
language in operation. The student-centredness inherent in all dramatic activities
also improves students’ maturity and motivation, and the physical involvement
contained in drama along with the concept of learning language through action is
an effective variation on the method of Total Physical Response and other holistic

352 Texts and Tools literature 353

 Culture
Servet Çelik

Instructing students in the linguistic

structures of English is only one of the
Think about it:
important aspects of ESL/EFL teaching;
What is culture? How does culture
developing true communicative skills
affect language? Do you think
also requires an understanding of the
understanding culture is necessary
cultural context in which the language
for learning to communicate well in a
is spoken. The goal of this chapter is to
foreign language? Why or why not?
equip future ESL/EFL teachers with an
overview of the concepts of culture and
cross-cultural communication and to provide them with the tools that are needed to
introduce these ideas in the ESL/EFL classroom.

What is culture?
Because culture is such a complex and dynamic structure, it is nearly impossible
to provide a precise and absolute definition. The phenomenon of culture is viewed
in different ways by a number of different fields of study, including psychology,
sociology, anthropology, and linguistics; and as Wintergerst and McVeigh (2011)
point out, each of these disciplines has its own perspective on culture and its own
approach to defining it. Yet, with that said, culture can be generally described as
a universal aspect of human behavior which is integral to each and every human
society (Damen, 1994) – as a system of beliefs and attitudes that permeates
everything a given group of people does, says and feels.
When people think about culture,
they often think about the aspects
of a particular culture that are on
the surface, where they are easy to
observe. However, as Peterson (2004)
emphasizes, there are in fact two
distinctive types of culture, which he
illustrates using the metaphor of an
iceberg. At the tip of the iceberg are
the visible aspects of a culture: art, music and literature; historical figures; and
prominent architecture; as well as the everyday cultural norms such as style of
dress; types of food that are consumed; gestures and other nonverbal forms of
communication; hobbies and other leisure pastimes; and so on. On the other hand,
at the bottom of the iceberg – the immense, unseen area below the surface – are
the invisible features of the culture, such as its core values, attitudes and beliefs;
its historical and legal foundations; and the common traditions, practices, popular
opinions and humor that are an integral part of everyday life. While it is a relatively

354 Texts and Tools culture 355

straightforward task to teach students about the visible aspects of culture such as realize that the visitor was attempting to be polite by not crowding the man in front of
major historical events, religious practices, and celebrations, it is equally important him as he used the ATM.
to make them aware of the unseen characteristics that define the members of the Non-verbal communication, which includes facial expressions, hand and arm
target culture. gestures, head movements, body postures, personal space, eye contact, touching
and other body language, varies greatly from one culture to the next. Because
Activity
similar gestures can mean very different things in different cultures, a lack of
Have students form discussion groups. With one student in each group awareness of their meanings can lead to unfortunate misunderstandings in cross-
taking notes, have them talk over the question: “The definition of culture is cultural encounters. For this reason, it is important to include some discussion of
__________________.” At the end of the discussion, the group should have one non-verbal communication in the ESL/EFL classroom.
answer to report to the class. Have a member of each group explain to the class
Consider the following scenario: Three business
how they came up with their answer; talk as a class about the similarities and
associates – an Australian man, a Dutch woman
differences in the answers from each group.
and a man from South Korea – are meeting for the
first time at a restaurant to discuss a potential
Culture and language learning deal. After they shake hands and greet one another
Given the fact that culture is such an important factor in how we think, behave, and formally in English, the Australian becomes
view the world around us, awareness of our own cultural framework, as well as that talkative, criticizing the quality of the food and
of the target culture, is necessary in order to achieve true communication; simply service, while the Dutch woman remains reserved,
learning the vocabulary and grammatical structures of a foreign language is not especially when the Australian occasionally touches
enough to allow speakers who do not share a common background to understand her arm and directs personal questions at her.
one another fully. Even when two different cultures appear similar on the surface, Meanwhile, the Korean gentleman enthusiastically
lack of awareness of underlying attitudes, beliefs and practices can cause difficulties and sometimes audibly applies himself to his food.
in the transmission of meaning. How might each of these individuals view the others
Incidents of cross-cultural based on their mannerisms and other unspoken communication, and how might this
miscommunication are commonplace affect the outcome of their business discussion? Would it make any difference if all
and demonstrate clearly that it is not three had some understanding of the non-verbal cues typical of each of the different
only the words themselves, but the cultures? The following hints may help you to answer these questions:
meaning behind the words, that is • In general, Koreans prefer to maintain harmony rather than complain
important in communication. Thus, as out loud in a manner that may make others uncomfortable or lead to
Kramsch (1993) explains, culture is not confrontation.
an simply an expendable aspect of • Although noisy eating is not generally considered polite in many European
language learning that should be countries, it is perfectly acceptable in much of Southeast Asia. In fact,
regarded as somehow less important burping loudly after a meal may express appreciation for the food;
than instruction in reading, speaking, listening and writing. attempting to cover it up might be seen as an insult to the cook.

Culture and nonverbal communication • Dutch people are generally more reserved than Australians and do not
tend to discuss personal matters with people they do not know well. In
A British tourist who had recently traveled to Russia was waiting in line to use an
addition, it is not customary for any but close friends to touch one another
automated teller machine (ATM). As the Russian who was ahead of him stepped up to
casually. In Australia and much of northern Europe, making eye contact
the machine, the Englishman stood back in order to give him privacy while he conducted
is considered a sign of forthrightness and honesty; to Koreans, however,
his transaction. Thinking that the British gentleman did not intend to use the ATM,
this is not at all the case. Looking another person straight in the eyes,
another Russian stepped in line in front of him. He then became angry, thinking that he
especially one who is socially superior, would be considered rude and
was being pushed aside. He did not understand that in Russia, the accepted personal
arrogant.
distance between strangers is much closer than in the U.K.; while the Russian did not

356 Texts and Tools culture 357

 foreign language instruction, language learners may develop the ability to function
Activity
in a wide range of cultural contexts; therefore, the CEFR advocates plurilingual and
Most of the communication that takes place between people is in the form of pluricultural competence as desired outcomes of language learning, stressing the
unspoken cues. While some gestures, such as shaking hands, are universal, need to consider diversity of foreign languages and cultures as an asset, rather
similar nonverbal signals often mean vastly different things from one region of than as a barrier to understanding, and to promote communication, mutual
the world to another. Use the Internet to find out how members of different understanding and cooperation on an international level (CoE, 2001).
cultures view the following:
In order to stimulate the development of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism,
• Smiling the CoE advocates the use of the European Language Portfolio (ELP), a learning
• Nodding/ shaking the head tool which is designed to encourage students of foreign languages to record their
• Waving with the palm outward/inward language learning progress, as well as their intercultural encounters, and to promote
language learning as a lifelong process (CoE, 2011). Many Council of Europe member
• Pointing the index finger
countries, including Turkey, have adapted various forms of the ELP for use in their
• Crooking the index finger national foreign language curricula in line with CoE recommendations (Mirici, 2008).
• Making a circle with the thumb and forefinger
Effective methods for teaching about culture
• Making a ‘V’ with the first two fingers
Because English is truly an international language and is spoken throughout the
• Thumbs up/down
world, it is not always practical for instructors to target a single English-speaking
• Showing the bottoms of the feet or shoes culture (unless the purpose of the course is to prepare students for living or working
• Touching the head, shoulders, arm, etc. of another person in a specific region); ESL/EFL teachers may choose to focus instead on examples of
• Looking another person in the eyes culture from a variety of English-speaking countries, taking care not to suggest that
• Kissing/hugging one country or set of values is “better” than any other.

Activities
International guidelines for teaching about culture There are endless possibilities for bringing culture into the ESL/EFL classroom. With
With the growing recognition of the importance of incorporating culture into foreign a little creativity and the use of authentic teaching materials and resources, ESL/
language learning, the Council of Europe (CoE) and many of its member countries EFL teachers can come up with a wide range of activities that will make English-
have adapted a language learning framework which includes the understanding speaking cultures come alive for their students. A few suggestions for activities are
of foreign culture as an essential competency to be gained from foreign language given below; further project ideas can be found at the end of the chapter.
study. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, A Day at the Cinema: Television
Teaching, Assessment, or CEFR, “describes in a comprehensive way what language shows and films are valuable tools for
learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what learning about culture; they often tell
knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively” (CoE, stories that exemplify a particular
2001, p. 1) within a given linguistic and cultural context. The CEFR, which is intended cultural value or theme, at the same
to serve as a guideline in developing curricula for foreign language study, stresses time providing an opportunity for
the communicative aspects of language learning, with an emphasis on the concept listening practice. Choose an age-
of plurilingualism, an approach to language learning which maintains that: appropriate English-language film. If
As an individual person’s experience of language in its cultural contexts you can, make the experience even
expands, from the language of the home to that of society at large and more authentic by providing popcorn
then to the languages of other peoples […], he or she […] builds up a and soft drinks during the show as a treat.
communicative competence to which all knowledge and the experience of Role Play: Role play is a valuable teaching tool, as it permits students to identify
language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact (p. 4). with and develop empathy for the characters they are playing. Use real-life situations
Pluriculturalism, by extension, refers to an individual’s “capacity to identify with and such as shopping, ordering food in a restaurant, purchasing movie tickets, attending
participate in multiple cultures” (CoE, 2009, p. 6). By fostering pluriculturalism in a sporting event, chatting with a friend about schoolwork, and so on. Have students

358 Texts and Tools culture 359

 take turns playing the various roles
Think about it:
and use the opportunity to introduce
Why are hands-on activities more vocabulary related to the scenario.
effective than straight lectures for
teaching about foreign cultures?
Holiday Celebrations: Holidays are particularly effective for
teaching about culture, as they tend to showcase an aspect of
a society that is especially important to its members. You might
discuss the origins of a holiday, the date that it is celebrated,
the traditions associated with the day, special foods, and so on.
Use holiday decorations in the classroom, share games or
stories, and compare the occasion with similar celebrations in your home country.
Videos of Cultural Events: Show recordings of special occasions such as weddings,
birthday celebrations, anniversary parties or other gatherings; have students write
down the ways in which these events are similar to those in their own culture, as
well as the important differences they notice.
Native Speakers: One of the best ways to bring culture into the ESL/EFL classroom
is to engage a native guest speaker to talk to the class, whether in person or via
online video conferencing. The target culture becomes much more personal and
real when students have the opportunity to talk to visitors about life in an English-
speaking country.
Idioms: English is full of curious expressions: “It’s raining cats and
dogs;” “Time flies;” “They beefed up security before the football
match.” While native speakers know exactly what is meant by
sayings like these, they can sound very strange to someone hearing
them for the first time! Spend a session discussing these
expressions; have students create illustrations of what comes to mind when they
hear a particular idiom, and talk about what they think it might mean.
Things to Consider
When teaching about culture in the ESL/EFL classroom, there are a number of points
to keep in mind in order to ensure a constructive, positive learning environment.
1. First, as Cullen and Sato (2000) caution, it is important to keep in mind
the ability level of the students in your class. Introducing concepts or
activities that are too difficult (or too easy) is a sure way to lose their
attention and make learning about culture just another unwelcome chore.
While you might lead an advanced class of older, high-school students
in a discussion about the history of British colonization and the cultural
emphasis on progress, activities such as making Halloween masks would
be more suitable for younger children.
2. Cullen and Sato (2000) also stress the need to avoid teaching only a
single aspect of a culture or teaching only about the characteristics that
360 Texts and Tools
are pleasant. Instead, offer contrasting views, such as ideals versus real
behavior, when introducing cultural concepts. Otherwise, students will be
left with an unrealistic perception of how members of the target culture
live.
3. ESL/EFL teachers should avoid expressing judgments that certain
behaviors, beliefs or attitudes in the target culture are “bad” or “good”
in comparison with the students’ native culture or with other English-
speaking cultures; these values should be introduced objectively and in
their proper context.
While it is fine to discuss religious celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, Hanukah,
and so on, it is best to stick to the particulars of the celebrations and not dwell
on the religious doctrine behind them (Culture in ESL/EFL Classrooms, n.d.); The
spiritual views of other cultures may conflict with students’ personal beliefs and
might be offensive to some; the ESL/EFL classroom should not be used as a venue
to challenge or advocate a particular religion.
Think about it:
Religious beliefs play a tremendous role in any culture. What are some things
you could do to introduce religion in the ESL/EFL classroom without infringing
on students’ personal beliefs?
Common Problems Related to Teaching about Culture
Negative Attitudes toward Foreign Cultures
A young, female English teacher was
Activity
teaching an ESL class to students whose
Have students act out a scenario
parents had recently immigrated to
that revolves around an intercultural
the U.S. Among the students were two
misunderstanding in front of the class.
teenage boys who had come from a
Discuss how each of the participants
country in Asia. The boys were rude to
the teacher and refused to follow her might have viewed the situation and
instructions, often disrupting the lesson. what they could have done to resolve
The teacher took the two boys aside after the conflict.
class one afternoon and asked them why
their behavior was so disrespectful. With a great deal of effort, she was able to learn a
couple of things. First, the boys were experiencing some degree of culture shock, being
away from their relatives and friends, and second, they resented having to learn English
in order to survive in this new country. They saw the teacher as an authority figure and a
female one at that. After listening and empathizing with their situation, the teacher was
able to persuade them that they would be happier if they put their efforts into learning
English rather than resisting it, and that showing respect to all people, male or female,
would earn them respect in return. In time, the boys came to appreciate that in their new
setting, mutual respect was considered more important than gender or authority.
culture 361
As the above example demonstrates, the ability and willingness of a student to
successfully learn a foreign language is often affected by his or her attitude toward
the target language, as well as toward the native speakers of the language and their
culture. Fortunately, “negative [attitudes] can be changed by thoughtful instructional
methods” that can help students to better understand and appreciate the target
culture (Elyıldırım & Asthon-Hay, 2006, p. 2). The best way to eliminate negative
attitudes toward learning about an English-speaking culture is to help students
to identify with members of that culture. Role-play is an especially effective way
to help students develop empathy for others. Talking with members of the target
culture who share similar interests can also help to eliminate prejudice. The Internet
– specifically, social networking sites – can be useful for cross-cultural interaction.
It goes without saying that ESL/EFL teachers themselves must be cautious not to
project any negativity toward the target culture.
Inadequate Training & Lack of Knowledge
As Türkan and Çelik (2007) argue, many ESL/EFL
teachers feel intimidated by the idea of teaching about
culture, in part because they have not received
adequate training or do not feel they are sufficiently
well-informed about the target culture themselves. The
important thing to keep in mind is that the job of an
ESL/EFL teacher is not to simply impart a specific set
of facts, but to give students the tools that they need to
explore and learn for themselves (Abisamra, 2001).
Even without formal training in teaching about culture
or extensive personal knowledge of the culture itself,
teachers can use the strategies such as those given in
this chapter to integrate cultural learning into the ESL/
EFL curriculum, keeping the following goals in mind:
1. Helping students to understand the definition of culture;
2. Teaching students how culture affects language, even down to the most
common words and phrases;
3. Helping students to recognize the ways in which culture informs their own
lives;
4. Generating an intellectual curiosity in students about people living in
other parts of the world and developing empathy for members of the
target culture;
5. Teaching students the skills necessary to observe, explore and learn on
their own.
Overcrowded curriculum
Limited classroom time is a common problem faced by many ESL/EFL instructors.
Often, teaching about culture is seen as secondary to helping students master the
basics of vocabulary, grammar, listening and speaking; lessons about culture are
362 Texts and Tools
set aside as supplementary material to be introduced “if there is time.” However,
as discussed throughout this chapter, learning about culture is critical to students’
ability to communicate and should be taught in an integral fashion, rather than in a
separate set of lessons.
Shortcomings of coursebooks
The primary resources employed in most foreign language classrooms are textbooks;
yet, in spite of the recognized need to integrate culture into language learning, most
ESL/EFL coursebooks fail to address culture in a meaningful way (Türkan & Çelik,
2007). This presents a major obstacle for foreign language teachers, especially in
countries such as Turkey, where “EFL textbooks for public schools […] are centrally
selected by the Turkish Ministry of National Education [MoNE], and are forced upon
language teachers who do not have a say on what to use in their own classrooms”
(p. 21). Çakır (2010) contends that, although the importance of incorporating target
culture into foreign language teaching has long been acknowledged by the MoNE,
the coursebooks that are prescribed for classroom use consistently miss the mark.
In his analysis of three widely-used EFL texts for primary school students (Spring 6,
Spring 7 and English Net 8), he found that:
Most of the teaching activities do not contain sufficient cultural elements.
Language is presented mostly by dialogues and visuals into which teaching
points are penetrated with a simple and plain language. The utterances do
not involve culture specific expressions adequately (p. 185).
Similarly, Hinkel (1999) argues that the cultural emphasis in Turkish EFL texts is on
the source culture, rather than the target culture. Ҫakır (2010) attributes this failing
to the fact that the authors of these books are Turkish writers who generally have no
direct experience with the features of English-speaking cultures and are therefore
unable to represent them accurately. Faced with the shortcomings of the required
coursebooks, EFL instructors in Turkey are left to their own initiative when it comes
to introducing target language culture into their lessons; therefore, whether or
not EFL learners are exposed to cultural elements that are truly representative of
English-speaking contexts depends on the motivation and creativity of the individual
classroom teachers.
Study Questions
1. What is the relationship between culture and language? Can English be
taught effectively without reference to the culture of native speakers?
Why or why not?
2. What is the role of an ESL/EFL teacher in helping students to understand
the importance of culture in language learning? What can you do as an
instructor to make the target culture relevant to students?
3. What is non-verbal communication? Why is it important for ESL/EFL
learners to understand the cultural cues expressed by gestures, facial
culture 363
 expressions and other body language? What are the benefits of using
hands-on activities in teaching about culture?
4. What are the advantages of introducing students to native English
speakers when teaching about culture?
5. When teaching about a culture, is it better to focus on a single aspect in
order to avoid confusion, or should ESL/EFL teachers aim to cover a wide
range of cultural characteristics? Explain your answer.
6. Religion is an important aspect of any culture. Is it a good idea to include
religious doctrine in an ESL/EFL curriculum? Why or why not?
7. What is cultural bias? Why is it important to avoid representing one
culture as superior to, or less worthy than, another? How can you keep
cultural bias out of the ESL/EFL classroom?
8. What are some of the things an ESL/EFL teacher can do to address
negative attitudes of students toward the target culture?
9. Should ESL/EFL teachers express their own views of the target culture to
students? Why or why not?
Projects for Further Study
1. Choose a holiday celebrated in an English-speaking country (e.g., Halloween,
Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, May Day, Australia Day, Carnival, etc.). Cre-
ate a lesson plan including a PowerPoint presentation (or posters), along with
handouts and in-class activities targeted at a primary school audience, to teach
about the holiday. Your lesson plan should include the following information:
• The date the holiday is celebrated;
• The historical origin of the celebration;
• Which English-speaking countries celebrate the holiday;
• Various traditions associated with the celebration (i.e., special foods,
games, music, costumes, etc.);
• Vocabulary associated with the holiday.
Present the lesson to your class.
2. Americans, in particular, place a great deal of importance on punctuality and
time; this can be seen in expressions such as “Don’t waste time, time is money,
and I’m out of time.” Choose a cultural value prevalent in an English-speaking
region of the world (e.g., independence, community, individuality, honesty, prog-
ress, privacy, etc.). Write a short, 5-6 page research paper about how that value
has come to be important to the culture and how it is expressed through langu-
age. Include common English terms that reflect the value you have chosen.
3. Check your local library or bookstore for English-language books geared toward
elementary and high-school students, or order a few volumes online. Read the
stories and think about what they have to say about the culture in which they are
age group targeted by the book; your lesson plan should include the following:
• An introduction to the cultural value(s) described in the story and a
discussion of the cultural context (for example, a story about settlers in
the American West might be used to talk about the importance Americans
place on self-reliance);
• A vocabulary worksheet;
• A poster or PowerPoint presentation illustrating the important themes of
the story;
• A student-centered activity of your choice related to the story.
Classroom tools –Activity sheets, handouts and project ideas
The activities on the following pages can be used “as is” or adapted to your particular
needs for use in the ESL/EFL classroom. A variety of activities, handouts and project
ideas have been provided for different age and ability levels.
Projects and classroom activities
Pen Pals
One of the best ways to learn about
another culture is to correspond with
someone who lives in it! Having a
foreign pen pal is a fun and exciting
experience for students of all ages.
Teachers will need to do some legwork
in order to make this activity a success.
Use your contacts through your
university, the school where you teach,
or any other resources you may have
to locate an English-speaking school with students similar in age to those in your
class. Working with their teacher, match up your students with a pen pal in their
class, and have students write (in English, as best they can) to their new “friends”
abroad. This correspondence can provide plenty of material for class discussion and
can help students learn to identify with and appreciate kids of their own age living
in other parts of the world. While this activity may be implemented through the
traditional means of actual written letters, many students may enjoy communicating
via online social networking, instead.
Celebrate the Holidays
Learning about holiday celebrations is a fantastic way for students
to connect with English-speaking cultures. Choose from the list of
holidays below, or research other celebrations:
• Thanksgiving (U.S. and Canada)

situated. Use the theme(s) in the story to create a lesson plan appropriate for the • Independence Day (U.S.)

364 Texts and Tools culture 365


• May Day (Great Britain)
• Halloween (Many countries)
• Australia Day (Australia)
• Carnival (Caribbean Islands)
Read stories about the origins of the celebrations and how
people mark these occasions – with traditional foods, special
dances, parades, costume parties, and so on. Have students
make decorations typically used as part of the celebration
or dress up in costumes related to the holiday, and ask for
volunteers to prepare traditional foods as a special treat.
is “It” continues calling out “red light” and “green light” until one of the
other players comes close enough to “tag” (lightly touch) the one playing
“It.” This player wins the game and becomes “It” for the next round.
Handout - Understanding Cultural Values
Have students complete the worksheet, and then compare answers with their
classmates. Talk about how their answers reflect their own cultural values, and
discuss how members of another culture might answer the questions differently.
Directions: Look at the cultural values described on each side of the chart. Which
value is most important to you and your family? Circle the number that best
represents your point of view.

1. It is important not to 1 2 3 4 5 It is important that we talk

Children’s Games
talk about a subject on about problems so we can
Kids’ games offer young students an opportunity to learn
which we do not agree resolve our differences.
about English-speaking culture while having fun. Active
in order to maintain
games are also a change of pace from more traditional,
harmony.
lecture-based instruction. Some favorite children’s games
are described below. 2. The needs of a group 1 2 3 4 5 An individual should place his
are more important or her needs above those of
• Hide and Seek: One player is designated as “It” and covers
than the needs of the group.
his or her eyes while counting to a predetermined number
individual members.
– 10, 20, 100, etc. while the other players quickly hide. After
completing the count, the player acting as “It” searches for the other 3. A person’s status and 1 2 3 4 5 A person’s status and
players. The first hidden player to be found then becomes “It,” and the importance are based importance are based
game continues. on his or her family on what he or she has
connections. accomplished.
• Duck, Duck, Goose: All players but one sit on the floor in a circle; the
seated players are the “ducks,” and the remaining player is the “goose.” 4. I am more comfortable 1 2 3 4 5 I prefer to be direct when
The “goose” goes around the circle, tapping each player on the head or with indirect communicating with others.
shoulder. With each tap, he or she calls out “duck,” until coming to the communication.
player the “goose” has secretly decided on; when tapping this player, he 5. Looking away or 1 2 3 4 5 Looking people in the eye
or she calls out “goose.” The selected player then gets up and chases the downward while when you are speaking to
“goose” around the circle – if the player catches the “goose” before the speaking to an authority them shows respect and
goose reaches the vacated spot and sits down, he figure is a sign of allows them to see that you
or she returns to the circle; otherwise, the player respect. are sincere.
becomes the “goose,” and the game continues.
6. My views about time are 1 2 3 4 5 It is important to stick to a
• Red Light, Green Light: One player is designated flexible; we’ll get there schedule and be on time.
as “It,” and stands at one end of the room. The other when we get there.
players line up on the other end of the room, facing
7. I prefer to let my 1 2 3 4 5 I might listen to the advice
“It.” The student playing “It” calls out, “green light,”
elders make important of more experienced family
and all other players walk forward. When “It” calls
decisions for me; they members, but in the end, it is
out “red light,” all other players freeze. Anyone who
are more experienced up to me to make important
takes a step while they are supposed to be “frozen”
and know what is best. decisions about my life.
must return to the starting point. The player who

366 Texts and Tools culture 367

 8. It would not be 1 2 3 4 5 I enjoy meeting new people
Activity – Language and Culture: Word Search
acceptable for me to and make new friends all Directions: Solve the puzzle by finding the hidden words.
approach a member the time. If I see someone
of the opposite sex to who looks interesting, I
whom I have not been might approach him/her and D T K T F U U Q P D N F C K Z
formally introduced. introduce myself.

9. Smiling is reserved for 1 2 3 4 5 Smiling at others, even L I R D C N F R F O Y Z N K H

close friends and family. people I don’t know, shows
that I am friendly and L O V A S E O Y I S E M P Z Q
pleasant.

10. It is important to 1 2 3 4 5 While tradition is important Y W V M D G P T N A C H D L K

observe the traditions because it makes us who
of my culture and live we are, progress is more L F G E R I A S I O N A N C T
by established values. important than dwelling on
the past. I J Z E H R T T E E E P Q P H
Adapted from Gardenswartz and Rowe (1994, p. 58), The managing diversity survival guide: A M F S Q E H K I X R D P A C E
complete collection of checklists, activities and tips. Chicago: Irwin Professional Publishing

A S Z P Z N L E O S N I M D R
F B O E L D E R S N E N N B V
W O E R U T L U C Y P E O V B
C A U T H O R I T Y E S R M C
J O U R M Z P U N Q D S C V C

Culture Family Authority Independence Progress Love Beauty Elders Respect

Progress Tradition Happiness Cooperation

368 Texts and Tools culture 369

Activity – What’s in a gesture?1
Have participants number their papers from 1 to 10. Demonstrate each gesture
and ask students to write down what they think it means. They should also indicate
whether they think the gesture is considered rude. Have the class discuss how body
language influences communication between cultures.
1. Beckon with the index finger.
2. Use the index finger to point at something in the room.
3. Make a “V” sign.
4. Smile.
5. Sit with the soles of the feet or shoes showing.
6. Form a circle with the thumb and index finger to indicate “O.K.”
7. Hold up the right “pointer” finger with the hand folded and facing away
from the body.
8. Pass an item to someone with one hand.
9. Wave the hand with the palm facing outward to greet someone.
10. Nod head up and down to say “Yes.”
1 Adapted from Haynes (2002). everything ESL.net. Retrieved September 12, 2011 from http://www.
everythingesl.net/downloads/gestures_version02.pdf
370 Texts and Tools
What’s in a gesture - Answer Key2
1. Beckon with index finger. This means “Come here” in the U.S. To use the
finger(s) to call someone is insulting in many cultures, including in the Middle or Far
East; Portugal, Spain, Latin America, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
2. Point at something in the room. It is impolite to point with the index finger in
the Middle and Far East.
3. Make a “V” sign. This means “Victory” in most of Europe when you make this
sign with your palm facing away from you. If you face your palm in, the same gesture
is insulting.
4. Smile. This gesture is understood all over the world. However, people from
various cultures have different reasons for smiling. The Japanese may smile when
they are confused or angry. In other parts of Asia, people may smile when they are
embarrassed.
5. Sit with the soles of the feet or shoes showing. In many cultures, this sends a
rude message. In Thailand, Japan and France, as well as countries of the Middle and
Near East, showing the soles of the feet demonstrates disrespect.
6. Form a circle with fingers to indicate “O.K.” Although this means “O.K.” in the
U.S. and in many countries around the world, there are exceptions:
• In Brazil and Germany, this gesture is obscene.
• In Japan, this means “money.”
• In France, it has the additional meaning of “zero” or “worthless.”
7. Hold up the right “pointer” finger with hand folded and facing away from
body.
In non-British countries of Europe, it can mean two of something. They start counting
with the thumb. In Japan it would mean “four,” as the Japanese start counting with
the pinkie.
8. Pass an item to someone with one hand. In Japan, this is perceived as very
rude. Even a small item such as a pencil must be passed with two hands. In many
Middle and Far Eastern countries, it is rude to pass something with your left hand,
which is considered “unclean.”
9. Wave the hand with the palm facing outward to greet someone. In Europe,
waving the hand back and forth can mean “No.” To wave “good-bye,” raise the palm
outward and wag the fingers in unison.
10. Nod head up and down to say “Yes.” In Bulgaria and Greece, this gesture
means “No.”
2 Adapted from Haynes (2002). everything ESL.net. Retrieved September 12, 2011 from http://www.
everythingesl.net/downloads/gestures_version02.pdf
culture 371
Handout – Odd idioms Intercultural Conflict Resolution
English is full of expressions and sayings that can sound strange, or even downright Role Play
silly, to non-native speakers. Share this listing of English idioms with students and Cultural differences often lead to
talk about what they might really mean. miscommunication and conflict; role-
playing scenarios of cross-cultural
misunderstandings is often used as a
It’s raining cats and dogs.
tool both for instructing students about
the characteristics of a culture and for
I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse. developing communication skills. Have
groups of students act out one of the
We’re just hanging out. scenarios described below, or come up
with your own conflict.
• An American and a Chinese
It happens once in a blue moon.
student are sharing a dorm room.
The American becomes angry when his roommate uses his personal
She’s on cloud nine. belongings – reference books, computer, toothpaste, etc. – without asking.
The Chinese student is confused about why the American is upset, since
He’s all thumbs. he put everything back where he found it.
• A Canadian exchange student is living with a family in Germany, which
consists of a mother and father, as well as a daughter who is the same age
He’s got ants in his pants.
as the Canadian student. Every afternoon, after school, the two girls do
their homework. Wanting to respect the privacy of her hosts, the Canadian
I’d give my right arm for one of those. goes to her room and closes the door to work. The German girl is offended
because she feels that the Canadian is not interested in what she is doing
and does not want to spend time with her.
He’s an armchair quarterback.
• A Turkish student invites several American friends to dinner at a local
Turkish restaurant. At the end of the meal, the Americans take out their
Her eyes are bigger than her stomach.
money and start dividing up the check. The Turkish student is surprised and
attempts to pay the bill himself; he seems confused when the American
Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. visitors insist on treating him instead.
Once the participants have finished acting out the scenario, have each student
Let’s kill two birds with one stone. talk about why his/her character might have been confused by the behavior of
the others. Have them discuss how the problem would be handled in the culture
represented by their character. Ask the class to think of ways the conflict could be
He’s telling a fish tale.
resolved so that all parties are satisfied.

Cat got your tongue?

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

We’re all in the same boat.

372 Texts and Tools culture 373

Additional Suggestions
• Cultural Artifacts – Have students bring a cultural item from home to
share with the class. This could be anything from a baseball to a CD to a
traditional costume, even a special recipe.
• Scavenger Hunt – Have students look for items at home that were
manufactured in another country – clothing, toys, packaged foods, etc.
Ask them to make a list of the items and the countries they came from
and bring it in to share with the class.
• Culture Collage – Ask students to bring magazine illustrations or
photographs from home that depict some aspect of an English-speaking
culture; create a collage using all of the pictures.
• Comic Strip – Have students create a comic strip showing an interaction
between members of different cultural groups.
• Surveys – Even people living in the same geographic area often have
cultural differences. Have students create a survey and interview one
or more of their classmates, looking for information they do not already
know about one another.
• Active Games – Have students work in groups to research a physical
children’s game played in an English-speaking country, then teach it to
the rest of the class.
• Story Time – Find a series of children’s short stories written in English.
Have students take turns reading the stories aloud in class. As an
alternative for more advanced students, ask them to write a short story
that reflects some aspect of an English-speaking culture and share it with
the class.
• Culture Charades – On individual slips of paper, write down the name of
an object or culture-related theme. Hand them out to the class, asking
each student to read their paper, but to keep the word on it secret. Have
them take turns acting out or describing (without using the exact word(s)
what is written on the paper, and ask the rest of the class to guess what it
is.
374 Texts and Tools
Chapter Review Questions
What is Culture?
1. How would you define culture?
2. Is teaching about culture a necessary part of an ESL/EFL curriculum?
Why or why not?
3. Give some examples of the visible and invisible aspects of culture.
4. Do you think nonverbal communication is as important as spoken lan-
guage? Explain your answer.
International Guidelines for Teaching about Culture in the Foreign
Language Classroom
1. Why does the Common European Framework advocate the concept of
plurilingualism?
2. What is the European Language Portfolio, and how do you think it can
be applied in your teaching context?
3. Do you think that awareness of other cultures is important in today’s
society? Why or why not?
Effective Methods for Teaching Culture
1. What are some of the advantages of using role play to teach about cul-
ture?
2. Do you see social networking and the Internet as possible tools for teac-
hing students about culture? Why or why not?
3. Is it a good idea to incorporate religious doctrine into a lesson about
culture? Explain your answer.
Common Problems Related to Teaching about Culture
1. What do you think is the most effective way to eliminate students’ nega-
tive attitudes towards learning about English-speaking culture?
2. Is it necessary for an ESL/EFL teacher to have in-depth knowledge of
the target culture? Why or why not?
3. Why should ESL/EFL instructors avoid letting their own attitudes and
beliefs intrude on a lesson about culture?
4. What steps can classroom instructors take to overcome the failure of
ESL/EFL coursebooks to sufficiently address target culture?
culture 375
 On the Web
Cem Balçıkanlı

Kemal Sinan Özmen

Discussion Questions:
1. What do Internet technologies provide for an EFL teacher teaching
young learners?

2. How can we make use of web technologies to promote outside-the-

class learning for young learners?

3. Why are internet technologies important in teaching English?

Critical role of web technologies

For students, computers and Internet have always been more appealing and
interesting than other teaching materials. The truth is that, traditional teaching
materials and settings need to try hard to offer as much as what our students get
from play-stations, social networking sites and television programs. As for pure EFL
contexts like Turkey, these technologies can possibly create a new perspective of
teaching for young learners, for we can stretch the boundaries of English learning
environment and multiply the channels of engagement with the authentic language.
To this end, the first step for a teacher of young learners is to learn more about web
technologies and the possibilities that these new uncharted technologies offer for
teaching English. The second step is to explore what teaching strategies may be
employed to increase the amount and the quality of time that students spend with
these learning tools. This chapter will discuss the innovative Web 2.0 technologies
and their applications in teaching young learners with the philosophy of learner
autonomy. A detailed discussion of developing learner autonomy in young learners
can be found in Chapter three.
Students in Turkey rarely find an opportunity to communicate in English outside
the classroom. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to claim that English
is mostly regarded as yet another school subject to be learned for succeeding in
school or national examinations. However, the latest technological developments
in the last decade have completely changed the nature of EFL contexts. Although
English is not used in daily communication in Turkey, our students do encounter
authentic English via computer games and internet sites. Thus, it is the teacher’s
duty to make effective use of such engagement with web technologies.
The critical role of web technologies in EFL settings is widely accepted in the
relevant literature (Balçıkanlı, 2009). However, it is also important to elaborate

376 Texts and Tools on the web 377

on why young learners are disposed to use web technologies. Evidence for using
web technologies in teaching young learners may be found in much of the research
indicating the natural diposition of young learners towards technology. The terms
referring to the differences between attitudes of children and of adults in using
technology in daily routines are quite explanatory to illustrate the portrait: young
learners are described as digital natives, (Prensky, 2001) who acquire innovative
technologies that are injected to our daily life naturally and voluntarily. However,
Prensky (2001) claims that adults who experienced the birth of color televisions and
giant wireless telephones are digital immigrants, who may have a lot of troubles in
adopting, understanding and using such technologies.
The limitless and creative world shaped by innovative softwares utilized in internet
sites offer an entertaining atmosphere in which children can improve certain
linguistic and non-linguistic skills that are critical in their cognitive and affective
development. The linguistic skills are defined as major components of communicative
competence, intercultural interaction, acquisition of foreign language skills and
developing learning strategies. As for non-linguistic competences, critical thinking
and learner autonomy may be enlisted as the major elements. We will discuss each
in detail.
A child using web technologies as a part of foreign language learning process will
be able to interact with other children of English speaking societies, which will
help develop pragmatic and sociolinguistic competences more effectively than a
child learning a foreign language among classroom walls by using course books.
Such traditional settings of language learning are reported to provide limited
opportunities and are mostly weak in providing real contexts for communication
and a varied authentic language exposure (Reinders & Balçıkanlı, 2011). It is the
absolute impact of this process that may enable young learners to acquire foreign
language skills, by specifically approaching English as more than a regular school
subject that includes some vocabulary lists to memorize and some formulas
to generate abstract sentences. Second Life, Kerpoof or Facebook can be given
as concrete examples which will help English teachers to lead their students to
complete hundreds of different types of language learning-related tasks in real,
authentic web softwares that are specifically designed for children’s learning.
Different web softwares are believed to strengthen specific learning strategies like
cognitive or socio-affective. To give an example, language learning communities for
young learners such as Xlingo, and Mixxer may be utilized to build up socio-affective
learning strategies, which are claimed to weak in EFL students (Balçıkanlı, 2012).
Non-linguistic skills that can be improved through web technologies may be seen
as secondary elements. However, critical thinking skills and learner autonomy can
be considered as the supporting components that help accelerate and activate
effective learning in the process through which young learners are exposed to the
authentic language. The latest understanding of critical thinking is actually quite
complementary for the subskills of learner autonomy, (Özmen, 2008) in which it
378 Texts and Tools
is defined as some set of affective habits of mind; or ‘dispositions’ that include
inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, fair-mindedness, being analytical and so on
(Özmen, 2008). It is commonly accepted that when these personality needs are
met, high order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation can be utilized
more effectively in thinking and learning (Facione, 1990). In this respect, the infinite
number of possibilities for creativity that is available on web softwares may also
be exploited as a venue of developing effective thinking skills that are known to
contribute to learners’ cognitive and affective development (Özmen, 2008). As for
the other side of the coin, learner autonomy stands at a critical stage in which
EFL teachers will be able to design more learning and learner-centered contexts
for language learning. In addition to the direct exposure to the authentic language
that is tailored for the level of young learners, this group of students will be able to
make choices of what, how and when to learn, quite independent from the usual EFL
materials that a teacher can possibly offer in a classroom setting. This independent
learning atmosphere is claimed to develop autonomy (Benson, 2001). There is a
general accord with the idea that communicating in a social setting provided by
web technologies contributes significantly to second language acquisition (Thomas,
2009). At this point, when we pool our thinking to seek a connection between the
development of learner autonomy and learning English online, one can infer that
this process may also helps develop a sustainable or life-long language learning.
This new learning ecology and its possibilities should be well-analyzed and learnt by
all EFL teachers. In the following sections, some critical web technologies will be
analyzed for the teachers’ use.
Discussion
• Why do you think young learners are digital natives? How can we make use
of this trait?
• What specific areas of learner autonomy (awareness, responsibility
and independence) can be promoted by teaching English through web
technologies?
• Please do small research and make a list of suitable internet sites
for young EFL learners that are free. Then, group them under some
categories such as e-blogs, social networking sites, and language exchange
communities.
Tasks for teachers
In this section, we will discuss some important web sites that might be helpful for
teaching young learners. All the sites, including the following list, are pedagogically
safe and free to use. The sample activities we provide aim at various ways that
teachers may possibly utilize these technologies in their teaching situations. It is
also important to note that the methodological perspective behind these activities
on the web 379
is grounded on what we have discussed in the previous section. Please refer to Here are some guidelines that help young learners make use of this entertainment
the theoretical arguments, such as second language acquisition, learner autonomy website.
or learning strategies here in this chapter. However, an in-depth analysis of such
Guidelines
frameworks is provided in the relevant chapters of the book. It is therefore strongly
recommended that a critical perspective be adopted to analyze the language, * It is required that students sign up once in order to save and publish their works.
learning and teaching philosophy behind these activities. This critical analysis 1. Access www.kerpoof.com.
process will contribute to your approach to other sites that we have not presented
as an activity and enable you to use them safely in your teaching situation.

Activity I
* Work in groups. Make a list of websites you can employ in teaching young learners.

Activity II
* Work in pairs. Read the texts about the websites below and answer the following
questions.
1. Is it for teachers, learners or both?
2. What does the site offer?
3. What do you like about the site?
4. What are the limitations?
5. What are the advantages of the websites?
2. Click “Login” on the Storybird homepage and choose “Need an account? Click
6. How can the site be employed with young learners in language classrooms? here to sign up. It’s free”.

Kerpoof
Children’s entertainment and educational website produced by Disney Online
Kerpoof Studios, Kerpoof (www.kerpoof.com) allows users to create cartoon avatars
and earn Kerpoof Koins by making, sharing, and voting on virtual artwork. Since
its inception in 2006, it has been extensively used by a large community of users.
This interesting and enjoyable site is specifically designed for children aged 3 and
up. Teachers in schools who may apply for free teacher accounts permitting them
to make use of additional services also use it. There are a lot of activities both
teachers and learners can do online, namely making a picture, making a drawing,
making a movie, telling a story, making a card, spelling a picture. One can also see
various tutorials which help users make use of this website. Kerpoof also publishes
an e-newsletter for educators, offering free Kerpoof-based lesson plans on a variety
of subjects.
As far as language learning is concerned, it encourages creativity through project-
based learning specifically for young learners. Working cooperatively, young 3. Provide required information.
learners can develop some projects that enable them to use the language patterns 4. Once you create an account, you can do a lot of things online.
they cover in class. In line with the assumption that language learning is more than
a classroom experience, it is highly believed that young learners are engaged in
different kinds of activities outside the classroom, which hones their language skills.

380 Texts and Tools on the web 381

Storybird
Storybird (www.storybird.com) is a collaborative story telling website that enables
users to write a story using the templates available online as well as to accompany
pictures that are already provided. Created by Mark Ury, a media arts guru for two
decades, Storybird is very popular specifically for young learners when studying
their subjects. Believing that individuals in the 21st century need to share their own
stories with others, Ury states that Storybird, in a way, is one of the best-established
ways to a new 21st century method. Students from all grades ranging from primary
to high schools can spend their spare time doing a variety of things online. More
importantly, they are challenged to create stories and to accompany pictures. A
vast repertoire of artwork for students is also available on the website. Students
are given opportunities to create a digital storybook, which can be published online,
printed or shared privately with selected recipients.
Storybird can be integrated into the language classroom in numerous ways that are 3. Provide required information.
both interesting and educational. First, students are encouraged to skim through
4. Click “Create” to start creating stories or you may even take a tour to learn more
the pictures provided and pick to fit the theme of their own story. This way, ideas are
about the website.
likely to flow and they become more motivated to start writing about whatever the
5. You can choose a theme you want to create a story about.
subject is. Second, Storybird can be used as an individual project that encourages
students to develop a story online. Moreover, they can contribute a page to the story Xtranormal
as a collaborative writing project. What is very interesting is that their stories can be
Xtranormal (www.xtranormal.com) is a website that enables individuals to produce
published online, which makes them very excited.
text-to-speech based computer animated video clips, featuring animated three-
Guidelines dimensional characters speaking in monotone computer voices. Launched in 2008,
Xtranormal offers great possibilities for individuals to create their own movies. Users
1. Access www. storybird.com.
who log into the site are allowed to choose predesigned characters and scenes as
well as camera angles. It is a very user friendly website that enables users to write
their own dialogs. Xtranormal videos may also be created through an interface on
YouTube and downloaded free and run offline.

Guidelines
* It is required that one sign up once in order to save and publish her/his works.
1. Access www.xtranormal.com.

2. Click “Sign up” on the Storybird homepage and choose an account type.

382 Texts and Tools on the web 383

2. Click “Sign up” on the Xtranormal homepage and choose “Don’t have an account?”. 1. Access www.quizler.com

2. Click “Sign up” on the Quizlet homepage and choose “Sign up”.
3. Provide required information. 3. Provide required information.
4. Once you create an account, you can start creating movies by using predesigned
characters and scenes as well as camera angles.

4. Once you create an account, you can start creating your own flashcards to practice
online communication.

5. You can even share your movies with your friends and family online.

Quizlet
Quizlet (www.quizlet.com) is an online learning tool created by a high school
sophomore Andrew Sutherland. It was originally conceived in October 2005 and
released to the public in January 2007. The website is the largest flash cards and
study games website with over 7 million free sets of flashcards covering every
possible subject. It’s the best place to play educational games, memorize vocabulary
and study online.

Guidelines

384 Texts and Tools on the web 385

Whyville 3. Provide required information.
Whyville (www.whyville.com) is a virtual world geared towards children from ages
6-12. Dr. James M. Bower and his students who believe that simulation-based serious
gaming could change education in 1999 developed it. Its main goal is to engage its
users in learning about a broad range of topics, from science and business to art and
geography. One of the first virtual worlds where game play was based on an internal
virtual currency, Whyville offers educational activities children engage if they earn a
‘clam’ salary. With their clams, they can buy face parts, projectiles, furniture, bricks,
and other virtual goods and services that enhance their life in the Whyville world.
As for Whyville in schools, it has also become involved in a number of work force
pipeline projects aiming to encourage children to consider technical and scientific
careers. The main idea was to integrate Whyville into school day activities and
creating lesson plans available in the Whyville discussion group at Ning.com.
Moreover, students can design their own look, join a team, chat and play games The
Skater & Spin Game, Hot Air Balloon Race, Dance Studio and many more.
4. Once you create an account, you can take a tour on how to use the website.
Guidelines
Afterwards, you can start designing your own look and chatting and playing games
1. Access www.whyville.com.
with friends.

2. Click “Register” on the Whyville homepage.

E-Blogs, Forums and Groups

There are loads of free internet sites that enable users to create personal web sites,
blogs, interactive news pages and group or discussion forums. Such free internet
sources may be possibly exploited to expand the duration in which students encounter
L2 in their daily lives. Such web-based tasks may be assigned to promote active

386 Texts and Tools on the web 387

learning, peer-learning and learner autonomy. As is known, young learners obtain
only three or four hours of English class per week in most cases. Then, teachers of
these students need to make use of precious four hours by modifying their lessons
as feedback and reflection sessions instead of giving input in a traditional fashion.
Some examples for such tools are as follows:
• wordpress.com
• blogger.com
• yahoogroups.com
• googleblog.blogspot.com
• kiddieskingdom.info
• kidslearntoblog.com
• studentsoftheworld.info
• xanga.com
• myspace.com
• Blogger.com
• livejournal.com
• my-diary.org
• freeopendiary.com
• diaryland.com
Now, let’s imagine a young-learners classroom in which a team of students update
their weekly news site that gives the latest information about the school, teachers,
and other issues that are interesting for their students. Here the teacher is a
facilitator and a counselor. Another group of students needs to upload some writings
about interesting topics to their blogs so that their peers may comment on them. In
addition, all of the students need to log into the forum of the classroom and upload
their weekly, say, picture drawings, project assignments. Each student has already
designed their personal web sites and updated their pages regularly to show their
pictures, funny stories, web-based projects such as music composition or movie
making and other interesting games and competitions. Again, the teacher acts like
a counselor and facilitator. The teacher may also ask the students to create a group
on Facebook so that they may help each other when preparing weekly assignments
or just having some fun with English. This may sound quite difficult to realize as
the first reaction of the professionals is that many of the young learners are not
able to find a computer with an internet connection because of financial problems.
However, it is commonly known that internet cafes are full of children spending
hours for useless games or surfing.
The important question is that how we will be able to shape the value and beliefs
of young learners about learning English by making use of web technologies,
which they love to use in their daily lives. The values and beliefs about learning
and teaching, or simply the general socio-psychological constructs of thinking, are
388 Texts and Tools
known to be acquired through social interaction in which children shape each others’
values and dispositions. Broadly speaking, this is nothing but the basic motto of
constructivism. Here the role of the teacher is to manipulate this social interaction
by providing students with what they like to do and add some learning experiences
into this process. This is the point where we are able to scrutinize the true value and
power of teaching: choosing effective experiences of the students, monitoring the
experiential process, giving feedback and providing reflection so that student may
make sense of such experiences. The process of realizing this sole goal is ironically
easy for a curious teacher who brings such technologies into classroom and set up
the students for success.
Hands-on activity
• Work in pairs. Analyze the teaching tasks below and identify certain points
enlisted above:
• The general philosophy of ELT adopted in the activity;
• Role of the teacher, learner, learning setting;
• Theory of learning and teaching;
• Theory of language
• Work individually. Now imagine you are teaching a group of young learners in
a state primary school. By referring to web sites provided above, decide what
kind of classroom and out-side-the classroom tasks would you assign to your
students? How many Internet sites would you use? Please take notes and
shape your teaching ecology by using web technologies.
This chapter has explored major theoretical pillars of web-based technologies in
teaching English to young learners with some practical ideas for classroom use. The
sample web sites presented here are expected to demonstrate the various practical
ways in which they can be used in different contexts and settings of teachers
seeking innovation and refreshment in their classes. In the preparation of these
samples, the contemporary understanding of EFL methodology was referred as the
major criterion. Thus, it is important that teachers question the role of language,
teacher and the learners in these examples so that we may bridge our theoretical
and practical approach to teaching English to young learners via web technologies.
Besides, these examples may illuminate your approach to other web sites enlisted
in the chapter, and to even more web technologies that we choose to exclude from
our list. The critical point is that any pedagogically safe internet site that features
authentic English and that is appealing for young learners can be modified to utilize
as a teaching tool. At this point, considering the number of such well-designed
internet sites for young learners, it is important to bear in mind that this chapter
provides a representative, not exhaustive or comprehensive, samples of web tools
and technologies. The rest is in your hands as a curious and inquisitive teacher.
on the web 389
We all know that the Internet is a deep jungle functioning in quite an uncontrolled Useful websites
way for users. While some websites are completely safe for our children, we need
Learning/content management systems (LMSs/CMSs) Blackboard, Drupal,
to remember that specifically free internet resources can be available for us by
Joomla, Moodle and Sakai.
the advertisements that such sites broadcast on their pages. Therefore, teachers
Communication
should be very cautious not only about the content of the web sites but also the
Gmail, Jabberwacky, MyBB, phpBB, Skype, Tangler, TokBox, Verbot, Voxopop,
advertisements that may appear on so-called safe sites. We do believe that it is
Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger.
the teacher’s responsibility to acknowledge and warn parents and students about
such limitations of these free web sites. There are various ways to keep our children Live and virtual worlds
away from pedagogically unsafe sites. You may increase the security wall of your ActiveWorlds, Elluminate, Livestream, OpenSimulator, Second Life, Ustream,
processor, block certain unsafe web sites and install some programs that are Wimba Classroom, WiZiQ, Whyville, Moshimonster Build a bear ville, Dizzywood,
specifically designed for children’s safe internet surfing. Secret Builders, Wiglington and Wenks, Mindyaland, Eeekworld, Handiponts,
Mobile Kids.
Also parents and teachers need to monitor what kind of information their children
are publishing on their blogs or e-diaries. Some personal information or information Social networking and bookmarking
about others may enable certain web users to abuse such information for criminal Delicious, Diigo, Elgg, Facebook, Grouply, MySpace, Ning, SocialGo, LinkedIn,
and illegal purposes. Using blogs, e-diaries, web-based games that relate to foreign Twitter, Lang-8 and Livemocha.
language learning or other web tools are invaluable in learning and teaching a Blogs and wikis
foreign language. However, such assignments and activities of the children should Blogger, Edmodo, Edublogs, LiveJournal, WordPress.com, PBWorks, Wikispaces
be regularly observed to avoid any illegal actions that may have unexpected and Penzu.
consequences. Presentation
280 Slides, Animoto, Empresser, Prezi, SlideRocket and Zoho Show
Discussion
Resource sharing
• Discuss in groups and note down the advantages of using web technologies in Google Docs, TitanPad, Zoho Writer, Box.net, Dropbox, VoiceThread, Xtranormal,
teaching young learners. Then share your ideas with the rest of the classroom. Flickr, Picasa, MyPodcast, PodOmatic, Glogster, Screenr, Slideshare, PhotoPeach,
• Which web tools (games, e-blogs, movie makers, etc.) were most attractive Dipity, OurStory, Jing, SchoolTube, TeacherTube, VideoPress, Vimeo, WatchKnow
for you? Why? and YouTube.
• How would you integrate web-tools as out-side-the-class tasks into your Website creation
teaching situation? Google Sites, Jimdo, KompoZer, Mahara, Movable Type, SnapPages, Weebly,
• How would you give feedback to your students about their studies on Internet? Webnode, Webs and Wix
• Discuss the various ways that help parents and teachers protect students Web exercise creation
from unsafe Internet sites. ContentGenerator, SMILE, ESL Video, JClic, Hot Potatoes, Quia, Lingt and Listen
and Write.
Web search engines
Ask.com, Bing, Google and Yahoo! Search.
Dictionaries and concordancers
Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster Online, YourDictionary.com, Compleat Lexical
Tutor, Forvo, Howjsay, Visuwords, OneLook Dictionary Search and VLC Web
Concordancer.

390 Texts and Tools on the web 391

Online books websites
Children´s storybooks, Reading Sites for the Primary Grades: A list of readers
for all levels, Starfall Readers: Fiction and Non-Fiction, Storynory: Free Audio
Stories, BBC-CBeebies-Story, Online Audio Stories, MeeGenius Storyline online,
Storycover
Directories
There are a lot of directory Internet sites for you to guide you in the deep jungle
of web tools and sites, one of which is “commonsensemedia.org/website-
reviews”. This site will enable you to find hundreds of different internet sites, all
free, and read about the reviewers’ comments, who are mostly teachers and
families. You can also be informed about the new sites so that you can enhance
your teaching situation by refreshing the web tools you use. Other directories
and guiding sites are:
http://www.empoweringparents.com/blog/
http://www.theyreourchildren.blogspot.com/
http://www.freechildrenwebsites.com/
http://www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk/
http://www.freeeducationalwebsites.com/
http://www.craftsitedirectory.com/children/index.html
http://www.childrensillustrators.com/
http://www.kidsites.com/
http://www.super-kids.com/
http://www.wimpykid.com/
Please bear in mind that these and other internet sites we have mentioned here
are just representative. There are simply thousands of them available for your
use as a teacher. Why don’t you prepare your own list and share it with your
peers?
Other Utilities
Other utilities include various web sites in which your students can enjoy
language learning games, mathematic or geography activities that enable L2
exposure and other web tools that can easily be utilized in daily life routines
such as calendars, currency converters and other computer and internet based
utilities. Here are some examples: CalculateMe, CalendarFly, Doodle, ClustrMaps,
Currency Converter, Dvolver Moviemaker, Google Earth, Lesson Writer, Storybird,
Cacoo, Mindmeister, Mindomo, Remember the milk, SurveyMonkey, Voki, Time
and Date, TinyURL.com, W3C Link Checker, Wallwisher, Wayback Machine,
Wordle, MakeBeliefsComix, Zunal, Spelling Time, Spelling City, Interactive games
and activities, Spelling Wizard, Everglades Spelling, Kid Safari, Steller Speller,
Spelling Connections, Laguage Arts, Spell it!
392 Texts and Tools
Digital Stories
Özgür Köse
Hülya Küçükoğlu
Thought flows in terms of stories - stories about events, stories about
people, and stories about intentions and achievements.
The best teachers are the best story tellers. We learn in the form of
stories.
--Frank Smith
Literature has been an indispensible part of foreign language learning settings, and
its pedagogical value for learners’ language development has been widely recognized
(Carter & Long, 1991; Lazar, 1993; Parkinson & Thomas, 2000; Maley, 2001; McKay,
2001; Kim, 2004; Hall, 2005; Arikan, 2008). It is believed that the authentic nature
of literary texts provide “a bountiful and extremely varied body of written material”
which in return positively contributes to learner’s cultural and language enrichment
(Collie & Slater, 1991, p. 3). Similarly, McKay (2001) points out three noteworthy
benefits for language learners which are illustrating the significance of the way
authors use words and forms to accomplish communicative goals, incorporating
four skills, and offering an ideal context for studying cross-cultural discrepancies.
Regarding the effect of authentic texts on promoting learners’ intercultural
awareness, Ghosn (2002) states that literary text can be an effective “change agents,”
fostering empathy and tolerance for diversity while helping learners develop their
emotional intelligence. It implies that bringing literary texts into language learning
is fundamentally important for the settings populated with college level language
learners, i.e.: prospective language teachers. Additionally, it’s also endorsed by many
that literary texts have a strong potential to levitate learner motivation through
their gripping characteristics (Champell, 1987; Lazar, 1993, 1996; Ghosn, 2002). In
addition to its many linguistic and cultural contributions, Ur (1996) also indicates
that literature in language classrooms stimulates students’ critical thinking which is
a desired skill that should be developed in today’s classrooms (see Benesch, 1993;
Tsui, 1999; Schultz, 2002; Daud & Husin, 2004).
While literary texts’ positive effects are highlighted by a myriad of researchers,
some possible challenges and drawbacks of their utilization cannot be disregarded.
Literary texts, according to Parkinson and Thomas (2000), “can be remote from the
learners in all sorts of ways—historically, geographically, socially and in terms of life
experiences” (p. 11). The confusion that the learners might encounter due to this
remoteness might afflict the whole learning experience including the development
of language and content knowledge. Secondly, Long (1986) indicates that learners
are challenged with the level of vocabulary and the syntactic complexity of the
dıgıtal story 393
authentic texts and might many times fail to decode the meaning presented in the
texts. Likewise, Collie and Slater (1991) and Ur (1996) mention the existence of
a possible gap between the learners’ cultural heritage and linguistic competency
which may hinder students’ reading and learning processes.
Discussion
What are some creative ways to integrate literary texts into language classrooms?
In addition to these problems, it’s argued that literature classes fail to provide
a student-centered and visually-assisted learning environment. Parkinson and
Thomas (2000) claim that the most fundamental problem with literature classes
is the fact that students often consider themselves to be passive consumers of
teacher’s knowledge while teachers act as lecturers “telling the learners what
they should know and even think, perhaps even translating parts of the text” (p.
12). Similar arguments are put forward by Lin and Guey (2004) who allege that
the teacher-centered nature of literature classes fails “to engage students, whose
interpretative skills and analytic abilities remain underdeveloped within such a
traditionally transmissive approach” (p. 2). These studies are important in terms of
shedding light on a possible conflict between most literature classes and some, if not
all, of the core ideas of language learning and teaching pedagogies. Nonetheless, a
potentially more detrimental and challenging problem brought forward is yet to be
explained, one that has become a challenge in all aspects of life, namely, technology
Literature and technology
The US magazine, TIME has a tradition of selecting “The Person of the Year” since
1927. Several individuals, groups of people, inventions, and even our endangered
planet have received that title in their special end of the year issues (Time, 2010). In
the year 2006, “you”, along with many of your students, were titled ‘the person of
the year’ “for the growth and influence of user-generated content on the Internet”
(BBC, 2006, para. 1). Since 2006, our lives have gotten even more digitalized, and
the future looks even more promising for ‘the people of 2006’. A quick glimpse
at the demographics of some of the most famed online metropolises—such as
YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, or MySpace—shows how right Time Magazine is
in giving this title to the students occupying modern day classrooms. Browsing
through various academic studies conducted on the willingness and readiness
of teachers to incorporate technology in classrooms (see Albrini, 2006; Bauer &
Kenton, 2005; Duhaney, 2001), however, paradoxically challenges Time’s decision
to choose such a broad title, ‘you’, encompassing everybody. The clash between the
learners’ promptness and propensity to use, adopt, and create digital technology
and the teachers’ hesitance and concerns to welcome it in classrooms is one of
the most, if not the most, demanding challenges ever experienced in educational
world. In other words, motivating, engaging, and teaching, what Prensky (2001)
394 Texts and Tools
calls, “digital native” students of the modern days is arguably the toughest test
that teachers—most of whom are considered “digital immigrants” according to
Prensky—face today.
As digital technology has been quite explicitly infiltrating educational world, its value
in language education is broadly recognized (Sharma, 2008; Santos & Sobrinho,
2009; Motteram & Sharma, 2009; Egorov, Jantassova, & Churchill, 2007). Yet, its
use, effectiveness, and possible drawbacks in literature classes in foreign language
setting have not been under the scope of much research. While it’s universally
accepted that learners are all unique and different learning contexts requires
different learning methods, it’s remarkable to see that studies carried out 11.000
kilometers away from each other have the same implications in regard to bringing
technology into literature classes. In their studies, Arıkan (2008) from Ankara, Turkey
and Speaker (2004) of New Jersey, the United States give voice to the opinions of
students in their literature classes. Speaker (2004), reports that students learn the
content better when technology is utilized in classrooms. Similarly, Arıkan’s (2008)
findings show that incorporating technology in literature classes helps learners not
only understand the content better but also improve their communicative skills. In
addition to these two studies, a more tangible support to the significance of using
technology in literature classes comes from Maninger (2006) whose research with
185 students shows that effective integration of technology into literature classes
increases students’ success.
Discuss
1. Why do you think employing technology positively affects students’ learning
of a foreign language?
2. It is argued that using technology deadens the critical thinking—a significant
part of the learning process. Do you agree? Why?
3. Can you think of some possible ways of bringing technology into language
classrooms in which students can actively participate?
Digital story telling
All technological applications have their own downsides and none of them can be considered
a panacea for the need of enhancing learners’ learning experiences. In addition to these
commonly accepted views, a plethora of research examining the reasons why bringing
technology into classroom is surprisingly low in spite of the influx of technology in every
area of our lives is concluded with very similar findings such as lack of appropriate software,
technical difficulties, teachers’ lack of necessary technical skills, and funding. Despite all these
concerns, though, some applications—which are not necessarily exclusively designed for
educational purposes—have recently drawn much attention thanks to their unsophisticated
yet effectual aspects and has been finding their ways into the skeptic world of academia—
dıgıtal story 395
digital storytelling applications are one of them. Digital stories are 3 – 5 minute long
computer-based and user-generated short video clips that enable learners to utilize and
combine various skills including “research and writing, organization, technology, presentation,
interpersonal, or problem-solving skills, which, in turn, develop digital, global, visual, and
information literacy” (Gregori-Signes, 2008). They are widely used in language classes as well
(see Tsou, Wang, & Tzeng, 2006; McLellan, 2006; Vinogradova, n.d.; Afrilyasanti, 2009; Wan,
Tanimoto, & Templeton, 2008).
Discuss
Name some stories that can be covered with digital storytelling.
What kinds of music and illustrations would be suitable for these stories?
the digitalized world of this century, are in need of a digital touch to remain pertinent
and engaging to the student population experiencing the digital age in many ways in
their daily lives. Hence, digital storytelling applications have an important potential
to revitalize them by changing the dynamics of the traditional course of humanities
and by giving students a chance to work collaboratively to construct their digital
projects while promoting their language skills.
Application
Below are examples from a group of learners’ digital storytelling work. Please follow
the section below to familiarize yourself with Microsoft Photo Story 3 and how to
digitalize a story that you want to use in your classroom.

In order to help learners build 21st century communication skills, teachers can
use digital story telling in their classrooms. Digital story telling is fun, inspiring
and exciting; developing personal digital stories can be healing. According to
constructivist model digital story telling can be used as a tool in order to build a
real world experience in reading skills. Constructivism, in general, is the notion
that meaning is imposed on the world rather than extant in it (Swan, 2005). There is
evidence that storytelling contributes to deep learning (Barrett, 2006; Miley, 2009;
Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007). Deep learning focuses is on “what is signified”. It also
relates knowledge from different courses and relates theoretical ideas to everyday
experience which makes digital stories a beneficial tool for deep learning.
The reasons that make digital storytelling a promising application to assist teaching
can be listed as follows. Initially, quite arguably everybody can survive while working
on most of the digital storytelling programs. Most programs available on the Internet
do not require users to possess high computer skills. Next, what digital storytelling
applications offer with their customizable and constructivist characteristics are
compliant with language teaching pedagogies that are accepted to be efficient, and
third, they provide students with changes to link their background knowledge with
technology and use their information-creation skills for educational purposes. The
last but not least, almost all of the digital storytelling tools can be obtained free of Getting started
charge; they can be downloaded from the websites of the manufacturers or can be
Microsoft Photo Story 3 (MPS3 hereafter) is free software for owners of a genuine
found pre-installed by default on personal computers.
version of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 (It will not run on Macintosh
Some of the most common free-of-charge digital storytelling programs are Windows computers). The program lets users create effective digital stories using still
Movie Maker and Microsoft Photo Story 3 (for Windows based PCs) and iMovie for images and sounds in a couple of simple steps. It does not support video recordings;
Macintosh computers. It should be remembered that these free-of-charge programs instead, MPS3 adds motion, transition, narration, and music to the digital images to
are less professional and offer fewer options to edit or modify multimedia elements create the story. There is an option to record narration; this, however, requires an
compared to their paid counterparts such as Adobe Premiere or Macromedia external or a built-in microphone.
Flash. However, their features and what they promise when combined with the
The video files created with MPS3 can be played on any computer with the capabilities
imagination of a mind would be more than enough to breathe a new life into any
of playing .wmv files or on DVD players. Below are the explanations on how to
learning experience.
create a digital story with MPS3. After being familiarized with the basic working
It’s rational in claiming that traditional literature classes, like any other classes in

396 Texts and Tools dıgıtal story 397

mechanisms of program, users can explore the extents of possibilities MPS3 offers. the screen. The chosen image
The steps below assume that you possess basic computer skills. You are advised to on the storyboard will appear
seek for additional help from other sources if you need assistance with some of the on the ‘screen’ and will have
steps explained below. a dark blue frame around it.
Users have to work on each
Beginning a New Story & Adding Images
image one by one; to choose
• See if the program is pre-installed on your computer: Start à All programs an image in the storyboard,
à Microsoft Photo Story 3. If not (which might be the case for many simply click on it once (Figure
Windows XP based computers), download it from Microsoft’s website. 4).
• Choose the default prompt, Begin a New Story, on the welcome screen and • Clicking on the Edit button
Figure 5. Adding photo effects
hit Next to start the project. Users can navigate through MSP3 screens on this screen opens a new Figure 5. Adding photo effects
with the Next and Back buttons at the bottom of the screen (Figure 1). pop-up window where users
• Click on the Import Pictures button to select pictures for the story (Figure can rotate or crop images, work on contrast and apply effects such as
2). black and white, sepia, washout or diffuse glow (Figure 5).
• To change the order of photos in the storyboard, select the photo you
would like to relocate, and either use the arrows to the right of the
storyboard or simply hold and drag it to a new place. To remove an image
from the story, select it and press X below the arrows or Delete on your
keyboard.
• Remember to click on the Save button after every modification.

Adding Texts
• Click Next to proceed to the next screen where you can add text on the
photos. First, select the picture on which you would like to insert your
text. Type your text and adjust the alignments with the options above the
• Click on the pictures you would like select and hit OK on the pop-up text box. To modify your text, click on the button with the “A” letter on it
window to add them to your story. To select more than one file at a time, at the top-left of the text box (Figure 6). Choose the font style, font size,
hold down the control key (CTRL) on your keyboard; to add all images in font color and font on the pop-up window (Figure 7).
the folder, press CTRL + A (Figure 3).

Figure 6. Inserting texts Figure 7. Modifying text

Figure 6. Inserting texts Figure 7. Modifying text
Figure 3. Selecting images Figure 4. Storyboard
• Select images individually to add your text; MPS3 does not have a “copy
• The images you select will be copied to the storyboard at the bottom of the same text on all images” option.

398 Texts and Tools dıgıtal story 399

 • Before clicking Next, make sure you have a microphone ready with you if • This screen is also where you can adjust the way your pictures are
you do not have a built-in microphone because the next screen is where displayed (Figure 9). Mark Specify Start and End Position of motion; hold
you record your speech and attach it to the images. and drag the little boxes in the corners of the picture to the desired
location. MPS3 then will generate a zooming effect between the starting
Narrating a Voiceover
and ending positions you specified.
• After connecting your microphone, click on the circle with the red dot on
• To customize zooming, mark Specify Start and End Position of motion;
it to attach a voiceover to your image (Figure 8). You can write a text in
hold and drag the little boxes in the corners of the picture to the desired
the text box below the recording button. This text will not appear on your
location. MPS3 will generate a zooming effect between the starting and
story and it is there only to be used as a basis for your voiceover. Click
ending positions you specified (Figure 9).
Preview to view your story.
• MSP3 assigns a default transition, cross fade, for all of the images in the
• Voiceovers are attached individually to each picture. That means the
story. On the same window under the Transitions tab, you may customize
longer you record, the longer that image will be displayed on the screen.
the transition effect between pictures as well (Figure 10). To select a new
Put your narration into chunks and attach them to different pictures if
transition, simply click on the one you want to assign and hit Save.
you want different photos to be associated with particular parts of your
narration. Adding Background Music

Customizing Motion • You may insert background music to your story; you may choose from the
music files saved on your computer or may choose to create new music
• If there is no voiceover attached, each picture on the storyboard will be
(Figures 11& 12).
displayed for five seconds by default before
proceeding to the next one. It is possible to • Click on the picture in the storyboard where you want the music to start.
Click Select Music or Create Music depending on your choice. Clicking the
set a longer or shorter time of display for
latter lets you choose from a good variety of pre-recorded music from
pictures by clicking on the Customize Motion
different genres and styles. You may customize your music’s tempo and
button (Figure 8).
intensity as well. Click Play to review your music.
• On the new screen, mark Number of
seconds to display the picture and set the
number of seconds you want that picture to
be displayed. The time limit you set affects
Figure 8. Customize Motion only that particular image; the action must
be repeated for each picture individually
(Figure 9).

Figure 11. Adding music Figure 12. Creating music

• You may add a different piece of music play for each picture in your story.
Just click on another new image in the storyboard and repeat the actions
in the previous step.
• Click preview and view your story before the next step.

Figure 9. Start and end point

Figure 9. Start and end point
Figure 10. Transitions
Figure 10. Transitions Saving and Publishing
• There are a couple of different saving options. Under Activities, choose the

400 Texts and Tools dıgıtal story 401

 most appropriate one depending on where you plan to play your video—
on a computer, cell phone, or portable media players (Figure 13). Discussion

• Click Settings and then Profile to choose the quality you want to save your
story (Figure 14).
• Click Browse button if you want to specify the location and the file name of
your story. You are now just a click away from your digital story; hit next
to finalize.
Discuss and list potential benefits of using digital storytelling in language
classrooms. At the end of the application when you have finished your own story
prepared with digital storytelling, go through your list once again in order to
highlight the benefits you have gained throughout the process.
While there is abundant support urging the use of digital applications to update
traditional literature classes, not much research has been carried out to evaluate
the validity and the applicability of any particular digital tool to assess the vitality
of these claims. Therefore, the current study aims to shed light on the effectiveness
and the applicability of digital storytelling, a widely-used digital tool coming out
of the educational world, in enhancing literature classes in English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) environment. Moreover, the study intends to reflect the attitudes
of the students towards the use of Microsoft Photo Story 3 © (MPS3) as a tool to
facilitate and enrich the literature classes in an EFL setting.

Figure 13. Saving the story

Figure 13. Saving the story Figure 14. Choosing file quality
Figure 14. Choosing file quality Discussion question
Discuss the differences as an output between traditionally reading a short story
• After MPS3 finishes creating in the classroom and using digital storytelling in language classrooms.
your story, the final screen will give you
the option to view your story, create a new Ghosn (2002) articulates that utilization of literary texts is important in terms of
story or to go back to change something assisting language learners in enhancing their academic literacy, a crucial skill the
else in your story (Figure 15). development of which might not be effectively sustained through traditional language
• To be able to make further learning materials. One limitation of this study is the probability of overrated
modifications in your story later, make answers given by the students due to the fact that two of the researchers are the
sure you click Save Project before you teachers of the students. While the anonymity provided with the online surveys
click Exit. might control this limitation, it’s still possible that some, if not all, participants’
Figure 15.
Figure 15.TheThe
final menu
final menu answers were affected by that. Or, it’s possible that some of the participants who
completed the survey might respond more enthusiastically.
Important Points to Remember
• You need Windows Media Player 10 installed on your computer to be able Discussion question
to run MSP3.
To what extent it is viable to use the digital storytelling technique to teach young
• Save your work very often. Notice the Save Project button at the bottom of
learners in foreign language educational practices?
the MSP3 screen. If you have any technical glitches while you are working
on your project, you will lose all your work.
• If you have small size images, you will be disappointed with the resolution
of your visuals when you view or project your story on a large screen.
Make sure you use high-resolution images in your story.
• If you choose a high quality save option, make sure that your computer
has a good processor because as the quality gets higher, the file becomes
more demanding for the computer.

402 Texts and Tools dıgıtal story 403

 About the Contributors

Erhan Alabay, PhD Candidate, is currently working at Selçuk University, Ahmet

Keleşoğlu Faculty of Education, Department of Pre-school Education. His interests
are science and maths teaching in pre-school education.

Arda Arikan, PhD, is an Associate Professor of English Language Teaching currently

working at Akdeniz University. Receiving his PhD at Pennsylvania State University, he
has published articles and book chapters about foreign language teacher training,
literature education, gender, and culture teaching.

Cem Balçıkanlı, PhD, works as a lecturer in English language teaching program

at Gazi University. He is particularly interested in learner/teacher autonomy, web
technologies in language learning/teaching and teaching Turkish as a foreign
language. He has presented papers at several conferences and has published in
various journals.

Muhlise Coşgun Ögeyik, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Education,

Trakya University. She has been working at English Language Teaching Department.
She holds Ph. D. degree in English Language Teaching. Her special research interest
areas are: foreign language teacher training, literature education, linguistics,
methodology, culture teaching, research design and methodology.

Simla Course obtained her BA in ELT from the Middle East Technical University;
her MA and PhD degrees from the University of Warwick. Currently she is working at
the ELT department of Akdeniz University. Her areas of professional interest include
developing critical reading, reading, and writing skills in EFL, critical discourse
analysis, critical theory, learner autonomy and motivation.

Servet Ҫelik, PhD, is currently an assistant professor and chair of the Department
of Foreign Language Education at Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey. Dr.
Ҫelik holds a bachelor›s degree in ELT from Gazi University, Turkey; a master›s of
education degree in TESOL from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and a doctoral
degree in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education from Indiana University-
Bloomington, USA. He taught elementary-level EFL in Turkey, and college-level
Turkish in the U.S., and has worked as a rater for ETS scoring constructed speaking
responses for the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Testing
(TOEFL iBT) Speaking program. Some of Dr. Ҫelik’s professional interests include
language teacher education, teaching of culture and intercultural competence,
critical literacy, narrative inquiry and qualitative research.

404 Theoretical Considerations Learning Theories 405

Bengül Çetintaş, PhD, is an Associate Professor of German Language Teaching
currently working at the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at
Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. Her research interests are teacher education,
intercultural education, and teaching skills.
Feryal Çubukcu, PhD, is currently an Associate Professor of English Language
Teaching at the Department of Foreign Language Education at Dokuz Eylül
University, İzmir, Turkey. Her research interests are literature and its teaching,
teacher development, teaching skills.
Derya Döner Yılmaz, PhD, is currently an assistant professor at the department of
English Language Teaching at Uludağ University. Having graduated from Hacettepe
University in 1990, she continued her MA studies at the University of Essex and
completed her PhD at the same university in 1998. She teaches ‘Teaching Skills’
courses at BA level and ‘Material Evaluation and Design’ course at both BA and MA
levels. Her research areas are teacher training, language teaching materials and
teaching young learners.
Şehriban Dündar, is currently a master’s degree student in English Language
Teaching Program at Akdeniz University. She received her BA from Selçuk University,
ELT Department in 2011. She is interested in drama in foreign language teaching
and teacher development.
Esim Gürsoy, PhD, is currently an assistant professor in the ELT Department of
Uludağ University, Turkey. Dr. Gürsoy holds a bachelor’s degree in ELT from Uludağ
University, Turkey; a master’s of education degree in Teacher Education from Ohio
University, USA, and a doctoral degree in ELT from Anadolu University, Turkey.
She offers courses on teaching English to young learners at the graduate and
undergraduate level. Some of her professional interests include foreign language
teaching to young learners, language teacher education, teaching practice, use
of technology in foreign language teaching, and integration of SRT topics, such as
environmental education, to foreign language teaching and teacher education.
406 Theoretical Considerations
Murat Hişmanoğlu, PhD, is currently an assistant professor and Head of English
Language and Literature Department at Faculty of Arts and Science at Uşak
University, Turkey. Dr. Hismanoglu holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s of arts
degree in Linguistics from Hacettepe University, Turkey, and a doctoral degree in
English Language Teaching from Hacettepe University, Turkey. He offers courses
on Listening and Pronunciation and Linguistics at the graduate and undergraduate
level. Some of Dr. Hişmanoglu’s professional interests include L2 pronunciation
teaching, particularly Internet-assisted L2 pronunciation teaching, use of technology
in foreign language education, intercultural communication, language teacher
education and teaching practice.
Yasemin Kırkgöz, PhD, is a lecturer at the ELT Department of Çukurova University,
Adana, Turkey, and has responsibility as Head of the Department of Foreign
Languages. She completed her MA and PhD at Aston University, Birmingham in
England. She has published on language policy, curriculum design and innovation
management, teaching English to young learners, integrating computers in
language teaching, and she has reviewed several book chapters. Her research
interests include macro to micro levels in foreign language teaching and learning at
all levels from primary to high education; innovation in foreign language teaching;
curriculum development, materials evaluation and technology in teaching.
Çiğdem Karatepe, has completed her PhD at Liverpool University following her
MA studies at the same university. She has been interested in teacher education,
linguistics, and discourse analysis. She is currently working at Uludağ University’s
ELT department.
Şule Korkmaz has been a lecturer since 2002 at Uludag University Faculty of
Education English Language Teaching Department, where she received her MA in
2001. She is currently a doctorate student in Çanakkale 18 Mart University Institute
of Educational Science ELT Department. She is interested in ELT teacher education,
materials development, and teaching young learners.
Özgür Köse, PhD candidate, works at METU as a foreign language instructor.
Interested in technology, materials development, and writing.
Hülya Küçükoğlu, PhD candidate, works at Hacettepe University as a foreign
language instructor. Interested in technology, materials development, and teacher
education.
Learning Theories 407
 Kemal Sinan Özmen, PhD, works at Gazi University, English language teaching
program in Turkey, and teaches TESOL methodology, second language acquisition
and creative drama. His research interests include ‘teaching as a performing art’,
teacher identity and belief development and pre-service English teacher education.

H. Sezgi Saraç, PhD, H. Sezgi Saraç holds a PhD from Hacettepe University (Turkey),
specializing in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. She has worked as an English
instructor (1998-2001/Baskent University, Turkey), foreign language teaching
assistant (2004-2005/New York State University, USA) and research assistant
(2001-2007/Hacettepe University, Turkey). She currently works as an Assistant
Professor at the Department of English Language Teaching at Baskent University
in Turkey and is also the editor-in-chief of the journal Novitas: ROYAL (Research on
Youth and Language). Her research areas are curriculum development, pedagogical
content knowledge, material development and syllabus design.

Olcay Sert, PhD, is an academic and researcher at the Department of Foreign

Languages Education, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye. He worked as a
language tutor at the University of Sunderland, a teaching assistant at Newcastle
University, and as a visiting researcher at the University of Luxembourg. He is an
associate editor of Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), and has worked
as a reviewer for a number of academic journals including International Journal of
Applied Linguistics (Wiley-Blackwell), Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching
(Routledge), and Classroom Discourse (Routledge). His main research approach is
Conversation Analysis and his research deals primarily with classroom discourse,
interactional competence, and language teacher education.

Gonca Yangın Ekşi has done her MA at Hacettepe University, Department of ELT
and her PhD at Gazi University, Department of ELT, where is currently working as
an Assistant Professor of ELT. Prior to that, she had lots of experience in teaching
English and working at the testing office at Gazi University School of Foreign
Languages. Her research interests include teacher training, language and culture,
teaching English to young learners, materials development, ICT and developing
language skills.

Ece Zehir Topkaya, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English Language

Teaching, Faculty of Education, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Her research
interests include teacher education, psychology of learning and teaching language
skills.

Mehmet Galip Zorba, MA, is currently interested in materials development,

language teaching standards, literature, and lexicology.

408 Theoretical Considerations

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