Proposal of techniques for the teaching of english in the first year of bachillerato

UNIVERSIDAD PEDAGÓGICA DE EL SALVADOR FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES ÁREA DE ESPECIALIZACIÓN EN IDIOMA INGLES

RECTOR: LIC. LUIS ALONSO APARICIO

DEAN: LIC. CATALINA DE MACHUCA

GENRAL SECRETARY: ING. LUIS MARIO APARICIO

SAN SALVADOR, JANUARY 5, 2002.

INDEX CONTENS

PAGES

...

ยก

CHAPTER I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .........................

1.1. Delimitation.........................................................

1.1.1. Time...........................................................

1.1.2. Geographical ..............................................

1.1.3. The Research .............................................

1.2 General Objetive..................................................

1.3 Justification............................... .....................

1

2 2 2 3 3 4

-

CHAPTER II. REFERENCE FRAME ........................................

5

CHAPTER m. METHODOLOGY .................................................

10

m.l. The Design...........................................................

10

m.2. The Strategy .......................................................

10

m.3. The Population ....................................................

11

m.3.1. Universe .................................. . ........... ... m.3.2 Sample .....................................................

11 '

11

CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE INFORMATION .

13

Vl.l linguistic Skills .......................................................

VI.2 Methodological Strategies ....... . ......... .... ...............

13 15

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

V.l Coclusions..........................................................

V.2 Recommendations................. ...............................

V.2.1 To the University .. .......................................

V.2.2 To the MINED......................................... .....

ANNEXES

.16 18 18 18

INTRODUCTION.

To strength the process of teaching and learning in El Salvador has been the struggle of scholars throughout the whole history of education in El Salvador.

Different schools in different fields have done their own job for their respective fields of study; people concerned to the teaching of English area not a part of this matter.

In many diverse moments of that history, researchers have studied the teaching and learning process in El Salvador.

In the same way, many

conclusions have been drawn through the way. This report is based on an investigation about the techniques and strategies for the teaching of English in the first year of Bachillerato of schools in San Salvador. , OF

TECHNIQUES

FOR

This work entitled “PROPOSAL

THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN THE FIRST

YEAR OF BACHILLERATO EN PUBLIC SCHOOLS " consists of five chapters.

Each chapter describes the steps which were followed during the research. At the beginning, in chapter I, it is described the phenomenon that opened the doors to the investigation.

Next, it is stated the theoretical framework that supports the research. On chapter EQ, it is described the steps which were followed during the process of collecting information. That information is analyzed on chapter IV. Finally,

chapter

V

contains

the

conclusions

achieved,

and

he

recommendations, as the product of the whole work.

It is expected the present report becomes a valuable contribution to the process of teaching English either in private or public schools, as well as an important sep for failure investigations.

CHAPTER I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Different researches have concluded that inadequate use of teaching techniques provoke low output in students of English in tercer cycle and bachillerato as well. Traditional teaching, this is teachers arriving to classroom and as tong students to open books to page X, makes boring classes and promotes dislikes in them toward the target language.

In addition to what has been stated above, the lack of didactic resources and, in general, lack of technical support from school principals or anybody else in position to help, make the teacher of English to develop the process in isolation.

Many of the times, the one who leads the process an specialists of the language, some others they are teachers of any other field *

With little or no experience at all, in the teaching of English. Indeed, all those factors make the teaching-learning process of English to go by a very difficult track.

The ministry of education (MINED) is conscious of the weakness surrounding the teaching of English in public schools, and in different moment has tried to do something to solve the problem. Along this line, there have been many courses and different training seminars with the only objective to improve the process and achieve better results. The last of these intents was the DIPLOMADO PARA PROFESORES DE INGLES DE TERCER CICLO DI EDUCACIĂ“N BĂ SICA DE LAS ESCUELAS - PUBLICAS DE El SALVADOR", carried out from July to December of 2000.However, and in

Spiel of all these attempts, boring classes and low results consuming to proficiency of the target language still keep going.

W HAT CAN BE DONE IN ORDER TO MAKE

CLASSES MORE DYNAMIC?

WHAT CAN BE DONE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTTVES STATED BY THE MINED AT THE END OF EACH SCHOOL YEAR?

1.1 DELIMITATION 1.1.1 TIME

The present work is going to be carried out from August 2000 to December 2001. During all this time, it will be designed the research, will be carried out the field observations required and will be presented the final report. The final report will consist of the collection, analysis and interpretation of all the information taken from the inquiries and observations done in the different schools observed.

1.1.2 GEOGRAPHICAL

This project will be carried out in the metropolitan zone of San Salvador. E ven though to visit every and each institution would be mandatory in order to make this research more reliable, limitation in resources make it impossible. Consequently, the following schools will be chosen, taking in consideration

Their geographical position and the population that is assisted in there. The schools are:

INSTITUTO NACIONAL "FRANCISCO MENENDEZ" INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE COMERCIO COMPLEJO EDUCATIVO "CONCHA V. DE ESCALÓN" COMPLEJO EDUCATIVO "ROMERO AL VERGUE” INSTITUTO NACIONAL "ALBERT CAMUS"

1.1.3 THE RESEARCH

The research will be an exploratory work. It means that the process of teaching English will be only observed and described; the conclusions derived from those observations will be presented in the last chapter of this report.

1.2

GENERAL OBJECTVE

TO IDENTIFY WHICH WEAKNESSES CONTINUÉ MAKING THE TECHINGLEARNING PROCESS OF ENGLISH DEFFICEENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, IN GENERAL, AND SPECIFICALLY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF BACHILLERATO.

1.3

JUSTIFICATION

Nowadays, the English language is a very necessary tool that allows people to develop worldwide. Every day, companies more frequently require that their employees' profiles include the command of what is known the universal language of business. Of course, anybody who wants to get a job in a company like the ones described, might speak English.

In addition, for people who want to continue studying a technical school or university, English becomes mandatory to have access to more diverse sources of information. It means, they can have access to information in the INTERNET or books whose publications cannot be found in other languages but English. Consequently, to identify the weaknesses preventing acceptable results in me teaching-learning process of the target language will help people in position to make decisions to overcome them and strengthen the process to achieve the goal: to make students speak English. -

CHAPTER II REFERENCE FRAME During the decade 1990-2000 there have been many attempts to discover which are the causes of low output in students of high school in the level of proficiency of English achieved at the end of the process. The goal has been to explain why after 5 years (6 before the last reform took place) of studying English, students achieve low commands in some cases and no command at all in others of the target language.

One of the latest studies is the one done by Carlos Ernesto Escuto UmaĂąa and others,1 which stated that the process of learning is influenced by psychological, social, and personal factors. According to this statement the teacher should collect information from the students in order to recognize which are the maim needs related to the factors mentioned above. That Information would eventually help the teacher to design a strategy in order to make the process more fruitful.

That perspective leads to the conclusion that the role of the teacher of any foreign or second language is not as simple as it once could have been. Taking into consideration that language is not just a matter of knowing a hat of words or structures but a form of communication among individuals in a specific social context, it becomes necessary to put into practice techniques and 1

Strategies that could make learners not only memorize words and grammar rules but also strategies that could help him be understood.

Moreover, it is necessary to think of the student not as a passive receptacle which is necessary to fill up of knowledge but an active member who is responsible of his own learning. This makes compulsory to think over strategies of teaching that might motivate that responsibility and that, occasionally, will involve the students in his own process of learning.

To develop an efficient EFL learning process is important to stimulate the interest in the students and reinforce their motivation in learning something new. In order to do so, the teacher must not only have an acceptable command of the target language but also a wide knowledge of techniques and methodological strategies to teach the language. Âť

The MINED discovered those factors and in different moments of the history of education in El Salvador has tried, by different means, to overcome the problem. Lack of command of the language and deficiencies in the knowledge of methods and techniques to teach English are the main weaknesses discovered by both the MINED and university researches; among the last ones, the Universidad PedagĂłgica de El Salvador.

During the last decade there have been many training and seminars, in the country and abroad, with the purpose to strengthen the teachers' profiles in both command of the language and methodological strategies. The latest of these intents is the diplomado to which it was made reference in the previous

The conclusions achieved by the authors of that report established that there was a progress in the teachers who participated in it in both, command of the language and knowledge of methodological strategies. These conclusions lead to another situation: it is true that most of the teachers in charge of the teaching of English in public schools have low command of the target language, but it is a also true that most of them have access to information that focus teaching techniques and development of teaching materials.

Consequently, from the conclusion achieved by the authors referred, what is necessary is to find the way to make the teachers to put into practice in their classrooms all the techniques, principles and approaches acquired through all the seminars that have taken place along the whole history of the teaching of English in El Salvador.

In theory, and as manner of conclusion, most of the teachers in public schools have low command of the target language but as it has been demonstrated, there are plenty of materials — books, handouts and magazines-where it can be found information on methods, techniques, strategies and development of didactic materials.

What continues affecting the teaching of English process is the low proficiency of the targeĂ­ language by the teachers. That is the problem which needs to be overcome.

Then, to supervise the classes to realize that what the teacher knows is being used with the students who, eventually, would become in the winners of the whole process.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY III.1THEDESIGN Ai the beginning, this research was designed as a project to propose techniques for the teaching of English in the first year of bachillerato. The proposal intended to make the teaching learning process more dynamic and arise the results in the command of the language. In order to do so, the research was designed as a descriptive one. This is, instruments for observation of classes were designed, and , ai the same time, questionnaires were elaborated to collect information from students, principals and teachers; the main actors in the process.

After a couple of months, and after having faced the evaluators of the report a couple of times, it was decided to explore deeper the problem, and what was designed as a field research turned into a library research.

III.2 THE STRATEGY

During the last semester of the school year 2000, it was carried out a series of visits to schools^ in order to make class observations and have an actual point of view of what the reality was in the classrooms, concerning to the teaching of English.

During the same visits teachers and principals were interviewed to know their respective perspective about the process.

III.3 THE POPULATION

IIl 3.I UNIVERSE

The subject of study chosen to carry out the research Was all the students legally registered in the first year of bachillerato in public schools of the metropolitan area of San Salvador. Teachers in charge of the teaching of English in the same zone were part of the universe also.

HL3.2 SAMPLE

To cover the whole universe was impossible because Doing so would have required more time and economical resources than the ones available for the research. In consequence, it was decided to choose the most important institutions taking in consideration the population they assist and their geographical location. Under these two criteria the following institutions were chosen:

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE INFORIVIATION

IV.1 LINGUISTIC SKILLS

Data collected from the report done by Isolina de Marín and Maria Vicenta Guardado reinforced with information collected from the files of the Universidad Evangélica de El Salvador.

LINGUISTIC SKILLS MACRO -SKILLS

LISTEN ING

READING

SPEAKING

WRITING

LEVELOF

BEFORE THE

PROFICBENCY

DIPLOMADO

AFTERTHE DIPLOMADO

BASIC INTERMEDIATE

36.4% 39.2%

37.8% 40.6%

ADVANCED

24.5%

21.7%

BASIC INTERMEDÍATE

38.5% 38.9%

37.8% 42.0%

ADVANCED

21.7%

20.3%

BASIC INTERMEDÍATE

33.6% 46.9%

37.1% 42.7%

ADVANCED

18.6%

20.3%

BASIC INTERMEDÍATE

34% 37.8%

38.5% 37.1%

ADVANCED

27.9%

24.5%

ANALYSIS

The

table

above

portraits

percentages

based

on

results

of

tests

administrated by the facilitators in charge of the diplomado. The tests which were administrated were designed by consultants working for me MINED. The same tests were administrated in all the sites where the diplomado was taking place in the whole country. The table reflects improvement in proficiency only in the basic level. The intermediate and advanced level show a trend to remain the same. Talking about that finding with Lice. Bladimir Romero6, he affirmed that one possible answer had to do with attendance. The teachers were evaluated to establish their level of proficiency at the beginning of the diploma do. The ones who, according to results were located in the basic level, showed more responsibility in their attendance and presenting homework assignments. This was not observed with the same intensity in the other levels.

IV.2 METHODOLOGICAL STRATEGIES Methods and techniques known by the teachers

RESULTS

BEFORE THE

Do not

Recognize

Confiíse ñames of methods

recognize

methods by

witfa títíes of books

methods by their60% names

theír names 30%

10%

0%

100%

0%

Apple

Do not apply

Apply some methods but

specifíc

specific

not very often

methods 25,9%

methods 66.4%

7.7%

100%

0%

0%

DIPLOMADO AFTER THE DIPLOMADO RESULTS

BEFORE THE DIPLOMADO AFTER THE DIPLOMADO

ANALYSIS: From this information, ít is concluded that before July 2000, this is, before the diplomado took place, the knowledge on methods and techniques for the teaching of English was scarce. After the diplomado, the knowledge in this area increased a hundred per cent.

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

V.l CONCLUSIONS

Many of the graduation reports found in the library of the Universidad pedagรณgica de El Salvador, have arrived to the conclusion that the teachers in charge of the teaching of English in public schools have low command of the target language. This conclusion has been achieved in many researches carried out in the metropolitan zone of Salvador as well as in the interior of the country. The thesis entitled "EVALUATION AND FOLLOW UP OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH PROCESS ACCORDING TO THE GUIDANCE OF THE NEW CURRICULUM NORMATIVE IN THE METROPOLITAN ZONE OF SAN SALVADOR" clearly portraits that reality.

That thesis was the one which opened the road to a deeper investigation. Even though it was based in a sample of 143 participants, revising the files where the information on the whole number of participants is registered (865) reflects that based on the data presented by the authors of that graduation work is reliable to generalized the results.

From that generalization, it is concluded:

a. the more problematic situation affecting the teaching of English process in public schools is the poor command of the target language by teachers in f-

charge of the process; b. the attempts done by the MINED have not been sufficient to overcome those weaknesses; c. after the diplomado, all me participants and people close to them, have increased their knowledge on methods and techniques for EFL teaching.

This is because they were trained on that and plenty of material related to such information were given during the training; d. taking into consideration what it is stated in literal "c", to propose techniques for EFL teaching in whichever the level could be in public schools is not worthy because it has already done in many times by means of different seminars. In addition, it has been proved that what are affecting the process is the teachers level of proficiency

and not the level of

knowledge on methodology; E. consequently, what is necessary to do is to increase the teachers level of the English proficiency. Doing so, is what will help to achieve the objectives in the public system of education conceding to the English language. After that, to make teachers to apply updated methods and techniques would be, eventually, easier; F. finally, TO MAKE A PROPOSAL OF TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING EFL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, as it was projected at the beginning of this graduation work, is out of order because, humbly, there is nothing new in respect to methods that can be proposed.

V.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

V.2.1 To the university

a. Not to impose the topics to be researched, but to advise the undergraduates, by means of specialists from the university, to choose themes that can be a valuable contribution to strengthen the teaching of English in both public and private schools;

b. To focus the attention in strengthening the linguistics skills in all the students who, eventually, will become teachers of English;

c. To orient the volunteering program (social hours) in the development of training of teachers of English of the national system of education. To

aim

the seminars to the improvement of the target language oral proficiency.

d. To offer free courses of English for teachers of English who voluntarily want to increase their proficiency in the language.

V.2.2 to the MINED

a. to establish alliances with universities which graduate teachers of English for developing training seminars sponsored by the ministry covering the whole country;

b. to supply schools with audio-visual aids and other facilities for the teaching Of English;

c. to evaluate the teachers who want to teach English in the public system of education, to establish their command in both, the language and knowledge on methodology, Based on that evaluation to decide if whether or not the candidate is capable of guiding the process;

d, to give follow up to the process during the development of the school year, in order to detect weaknesses on time to reorient it as many times as necessary.

QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHERS. INSTITUTION

DATE:

1. Do you know teaching for the English Language?

Yes

No

2. Which ones?

3. Which do you consider are the weakest areas in the learning of the English language For your students?

4. Do you consider your students have enough knowledge about the language to acquire the new contents in the English programs?

5. Do you agree with the current English programs provided by the ministry of the education?

6.

Do you think the English programs now in use deserve to be reviser and analized?

7.

In your opinion the lack of phonetics as a teaching content in the English language Processes low academic output in the student?