Research in the Primary English Classroom

Teachers can and should be encouraged to take initiatives, make decisions for themselves, and adapt materials and activities for their specific circumstances. This approach implies that teachers monitor and develop their own understanding of teaching and learning on an ongoing basis. Explorations, reflections, and readiness to change are principles that remain at the core of all good teaching.

Recording a classroom can provide an objective record of exactly what was said, what questions were asked, or what instructions were given. In addition, teachers may choose to write an action research diary to note down thoughts, feelings, and insights during the process of investigation. It is impossible to concentrate on everything in every lesson and, therefore, it is helpful occasionally to focus on and explore specific aspects of one's own practice.

Observation is one of the most commonly used research methods with children. Many questions and issues in the TEYL classroom can be explored by using systematic observation. In addition to the traditional paper-based observation instruments, teachers can use tablets to take pictures or short videos of classroom events.

Teachers need to find out as much as possible about their learners so that they can adjust their teaching to children's changing needs. Asking children about their views and opinions is consistent with the philosophy of this book. Questionnaires are suitable for quick factual surveys, but they require a good level of literacy.

In interviews, it is important that children are able to ask questions and have repeated opportunities to make sense of the purpose of the research. Interviews should also be flexible, in the sense that children can express themselves through drawings, games, drama and other inclusive tools, not just words.

Using more than one instrument to investigate a question is often referred to as triangulating data - the word suggests that three angles are used to find answers to a question. The general advice is to gather data from several sources, so that you have access to all the information you need to answer the question in the right way.

The more teachers know about the complexities and children they are working with, the better their chance of success. Investigating classrooms, the learning process, and their own practices are part of effective teachers' practice. Children's views and opinions should be valued, and this is consistent with the principles advocated in this book.

Source: Teaching Young Language Learners (Second Edition). Annamaria Pinter. Oxford University Press 2017

Materials Evaluation and Materials Design

The coursebook, whether in a traditional or digital version, appears to be the most essential teaching and learning tool that leads teachers and learners' actions in many classrooms. A teacher's resource book or resource pack, audio and video material and digital packages, and supplementary online materials or 'apps' are all included in modern coursebooks. Young learners' coursebooks are well designed with attractive features, such as colorful visuals, fun games and tasks, crafts, and projects.

In certain situations, teachers must strictly adhere to a predefined course book, lesson by lesson and exercise by exercise, but in others, teachers are allowed to choose their own materials and activities. Most professors, in reality, fall somewhere in the center, where a course book must be followed but there is also room for unique additions.

Syllabuses: four skills and more

Children's course materials usually include appealing real materials, tales, and enjoyable activities, and they are in line with some of the educational objectives. Additional materials, including as posters, cards, iTools, a teacher's website, an audio CD, a Big Question DVD, online practice materials, and a parent website, are available to help teachers and students.

Evaluating coursebooks

Both teachers and students often analyze and adapt coursebooks informally. Teachers keep track of what works and what doesn't, and they interpret the book in their own way. Coursebooks can also be professionally assessed. One apparent goal of such an evaluation may be for instructors to make a case to school management to replace an outdated coursebook or to find methods to augment the current coursebook.

Supplementing coursebooks

Every coursebook has appealing characteristics, but they are also limited in certain respects, and it is critical that teachers take the time to discover these gaps. After that, they may start adapting and rewriting items to fill in the gaps, making the content more appropriate for their class.

The teacher wants to try something new by encouraging kids to learn to learn. If the coursebook does not include learning to learn, teachers might develop activities to include the "plan-do-review" cycle into each unit or teach specialized vocabulary acquisition tactics. Another typical motivation for augmenting a coursebook is to inspire students with attractive, real content.

For example, a teacher may decide to include authentic stories or storybooks to supplement the predictable language of the coursebook. Storybooks, children's magazines, and other children's publications, as well as the internet, are great sources of authentic materials for teachers

Authentic texts

Many authentic materials such as picture books can be used in English classes without any adaptation. Children generally do not mind if they do not understand every word in a story as long as following the plot is still possible. Repeated opportunities to listen to the same story will also help learning new language embedded in the story.

Adapting a well-known-fable

Fable The Grasshopper and the Ants could be a good source of language learning for children. But, as the teacher has indicated, the traditional fable is far too difficult for her class of eight-year-olds with very little English. Fables are particular types of animal stories with moral lessons applicable to human life.

Source: Teaching Young Language Learners (Second Edition). Annamaria Pinter. Oxford University Press 2017

Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar

Vocabulary

According Steven Stahl (2005), vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. knowledge of words implies not only definitions but also implies how they fit into the world, so knowledge of words is not something that can be completely mastered; it is something that develops and deepens throughout life.

What the effective strategy for teaching vocabulary?

• Put yourself in your students’ shoes
• Make direct vocabulary instruction fun and engaging
• Indirect vocabulary instruction is key
• Create quality vocabulary practices
• Vocabulary instruction can be engaging!

 

Techniques for Memorizing Vocabulary

• If you come across a new word, compare it with another word from long-term memory to help you memorize
• Understand the meaning of the word first in Bahasa
• Focuses on holding words long enough in your memory
• Using the newly learned words
• Repeating new words at frequent periods of time
• Use in daily life and sync the new words with pictures
• Practicing vocabulary is closely related to applying vocabulary to real-life events.

 

Grammar

Teaching grammar effectively is about enabling young learners to control grammars to express increasingly complex ideas.

Why is teaching grammar important?

• Because it is the language that makes it possible for us to effectively talk about language.
• Because with this, knowing about grammar opens a window into the human mind and into our amazingly complex mental capacity of knowing and learning a specific language.
• Because grammar also helps young learners understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting, pleasant and precise.

The methods of teaching grammar

1. Diagramming sentences
2. Learning through writing
3. Inductive teaching
4. Deductive teaching
5. Interactive teaching

 

Sources:

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-vocabulary?__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=pmd_C9sAUl1q07D5xKffSNISfLppMpfJ3PecgfUSPOvSV4E-1634954525-0-gqNtZGzNAxCjcnBszQi9  

https://www.k5learning.com/blog/top-5-reasons-learning-vocabulary-important

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/the-importance-of-teaching-and-learning-vocabulary-english-language-essay.php

https://www.classcraft.com/blog/strategies-for-teaching-vocabulary/

https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/key-principles-for-teaching-grammar

https://www.inklyo.com/methods-of-teaching-grammar/

https://www.professorjackrichards.com/drills-language-teaching/

https://www.readnaturally.com/research/5-components-of-reading/vocabulary

Assessment

Teachers must be knowledgeable with various reasons and ways of assessing students, as well as the fact that some standard evaluation techniques might be problematic for younger students. As a result, it's critical that children's language acquisition assessments be treated with care.

Assessment should focus on the development of language use in performance assessments in order to 'give the children opportunities to use the language for real purposes, in real or realistic situations, and assess their attempts to do so successfully,' in order to best suit the realities of young learners. (McKay, 2005)

Assessment for learning (AFL) is an approach to teaching and learning that creates feedback which is then used to improve students' performance.

Assessment of learning is about assessing and reporting, which is used to categorize pupils and communicate their assessments to others once they have occurred. (Earl 2013)

German (2004) coined the phrase diagnostic assessment. Defined as teachers' ability to interpret foreign language growth in children through one-to- one attention to individual learner production. Various diagnostic activities, which include careful scaffolding of learners and a general ability to exploit each learning/teaching situation fully. Some of these techniques, for example, are:

• Guess what a child might want to say and motivate them to say it 

• Interpret silence 

• Group children according to their needs 

• Evoke children's prior knowledge 

• Recognize from children's facial expressions whether they understood something 

• Adapt teacher language readily depending on each child's level of competence.

Child-friendly methods and a variety of assessment tools: Observation, Self-assessment and peer-assessment, portfolio assessment, project work.

 

Sources:

Teaching Young Language Learners (Second Edition). Annamaria Pinter. Oxford University Press 2017

McKay, P. (2005). Assessing Young Language Learners (Cambridge Language Assessment). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511733093

Earl, L. M. (2013). Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student Learning. Corwin.

https://cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html

Learning & Development

Vocabulary is important. With more vocabulary, there will be more comprehension, and there will be more acquisition. In giving input, in talking to students, the teacher needs to be concerned primarily with whether the students understand the message.

Teachers of Young Learners:

• Instruction (To provide developmentally appropriate instruction)
• Aware (Be aware of children’s basic physical and psychological needs)
• Jobs (To provide care and to provide interesting content.)
• Educational Experiences (Meet the developmental stages of the individual child)
• Challenge (Give them some challenge to know about their knowledge of language learning).

Principles to Teach Young Learners:

1. Build teaching around physical activity and movement
2. Build lessons around themes
3. Give some interesting activities to do
4. Choose content that kids know

Ssource: Teaching Young Language Learners (Second Edition). Annamaria Pinter. Oxford University Press 2017

Teaching listening and speaking

Listening

Because children typically cannot read or write, the two most important abilities to teach first are listening and speaking. Young learners should begin with a lot of listening practice, and opportunities to listen to a lot of different kinds of information will naturally lead to a speaking assignment.

Listening means paying attention to the words that are being spoken with the intention of understanding. Learners have to be able to understand the main idea of what is said.

Total Physical Response (TPR) activity

While demonstrating, the teacher offers an oral order. Simple orders can be followed by children or young learners.

Teachers should consider the following when using TPR activity:

• The complexity of the language being used (vocabulary and word diction)
• Making sure the grammar is clear and easily to be understood by young learners

Speaking

Speaking is one way for them to play, in this case is playing with sounds and words.

What young learners can do in speaking?

•  They can talk about what they are doing 
•  They can tell you about what have they done or heard 
•  They can argue for something and tell you why they think what they think

Classroom techniques and activities: using puppets, role play, talking and writing box, fishbowl technique, teaching pronunciation, tongue twister.

Learning to Learn

Encourage Good Behaviour to Children. Children quickly learn how to behave when they get positive, consistent guidance from you.

1. Be a role model
Use your own behaviour to guide your child.

2. Show the children how you feel
Telling your child honestly how their behaviour affects you helps your child see their own feelings in yours.  

3. Catch your child being ‘good’
When your child is behaving in a way you like, give your child some positive feedback. Example: ‘Wow, you’re playing so nicely. I really like the way you’re keeping all the blocks on the table’. This works better than waiting for the blocks to come crashing to the floor before you take notice and say, ‘Hey, stop that’.

4. Keep things simple and positive
Instruction should be clear, short and appropriate for your child’s age, so your child can understand and remember them.

Babies And Young Children Learn. The parents, other family members and carers – for example, early childhood educators – are the foundation for children’s health learning and development.

Children Learns by Being Involved in His Learning.

• Choosing books to read
• Pointing to pictures in books
• Choosing objects and toys to play with
• Picking out vegetables for dinner
• Measuring out flour for muffins.

What Young Children Are Learning?

1. Self and relationships
   Children learn that she’s loved and important. She starts learning to understand her own needs, thoughts, feelings, likes and dislikes.
2. Language and communication
   When you talk and listen with children, and read and sing together, you’re helping him learn about language, written and spoken communication, and conversation skills like taking turns and listening.
3. Numeracy, literacy, handwriting and music

Children develops early literacy through reading and storytelling, playing simple sound and letter games like listening for words that begin with the same sound, and looking at pictures, letters and words in the environment and in catalogues.

Hand writing Skills develop when you encourage him to draw, scribble and write.

Writing, helps your child understand the connection between letters and spoken sounds.

Singing, listening to music, and giving her musical instruments to play.

Source: https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/play-learning/literacy-reading-stories/reading-storytelling