Improving conversational interactions with task-based activities in a Spanish as a second language class

Author(s):  
Daniel A. Castañeda
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zailani Jusoh ◽  
Junaidah Abdul Rahman ◽  
Hishamuddin Salim

Questioning is a popular instructional strategy in a language class to encourage learning. However, not all questions are effective in doing so, as some questions sometimes go unanswered. When faced with a situation such as this, teachers must adjust their questions to make it more understandable. This study investigates question modification strategies employed by student teachers in English as a second language (ESL) class. Data for the study was collected through classroom observations. The participants were seven Diploma in Teaching English as a second Language (TESL) students who were undergoing their compulsory 12-week teaching practicum (TP) at various primary schools in Terengganu. The data were analyzed thematically based on the types of strategies used in the process. The finding shows that the most popular modification strategies among the STs are repetition and translation. Besides, the choice of modification strategies is limited to just a few. Many strategies were not fully utilized in class. The findings highlight important pedagogical implications for education providers (EPs) to improve on to produce competent teachers. EPs should expose student teachers to a wide array of question modification strategies to prevent interaction breakdown and to encourage active participation in the class. The ability to modify questions will create a more interactive and communicative environment suitable for learning English in a second language context.


Author(s):  
Ramesh Sathappan ◽  
Malini Sathappan

This study set to find out the challenges faced by TESL students at a local teacher training institute during their first practicum practices at selected Malaysian primary schools for the 2nd semester of the academic year 2017. This research is of significant value, as the 17 students- teachers’ experiences need to be made known; the findings on the transitional move from a safe protected college environment into the unknown territory of school surroundings. Each of these trainee teachers had leapt into the role of a teacher in the 21st century language class. They would each maintain daily and weekly reflective journals throughout their practicum period to document their teaching concerns and the level of confidence they put into their abilities to teach and manage their primary school students. Thematic areas are discussed in the findings. These findings are triangulated with document reports from their respective supervisors and the school teachers who mentored them. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted.  This research enables to shed more lights into the areas of second language teaching in the classroom as the findings would be able to provide more support for future management and development of teacher education. Furthermore, these student-teachers could understand themselves better throughout the month-long practicum. The ability to self-monitor and self-appraise themselves are valuable skills to be acquired by these student-teachers for their personal and autonomous continuous self-assessments to become effective second language teachers.


2013 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Almanzar

Art means a lot to me. Growing up in New York as a young teenager who came from another country, I felt as if I was an outcast from society due to the language barrier and numerous ethnic groups different than mine. Coming to New York from the Dominican Republic, I was placed in an ESL (English as a Second Language) class at Leonardo da Vinci IS 61 in Queens. I remember trying to speak to a girl who was not an ESL student. She was playing with her friends, tossing an orange back and forth, when she failed to catch it and the orange landed by my feet. She did not notice where it had gone, so I picked it up and tried to toss it back to her, at the same time telling her in Spanish, “Here it is.” The girl jumped back surprised and thought that I tried to hit her with the orange, so she began to curse me out. I didn't know what she was saying, but it was clear that it wasn't nice. I tried to explain myself, but she was not trying to hear me. This experience made me feel terrible.


Hispania ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 711
Author(s):  
Michael; quot &amp ◽  
Rube& quot ◽  
Redfield

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Päivi Juvonen

The present paper deals with the study of repair patterns. Repair, seen as some type of intrinsic trouble manifested by some party during interaction, has here been studied in an institutional setting, the second-language class-room. The repair sequences have been studied relative to the activity type in which the participants are involved. The results show the following: first, that the activity type has an impact on the repair pattern; and secondly, both quantitative and qualitative differences in repair patterns are found when compared with non-educational and foreign-language-teaching settings.


1992 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
Beverly Benson ◽  
Mary Deming ◽  
Deborah Denzer

Author(s):  
Tetiana Sheleh

Abstract. The development of intellectual and emotional resource of the personality has become crucial in modern society as it benefits to their effective self-fulfillment. The capability of proper emotions managing contributes to soft skills development. Hence, the problem of emotional intelligence is of great importance for scientists and teachers. Educational sphere is entitled to provide students with opportunities to train their emotional literacy, to overcome emotional barriers that interfere with their successful performance. The importance of integrating emotions into the educational process, in particular learning the second language, is proved by a number of researches. It is stated that positive emotions support motivation, memorization and influence psychological state of the student making them more open to the new knowledge. According to the cordos-mediation principle, the information that goes through the heart, i.e. trough experiencing some feelings and emotions, is effectively acquired by the person. Incorporating emotions into the second language learning activities benefits students᾿ cognitive and emotional sphere of development. As the process of learning foreign language comes with experiencing a range of positive and negative emotions, the work with them seems of great value. Intensification of positive emotions and elimination of foreign language anxiety, hopelessness, boredom, anger, that are typical for second language students, make sense. It leads to deactivation of students᾿ psychological defense mechanisms, increases their motivation and confidence. Selecting and using learning support materials to achieve this target should be based on their psychological sense to transform students᾿ views and contribute to their emotional literacy. The paper presents using the parable at the foreign language class as an effective instrument of meeting the requirements for work with students᾿ emotions. The parable is proved to be of great value due to its volume, lexical and grammar material, metaphoric meaning and deep psychological sense that facilitates the students to analyze their own emotions, bring insights and change their viewpoints.


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