Bissengaliyeva A.M. Teacher of English, school # 22, Atyrau
Using of interactive teaching methods in the classroom of English for developing students’ communicative competence
Abstract
The idea that Interactive Teaching Method (interaction) could and should take place in the classroom more and more popular, especially in foreign language classroom. Today, many teachers claim that knowledge can be constructed and skills can be developed through classroom interaction. Teachers’ roles and responsibilities were changed in the direction of facilitators of the learning and teaching processes. In this context, students are supposed to be given opportunities to use the language naturally other than only memorizing dialogues and pattern practices.
The present work aims to investigate the improvement of school students’ communicative ability through using Interactive Language Teaching activities in the classroom of English and explore students’ reactions towards interactive-oriented activities. And the work aims at showing that classroom interaction can be a best pedagogical strategy to develop not only the students’ speaking skill, but also to foster their capacity to generate new language.
In addition, the following three qualitative research questions are addressed to describe the nature of the students’ reactions of the interactive activities:
What’s the nature of classroom interaction between the participants (student-student, student-teacher) in interactive –oriented activities?
What are the participants’ reactions to their classroom experience regarding interactive-oriented activities? (3) How do the students perceive themselves as students in interactive-oriented activities?
So the object of this work- studying of the ways of using Interactive Teaching methods for developing students’ communicative competence.
Practical importance of this work-proposed material can be used at English lessons and at extracurricular activities.
This study is based on the research to get information about the impact of classroom interaction on developing the students’ communicative competence.
Cognitive, affective, socio cultural and linguistic benefits from interactive activities were confirmed by the students. The findings suggest that interactive activities are powerful in creating an interactive environment, in which the students can experience how to use the target language spontaneously.
The analysis of the results can show that students consider using of Interactive Teaching methods in the classroom (classroom interaction) as an important pedagogical strategy in enhancing the skill of speaking.
Introduction.
“Experience is the child of thought,
and thought is the child of action.
We cannot learn men from books”
By Benjamin Disraeli
The problem of learning languages is very important today. Kazakhstan is integrating into the world community and the problem of learning English for the purpose of communication is especially urgent today. English speaking ability is very important for people interaction where people almost speak everywhere and every day through English.
For students who are studying English in a non-English speaking setting, it is very important to experience real communicative situations in which they will learn how to express their own views and opinions, and to develop their oral fluency and accuracy which are very essential for the success of English Language communication.
If teachers are advised to reduce their time of talking in the classroom interaction, then it does not mean that they have no role to play. Involving all of the students in the interactive activities is their main job; they must apply some of the teaching strategies to get all of the students to talk.
In the field of second language acquisition has long been considered important in language learning. It requires in the process of second language learning the presence of two or more students who collaborate in achieving communication.
Interaction is a way of learning in general and developing the language skills in particular.
There are three principal views at teaching language:
- Cognitive method: the structural view treats language as a system of structurally related elements.
- Communicative method: the functional view sees language as a vehicle to express a certain function.
-The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation and maintenance of social relations.
Interactive language teaching aims to make communicative competence as the goal of language teaching and to develop techniques and procedures for teaching language skills that are based on independent aspects of language and communication. Communicative competence includes grammatical competence, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategies. Communicative language abilities include knowledge or competence and proficiency in the application of these competencies in the communicative use of language, contextual, and appropriate.
The role of the teacher in an interactive classroom is demanding. The teacher is the driving force behind students’ interaction, especially in the early stages of learning. Teachers have to create a climate in which students feel at else. The class becomes a comfortable and stimulating environment where teacher-student and student-student interaction happens spontaneously and naturally.
The role of the teacher is multifaceted- language model, guide, helper, ally… the teacher provides support by filling in gaps in knowledge as needs arise, by helping create links with previous learning and by supplying the appropriate vocabulary and expressions. It is the teacher who puts the wind in the sails of interaction and who promotes and nourishes it constantly.
Some types of Interactive Teaching Methods:
- pair and group learning activities; discussion, dialogues; project activity;
untraditional lessons (excursion lesson, quiz-lesson, press-conference, lecture, the court.), brainstorm; take position; games;
1.Organization of pair and group learning activities.
Interactive Teaching activity- its studying built on group interaction, cooperation when educational process takes place in a group of joint activities. The activity of the teacher is giving way to the students. And the task of the teacher is to create the conditions for the manifestation and realization of their educational initiative.
The teacher may divide the whole class into pairs and groups. In some cases, it’s possible to let students find their own partners. However, it is also better for students who do not know each other well to interact together, since one of the goals of interaction is to establish social relationships between the students so that the learning process is facilitated. Lindsay and Knight [1] make the important point that is a good idea to gather students and let them work in pairs and groups in order to practice the speaking skill effectively. Because if those students talk only to their teachers, then their chances for practice are reduced.
So, student-student interaction occurs through designing groups and pairs where
students can enhance their competence in using communication and language.
In pairwork the student finds himself in an obligation to practice the language because he must speak with the other learners who is with him. Harmer [2] asserts that pairwork increases the amount of each student’s speaking time. It allows students to work and interact independently without teachers’ guidance, and this leads to promoting student independence. Group work is like pairwork because it
increases the amount of talking time for individual students, but unlike pairwork
because more students will contribute in the interaction; they will have different
ideas and varied opinions. So, group work ensures a high level of interaction.
If the teacher wants to organize group learning activity the teacher should begin with micro groups of two or three students. Gradually the group increased to 5-7 participants. Organization of studying interactions can take place in small micro groups (2-3 students) and in small groups (4-7 students).
The following forms of pair activity: serial retelling each other a certain part of the studying material; mutual testing of done work; interview.
1.1. 1.1. “Cinquain”.
Cinquain is a class of poetic forms that employ a 5-line pattern. Earlier used to describe any five-line form, it now refers to one of several forms that are defined by specific rules and guidelines.
This method allows describing in a few words educational material on a particular topic. The purpose of the technology - a deeper understanding of topics.
Students are asked to fill out five lines on a sheet of paper:
1st line- one word indicates the topic.
2nd line - two words describing the topic (2 adjectives expressing the association about the concept designated by the noun).
3rd line - description of the activities under this theme in three words. (3 verbs)
4th line - sentence of four words expresses the relevance to the topic. (Different parts of speech)
5th line - synonym of a word repeats the essence of the theme.
Each student has 4-5 minutes to write their own cinquain. After that they with a partner make one.
The participants through this cooperation showed that they could gain insights not only into problems concerning the nature of language they learn but also the culturally shaped human behaviors. Also, the students reported that by demonstrating one’s knowledge, obtaining ideas from others, and negotiating with
each other, they got to know each other personally and could allay some of the
negative aspects of competitiveness: that is, they became less concerned about
being evaluated by the teacher or other students when they spoke, and became more willing to participate so as to make an individual contribution to the group work.
Examples: 1) the Theme “The World around us. Environment and you.”
Earth
Blue, beautiful.
Live, pollute, produce.
Can be kind, can be hurt
Planet.
1.2.Role games.
Role game is an effective way to develop students’ communicative competence, especially the sociolinguistic and strategic competence. Teacher needs to provide the students with chances to act and interact verbally in the classroom. In the discussion of the use of audiovisual recordings above, it was suggested that the students tape-record their own communicative performance for introspection and reflection. Their performance to be recorded can best be analyzed for this purpose through spontaneous role-plays. Usually, role-plays are properly framed, yet open-ended, bilateral, interactive, and above all, highly contextualized in nature.
Role plays, drama and simulations, these three types of oral activities, are very important- according to Bygate [3] - they are not performed for audiences, the participants work together within an imaginary setting.
There are many forms of role-playing games in English lessons:
-presentation, interview, distance journey, press-conference, round table, teleconference, excursion, fairy-tale, report
Role games are used at English lessons: “Famous People”, “Ambassadors”, “Jobs”, “Watching television” etc. Game situations: “At the restaurant”, “At the Doctor”, “At the Department Store”, “At the hotel”, “On a Airplane”, used at lessons and at extracurricular activities.
1.3. Project activity.
Method of projects is based on a personal oriented learning which directed on the development of students. Learning motivation is improved in cooperation with the teacher and other students. It increases students’ confidence.
Most things are done with the help or ideas of other people. Group projects are great practice for school and real life, when the students will probably have a job that requires working with others. Right now, group projects can be fun and they often allow them to do a bigger, more interesting project than they could alone..
Group projects are also a great way to practice skills they're not so sure of. For example: working on a deadline, staying organized, or being patient.
Usually, group projects end with a presentation to the class. Then, the teacher gives the students’ project a grade. If the students cooperate and do their best, they just might be sharing the “best mark”.
Example list of creative works of the students:
Reports: “The sights of London”-9th grade, “Our school” -9th grade, “History of the United States”-10/11th grade, “Sport in our life”-8th grade, “Famous People”-11th grade,” Kazakhstan”-8th grade….
Project works: “My shopping centre”-7th grade, Advertisements “Welcome to Kazakhstan”-9th grade, “My favourite holiday”-8th grade, “My favourite animal” - 7th grade.
Multimedia presentations and video projects:
“Christmas in Great Britain”-7th grade, “Christmas in Germany”-9th grade,
“Christmas in the USA”-9th grade, “Our school”- 8, 9th grade.
“At the doctor”-7th grade, “In the restaurant”-8th grade, “Sport”-10th grade,
“Health”-10th grade, “Job Interview”-10th grade, “Dialogues”-9-11th grades
Screenwriting projects: “Day of languages”, “Halloween”, “Christmas”, “St. Valentine’s Day”.
Publishing projects: Portfolio of the students (8th, 9th grades)
1.4. Plan of the lesson “Christmas-holiday” with using project activity and group work.
Objectives: to form pupils' communicative culture, to develop speech ability (monologue, dialogue) and listening skills; to form cross-cultural literacy, to strengthen knowledge of country studying, to train skills of planning and skills of working in an optimal mode, to form a sense of responsibility, collectivism; to develop of learning interest through the involvement of students in creative activities, to develop of abilities to compare and comparison, logical presentation skills, to formulate of conclusions from the heard, to develop skills to find necessary literature, to develop skills to implement and administer research work.
Material: computer, interactive board, creative work of students’ (presentation),
Preliminary work: Students are divided into 3 groups (2 groups of the 9-th grade, 3-rd group-students of the 7-th grade). Each group was set to prepare a presentation on the theme "Celebration of Christmas". 1-st group-“Christmas in the USA”, 2-nd group-“Christmas in Germany”, 3-rd group- “Christmas in the UK of GB & N. Ireland”
Methods: group work, listening, questions, multimedia presentations; sing a song, monologue, comparison, role play.
Type of lesson: lesson-competition
2. Discussion as a method of interactive teaching.
This activity is often employed for advanced language students; they can serve as the basis of spontaneous interaction. Lindsay and Knight[11] point out that in such activities, students are supposed to give their opinions or receive others’ opinions, they can speak freely without being told what to say or not by the teacher, the students should be only informed what to talk about and given the enough time what they wish to say. However, Thornbury [12] says that many teachers agree that the best discussions are those that arise spontaneously either because one learner reports something personal or because the topic of the course book arise discussion.
Particular interest of students cause debates on the following topics:
“Internet is evil”, “Dairy is a useless thing”, “The sixth day at school should be abolished”, “Television Shows” (see Appendix 1) and another topics when the students from one group demonstrates definite statement but the opponents from another group contradicts…
3.Dialogic speech as a method for forming students’ communicative competence.
Interactive Teaching activity in the classroom involves the organization and development of dialog communication that leads to mutual understanding, cooperation and to address for decision of common but important tasks for each participant. Such kind of activity rules out dominance as one speaker and as one opinion over the other. During the dialog communication students learn to think critically, to solve complex problems based on analysis of circumstances and their corresponding information, to make decisions, to take part in discussions, to communicate with other people.
Example of dialogues which used at the lessons:
Task : Translate the sentences into English. Role-play.
Colin: You look rather pale. Aren’t you feeling well?
Omar: Да так. Мне было плохо всю ночь, не мог спать.
Colin: What seems to be the matter? Is it the flu?
Omar: Нет. Скорее всего, я что-то не то съел. Мы вчера вечером были в новом ресторане, и я, наверное, съел то, что-то не то.
Colin: Это был новый ресторан на Оксфорд Стрит?
Omar: As a matter of fact, it was. Why do you ask?
Colin: Потому что в среду в этом ресторане была Дина, а на следующий день ей было так же плохо, как и тебе.
Omar: That’s interesting. Maybe the health authorities should investigate the place.
Colin: Об этом я думаю. Два человека с похожей проблемой за такой короткий период времени – это не случайность!
III. Conclusion.
English language classroom research has been interested to reveal how language learners achieve their learning goals through various methods in a limited amount of time. Interaction is at the heart of the current theories of communicative competence; it involves students in face- to –face or teacher-learners encounters in the classroom. Classroom learning and teaching result from the interplay of the factors created by the learners, the teacher, the interaction among them, and the unique learning environment constructed by both parties. In this context, to promote successful language learning, several considerations should be taken into constructing a more desirable classroom situation. Firstly, students come to the language classroom as a whole person and, accordingly, with a long train of habits or affective/behavioral pattern entrenched in a set of values that were predetermined in a greater part by their society and its culture. Secondly, classroom activities should be devised in such a way that will bring a language learner out of mere passivity toward a full, active participation and eventually transform the language learning process from a mere accumulation of information towards a series of more positive and meaningful experiences.
Interactive Teaching Methods are capable of stimulating the students’ interest in the English classroom by inducing them to invent a project work (role-play, dialogues...), practice its discourses, and express them both individually and collectively. Stated simply, the activities encourage both teacher and student for creativity and spontaneity. Through the interactive Teaching activities students not only gain an understanding of grammatical structure in a context but also experience the dynamic, and productive use of the language to influence, control, entertain, and inform, that is, as if in real communicative circumstances.
Reference:
Lindsay C, Knight P.2006. Learning and Teaching English: A Course for Teachers. Oxford University Press.
Harmer J. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Bygate M. Speaking. 1987. Oxford University Press.
Mackey, A.2007. The Conversational Interaction in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Richard, Jack C and Rodger, Theodore S. 1999. Approaches and Method in Language Teaching: Communicative Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Кашлев С.С. Интерактивные методы обучения педагогике. – Минск: Высшая школа, 2004.
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