Some Young Learners Are Afraid Of Speaking English At The Lesson

This project is recommended for teachers who are teaching English in primary school. There are some students who shy or afraid of speaking English lessons. In this connection I put the question: "How can the teacher help young learners to speak English safely?" In order to answer this question it was created the action plan and a set of graded activities. After implementation of this plan and speaking activities was clearly seen the final progress results for every child individually.

SOME YOUNG LEARNERS ARE AFRAID OF SPEAKING ENGLISH AT THE LESSON

As an English proverb goes "Every fruit in its season, but I can paraphrase it saying "Every age has its ability". I'd like you to familiarize yourself with my teaching situation. My students are from the second Form of secondary school and I have been teaching English in primary school only for about one year. All my children are different and every one has his own ability. There are ten children in my group and the age of students is 8 or 9 years old. They are Beginner Level and have English two hours per week. I use the coursebook written by Biboletova M.Z. and Dobrynina N.V. "Enjoy English 1" where there are enough activities connected with speaking (in pairs, in front of the class, with a teacher).

My students have different abilities and I should create a successful situation to every one through different activities. Most of my students are interested in English. I think I try to keep contact with all my students.

But in spite of this fact there are some children who can't freely speak English at my lessons. Their grammar, vocabulary and other skills work are fine at this level and they have good abilities to communicate. But they speak quietly and sometimes they are a little shy to answer at the lesson, they usually allow their classmates to speak first. To become more aware of my teaching and learning situation I have identified the problem: "Some of my students are afraid of speaking English at the lesson". After that I have put the question: "How can I help YLs to speak English safely?" Then I created the action plan with following steps:

1. Choose appropriate data collection techniques.

2. Identify who and why are my students afraid of speaking English.

3. Create a set of speaking activities.

In formation about the data collection techniques for ET in the YL classroom we have known from. ihe article "Teaching Investigate their work" by Altricher, P. Posch, B. Somekh (1993).

For implementation the action plan I have used observation and field-notes techniques, the first teacher of my students was interviewed about YLs' learning styles and their multiple Intelligence, my students have responded the questionnaire and then I created a set of speaking activities, the initial and final tests to identify YLs' progress in safely communication.

First of all I wrote down the field-notes about the participation of whole group in communicative activities (answering teacher's questions, describing pictures, games playing, asking questions) during one month.

And at that time my colleague (Chibiryakova T.V.) observed activity of each Learner in communication and filled in her check-list.

Having examined this information I discovered that 3 Learners of my group were a little passive, they had wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar but they were afraid of speaking English aloud.

In order to identify the YLs' weak points in communication I created a test including the activity on speaking (initial test) and the students implemented this test during the game.

See Appendix A.

The result of the test showed that fast all my students were very interested in this work and can communicate with great fluency, asked lots of questions. But 3 students spoke quietly and were afraid of speaking in English.

See Appendix B. (a pie-graph and a bar-chat)

The next stage I prepared the following research actions and tried to follow these actions in my created set of speaking activities.

1. Use simple language at the lesson.

2. Don't correct mistakes immediately.

3. Vary and use appropriate speaking activities.

4. Create friendly atmosphere.

1. Asking and answering the questions (S–S), "Families" vocabulary area. My observation students have special cards with the questions and answers. After drawing their "Families" photo they ask and answer some questions about their family and can easy describe their photo to the rest of the class.

2. Drawing and describing the poster. There is a poster of a model sentences on special cards as support for weaker learners.

3. Saying what I can or can't do. There are special speech cards to help my observation students. As a result each student should tell the class about his/her possibilities.

4. Completing a form on the board about personal information was considered to be final in a test to identify YLs progress in communication. Weaker learners have cards with the questions and answers and their own copies of the form. As a final they can say what they find out about their partners.

After the final test my students answered the Questionnaire about their attitude to the different activities at the English lesson. All of my students including my observation students are easily pleased with their work and achieved the high results.

The results of final test are shown in a pie-graph and in graphs. Most of the group 95% including my weaker students managed with the tasks, only one of the weaker student didn't do all activities. These progress results are clearly seen-in a graph for every student individually.

See Appendix D.

1. Observation by the colleague

11.04.06.

Topic: motivation to communication in English

My colleague observed series of my lessons to identify activity of each learner in communication

See Appendix F

Some students were a little passive at the lesson, they are strong Learner, but they were afraid of speaking English.

2. Field-note from 11.04.06. till 27.04.

Topic: how do my students communicate in English at the lesson.

I jotted down notes at the lesson about the learners discipline, if students are active or passive.

See Field-notes

After this work I made conclusion that some students are afraid of speaking English at the lesson.

3. Interview the first teacher of my students

25.04.06.

Topic: to know more about my students

Nelly Vladimirovna told me about my Learners, their multiple Intelligence and learning styles.

See Appendix G

Three of my students Ann Petrova, Dima Piskun, Marina Saykova are strong students, but they shy to speak English wrong.

4. Questionnaire

29.04.06.

Topic: motivation by communication in English

Sеe Appendix H

It was asked 9 questions, they were analyzed and after that I created some research actions.

After analyzing I knew: there are some students who shy to speak English at the Lessons.

5. Initial test

4.05.06.

Topic: to identify the YLs weak points in communication.

Ask and answer the questions, the students introduce themselves to each other in game.

See Appendix A

30% of students spoke quietly and were afraid of speaking English loudly.

See Appendix D

6. A set of speaking activities

12–19.05.06.

Topic: motivate YLs to study English

1. "Families" vocabulary area.

2. Draw and describe the poster.

3. Say about your possibilities.

See Appendix I

This activities motivate YLs, they easely pleased with their work and achieved high results.

7. A final test

19.05.06.

Topic: to watch the results

Complete a' form in special cards about personal information, tell what you have known about your partners.

See Appendix J

Fast all students implemented the test.

See Appendix D

8. A final check-list

20.05.06.

Topic: to watch progress of students

All 3 students have a progress

See Appendix С

9. A final questionnaire

20.05.06.

Topic: to know students attitude to the different activities at

It was asked 4 questions about different activities at the lesson

See Appendix К

The weaker students are easily pleased with their work and achieved the high results.

Conclusion and recommendations

Having conducted 4 lessons I can analyze the results of the action plan implementation. Examining the initial information I create the pie-graph, the bar-chart and see that 30% are afraid of speaking English safely. (See Appendix B) The check-list of my colleague shows the passive work of these 3 weaker students. (See Appendix F).

But after implementation the speaking activities is clearly seen the final progress results in graph for every child individually. (See Appendix D).

Though 3 weaker YLs coped with the final speaking activity (except Marina Saykoya, who was not active answering teacher's questions) by the end of the experiment. It's clear that the set of graded activities is useful and productive in teaching speaking English safely and easily. And the teacher certainly can help YLs to speak English freely using simple language, creating friendly atmosphere and varying appropriate speaking activities, more involving young learners in extra-curricular activities, inviting to the English lesson strangers to encourage students to speak freely, more rewarding students for using English at the lesson.

Bibliography

1. Brewster J, Ellis G. and Giard D. (1992). The Primary English Teacher's Guide. Penguin English.

2. Brown G. and Yule G. (1993) Teaching the Spoken Language. CUP.

3. Byrne D. (1996) Teaching Oral English. London.

4. Scott W. A. and L.H. Ytreberg (1999). Teaching English To Children.

5. Vale D. and A. Feunteun (1995). Teaching children English. CUP.

6. Willis J. (1996) A Framework For Task-based Learning. London.

Appendix F

Initial Check-list

Appendix G

Interview with the first teacher of YLs Nelly Vladimirovna Taturevich

Questions: What can you say about YLs learning styles and their multiple Intelligence, about YLs attitudes to learning English?

N.V: All of these 3 students are strong and make a good atmosphere in class because they are kind, clever and merry.

Ann Petrova is very active at the lessons and very good in all areas of the learning. She has visual intelligence, but sometimes she shies a little and allows her classmates to speak first.

Dima Piskun is a good student with good learning styles. He is interested in music, plays the piano, has auditory learning styles. He shows a wide knowledge of all subjects, but telling about something he often is in a hurry and makes a lot of mistakes. He needs a lot of corrections, that's why sometimes he is afraid of answer.

Marina Saykova is kinesthetic. She is very active, moving fnd sometimes can't concentrate herself. But she is a good lively student with good abilities to communicate. She is a leader in the class and likes to be the best student, she is very afraid to receive the bad mark.

Appendix H

Initial Questionnaire

1. Нравятся ли тебе английский язык?

2. Кто помогает тебе изучать английский язык?

3. Сложно ли для тебя изучать английский язык и почему?

4. Нравятся ли тебе уроки английского языка?

5. Как ты себя чувствуешь на уроках английского языка?

6. Важно ли сейчас изучать английский язык?

7. Нравиться ли тебе учебник английского языка?

8. Твои друзья любят изучать английский язык?

9. Знают ли твои родители английский язык?

Appendix H

Initial Questionnaire

Appendix В

Initial test

Appendix В

A pie-graph

The result of the initial test on safely speaking. 30% of students are afraid of speaking English.

First the students fill in the gaps in their cards, then introduce themselves to each other and ask different questions in the circles.

Hello!

My name is ……. .

What is your …….. ?

How old are……. ?

Where are you….. ?

Have you got a……? (a sister, a brother, an uncle, a mother, a father, a grandmother, an aunt)

Can you ….? (jump, run, swim, play the piano, climb, play the guitar, count)

Appendix J

Final test

Appendix К

Final Questionnaire

1. Всё ли тубе понятно на уроках английского языка?

2. Нравятся ли тебе задания, которые ты выполняешь?

3. Что больше всего нравится тебе делать на уроке: играть в игры, отвечать на вопросы, рассказывать о себе, описывать картинку, игрушку или представлять диалог с твоим товарищем?

4. Как ты себя чувствуешь на уроках английского языка?

Appendix К

Final Questionnaire

Appendix С

Final check-list

Appendix D

A pie-graph

5% of students are afraid of speaking English.