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Teaching picture discussion skills for oral language development
Author
Chew, May
Supervisor
Goh, Christine Chuen Meng
Abstract
Although oral communication to pupils is very important as it is essential to literacy development and acquisition (Botting, 2002, Riley, Burrell and McCallum, 2004, Kirkland and Patterson, 2005), the teaching of speaking in Singapore is not often emphasized. In this study, I am examining the effects of teaching specific oral skills to 30 Primary 5 students so as to enable them to carry out picture discussions. Good picture discussion skills are the result of an interplay of effective speaking, listening and thinking skills.
This study adapted the Strategic Teaching Model proposed by Jones et al. (1987) as the teaching model. The model suggested assessing the strategy used by the students currently, explaining the new strategy, modeling the new strategy and proving scaffold to the learners. I have modified the methods to suit the context of the experiment. In the Modified Teaching Model, I (i) assessed the current ability of the pupils on picture discussion, (ii) explained the skills required for the picture discussion, (ii) modeled the skills and (iv) provided the scaffold. I made use of two types of data to answer the research questions. 5 lessons are designed, following the 4-stage Modified Teaching Model, for a class of 30 pupils.
The analysis of 12 pupils' (6 from experiment group and 6 from control group) transcripts of the pre and post tests yielded the quantitative results. My findings showed that the teaching strategies - explicit teaching (explaining, modeling and scaffolding) and individual practice had positive effect on the learners' content and language complexity. The pupils from the experiment group registered as high as 151% increase in number of words uttered as compared to 56% increase by the pupils in the control group. The increase in the number of words showed that the pupils were discussing the picture more. The experiment group that received the explicit teaching also showed an increase in the frequency of words and phrases used to signal higher order thinking such as 'I think' and 'because'. Their language complexity had also improved with the increase use of adjectives, adjectival clauses, adverbs and prepositions. Their awareness of strategies for interpretation and discussions, and their motivation and confidence.
The survey analyses showed that the pupils had gained confidence in their preparation for picture discussion for the examination. The pupils had highlighted that teacher modeling and explaining what was expected of them for picture discussion as the most beneficial of the lessons. They then knew how to plan their content for the discussion. In this way their confidence level was also boosted.
The results of the study could shed some light on the way English language lessons can be designed in order to help our local pupils, those of whom do not speak English as their first language nor are exposed to much English Language media. In schools in Singapore, teacher modeling, explaining and providing scaffold could be a few of the methods used to help these learners of the English Language to reach proficiency.
This study adapted the Strategic Teaching Model proposed by Jones et al. (1987) as the teaching model. The model suggested assessing the strategy used by the students currently, explaining the new strategy, modeling the new strategy and proving scaffold to the learners. I have modified the methods to suit the context of the experiment. In the Modified Teaching Model, I (i) assessed the current ability of the pupils on picture discussion, (ii) explained the skills required for the picture discussion, (ii) modeled the skills and (iv) provided the scaffold. I made use of two types of data to answer the research questions. 5 lessons are designed, following the 4-stage Modified Teaching Model, for a class of 30 pupils.
The analysis of 12 pupils' (6 from experiment group and 6 from control group) transcripts of the pre and post tests yielded the quantitative results. My findings showed that the teaching strategies - explicit teaching (explaining, modeling and scaffolding) and individual practice had positive effect on the learners' content and language complexity. The pupils from the experiment group registered as high as 151% increase in number of words uttered as compared to 56% increase by the pupils in the control group. The increase in the number of words showed that the pupils were discussing the picture more. The experiment group that received the explicit teaching also showed an increase in the frequency of words and phrases used to signal higher order thinking such as 'I think' and 'because'. Their language complexity had also improved with the increase use of adjectives, adjectival clauses, adverbs and prepositions. Their awareness of strategies for interpretation and discussions, and their motivation and confidence.
The survey analyses showed that the pupils had gained confidence in their preparation for picture discussion for the examination. The pupils had highlighted that teacher modeling and explaining what was expected of them for picture discussion as the most beneficial of the lessons. They then knew how to plan their content for the discussion. In this way their confidence level was also boosted.
The results of the study could shed some light on the way English language lessons can be designed in order to help our local pupils, those of whom do not speak English as their first language nor are exposed to much English Language media. In schools in Singapore, teacher modeling, explaining and providing scaffold could be a few of the methods used to help these learners of the English Language to reach proficiency.
Date Issued
2007
Call Number
PE1068.S55 Che
Date Submitted
2007