Academic Summary and Vignette

“A Small-Scale Study of Primary School English Language Teachers’ Classroom Activities and Problems by Arda Arikan”

Academic Summary

In the article “A small-scale study of primary school English language teachers’ classroom activities and problems”, Arikan (2011) presents the reader with a research carried out in order to spot the difficulties English teachers face while developing their daily task of teaching their subject in Turkish classrooms.

To begin with, the author (Arikan, 2011) highlights the fact that the age of the students being taught English is decreasing as the result of the increasing needs in Turkey for people to master the language. The Ministry of National Education provides the teachers with an English Language Curriculum for Primary Education (2006) along with a list of activities to be developed in the classroom. Moreover, results of the research carried out among several teachers depict flaws as regards poor physical conditions and lack of material. These prevent the teachers from changing their teacher-centered approach towards a student-centered one (Arikan, 2011). “Teachers also claim that having fewer tests or exams will not improve their teaching”. (p. 4)

To conclude, Arikan (2011) states that English teachers accept the fact that they master and frame their lessons using “speaking, grammar, drama and singing activities, but they are insufficient in using audio materials such as the tape recorder and CD player, using films and computers”. (p.5) It is suggested in the article that the necessary gadgets to carry out different kinds of activities should be provided by the Ministry of National Education.

Reference

Arıkan, A. (2011) A small-scale study of primary school English language teachers’ classroom activities and problems. INCONTE, 2011. Akdeniz University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Western Languages and Literatures, Division of English Language and Literature.

Vignette:

While reading the article, I felt that similarities may be found in our Argentinian public education as regards lack of material and sometimes teacher centered approaches due to the material they have. Nevertheless, I cannot support this as I have never worked in a state school. On the contrary, all my teaching experience took place in private schools. As a result, I can say that necessary material such as CD and DVD players, books, well equipped classrooms, to name but a few, were frequently available. All this, made my daily labor easy and planned activities with a variety of sources were carried out without many drawbacks. In the case of my students’ performance, it can be said that most of them could comply with school demands making themselves understood in the target language as a result of a constant exposure to it by means of the teacher’s explanations, recorded listening activities, videos and more.