Academic Summary & Vignette

Hi again! This is another academic summary of an article, but this time I also wrote a vignette telling an experience of mine related to that article.

ACADEMIC SUMMARY

Teaching English in Turkish Primary schools

           Although Turkey’s National Ministry of Education has provided schools with framed contents and suggested activities to improve the quality of English language teaching and learning in Primary schools, traditional classroom practices are still beyond a constructivist syllabus. In the article “A small-scale study of primary school English language teachers’ classroom activities and problems” Arda Arikan (2011) states that, according to a study of the situation, the introduction of updated teaching techniques in Turkish Primary schools is yet prevented by the traditional learners’ passive roles and teacher-centered activities.

       Arikan (2011) divided her investigation into three main research topics. Frequent language learning activities is the first one. A study carried out in 2009 claims that teachers restrict their scope of teaching practices to writing activities, drama and songs where focus is only on acquiring correct English grammar rules (Arikan, 2011). This study is supported by Arikan’s investigation where drilling exercises, memorizing isolated words, reading aloud and filling in the blanks ranked first (Arikan, 2011).

       The remaining two issues reported in the investigation are teachers’ self-reported needs and teachers’ assumptions regarding learners’ needs. While teachers assume that learners’ main needs are the acquisition of vocabulary, speaking, pronunciation and reading abilities, a study conducted by the Ministry of Education found out that teachers see themselves insecure in speaking and listening (Arikan, 2011). However, teachers acknowledge that they need to be trained in new teaching methods and to have access to new technologies (Arikan 2011).

         To conclude, although Arikan’s findings are noteworthy, she asserts that more research is still needed (Arikan, 2011). Nevertheless, she agrees with the fact that courses for developing effective teachers should be strengthened and updated providing them with new teaching resources taking into account that contexts vary and that “young learners do not learn like adult learners of English” (Arikan, 2011, p. 2).

References

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

VIGNETTE

First-time teacher 

            It was the first day of my professional career as a teacher of English in a private school of English in a big city. It was March, 2014 and I saw six little six-year-olds sat in front of me. I was really nervous because I hadn't been trained to teach kids. Senior teachers guided me, however I felt lost at the beginning. During the first classes I stick to the book activities so, like teachers in Turkey, I focused my classes on speaking and memorizing vocabulary. Later on, I realized that kids are like sponges and that they learn surprisingly fast. I knew I could take advantage of that but I did not know how. I needed some training, similar to Turkish teachers. On that purpose, I attended some workshops to acquire alternative techniques for teaching kids, like story-telling, songs and games. I needed some guide on how to teach young learners because it is not the same as teaching adults, as Arda Arikan commented on her report. After the workshop, I started to apply those techniques and little by little and I could observe a huge change. Also, I started using the interactive board that was always behind me waiting for me to use it. Technology is a great teaching resource too.