Научно-методический журнал Scientific and methodological journal 2009 жылдың қыркүйек айынан бастап шығады Издается с сентября 2009 года
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/PEDAGOGICS AND PSYCHOLOGY №2, 2018 118 119 Білім берудің мәселелері мен келешегі/ Проблемы и перспективы образования /Problems and prospects of education The general objectives of the study are to find out the following: – to identify the problems of teaching EFL in the multilingual classroom; – to find out methods used in teaching EFL; – to find out the attitude of the students towards learning EFL. The study group included 20 teachers and 60 students. The teachers were selected from those who have been teaching English at the pre- intermediate and bachelor levels at Karaganda State Technical University. A set of separate questionnaires were prepared for the teachers and students. Similarly 60 students were selected to fill in the questionnaire. At the end of data collection process, an analysis was made on the basis of the data obtained. The major findings are stated below. Students’ use of language in the classroom I found out that the majority of the students speak Kazakh in the classroom, a few students use Russian. The teachers explained or responded to the queries of students in English rarely and more frequently in Kazakh or Russian. Teachers’ use of language outside the classroom. Regarding the question of teachers’ use of language outside the classroom, it was found out that almost all the teachers use Kazakh as their primary language of interaction and English as the secondary language of interaction. They explained that they feel more comfortable using Kazakh or Russian in interactions and use English in situations when students ask questions in English. A few teachers use the English language as a medium of interaction outside the classroom. Teachers’ challenges faced in the multilingual classrooms . The findings of the study revealed that teaching and learning English language becomes more challenging due to its difficult pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. It was also found out that teachers frequently translate and shift into their mother tongue if the learners cannot understand the instructions given in English language only. Language anxiety among the learners in the multilingual classrooms is another problem. The participants reported that the learners who have no background in English language are more likely to act as passive learners and do not take an active part in classroom discussions and activities. Language anxiety may also be a result of communication apprehension, anxiety of English classes, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety successively [2]. These factors of anxiety show that students feel stressed in a multilingual class where they cannot express their thoughts and feelings because of lack of language competence. The participants agreed that students’ weak background is yet another challenge in the multilingual classrooms. When students enter the second language classroom, they come with varying degrees of experience with and knowledge of the language; some students may have no knowledge, some may have a bit, and other students may have a good knowledge base upon which to build. What can make the situation complicated for the teacher is that all of these students may be in the same class together. As teachers,it is important not just to realize that each student comes with their own background knowledge, but that we need to become familiar with what that background knowledge is and work with it to lead all students to higher levels of success in the target language. Problems faced by students in the classroom On the basis of the questionnaire and the responses of the teachers and students the following list of problems faced by students is obtained: – Communication related problems; – Interaction related problems; – Comprehension related problems; – Content delivery related problems. The results of the study showed, that students exhibit hesitation to speak in English language because they are afraid of committing mistakes, which is the biggest problem in learning English language. Methods used in teaching. The participants stated that they use a variety of strategies to overcome the challenges of teaching multilingual classrooms. Out of twenty teachers fifteen teachers responded that they use different methods like problem- solving method, discussion, communicative approach and interactive technologies. It’s evident that that the use of interactive methods is the most effective way of learning, which promotes optimal absorption of new and retain old material [3]. In recent years, one of the most popular new approaches to teaching has become the flipped classroom. About 10% of respondents are trying to use the flipped classroom approach. The flipped classroom model is based on the ideas of active learning. The principal goals of flipping are: – to make the classroom an active learning environment; – to enable students to learn at their own pace; – to enable instructors to provide feedback anytime from anywhere; – to help the instructor to teach each student individually, rather than the class as a whole. In active learning, students are encouraged to move from being passive receivers of knowledge to becoming self-directed learners. An active classroom approach has students engaged in activities such as group projects, class presentations or debates in small groups or pairs. In traditional classroom practices, students are taught new material in the class and then are expected to practice and improve on that material through homework, at home. This new material is often provided through direct teacher guidance, such as lectures, class reading or taking quizzes and tests. Outside the classroom, students are expected to do homework activities such as completing worksheets, writing essays, or practicing grammar or vocabulary to reinforce their knowledge of the material. In the flipped classroom, students are first introduced to material at home over the internet, by watching videos, completing readings, or even taking quizzes and tests. Students then come to class with the knowledge of the material and use class time to complete typical homework-style activities. Students can share ideas, practice communication or find answers to questions. The flipped classroom approach supports active learning by moving the lecturers and teacher explanations online. Using web tools, teachers can create short grammar videos that explain the rule. Then in class, students can use what they learned in the video to practice the rule in the content. The flipped classroom approach supposes the use of potential of a digital age, web-based online learning. The current information age requires teachers to be familiar with media and media literacy. What technology do you have to support the flipped classroom? A large percentage of respondents (out of twenty teachers eighteen teachers) reported that they use Edmodo network in the teaching process. Edmodo is a social learning platform for teachers and students. It is set up like a Facebook. The teachers of our department utilize Edmodo platform in the teaching and learning process for a lot of purposes: create folders for library; post videos to watch and discuss; post handouts used in class; post stories for home reading and discussion and etc. There are countless benefits of using Edmodo in the classroom: – Learning is learner-centered. A learner centered approach shifts the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners. These methods include active learning, in which students solve problems, formulate and answer questions, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class; cooperative learning, in which students work in teams on problems and projects. – Chat: allows students to increase the frequency and quality of communication, which leads to opportunities to increase their confidence and motivation. – Continuous access to classroom resources to access course documents, videos, images, assignments, assessments. – Facilitates the development of language skills: reading, writing, spelling and grammar, sharing, vocabulary, listening. – Benefits shy students who struggle with face-to-face communication with teachers and classmates. – Collaborative affordances parallel those of scientists in the real world [5]. – Online discussions provide students with “time to reflect upon the learned concepts and other student’s ideas because immediate response is not required as in the face-to-face classroom discussion” [5]. |