ПЕДАГОГИКА ЖӘНЕ ПСИХОЛОГИЯ /ПЕДАГОГИКА И ПСИХОЛОГИЯ /PEDAGOGICS AND PSYCHOLOGY №2, 2018 118
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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].