Tímarit um menntarannsóknir - 01.01.2009, Page 116

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Tímarit um menntarannsóknir, 6. árgangur 2009
their effect on pupils’ learning. The teachers
were given a list of teaching methods and
approaches and were asked to rate how much
they emphasized them in their English teaching.
Pupils were given a similar list and were asked
to rate how helpful they thought the methods
were for learning English. The list of twenty-
one items consisted of traditional methods
and innovative approaches used for increasing
variety in the classroom.
The methods teachers in grades 9-10 most
frequently ranked as receiving “very much” or
“much” emphasis in their teaching were:
using English listening materials•
reading English books and •
magazines
going over homework in class•
grammar exercises•
workbook use•
writing activities•
translating from Icelandic to English•
The methods teachers in these grades most
frequently ranked as receiving “little” or “no”
emphasis in their teaching were the use of
songs, games, role play, theme work, and
ICT (computer and/or Internet use). These
responses show an emphasis on traditional,
textbook-bound teaching methods.
The following is a list of the methods that
70% or more of the pupils in grades 9 and
10 said helped them most to learn English in
school. Once again the focus on traditional
text-book learning is predominant.
translating from English into •
Icelandic – 82%
translating from Icelandic into •
English – 79%
workbook use – 78%•
reading English books and magazines •
– 75%
making word lists with translations •
– 73%
grammar exercises – 73% •
watching English videos in class – •
73%
using English listening materials – •
71%
going over homework in class – •
71%
The agreement between teachers’ and pupils’
responses in regard to teaching methods was
generally strong. Teachers tended to emphasize
the same methods that pupils ranked as helpful
for learning English. It is interesting to note
that pupils tended to give high ranking to
traditional grammar-translation methods.
However, teachers said that they did not
emphasize these methods in their teaching -
with the exception of translating from Icelandic
into English. Other methods that did not match
well between pupils’ and teachers’ responses
were the use of speaking activities, watching
English videos, and working with English
songs and lyrics. Pupils in the study rated
these methods as being helpful for learning
English but the majority of teachers reported
putting only “some” or “little” emphasis on
using them in lessons. Some teaching methods,
such as the use of games, role play, and theme
work, which the National Curriculum Guide
recommends for encouraging active, creative
language use, received little or no emphasis,
according to the teachers’ responses. Likewise,
many pupils (30%-40%) said these methods
were seldom (or not) used in class.
The information gathered through the
classroom observations in the study seemed
to be consistent with the questionnaire results.
A variety of classroom activities and teaching
methods were observed such as listening tasks
based on textbook materials or recorded stories,
silent reading and reading aloud, textbook or
workbook exercises (e.g. gap-filling), writing
activities, making word lists, and grammar
Samúel Lefever