ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
MENCIÓN INGLÉS
DISTANCE SYSTEM
The use of supplementary materials for teaching children in EFL classess
Research done in order to achieve the
Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching
English as a Foreign Language
AUTHORS:
Astudillo Segovia, Carmen Cecilia
Peralta Astudillo, María Eulalia
ADVISOR:
Mgs. Pinza Tapia, Eliana Ivanova
UNIVERSITY CENTER CUENCA
2012
CERTIFICATION
Mgs. Eliana Pinza Tapia
Certifies that:
This research study has been thoroughly revised by the graduation committee.
Therefore, authorizes the presentation of this thesis, which complies with all of the
norms and internal requirements of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja.
Loja, marzo del 2012.
Mgs. Eliana Pinza Tapia
Thesis Advisor
ii
CONTRATO DE CESIÓN DE DERECHOS DE TESIS DE GRADO
Nosotras, Cecilia Astudillo Segovia y María Eulalia Peralta Astudillo declaramos ser
autoras del presente trabajo y eximimos expresamente a la Universidad Técnica
Particular de Loja y a sus representantes legales de posibles reclamos o acciones
legales.
Adicionalmente declaramos conocer y aceptar la disposición del Art. 67 del Estatuto
Orgánico de la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja que en su parte pertinente
textualmente dice: “formar parte del patrimonio de la Universidad la propiedad
intelectual de investigaciones, trabajo científicos o técnicos y tesis de grado que se
realicen a través, o que el apoyo financiero, académico o institucional (operativo) de
la Universidad”.
Cecilia Astudillo S. María Eulalia Peralta A.
Autora Autora
iii
AUTHORSHIP
The thoughts, ideas, opinions and information obtained through this research are the
only responsibility of the author.
Date: Loja, marzo del 2012.
Cecilia Astudillo S. María Eulalia Peralta A.
Author Author
iv
DEDICATION
The present work is dedicated to my dear mother Carmen, who has been my support,
my guide and my inspiration and to my three big loves Iván Gilberto, Iván Andrés
and Pedro Sebastián that have given me their help and comprehension to reach my
goal.
Carmen Cecilia
This present project is dedicated to my grandmother Carmen, my mother Elvia, who
with her unconditional support gave me the strength to go on, and to my husband
Edwin, my little angels Doménica and Erika who were my inspiration to make my
dream come true.
María Eulalia
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT To God, who place in our path all of the necessary tools to reach this goal, for
providing us the intelligence, the patience, and strength to go on.
Our sincere gratitude to the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, which has given
us the chance to become professionals and thus to perform an important role in
society.
To Mgs. Eliana Pinza Tapia, who guided this present research work. Also, thanks to
her for giving us her friendship, confidence, and advice to overcome every obstacle
on the road.
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CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION ………………………………………………………. ii
CONTRATO DE CESIÓN DE DERECHOS…………………………….... iii
AUTHORSHIP ………………………………………………………. iv
DEDICATION ………………………………………………………. v
ACKNOWLEDGMENT …………………………………………………... vi
CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………. vii
ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………. 1
INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………. 2
METHOD ………………………………………………………………. 5
DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………………… 7
Literature Review …………………………………………………. 7
Results …………………………………………………………….. 22
Description, Analysis, and Interpretation of Results ………………. 27
Conclusions ……………………………………………………….. 65
Recommendations …………………………………………………. 66
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………. 67
ANNEXES
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1
Abstract
This research study was focused on the use of Supplementary materials for
teaching children in EFL classes, whose main purpose was to identify whether or not
teachers use supporting materials into the classroom.
It was carried out at a private school in a 4th, 5th, and 6th grade with boys and
girls whose ages ranged between 8, 9, 10 years old.
This research was based on thirty observations whose results were registered in
pre-designed formats in every grade and class by class. The aspects of pertinence,
appropriateness, and quality were taken into account in the qualitative analysis. The
quantitative analysis was focused on the frequency of use of the supplementary
materials; the results obtained are shown in a graphical and numerical form.
According to the findings of this research study, we can conclude that teachers
used varied supporting materials; being the whiteboard the most commonly used.
The results of this research study will provide valuable information to improve the
exposure of the classes through of use of varied supplementary materials which
allows teacher to involve students in the learning process.
2
Introduction
The implementation of English as a Foreign Language has become of
transcendental importance into the educational context due to the fact that this
language is widely used in all fields. In the context of the teaching-learning process
teachers have, at their disposal, several sources and aid to work effectively into the
classroom. If this material is used correctly, is to say considering the aspects of
pertinence (topic, objectives, and content of the class) and appropriateness (students’
needs), it will help children to understand and perceive clearly each lesson.
Therefore, the purpose of this research study is to find out whether or not teachers
use supplementary materials and also how this material is being used.
This research study was based on three specific objectives that were the
support to create and to organize both the bibliographical and field research. These
objectives were to identify and to analyze supporting materials used for teaching
children in EFL classes; to describe and to analyze each of the supplementary
materials used in EFL classrooms; finally, to determine the frequency and variety of
the supplementary materials used in the observed classes. Therefore, this research
encourages teachers to use the diverse supporting materials to make their classes to
be more active and engaging.
Considering the relevance of this research work, it is important to mention
some previous studies about the use of supplementary materials into the classrooms;
thus, according to Cheon (2003) the use of Computer Mediated Communication in
Korean learners will improve the chance to learn English increasing the opportunity
to acquire and to develop strategies to learn a second language, for this purpose the
author states the following hypothesis: 1) to identify how CMC may enhance second
language acquisition, 2) to investigate whether Korean learners engage in appropriate
3
meaning negotiation for SLA through CMC using a chat program, 3) to describe the
ways you which learners engage in such meaning negotiations, 4) to investigate the
students’ attitudes toward CMC. The main limitation identified by the author in this
study is that despite the advantage that CMC offers as a powerful tool of
complementing; the distance of the first language from the target language about the
phonological aspects will require oral practice in the target language; therefore, the
use of CMC will not replace the normal English classes.
The second study that we will refer was stated by Lin, L-F. (2010), which was
conducted in a University of Taiwan; the purpose of this study was to investigate the
repercussion that Video based computer had in learners with high and low reading
and listening proficiency, whose limitation was to recognize that the lack of
proficient English reading or listening ability can make that students do not
understand video-based lessons and worse the miss of vocabulary acquisition.
Akbari (2008), in his research at “English at Simin Language Institute in Iran”,
states that the main purpose of this study was to stand out the use of exact techniques
for teaching vocabulary items, and to improve the traditional way to teach them to
Iranian EFL students. The limitations identified by the author in this study were first,
the difficulty to teach abstract nouns was an obstacle in teaching due to the fact that
they can not be presented with physical objects; therefore, only concrete words
related with specific objects were used. Second, the vocabulary chosen for this study
was limited to the elementary level of Iranian students, and the last limitation was
that for this study only 160 male Iranian junior High School students were selected.
The main beneficiaries of this research work are both teachers and students.
Teachers, because by means of this study they will be motivated to utilize with more
frequency varied supplementary material to teach their classes, and students, because
4
the use of supporting materials helps them to understand and to interact in the
learning process; therefore, the new lessons will be accomplished successfully.
The contribution that this research study offers to the linguistic field is the
potentiating of the students’ cognitive skills to effective learning of English as a
Foreign Language, through the perception of didactic resources by means of the
senses.
This investigation allow teachers to know the effectiveness of the use of
supplementary materials to teach a foreign language; therefore, this research will
serve as base to future projects that are aimed to innovate the supporting materials
already known and to create new according to the needs and exigencies of the
changing educational system.
The limitations identified in this investigation mainly were the following:
The number of observations, which we consider, was not enough to have a real
perception of the use of supplementary materials by the teacher /her classes;
therefore, it kept us from obtaining more accurate and favorable results.
To future projects of research will be important to take into account the size of
the sample to have more reliable results; besides, the field of research should not be
limited only to an educational institution.
5
Method
Setting and Participants
The educational institution chosen to carry out the field research was a private
school, located in the urban area of the city, making it easier for us to mobilize and to
work effectively.
The selected sample for making this research study was 92 children belonging
to fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, whose ages ranged between 8,9,10 years old. The
English classes in the three grades covered 10 hours per week in each grade
distributed in two daily pedagogic hours of 45 minutes each of them.
Procedures
Several physical and on line sources, such as books and scientific articles,
were consulted in order to write down the Literature Review and to develop six
themes and eight sub-themes, as well as, five previous studies related to the
researched topic.
In the present research study the methods qualitative and quantitative were
applied to carry out the description, analysis, and interpretation of results, obtained
from the respective observations made in the field investigation.
The techniques used to collect data were note taking and surveys. We
considered primordial to register each one of the details observed into the classroom
in a sequential manner. Another technique used was survey which were applied to 2
children in every class, and 1 survey to every teacher at the end of the observations.
These techniques were the support for the subsequent analysis of results.
Considering the instruments that were used to carry out the field research, the
University provided us with the necessary formats to fill them with the required
information.
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In order to collect data different instruments were used such as observation
sheets and questionnaires. The observation sheets were used one per class to record
teaching information. And finally, questionnaires were used to get information from
both sides, the students’ and teachers’.
Once completed the process of observations in the different grades, the next
step was to analyze and to tabulate the results collected. For this purpose five charts
which are attached in the results section were used, in chart one were recorded the
data related to the type of supplementary materials used in the three grades. Finally,
charts two, three, and four contain data of the 4th, 5th,, 6th grade, respectively. The
data show the pertinence and appropriateness of the material used in class by the
teacher.
The process used for description, analysis, and interpretation of results was to
classify and to organize the data grade by grade, class by class in a sequential manner
and analyzing in detail each of the supplementary materials according to the aspects
of pertinence, appropriateness and quality.
7
DISCUSSION
Literature Review
Nowadays, the use of supplementary materials in Teaching English as a
Foreign Language in classrooms has become an essential tool for both: the teacher
and the students. The teacher can use this tool for improving her/his teaching, so the
students can better grasp the topics of each lesson. In English classes it is important
to consider the use of supplementary material as: visual, audio, audio-visual, realia,
on-line and more, which will allow greater understanding and effectiveness of
learning by students. The limited uses of supplementary materials also limit a good
attention and assimilation of the themes.
The proposed themes for this study are: Teaching English as a Foreign
Language, Learners (age, learner differences, motivation), Learning styles, Teaching
Techniques (teaching children), Different Contexts for Teaching, and Supplementary
Material whit its respective subthemes :definition, Importance, Role of
Supplementary Material, Visual, Audio, Audio-Visual , Realia, On-line. Besides five
studies about the use of Supporting Material in EFL or ESL classrooms that
complement this research in an effective manner.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Teaching English as a Foreign Language is a vital topic, because English is
amply used around the world in almost all fields, for example: communication,
tourism, business, education, etc. Peace Corps (1989) states that in Educational
settings teachers of English as a Foreign Language have been analyzing the best
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ways for identifying the weakness, attitudes, interests of their students and the most
important aspects for learning it.
In teaching EFL, the teacher plays an important and essential role in the
preparation of the students for learning a foreign language, for this reason
Carmerson’s (2002), suggests that EFL is not equal that to teach it as a first
language; therefore, a good English foreign language teacher must have special
qualities for imparting in a good way the teaching one language to his/her students
without affect student’s attitudes toward language learning, also an excellent English
teacher needs to have some characteristics as: intelligence, patience, and creativity;
that will improve their work in classrooms settings.
Satya (2008) states that Teaching English as a Foreign Language must have an
essential characteristic conveying information to students in an informative and
striking manner, for accomplishing a lot of purposes that learners have. For example:
to improve conversational English, to improve their knowledge for school exams, to
improve their English for entry the university or for getting a good job. It is
important that teacher of EFL have wide training in this field, so teachers have a lot
of range of books and a wide variety of supplementary material that can support
him/her to develop an excellent work.
Learners
The importance of Teaching English as a Foreign Language is related to
several needs that learners have for acquiring a foreign language; therefore, an
English teacher must have into account some aspects of his/her students that
influence their learning as: age, learner differences and motivation. Referring to the
age Saville-Troike (2006) states that there is a popular belief that kids learn more
successfully than adults, but this belief is not real because older learners have a lot
9
of advantages for acquisition a L2. Another important point is “that on languages and
the brain there is a critical period for first language acquisition: children have only
limited number of years during which normal acquisition is possible.” (Saville-
Troike, 2006). Thus, it is essential to express that everyone need the linguistic input
during the critical period for acquiring the first language, on the other hand, never
will learn any language normally. From another point of view Stevick (1978),and
Guiora (1972) state that there are two important aspects that affect the learning of a
L2. First, physical explanation, that is related to physical changes in the brain as a
result of age that interfere in the acquisition of a new sound system and
characteristics of a new language. Second, the psychological explanation that
pronunciation is part of our personality and when learners become older they are
more reluctant to change their personality and to adopt new pronunciation.
Continuing with the development of this research, the following item to be
focused is Learners Differences, which is an aspect that must be taken into account
for teachers because each student has different ways for learning. According to
Woolfolk (2007) every child has his own characteristic that make a big difference,
so each child own a set of talents, abilities, and limitations that make them unique.
Therefore, all children are exceptional, however it is important to mention that
teacher should consider these abilities, talents or sometimes disabilities that make
that the lessons are focused on different manners to ensure that all students can
assimilate the classes for equal, and the learning of L2 be successful. Woolfolk
(2007) suggests that teacher should to take into account the Gardner’s theory too.
The Gardner’s Theory is focused on the Multiple Intelligences, he distinguishes eight
separate intelligences is to say that children own al least one of them that directly
involve the learning of L2 in different way. These intelligences are: Linguistic,
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musical, spatial, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal and naturalistic.
The last aspect related to learner differences is motivation, which is an
important factor because the learners especially children need to be interested in the
topics for reaching a high attention and high learning. According to Saville-Troike
(2006) the motivation helps to students in a great manner in their L2 learning
process, and it will be a key for getting level of proficiency.
Educators are thinking that motivation’s students is an essential task of
teaching, which implies that students must cognitively, emotionally, and behavioral
be engaged in active and productive classes to achieve the maximum performance of
students.
Motivation has two relevant aspects Intrinsic and Extrinsic which are detailed
below; intrinsic motivation is the strength that every person has for accomplishing
the personal interests and challenges that can find in the learning process. In contrast,
Extrinsic motivation involves external factors as: earn a grade, to avoid punishment,
please the teacher or another reason that has very little to do with the task itself.
(Woolfolk, 2007).
Learning styles
Considering that the previous information about learners, is primordial in
learning L2, now we are going to focus on different Learning Styles for acquiring a
new language. Learning Styles involves what students do when they have to learn a
new thing, it is to say they develop their pattern of learning according to their needs;
thus, this pattern is known as learning styles, inside which we can discover
characteristics cognitive, affective, and psychological behaviors that act as indicators
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of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond at learning environment. (Keefe,
1979).
According to Colburn (2003) it is important that teachers take into account that
the concept of learning styles is intuitive, is to say that everyone has different
manners for learning. Thus, Takahashi (2008) states that there are seven styles of
learning: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, body kinesthetic,
interpersonal and intrapersonal, which allows students to adapt to each style
according to their abilities and skills. There are two important reasons that teacher
must know, about learning styles. First, each student tends to learn more readily than
others; therefore, teacher will leverage their strengths for improving achievements.
Second, the most of the teachers tend to teach according to their own learning style,
for example: visual teachers often teach a lot of visual aids.
Dun & Dun (1978) suggest that there are at least twenty one elements that can
influence learning, which are divided in five categories: Environmental, Emotional,
Sociological, Physical, and Psychological factors. Therefore, teachers should be
aware of their own learning styles, and to have in mind that each student has
different styles; consequently, teachers must try to elaborate her lessons taking into
account as many different learning styles as possible.
Teaching Techniques
Teaching Techniques as well as Learning Styles are important fields in
Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Candlin & Mercer (2003) state that the
foundation of Teaching Techniques is based on the integration between teachers and
students, who contribute to the process of teaching and learning, it consists in the
attempts that teacher performs to attain adequate and effective classes, and how
consequence successful students.
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According to Persky & Golubchick (1991) children should take an active
participation in the learning process, it is essential that teacher creates the adequate
environment through activities such as: songs, role play, storytelling, puzzles, and so
on, to get that learners be involve actively into the language process.
Taking into account the study of Vale & Feunteun (2007) we can deduce that
the methodology of TEFL has been designed especially for adults and teenagers, but
not for children, for this reason it is important that teacher be supported and guided
in Teaching English to children because the methodology is totally different.
Teachers that are teaching to children should design and plan activities according
the overall needs of the child, for example: children are taught in English, children
can be taught in mixed abilities groups; thus, children with more knowledge can help
lower-level classmates. Children develop activities with high educational value;
children must be motivated and interested in their theme of the study. The process of
learning focuses on the individual child, it is to say that each child must learn at his
own rate and manner.
In the same manner, Persky & Golubchick (1991) state that teacher should
interact with the child in a style that motivate and facilitate them the communicative
effort and encourage the language development; therefore, the goal of the teacher
must be aimed at stimulating the participation of the learner and let them and
environment without fear of making errors and total confidence in their teacher.
From another point of view, according to Satya (2008) teaching ESL to adults
is different from teaching English to children because adults and teenagers have
different goals and perspectives in learning a second language, for example adults are
not looking forward to reach academic achievement, but they will need English today
to get a job tomorrow. Usually, when the teaching is directed to adults and teenagers,
13
teachers will need to use a lot of techniques and activities in the classroom in order to
accomplish the total attention of their students, consequently to reach excellent
results.
Different contexts for teaching
Continuing with this study, the following theme is about of Different contexts
for teaching, in this field the most relevant aspect is related with culture. According
to Li (2006) the culture is an essential part in the teachers’ pedagogic aims in TEFL;
therefore, we can see that Language Teaching and Culture Teaching are inseparable
aspects in this teaching field.
It is important to mention that Culture encourages to students to perceive new
norms, values, meanings, and symbols, based on the knowledge of their own culture,
it is to say that students apart from knowing their own culture, they have the
opportunity to develop a greater knowledge of world culture.
Li (2006) suggests that students learning a foreign language should also know
the cultural characteristics of target language, for example: ways to address people,
how to make requests, how to be agree or disagree, and so on. It is important that
learners know the patterns of conduct and intonation of the target community
because these can have a correct use in their culture community speech, but in the
target community can be received in different ways, for this reason all foreign
languages are considered intercultural.
According to Coskun (2010) “Teacher should be aware of the changing trends
and the increasing importance of the local context in the English Language Teaching
pedagogy; as a result, of cultural heterogeneity in context where English is taught.”
Supplementary materials
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Inside of the vast field of TEFL, the themes mentioned so far play an
important role as well as the use of Supplementary Material, matter of this study,
Dash & Dash (2007) state that Supplementary Materials are additional materials that
support the quality on the process of teaching and learning. Using these
supplementary materials, the teacher helps to students in the following aspects:
establish new ideas, clarify doubts, make interpretations, teach new concepts,
vocabulary, grammar, to use correct structures of sentences; therefore, the use of
these aids support the teacher to make his/her class more interesting, explanatory,
successful, effective and inspirational. These materials are aids that help students for
a better comprehension of the language spoken or written; besides, the use of these
materials help students in the assimilation and understanding of ideas.
Continuing this research, we emphasize the importance of use supplementary
materials in classrooms because these are necessary in TEFL. According Dash &
Dash (2007) children get a better teaching of English through sensory experience,
using their senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight. Thus, the learning process can
be taken in a 100 percent for learners.
Showing the importance of supplementary materials in Teaching English as a
Foreign Language, Dash & Dash (2007) state that it is necessary to support English
classes with improved tools for getting more active, more efficient, more attractive,
and successful classes, for Dash and Dash another important point is related with
psychological aspects, thus students can learn through three levels: direct experience
that is related with sensory contact, vicarious experience that is learning by models,
films, TV, and symbolic experience verbal and written languages. It is recommended
give primordial attention to Direct experience and Vicarious experience, because
these are directly associated with learning. Dash & Dash (2007) say that effective
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teaching is focused on defined presentation of abstract ideas, for this reason
Supplementary Materials is appropriate in relate abstract concepts with real forms.
Another function of Supplementary Material, is the role that it plays in
teaching English, it is to say the function that it has in the learning process. Dash &
Dash (2007) state that Instructional Aids encourage children to pay their attention in
tasks related with learning, to use their imagination and their observation in order to
get the knowledge; besides, these supplementary materials helps students to clarify
ideas and concepts about of events and phenomena in life, thus, supplementary
materials encourages learners to be active participants in the teaching-learning
process, and sometimes learners together with their teachers should create these
materials as: flashcards, card words, maps, etc. Using their imagination, Dash &
Dash (2007) says that teachers cannot be replaced for these aids, but rather these
materials help to save energy and time for both, teacher and students, making
learning interesting and attractive and achieving that the class has higher retention of
facts learned and as result students assimilate the knowledge in a quicker, accurate
and clear manner.
In the use of supplementary material in TEFL to children is important to
mention the different kinds of additional aids such as: Visual, Audio, Audio-Visual,
Realia and Online. According to Cunningsworth (1988) Visual aids can be pictures,
flashcards, wall charts, film scripts, slides, videotapes, and films. Practical visual
help to teacher to teach with them and through them. From another point of view
according to Dash & Dash (2007) Visual Aids “are those aids which appeal to the
sense of vision or eye;” therefore the learning process can be better assimilated,
associated, with these former ideas. Hodapp (1978) states that teacher can use visual
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and video aids to provide examples of speaking, listening and writing, in this way to
achieve a better understanding of actions and abstract words by students.
An additional kind of Supplementary Material is Audio that today is widely
used in classroom especially with the children, who are learning English through
songs, dialogues, narrative, stories, etc. Namely, these aids appeal the sense of
hearing of the ear. ( Dash & Dash , 2007).
Cunningsworth (1988) suggests that for learning be assimilated by learners in
a correct manner is important to revise that material used in the tapes be of an
excellent quality, because the most of times these tapes distort the spoken English; as
a result, learners can learn an incorrect pronunciation.
Following with the kinds of Supplementary Material we can cite Audio-Visual
as another instructional aid. According Dash & Dash (2007) Audio Visual aids are
those devices that are received by learners through of more than one sense;
moreover, using these supplementary devices learners are able to clarify, to
understand concepts, and to acquire knowledge.
Another interesting sort of supplementary materials is Realia that according to
Richards & Renandya (2002) are those simple things that are inside classroom or
other objects that can be brought to school or things that students can see through the
window; those real things encourage to learners to be creative, besides facilitate the
learning process, because by mean of them can represent real facts through toys. This
supplementary material is appeal to children for the reason that they can manipulate
the real things and assimilate the learning using all the senses.
The previous themes have been focused on the use of Supplementary Material
how an important tool in the acquisition of foreign language. To continue with this
work, we will mention some studies related to this topic.
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Cheon (2003) states that, the purpose of the present study is to analyze how the
use of Computer Mediated Communication in Korean learners improves the
opportunity for learning English. Achieving clear objectives this study proposes: To
know how Computer Mediated Communication increases the opportunities of
acquiring a second language, to analyze if Korean learners use a chat program
adequately for learning an appropriate second language, to detail the manners in
which the students develop the strategies for acquiring a second language, research
the feelings and reactions of students in the use of Computer Mediated
Communication.
In relation to this study Swann (1994) suggests that is useful to create a
combination of methods that will work together and as a result to obtain a precise
context of the language. For obtaining better results using mixed methods, this study
employed a quasi experiment and observations as a good tool for collecting data,
besides were used questionnaires to complement this study. In conclusion, it is
important to consider that, the Korean EFL environment in which the real interaction
in the target language is unusual and the most of the time students return to the
mother tongue, Cheon (2003) states that, tasks based synchronous Computer
Mediated Communication is an interactive learning contexts in where the students
can interact between them in the target language, as a result, students will build
important language development.
In the next study we will analyze the opinions and points of view considered
by Al-Jarf (2005) who states that the goal of this study is to understand if the
teaching of Grammar instruction through on line improves the attainment and
attitudes of freshman students.
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According to Al-Jarf (2005) the methodology utilized in this study were pre-test and
post-test, which were applied to two groups of students, the experimental and control
group, for both groups the grammar pre-test consisted of grammatical topics to be
studied during the semester, also at the end of the course the two groups made the
same post-test that contained all of the topics learned during the semester. The
content of the test consisted of requirements which referred to points of grammar
such as: a) Fill in the blanks which a pronoun; b) Write the singular form of the noun
where necessary. This pre-test and post-test do not contained names of the students
but number or ID; therefore, the author, graded this tests blindly. Grading, these
authors used an answer key and marks were according to the spelling mistakes.
Another aspect related with the methodology is that at the end of the semester,
students were given an Open-ended-questionnaire which consisted in 10 questions
that were focused only around a course; is to say focusing on results, perspective and
attitudes of the students, for example: some of the questions were, a) What problems
or difficulties did you face in using the on-line course?; b) What did you like about
it?.
Al-Jarf (2005) concludes that there were important differences between
experimental and control group in grammar attainment in the results of post-tests,
which show that experimental group have improved using on-line and in-class
instructions; therefore, this study states that the use of on-line instructions as an
additional aid in classroom is a powerful tool in increasing the students’ knowledge
in grammar topics. Besides, this study points that active participants acquired higher
knowledge than passive participants. As a last conclusion the author cite Friggard’s
study (2002) who states that some students preferred learn grammar in classroom
19
rather in a computer lab.; however, all the structure in the present research was
interested in acquiring grammar knowledge throughout of on-line.
Another study analyzing the use of supplementary material in TEFL is stated
by Akbari (2008) who raises the following research questions: “Is picture more
effective than contextualization in teaching vocabulary items?; Is picture more
effective than traditional way in teaching vocabulary items; Is contextualization more
effective than traditional way in teaching vocabulary items?”. Thus, the purpose of
this present study is to highlight the importance of accurate techniques for teaching
vocabulary. The methods that Akbari (2008) used were a general test of language
proficiency, a pre-test and post-test, the general test was designed according to the
book “New Generation” by Granger & Beaumant (1987), which is material of the
study utilized at the Institute. The goal of this test was to separate the total of the
students in three groups with equal characteristics. The pre-test was focused on
vocabulary which was elaborated by researcher in the following way: first, the
researcher took 100 vocabulary items used by students in their books, after that
researcher made the test using the 100 items in multiple choice option, utilizing for
this purpose a small group for performing pilot study and obtaining as a result 10
items rejected and some changed; therefore, according researcher the reliability of
the test was estimated in a 0.94. The objective of post-test was to show the accuracy
of the method applied to the experimental group.
Akbari (2008) referring to the present research concludes that the prior
analysis was focuses on control and two experimental group, whose results were
analyzed, taking into account the results of null hypotheses were discarded, however
the three groups reach different scores in the post-test, therefore the differences were
statistically important. According the researcher the reason for rejecting the null
20
hypotheses was that pictures are a meaningful tool for teaching vocabulary to EFL
learners, consequently pictures can be used in other contexts such as to teach
grammar and abstracts vocabulary items.
The following study to consider was accomplished by Lin (2010), whose
purpose of study was to investigate the incidence that Video based computer had in
students with high and low English reading and listening proficiency.
Data collection was executed in eight stages, with duration of 50 minutes per
week; thus, in the earlier stage of this study the total of the participants were given a
GEPT- intermediated stimulated test, and according to results the students were
divided in three English proficiency groups. In the subsequent stage were delivered a
vocabulary pre-test. From the third stage to the seven stages, students were freely
exposed during 30 minutes to use the internet for studying the video lessons, of this
way learners take one video lesson in each class. Then, the participants were
evaluated immediately after of each video lesson, as a consequence, the researcher
chose the most proficiency members of each group, and conducted one-on one
interviews with the selected participants.
Lin (2010) concludes that vocabulary learning is not word by word, but rather
to learn words in context, so of this way students learn not only linguistics
characteristics of one word as: phonetic, semantic, and syntactic aspect, also to know
how to build the appropriate contexts from the words.
The last study is cited by Williams & Lutes (1960) who state that the purpose
of this study is know if the use of video in ESL classroom can affect the motivation
and interest of the students, so the researcher raised the following questions: “Are
students affected positively for the use of video in classrooms?; Do students perceive
21
these classes to be more interesting and as such are they more motivated when video
is a major component of the lesson curriculum.
The methodology used for Williams & Lutes consisted on analyzing two
groups for this study: a control group and a test group. For both groups the materials
were designed but the test group had an additional material – video-. The test group
utilized for its classes a video component in 8 periods containing the same 8 comedic
sketches based on grammar points and functions; the two groups had in common:
instructor, curriculum, and evaluation throughout tests and assignments with the only
difference of supplemental video component. Finally, a questionnaire was given to
all students with questions that covered students’ attitudes to the class using the
video, and were required to answer according the level of agreement or disagreement
by choosing one response of five options, these options were: strongly agree, agree,
neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree. Besides, students have the
opportunity to write their own comment according the class.
As a final conclusion Willams & Lutes (1960) state that the use of video in
EFL classroom it is an important and attractive tool that helps in the learning process.
The use of video can be a useful strategy that motivates to the students’ interests for
reading and active learning; therefore, students can acquire new skills and to build
their own experiences.
22
Results
Chart One: Type of Supplementary material used to teach children
Variable Indicators Yes No Visual
flash cards � power point presentations x Maps x Pictures � Charts � Handouts � x Posters � word cards � white/black board � Others
Audio
Songs � Dialogues � Stories � Tales x
Audio-Visual
Videos x
Movies x
Documentaries x
Realia objects (toys, plants, fruits) �
Online Websites x
Author: Cecilia Astudillo S. /María Eulalia Peralta A.
Source: 4th (8 years old approx.) 5th (9 years old approx.) 6th (10 years old approx.)
23
Chart two: Pertinence and Appropriateness of the supplementary material used to teach children
Vari
able
Indicators
1st
cla
ss
2nd c
lass
3rd
cla
ss
4th
cla
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5th
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6th
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7th
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8th
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9th
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10th
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Per
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Per
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Per
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Per
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Appro
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Per
t.
Appro
p.
Visual
flash cards √ √ √ √
powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures √ √ √ √
charts √ √
handouts
posters √ √
wordcards √ √
white/blackboard
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
cutouts
Audio
songs
dialogues
stories
tales
chants
Audio
visual
videos
movies
documentaries
Rea
lia objects
(toys) √ √
Online websites
Author: Cecilia Astudillo S. / María Eulalia Peralta A.
Source: 4th (8 years old approx.) grade
24
Chart three: Pertinence and Appropriateness of the supplementary material used to teach children
Vari
able
Indicators
1st
cla
ss
2nd c
lass
3rd
cla
ss
4th
cla
ss
5th
cla
ss
6th
cla
ss
7th
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ss
8th
cla
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9th
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ss
10th
cla
ss
Per
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Appro
p.
Per
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Visual
flash cards
powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures √ √
charts
handouts √ √ √ √
posters
wordcards
white/blackboard
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Audio
songs √ √ √ √
dialogues
stories √ √
tales
Audio
visua
l
videos
movies
documentaries
Rea
lia objects
(toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
Author: Cecilia Astudillo S. / María Eulalia Peralta A.
Source: 5th (9 years old approx.) grade
25
Chart four: Pertinence and Appropriateness of the supplementary material used to teach children
Vari
able
Indicators
1st
cla
ss
2nd c
lass
3rd
cla
ss
4th
cla
ss
5th
cla
ss
6th
cla
ss
7th
cla
ss
8th
cla
ss
9th
cla
ss
10th
cla
ss
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
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Appro
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Per
t.
Appro
p.
Visual
flash cards
powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures √ √ √ √
charts
handouts
posters √ √
wordcards
white/blackboard
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Audio
songs √ √
dialogues √ √
stories
tales
numbersrepetition
Audio
visual videos
movies
documentaries
Rea
lia objects
(toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
Author: Cecilia Astudillo S. / María Eulalia Peralta A.
Source: 6th (10 years old approx.) grade
26
Chart Five: Type of Supplementary material used to teach children
Variable Indicators 4th grade (8 years old approx.)
5th grade (9 years old approx.)
6th grade (10 years old approx.)
Total
%
Visual
flash cards 2 2 4.44 power point presentations
0 0
maps 0 0 pictures 2 1 2 5 11.11 charts 1 1 2.23 handouts 2 2 4.44 posters 1 1 2 4.44 word cards 1 1 2.23 white/black board 9
10 7 26 57.78
others Audio
songs 2 1 3 6.67 dialogues 1 1 2.22 stories 1 1 2.22 tales 0 0 0 0
Audio-Visual
videos 0 0 movies 0 0 documentaries 0 0 0 0
Realia objects (toys) 1 1 2.22 Online Websites 0 0 TOTAL: 17 16 12 45 % 100
Author: Cecilia Astudillo S./María Eulalia Peralta A.
Source: 4th (8 years old approx.) 5th (9 years old approx.) 6th (10 years old approx.)
27
Description, Analysis, and Interpretation of Results
This section contains a Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the obtained
Results. The Qualitative Analysis is focused on aspects of pertinence,
appropriateness, and quality of each one of supplementary materials that were
utilized by teachers to support their classes; on the other hand, the Quantitative
Analysis is based on the register, tabulation and frequency with which the
supplementary materials were used into the classrooms.
Qualitative Analysis
4th Grade/8 Years old
Whiteboard
In this first class the teacher used the whiteboard as a supplementary material
to develop the topic “Simple Present”. The objective of this class was to work with
the students to learn about the use of verbs in third person.
Considering that the topic of the class was “Simple Present”, the teacher took
into account the students’ age to develop creative exercises which consisted in
correcting sentences using the correct form of the verb in third person. For this
activity, the teacher organized teams to perform a contest in which the teacher wrote
a sentence on the board with mistakes; then, children ran to the whiteboard to correct
the sentences. This contest motivated the participation and interaction of the students.
Considering the student’s level of knowledge the teacher used appropriate
vocabulary, grammar, and suitable activities that facilitated the learning of the new
theme.
The teacher used the whiteboard in an organized way what allowed children to
be attentive and interested in the new lesson; besides, the exercises were written
using different colors of markers to emphasize the form of the verbs in third person,
28
the handwriting was clear and the size of the letter was adequate to a correct
visibility of the activities.
To introduce and present the topic of the second class, “Our Hobbies”, the
teacher used the white board. The main objective of this lesson was to learn about
daily routines. Therefore, to engage the students into the learning process, the teacher
used guessing games.
Regarding the students’ age, the teacher design a creative and interesting class
based on several drawings related with the common expressions: get up, wake up,
take a shower, have a breakfast, brush the teeth, which were made on the board.
These activities woke in children the interest in the new class because they had that
to represent the diverse drawings using their body language; as a result, the class was
active, funny and interesting. According to the level of knowledge of children the
teacher used the board to write next to the drawings the new vocabulary which was
easy to them because it was related to common and basic expressions of daily
routines; consequently, students were able to associate drawings with words.
The quality of this supplementary material was excellent, the drawings and the
size of the letters displayed on the board were adequate to attract the students’
attention. The teacher organized the whiteboard, distributing the space correctly;
thus, she achieved to explain the new lesson with clarity.
The theme of the third class was “Our Hobbies” the teacher used the
whiteboard as a supplementary material; the objective of this class was to explain
students how to structure affirmative and negative sentences using the auxiliary
Do/Does. The use of this visual aid helped students to understand the lesson in a
productive and successful way.
29
The teacher used the whiteboard because the theme of this class needed to be
taught through examples which were properly organized. The use of this
supplementary material was according to the age of students because the teacher
used the whiteboard to write examples that contained vocabulary related with the
objects into the classroom in which children had to complete these sentences using
the correct auxiliary, the reward offered by their teacher were candies for those who
participated in the board activities; as a result, the class was funny and interactive.
Another important aspect to mention is that the teacher took into account the
students’ level because used the whiteboard to explain grammar points and new
vocabulary that was assimilated by students due to the fact the tasks designed
contained basic and easy vocabulary such as: bag, pencil, eraser, notebook, etc.
Taking into account the topic of this class, this supplementary material was used
in organized manner what allowed children to develop the board activities and to
thave enough space to complete the task. The size of letters and the use of the
different colors of markers allowed children a good visibility of all activities;
consequently, students had a total interaction in the process of the class.
To present the theme “A day in my Life”, the teacher used the whiteboard to
explain the class. In this lesson the purpose was to recognize adverbs of frequency,
this visual aid helped the teacher to explain the topic in a clear way using exercises
that students had to complete with adverbs of frequency; thus, students participated
in the development of this class using the white board to write their answers.
To use this supplementary material the teacher considered first the student’s
age designing examples or activities that were attractive to them. These activities
were focused on their daily activities and Holydays, the teacher organized two teams
boys and girls, the same time the teacher drew on the board two charts in which the
30
children had to complete them with adverbs of frequency according their activities or
preferences, the winner team got extra points. Taking into account the level of the
students, the teacher used the whiteboard to draw small charts which contained easy
vocabulary related with daily activities and Holydays that were completed
successfully by children.
The teacher utilized a well organized whiteboard because the space was
adequately distributed; thus, students could develop these activities, the charts were
made with red and black markers and the size of the letters were adequate allowing
students an excellent view, a correct interpretation of the exercises, and an active
participation.
“A day in my life”, was the topic of the sixth class. The whiteboard was one
of the tool utilized by teacher to explain the theme. The objective of this class was to
teach students the correct use of Present Progressive for which the teacher designed
exercises related to the topic, these exercises were completed on the board by
students in a sequential way.
The use of the whiteboard was appropriate to the students’ age due to the fact
that the teacher wrote sentences that contained actions such as: She is cooking, she is
playing video games, they are dancing. Teacher asks her students to give ideas to
form another sentences taking into account their hobbies; this activity motivated the
students’ participation because they had the opportunity to express their preferences
completing the exercise on the board; regarding the level of knowledge of students
the teacher wrote on the board an set of exercises using easy vocabulary and
grammar points which helped students to learn the new lesson.
The activities set out in the whiteboard were clearly written, the size of letter
were visible and clear, the spaces were distributed in a correct way allowing students
31
to assimilate the explanations given by the teacher.
To the seventh class the theme was “Big and Small”, whose objective was to
recognize the parts of the body. Using this visual aid, the teacher wrote on the left
side of the whiteboard a list with the names of the body’s parts and on the right side
the teacher made drawings related to the list, but in different order. This exercise
allowed students to apply their knowledge about the topic.
Taking into account the student’s age the activities showed on the board were
appropriate because these contained striking drawings of body’s parts that were
especially designed to children, which motivated the interaction of students into the
classroom. According to students’ level, the activities designed by the teacher
contained basic and common vocabulary and drawings that were comprehensible to
all children; as a result, they were able to participate and develop the class work.
Both the list of the words and the drawings were placed on the board to allow
students could visualize them completely; therefore, students performed the exercises
in a correct way. The drawings were designed with varied colors of markers and
these were sufficiently clear for students can guess their meaning.
In this eight class, the topic was “Big and Small”, the teacher used the
whiteboard to achieve the objective of this lesson that was to distinguish the use of
Have and Has, and to differentiate the verb form in third person. This supplementary
material was used by the teacher to explain her class preparing exercises related to
the content of the topic and encouraging students to develop the same.
The exercises shown on the board were made taking into account the age of
students because the teacher designed creative drawings related with common
animals that encouraged children to form sentences using the verb have and has, for
32
example the cat has a tail, birds have wings. These drawings on the board motivated
children to participate because they related these with their preferred pets.
The teacher considered the students’ level developing examples that contained
vocabulary and grammar points easy to understand; therefore, the lesson was quickly
assimilated.
The teacher organized the information on the board in such way that all
children could participate and interact developing the exercises. The letter size , the
use of varied colors of markers to design drawings and the correct use of the space
on the board allowed children a good visibility and understanding of the lesson.
In the ninth class the topic was “Big and small”, whose objective was focused
on to recognize and structure Yes/No Questions, for this class the teacher used the
whiteboard to explain and make exercises related with affirmative and negative
sentences. The use of this supplementary material allowed children to understand the
lesson and to perform subsequent exercises with the help of their teacher.
The exercises exposed on whiteboard were according the age of students
because the questions were short and clear for example: Do you have a cat?
Yes, I do. / No, I don’t. The teacher organized to children to work in pairs one of
them had to write the sentence on the board and his partner write the answer , if the
exercise was made without mistakes the students could get 1 extra point, this reward
motivated students to go to the whiteboard to participate. Taking into account the
students’ level the examples were structured based on common vocabulary and topic
preferred by them; as a consequence, all students participated actively showing
interest and understanding of the class.
The exercises exposed on the board were legible and clear to children. The size
of the letter and colors of markers used by the teacher to emphasize the grammatical
33
rules attracted students’ attention what allowed children to learn the new lesson in a
better way.
In the tenth class, the teacher used the whiteboard as a visual aid to explain the
theme “Big and Small”, the purpose of this class was to teach about comparative
forms. To explain the class the teacher used the whiteboard adequately, designing
activities in which students had to complete the exercises with the correct form of
adjectives.
Taking into account the age of students, the teacher used the whiteboard to
elaborate activities based on preferences and likes of children for example: Selena
Gómez is taller than Hanna Montana. Appointing famous people encouraged
students to interact during the lesson and allowed the teacher to achieve the adequate
environment into the classroom. The teacher planned the class considering the level
of students for this reason she used adjectives related with famous people taller,
thinner, prettier, uglier, more beautiful, which facilitated understanding of the new
lesson. As a result, children were willing to work when teacher named their
preferred famous people.
To achieve a productive class, the teacher organized the whiteboard in such
way that children were able to visualize, to understand, and to develop the exercises
adequately because the space was correctly distributed, the size of the letters were
appropriate and the use of varied colors of markers highlighted the comparative
forms; consequently, children assimilated the topic and were able to develop the
class work for themselves.
34
Word cards
In the third observed class the teacher continued with the topic “Our Hobbies”
the objective of this class was to recognize affirmative and negative sentences using
the auxiliaries Do/Does; besides, the teacher presented new vocabulary using word
cards with words related to sports.
It was observed that the teacher, to explain the class, did consider the students’
age. It was also seen that the activity, word cards, was created according to their age.
The vocabulary shown on the cards had topics like soccer, basketball, swimming,
table tennis, among others. This activity was very funny because teacher showed her
students the word cards; after that, children had to guess the word and the teacher
had to use mimic and her body language to encourage her students to participate, the
reward was one chocolate to children that guess the word. This exercise contained
common vocabulary, and the exposure of easy grammar structures which were
understood by everyone; therefore, it is clearly seen that the level of knowledge of
students was taken into account.
These word cards were elaborated with the correct size. The letters had
appropriate size and vibrant colors what attracted attention of children to learn
vocabulary in an easy way. The word cards were perfectly visible for all children; as
a consequence, the learning was better and faster.
Objects (toys)
To teach the fourth class teacher used objects for supporting her lesson. In this
opportunity the theme of the class was “How much is…/” related with the main
objective that was to identify prices. The children brought to class different kinds of
toys, such as: balls, cars, dolls, make up kit to work in groups, after the explanation
35
of their teacher; they were able to put prices to every object, to say the prices aloud,
and to show them to the whole class.
Taking into account students’ age the teacher used toys, because children
learn better by playing and interacting with their peers; moreover, the use of these
supplementary materials motivated children to participate actively into the
classroom, involving their senses in the process of learning, for example: the sense of
sight and touch. Taking into account the students’ level and the previous knowledge
acquired about the spelling and pronunciation of numbers the teacher planned the
lesson to explain through toys the new theme; as a consequence, they were able to
assimilate the new class and to develop the activities exposed by their teacher
without any problem.
Regarding that toys were brought by children, these were according to their
likes and preferences. Every toy was different in colors, forms, texture, and size;
thus, the teacher used this material to get a successful class.
Charts
In the fifth class the teacher used charts as a visual aid to support her class, the
topic was “A day in my Life” and the objective was to recognize the use of adverbs
of frequency. These charts contained the vocabulary related to adverbs of frequency
and their respective translation into Spanish which allowed students to visualize the
charts and to understand the theme of the class in a clear way.
The teacher used charts taking into account the students’ age because the use
of these visual aids contained adverbs of frequency and vocabulary related with
Holydays that woke in children the emotion for these dates; next, the teacher showed
students the charts and encourages them to make sentences using the adverbs of
frequency for example: I always gift chocolates at Christmas, Laura sometimes goes
36
to the beach at Carnival. Considering the student’s level the teacher used simple
vocabulary to get that students understand the explanation displayed on the charts.
These charts were elaborated with vibrant colors and striking forms, the size
letter was adequate to visualize in a perfect way the information; therefore, the
teacher got an interesting class.
Pictures
Continuing with the topic “A day in my Life” for the sixth class the teacher
used pictures to explain the theme, whose objective was to teach the use of Present
Progressive. The pictures used in this class were very interesting because these
helped to get student’s attention; as a result, children were able to participate in the
class relating the pictures with its meaning.
Taking account student´s age the teacher used pictures, because their striking
colors and forms allowed students to focus their attention in the content of these tools
that were cartoon characters of the Simpsons performing activities such as: playing,
cooking, watching TV, and swimming. The teacher showed her students the different
pictures and encourages children to make sentences using the present progressive
according to the content of the pictures. Considering the level of knowledge of
students the teacher used appropriate pictures related with easy vocabulary and
grammar points to allow them to develop the tasks successfully.
The pictures chosen by the teacher contained images with striking colors, the
size of these visual aids were appropriate to attract the attention of students and to
achieve the comprehension of the topic.
To introduce the theme of the ninth class “Big and small”. The main purpose
of this class was to recognize and to structure Yes/No Questions. The teacher used
37
pictures that contained images of people and animals, to awake in the students the
attention and the interaction into the classroom.
Considering the age of children the teacher used pictures that contained
fashion characters such as: Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Puss in boots, what motivated
students to participate and develop the activities in a funny manner. The teacher
asked her students work in groups to make a contest that consisted on to form
Yes/No questions according to the pictures; the winner group will get an extra point.
Regarding the children’s’ level of knowledge the vocabulary and the explanation of
grammar points were explained by means of contest which facilitated the
understanding of the new lesson.
The quality of these supporting materials was excellent; they were chosen
according likes and preferences of children, the pictures were striking due to the fact
that the images had alive colors and the adequate size to allow the whole class to see
clearly and to understand the teacher’s explanation.
Poster
In the seventh observation the topic was “Big and Small”. The main purpose of
this lesson was to teach students to recognize the parts of the body by means of a
poster containing them for example big eyes, small ears, big nose, small mouth. The
use of this supplementary material had an important role because the students had the
opportunity to learn new vocabulary and to identify the parts of the body that the
teacher mentioned.
Taking into account the age of students, this visual aid was an excellent tool to
get better retention and assimilation of the theme, because it contained the parts of
the body that could easily stick and unstick in the poster, with this material the
teacher was able to conduct an participatory class asking children to stick the parts of
38
the body in the correct place. Considering the level of knowledge of the students, the
use of poster was adequate because students were able to recognize the parts of the
body and to associate them with the new vocabulary.
This supplementary material was correctly used according to the objective of
the class. The pieces of the poster had the size, color, and shape appropriate to allow
students an adequate visibility motivating to children to participate and distinguish
correctly the parts of the body.
Flashcards
In this eighth class the teacher used flashcards to expose the theme “Big and
small”. The objective was to teach to students the use of have / has. The content of
these flashcard were funny and interesting to children because these contained
animal figures; as a result, these visual aids encouraged children to participate in the
process of the class.
The teacher used flashcards because these supporting materials were
appropriate for this age because those contained animal figures with striking details
especially for children: cat, dog, bird, bear, lion, and tiger. Based on these flashcards,
the teacher asked her students to make sentences using have and has according to the
flashcards, for example: My cat has a small ears, the lion and tiger have big eyes.
According to the level of knowledge of children, the flashcards were adequate to
explain the new lesson; because, the use of basic and common vocabulary allowed
students to relate the knowledge previously learned with the new topic.
The teacher elaborated these flashcards choosing appropriate colors and sizes
to facilitate the visibility and the comprehension of the new class. In this way, the
teacher got that students developed the task relating the vocabulary with the
flashcards.
39
In the tenth class in the fourth grade, the teacher used flashcards to introduce
the theme “Big and Small”, whose objective was to learn about comparative forms.
These visual aids helped the teacher to explain in an interesting way the grammar
points. The teacher elaborated the flashcards based on current preferences of their
students for example: famous people.
Students’ interests and preferences were took into account by teacher to use
flashcards, regarding the age of students, the teacher chose famous people like
Selena Gómez, Justin Bieber, and Victorious to make the comparisons. The teacher
asked her students to make the task orally showing her students these flashcards and
encouraging them to develop the task using the comparative form, for example:
Justin Bieber is taller than Selena Gómez. This activity was according to the
childrens’ level because the teacher was careful to use common adjectives that were
easy to understand and easy to apply; consequently the class was participatory and
interesting.
The teacher elaborated the flashcards using her creativity to call the attention
of children, the size of the images, the alive colors, and striking letters motivated
children to understand the grammatical rules related with the comparative forms;
consequently, the class was funny and easy for children to participate and interact.
Learning styles
According to Colburn (2003) it is necessary that teachers know that in the
learning process it is important to be intuitive to understand that every learner has
different ways to learn.
In fourth grade (8 years old), most of the time the teacher used visual aids as
flashcard, pictures, posters, whiteboard, word cards, charts and realia; which were
used to their fullest, due to the fact that children learn best when they are exposed to
40
visuals. However, the use of visual aids did not diminish the ability to assimilate the
topics by those children whose learning styles are not visual.
Finally, the use of flashcards, pictures, posters, whiteboard, word cards, charts,
and realia, helped the teacher to accomplish her teaching goals. Therefore, kids had a
better understanding of the class, thanks to visual.
5th Grade/ 9 Years old
Whiteboard
In this opportunity the teacher used the whiteboard to explain the theme
“Simple Past”, whose objective was to explain the use of auxiliary did. To teach this
topic the teacher planned her class with activities to be showed on the board allowing
students to recognize and to use the auxiliary did in the different examples
illustrated.
Exercises exposed in the whiteboard were according to the age of children,
because contained examples related with their preferred movies, in this case the
teacher chose the Shrek’s movie to develop activities in which children had to work
in two teams girls and boys, the teacher wrote the sentence on the board and asked
one representative of each team to run the whiteboard and write the answer for
example: What did Shrek do last night?. Taking into account the level of knowledge
of children the teacher chose basic vocabulary and easy grammatical structures to
write on the whiteboard the sentences to be completed by students; as a consequence,
children were able to develop the tasks without any problem.
The whiteboard was distributed in an adequate way allowing children do the
tasks orderly. The appropriate size of the letter and the use of varied colors of
markers helped children to have a perfect visibility of the exercises exposed on the
board.
41
The theme of the second class was “There was/there were” whose objective
was to distinguish between singular and plural. This supplementary material was
used by the teacher to explain the topic in a better way allowing students to
participate and develop the tasks successfully.
Taking into account the age of students the teacher used the whiteboard to
design one activity in which the children had to match the expression There
was/There were with their respective singular and plural, for example: There was one
cat on the chair/There were five bananas on the table. The use of this supplementary
material was according to children’s age because the exercises exposed on it allowed
students to compete among them and to win chocolates. Taking into account the
students’ level the teacher used the whiteboard to write exercises that contained easy
vocabulary and simple grammatical expressions according to the topic of the class;
as a result, students were able to develop the task efficiently.
The spaces on the board were organized and distributed in a correct way to
allow students to work easily. The appropriate size of the letter and the varied colors
used by the teacher attracted the students’ attention who understood the topic easily;
therefore, they were able to develop the activities asked by their teacher.
The topic of the third class was “Vacation Time” which was focused on the
use of expressions about activities such as: go fishing, go swimming, go shopping.
The use of the whiteboard in this class was adequate because supported the teacher to
explain the new lesson in an interesting way, which motivated students to participate
into the classroom.
The use of the whiteboard was according the age of children because the
teacher designed examples which contained activities based on their likes and
preferences related to vacation time. The teacher wrote some expressions on the
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board and asked her students to participate acting out every activity with mime. This
activity motivated students to interact into the classroom. Considering the level of
knowledge of children the examples or expressions displayed on the board were
easily understood because the teacher used basic and common vocabulary as well as
grammatical points according to the topic.
To develop this class the teacher used her creativity to organize and to
distribute the whiteboard appropriately; thus, the size of letter, the space used to
write the examples, and the use of different colors of markers were adequate to
children; consequently, children were willingly to participate.
In the fourth class the topic was “Vacation time”. The objective was to teach
about the Simple Past. Once students have learned the present tense of some verbs,
the teacher used the whiteboard to explain how to form the past simple, emphasizing
the difference between the past tense of regular and irregular verbs.
The whiteboard was used to create activities that were adequate to children’s
age because these contained drawings of places related with their vacation time for
example: beaches, mountains, camping trip, forest, among others. According to the
drawings children had to complete the sentences on the board using the correct tense
of the verb. Regarding the level of knowledge of students the teacher wrote the
exercises using easy and accessible vocabulary and after a clear explanation by the
teacher about the verbs, children participated actively in the class.
The size of letter, the different colors of makers used by the teacher to make
the drawings and the distribution of the space on the board were appropriate to allow
children a correct visibility and understanding of the theme.
In the fifth observed class, the teacher used the whiteboard to explain the topic
“Vacation Time”, the objective of this lesson was to teach the use of “going to” for
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future plans. This supplementary material helped the teacher to explain the new
lesson with activities and tasks that encouraged the participation of children.
The teacher took into account the students’ age to design activities which
consisted in forming sentences using the expression “going to” some examples were
written by the teacher on the board which contained activities related with plans for
their vacation time, then students had to go to the whiteboard and to perform the task
requested by the teacher, for example: I am going to go camping on the mountain.
The use of the white board was adequate to children because the exercises were
written using different colors of markers and the new vocabulary and expressions
were enclosed in circles to attract the attention of children. Taking into account the
level of knowledge of children the teacher used the whiteboard to write sentences
with easy vocabulary and expressions according to the topic of the class; as a result,
the tasks asked by teacher were performed in excellent way. The use of this visual
aid motivated the interaction of students - students and students-teacher.
The activities displayed on the whiteboard were distributed adequately, the
size of letter was appropriate allowing students have a correct view and legibility of
the tasks, the use of varied colors of markers emphasized the importance of the new
vocabulary and the correct use of the expression “going to”.
The theme of the sixth class was “Vacation time” the objective was “To build
Yes/No Questions”. For this purpose the teacher used the whiteboard to explain the
class in an interesting way allowing students to understand the new topic.
The teacher used this supplementary material adequately taking into account
the age of students because the exercises exposed on the board were developed
according to their interests and preferences for places to go on vacations. The use of
the board was appropriate to children because the teacher divided the board on four
44
segments one for each line, in each one the teacher wrote one question and one
answer as example; next, attentive to the teacher’s signal children had to go to the
board and write quickly their own example using the vocabulary and grammar
learned. Considering the level of knowledge of students the teacher used the
whiteboard to design activities applying easy vocabulary and common grammatical
rules to achieve students learn the new lesson.
The teacher used the total surface of the whiteboard to develop exercises in an
organized and clear way encouraging children to participate and interact during the
class. The teacher used different colors of markers to call the attention of the students
and to avoid distractions and boredom.
To develop the seventh class the teacher used the whiteboard to present the
theme that was “Vacation time”. In this class the objective was to learn about
Possessive Pronouns. Using this supplementary material the teacher explained the
topic in an attractive and interesting way, motivating students to pay attention and to
work in class.
Regarding the age of students the teacher divided the whiteboard in three
parts to place in each part exercises to be completed by them. These exercises
attracted the attention of children because they were designed using drawings to
represent some Personal Pronouns such as: He, she, they; thus, children had to
replace them with the respective possessive pronoun (his, her, their). Taking into
account the level of knowledge of students the teacher designed the examples on the
board using vocabulary and grammar related with Personal and Possessive Pronouns
that were easy to them because they were illustrated through drawings.
The teacher used the whiteboard in appropriate way; the examples written on it
were organized correctly allowing children to complete the task neatly. The drawings
45
were simple and easy to understand, the size of letter was according to the space on
the board; as a result, they were able to perform the tasks without any problem.
In the eighth class the topic was “Very Special Times” the objective was to
teach children to recognize the time, for this purpose the teacher used the whiteboard
to illustrate with drawings (watches) the times of day.
This activity was excellent according to the students’ age, because the teacher
explained this topic drawing clocks on the whiteboard, in which the children had to
complete the drawings with the time of day dictated by their teacher. Regarding the
level of knowledge children were able to recognize the different times of day and to
place them correctly in clocks because the vocabulary used by the teacher was easy
to understand.
The teacher drew three clocks perfectly distributed on the whiteboard, which
were visible for all children. The sizes of clocks were appropriate; thus, the students
made the tasks asked by their teacher without any problem.
The theme of the ninth class was “Very Special Time”. The objective was
focused on the use of “ordinal numbers” to indicate the order or position in a
sequence. The use of the whiteboard allowed the teacher to expose her class in an
interesting and entertaining way encouraging the participation of students.
According to the age of students the teacher used the whiteboard to design
creative tasks using ordinal numbers. The teacher wrote on the board the months of
the year in disorder and asked any students to go to the board and to write the ordinal
number corresponding each month. The children were willing to develop this activity
because their teacher motivated them giving stickers of their favorites characters.
The contents on the whiteboard were placed in an organized way. The size of
letter was adequate and the varied colors of makers used to emphasize the ordinal
46
numbers allowed students to understand perfectly and develop the task asked by their
teacher.
The topic in the tenth class was “Camping trip”, the objective of this subject
was to learn new vocabulary related with the theme. The teacher utilized the
whiteboard to write a list of new words the same that were illustrated with drawings.
The teacher used the whiteboard to design tasks or activities that were
according the age of children. The teacher made drawings related with camping trip
next to the list of words for children join them to their respective meaning, for
example: boots, tent, flashlight, matches, and sleep bag. The use of whiteboard
helped teacher to explain the lesson in an interesting manner involving the students
in the learning process.
This visual aid was well organized and distributed what allowed students had a
good view of all vocabulary and drawings made by the teacher. The size of letters
and drawings made with varied colors allowed children to learn the new vocabulary
and relate them with the respective drawings.
Song
In the first class observed in fifth grade, the teacher used a song to introduce
the topic “Simple Past”, the objective was to encourage to children to participate and
to learn the correct use of regular and irregular verbs. This audio aid allowed to
students to learn the new topic in an easy and funny manner for them; thus, the
teacher ensured the understanding and a good perception of the lesson.
The teacher chose a song known by all children “I am believer” of Shrek’s
movie, in which students had to change the verbs in present tense to past tense, it was
according to the age of students because the use of this audio aid encouraged them to
sing and to act; consequently, they were able to work in the tasks willingly. The
47
teacher considered the level of knowledge of students using the whiteboard to
explain how to form the regular and irregular verbs based on common vocabulary
and easy grammar points.
The content of the song for this class was chosen by the teacher, regarding
preferences and interests of children, the audio quality was good what allowed
children to listen, to understand, and sing the song creating a funny environment that
helped children to develop the tasks with confidence.
In the eighth class the subject was “Very Special Time”, the main purpose was
to teach students about to recognize the time. To expose this class the teacher used
audio aid to encourage students to learn time expressions, and to apply these in their
daily activities.
The song that teacher chose was according to the students’ age, because this
audio aid contained expressions known by them as: What time is it? Hurry up! Late
for school! Let’s go! Consequently, children could engage actively in the process of
the class singing, making mime and using every expression. Taking into account the
students’ level the teacher chose this song which contained vocabulary easy and
understandable to children because through it the teacher could encourage students to
participate during the lesson.
Using this audio aid in a correct way; is to say, with good sound and volume,
the teacher created the proper environment to develop her class; as a result, children
were attentive to carefully monitor the song.
Handouts
In the second class, the teacher used cut outs to support the topic “There was/
There were” the objective of this class was to teach to identify between singular and
plural form. This supplementary material was used according to the topic of the
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class; students had to cut the pictures and to paste them on a card according to the
directions of their teacher.
Regarding appropriateness this visual aid was adequate to students’ age
because these activities motivated them to use their motor skills and to enjoy of the
class making a different activity. For Example: cut out were related the sports: There
was games of soccer at school/There were several races in the morning. According to
the level of knowledge this activity helped children to relate pictures with the correct
use of singular and plural, allowing students to understand the lesson successfully.
These cut outs were chosen by the teacher taking into account their content
what allowed children to develop their own learning. These cut outs contained
attractive pictures and vibrant colors to attract the students’ attention and to
encourage them to participate during the class.
The topic of the seventh class was “Vacation Time”, whose main purpose was
to learn about the Possessive Pronouns. The use of cut outs by the teacher,
encouraged students to participate and interact between them to relate the
explanation given by their teacher with the diverse images illustrated on the cut outs.
The teacher used cut outs in this class to create an amusing environment and to
motivate children to participate actively. These supporting materials contained
images of characters of Hi 5 TV-show that were appropriate to children’s age
encouraging them to relate the images with their respective Possessive pronoun.
Regarding the level of knowledge of children the teacher used cut outs with images
that were easy to recognize; therefore, they were able to use correctly the Possessive
pronouns.
These cut outs were selected by the teacher taking into account the connection
with the theme and the usefulness that these materials had to help children to
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understand the explanation of the teacher; besides, the striking colors, the variety of
characters allowed students to understand and participate in the class.
Stories
The topic of the third class was “Vacation Time”, whose objective was to
teach about activities to make in vacation “go fishing, go swimming, go shopping”.
The use of this audio aid awakes the interest of students relating the story to their
own vacation time.
The story chosen by the teacher was about of “The Pooh Bear’s Adventures”
The children had to heard this story at least three times; next, children underlined the
new vocabulary on their books: for example: go fishing, go swimming, go shopping
that allowed children to engage in the learning process because the story contained a
famous character known by everybody. Regarding the level of knowledge of children
the teacher used stories that contained expressions and vocabulary easy to
understand; also, the teacher used this supplementary material what allowed students
to develop the task which was selected taking into account activities for vacation
time and considering their opinions and interests.
The audio was in perfect conditions helping students to perceive in a good way
the story; consequently, students developed the task correctly.
Pictures
In the fifth class the topic was “Vacation Time”, whose objective was to learn
about the expression “going to” to future plans. The teacher used pictures to illustrate
the lesson; thus, students perceive the main ideas and then apply them in their tasks.
Regarding the student’s age, the teacher used pictures which contained images
with characters of Disney World for example: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto,
and Donald duck. The teacher showed her students each picture; children had to raise
50
her/his hand and to make a sentence using the expression “going to” with the
information illustrated on the pictures: Mickey Mouse is going to go to the beach in
vacation. Regarding the level of knowledge of children; the use of pictures illustrated
with their favorites characters encouraged them to form sentences using the
expression “going to”; as a consequence, they were able to learn in a better way the
grammatical rules about the future plans.
To choose the pictures the teacher took into account likes and preferences of
children. The size, color, and materials used in these visual aids were appropriate to
motivate in children the participation in the process of the class.
Learning styles
According to the observations made in fifth grade (9 years old), the teacher
used a wide range of supplementary materials such as: songs, whiteboard, handouts,
and pictures to help her classes be more interactive and participatory.
The objective of most of the activities proposed by the teacher and the use of
these supplementary materials were directed toward the diverse skills and abilities
that every child has to learn. For example: the use of songs encourages children to
improve his/her auditory and musical skill. Thus, Takahashi (2008) mentions that
there are seven different ways for learning: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial,
musical, body kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal that allowed teachers to
direct her teaching taking into account the capacity of each learner.
In summary, it is important to mention that the teacher used the diverse
supplementary materials to encourage children to demonstrate their different styles
and abilities to learn.
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6th Grade/10 Years old
Whiteboard
In the first class, the teacher used whiteboard to speak about of the topic
“Incredible body” whose objective was to teach new vocabulary related with the
parts of the body. The use of the whiteboard supported teacher to impart the class in
a productive way encouraging students to work hard and to develop the task by
themselves.
The teacher considered the age of children to use the whiteboard making
creative and interesting drawings (eye, nose, arm, hand, leg) in which kids had to
label them sticking on the board cards with the names of each body part.
This activity helped children to learn new vocabulary and to participate actively in
the class. Taking into account the level of knowledge of children the teacher used the
whiteboard to introduce appropriate vocabulary related with the parts of the body,
which motivated students to develop the tasks easily allowing them to guess the
meaning of the different drawings.
In this class the whiteboard was completely clear; the teacher organized the
space on the board to place the drawings according to the activity allowing children
to work in orderly way. The colors of markers and the size of drawings attracted the
students’ attention and helped teacher to expose her class efficiently.
In the third class, the teacher used whiteboard to expose the theme “The
Movies” whose objective was to develop speaking skills between students. The
teacher wrote on the board the title of the some movies preferred by children, after
that, children had to create their own dialogues and to write the main ideas on the
board.
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The teacher used the whiteboard taking into account the age of students to
choose movies according to their likes and preferences. First, the teacher wrote on
the board three titles of movies; after that, teacher asked her students to work in three
groups. The teacher gave each group one title of movies Shrek, Río, Cinderella;
students had to speak between them about the movie and to think about the main
ideas of it. Next, one representative of each group had to give a short summary in
front of the class and to write on the board the main ideas of each film. The use of
the whiteboard was according to the level of knowledge of children because the
teacher wrote in this the main arguments using easy and understandable vocabulary
encouraging her students to write their own ideas.
The whiteboard was completely clean allowing the students to write the main
ideas of each movie neatly, the use of markers of various colors to express the main
ideas helped students to understand and participate in the class actively.
The topic of the fourth class was “The Movies”. This topic was appropriate to
develop the main objective that was to learn about Phrasal verbs. The teacher used
the whiteboard to explain the class in a demonstrative manner.
The teacher used the whiteboard taking into account of students’ age to write
tasks which contained a list of basic Phrasal verbs taken from the movie Shrek, for
example call back, calm down, cheer up, do over, and clean up, motivating students
to guess and write on the board the respective meaning according to the context of
the movie. Regarding the level of knowledge of students, the teacher used the board
to write easy phrasal verbs which allowed children to guess quickly the meaning and
to participate in the class.
The use of the spaces on the board was correct; therefore, students could make
the task orderly. The correct sizes of the letters and the diverse colors or markers
53
were used to highlight the phrasal verbs making the topic be perceived and
understood by students in a successful way.
In the fifth observed class, the teacher used whiteboard to expose the topic
“The Movies” the objective was to learn about the use of Indefinite pronouns, with
the use of this visual aid the professor achieved to complete the explanation of the
topic which was initiated with pictures, which helped students to make the exercises
with confidence and knowledge of the topic.
The instructor used the whiteboard taking into account the age of students to
write a short summary about Cinderella movie which contained indefinite pronouns
(someone, everybody, everyone, etc.). The teacher asked some students to go to the
board and to underline the indefinite pronouns that are within the summary.
Considering the level of knowledge of students the teacher wrote the summary using
basic vocabulary to allow children to understand the class and develop the task
required.
The teacher used the space correctly on the board to write the summary which
allowed children a good view of it; the size of letter used was appropriate to children
to read correctly the text and the use of varied colors of markers to highlight the
indefinite pronouns helped children to understand the lesson productively.
The topic of the sixth observed class was “Let’s go shopping” its objective
was to learn new vocabulary related to personal care items as: hairbrush, towel,
comb, dental floss; for this purpose the teacher used the whiteboard to write list of
new vocabulary and encourage her students to make the respective drawings.
The whiteboard was used by the teacher to make activities that were according
to the age of students. The list of personal care items written by the teacher was
related with objects that they use daily in their personal care. The teacher asked her
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students to make the respective drawings on the board next to each word allowing
children relate the drawing with the new vocabulary. Taking into account the level of
knowledge of students the activity exposed on the board was easy to develop for
them because the vocabulary used by the teacher was easy and known by children.
Contents on the whiteboard were organized in such a way that students could
see and understand clearly the examples displayed on it. The appropriate size of
letter and the use of varied colors attracted the attention of students; thus, they were
able to guess and to create the respective drawings.
The topic of the seventh class was “Let’s go shopping” whose objective was to
use new vocabulary using practical exercises. To develop her class the teacher used
the whiteboard to make tasks focused on activities as: Filling the blanks, that allowed
students to put into practice the new vocabulary learned (brush, comb, mirror, and
towel).
According to the age of children the teacher designed activities on the board to
get students participate in an interactive manner considering that children like to go
shopping. The teacher wrote on the board a short dialogue in which children had to
go to the board and to fill the blanks using the personal care items places on the cue
box. The use of this supplementary material was adequate to children because the
dialogue written on the board was based on a conversation between Shrek and Fiona.
The teacher used the whiteboard taking into account the level of knowledge of
children to develop the task using common vocabulary related with the topic.
The short dialogue written by the teacher was placed in the middle of the board
allowing students to see with clarity the content of it. The letter size was large
enough helping children to visualize the text perfectly and develop the activity
successfully.
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In the ninth observed class the teacher used the whiteboard to introduce the
theme “A Time Spaceship”. The objective of this lesson was to learn Tag questions.
To explain this class the teacher used this visual aid in an objective way helping
students to perceive the class and put into practice the new knowledge.
The use of the whiteboard was according students’ age because the activities
were written on the board by the teacher using easy examples to explain how to form
tag questions, for example the moon is beautiful. Isn’t it? This activity consisted in
linking the sentence with its correct Tag question encouraging children to go to the
board and complete the task. The teacher took into account the level of knowledge of
students to design the exercises displayed on the whiteboard using easy vocabulary
and structures considering that children were ready to learn the new lesson based on
previous knowledge; consequently, the activities were developed by students lively
achieving a successful class.
The whiteboard was organized correctly using the appropriate spaces. The size
of the letter was appropriate allowing children a good understanding of the task and
the use of the various colors of markers helped teacher to emphasize the structure of
Tag Questions. At the end of the class the students were able to work by themselves
applying the lesson learned.
Poster
In the first observation of 6th grade, the teacher used poster to expose the
theme “Incredible body”, the purpose was to teach new vocabulary related to the
topic. The use of this visual aid was adequate because it awoke in children the
interest to know the new words.
According to the age of students, the teacher used poster to develop activities
that consisted on paste on this visual material the different parts of the body named
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by the teacher such as (nose, ears, hand, arm). This activity motivated children to
participate actively and to enjoy the class because the poster was related with a
famous children’s character Bart Simpsons. The teacher considered the level of
knowledge of students to use poster because it encouraged students to listen to their
teacher and to place correctly the parts of the body, this activity was easy to develop
because the vocabulary was common and basic for them.
To choose this visual aid, the teacher took into account the preferences of
children. The size of this poster was appropriate to allow children to develop the
task, the striking colors of the poster encouraged kids to participate willingly in the
class.
Dialogues
The topic of the second class was “The passive voice” and its purpose was to
understand the use of the verb to be in its singular and plural form. In this
opportunity the teacher used Audio aid to expose the new lesson in a better way and
to make that students are motivated and interested in the class.
The dialogues were chosen according to the age of students. These dialogues
contained a conversation among their favorite famous people Selena Gómez and
Justin Bieber. The teacher played the conversation two times; after that, she asked
her students to follow the dialogues on their books and to underline the verbs in
passive voice identifying the plural and singular form. The teacher took into account
the level of knowledge of students to choose the dialogues which contained a
conversation in passive voice with vocabulary and grammatical rules easy to
understand for them.
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The clarity of the sound and the appropriate volume allowed children to
follow the dialogue in correct way and to develop easily the task asked by their
teacher.
Pictures
In the fifth observed class the topic was “The Movies”. The objective was to
learn about the use of Indefinite Pronoun. In this occasion the teacher used pictures
to teach the new class about Indefinite pronoun, these pictures contained images or
characters related to their favorite movies, it encouraged them to interact actively
into the classroom.
Considering the students’ age the teacher used pictures that were related to
Movies that were in trend such as Cinderella, Río, Shrek; which were appropriate to
highlight indefinite pronoun such as: everyone, no one, someone, everybody,
nobody, and somebody. The teacher showed her children one picture; next, students
had to form a sentence using indefinite pronouns, for example: Everybody likes
Cinderella movie. This activity allowed children put into practice the new vocabulary
and to understand the new lesson perfectly. Concerning the level of knowledge of
students the teacher chose pictures which contained images of movies known for
them that facilitated the understanding of the topic.
The pictures used in this class, were chosen together with her students
regarding likes, preferences, and relation with the topic; an important factor to
consider in the selection of pictures was the size, color, and materials that motivated
students to participate, interact, and develop the tasks asked by their teacher.
In the last observed class in sixth grade (10 years old) the theme was
“Communication” whose objective was to learn about the five senses: Smell,
hearing, sight, touch, taste. In this opportunity the teacher used pictures to support
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her teaching considering that these visual aids are an excellent tool to motivate
children to participate, to interact, and to enjoy the class.
These pictures were used in this class taking into account that children in this
age learn and understand better by seeing, playing, and interacting. These pictures
contained images related with sensory organs. The teacher showed her students the
picture and children had to say aloud the respective name. The instructor took into
account the level of knowledge of students to choose the appropriate pictures what
motivated them to learn the vocabulary related with the five senses.
These visual aids were selected by the teacher considering the striking images
and vibrant colors that were appropriate to help children to learn the new vocabulary
based on pictures.
Songs
In the tenth observed class, the topic was “Communication” its purpose was to
teach about of five senses smell, hearing, sight, touch, and taste. To explain this class
the teacher used songs to reach a better retention and learning of the topic.
The use of one song to expose the class considering the students’ age allowed
the teacher to explain the lesson in a relaxed and interesting way given that the song
had a catchy rhythm; thus, children learned about the five senses in a funny manner.
Taking into account the level of knowledge of students the teacher chose songs that
contained easy and understandable vocabulary related with the topic; consequently,
the class works were made by students without any problem but always under
guidance of their teacher.
The sound and the clarity of this song were excellent to children perceive and
understand the new vocabulary successfully.
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Learning styles
In the observations made in 6th grade with children of 10 years old, it is
important to express that the teacher taught her classes considering the different
needs, abilities, and skills of her students, allowing every child to learn and to
understand the lessons in their own style and rhythm.
To achieve this purpose the teacher used the following supplementary
materials posters, songs, pictures, dialogues, and whiteboard that helped students to
demonstrate their capabilities, intelligences, and skills to be involved in the learning
process. Thus, Dun & Dun (1978) suggest that there are more than twenty aspects
that help students to develop the process to learn, the same that are into five
categories: sociological, emotional, environmental, physical, and psychological
factor.
It is important to highlight that teachers should know their own learning style
and to realize that every child has her or his own style too; therefore, the teacher
must design the lesson taking into account that into the classroom are immersed
some factors such as: physical, environmental and emotional which influence
directly in the learning process of each child.
Finally, it is primordial that teacher design the activities into the classroom
focusing on the different skills, styles, and abilities that each child has; as a results,
childrens learn and apply their knowledge successfully.
Quantitative Analysis
The quantitative analysis is based on the results of observations in different
classrooms. For this research study eighteen supplementary materials have been
proposed to be analyzed taking into account the frequency of use in the classroom.
Chart No. 1 shows that teacher used 11 supplementary materials out of the 1, such as
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flashcards, pictures, charts, handouts, posters, word cards, whiteboard, songs,
dialogues, stories, and objects (toys).
On the other hand, in fourth grade (8 Years old), the teacher used 7
supplementary materials in the 10 observed classes. The whiteboard was used 9
times, it is to say, its frequency of use was of 52.94% which means that this visual
aid was the most used in this grade, because this supplementary material is easy to
use and it is always available in the classroom.
According to frequency of use, the second supporting material was flashcards,
which was used 2 times what corresponds to 11.76% according to the graph shown
above. The teacher considered appropriate to use these visual aids because flashcards
helped children to visualize and understand new vocabulary.
Pictures were used 2 times, corresponding to frequency of use 11.76%. These
visual aids were used by the teacher to motivate and encourage children to participate
and interact in the classroom.
52.94%
11.76%
11.76%
5.89%
5.89%
5.89%
5.89%
4th Grade
whiteboard
flash cards
pictures
charts
posters
word cards
objects (toys)
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Charts were used in this grade 1 time, corresponding to 5.89%, the teacher
utilized this visual aid because its use supported her to organize and develop the
lesson easily and adequately into the established time.
In this grade the teacher used poster 1 time with a frequency of use 5.89%. The
use of this supplementary material helped the teacher to explain the new class in a
interesting manner.
The teacher used word cards 1 time corresponding to 5.89% of frequency of
use.
Charts, posters, and word cards were use only 1 time in this grade because not
all subjects are suitable for the use of these materials; therefore, the teacher is who
must choose the appropriate material to teach her/his class.
In the observations made in 5th grade, the teacher used the whiteboard 10 times.
According to the graph above the frequency of use of this supplementary materials
was of 62.50% which means that this visual aid was the most used into classroom,
62,50%12,50%
12,50%
6,25%
6,25%
5th Grade
whiteboard
handouts
songs
stories
pictures
62
the main reason is that this material is the most common and it remains all the time in
the classroom; moreover, the teacher can make use of this supporting material at any
time in the teaching process.
Songs in the 5th grade (9 Years old) were twice used which means a 12.50%.
The low use of this supplementary material into the classroom is due to the fact that
the class time was short; therefore, the song needed to be heard by children up to 3
times to understand it.
Referring to the data displayed in the graph above, handouts were used 2 times
by the teacher, and its frequency of use was of 12.50%. The teacher worked with
handouts because the topic of the class was appropriate to work with this material.
According to the teacher’s opinion, the material should be picked considering the
topic to be taught.
In 5th grade the teacher used pictures only 1 time with a frequency of use of
6.25% which means that this supplementary material was used rarely by the teacher,
because not all topics were appropriated to develop them through pictures.
Stories were used 1 time corresponding to 6.25% of frequency of use. It is
important to mention that the teacher made little use of this supplementary material
because this aid had to be related to the content and objective of the theme, which
means that not all lessons can use stories.
63
In the observations made in 6th grade, the use of the whiteboard was of 7
times, with a frequency of use of 58.34%. The teacher used this supporting material
in the most of her classes because it is a useful tool that remains in the classroom all
the time, and it facilitates the explanation of almost all the subjects.
The use of pictures in this grade was of 2 times, whose frequency of use was of
16.67%. According to the opinion of the teacher the use of pictures helps children to
assimilate the new lessons better through visualization.
The teacher used poster 1 time, with a frequency of 8.33%. The limited use of
this visual aid was due to the fact that the teacher had to choose the appropriate
supplementary materials according the content of the class.
Taking into account the data exposed on the graph, songs were used in this
grade only once, equivalent to 8.33%. The low percentage of songs use in the
classroom, according to the teacher’s opinion, is because the class hour is short and
there is not enough time to play songs and to do other activities such as check home
and class work.
16,67%
8,33%
58,34%
8,33%
8,33%
6th Grade
pictures
posters
whiteboard
songs
dialogues
64
Dialogues were listened 1 time; its frequency of use was of 8.33%. The teacher
used dialogues only one time because this material had to be chosen appropriately
according to the topic to be taught.
65
Conclusions
• To teach English as a Foreign Language to 4th grade (8 years old), 5th grade (9
years old), 6th grade (10 years old), teacher used eleven of the eighteen
proposed supplementary materials.
• Based on the results of the observations, it is important to state that teachers
used visual, audio, and realia as supplementary materials to support their
teaching, due to the fact that its use encourage children to participate actively
and to demonstrate their skills and abilities in the learning process.
• The supplementary materials were selected taking into account the content
and objectives of the class; for this reason, children reacted favorably toward
the use of these supporting materials. These supplementary materials
complied with the relevant aspect of pertinence.
• Teachers used the diverse supplementary materials taking into account
important characteristics of children such as: age, needs, level of knowledge,
and learning styles; consequently, the use of these supplementary materials
allowed children to perceive and to learn the new topic in a fruitful way.
• The creativity, imagination, and experience of teachers to teach their classes
in an interesting and attractive way were reflected in the good quality of the
supplementary materials that were selected.
• The whiteboard was used with more frequency because of its accessibility
and availability into the classroom. The remaining supporting materials were
used less frequently, because not all the materials are appropriate for all the
lessons.
66
Recommendations
After having completed the descriptive analysis of the results about the use of
supplementary materials used to teach English to children, it is important to
recommend that besides the whiteboard other supporting materials should be used
more frequently to complement the teacher’s explanation. Thus, children will be able
to perceive and apply in an optimal way what they have learnt.
Moreover, it is important to recommend the use of videos and movies into the
classrooms which will help students to improve their listening and speaking skills.
It is important to mention the teacher must select the diverse supplementary
materials taking into account color, size, shape, and content related with each topic,
to attract students’ attention and to achieve a total understanding of the new topic to
be taught.
Finally, nowadays due to the technological avalanche we are going through, it
is advisable to google for learning virtual environments to help students learn a more
up-to-date language.
67
References
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ANNEXES
OBSERVATION SHEET
TYPE OF INSTITUTION: PUBLIC ( ) PRIVATE ( ) DATE:__________________________ CLASS N
0 ___________
GRADE::_______________________
TOPIC OF THE LESSON:____________________________________________
OBJECTIVE (S):____________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
SUPPLEMENTARYMATERIAL USEDTOTEACH THE LESSON: (Check √√√√the
ones that have been used)
Visual
flash cards
Powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures
charts
handouts
posters
wordcards
white/blackboard
Audio songs
dialogues
stories
tales
Audiovisual videos
movies
documentaries
Realia objects (toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
STUDENT’S SURVEY
TYPE OF INSTITUTION: PUBLIC ( ) PRIVATE ( )
DATE: ______________________________ CLASS Nº___ GRADE: ____________________________
PREGUNTAS SI NO
¿Te gusta el material utilizado por el profesor en las clases de Inglés?
¿Te ayudó a entender mejor el tema de la clase?
¿Crees que el material didáctico utilizado te ayuda a participar más en clase?
¿Con que materiales crees que aprenderías mejor el tema de clase?
VISUALES
• flash cards • diapositivas • mapas • gráficos o fotos • tablas u organizadores gráficos • hojas con actividades • posters • tarjetas con palabras • pizarrón blanco o negro
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
AUDIO
• canciones • diálogos • historias • cuentos AUDIOVISUALES
• videos • películas • documentales
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
OBJETOS REALES
• objetos: (juguetes, plantas, frutas, etc.) ONLINE
• websites
( ) ( )
¿Qué materiales adicionales te gustaría que utilice el profesor en la clase? __________________________________________________________________ ¿Con qué frecuencia te gustaría que se utilice material didáctico adicional? ( ) siempre ( ) de vez en cuando
DESCRIPTION OF THE USED MATERIAL:
______________________________ (NAME OF THE SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL) How was it used? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was it used appropriately in relation to the topic of the class? yes____ no ____ Why? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was it used appropriately in relation to the objectives of the class? yes___ no ___ Why? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was it used appropriately in relation to the students’ age? yes___ no ___ Why? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was it used appropriately in relation to the students’ level? yes___ no ___ Why? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was it elaborated and applied with creativity and originality? yes___ no__ Why? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Were students motivated with the presented material? yes___ no___ Why and How? (For example, activates participation, awakes students’ interest and curiosity) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How do you consider the quality of the used material? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TEACHER’S SURVEY
TYPE OF INSTITUTION: PUBLIC ( ) PRIVATE ( )
DATE: ______________________________ CLASS Nº___ GRADE: ____________________________ Do you think that the use of supplementary material motivates students to learn
English? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
What type of supplementary material do you usually use? Why do you use them?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Do you take into consideration the different learning styles when designing and
elaborating the supplementary material for your students? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
What type of supplementary material do your students prefer? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
According to the following percentages, how important is the use of supplementary
material in the class?
25% ( ) 50% ( ) 75% ( ) 90% ( )
Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Chart one: Type of supplementary material used to teach children
Variable Indicators Yes No Visual flash cards
Powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures
charts
handouts
posters
wordcards
white/blackboard
cutouts
Audio
songs
dialogues
stories
tales
chants
numbersrepetition
Audiovisual videos
movies
documentaries
Realia objects (toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
Chart two: Pertinence and Appropriateness of the supplementary material used to teach
children V
ari
able
Indicators
1st
cla
ss
2nd c
lass
3rd
cla
ss
4th
cla
ss
5th
cla
ss
6th
cla
ss
7th
cla
ss
8th
cla
ss
9th
cla
ss
10th
cla
ss
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Visual
flash cards
Powerpointpresentations
Maps
Pictures
Charts
Handouts
Posters
Wordcards
white/blackboard
Cutouts
Audio
Songs
Dialogues
Stories
Tales
Chants
Audio
visual Videos
Movies
documentaries
Rea
lia objects
(toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
Author:
Source: 4th (8 years old approx.) grade
Chart three: Pertinence and Appropriateness of the supplementary material used to teach children
Vari
able
Indicators
1st
cla
ss
2nd c
lass
3rd
cla
ss
4th
cla
ss
5th
cla
ss
6th
cla
ss
7th
cla
ss
8th
cla
ss
9th
cla
ss
10th
cla
ss
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Visual
flash cards
powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures
charts
handouts
posters
wordcards
white/blackboard
Audio
songs
dialogues
stories
tales
Audio
visua
l
videos
movies
documentaries
Rea
lia objects
(toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
Author:
Source: 5th (9 years old approx.) grade
Chart four: Pertinence and Appropriateness of the supplementary material used to teach children
Vari
able
Indicators
1st
cla
ss
2nd c
lass
3rd
cla
ss
4th
cla
ss
5th
cla
ss
6th
cla
ss
7th
cla
ss
8th
cla
ss
9th
cla
ss
10th
cla
ss
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Per
t.
Appro
p.
Visual
flash cards
powerpointpresentations
maps
pictures
charts
handouts
posters
wordcards
white/blackboard
Audio
songs
dialogues
stories
tales
numbersrepetition
Audio
visual videos
movies
documentaries
Rea
lia objects
(toys, plants, fruits)
Online websites
Author:
Source: 6th (10 years old approx.) grade
Chart five: Frequency of use of supplementary material
Variable Indicators
4th
grade
(8 years
old
approx.)
5th
grade
(9 years
old
approx.)
6th grade
(10 years
old
approx.)
TOTAL PERCENTAGE
f f f f %
Visual
flash cards
power point presentations
maps
pictures
charts
handouts
posters
word cards
white/black board
cutouts
Audio
songs
dialogues
stories
tales
chants
number repetition
Audiovisual
videos
movies
documentaries
Realia
Objects (toys, plants, fruits)
Online
websites
TOTAL
Author:
Source: 4th (8 years old approx.) 5th (9 years old approx.) 6th (10 years old approx.)