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UNIT 2: VARIABLES TO TAKE INTO ACCOUN IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE…
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Although the Communicative Approach will guide our teaching practice in the English
class, it should be stated that sometimes we will use other methods, depending on the
aim of the activity to be developed. For example, at early stages of Primary Education
the TPR Method, named by James J. Asher, is very useful because it combines
information and skills through the use of the kinesthetic sensory system to assimilate
them. For this reason, we need to use an
eclectic method
in English class
.
This means
we are going to follow one method or another depending on certain factors, such as
the goal, the activity, the students’ communication needs…
Once we have analyzed the main characteristics of the Communicative Approach we
are going to explain the different aspects which will influence our daily practice. We
will start talking about student grouping in the next section.
3. Student Grouping.
The way of grouping our students in the English class is one of the most important
factors we have to bear in mind when designing activities. In the classroom we should
reproduce the same language, oral or written discourse, as in everyday life situations
so the use of different groupings and ways of participating helps students to achieve
this.
Therefore, we have discussed aspects related to group size and the selection of
members for each grouping.
Concerning
group size
, it is useful at the presentation and practice stages of learning to
teach students as a whole class, even at the production stage so that they can interact
among themselves.
Sometimes, when we want to increase the amount of interaction we will divide the
class into smaller groups. By creating smaller groups, our students will be able to work
out values such as respect, cooperation and participation, favoring the socialization
process. Another aspect to consider is that sometimes the teacher has to explain the
materials necessary for the students to carry out the task successfully.
Apart from the size of the group, we must also consider the number of participants the
task requires, bearing in mind that collaboration and coordination among the students
is needed.
Depending on the number of students in each group, we can classify them under the
categories we are going to discuss now: