English abstract

This dissertation explores how oral communication is perceived and used by five
teachers at a secondary school in Malmö. Through qualitative interviews with the
teachers, this paper aims to find a deeper understanding of their view on teachi
ng. By looking at oral communication theories, sociocultural theories, a theory
on discursive space and a recent study regarding English as a subject in Swedish
secondary schools, it examines how the interviewees approach teaching. Based on
the results, this paper will discuss how the teachers in this study initiate me
aningful oral communication and how they view their own role as promoters of an
oral communicative and inclusive learning environment. The results show that the
teachers thoughts concerning oral communication to a large extent seem to agree
with the theoretical basis presented in this study. However, the teachers claim
to be restricted by external factors. The results show that the teachers in this
study find working with oral communication very time consuming. According to th
em, their lessons are too short and the classes are too big. Therefore they find
it difficult to create an ideal learning environment. The teachers try to motiv
ate and encourage their students through creating tasks that are interesting fro
m the students point of view. In order to give every student the opportunity to s
peak, dividing them into groups during speaking activities is preferred. Further
more, the teachers point out that the students personalities also are important f
actors to take into account, since some students are more reserved then others.
Finally, the teachers aim to be supportive during oral activities, although the
lack of time seems to be a restraint. They find it hard to manage their big clas
ses and to be supportive to the individual student at the same time.

Free Essays - English Language Essays

Discuss the practice of English teaching, in terms of both language and literatu
re, has undergone dramatic changes since the vernacular origins of Old English i
n Anglo-Saxon Britain.
The practice of English teaching, in terms of both language and literature, has
undergone dramatic changes since the vernacular origins of Old English in Anglo-
Saxon Britain. Considering the fact that primary education, or elementary educa
tion as it was referred to in the nineteenth century, was not compulsory until 1
880, it is particularly interesting to note the rapid evolution of English teach
ing between the end of the nineteenth century and the end of the twentieth centu
ry. The twentieth century itself was characterised by an extreme level of socia
l and political upheaval which necessarily exerted an influence not only on the
day-to-day use of the English language but also on the way in which it was taugh
t in the primary-school classroom.
Until the end of the nineteenth century, education in general was reserved for a
privileged few and the study of English was deemed a lesser academic pursuit th
an the study of the Latin and Greek classics. However, according to Mercer and
Swann, the influence of the Industrial Revolution and the huge economic advancem
ents it gave rise to placed an emphasis on the need for more widespread literacy
and high levels of literacy (Mercer & Swann 1996:168) among the British populatio
n. Nevertheless, due to the hierarchical nature of Victorian society, language
served as a means by which class boundaries could be rigidly defined and maintai
ned. This is evident in the literary works of many nineteenth-century writers s
uch as Dickens who often employed different registers to inform the reader of th
e social status of his characters. Indeed, the confusion and controversy that s
urrounded the teaching of English at the end of the nineteenth century regarding
what should be taught to whom, and by what methods, directly concerned the chan
ging socio-political fabric of British society. As education became available t
o more and more people and the establishment of English as a subject became more
respected, it became increasingly evident that widespread reform was required.
Despite the fact that, by the latter part of the nineteenth century, the necessi
ty of teaching English in primary schools was generally accepted, there were man
y disagreements regarding its purpose. While the prevailing fear in the higher
echelons of society was that universal literacy would lead to discontent among t
he working classes and consequent rebellion, there were others who believed educ
ation a means of social and economic advancement and a means of breaking down the o
ld class barriers (Mercer & Swann 1996:168). While the political debate raged on
, those children who attended primary school were often the recipients of an uni
maginative curriculum which, nevertheless, increased the level of basic literacy
for a much greater proportion of the population. The teaching of reading was o
ften conducted by reading around the classroom and learning pieces of prose by r
ote. For some pupils, learning to read meant little more than a memorisation ta
sk, while other pupils benefited from the highly structured exercise of repetiti
on and correction. In contrast to the focus on personal development and imagina
tion that characterised the teaching of English a century later, children were i
ssued with graded readers (Mercer & Swann 1996:177) that were of a didactic, moral
istic nature and were designed as much to instil primary-school children with co
re Victorian values as they were to teach them to read. There was very little e
mphasis on the child as an individual, and a considerable amount of concentratio
n on the child as a member of a society with firmly established ideologies. Thi
s was particularly apparent in the way in which Celtic languages were dismissed
as inferior. As Mercer and Swann highlight, the suppression of Welsh and Irish
and Scottish Gaelic in favour of English undoubtedly led to greater standardizati
on in the English language (Mercer & Swann 1996:173) which, in turn, led to the s
uppression of Welsh, Irish, and Scottish cultures. While this clearly paved the
way for the standardisation of the curriculum that took place in the 1980s and
extended the consideration of English as a scholarly subject worthy of respect,
it raised many questions about the imperialistic activity of imposing the Englis
h language and culture on all primary-school children. As the British Empire an
d the values it represented began to disintegrate, therefore, English as a taugh
t subject became a significant way to unify the country.
The importance of language in the establishment of national identity cannot be u
nderestimated. Throughout history, the standardisation of national languages ha
s led to greater national unity, while one of the main aims during the colonial
period was to impose the coloniser s language on the subjugated people to weaken t
heir sense of cultural and national selfhood. Following the mass destruction an
d political upheaval of the First World War, then, the literature and language o
f Britain came to the fore as the government attempted to reinstate a sense of n
ational unity. The extreme changes occurring in British society as a result of
the First World War, the steady disintegration of some class and gender barriers
as more children attended school and women won the right to vote, and a general
climate of political upheaval, led to the influential publishing of the Newbolt
Report by the Board of Education in 1921. For the first time in British histor
y, the study of English literature began to replace that of the Latin and Greek
classics as the significance of the Ancient World to modern British society afte
r the war they believed was the war to end all wars was diminishing. While the re
placement of classical texts for English literary texts was resisted by many, th
e Report advocated their introduction at all levels of education including prima
ry-school level thereby setting the stage for the development of English as a ma
jor subject of study later in the century. Moreover, the teaching of basic lite
racy skills in primary schools began to develop considerably as speaking and lis
tening skills were added to the already established reading and writing skills.
In contrast to the dismissal of Celtic languages and regional dialects that pre
vailed at the end of the nineteenth century, the Newbolt Report placed greater e
mphasis on local variations in language use and their importance within the chil
d s educational framework. This was coupled with the Report s recommendation that t
he teaching of language should seek to eliminate the conflation of language with
class and further standardise the use of the English language in both speech an
d writing. This process of standardisation extended to the teaching of handwrit
ing, correct pronunciation, and the attainment of certain levels in all of the lit
eracy skills.