Opportunities to Learn English at Primary and Lower-Secondary Schools in the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | We base our research on the assumption that accent on communicativeness remains an important aspect of foreign language teaching in the Euro-American region at the beginning of the 21st century (cf. Council of Europe, 2001). The teacher is responsible for creating opportunities for the learners to practise communication in the language classroom in the situations that evoke real-life communicative needs (Brumfit, 1992; Littlewood, 1994; Widdowson, 1978). Opportunities to learn enable learners to become active in the process of their learning (Seidel & Prenzel, 2006) and they are seen as allocated time (also engaged time, active learning time, time-on-task) the learner has for the task (Wiley & Harnischfeger, 1974). The recommended procedures differ considerably from earlier practice in the language classrooms, where teachers preferred accuracy to fluency and thus most of the learners output was controlled. Another key issue in the communicative paradigm is the use of mother tongue. Employing the target language where possible and the mother tongue only where necessary has been practically indisputable since the 1980s (Atkinson, 1987). The question remains to what degree these recommendations are actually reflected in everyday foreign language teaching at Czech schools. The research sample enables us to compare teaching practices on two levels of the Czech educational school system – the primary level and the lower-secondary level, it allows us to look for similarities and differences of the instruction in individual teachers and the two school levels. It is also an opportunity to seek indicators of quality in the instruction of English as a foreign language. Analyses of data collected within the CPV Video Study will allow us to acquire a better understanding of what teaching of foreign languages looks like today in the Czech Republic. Analyses include topics such as opportunities to talk, classroom management and lesson phases, the use of mother tongue in the foreign-language classroom, using authentic materials in the classroom etc. The analyses not only show the complexity of teaching process on different school levels but allow us to look for similarities and differences in teaching approaches and opportunities that teacher create for pupils to learn. It also enables us to seek the indicators of quality in teaching. The findings show that pupils often speak in a controlled-practice environment with few opportunities to practice in communicative situations. The use of the mother tongue in English language teaching was also analysed. The findings show that the mother tongue plays an important role in the everyday teaching of English in Czech schools. |
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