4. Importance of Feedback giving (Action Research)--Choudhury

“A good language learning depends on at least three variables: aptitude, motivation and opportunity.”

(Rubin, 1979)

Abstract

The researcher aims at investigating the teaching/learning environment in existence and the impact of this environment on the learners’ learning and acquisition of language skills. In this project a group of learners was taught for a period of six months. The role played by the feedback given on their written scripts, the need and benefit brought about after taking them through a process of teaching, leading to the acquisition of language skills has been discussed and debated upon.

An overview of the aim of the study, the subjects of the project, the teaching/learning environment of the schools and the writing assessment scale which has been used to assess the written scripts of the students have been given. Learners’ performance in terms of their capability in expressing thoughts in writing is discussed. The entry level language performance of the learners was documented. After methodically taking the learners through a process of teaching of the language skills by providing them with learning tasks for a period of six months, another write up of the learners is documented. A comparison is drawn between the two write ups of each learner to find out if there has been any improvement, after taking them through the process of teaching writing.

Introduction

The teaching/learning of second language in a classroom is an extremely complex process. Learner characteristics like age, aptitude, motivation, attitude, personality etc. and teacher characteristics such as age, sex, education, experience and professional training play important roles in the learning process. A set of environmental factors, which include linguistic, socio- cultural, socio-economic and geographical factors also exercise a powerful influence on teaching/learning environment. Interaction of these multiple factors makes the whole teaching/learning activity a multidimensional phenomenon.

In this paper the researcher has written about her findings after investigating the teaching/learning environment in existence in the vernacular medium schools of Assam. Importance of feedback giving by teachers is also discussed.

Aim of the study

In the present study a group of students from 2 vernacular medium schools were selected for understanding the teaching/learning environment prevailing in these schools. All the students have had seven years of exposure to learning of English in the schools. English as a subject in the schools has been introduced from Class III in Assam since 1999. Before 1999, English was prescribed in the syllabi from Class V. Only from 2008, English has been introduced from ka-shreni (pre-primary class). Assamese is the mother tongue of the students. These schools are located in a monolingual locality.

Methodology followed:

i. Mapping of the entry level language competency of the students: To map the entry level language competency of the students they were asked to write on a topic given to them. This helped in making an assessment of their entry level writing capabilities.

ii. Teaching the students for a stipulated period of time: The teaching was carried out by providing feedback on their written work and finding out if there were any improvement at the end of the period. The students were taken through some writing tasks and the required feedback on their write up was provided regularly with an intention of bringing about improvement in their writing capabilities.

iii. Finding out gaps in the existing system: Assessment of the gap existing in the system was made after completion of the teaching carried out for a stipulated period of time.

Teaching / Learning Environment

It was observed that the environment was not conducive for language acquisition by the students. Many factors are responsible for this lack but the main being the absence of trained teachers.

Writing Assessment Scale

The students’ written work have been analyzed using the ‘Writing assessment scale’ (1997) which was formulated by CBSE evaluation team. The evaluation criterion has three main aspects, namely content, fluency and accuracy. Under content, credit is given for the candidate’s creativity in presenting her/ his own ideas. Whether the learner could express his/her ideas relevant to the topic clearly, the brevity and redundancy aspects were looked into under this category. Under fluency, the general theme, organization and presentation of the main ideas and the supporting details were looked into. The structure of the written piece and the development of the theme were the deciding factors. Finally the students’ use of appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures (like connectors, proforms etc.) and the mechanics of writing (spelling, punctuation, etc.) were looked at in the category of accuracy.

The study

The students were taken through some tasks on writing skill for a period of six months. In this section after carrying out the discussion on the texts and tasks administered to the students , the performances of the ten learners have been shown in the categories titled ‘Improvement matrix’ and ‘Analysis matrix’. In improvement matrix the errors committed in the two drafts written by the learners have been highlighted. In ‘Analysis matris’ the writing skill of the learner has been projected under three headings i.e. content, accuracy and fluency. At the end of the section an assessment of the students’ performance is made.

Ø Teaching of Writing Skills

The entry level language proficiency of the students were documented by giving them a task to write on their native place.After that, in order to introduce them to tasks on writing skills they were taken through some standard ELT texts.

Ø Analysis of the students’ performance

After carrying out the teaching following the sequential writing process, students’ writing was documented. To learn if there was any development in the students’ acquisition of language skills, a comparison was drawn with their earlier drafts.

Ø Comment on the students’ performance

Activity of writing involves the cognitive processes like collecting ideas, planning, selecting, arranging and ordering of information, rearranging, shaping and reshaping what has already been written and revising which is followed by editing. But the students dealt with in the present context are bred in a subtractive environment and hence do not reach this stage of cognition. While undertaking this project it was found that these students showed some development within the six months after receiving relevant feedback on their written material. But investigations revealed that these students do not receive any feedback on their written work in school. While teaching a second language, feedback should be provided. Comments should be given on students’ written work so that they need not put any more work into those things they are already good at. The teacher must also be able to evaluate and justify the evaluations. But these things are found to be missing. While carrying out this project it was observed that within a period of six months, a few students showed marked improvements but a few others did not show much improvement.

Conclusion

The students have been bred in a subtractive learning environment for years. Moreover, many of these students are first generation learners. The factor of individual difference also plays an influential role in case of language acquisition.

The research findings reveal the importance of appointment of trained teachers in ELT methodologies. Only competent teachers will be able to help the students in systematically acquiring language skills by providing them with appropriate feedback.