Promoting interactive communication by using activities for foreign language teaching in elementary education

Introduction

With the development of economic globalization and educational internationalization， it is probably not enough to be able to speak only one language to communicate with the outside world. The purpose of foreign language teaching is to help learners master a foreign language and use it to communicate with others， but there are some differences in teaching methods which are used to teach adults and young children. Normally， it is hard for children to concentrate in learning during the teaching process. Therefore， the teacher probably needs to focus on activity rather than memorization and rules （Cameron， 2001）. Moreover， young children are more expressive and unabashed than adults at speaking a new language， so activities are probably appropriate for young children to learn foreign languages.

I was fortunate to observed two foreign language classes when I visited three schools in Birmingham， England. One was a French class in Wolverhampton Grammar School， and another one was a Spanish class in St Pauls School for Girls. The language teachers were both using activities during the teaching process in elementary education （about 7-10 years old）. Therefore I can judge the students as to whether or not accepted activities in the process of teaching by observing.

This paper will introduce some relevant literatures to describe what activities were used and how these relate to theory of teaching， and explain why activities are important and useful for improving interactive communication in the teaching process and how activities will improve interactive communication between teacher and students.

Why is the activity important and useful for improving interactive communication in the foreign language teaching process？

Activities are a useful way for children to learn foreign languages by the guidance of teacher. The excellent teacher should probably have integrated activities into the teaching process and provided opportunities for children use foreign language to practice. Activities are a type of teaching method which enhances interactive communication between teacher and students， and helps the teacher improve teaching quality and efficiency （Golub and Reid， 1989）.

In elementary education， activities seem to be very important in teaching a foreign language class. Firstly， young children are too restless to concentrate on learning a foreign language for a long time， so the activity might gain the childrens attention during the teaching process. Secondly， The emotions could be aroused when young children are participating in the activity （Bransford， Brown and Cocking， 2000）， thus stimulating them in speaking and writing the foreign languages. Thirdly， some activities also could encourage introverted children to communicate in a small group. Obviously， activity is one of the most significant elements in teaching foreign languages in elementary education.

What types of activities are used in teaching a foreign language class？

In the French class of Wolverhampton Grammar School （about 10 years old） which I observed， the language teacher separated students into several groups， and each group included three students； then the teacher gave each group some little notes and there was a phrase on each note. The teacher asked students to make a completed sentence with these phrases and to read this sentence. Every student could participate in this activity to practice grammar and practice speaking French in groupwork. In the groupwork， it is important for participants to communicate through talking， thus encouraging young children to speak and listen to foreign language （Collins， 1986）.

In the Spanish class of St Pauls School for Girls （about 11 years old） which I visited， their language teacher used role-play to stimulate pupils to participate in interactive communication. During the teaching process， the teacher divided the class into two teams， group A and group B， she took out two sets of role cards， then gave a piece of role card to group A， and another one to group B； and then she set a scene in a restaurant. The students in each group worked out some phrases which they could use in a real life situation created by the teacher. In this activity， students were trained to write and speak Spanish， which helped the young children to practice the new words and new grammars. “Role play is quite demanding in foreign language situations in that the players have to use the foreign language correctly and adequately” （Klippel， 1984， p122）， which integrates the activities and knowledge flexibly and stimulates students to participate in the teaching process and practice using target language energetically.

What are the principles of design and organization of activities in elementary education？

In order to stimulate young students to communicate with other pupils and teachers actively and positively in the learning process， activities should be interesting and effective， which are the main principles of design and organization of activities in elementary education （Cameron， 2001）. Firstly， the teacher has different roles in different activities. Harmer （1983， p.201） considered that “The role of the teacher， then， will depend on a large extent on the function he performs in different activities”. In his opinion， the teacher could be “controller， assessor， organizer， prompter， participant and resource”. For example， the teacher creates a real life situation for students practice foreign language through role-play： there are two friends who want to go shopping. （S=student， T=teacher）

S1： Do you like shopping？

S2： Yes.

T： Yes…and…？

S2： Yes， I go shopping every week.

In this activity， the teacher is a prompter who encourage S2 to answer the question completely， and stimulates students to proceed in this activity. In the role of prompter， the teacher needs to encourage students to participate in an activity when there is a silence or when they are confused about what to do next. The role of prompter is one of the teachers most important roles in the teaching process （Harmer， 1983）.

Secondly， selecting appropriate activities is possibly the key factor in the process of foreign language teaching， because the teacher should select suitable activities for a particular level and teaching content （Klippel， 1984）. In primary school， the childrens psychology is growing quickly from 6 years old to 11 years old （Baines， Blatchford and Kutnick， 2003）； if we divided the children into six grades by age from 6 years old to 11 years old， the first grade pupils are innocent and lovely， but the fifth grade students have their own opinions about study. If the fifth grade students do the activity which is suitable for the first grade， probably the fifth grade students might feel boring. Take teaching the new word of fruit for example； the first grade pupils recognize the character of various fruits by touching， smelling and tasting， which make them feel excited and interested. Young children could possibly study hard by gaining a chance to taste the fruit. Such activities probably not only help pupils to remember the new words described the character of fruits such as the colours and the flavors， but also retain them attention from a variety of sensations. However， the fifth grade students maybe disdain to participate in this activity. If the same activities were used in the fifth grade class， they would be more willing to talk about their likes and dislikes of certain fruits or express some other opinions.

Conclusion

Currently， learning a foreign language is more popular in the world than ever； this demands a higher quality of teaching day by day， especially in primary education， so the teacher probably needs to be more “skilled to reach into the childrens world and lead them to develop their understandings towards formal concepts” （Cameron， 2001， p. xii）. Possibly the best method to teach young children a foreign language is to use activities which are exciting and stimulate their curiosity in the teaching process. An excellent organization of activity should conform to certain principles. On the one hand， the activity probably should be interesting which may affect childrens motivation and stimulate them to practice target language. On the other hand， the activities should be appropriate to the students level. To sum up， activity is indeed a good way for the language teacher to apply foreign language teaching in elementary education， which could attract young childrens attention and encourage them to use the foreign language in communication， thus enhance the quality and efficiency of their teaching.

References：

[1]Bransford，J.D.，Brown，A.L.，& Cocking，R.R.（Eds.）.（2000）.How people learn：Brain，mind，experience，and school.Washington：National Academy.

[2]Baines，E.，Blatchford，P.，& Kutnick，P.（2003）.Changes in grouping practices over primary and secondary school.International Journal of Educational Research，39，pp.9-34.

[3]Collins，N.（1986）.New teaching skills，New York：Oxford.

[4]Cameron，L.（2001）.Teaching languages to young learners，Cambridge： Cambridge University.

[5]Golub，J.&Reid;，L.（1989）.Activities for an “interactive” classroom. The English Journal，78（4），pp.43-48.

[6]Harmer，J.（1983）.The practice of English language teaching，London and New York：Longman.

[7]Klippel，F.（1984）.Keep talking：Communicative fluency activities for language teaching，Cambridge：Cambridge University.

【作者簡介】蔣林益，四川省成都市西南財經大學國際教育學院。