An Analysis of the Teacher"s Use of Class Materials/Activities in Elementary School English Classes

An Analysis of the Teacher"s Use of Class Materials/Activities in Elementary School English Classes

  The purpose of this study is to improve the quality of the elementary school English education by helping teachers develop insights into what to do with their class materials/activities. Based on the arguments in the literature for an effective language class, the study analyzed three elementary school English classes in terms of six categories: 1) kinds of materials/activities used, 2) teacher"s classroom English, 3) characteristics of student talks, 4) opportunities for skill-using activities given to individual students, 5) teacher"s efforts to enhance individual students" understanding, and 6) teacher"s efforts to extend the classroom learning to home study. The result of the analysis was described focusing on the weaknesses found. According to the result, the elementary school English teachers did not have appropriate techniques to deal with their class materials/activities effectively enough. Based on the results, the study argues that in order to develop the communicative language ability in their students, teachers first need to improve their techniques for an effective use of class materials/activities.