Speaking Activities to Foster Students’ Oral Performance at a

Public School
Bocanegra Bonilla Carolina & Ramirez Valencia Astrid (2018)

Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Faculty of Science and Education, Bogotá, Colombia
Correspondence: Bocanegra Bonilla Carolina, Faculty of Science and Education, Universidad
Distrital Francisco José de Caldas.

Abstract

By employing an action research framework, this study was designed to explore the effectiveness
of a set of speaking activities centered on a children’s cartoon to improve oral performance in the
EFL classroom. The participants were fourth graders of a public school in Colombia, who had low
oral performance in spoken English language. The findings suggest that the proposed speaking
activities were comprehensible for the students, and appropriate to the students’ proficiency
level. Although to maximize learners’ opportunities to speak in the classroom, teachers should
design activities that provide chances to talk in English. Thus students will be engaged to
participate in the classroom. Also, most of the students were comfortable speaking during the
activities since they were familiar with watching cartoons, thus being at ease with certain topics
can help students exchange ideas in class. The most important recommendation is to avoid
translating instruction into students’ mother tongue for the purpose to familiarize students with
the target language.

Keywords: cartoons, teaching strategies, oral production, EFL, speaking activities

Improving Eleventh Graders’ Oral Production in English Class

through Cooperative Learning Strategies
Claudia Yanive Prieto Castillo (2007)
Universidad Nacional de Colombia & Colegio de Bachillerato Patria, E-mail: [email protected]
Address: Carrera 3 No.22 A-13 Bogotá, Colombia

This paper aims to report on research carried out with eleventh graders at Colegio de Bachillerato
Patria in Bogotá. The main objective of the research was to establish strategies to help students to
improve their oral production in English. Instruments used to collect the data were: field notes,
students’ and teachers’ surveys, students’ interviews and audiotapes recordings. Considering the
data gathered, this research prompted a more cooperative environment among students in the
oral process. Finally it was a way to motivate other teachers in the school to work with these kinds
of strategies.

Key words: Cooperative learning strategies, oral interaction, interaction activities, collaborative
learning
Understanding Strategies for Improving Oral Production Skills
among EFL Learners at a Public University in Colombia
Darymar Redondo Fuentes (2012)
[email protected]

Abstract

This case study, carried out at a public university in Colombia, aimed to understand strategies that
improve the oral production of EFL learners in a public university. Participants were four A1 EFL
learners who were selected by using purposeful sampling. Two questions guided this case study: 1)
what strategies does the teacher use to improve EFL learners’ oral skills? 2) How do the teachers’
strategies improve EFL learners’ oral production skills? The data was gathered through
nonparticipant observations and unstructured interviews.

Increasing EFL Learners’ Oral Production at a Public School

Through Project-Based Learning.
VACA TORRES, Ady Marcela and GOMEZ RODRIGUEZ, Luis Fernando (2017)

This research study examined how a group of ninth graders enhanced the speaking skill in an
English as a foreign language classroom through project-based learning. Data about the
experience were collected through field notes, transcripts of learners’ oral performance, and one
interview. Grounded theory was implemented for data analysis, out of which three main findings
emerged: (1) project-based learning encouraged students to increase oral production through
lexical competence development, (2) helped them to overcome fears of speaking in L2, and (3),
increased their interest in learning about their school life and community

Keywords: Communicative competence; English as a foreign language learning; project-based

learning; speaking skill.
Improving the EFL Learners’ Speaking Ability through Interactive
Storytelling
Marzuki Marzuki, Johannes Ananto Prayogo, Arwijati Wahyudi (2016)

ABSTRACT

This present research was aimed to improve the EFL learners’ speaking ability and their classroom
activities through the implementation of Interactive Storytelling Strategy. Therefore, this study
was directed to explore the beneficial of Interactive Storytelling that closely related to the EFL
learners’ everyday activities at their home and school. The subject consisted of 22 of Junior High of
Indonesian EFL learners. A Classroom Action Research in two cycles had been conducted within 6
meetings for every cycle. The meetings were focused on the interactivity and communicative
ability among learners. The research result showed that the learners’ speaking ability improved
from 17 or 72,27% passed in Cycle 1 to 22 or 100% passed the criteria of success in Cycle 2. It also
showed that their classroom activities improved from 8 or 36,36% who were very active (VA) and
14 or 63,64% who were active (A) to 18 or 81,82% were very active (VA) and 4 or 18,18% were
active (A). In conclusion, the implementation of Interactive Storytelling Strategy increased the EFL
learners’ speaking ability and their classroom activities.

KEYWORDS: Interactive Storytelling, classroom activities, speaking performance.

STORYTELLING AS A METHOD OF EFL TEACHING

Mauro Dujmović (2006)

ABSTRACT

Storytelling, the art of narrating a tale from memory rather than reading it is one of the oldest of
all art forms, reaching back to prehistoric times. Storytelling involves two elements – selection and
delivery. Many EFL teachers are interested in storytelling as a resource in teaching. A successful
storyteller chooses adequate stories and must be a good performer, for the delivery is crucial and
requires both preparation and rehearsal. Storytelling is the original form of teaching and has the
potential of fostering emotional intelligence and help the child gain insight into human behaviour.
Storytelling also promotes language learning by enriching learners’ vocabulary and acquiring new
language structures. Moreover, storytelling can provide a motivating and lowanxiety context for
language learning. The storytelling tips given in this article are meant to help the teacher–as–
storyteller as s/he prepares for a storytelling "performance" for students.

KEYWORDS: adaptation; motivation; oral stories; preparation; selection; skills; storytelling;

teaching
A Story-Telling Approach to Teaching English to Young EFL Iranian
Learners
Kalantari, Farzaneh; Hashemian, Mahmood (2016)

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of the storytelling approach on improving of EFL learners'
vocabulary knowledge. To this end, 30 upper-beginner EFL learners (out of a population of 134)
were selected by means of an OPT test and were assigned to 2 groups: 1 experimental and 1
group. The participants were selected from among young EFL learners who were between 8 and
14 years old. They had already registered for English classes in Paya Language Center, Isfahan,
Iran. As for the materials, they were mainly prepared by the teacher/researcher. Based on the
units of "Backpack" books--taught in Paya Language Center--some stories were prepared and
adopted by the teacher/researcher along with a visual presentation using the PowerPoint
software. In carrying out the study, the participants were taught the key vocabulary via pictures
and gestures. Once the participants had identified the new words, the teacher started telling and
introducing the stories. While reading the stories, the teacher directed the participants' attention
to the PowerPoint presentation that included the visual representation of the story to facilitate
the comprehension process. After the treatment, there was a posttest to assess the participants'
improvement. Results of data analysis revealed that the storytelling approach to teaching
vocabulary proved effective for the experimental group. All the experimental group participants
experienced a significantly meaningful increase in their vocabulary knowledge, compared to the
control group. Finally, there was a boost in the interest rate of the experimental group participants
in terms of motivation.

KEYWORDS: language teaching, motivation rate, storytelling approach, vocabulary knowledge

Telling tales: Using storytelling to teach EFL kindergarten students

in Taiwan Hsu.
Tsu-Chia Julia (2015)

ABSTRACT

Recently, the pressure of producing globally competitive graduates has furthered the need of
students to enhance their English proficiencies; this is especially true for students who majors in
English and will be teachers in the near future. Many EFL teachers have used storytelling as a
resource when teaching. More so, storytelling are said to be able help provide a motivating and
interacting vehicle between students and teachers for language learning. The strategy given in this
study is meant to help teachers to use storytelling as a resource for young EFL learners. The study
focuses on specific instructional outcomes from using storytelling as a group teaching strategy and
investigates how storytelling in teaching meets the needs of teachers. The study’s primary purpose
aims to explore how storytelling in teaching affects EFL children’s learning. Finally, the strengths
and weakness of using storytelling as a group teaching strategy will be discussed. The research
design is to use a questionnaire and group interviews. The pre-service teachers have kept a daily
journal to incorporate reflections and observations and record them on the students’ log. In
addition, the coordinator’s and the researcher’s log provided valuable summary observations.
Results showed that pre-service teachers’ teaching styles need to employ creativity, which then
helps them gain the children’s attention as the teachers interact with them. Implications and
suggestions of the study are of great importance for further research.

KEYWORDS: EFL children; learning motivation; storytelling; creativity; teacher preparation

Student Engagement in Long-Term Collaborative EFL Storytelling

Activities: An Analysis of Learners with English Proficiency
Differences
Yun-Yin Huang, Chen-Chung Liu, Yu Wang, Chin-Chung Tsai and Hung-Ming Lin (2017)

ABSTRACT

English proficiency difference among students is a challenging pedagogical issue in EFL classrooms
worldwide. Collaborative digital storytelling has been adopted in language learning settings to
increase motivation and engagement, especially for young learners. However, it remains unknown
whether students of different proficiency levels can equally benefit from this collaborative
approach. Thus, this study implemented a 17-month technology-enhanced collaborative
storytelling activity and examined young students’ pair performance, flow perception, and learning
strategies in relation to students’ English proficiency level. The students’ proficiency level was
found to be an influencing factor of their engagement patterns, use of learning strategies, and pair
performance. These findings support the low-threshold-high-ceiling principle, suggesting that
collaborative activities should ensure students of different proficiency share the same goals, while
allowing different types of participation to maximize their engagement. It is hoped that the
findings and pedagogical suggestions can address the issue of proficiency differences in EFL
classrooms and serve as a reference for future research of EFL collaborative storytelling activities.

KEYWORDS: EFL, storytelling, engagement, collaboration, proficiency.

STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS

Amru Bin As (2016)

ABSTRACT

The storytelling technique was used in this study to see if it could help overcome some of the
difficulties the students had in mastering EFL speaking skills. This technique aims to improve the
speaking skills of students in a real life situation. The objective of this study was to measure the
students’ mastery after they practiced speaking through the storytelling technique. This study
used experimental study methods with a sample which was divided into an experimental group
(EG) and a control group (CG). The EG was taught by using the storytelling technique, while the CG
was taught by using a conventional technique for teaching speaking. In collecting the data, tests
and a questionnaire were used. The results showed that the speaking skills of the EG students,
taught with the storytelling technique, improved much more and were significantly better than the
improvement in the speaking skills of the CG students taught by using the conventional technique.
KEYWORDS: Teaching Speaking, Storytelling Technique.