Teaching English to a Year II class : a case study

Abstract

In this case-study I describe how I sought to introduce the English language to a class of mixed-ability six-year-old children. The aim of my English language teaching programme was to promote the development of 'communicative competence' by presenting English as a language for communication. In this dissertation I have described first of all the school environment in which I was teaching as this influenced the type of activities that I organised. I have then outlined some theoretical aspects of Second Language Acquisition on which I based my teaching programme. However the focus of this dissertation is on the classroom presentation of my English language teaching programme, as well as on the children's response to the programme. An analysis of the children's reactions and responses to the teaching programme led me to conclude (i) that direct teaching has little, if any, effect on the development of naturalistic English, and (ii) that for the development of communicative competence it is imperative for the teacher to create within the classroom a need to communicate in the target language.