Let’s Write and Learn: Enhancing Foreign Language Skills Within a Multimodal and Motivating Learning Environment
Papadopoulos Isaak, Greece
Papadopoulos Isaak is a PhD Candidate, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. E-mail: isaakpapad@itl.auth.gr
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Abstract
Introduction
The proposed programme
Implementation procedures
Pre-stage
Task-circle
Follow-up stage
Evaluation of the project
Findings and discussion
References
The current paper outlines the rationale for and the purpose of designing and implementing an educational project aiming at developing EFL students’ motivation and foreign language skills within a creative writing context. This programme was implemented to sixth grade students of a primary school in Larissa (Central Greece) and its duration was the first five school months (September 2016 - February 2017) with 3 weekly educational interventions. During this project, students participated in activities of creative writing and expression such as story continuation and adaptation, poem writing, story creation based on a title or a painting etc. All tasks were based on everyday topics that were familiar to them and students created personal portfolios of their work throughout the intervention. For the evaluation of the project, the researcher/teacher used a) a pre-/post language test, b) the researcher's journal, c) students' portfolios of their creative writing work and d) questionnaires of satisfaction for each student individually. The quantitative and qualitative data processing exhibited an improvement in both students’ positive attitude towards learning a foreign language and in their motivation to collaborate with their classmates and take up a proactive role in the EFL class.
It can be noted that learning a second language enhances humans’ cognitive development and facilitates the understanding of their mother tongue (Vygotsky, 1930s). Throughout this learning process, students adopt a more proactive role when they feel free to use words as a tool of thought and linguistic richness. Being able to do so enables students to become more flexible in the main forms of communication. Also, a student learning that a meaning can be represented in more than one way has learned something important about the nature of language and therefore develops their knowledge of it - a process which is not always feasible in monolingual environments (Liddicoat, 2001).
Nevertheless, among the most important challenges in EFL education is the lack of students' motivation. Motivation of foreign language learners plays a very important role in language learning (Tomlinson 1981, Gardner et al. 2004, Griva & Semoglou 2015) while studies carried out at the national level have demonstrated the lack of motivation in tasks designed and organised by teachers for students in both the formal school subjects (Christodoulides et al. 2001, Vlachos & Daglis 2008, Karavas 2010) and in the foreign language ones as well (Skourtou & Kourtis 2000 Karavas 2010 Tsiplakidi 2010 Griva et al. 2014).
Indeed, the lack of motivation in EFL classes has an adverse effect on fostering the language autonomy of students (Papadopoulos, 2015). Although studies have shown that student's autonomy in the foreign language class is beneficial for learners (Duong & Seepho 2014, Dornyei & Skehan, 2003; Csizer & Dornyei, 2005a, 2005b), students’ autonomy is not developed in Greek schools because of the lack of autonomy that characterizes teachers themselves and the school environments (OECD 2011, Papadimos 2004).
According to current literature, the impact of creative writing activities in the development of motivated students and their foreign language skills is crucial (Papadopoulos 2015, Papadopoulos 2014, Griva et al. 2012). In fact, creative writing programmes encompass a number of advantages, which are not only related to the language development of students in a foreign language, but are also beneficial for the development of students' social, cognitive and metacognitive skills.
However, the limited research on the effect of such programmes in Greece resulted in conducting this research. More specifically, the present study attempted to investigate the efficacy and potential advantages of implementing a program aimed at developing students’ English as a foreign language and enhancing their motivation through a series of creative writing activities.
Specifically, the following Research Questions are posed:
- Does the implementation of a creative writing programme contribute to the development of motivated EFL learners?
- Does the implementation of a creative writing programme contribute to the development of the foreign language skills in English for students in primary education?
The experimental intervention was applied to students of a Greek public elementary school and aimed at developing students' skills in English as a foreign language as well as accomplishing a number of individual objectives through the creative writing activities. More specifically, students were 12 (twelve) years old and the teaching sessions focused on foregone issues from the subject Environmental Studies.
The pleasant learning environment, the effortless learning and entertainment during the intervention were the main objectives of the programme. Particular emphasis was given on students' interests, particular talents, inclinations and learning styles so as to achieve the best possible results. Finally, particular emphasis was placed on the development of cooperation and multiple opportunities for learning through a variety of activities of free expression.
The project included 30 (thirty) intervention sessions focusing on the thematic area of “Getting to Know Other Cultures”. An attempt was made to create a pleasant and creative learning environment, where students could actually develop personal and interpersonal skills (Papadopoulos, 2014). Thus, students had the chance to come into contact with a variety of stimuli and get acquainted with the historical and cultural wealth of different cultures through their monuments with the ultimate aim of expressing their own creativity. In such a context, opportunities were provided for collaboration, interaction, communication and problem solving. The project was carried out in three stages:
The focus of this stage was on activating students’ background knowledge and introducing the topic of "Other Cultures" in a multisensory learning environment. Multimodal educational materials were used to initiate discussion, such as Power Point slides, videos and pictures of the monuments. Meanwhile, the students expressed their queries and they did not hesitate to interact and participate in initial discussions about the monuments. In addition, the students were introduced to multimodal texts while coming across the thematic/specific vocabulary.
In the main stage of every session, the students were put in the center of the learning process and were given opportunities to communicate and interact with their classmates on the basis of creative writing activities.
They were involved in various creative writing activities and had the opportunity to investigate, collaborate, interact and communicate with each other, while trying to "solve the problem" (Coyle, 2006; Griva & Kasvikis, in press; Papadopoulos & Peiou, 2014).
Among the creations the students produced during this stage were:
- Tales for Balkan countries
- Drama plays for Monuments of Western Countries
- Limericks related to European countries
After the completion of the task, each group presented their work to the rest of the class to inform their classmates about their "product". The teacher tried to initiate a creative and constructive discussion, through their presentations, with the purpose of developing students’ descriptive language sub-skills.
The focus of the follow up stage was on the provision of continuous feedback on the part of the teacher and reflection on the learning process on the part of the students, as well as on recycling certain specific vocabulary.
For the purpose of consolidating vocabulary and structural patterns, the students were involved in a number of creative writing games, poetic compositions etc. The students were assessed by their teacher through their portfolios, which included reflection notes, crafts produced by them and their stories and poems.
Also, students reflected on their own learning by self-assessing their performance and their learning. Students' assessment was also performed by estimating their participation in all activities and the general learning process. In fact, their involvement in creative writing activities can be an enjoyable way of informal assessment that could be used effectively within a content-based curriculum (Griva & Semoglou, 2013; Kelner, 1993 in Korosidou & Griva, 2014).
In order to estimate the effectiveness of the Creative Writing project in the target language (EFL), a pre-test at the beginning of the programme and a post-test after the completion of it were used in order to identify students’ competence in English as a Foreign Language.
Students were asked to produce a text on a topic of general interest (“Describe a place of your country or a foreign country that you would like to visit”) so that they could think creatively and produce a text that would be characterized by a lot of imagination and free expression.
Furthermore, the journals kept by the teacher/researcher were used as an additional evaluation tool for each teaching session to evaluate students’ attitude towards learning English at the beginning and upon the completion of the project. As far as the form of the journal is concerned, it was based on the “questions for journal keeping” of Richards & Lockhart (1994).
Meanwhile, throughout this project, the students kept their portfolios for their self-assessment purposes. At the end of every unit, the students recorded their strengths and weaknesses and they kept some of their constructions and writings. Studies have highlighted the beneficial impact of the Portfolio on students' thinking abilities and its usefulness for their future life (Papadopoulos & Peiou, 2014; Wade & Yarbrough, 1996). It has also been proved to be advantageous in the development of their communicative and organization skills, since they understand much more about the learning process and develop metacognitive awareness (Brown, 2002; Young, 2002).
This creative writing project aimed at developing EFL learners’ competence in English as a foreign language and increasing their motivation.
As for linguistic competence, the project proved to help students see themselves as part of a learning community and be in continuous interaction with the teacher and their classmates in the target language throughout the programme. As a result, it became evident that the more the students got in touch with the language and used it, the more fluent and ready to use it they became (Eurydice, 2006).
Moreover, students had the opportunity to use English in various ways, while participating in creative writing activities and activities of creative expression. As a result, through the analysis of the pre and post- tests, it was shown that students seemed to become more confident to communicate in the target language. This increasing competence in communicative skills is in accordance with the findings of many previous studies in which activities of expression and creativity were used (Papadopoulos et al. 2012, Griva &Semoglou 2013, Griva & Chostelidou 2014).
By engaging in this creative writing project, students became more determined and decisive to use the target language in a ‘non-threatening’ creativity-based context. Also, they comprehended concepts, expressed their own ideas and stated their difficulties in English.
With regard to students’ motivation development, the analysis of the teacher’s journal showed that students’ motivation increased. It became clear that this educational project constituted a source of knowledge and life values for students. Through the collaborative creative writing activities, students participated actively in the learning process. They also managed to direct their own learning by creating their personal educational material and reflecting on the way they learn, which is a significant skill of highly motivated students. Moreover, the use of self- and peer- assessment strategies by the students who participated in this project was a very important experience for them because they were engaged in activities that enhanced their motivation in an EFL context.
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Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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