UPPER SECONDARY EDUCATION

Pupil’s age: 17-19

Level: Intermediate/lower/higher intermediate ~matura examination

Method used most commonly when teaching: communicative approach, grammar translation


Characteristics of age group.

Upper secondary education students are In most cases intermediate level learners. They are able to use L2 language fluently in some cases but they still have significant problems with more sophisticated exercises and advanced level tasks. Almost in every class there is a division into better and worse students, and in most cases better students tend to help those who have problems.

Some sort of competition between classmates can also be observed and In most cases it is teacher-directed and coordinated so that it would not cause any disturbances during classes. Students are now more mature physically and mentally and the division into teacher-student environment is very small. Students tend to cooperate with their teachers, ask for help when needed or open themselves whenever discussion occurs. On this level it is essential that teacher realises his role in the classroom environment, not only as a lecturer but more as a conductor – a partner in students’ process of learning. Students are not kids anymore and they should be treated as they weren’t.

Students’ attitude towards teacher is also different from that of a lower secondary students and young learners. They tend to think of a teacher as essential part of their society thus some bonds are created. This consequences in a good rapport between teacher and his students and leads to better language acquisition. The choice of topics to discuss is also an important matter here. Upper secondary students belong to different cultures and thus classes and topics should be arranged in a way that they could easily cope with them find classes both entertaining and demanding.



Use of methods

As stated above teachers tend to use communicative approach and grammar translation-based lesson plans when teaching upper secondary students.

Communicative approach seems to be essential when learning all four basic skills at the same time is concerned. It was already mentioned that upper secondary students enjoy conversations as some kind of introductory elements. If included, extended discussion encourages students to further work and gives them a plain idea of what the topic of the lesson will be.
Communicative approach as such provides teacher with several classroom activities, some of which were used during those lessons that I was observing. One of the activities is Pair Work which is a favoured one for nearly every English teacher in given age group. Students are to join in pairs and perform some easy tasks or cooperate to prepare a conversation or a role play or whatever is needed for further learning. In this way students open themselves towards their co-partner and learn some new vocabulary in the process.
Essential part of every communicative approach-based lesson is interaction in a classroom. In most cases teacher acts as a conductor of orchestra and simply helps students to cope with given task, but there are cases in which teachers tend to give the answer themselves rather than let the students come up with it.
The other part of communicative approach is error correction and teachers attitude to it. In most situations, when students make errors teachers would neither correct them nor point out the mistake whatsoever. Unfortunately most of the teachers act like the students’ performance itself was of a greatest importance and thus correcting mistakes should not take place. Following that pattern, bad habits are rooted. On the other hand I encountered several situations in which teacher would not go with the lesson until student or students gave him correct answer.

The other method that is most commonly used is grammar translation method although not all its features.
Most teachers use only several parts of grammar translation method i.e. using L1 language when explaining rules, translating into native language or deductive way of teaching. In some extreme cases classes are lead through in native language, everything is thoroughly explained and only then teacher moves to exercise part. In this way students are treated like listeners who are to abide to teachers knowledge, follow every part of knowledge that he or she provides them with. In consequence some students are unmotivated, bored and looked down on which, in case of upper secondary students, leads to riots, conflicts between teacher and students and misunderstandings. Process of learning itself, is then broken down because students see no point in learning rules by heart and learning tons of vocabulary if it is not used in real-life situations.



My own thoughts and opinion:

Concluding, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed classes that were lead in the sense of communicative approach method while I got at least as much bored as the students while teacher used grammar-translation based activities. Communicative approach when mixed with upper sec. Students gives really flawless outcome: students tend to speak, work in groups or in pairs, they learn from themselves and there’s no hierarchy in the classroom – the teacher is perceived as part of the group. More to that all 4 skills are developed at the same time. So, when upper secondary students are concerned communicative approach with all its variations should be the best solution.