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CONCLUSIONS
I tried to investigate
what actually happened inside this class of mine concentrating both on
the inputs to the classroom (the syllabus, the classroom setting, the
interactions, ...) and on the outputs from the classroom (learner likes
and dislikes, behaviours, results).
I managed to use different procedures to get as well informed as I possibly
could on this complex issue I wished to investigate and I tried to make
a more informal decision about how to do this study and about data collection
and analysis. Some are the more evident outcomes of thie research of mine.
Personal development and cultural background play an important role in
the readiness of a child to learn: I discovered and reinforced within
my environmental situation the concept that young learner's language learning
strategies cannot be divorced from their developmental needs.
Learning a Foreign Language, like the learning of anything else, could
be considered essentially an individual achievement, an exploitation of
the capabilities of the mind to make sense of the environment. This process
takes place in the context of the classroom, the individual therefore
is one of the group, a member of the class and the activities which are
to set the process in train are determined by the teacher. The assumption
is that this internal process of learning will come about as a consequence
of the external interaction which takes place between the two kinds of
participants: the teacher on one hand, and the learners on the other.
The classroom interaction serves an enabling function: its only purpose
is to provide conditions for learning.
Indeed local situations differ from country to country and classroom to
classroom, and each child is to be addressed as an individual requiring
individual attention. For this reason, there can obviously be no one teaching
method and no one textbook suitable for all children: the intention and
hope is that the action should be flexible enough to be used in the wide
variety of situations each teacher could find.
The way I found is to fit the books to children's needs and modify the
planning to adapt activities, topics, tasks, classroom settings, and other
features of the daily work with young learners, to the effective situation
and the real developmental requirements of the whole community.
The results observed has been:
- children can use the target language
well, they are ready to cope with the wider syllabus and move towards
the less predictable activities of my language-learning programme.
- the class is cohesive, and children
have developed a sense of themselves as a group;
- the special educational needs children
seem to have a positive self-image which is reinforced by the group,
so that they feel secure enough to express their individuality;
- when working in groups children
listen to each other, and take turns;
children show a degree of co-operation in the performing of specific
tasks and are able to work together productively;
- children try to be not too competitive
and do not seek individual attention at the expense of others;
- the team leaders seem able to overcome
difficulties without the recourse to the teacher.
I do not for one moment think that I have
always managed to get this research right, although I feel that I have
learned something about my own communication with these children in the
process of trying.
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