Motivating teens to speak English through group work in Storyline

• Sharon Ahlquist ^[1]
  1. [1] Kristianstad University

     Kristianstad University

     Suecia

     
• Localización: ELT journal: An international journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, ISSN 0951-0893, Vol. 73, Nº 4, 2019, págs. 387-395
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Overcoming the reluctance of teenage learners to speak in the language classroom is a challenge for many teachers. This article reports on a study in which 60 Swedish pupils, aged 15–16, took part in a Storyline project based on a young adult fantasy novel. In the Storyline approach, a fictive world is created when learners, taking on the roles of characters in a story, collaborate on tasks to develop the story. A key feature is that the learners work in the same small groups for much of the time. During the six-week period of this study, these learners used English in a variety of speaking and writing tasks. The project showed a number of benefits, the most important of which were an increase in their motivation to speak English and enhanced self-confidence through doing so.