FATMA DAVULCU & BARIŞ KARAKOYUN

OBSERVATION

REPORT 1 (WEEK 1-2)

         a)Week 1

                In this week, we observed ‘’Who spoke?’’, ‘’In what language?’’, and ‘’How long the utterance is?’’.

                In the classroom, English was mostly used language. Teacher and students were communicating with each other by speaking English. We think that the students are really lucky because their teacher pronounces target language clearly and explicably. As for students, most of them have enough pronunciation ability for their grade; however we cannot say that they can speak English clearly and explicably yet.

                When students preferred to use English for communicating with the teacher, communication was less than five words. At this point, it is very clear that speaking exercises of target language in Turkey’s schools are not sufficient. In the other hand, the teacher preferred to use Turkish language, when she felt that students were not able to understand the some parts of the topic. At this time, communication was more than five words. They were able to express their feelings, emotions, and thoughts clearly and correctly. So, we can say that students had more self-confidence when they used their native language.             

                In addition to ‘’The Language’’, we observed another point. There was no specific method used in the classroom. The teacher combined different methods and different techniques to create a convenient learning way for the students. Thus, we can that this teaching system which is called eclectic method is really beneficial for both students and progress of teaching/learning foreign language. We observed this point because the techniques which are used in the used can give some important information about ‘’Who spoke?’’, ‘’In what language?’’, and ‘’How long the utterance is?’’.

         b)Week 2

                In this week, we observed ‘’what teacher asked’’, ‘’what type of question it was’’, ‘’how long the teacher waited for the student’s response’’, ‘’whether the teacher gave any feedback to the student and if so how’’, and ‘’how the students reacted to the feedback’’. Teacher asked many questions. So, we got a big chance for a clear observation.

Some questions teacher asked were display question which means questioner already knows the answer. Teacher preferred to the use display question in order to elicit language practice. 

Sometimes, teacher preferred to ask referential question which means questioner do not know the answer such as ‘’How was your weekend?’’, ‘’What did you do yesterday’’. So, we can say that teacher sometimes preferred to use Communicative Language Teaching.

Also, teacher asked some procedural questions. Teacher wanted students to comment the pictures she showed by asking ‘’What do you see in this picture?’’. So, teacher got a big chance to observe whether students understand the topics, grammar knowledge, and use target language productively, or not. Also, students were able to got a big chance to use and develop their imagination.

                Some students answered the question fast; some students’ reply was late. Actually, we can say that students can answer easily the questions which have simple grammar structure. On the other hand, when the questions have complex grammar structure, they need more time to answer these. In conclusion, the average waiting time of teacher to take a response from students is 2, 36seconds.

When students gave a correct answer, teacher’s feedback was motivator such as ‘’Right!’’, ‘’Good’’, ‘’Thanks’’.  When students were not able to give correct answer, teacher corrected the mistakes immediately. Generally, teacher gave correct answer directly when a student made a mistake. Also, teacher gave some advices such as ‘’You must study hard’’, ‘’Restudy this topic at home’’.