Learners’ and teachers’ preferences for classroom activities.
A small-scale study that compares learners’ preferences and those of their teachers
for 32 in-classroom activities. The data was collected through questionnaires and
interviews from 58-second year full-time students in the International Trade
Department of the Foreign Trade University (FTU) in Vietnam and their 10 teachers
from the English Department of the same university. The results show that learners
have positive attitudes towards the learner-centred classroom activities and there is
only a 25% discrepancy between the learners’ and teachers’ preferences
References for learner and teacher preference in classroom activities.
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and learning activities in a South African Context’. TESOL Quarterly 32/1, 85-107.
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learners. Language Teaching Research 2: 203-29.
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Education Program. Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, Canberra.
Garrett, P and Shortall, T .2002. Learners’ evaluations of teacher-fronted and studentcentred classroom activities, Language Teaching Research. Arnold.
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Activities: Do enjoyment and Effectiveness go together? The Modern Language
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Foreign Language Students’. Modern Language Journal. 72: 283-94.
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Appendix 1: The questionnaire for the student.
Like
very
much
Reading
1. reading texts silently in class for information and do follow-up exercises.
2. reading texts aloud in class
3. doing only reading exercises for texts having been read in advance.
Writing
4. writing short passages (< one page) in pairs
5. writing short passages (< one page) in groups.
6. writing short passages (< one page) individually.
Speaking
7. taking part in whole- class discussions
8. oral discussion in pairs
9. oral discussion in groups
10. giving individual oral presentation
11. giving group oral presentation.
12. taking part in oral exercises ( grammar, pronunciation drills)
Listening
13. listening to teacher’s instructions and explanations
14. listening to teacher talking about themselves or telling stories.
15. listening to classmates giving oral presentation.
16. listening to tapes and doing follow-up exercises.
Feedback
17. teacher giving feedback (oral/ written)
18. classmates giving feedback ( oral/ written)
19. checking and giving feedback on other’s writing
20. checking writing on your own.
Grammar
21. doing grammatical exercises
22. listening to teacher explaining grammatical rules.
23. learning grammatical rules by oneself.
 PLEASE TURN OVER
Participation
modes
24. taking part in teacher-centered activities.
25. working in pairs
26. working in groups
27. working individually
28. Interacting in English with classmates in class
Others
29. taking part in language games
30. taking part in role plays
31. listening to English songs.
32. using language labs
Like
No
opinion
Dislike
Dislike
very
much
N
exper
33. your own preference ( please add, if any)
From the list above, please choose at least 3 activities you like most and 3
activities you don’t like most, write the numbers of those activities and
give the reasons why you like or don’t like each of them.
B
.
(In answering this question, please write as much as you like either in English or in
Vietnamese and continue on a separate paper if necessary).
a. Activities I like most :
b. Activities I don’t like most:
Appendix 2: The questionnaire for the teachers.
Dear Teacher,
I am now doing MA research into English Language Teaching at the University of Essex. I
would highly appreciate it if you could spare some time for the completion of the
questionnaire. Your cooperation would be essential in my research.
What are your preferred ways of teaching English?
This questionnaire is designed to identify your personal preferences in teaching English at the
university.
A. Please indicate your opinions by answering the following question based on your
actual experience up to now. The question is
- How much do you like to engage students into each activity? Please tick the
appropriate column.
- If you have never used any particular activity mentioned below in your
teaching, please tick the ‘No Experience’ column.
Name: ______________________________
Like
very
much
Reading
1. reading texts silently in class for information and do follow-up exercises.
2. reading texts aloud in class
3. doing only reading exercises for texts having been read in advance.
Writing
4. writing short passages (< one page) in pairs
5. writing short passages (< one page) in groups.
6. writing short passages (<1 page) individually.
Speaking
7. taking part in whole- class discussions
8. oral discussion in pairs
9. oral discussion in groups
10. giving individual oral presentation
11. giving group oral presentation.
12. taking part in oral exercises ( grammar, pronunciation drills)
Listening
13. listening to teacher’s instructions and explanations
14. listening to teacher talking about themselves or telling stories.
15. listening to classmates giving oral presentation.
16. listening to tapes and doing follow-up exercises.
Feedback
17. teacher giving feedback (oral/ written)
18. classmates giving feedback (oral/ written)
19. checking and giving feedback on other’s writing
20. checking writing on your own.
Grammar
21. doing grammatical exercises
22. listening to teacher explaining grammatical rules.
23. learning grammatical rules by oneself.
Participation modes
24. taking part in teacher-centered activities.
25. working in pairs
 PLEASE TURN OVER
26. working in groups
27. working individually
28. Interacting in English with classmates in class
Others
29. taking part in language games
30. taking part in role plays
Like
No
opinion
Dislike
Dislike
very
much
No
experi
31. listening to English songs
32. using language labs
33. your own preference ( please add, if any)
In answering the following questions, please write as much as you like and continue on a separate
paper if necessary.
B. From the list above, please choose at least 3 activities you like most and 3 activities you
don’t like most to use in classroom, write the numbers of those activities and give the
reasons why you like or don’t like each of them.
a. Activities I like most:
b. Activities I don’t like most:
C. ( Please answer this question from your own opinion, not from student’s answers)
From the list above, please choose at least 3 activities you think your students like doing
most and 3 activities you think students don’t like doing in the class most , write the
numbers of those activities and suggest the reasons why you think they like or don’t like
those activities?
a. Activities my students like most:
b. Activities my students don’t like most: