FP002 – OBSERVATION AND RESEARCH IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
ASSIGNMENT
The assignment consists of completing the Initial Proposal (D1) of the final master's or
Postgraduate’s degree project. The submission must be done through the Panal1 on the
official date of delivery of the evaluation activities of the subject (see the calendar on the
Virtual Campus). During the course period, more detailed information will be provided by
the teaching staff.
In order to prepare the Initial Proposal, the student must follow the instructions below:
General instructions
This Initial Proposal should be presented in 4 to 5 pages. Longer or shorter documents will
not be corrected. Students are advised to keep the headings for the sections and substitute
the blue text for the relevant information.
This file must be named according to the following model:
GroupName’sinitialSurnames_InitialProp
For instance, a student named Jan Torres Ruiz from group 2012-02 would name this file as
follows:
2012-02JTorresRuiz_InitialProp
Proposals that do not follow these instructions will not be corrected.
The Initial Proposal must be approved by the Final Project supervisor for students to
proceed with further submissions (Advance 1).
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Students who are enrolled in the Certificate in Applying the Principles of Language Teaching and Learning
(CTEFB) must submit the Initial Proposal in the usual way, that is to say, through the icon “Assignment” of the
subject. Once the document has been uploaded, they will have to contact the teacher of the subject to let him/
her know. The Initial Proposal developed by the students enrolled in the CTEFB will be graded as the other
activities of the subject, with a score from 0 to 10 points. However, in the specific case of the CTEFB, the teacher
will not return the feedback, considering that the students enrolled in this certificate don’t have to develop a Final
Project.
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Program:
Master in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Personal and academic information: Final Project Supervisor:
Sandra Camelo
Title and Topic of the Final Project:
[Please specify a provisional title for your Project and describe the topic you aim to focus
on in two or three lines]
Title: Creative and Motivational Learning Strategies-Activities.
Topic: Language Components. (“My Favorite Holiday”)
Is focused to awaken motivation, creativity, and critical thinking in all 4 language
components. (Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening).
Justification of academic and personal interest of the topic:
[Why do you want to do research on this topic?]
As it is well known, context might affect the design and selection of materials. The
selection of appropriate material is conditioned by the student's context and setting. A deep
examination of the context leads to the identification of course objectives and, thus to the
adoption of an appropriate syllabus and materials. Considering the students' characteristics
and needs, these students are between the ages of 13 and 14.
They are in the adolescence stage. In this stage, people experience cognitive and
social changes, which lead to more mature scenes. They are trying to create their own
identities. In this way, the context plays an important role. Thus, the cultural context
influences them including the culture and his context; therefore, as context is everywhere,
it also has an influence on everyone.
To design this kit, there are a few features to consider. First, the need to consider
the context, which according to Fiber (2013, p.3), quoting McDonough and Shaw (1993),
can be separated into two groups: Learner characteristics and educational setting.
Regarding learner characteristics, we consider age, students' interests, aptitude, mother
tongue, motivation, reasons for learning, preferred learning styles, and personality. In
addition, the educational setting refers to the role of English in the country and school, the
teachers, resources, the physical and sociocultural environment, and the type of
evaluation used. On the other hand, it is pointed out that the authors perceive the need for
this matter. Finally, this work states the belief about language learning and teaching that
the materials designed in the kit represented and how these activities are intended to be
evaluated.
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Type of Final Project2:
[Choose an option and tick the corresponding box. The Final Project can be classroomoriented or research-oriented. It can also combine both approaches, as in Action Research
Projects.
Aims of the study:
Firstly, the topic chosen for this self-made kit was thought regarding the age and interest
of learners, as it has been mentioned, 13- and 14-year-old students and one of their favorite
times is a holiday.
The activity is intended to begin with a warm-up which allows the possibility to explore
students´ previous knowledge and personal interests and needs. Attitude according to
(McDonough, J. & Shaw, C. 1993) is one of the students’ characteristics that need attention
when designing or adapting materials.
The teacher in charge is encouraged to use L2 having in mind that it helps
communication abilities. Students have the opportunity to participate and the activity
becomes an opened-ended teacher questions interaction pattern which increases
communication skills. Penny Ur (1996).

The main aim of the Project:
This project aims to create a series of methodological resources and a detailed
explanation for English teaching in foreign classes. Furthermore, the kit contains the
teacher's guide to allow any instructor to carry out the activities and materials presented in
this project.

Specific aims:
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Students who intend to pursue PhD studies are recommended to do a Research Final Project (if they are
enrolled in UNIB or UNINI MX) or Action Research (if they are only enrolled in UNEATLÁNTICO or if one of
the universities in which they are enrolled is UNEATLÁNTICO).
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
“To provide a set of activities and strategies that would enhance their understanding
various of topics.

“To implement a self-made kit of activities/strategies aiming to improve all four language
components.

To promote critical thinking and motivation in the students by using creative and fun
activities.
No more than three specific aims should be proposed. Ideally, two or three are
enough.]
Theoretical background:
Firstly, the topic chosen for this self-made kit was thought regarding the age and
interest of learners, as it has been mentioned, 13- and 14-year-old students and one of their
favorite times is a holiday. The activity is intended to begin with a warm-up which allows
the possibility to explore students´ previous knowledge and personal interests and needs.
Attitude according to (McDonough, J. & Shaw, C. 1993) is one of the students’
characteristics that need attention when designing or adapting materials. The teacher in
charge is encouraged to use L2 having in mind that it helps communication abilities.
Students have the opportunity to participate and the activity becomes an opened-ended
teacher questions interaction pattern which increases communication skills. Penny Ur
(1996).
The feedback to learners is to consider the form of the question; for example, yes/no;
true or false/; multiple choice; non-verbal matrix to be completed; feedback facilitates
students´ accuracy in pronunciation, structure, and vocabulary acquisition. The vocabulary
introduced has been chosen to have in mind socio-cultural aspects such as holiday
attractions and economic factors of the group. Most of the vocabulary is related to cultural
celebrations and feasts in South and Central American Countries. Warm-up presents a
vocabulary adaptation as it is stated by Funiber in M & R in TELF, 2013,p.70) quoting
McDonough, J. & Shaw 1983, “Effective adaptation is a matter of achieving ´congruence´….
among several related variables: …” in this case, students´ context but especially external
features have been analyzed in order to help student attention and attitude as It has been
previously mentioned. In the same way, vocabulary in this case is offered with colorful comic
pictures which attract teenager´s attention and it enhances motivation.
[Please describe the sections which will be part of the theoretical background].
The listening part presented in the kit was thought having in mind the nature of the skill
and micro-skills, so authentic material, level of students, and listening for gist (accuracy on
vocabulary) are used, so students get familiar with real use of lexis. There are two basic
language functions according to (Brown & Yule 1983), they are the transactional and
interactional functions, and the former apprehends with the transfer of information and the
latest with the conservation of social associations, these two roles facilitate input and also
output of L2. (Funiber 2013, p.62), since the unit objective is to teach the present simple
continuous, in a real context and personal language production. On the other hand,
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teacher´s role in this exercise plays an important part because must be a moderator to
control the times and rhythms so the activity might be agreeable and meaningful.
In the speaking section, various aspects are relevant to be beard in mind, (Funiber 2013,
p.64) firstly, the promotion of interactional language use. The exercise encourages pupils
to participate in a communicative task, the performing action is to give oral response to a
question which implies a personal response, that is the second feature for the speaking
activity; according to Ellis, the task must involve actions, specified outcome, language
comprehension and production and focus on meaning rather than form. (Funiber 2013,
p.47), nevertheless, grammar is involved but as a secondary aspect because what is
stressed is fact that communication takes place. Here the teacher plays an imperative role
since she/he must highlight the “micro-skills as it is pronunciation, stress, intonation,
discourse features, etc.” (Funiber 2013, p.64), teacher notes give some suggestions in order
to make an accurate use of the task and it may be successful.
Grammar is presented as a reference exercise, having in mind that the goal of this unit
is to teach the present progressive tense, and the communicative and interpersonal uses
are being applied through practical use. The teacher is intended to check learners´
performance in order to elicit any doubts and a simple comprehension exercise is led to
clarify the use and spelling of the tense in the course, avoiding in this way the use of long
grammatical rules which is not convenient for beginners or students with low levels.
There are three main steps to provide a writing environment; the pre-writing activity
permits students to plan and gather ideas, for this purpose, pictures invite learners to
imagine and chose a personal perspective and begin working on a draft to prepare a final
work. According to Funiber, quoting Nunan, currently, there are a few steps in order to do
successful writing, it is not seen as a final product but as a process in which learners and
teachers are involved through activities such as imitation, expansion, and formation of
paragraphs to obtain little by little what is required to be expressed (Fiber 2013, p.63). At
this stage, Students are intended to use grammar references for spelling and struggle to
look for reading as a guide to organizing the content of the writing work. That is why the
reading section is offered ahead to reinforce ideas and learners might encounter a way to
clarify and polish her/his final work. As it has been stated, the choices of authentic reading
materials not only help students to increase the ability to develop the natural use of
language, skimming, scanning, and inferring meaning but also it promotes bases for the
written final product (Fiber 2013, p.61). The reading exercise applied in the kit, offers a
rationale amount of length, level, authentic adapted topic and material, a task,
encouragement to react and develop another skill, etc. These aspects are what make
evident the nature of reading skills, supported by suitable guidance from the teacher who
provides the environment and leads students to develop other skills and sub-skills, writing.
The context for the project and methodology:
As it is well known, context might affect the design and selection of materials. The
selection of appropriate material is conditioned by the student's context and setting. A deep
examination of the context leads to the identification of course objectives and, thus to the
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adoption of an appropriate syllabus and materials. Considering the students' characteristics
and needs, these students are between the ages of 13 and 14.
They are in the adolescence stage. In this stage, people experience cognitive and social
changes, which lead to more mature scenes. They are trying to create their own identities.
In this way, the context plays an important role. Thus, the cultural context influences them
including the culture and his context; therefore, as context is everywhere, it also has an
influence on everyone.
During, adolescence, people enhance their mental competence, including the ability to
reason effectively, problem solve, think abstractly and reflect, and plan for the future
(American Psychological Association, 2002). This is why the topic "going on vacation" has
been chosen. This topic allows them to talk about future and personal plans, personal
preferences, and free time activities which are what more attract them. Materials presented
to adolescent learners should be challenged so that they can think and solve problems. As
it has been stated, design and adaptation of materials is considered challenging especially
the most difficult area of communicative design because of the criteria, the problem of the
task, and especially to “…make an objective assessment of the criteria” (Funiber, 2013,
p.66). However, the development of the high level of thinking doesn't mean they can carry
out task by themselves. They still need the guidance of an adult to help them to get their
goals, in this case, the teacher.
Viability analysis
I do have all the resources that I might need in order to successfully carry out this project
Work planning:
[Please list tasks to be done and their corresponding timeline].
Bibliography
[Give a short bibliography on the topic. Include about 5 references related to the theoretical
background you proposed or studies like the one you plan to carry].
REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annett, J. (1969) Feedback and human behavior: The effects of knowledge of results,
incentives, and reinforcement on learning and performance. Penguin Books. London.
Binnie Smith, D. (1996). Teacher decision making in the adult ESL classroom in Freeman,
D.& Lenon, A. & Ball, P. Materials and Resources in EFL. Formación Universitaria,
Fundación Universitaria Iberoamericana (FUNIBER).
Brown, G., & Yule, G.(1983): Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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Ellis, R. (1998). The evaluation of communicative tasks. Chapter 9 in Tomlinson, B. (ed.)
(1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Funiber (2013:35-36) Evalutation of materials
Student compliance:
[Jose Omar Sanchez], who is enrolled in the academic program [Indicate the academic
program in which you are enrolled], agrees with the above-detailed proposal to complete
the Final Project and hereby commits himself/herself to carry out a personal and original
work.
In [Denver, USA], on [July [25th], [2023]
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