The workbook is appropriate in providing
students with practice in writing
Strongly
disagree
5%
Disagree
24%
Strongly agree
5%
Agree
39%
Uncertain
27%
Figure 8. The respondents’ attitude concerning the chances given by the teaching material for
practice in writing
However, Korakovouni (2004), who carried out an evaluation of the activities
which are contained in the ‘Fun Way’ series, found that these do not provide chances
for real interaction. The fact that a large percentage of respondents consider such
activities as appropriate indicates their lack of knowledge concerning the principles
speaking activities need to be governed by. Johnson (1982) emphasises, among
others, that such activities should arise as a need for interlocutors to communicate
(information gap), in order to utilise, somehow, the information they have obtained
(task dependency principle), while their language is judged on its communicative
efficacy in relation to a specific task (correction for content), rather than on its
grammatical correctness. Moreover, Nation (1989), considers that effective speaking
activities are the ones which require from students to exchange information (split
information), in order to achieve a purpose (outcomes), which clearly describe what
each student is expected to do (roles) and ensure that all students will participate
(procedures), while they contain features which make the activity more difficult, and
thus more interesting, for students (challenges). The organization of the lesson in pairs
or small groups is multiply beneficial for students as it not only gives them the chance
to work within a relaxed and friendly environment, but also helps them to learn from
each other as, according to Allwright (1984: 158), the ‘collective linguistic resources’
of the group will always be greater than those of the individual’.
A final comment concerning the respondents’ answers in relation to the
teaching material they use is that, as it is shown in figures 3-8, there is a considerable
percentage of them (ranging from 22-32%) who feel uncertain to express an opinion.
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