Comparing two instruction-giving (IG) sequences by pre-service primary EFL teachers, the talk seeks to identify reasons for the respective (in)effectiveness of the IG and to derive implications for teacher training such as the crucial role of prior planning, sequencing, precise verbal delivery, organization of social forms, and use of artefacts.
This talk presents a comparison of two instruction-giving sequences delivered by two pre-service teachers in German primary EFL (English as Foreign Language) classes. Data was collected in two 3rd-grade classrooms in Germany at the end of the school year, i.e., after the learners’ first year of EFL instruction. In either extract, the tasks for which the instructions were given (‘target activities’) consisted in the production of a short text subsequent to model provision by the trainee teacher. While the first sequence was ineffective in that it culminated in the abortion of the intended activity, the second resulted in the learners' successful completion of the target activity. By comparing the trainees’ delivery of instruction-giving and the unfolding of classroom events as well as their prior planning of their instructions in the form of their lesson plans, the presentation seeks to identify possible reasons for the respective success and failure of the instruction-giving sequences and to derive implications for teacher training. The findings point to the crucial role of the prior planning of the sequencing, of the verbal delivery (including detailedness and precision of information concerning the target activity), of the organization of social forms and of the use of artefacts for the success of instruction-giving in the EFL classroom.
