MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION FINAL THESIS BRNO 2014 Mgr. Radka Šebesta Čížková Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature Reading and Writing in English Lessons Via Postcrossing Final Thesis Brno 2014 Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková Mgr. Radka Šebesta Čížková Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. Souhlasím, aby práce byla uložena na Masarykově univerzitě v Brně v knihovně Pedagogické fakulty a zpřístupněna ke studijním účelům. Declaration I declare that I wrote this final thesis on my own and I used only the sources listed in the bibliography. I agree with the placing of this thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education at the Masaryk University and with the access for academic purposes. Brno 1. 8. 2014 Mgr. Radka Šebesta Číţková Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Naděţda Vojtková for her kind help, valuable advice and comments as well as for her encouragement and support through the whole work on my thesis. I would also like to thank my pupils who willingly took part in the project. I would like to thank my husband and the whole family for their patience and supporive approach regarding my thesis. Radka Šebesta Číţková Abstract: This final thesis focuses on language teaching methodology and it researches students‟ attitudes to reading and writing in English. The theoretical part provides some valuable facts that confirm the importance of reading and writing in language learning. It also deals with enhancing students‟ motivation in these areas and it emphasizes the importance of giving feedback on students‟ activities. In the practical part, I introduce Postcrossing project, the way in which I worked with the project and its other possible use in more detail. In my action research I analyze two questionnaires which are focused on students‟ attitudes to reading, writing and out- of-school activities in the first questionnaire, and on practical experience with Postcrossing project in the expanding questionnaire. The results of my research should confirm or refute my assumptions about reading and writing before the research and they should show students‟ attitudes to out-of-school activities, namely to Postcrossing project itself. Key words: Reading, writing, motivation, feedback, out-of-school activities, Postcrossing project. Anotace: Tato závěrečná práce má metodický charakter a zabývá se postojem ţáků ke čtení a psaní v hodinách anglického jazyka. Teoretická část poskytuje jistá fakta, která potvrzují důleţitost čtení a psaní ve výuce cizího jazyka. Tato část závěrečné práce se také zabývá podněcováním motivace ke čtení a psaní a důleţitostí poskytovat zpětnou vazbu ţákům v těchto aktivitách. V praktické části je představen projekt Postcrossing, způsob, jakým jsem s ním pracovala, jakoţto i další moţné způsoby vyuţítí tohoto projektu ve výuce. Můj akční výzkum analyzuje dva dotazníky, z nichţ první se zabývá postojem studentů ke čtení a psaní v anglickém jazyce a k mimoškolním aktivitám. Druhý (rozšiřující) dotazník pak zkoumá praktickou zkušenost ţáků s projektem Postcrossing. Výsledky výzkumu by měly potvrdit či vyvrátit mé předpoklady týkající se postoje studentů ke čtení a psaní v anglickém jazyce, a dále pak jejich vztahu k mimoškolním aktivitám, zejména k projektu samotnému. Klíčová slova: Čtení, psaní, motivace, zpětná vazba, mimoškolní aktivity, projekt Postcrossing. Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………10 I. THEORETICAL PART…………………………………………….............12 1. Reading………………………………………………………………...12 1.1 The purpose of reading……………………………………….....12 1.2 How we read……………………………………………………13 1.3 Intensive reading………………………………………………..13 1.3.1 Non-linguistic response to the text………..…………….14 1.3.2 Linguistic response to the text…………………………..15 1.4 Extensive reading……………………………………………….16 1.4.1 Choosing the authentic text……………………………..16 1.4.2 The purpose of the text chosen………………………….17 1.4.3 Materials………………………………………………...17 2. Writing…………………………..……………………………………..19 2.1 The process of writing…………………………………………..19 2.2 Why and what we write…………………………………………20 2.3 Teaching writing………………………………………………..20 2.3.1 Presenting the task and writing process………………...21 2.3.1.1 Pre-writing activities…………………………21 2.3.1.2 While-writing activities……………………...22 2.3.1.3 Post-writing activities…...…………………...22 2.4 Writing in class…………………………………………………22 2.4.1 Brainstorming…………………………………………...23 2.4.2 Text-starts……………………………………………….23 2.4.3 Fast writing……………………………………………...24 3. Giving feedback………………………………………………………..25 3.1 Giving feedback on reading…………………………………….25 3.2 Responses to writing……………………………………………26 3.3 Forms of feedback………………………………………………27 4. Motivation……………………………………………………………...28 4.1 Different kinds of motivation…………………………………...28 4.2 Motivation for reading and writing……………………………..29 II. PRACTICAL PART………………………………………………………...30 1. School profile…………………………………………………………..30 2. Class profile……………………………………………………………32 3. Postcrossing Project…………………………………………………...33 3.1 What is Postcrossing?..................................................................33 3.2 How does it work?.......................................................................33 3.3 Why to use Postcrossing at school?.............................................34 3.4 Postcrossing in English classes…………………………………34 4. My assumptions before the project…………………………………..39 5. Aims of the research…………………………………………………..40 6. Research methodology and organization…………………………….41 7. Research interpretation……………………………………………….42 8. Further use of Postcrossing in the lessons…………………………...45 9. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..48 Resumé……………………………………………………………………………...49 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...51 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………..53 Appendix 1: First (innitial) questionnaire for students Appendix 2: Second (expanding) questionnaire for students Appendix 3: The analysis of results with tables and graphs Appendix 4: Teacher‟s diary - Postcrossing project Appendix 5: First Postcrossing wallboard Appendix 6: An example of Postcrossing profile Appendix 7: Short introduction of Postcrossing for students Appendix 8: New Postcrossing wallboard Appendix 9: Participants of Postcrossing project Appendix 10: Examples of postcards received Appendix 11: An example of letter written by the 7th grader Appendix 12: What students think about being a member of Postcrossing Introduction The final thesis deals with the issue of reading and writing in learning English. These two skills are essential not only in second language acquisition but also in our daily lives. Both of them are time demanding which means that they cannot be trained only in the lessons. I would like to focus on benefits of these skills in the theoretical part and introduce Postcrossing Project, which focuses on reading and writing, in the practical part. During my teaching practice, I have observed that reading and writing skills are not very much practiced at upper-primary school. Reading abilities, such as correct pronunciation or intonation and stress are trained well, but reading as a kind of communicative activity is not presented very successfully. Students often do not uderstand what they read, they feel lost if they do not understand some of vocabulary in the sentence, most of them cannot predict or guess the meaning. Reading is presented as a 'technique' not as a 'skill of communication'. Modern teachers should be able to show their students that reading can be pleasure and fun, but teachers have to use efficient methods for generating their students‟ motivation. Approach to writing is very similar to reading. Writing is usually used as a tool for doing grammar exercises and training correct spelling of vocabulary. Writing in a creative way almost does not exist at primary school and lots of students have problems to create a sentence without a pattern given. They are not pushed to think, they just do the exercises. In my thesis I would like to prove the importace of developing reading and writing skills at primary school and propose possible ways of motivation for children. I will also introduce some non-traditional ways of giving feedback to reading and writing. The theory will be compared with the practice in the practical part of the thesis. Practical part deals mostly with Postcrossing Project which I have found as a useful tool for developing students‟ motivation for reading and creative writing. I would like to analyse and comment on the results and deficiencies which have occured in the research. I would like to propose possible ways how to use the Postcrossing Project at language teaching. The aim of the thesis is to show that training reading and writing has also other benefits apart from the improvement in these two areas. Using alternative 10 methods in teaching these skills is, as well as good motivation and giving feedback, good way of enriching teaching and learning English and make it fun both for students and teachers. 11 I. Theoretical part "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin 1. Reading Reading is a part of our everyday life. We need reading to get information or we can just read