Can I tell you about oral language in Mexican primary schools?

In our training in August, a Fulbright alum presented his experience studying Korean. He was the first American (typically known for poor study skills) to win the oratory prize for beginning students. His presentation was on The Seven Temples, and the way he won was by practicing… with everyone. He would walk around the city and approach random strangers: “Can I tell you about the 7 famous temples?”

                That’s how I feel about my current research project. I finally made a decision about how I want to focus my research, and I’m telling EVERYONE – teachers, principals, fellow grantees, friends, parents, friends’ visiting parents, teachers’ center coordinators, etc. This has helped me 1) get feedback and 2) organize my own thoughts and ideas.

So… “Can I talk you about oral language in Mexican primary schools?”

Project objectives:

1) Describe indicators of strong oral language at different age/grade levels, considering the national learning standards and within the areas of vocabulary, structure, and dialogue.

2) Identify academic contexts that promote the development of oral expression (teacher questioning, social structures, learning activities).

Background/Justification:

                Oral language development is critical in the formation of literacy skills. This is especially true for second language learners, who tend to develop vocabulary and grammatical structures orally and then transfer them to writing. However, strong oral language skills have value in and of themselves. They are included in both Mexican and US learning standards, although Mexican education has traditionally placed more emphasis on oral production – choral reading, recitation, etc.

                In contrast to reading and writing, there are not many tools to measure oral expression, and this makes it difficult to determine strengths and weaknesses, establish academic goals, and measure progress. An analysis of speaking in various school contexts will permit teachers (and potentially even the students themselves) to perform these tasks.

Audience:

Mexican and US dual language primary school teachers

Hypotheses:

*Social curriculum (like the one at the private school, Pequeño Sol, where I observe) supports academic language development.

*Participation in a Philosophy for Children program (again, Pequeño Sol) develops oral language abilities.

*Oral language projects promote language development.

*Graded speaking activities elevate the status of oral language among students and teachers.

*Socio-economic class and education level of parents affects the level of oral language of children.

                *These factors also affect the register and complexity of language used by teachers.

                *Advanced discourse of a few children can elevate the discourse of a whole class.

Methodology:

1. Collect audio recordings from different schools, grades, and subject materials.

2. Transcribe recordings.

3. Analyze transcriptions for vocabulary, structure, and dialogue. Look for patterns. Identify examples of discourse that exemplify oral language learning standards.

4. Design a rubric or collection of exemplars to use in evaluating oral language.

5. In examples of high levels of oral language, analyze the context – type of activity, role of the teacher, evident routines – that could have supported language production.

6. Summarize conclusions about context