Can I evaluate the effectiveness of classroom lessons and activities based on student perception and is this perception connected to certain student characteristics such as age, gender, nationality and level of education?

Debra Blaine, RIRAL

Statement of problem: In my ESL classroom, I use many different methods of instruction. I evaluate these methods with formal and informal measures. After class, I reflect on what took place and add comments on my daily lesson plans. I keep the activities that work and put aside those that fall short.

I have very definite ideas about what works, however, I often wonder if my ideas about the language classroom and language learning activities are in sync with my adult students' ideas and beliefs. As educators, we think we know what is worthwhile, but do we ever ask our students? Do my students think that what we do in class is helpful? Are the classroom activities helping them to reach their goals?

Method: The first task was to develop a questionnaire that was easy to understand. I told my students about this project and enlisted their help. We brainstormed and came up with basic ideas, many of which appear in this survey. We decided on three headings: goals, frequency of English and classroom activities.

Even with their help, developing the questions was very difficult. To make things easier, I decided to have the questionnaire translated into Spanish for my Spanish speaking students (the majority). The other students were allowed to take the questionnaire home and use dictionaries or have family members help them if necessary.

In the cover eltter of the questionnaire, I requested that students be truthful. They weren't allowed to put their names anywhere on the questionnaire. It was important for all students to remain anonymous. I hoped that this would enable them to answer all questions truthfully.

This survey is not scientific. It only gives information for 19 students. Most of these students are in my class now, however, three of them moved to a higher level recently. The breakdown is as follows:

Once the survey was collected, analyzing the data became cumbersome. I quickly realized that there were too many variables and that the sample was not big enough. There was no way to analyze all the variables at one time, so each variable was analyzed separately. There was nothing I could do about the size of the sample (19 students), so I decided to continue with the project and see what information presented itself.

I developed a series of spreadsheets that took each variable into account. The information from each survey was plugged into these spreadsheets. Of all the variables, gender was the easiest to analyze. In age and years of education I took the median and divided the group above and below the median (age: 20-36 and 44-69; years of education: 4-8 years and 9 -14 years). Also, I decided not to use nationality because the sample was too small and diverse, with some nationalities only having one or two members. I also omitted questions A2 and A3 (goals) because most students did not or could not answer them (questions did not apply).

Below you will find each question with analysis and comments broken down by age, gender and level of education. Some questions required yes/no answers, while others asked for frequency information.

General findings: Specific findings and comments are included with each question, however, there are some general findings that are worth noting.

Goals:

Younger students, female students and students with lower levels of education were more interested in getting jobs.

Students with more education as well as women, again, were more interested in long range plans that included job training and higher education.

Women were more interested in learning to communicate with people in their community. They were more involved in helping their children, speaking English at banks and markets, etc.

All students were interested in becoming more fluent.

Frequency of English: As expected, most students spoke English at work and in their community only when they had to. Young students, women, and those with more education spoke English more often in various social situations. Unfortunately, students at this level still do most of their English speaking (reading and writing) in the classroom.

Classroom activities:

Students liked working in small and large groups. The more social the student, the more they liked this.

Culturally, some students preferred this. The Dominican students liked this more than the Chinese and Russian students.

Students enjoyed all the different types of activities mentioned in the survey, however, there were some interesting differences in the categories. Women enjoyed the interactive activities more than the men. Younger students liked the computer more than the older students. My comments and ideas about these differences appear with the questions.

Overview: As mentioned earlier, this was not a scientific survey. There were many variables and only a small sample of 19 students. Yet, I did get a sense that what I do in the classroom is in keeping with what my students believe is worthwhile. There were some differences by gender, age and level of education, but these differences can be attended to in the classroom (dividing students into groups with different tasks, giving students choices on how to acocmplish an assignment, etc.).

I was relieved to see that no student group hated any of the activities outright.

I will continue to use different types of activites in my class, but will be sure to keep in mind the answers given in this survey.

Bibliography

Draves, William, How to Teach Adults, The Learning Resources Network, Manhattan, Kanas, 1984.

Freeman, Larson, D., Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press, New York, NY 1986.

Valdes, J. (ed). Culture Bound: Bridging the Cutural Gap in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Archer, Carol, Culture Bump and Beyond, pp. 170-179

Condon, John C., .... So Near the United States, pp. 85-93

Lado, Robert, How to Compare Two Cultures, pp. 52-62

survey

tables : goals and frequency survey information

tables : classroom activites

tables: what is important in the classroom

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