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Results of the IT materials piloting |
REPORT
on the results of the piloting of the Italian language didactic
materials
The overall duration of the piloting phase covered the period of 5
months. It started on November 15, 2009 and was officially over on
April 25,2010.
With the help of the partners and the associated partners we invited 26
teachers and trainers belonging to 5 countries (IT, LT, MD, RO e SK) to
pilot the LIS method. Only half of them gave us back the questionnaire
filled in. Therefore the report will relate only to them.
First of all we have to notice that the 12 institutions where the
teachers piloted the materials are quite various and addressed to
different targets: this choice was made in order to be able to assess
the materials and their impacts on different kind of learners in a wider
dimension.
The list of institutions, including a primary school, four state
secondary schools, three universities, one Academy and three language
schools, is the following:
Università per stranieri di
Jazykové centrum, Facoltà di Filosofia, Università Costantino il
Filosofo,
Cattedra di Romanistica, Sezione di Italianistica, Facoltà di
Lettere e Filosofia, Università Costantino il Filosofo, Nitra (SK)
ALIA - Accademia Lingua Italiana – Via s. M. delle Rose, Assisi (IT)
Liceo Miron Costin di Iasi (RO)
Istituto alberghiero
Piaristické gymnázium sv. J. Kalazanského v Nitre, Piaristická ul.
6, 949 01
Scuola Miroslava, Miroslava, (provincia di
Palazzo dei Bambini, B-dul Carol I nr. 2 ,
Fundaţia EuroEd,
E - KU Institute of Language and Intercultural Communication -
The Public Service Language Centre,
The second point is related to the number and the age of the learners.
The total number of students involved is 469 , wide enough to give us
significant results, also considering that, in relation to their age,
the distribution is quite homogeneous in the different age range. (see
graph).
The learners’ language competence, referred to the Common European
Framework of Reference, as results from the questionnaires, generally
between A2 and B1, though we have the A1 level
in a case (with pupils aged 6-14) and there was the
B1-B2 level
in other three cases (with university students).
In another case with university students and adults the level was even
C1.
The number of songs tested has been very various with an average value
superior to four (4,2) with a minimum of two and a maximum of 9.
Furthermore
reading the questionnaires we see that all teachers gave positive
answers to the following questions:
Were the aims of the test
implementation of the musical approach clear enough before you started
your work?
How did your pupils react to the
musical approach?
It is quite
meaningful to read some of their answers:
This approach was liked as new in relation to the traditional lessons.
Thanks to the singing and the video-karaoke the pupils are able to
remember more easily various linguistic structures. Furthermore the wide
range of activities was particularly liked as starting from a song it is
possible to propose many other activities rich in content.
The students reacted with enthusiasm, interest and pleasant involvement.
The musical approach contributed to reduce the emotional filter and
therefore to swing away from the anxiety-provoking components thus
increasing motivation. The LIS method was appreciated by the students
also because the lesson continues and repeats itself also after
leaving the classroom as the students very often download on
their MP3 player the songs used in class and little by little, playing
them again and again, are able to sing them with all or almost all the
words. Lexical elements and morpho-syntactic structures are learnt by
the pupils through the singing and the memorization of music, melody and
lyrics. As a consequence of the activities carried out in the classroom,
the students return to the text in a real and totally conscious way.
The learners love the songs a lot, they prefer to listen to them,
discover the words and sing.
My
university students reacted with interest and motivation, especially
when they had the opportunity to create their own learning materials,
choosing the song according to
their taste.
This approach increased the learners’ motivation, their difficulties of
learning
were near to
disappear and they made many questions on the social context.
I believe that a song can be proposed in different moments and scopes of a language course
to
tackle a well defined
morpho-syntactic and/or lexical and/or cultural
topic
straight through a song;
to
strengthen the knowledge of the
morpho-syntactic/lexical structures in the lyrics of the song, proposed
as consolidation;
to
break up the information flow;
to be
used in the linguistic multimedia laboratory;
to
present and/or close examine (specially at advanced levels) particular
aspects of civilization and culture.
All
teachers declared that the LIS method is suitable for their teaching.
Furthermore it is interesting to know some comments to the question “What
did you learn through the piloting? Comment briefly on the changes
produced by this approach at professional level.”:
The piloting has been very useful. The teaching materials and the video
karaoke are a real help for the teachers.
I
have understood the cultural value of the lyrics of a song.
I
was impressed in particular by the cultural proposal a song may offer,
giving a very good chance of starting a debate and making comparisons.
I
have been able to try something different, for example, teaching Italian
grammar as if by playing a game.
I
have had the opportunity to carry out various activities linked by a
leading thread helpful to shift from one activity to the other in the
same unit, useful to reinforce knowledge.
I
have learnt many new words, which are not usually included in written
texts.
I
demonstrated the project and its materials at a teacher training
seminar. In the follow-up discussion there was a mutual agreement on the
positive sides of using songs ( incl. popular songs) for
teaching/learning purposes. What is more in LIS website
– the songs are supplemented with lots of activities –
time-savers for teachers.
The indicators
which were singled out
to
measure the impact on the classes were the obvious enthusiasm and the
interest shown by the students when they “accept” to learn
by means of a song. Their liking is confirmed when, during a
break or a second listening, they already hum the words (even if only
the refrain)
It is also
important to notice that all the experimenters have maintained that
they will use this method in the future. One has also added that he
will widen the offer by using more modern songs; at the most he will
make activities and levels correspond. They have all maintained that
they will recommend this method to their colleagues.
The following statements come from the motivations given
I
would recommend it for the type of methodology, planning and choice of
objectives. In my opinion
it
is obvious that this method must be applied
in connection with the contribution the song may give to the
teaching/learning process of language and culture.
I
warmly recommend LIS because it relaxes the atmosphere in the classroom
thus helping students to learn even the dullest topics; all of us can
identify with the emotions conveyed by a song which may lead to a
straight forward
approach to
Italian culture and civilisation.
I
would certainly recommend the use of the music approach and
the materials in the website because I think the method is highly
motivating for the students. Moreover,
the site includes materials at different levels, which can be
downloaded, ready for exploitation in the class, complete in their
treatment of linguistic, historical and cultural aspects.
I
appreciated the approach because it may be useful in my University
environment, for example with the Erasmus students and with Chinese
learners.
The activities are interesting and useful for the students, who get
pleasantly involved in activities so different from the usual ones.
(Learning with pleasure is very important, in my opinion, because it
helps
remember what one
learns; besides, practice becomes pleasant when one has to do with
music)
Not only do songs help the students to learn the language, but they also
help them to know the soul, the life, the history of a country
Learners love songs and thus learning Italian becomes easier and nicer
The LIS method improves the atmosphere in class and “awakes” even the
least motivated students
I
believe that all the materials proposed
perfectly fit a type of
methodology favouring games
and a light-hearted approach, which may be of great help in the
teaching of a foreign language at all ages and at all QCER levels.
With the support of modern technology and the teaching exploitation
chosen, I think this material is “almost” perfect
I
would give more room to acquiring knowledge (above all grammar points)
I
would diversify the themes a bit more (most songs refer to the same
grammar problem or communicative situation)
I
would favour speaking more
I
would introduce some productive activities as well, making them
gradually more complex in relation to the students’ levels. I have felt
at times that the exercises were particularly easy and schematic. I
would introduce more opportunities for the students to reflect on the
language structures, giving them
activities which may encourage them to use the words, the
expressions just learnt or even the rules in different contexts.
To
work with more recent songs
To
choose the songs with a great care.
On
the basis of the song I make up many exercises connected to vocabulary
and grammar. For instance I put some dots in the place of words or verbs
to make the listening more challenging for the students who have to
identify the missing words.
Make the website more user-friendly less academic. Some didactic
materials can be presented in a “fancier’ way; they will win from a nice
print/font etc.
But the
content is very good!!!!
Five
teachers answered the question: Have you got any more comments? These
are their answers:
I
am happy I found the time and I could pilot the Languagebysongs project
as it gave me the opportunity to introduce in my teaching/learning
process an ideal means to spread the Italian language and culture in the
world.
I
hope that some more songs will be introduced. However, thanks for those
already on the site; they have been of great help.
It
is a very good initiative
Songs are like diving into the language, the culture, the history, the
way a nation or a particular language community work. I believe that
teaching a language also through songs
is a wonderful teaching resource.
“I used the materials for a seminar and two
workshops within REDINTER project (www.redinter.eu).
The LIS materials provide wonderful possibilities to developing
Intercomprehension skills and competences: both recordings and texts are
easily adjusted to teaching learners to understand another language on
the basis of their mother tongue and their prior linguistic experience.
We used lots of “cultural information” encoded’ in lyrics, also
other facts about the countries of origins, authors, singers. The
materials are great!!!! Thank you!!!”
To sum up briefly
the results of the questionnaires we can say that both the rationale
behind the project and the way the materials were organized and
developed have been appreciated by the teachers involved in the
experimentation. They have stressed that the light-hearted approach and
game-like quality of the activities are an ideal means to make learners
relax and learn without almost being aware of taking part in a school
activity. The fact itself of doing something different from the usual
routine has increased motivation and has been a great asset to the
teaching and learning process.