Using Morning Circle to Support Chinese First-Grade English-as-a-Foreign-Language Learners' Communicative Speaking Skills Development

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: From Curriculum Textbooks to Morning Circles: Research on English Language Teaching Across the Globe (Table 41)

Abstract

Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students usually display limited oral English proficiency with a highly restricted repertoire of communicative speaking competence. To address this issue, a series of English Morning Circle activities were developed, localized, and implemented in a Chinese elementary school where circle activities were conducted in a stress-free environment, providing students with opportunities for interactive listening, oral communication, and practicing socialization skills. Thirty-one teachers and 357 parents were trained before the intervention and their observations and perspectives towards the acceptability, effectiveness, and feasibility of Morning Circle were collected and analyzed. Our findings showed Morning Circle was well-received as an essential tool to empower communicative speaking skills and the development of social and emotional competence.

Authors

• Henan Zhang, Texas A&M University

• Fuhui Tong, Texas A&M University

• Rafael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University

• Beverly J. Irby, Texas A&M University