Enhancing student talking time while teaching grammar at the secondary level

Abstract

This internship report reflects the scenario of theoretical utopia and their practical implications in a challenging environment of a large, exam driven secondary level classroom at Jamila Khatun Lalbagh Girls’ High School, where the prominent way of teaching is traditional Grammar Translation Method (GTM) oriented. The report aims to enhance Student Talking Time (STT) by using Learner-centric approach, Elicitation techniques, Krashen’s “Affective Filter Hypothesis,” Vygotsky's “Zone of Proximal Development” and Bruner’s “Scaffolding.” From my initial observation, I concluded that the current approach of teacher spoon-feeding students just to excel in exams is not effective for the learners in terms of language proficiency. During my three-month internship period, I planned my lessons according to the mentioned theories to record the improvement. I found that if students are given enough motivation, opportunity and structured guidance, they can flourish within themselves without much dependency on the teacher even in the high pressured, time constraint scenario. The report argues that, even if there is an anticipation of completing the syllabus on time, student-centered methods will always be a better path to achieve high language acquisition among learners.