Exploring task based learning an reading to learn pedagogy to encourage fourth graders’ participation in english classes at a public school

Abstract

This paper reports on a trainee teacher‟s meaningful experience during his professional practice. It is a study carried out with elementary students at a public school located in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). I aimed at encouraging their participation in English classes through activities following Willis‟ (2016) Task-Based Learning framework, and Rose‟s (2005) Reading-to-Learn pedagogy. The first step was to identify a common problematic situation among the participants: they were demotivated in English language learning. Subsequently, this paper`s author conducted research on learners‟ motivation to get informed about the area and to have a better understanding of the problem. Then, while the TBL and R2L methodological cycles were developed in classroom, teacher observations focused on those students with a low-frequency participation. The results show that most of the students got motivated to participate and they become engaged in the classroom activities when Task-Based Learning and Reading-to-Learn pedagogy are used in their English classes.