T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNĐVERSĐTESĐ
SOSYAL BĐLĐMLER ENSTĐTÜSÜ
YABANCI DĐLLER EĞĐTĐMĐ BÖLÜMÜ
Đ
NGĐLĐZCE ÖĞRETMENLĐĞĐ ANA BĐLĐM DALI
ENHANCING WRITING AND IMPROVISATIONAL
SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH FAIRY TALES IN EFL
PREPARATORY CLASSROOMS
Đ
LKNUR KOSAL
YÜKSEK LĐSANS TEZĐ
Danışman
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR
TO THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
This
thesis
titled
as
ENHANCING
WRITING
AND
IMPROVISATIONAL SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH FAIRY TALES
IN
EFL
PREPARATORY
CLASSROOMS
and
presented
by Đlknur KOSAL has been approved as a thesis of Master of Arts in English
Language Teaching Program of Foreign Languages Education Department.
Examining committee members:
Member (Supervisor): Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR
Member: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ece SARIGÜL
Member: Assist. Prof. Dr. Nazlı GÜNDÜZ
ABSTRACT
ENHANCING WRITING AND IMPROVISATIONAL SPEAKING SKILLS
THROUGH FAIRY TALES IN EFL PREPARATORY CLASSROOMS
KOSAL, Đlknur
M.A., Department of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR
September 2008, 104 pages
The purpose of our study is to show how to apply fairy tales as additional materials besides course books for EFL classroom use especially to enhance students’ productive skills in target language, to open their minds in a creative way, to help them to be active and voluntary while guiding them through the process of how to write and speak in the target language and how it works.
In language classrooms, teachers unfold several uses of language and lots of opportunities of grammar, vocabulary, language patterns and so forth. Even if students comprehend many things about target language, they find it hard to generate their ideas through writing and speaking. To illustrate, when teachers want students to talk or write even about topics that require simple tenses and words of target language such as their childhood, hometown or friends, they generally say that there is nothing in their mind to write, or they don’t know what they are to tell. It seems likely that this circumstance doesn’t change in students’ mother tongue and it should be considered in the differential reasons. It can be assumed that lack of imagination and creativity ability may partially appear to be an element of this situation of finding nothing to write or speak.
It is important to denote that the word improvisation in our study suggests the ability to make or produce new things extemporaneously on preexisting knowledge and that the word creativity suggests the ability to make or produce new things using the imagination on preexisting knowledge. The knowledge should be accepted as the fairy tales here.
This study included two different preparatory classes which were assumed at the same level as they were all at the very beginning of intermediate classes in School of Foreign Languages at Selcuk University. One of them was chosen as the experimental group and the other was as the control group. They were compared in terms of their productive -speaking and writing- skills.
Both the experimental group and the control group had been pre-tested by speaking and writing scales before applying the suggested model for creative writing and improvisational speaking. Students weren’t informed about the pre-testing and post-testing processes in order to get reliable, exact and actual data. Recording with a digital camera was a requisite for catching the details of their speaking. Students had been recorded a great many of times before the pre-test, to minimize the anxiety of speaking in front of a camera.
A suggested model has four steps including introductory activity, presentation of the story and improvisational speaking and creative writing activities. The activities were designed due to task-based classroom environment. After applying the model in the experimental group, they took a posttest. Then the comparison results of experimental and control groups were analyzed.
The results show a significant progress in the experimental group. This progress can be explained as the effect of the fairy tales in enhancing writing and speaking skills in EFL classrooms.
Key Words: fairy tales, teaching writing, teaching speaking, creativity, improvisation, EFL classrooms.
ÖZET
YABANCI DĐL HAZIRLIK SINIFLARINDA
YAZMA VE DOĞAÇLAMA KONUŞMA BECERĐLERĐNĐN PERĐ
MASALLARI KULLANILARAK GELĐŞTĐRĐLMESĐ
KOSAL, Đlknur
Yüksek Lisans, Đngilizce Öğretmenliği Anabilim Dalı Tez Danışmanı: Yrd. Doç Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR
Eylül 2008, 104 sayfa
Bu çalışmanın amacı; yabancı dil hazırlık sınıflarındaki öğrencilerin yaratıcı yazma ve doğaçlama konuşma yeteneklerinin geliştirilmesi, zihinlerinin açılması ve konuşma-yazma derslerine gönüllü katılımlarının sağlanması için; peri masallarının nasıl kullanılabileceğini ve derslere olan katkısını göstermektir.
Dil sınıflarındaki öğrenciler pek çok dilbilgisi kuralını bilseler dahi, çok zorlamayacak konularda bile konuşmak ve yazmak istememektedirler. Hedef dilde düşünmek ve bir şeyler ortaya çıkarmak öğrencilere pek kolay gelmemektedir. Memleketinizden ya da arkadaşlarınızdan bahsedin denildiğinde öğrencilerin ne söyleyeceklerini bilememelerinin sebebi, hayal etme ve zihinde tasarlama yeteneklerinin eksikliği olabilir. Masallar hem çok zevkli işlenebilen, hem de yaratıcı düşünmeyi kolaylaştıran, yabancı dil sınıflarına da çok uygun olan değerli materyallerdir.
Burada doğaçlama ve yaratıcılık kelimeleri, öğrencilerde zaten var olan bilgiye ilaveten yeni şeyler ortaya çıkarmak anlamıyla kullanılacaktır. Bu bilgi masallardır ve masalların katkısıyla öğrenciler özgün hikâyeler üreteceklerdir.
Bu çalışma; Selçuk Üniversitesi, Yabancı Diller Yüksek Okulu’nda aynı seviyede oldukları kabul edilen iki farklı hazırlık sınıfıyla yapılmıştır. Sınıflardan birisi deney, diğeri kontrol grubu olarak seçilmişlerdir. Grupların konuşma ve yazma yeteneklerinin ölçülmesi maksadıyla, biri konuşma diğeri yazma ile ilgili olan iki ön test yapılmıştır. Sonuçların sağlıklı olması için öğrencilere bu testlerin sebepleri hakkında bilgi verilmemiştir. Literatürde elde edilen bilgilere göre; doğaçlama konuşma ve yaratıcı yazma ile ilgili ders planları ve bunlara uygun etkinlikler hazırlanmıştır. Oluşturulan ders modeli; konuya giriş etkinliği, masalın sunumu, konuşma ve yazma etkinlikleri olarak dört bölüme ayrılır. Bu plana göre etkinlikler yapıldıktan sonra gruplar tekrar aynı şekilde test edilmiştir.
Sonuçlar deney gruplarında önemli bir ilerlemenin olduğunu göstermiştir. Bu ilerleme, masalların yabancı dil hazırlık sınıflarında doğaçlama konuşma ve yaratıcı yazma üzerinde etkili olduğu şeklinde düşünülebilir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: peri masalları, konuşma ve yazma öğretimi, yaratıcılık, doğaçlama, Đngilizce yabancı dil sınıfları
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Gülbün Onur for her valuable guidance and close support in the preparation level of this thesis.
I also would like to extent my grateful to my little daughter, Pınar Kosal, my husband Kemal Kosal and my family for their patience, support and continuous encouragement.
I am also grateful to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đsmail Kınacı for his help on statistical analysis of the results.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ...…...i Abstract ...…...ii Özet ……….iv Acknowledgements …...vi CHAPTER I - Introduction 1.1.Background of the study…...1
1.2.Statement of the problem …...1
1.2.1. Sub-problems…...2
1.3.Hypotheses...2
1.4.Purpose of the study…...3
1.5.Assumptions…...3
1.6.Limitations…...3
CHAPTER II-Review of Literature 2.1.Fairy tales …...5
2.1.1.The Definition of Fairy tale.…...5
2.1.2.. Teaching with Fairy Tales in EFL Classroom...6
2.2.Creativity …...10
2.2.1.The Meaning of Creativity...11
2.2.2.Literature Review About Creativity...11
2.2.2.1. The Creative Product...11
2.2.2.2. The Process During The Creation...11
2.2.2.3. Personal Characteristics of Creative People...13
2.2.2.4. Creativity and Environment...14
2.3.Improvisation...16
2.3.1.Definition of Improvisation...16
2.3.2.Improvisation from Different Perspectives...16
2.3.2.1.Rhetorical speaking...16
2.3.2.2.Jazz Improvisation...17
2.3.2.3.Improvisation and Drama...18
2.3.3.Relevance in Teaching Speaking ...18
2.3.4.Productive Skills...20
CHAPTER III- Methodology 3.1.Experimental Design...21 3.1.1.Experimental Group...21 3.1.2.Control Group...21 3.2.Pre-testing...22 3.2.1.Speaking Pre-testing...22 3.2.2.Writing Pre-testing...22
3.3.Applying the Suggested Model...22
3.4.Post-testing...23 3.4.1.Speaking Post-testing...23 3.4.2.Writing Post-testing...23 3.5.Scales...23 3.5.1.Writing Rubric...23 3.5.2.Speaking Scales...23
3.6.Analysis of the Data...23
CHAPTER IV- Applying the Suggested Model 4.1.Designing the Standard Model...24
4.1.1.Introductory Activity...24
4.1.3.Improvisation Exercises...25
4.1.4.Creative Writing Exercises...28
CHAPTER V-Results and Data Analysis 5.1.Speaking...31
5.1.1.The comparison of improvisational speaking pre-test and post-test results of the experimental group...31
5.1.2.The comparison of speaking pre-test and post-test results of control group...33
5.2.Writing...35
5.2.1.The comparison of creative writing pre-test and post-test results of experimental group...35
5.2.2.The comparison of creative writing pre-test and post-test results of control group...38
5.3.The comparison results of experimental and control groups...40
5.3.1.Speaking results...40
5.3.2.Writing results...41
5.4.Analysis of the results...41
CHAPTER VI-Conclusion 6.1.Summary and discussion of the findings...42
Appendices ...47
Appendix A...47
Unit 1- Little Red Riding Hood...47
Unit 2- Cinderella...53
Unit 3-Snow White and Seven Dwarfs...57
Appendix B...68
Writing results of experimental group...68
Pretest ...68
Post test...69
Writing results of control group...70
Pretest ...70
Post test... 71
Appendix C...72
Speaking results of experimental group...72
Pretest ...72
Post test... 73
Speaking results of control group...74
Pretest... 74
Post test... 75
Appendix D...76
Samples of the tests...76
Appendix E... 81
Samples of students’ writing test...81
Some examples from students’ tales...89
Appendix G...95
The Reviews of Students Appreciations...95
Appendix H...97 A Form...97 Appendix I...98 An E-mail ...98 References...99 LIST OF TABLES Table 1...31 Table 2 ...32 Table 3...32 Table 4...32 Table 5...33 Table 6...33 Table 7...33 Table 8...34 Table 9...34 Table 10...34 Table 11...35
Table 12...35 Table 13...36 Table 14...36 Table 15...36 Table 16...36 Table 17...37 Table 18...37 Table 19...37 Table 20...38 Table 21...38 Table 22...38 Table 23...39 Table 24...39 Table 25...39 Table 26...39 Table 27...40 Table 28...40 Table 29...40 Table 30...41
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION 1.0. Presentation:
This thesis is an attempt to suggest a model for enhancing writing and speaking skills through fairy tale activities in EFL classrooms. In this chapter, the background of the study, the problems, the hypotheses, the aim, the assumptions and finally the limitations are stated.
1.1. Background of the Study:
In language teaching, it is essential to improve foreign language learners’ four basic skills- reading, writing, speaking and listening in target language. Though the course books we use generally provide all those basic skills, we need supplementary materials in some circumstances. In the study writing and speaking skills are issued concerning with the following aspects: Firstly, two skills- writing and speaking- are productive skills and learners may need somewhat creativity ability to provide them. Creativity allows learners to utilize the knowledge gained as they want. Fairy tales can be used for this aim thanks to their characteristics. Secondly, a teacher, who desires to take learners’ attention to the lesson and to make it enjoyable while teaching those skills, requires ideas that strengthen students’ enthusiasm and applicable materials for this aspiration. Consequently, fairy tales are precious from these aspects and convenient as well. We have designed some activities, exercises and sample lessons on creative writing and improvisational speaking in order to demonstrate how to utilize fairy tales in EFL classrooms and searched their effects on students’ learning and improvement of lessons.
1.2. Problem:
While teachers want students to talk or write even about simple topics such as their childhood, hometown or friends, they generally say that there is nothing in their mind to write or they don’t know what they are going to tell. It seems likely that this
circumstance doesn’t change in students’ mother tongue and it should be considered in the differential reasons. Additionally, it is one of the essential points to be enthusiastic about language learning to succeed. Nevertheless, language learners may lose their motivation swiftly. To avoid from this trouble educators generally need enjoyable course materials. Fairy tales are loved by everybody that’s why it is considered that they are pretty convenient to provide the long lasting motivation for both teachers and students in language teaching. After having the students prepared through fairy tales in a creative atmosphere,
Problem 1:
Can teaching English language through fairy tales enhance their productive skills- writing and speaking?
Problem 2:
Can teaching English language through fairy tales help students to open their minds in a creative way?
Problem 3:
Can teaching English language through fairy tales help them to be active and voluntary in speaking and writing classes?
1.3. Hypotheses: Hypothesis1:
Improvements in the students’ writing and speaking skills are to be expected, when they are given extra fairy tale activities in addition to their regular class work.
Hypothesis 2:
Enhancement in students’ imaginative self-expression is to be expected through creative writing and improvisational speaking activities.
Hypothesis 3:
Teaching through fairy tales will lead more students in the experimental group to voluntary use of productive skills of the target language.
1.4. The Aim of the Study:
The purpose of our study is to show how to apply fairy tales as additional materials besides course books for EFL classroom use to enhance students’ productive skills in target language, to improve their self-expression abilities, to increase enthusiasm of learners while guiding them through the process of how to write and speak in the target language and how it works.
1.5. Assumptions:
The assumptions below will be considered through out this study.
• It was assumed that the students in the experimental and control groups were all at the same level as they were at the very beginning of the intermediate level in the school.
• It was also taken into consideration that fairy tales were loved by everybody and hence it was pretty convenient to provide a variety of classroom activities for both teachers and students in language teaching.
• It can be assumed that lack of imagination and creativity ability may partially appear to be an element of the situation of students’ finding nothing to write or speak.
1.6. Study has the following limitations:
• The activities designed to apply to the classes are only in the matter of certain skills- writing and speaking.
• We have designed some activities, exercises and sample lessons from certain fairy tales. However, other tales may be adapted by instructors through activating their creativity.
• Carrying out the study at a local institution may limit its applicability of the findings to other institutions. Nevertheless, the main idea of the study may be applicable as a teaching aid to other learning areas.
• Another limitation is that there were two classes under observation as an experimental group and a control group.
Chapter II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.0. Presentation
In this chapter, literature review for fairy tales, creativity, improvisation and productive skills is presented.
2.1. Fairy Tales
Fairy tales are the stories that are loved by everybody both young and old. The definition of the genre and teaching with this genre in EFL classrooms are presented. 2.1.1. The Definition of Fairy Tale
Folklore was first introduced as a term in England in 1846 and today refers to information, wisdom and human expression that is passed on, usually anonymously, from generation to generation or transmitted and circulated as traditional cultural behaviour. To become folklore, a song, story, custom or belief must go through a process of “folklorization” and meet the criteria and approval of the receiving community. During this filtering process, the item may undergo one or more revisions before it definitely enters into the community's cultural heritage. (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2007)
Fairy tales match folktales in terms of their universal and timeless themes, motifs, supernatural elements, functions to entertain and educate, escaping from frustrations and repression as well as geographical and biological limitations and so forth. (Teaford, 2001) In some fairy tales there is not even a fairy character so it can be said that they don’t need to have fairies in them and can contain any supernatural or obviously improbable events, scenes, and personages.
Fairy tales are known with their universal characteristics as Birkhäuser (1977) points out about the fairy tales that
…The stories are not a result of conscious construction, but emerged spontaneously and then grew to their present form through countless repetitions by many tellers. So the themes they deal with are universal rather than individual… Fairy tales, products of a number of people’s imaginations, are the dreams of the whole humanity and contain solutions to humanity’s problems…. (p.9)
Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson classified the tales. Vladimir Iakovlevich Propp indexed the tales according to the function of the character. From this structural analysis all fairy tales could be examined as a chain of variants. (Markman, 1983, p.32) Teachers of English can use the knowledge of tales from the mentioned indexes while preparing their activities for language classrooms.
2.1.2. Teaching with Fairy Tales in EFL Classrooms
Language teachers have always sought to provide students with the knowledge of many areas most relevant to the present and future needs of using target language. Collie & Slater (1987) point that “...literature can be helpful in the language learning process because of the personal involvement....” and add that “... engaging imaginatively with literature enables learners to shift the focus of their attention beyond the more mechanical aspects of the foreign language system...” (p.5)
The sort of literature which is suitable for use with language learners is given by Collie & Slater (1987) with criteria of suitability that depend on each particular group of students, their needs, interests, cultural background and language level (p.6). From this perspective; it can be accepted that fairy tales are suitable for the students as participants of this study, as many of them are in the need of to be creative, from a bit varied cultural backgrounds of the country, in the low language level and as their interests are funny things due to their age.
Fairy tales can be more precious as teaching materials than we’ve thought. Professor Markman (1983) pronounces that she decided for a variety of reasons to introduce into the curriculum a course in the fairy tale:
“... By the end of the course students were positive and I myself was assured that if they had had this fairy tale experience in an introductory course, they could have handled many complex and sophisticated works with much more confidence in their ability to analyze and with much more sensitivity to the nuances involved in
developing their insights...”( p.31). And she adds that her many former students registered for the course partly as
they were intrigued with the mystique of the genre and partly because they conjectured that for once. Here are some reasons why this sub-genre can be used in language classrooms:
One of the common elements in fairy tales is their supernatural feature. Since they spark the reader’s interest immediately, tales of magic provide useful and practical materials for language teaching. That means they spark motivation thanks to magic, charms, spells, tricks and so forth.
Each of fairy tales includes repetition words, rhymes and plentifulness of similar language patterns to emphasize some aspects of the story. This feature gives students the opportunity of remembering the words with ease.
Fairy tales are short narratives so they can not be regarded as time-consumers. Thanks to this feature, it gives the chance of comprehending the whole story in a short period of time. Managing time is a crucial factor for instructors and thus, there would be enough periods for many classroom activities.
Seeing that there are many various ways of the use of images in narratives such as metaphors, similes, idioms and etc, stories may help students to be aware of language they use. The grammar of folk tales and fairy tales as a sub-genre employed is generally simple, which makes them understandable. Though many use of past tense is employed in tales, dialogues between characters can sometimes change tense into other tenses. Fairy tales are also rich in linking words. It is known that using
linking words provides and enhances fluency of spoken and written language products. (Zdybiewska, 2004)
We are used to tell fairy tales which are favorites among children, such as Little
Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White and Puss in Boots. We are all accustomed
to the images and happenings. Since fairy tales have similar motifs, they are pretty predictable. This feature makes it easier to guess what is coming afterwards and thus unknown vocabulary can easily be understood.
Bettleheim says that “….it is not useful to draw on fairy tales as vehicles for straight out or blatant moral teaching and there are very few times when teaching moral lessons works. Overt preaching rarely achieves its aim, mostly being counterproductive. Explaining why a story is enjoyable will destroy that enjoyment...” (1976, p.18) On the other hand it can be said that they contain messages and the lessons such as that those who endure suffering will be rewarded. Plot of the genre generally focuses on a problem or conflict that needs to be solved, that’s; fairy tales are based on topics. Many tests and trials for the heroes or heroines are employed in narratives. They use such topics as sadness, jealousy, power, bravery, forgiveness, poorness or happiness and carry significant views to audiences hence they are highly moral.(Zdybiewska, 2004) Seen in this way, it is clear that fairy tales play a significant role to enhance critical thinking, problem solving and interpretation abilities as they are not only stories but teachings.
Some shy students find themselves uncomfortable in classroom environment, so they avoid talking and writing in front of the whole class in order not to seem meaningless or silly. Noticing exaggerated situations in narratives students would be more confident and present their ideas without trouble. As a result, teachers can uncover students’ hidden talents such as imagination and creativity abilities. In brief, we can say that fairy tales allow students to build confidence as they don’t feel embarrassed on account of overstated situations in narratives, when they give unexpected answers during the class.
Fairy tale which is a sub-genre of folktales is part of a nation’s cultural heritage. They include elements of history, geography or even climate. They give insight into customs, traditions and problems faced by communities. Learning fairy tales from our own culture and sharing them with students from other countries may teach tolerance and distance towards one’s own culture. Not only can they be issued in national environment but also in multicultural classes. (Zdybiewska, 2004) So, it can be said that folktales are the need for our awareness of culture. Many versions of tales help us to stimulate cultural perceptions.
Fairy tales have sequences of events, that is; fairy tales are structured chronologically. In the study, the knowledge of the plot elements provides students to generate their fairy tales. The plots of fairy tales are generally with those six elements; exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, resolution. All stories have a beginning with the characters, setting and may be with a problem. This is exposition. In the middle of the stories there are drawbacks for characters. It is called rising action. The most difficult and challenging part for the character to solve his/her problem is called climax. When the results of the climax are discovered or understood, it is falling action. When the problem is solved and there is no conflict, it is called the resolution of the story.(All summer in a Day: Lesson plan, 2008) Since incidents are formed in time order; they provide students to capture organizing ability in writing and telling.
Lastly, fairy tales can be valuable in many ways for EFL classrooms as they are flexible and adaptable to many studies and generate a whole range of language activities that suit nearly all learning styles and nearly for all age groups.
2.2. Creativity
The definition of creativity and literature review for creativity are presented. 2.2.1. The Meaning of Creativity
The dictionary meaning of the verb ‘to create’ is given as ‘to make by applying the imagination in some artistic technique’. The synonyms of the word are ‘bring about, cause, design, endanger, fashion, form, formulate, generate, invent, make, originate’ and ‘produce’. ‘Annihilate’ and ‘destroy’ are displayed as antonyms. (Webster’s Dictionary, 1988)
Another definition of creativity is ‘The ability to make or produce new things using skill or imagination’. (Oxford, 2000)
2.2.2. Literature Review about Creativity
The literature on creativity can be classified into four major orientations as Dellas & Gaier (1970) state:
1. the nature and quality of the product created,
2. the actual expression of creative acts and the continuing process during the ‘creation’,
3. the nature of the individual,
4. environmental factors and press that tend to initiate and foster creativity.
Brown (1989, cited in Macedo et al., p.1) notes the same things the creative person, the creative environment, the creative product and the creative process are the main perspectives of creativity. As it is observed during this study on literature, there isn’t widening differential in these orientations on creativity.
2.2.2.1. The Creative Product
In the article of Dellas & Gaier (1970), some aspects of creative performance and related issues are stressed. Intellectual abilities related to creative production are as follows (Guilford 1967, cited in Dellas & Gaier, p.339):
1. fluency of thinking, comprised of word, ideational, expressional and
associational fluency
2. flexibility of thinking, composed of spontaneous and adaptive
3. originality
4. sensitivity to problems, redefinition 5. figural and semantic elaboration
Dellas and Gaier, (p.339) note that Guilford has collectively defined these factors as divergent thinking, a mode of productive thinking, typical of the creator, which tends toward the novel or unknown. It is also said that, to Guilford, this novel output is the essence of creative performance. They also add that the validity of Guildford-like creativity measures is incomplete and unclear, but there is also a relationship between creative performance and the divergent thinking attributed to creative, since there are different types of creative talents such as scientific creative and aesthetic creative. (p.341)
2.2.2.2. The Process During The Creation
In the preparation level of the language activities related with creativity, knowing about what causes creativity can be regarded as a main point for the instructor. Dimock notes main approaches to the question of what causes creativity as intuitionism, synthesis, imagination, levels of attention and conflict. (1986, p.3) Giving students the opportunities of using these factors with some activities in the classroom environment can nurture their creative ability. Students can be expected to complete a story as they want and this activity can provide them to estimate the result intuitively. Students can be asked to use different characters of fairy tales in only one story and this activity can provide students to accompany different concepts. Asking
“What if ..?” questions about tales can nurture students’ imagination ability. Funny tales can take their attention in an effective way. If creativity arises out of conflict and clash of opposites as Freud assumed (Dimock, 1986, p.5), that means both good and evil are found in all creation, then students can be led to unexpected responses or uses of language with this dualistic philosophy in other activities.
From the perspective of neurocognitive approach, imagination is expressed with the activities in the brain. Duch (2007) says that
...Some problems can only be solved with insight, a sudden Aha! experience that accompanies solutions of some problems.... about 300 ms before insight a burst of gamma activity was observed. This has been interpreted by the authors as making connections across distantly related information during comprehension.... that allow them to see the connections that previously eluded them... (p.9)
Duch also adds that almost all of these activations don’t have much sense and calls them as transient configurations, fleeting of thoughts that escape in mind without being noticed. This is imagination. Taking this into account, the language activities that require making connections across different fields can sustain imagination power. For example, engaging with generating a tale from distantly related words would be useful for students.
...After this process interesting associations are noticed by the central executive and amplified by emotional filters that provide neurotransmitters increasing the plasticity of the circuits involved and forming new associations, pathways in the conceptual space... (p.9)
Here Duch tells the filtering process after imagination. Up to him, filtering is based on expectations, associations, arousing emotion and incase of linguistic competence on phonological and semantic density around words that are spontaneously created. So, he claims that creative processes are based on cognitive
processes. If creativity requires imagination constrained by experience and filtering, the question for this view is whether the instructors can affect this process as they want. In other words, exposing students to many language inputs, to illustrate to fairy tales, can affect students in terms of their expectations, word associations or etc. Thus, with a lot of experience, they can imagine many things and in the filtering process, they use thoughts in a variety of ways to produce the language creatively. 2.2.2.3. Personal Characteristics of Creative People
A total personality system of needs, attitudes, goals and emotions has an important role in creative thinking. It is reported that personal characteristics are important factors besides certain cognitive characteristics for creativity. (Vinacke, 1952; cited in Dellas & Gaier, p.348)
Results of some researches pointed out in the article and they can be very practical for instructors to be aware of creative personalities from different fields like the students in our school from different departments of Selcuk University. The results are as follows at least to give some ideas about these personalities:
• Impulsivity, independence, introversion, intuitiveness, self-acceptance, originality and emphasis on fantasy are the
characteristics of creative writers. (Barron, 1963; cited in Dellas & Gaier, p.349)
• The findings of creative architects’ characteristics on the California Psychological Inventory, IPAR and other scales were as follows: self-confident,
aggressive, flexible, self-accepting,
strongly motivated to achieve primarily in those situations where independent thought and action, rather than conformity, were required,
little concerned with social restraints or other’s opinions,
(MacKinnon, 1961; cited in Dellas & Gaier, p.348) independent, highly aesthetic, highly theoretical, assertive, perceptive, intuitive,
little desire to be included in group activities, introverted nature, marked social poise, dominance and desire to control others at the
same time when they interacted.
Since architectural work requires both aesthetic and scientific creativity; it is also noted that the characteristics of the highly creative architect would tend to be most generally characteristic of the creative person. (p.349)
• Cattell and his associates used a factor-analytic approach with the Sixteen Personality Factor test for another research on creative writers and also artists ( p.349) and the results were as follows:
ego strength, dominance, self-sufficiency, desurgency, sensitivity, introversion, radicalism
2.2.2.4. Creativity and Environment
Setting the classroom environment for creativity with motivational factors would be suitable as the place of motivation here is seen as a factor. “... personal and motivational factors are at least as important as aptitude in determining performance.”(Bloom, 1963; cited in Dellas & Gaier, p.348)
Richards (p.366) remarks the six ingredients (Barron, 1988; cited in Richards, 2006) toward acquiring a more creative orientation related to an exhibit called
• recognizing patterns
• making connections
• taking risks
• challenging assumptions
• taking advantage of chance
• seeing in new ways
Furthermore, Richards adds that cognitive style, personality, motivation and guiding values may intertwine to yield creative opportunities. (p.366). By providing these opportunities, instructors constitute the creative environment for their classrooms.
2.2.3. Creativity and Development of Human Consciousness
Barron believed that emphasis on creativity could contribute to the development of human consciousness (Barron, 1995; cited in Richards, 2006. p.366) and help us in many ways:
• Toward our health and well-being.
• Our sensitivity to the resources of growth and change in life.
• Our appreciation of complexity, difference, beauty and multiple truths.
• Our deeper knowing.
• A better world.
After giving some aspects of creativity, it is important to denote that the word
creativity in our study suggests the ability to make or produce new things using the
imagination on preexisting world knowledge- the knowledge should be accepted as the fairy tales here.
2.3. Improvisation
Improvisation can be issued from many perspectives to comprehend its meaning well in order to utilize it in different parts of education.
2.3.1. The Definition of Improvisation
The meaning of the verb ‘to improvise’ is given in Webster’s dictionary as ‘to compose, perform or say extemporaneously’. ‘Extemporaneous’ is also given as ‘extempore’ that is from Late Latin ‘extemporaneus’ means ‘ex + tempus (temporis)’, ‘outside + time’. ‘Extemporize’ is ‘to speak or act without advance preparation’ and ‘to compose, speak, act etc. (something) extempore (L. ex tempore, out of time, without time).
Montuori (2003) points out that to improvise means to draw on all our knowledge and personal experience. It requires a different self discipline, a different way of organizing our thoughts and actions. It requires a social virtuosity which reflects our state of mind, our perception of who and where we are, and a willingness to take risks, to let go of the safety of the ready-made, the already written, and to think, create, and ‘write’ on the spot. (p.244)
2.3.2. Improvisation From Different Perspectives
From the perspectives of rhetorical speaking, jazz, theatrical and education; the concept of improvisation will be issued.
2.3.2.1.Rhetorical Speaking
From the perspective of rhetorical speaking improvisation and extemporization differentiates unlike in many dictionaries. Meyer (1986) gives five ways of doing a speech. To understand the differences between these modes and improvisation in rhetorical speaking, they are given in a few sentences as follows:
He says that one can improvise like Themistocles and ‘improvisation’ means that the speaker rises to speak without prior preparation. Secondly, Meyer identifies ‘extemporization’ as the second mode of speech delivery which is so similar to improvisation. In this mode, the orator rises to speak with the benefit of premeditation and his outline, arguments and key phrases has been planned in his mind or with written notes, but he reserves the choice of words for the actual time of delivery. ‘Recitation’ of a previously written and memorized manuscript is the third mode given. A combination of recitation and improvisation is called as the ‘composite mode’. Finally, ‘reading’ is another way to do speech as Meyer says.
After giving those modes, Meyer states that Gorgias’ mode of delivery was improvisation and the truly critical factor, to Gorgias, in a speech was its
composition and delivery, not the abstract topic under discussion. Taken together, it
would be suitable to focus attention on composition and delivery in the improvisational speaking lessons. In the study, the improvisation activity means speaking without reading or writing in advance.
2.3.2.2.Jazz Improvisation
Jazz may seem at first sight to be unrelated to our study, but Montuori (2003; p.241) states that improvisation is a musical metaphor as it is used in jazz and also adds that it brings all the elements from arts. Whenever improvisation is searched in literature, there has always been very relevant links to the subject. Therefore, unlikely as it may seem, improvisation cannot be truly understood without apprehending it in the concept of jazz, since understanding of the word improvisation comes out of jazz improvisation.
From the perspective of jazz improvisation, “A defining quality of creative improvisation is precisely the generation of the unpredictable, the unusual, the
unforeseen within the preexisting structures of the song form, navigating the edge
between innovation and tradition”(Berliner, 1994; cited in Montuori, 2003, p. 239). From this point of view, it should be said that improvisation is to create something within preexisting structures.
The commonly shared goal in jazz improvisation is given by Montuori (2003; p.239) as creating within a musical and social context, requiring control and spontaneity, constraints and possibilities, innovation and tradition, leading and supporting. The most striking aspect of this is to see that improvisation and also creativity are deeply paradoxical processes, as he states. In improvisational speaking classes these factors are taken together, as speaking classes are dynamic and interactive as in jazz.
2.3.2.3.Improvisation and Drama
In literature review, it is seen that improvisational drama is used with many titles. Mages (2008) points out that drama and theatre are different from each other, exemplifying that “‘theatre’ is largely concerned with communication between actors and an audience; ‘drama’ is largely concerned with experience by the participants, irrespective of any function of communication to an audience”(Way, 1967; cited in Mages, 2008, p.127). In the article of Mages, creative drama is defined as “drama in its natural state”; that’s as “an improvisational, non-exhibitional, process-centered form of drama in which participants are guided by a leader to imagine, enact, and reflect upon human experience” (Davis and Behm, 1987; cited in Mages, p.127).
Blaine and Harger (retrieved 2008) say that creating without planning or preparation is accepted as the foundation of improvisation. In group improvisation situations, each participant must understand and accept an agreed upon structure or set of rules that lay the groundwork for communication. The following rules are considered the main tenets of improvisation: Following these simple rules provides a framework of trust and a pathway for the expression of new ideas. They say; “...Serve the narrative – play in real time. Listen carefully to what is being presented, and then add to it. Build upon what is offered and improve upon it, rather than change to a different end...Be fun to play with –be good-natured and give others the benefit of the doubt... Make your partner look good – focus on the person you are
working with and ways to make them appear brilliant.” It would be suitable for the students to utilize these ideas during the improvisational speaking activities.
2.3.3. Relevance in Teaching Speaking
From the teaching perspective Sawyer (2004) says “Teaching is improvisational performance” (p.12). He states that “both classroom discussion and theater improvisations are emergent” as the outcome cannot be known in advance and since a single participant cannot control what emerges; the outcome is collectively determined by all participants, therefore “they are collaborative”. (p.13)
This type of teaching requires disciplined improvisation for the instructor, especially during the parts of class discussions on fairy tales, and it is defined as “a dynamic process involving a combination of planning and improvisation” (Brown & Edelson, 2001; cited in Sawyer, 2004, p. 13). Due to the nature of the lessons that will be applied in the context of the study, it seems likely that the role of the teacher will be in this way.
It is important to denote that the word improvisation in our study suggests the ability to make or produce new things extemporaneously on preexisting world knowledge- the knowledge should be accepted as the fairy tales here. In our lessons, improvisation was used to the extent of the students’ English level.
2.4. Productive Skills
Communicative competence is also an important issue to develop speaking and writing skills. Riggenbach and Lazaraton (1991, p.125) say that communicative competence entails not solely grammatical accuracy but also knowledge of sociocultural rules of appropriateness, discourse norms and strategies for ensuring that a communication is understood. They add the components of communicative competence for oral communication skills as grammatical or linguistic, sociocultural, discourse- the ability to sustain coherent discourse with another speaker and lastly strategic- the means by which learners deal with potential breakdowns in communication. (Canale & Swain, 1980; cited in Riggenbach and Lazaraton, 1991, p.125) From this point of view, there are several factors that affect the communication level in speaking besides grammatical factors. In the study much attention needs to be given to this point.
Furthermore, engaging with writing and speaking can be very boring in traditional classrooms both for teachers and students. Because, they require effective uses of a new language, that’s, producing language. There are a lot of kinds of activities for these skills and the lessons may turn out to be amusing courses with fairy tale activities with creative writing and improvisational speaking tasks that are mentioned in the study as Mages (2008) summarizes the funny aspect of imagination below:
“...The desire to enter into a pretend prehistoric world and become a dinosaur or to journey to the magical land of a fairy tale and become a knight in shining armor, a princess, or even a villain has been known to entice even the shyest child to take a role in a classroom drama. The chance to wriggle like caterpillars and then flutter like butterflies, to soar through space, or to swim in the deepest parts of the ocean piques children’s interest as it beckons them to join their peers and discover places yet unknown. It is clear from children’s enthusiasm for dramatizing imaginary creatures and situations that children enjoy exploring fantasy worlds and using their imaginations in the context of drama....”(pp.124-125)
Chapter III METHODOLOGY 3.0. Presentation
This chapter presents the method of data collection. The section starts with the experimental design, and continues with the pre-testing of the students by the writing and speaking scales and then applying a suggested model that nurtures students’ creativity in writing and speaking areas through fairy tales and the post-testing. Lastly, the scales and the analysis of the data conclude the chapter.
3.1. Experimental Design
This study included two different preparatory classes which were assumed at the same level as they were all at the very beginning of intermediate classes in School of Foreign Languages at Selcuk University. One of them was randomly chosen as the experimental group and the other was as the control group. They were compared in terms of their productive -speaking and writing- skills. The classes had about nineteen students but only some students were chosen for the tests as some of them were absent during the activity processes.
3.1.1. Experimental Group
The experimental group had twelve students for writing and eleven students for speaking. The students were given various activities adjusted from fairy tales that nurture students’ creativity in writing and speaking areas and convenient for students’ English level. All these processes were implemented in the classrooms. 3.1.2. Control Group
The control group had thirteen students for writing and eleven students for speaking; they weren’t given any activities besides their regular work.
3.2. Pre-testing
Both the experimental group and the control group had been pre-tested by speaking and writing scales before applying the suggested model for creative writing and improvisational speaking. Students weren’t informed about the pre-testing and post-testing processes in order to get reliable, exact and actual data. Recording with a digital camera was a requisite for catching the details of their speaking. Students had been recorded a great many of times before the pre-test, to minimize the anxiety of speaking in front of a camera.
3.2.1. Speaking Pre-testing
Students were directly asked one by one to answer some questions such as “...think that you weren’t you now. Supposing you were someone else, could you tell me who you are, where you are, what you are doing now and etc... Show what you can improvise please.”
3.2.2. Writing Pre-testing
Students were asked to write about somewhere as they wanted. 3.3. Applying the Suggested Model
The activities were really time-consuming as the subject was about creativity. Creativity activities require giving enough time to students for their free study on the tasks. Furthermore, speaking and writing studies also necessitate implementing the tasks without limiting time. All taken together, the students were given various activities in 4 units with four or five hours each with a program to be cited in Chapter IV.
At the very end of the lessons the instructor delivered a form to students. Students filled the forms including the parts to be completed according to what they had learned well, what steps of the lesson had been challenging for them, what they
had liked and disliked. The reviews of their opinions about the activities are mentioned in Chapter VI.
3.4. Post testing
Speaking post testing and writing post testing were done as the pre-testing. 3.5. Scales
Finding assessment tools for the study was hard and finally the most proper ones were used after an exhausting searching.
3.5.1. Writing Rubric
A creative writing rubric developed by Öztürk (2007) was used to evaluate the students’ writings. This rubric includes 8 sub-dimensions. They are originality,
fluency of ideas, flexibility of ideas, variety of words, structure of sentences, organization, style and grammar. A student can get a point between 8 and 40 via this
5-point scale.
3.5.2. Speaking Scale
A set of four speaking scales was used as it matched the needs of the study. Each scale measures one dimension of speaking skills. The dimensions include:
Delivery, organization, content and language (Mead, 1980, p.12). Performance of
the students were rated using a 4-point scale: 1- Inadequate 2-Minimal 3- Adequate 4- Superior
3.6. Analysis of the Data
The data emerged from pre-testing and post-testing of each class was evaluated through Wilcoxon Test. Then the development of both experimental and control groups were compared through Mann-Whitney U Test.
Chapter IV
APPLYING THE SUGGESTED MODEL 4.0. Presentation:
In this chapter the four stages of the suggested model are explained. 4.1. Designing the standard model:
The suggested model has four steps including introductory activity, story presentation and improvisational speaking and creative writing. The activities were designed due to task-based classroom environment as follows:
4.1.1. Introductory Activity
The instructor didn’t want to use too many reading and listening activities as her target issue was on writing and speaking. Firstly there was a need to introduce students to fairy tales which were going to be used in the lessons. Secondly, the instructor needed to think of ways to make learning fun for them. So it was decided to begin the lessons with pictures as pre-activity studies. Some topical pictures from the tales were utilized to be talked on the characters, events, places and other things in the pictures. Instructor supported students’ questions during this period. Hence, students were encouraged to ask as many questions as they could in order to give opportunities to provide their initiative. It was known that this would help to some extent such as:
• To start the lesson with fun.
• To remind students the already known tales.
• To take the first step of talking by describing the characters, objects, places and etc. by warming up the atmosphere of the classroom.
• To give opportunities to students for discovering some other elements of fairy tales.
4.1.2. Story Presentation:
Secondly, the instructor preferred to give students different parts of a tale in written form rather than give the whole text in the first place. After they read the parts in groups, the instructor wanted them to stand up and form the tale by reading other groups’ parts together. This activity turned out to be a noisy study, but it didn’t matter for the instructor as her aims were:
• To prepare the students for the tales in terms of the sequence of the events.
• To take their attention to the repetitive words or phrases in the tales.
• To sustain their engagement, energy and interest to the other activities that would come afterwards.
• To provide students’ communication among each other in target language for a specific purpose.
Lastly, it seemed suitable to ask one of the students to read the whole tale loudly in the classroom to write the idioms, repetitive words and striking sentences on the board.
4.1.3. Improvisation Exercises:
It was the time to speak in the lesson with suggested activities with fairy tales that can be used as improvisation exercises:
• The instructor can start a tale and want students to add things to construct the tale. It seems suitable if a title is given to help the students to improvise.
Ex.: It can be started like “Once upon a time there was a little good boy in a village...” then students continue one by one.
• Students can use an object to compose their own tale.
Ex.: Teachers can prepare a box that includes real objects such as a comb, a pencil or a ring which can be used to talk on supposing it is magical. Students can choose those things randomly to use them while composing a story. (Adapted from the Magic Story Bag)
• “What if...?” or “Just suppose ...” questions can be used as imagination exercises.
Ex.: Students can be expected to answer the questions about a tale such as: “What would you do if you were little red riding hood?”
“What would you do if you were the mother of little red riding hood?” “What would you do if you were the wolf?”
“What would you do if you were the grandmother?”
• Students in pairs can perform small plays by improvising that one of them is a journalist and the other is a character from a tale. This study can be done in front of the whole class pretending they are talking into a microphone.
Ex: The journalist improvises questions quickly as many as he can ask for the sleeping beauty after her revival and asks “Do you know how much you have slept?” then the other improvises as “I don’t know but may be two or three hours.” (Adapted from A Pocketful of Stories)
• A student is asked for telling a fairy tale that s/he knows well by simplifying and shortening. The other students have some cards in their hands and one by one they show their cards to change the situation as they want. The student has to improvise those parts as they don’t actually take part in the story. The meaning of cards as follows:
Action: The narrative itself.
Color: Environmental details; sounds, smells, weather and etc. Emotion: Emotions of the character mentioned last in the tale.
Ex: A student is telling his story. “...Long long ago, there was a beautiful girl in a town. She was living with her mother.” (...then a student holds his
emotion card to learn more things about the emotion of the girl and the story goes on in this way...) “... She wasn’t happy because she was alone. She
didn’t have any friends at her age.” (...then the next student wants to change
the situation by holding her color card and the story goes on...) “...mmm... it
was a warm day and everywhere smells flowers.... (..then the next student
holds an action card as she want to hear more about the narrative and the narrator goes on...) “She wanted to go to her grandmother and her mother put
some cake in her basket for her grandmother... and...she went through the forest.( a color card is held by the other student...) “Trees were...” (Adapted from an improv game, Ace, in Improv Encyclopedia)
• Students are asked to find out the characters at shopping. It is a nice and amusing activity but it is suitable for 10-14 students.
The classroom is divided into two groups. One group students pretend supposing they are sellers in a bazaar and they decide only two things as their goods. Vegetable: onion and carrot... Fruit: apple and peach... Other foods: pasta and yoghurt... and clothes: shawls and socks... Students take their places in the classroom (that’s bazaar) and wait for their customers. The other group students choose a character from tales and the instructor selects a student randomly to shop in the bazaar. But it is important that nobody knows which character s/he is pretending. The aim is to find out the character after finishing all the bazaar tour.
Ex: They make dialogues with the sellers and they ask questions such as: The unknown character: “Can you give me some apples, please?”
A seller: “Of course, but what are you going to do with these apples?” The unknown character: “My mother will make an apple pie?”
The unknown character: “Can you give me that shawl please? “
Other seller: “Of course, but what are you going to do with this shawl?” The unknown character: “Forest is too cold in the mornings.”
The unknown character: “Can you give me some onions, please?”
Another seller: “Of course, but what are you going to do with these onions?” The unknown character: “I will cut and carry them with me in the forest. I want to protect myself from dangerous animals.”
And the story goes on like this. When the bazaar tour is finished everybody guesses the character. All characters do the shopping and the groups’ tasks are changed. The sellers are the characters now.
4.1.4. Creative Writing Exercises:
Finally, it was the time to write creatively in the lesson. Suggested activities for creative writing process with fairy tales that can be used in EFL classrooms:
Ex.: Students can be asked to write the step-sisters’ side of the story, Cinderella. This rewriting activity would be pretty funny and interesting for learners in terms of empathizing to understand the emotions of other people.
• The time of the story can be adapted to today’s understandings by students.
Ex.: Technological issues are very surprising and funny when they are adapted to the fairy tales. A mobile phone, a palmtop computer, an mp3 player or other things can be used to help the protagonist of the story.
• “What if...?” or “Just suppose ...” questions can be used as imagination exercises.
Ex.: Students can be expected to write the rest of the story by answering the questions such as:
What if somebody loved Cinderella but Prince Charming?
What if Rapunzel’s hair weren’t long enough to reach to the boy? What if sleeping beauty didn’t wake up with the Prince’s kiss? Just suppose glass slippers didn’t fit Cinderella’s foot.
• They can omit an important character or a symbol from the tale and rewrite the story without it.
Ex.: They can be asked to write the tale Snow White without the magical mirror of the wicked queen.
• Students can include themselves in the story.
Ex.: Students can help the protagonist by entering into the tale in a creative way.
• Objects or animals can be enchanted by students to change the way of the events of the story.
Ex.: A talking door, a singing refrigerator or anything else.
• Students can finish the stories as they want.
Ex.: Students can give different punishments to the villains in the stories.
• Teachers can prepare a box that includes small cards of the names or pictures of characters, objects, animals, places, kinds of food such as vegetables or fruits. Students can choose those cards randomly to use them while writing a story.
Ex.: ‘A pumpkin’, ‘horses’, ‘a rag dress’, ‘birds’, ‘a staircase’, ‘grave’, ‘wedding’, ‘ashes’. They seem unrelated things but they are the words from the tale Cinderella. Likewise, students can compose their own tale in a creative way by finding related issues between the things which are seen unrelated in advance. This is really challenging because they need to use all their imaginative capacity, but the results are striking in a positive way. To sum up, the suggested model has four steps including introductory activity, story presentation, improvisational speaking and creative writing as it has mentioned before. The lessons implemented by utilizing some of the mentioned activities in the experimental classroom are given in Appendix A.
Chapter V
RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS 5.0. Presentation
Students were given tasks of improvisational speaking and creative writing as pre-test and post-test and they were evaluated. In this chapter, experimental and control groups are compared through Wilcoxon nonparametric test in terms of whether the participants demonstrate their development to meet the requirement of these tasks or not. Then the development of two classes is compared through Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test in terms of the differences between two classes. 5.1. Speaking
The data emerged from the same class but in two different times are compared here. These two data are dependent on each other as it was emerged from the same source. When the number of the students and the scales that have points from 1 to 4 are considered together, it is suitable to use non-parametric tests in order to know whether there is a difference or not. Wilcoxon test can be used for this purpose. The p-value which will be gained from this test gives us the information about the development of the classroom between pre-test and post –test period. If the p- value is under the value of 0, 05, it can be said that there is a significant difference between two data.
In the speaking assessment tool, the dimensions are delivery, organization, content and language.
5.1.1. The Comparison of Improvisational Speaking Pre-test and Post-test Results of the Experimental Group
Delivery2- Delivery1
z -2,126
p-value ,033
There is a significant difference between delivery1 and delivery2. It can be said that participants demonstrated their development on delivery to emphasize the meaning; the volume and the rate changes to add emphasis in their speaking. Pronunciation and enunciation are clear and they use very few hesitations such as err..., mmm... and etc.
Organization2- Organization1
z -1,933
p-value ,053
Table 2
There isn’t a significant difference between organization1 and organization2. As p-value 0.053 for organization is very near to the 0.05 value, it would be a mistake to say directly that there is no change or development of the classroom between pre-test and post –test period.
Content2- Content1
z -2,565
p-value ,010
Table 3
There is a significant difference between content1 and content2. It can be asserted that participants demonstrated their development by providing enough content to meet the requirement of the task.
Language2- Language1
z -2,714
p-value ,007
Table 4
There is a significant difference between language1 and language2. It can be said that participants demonstrated their development on grammar and structures etc.
Total2- Total1
z -2,512
p-value ,012
Table 5
There is a significant difference in total. It can be asserted that participants demonstrated their development on improvisational speaking task.
5.1.2. The Comparison of Speaking Pre-test and Post-test Results of Control Group:
Delivery2- Delivery1
z -,816
p-value ,414
Table 6
There isn’t a significant difference between delivery1 and delivery2 as participants didn’t demonstrate their development to meet the requirement of the improvisational speaking task.
Organization2- Organization1
z -,816
p-value ,414
Table 7
There isn’t a significant difference between organization1 and organization2 as participants didn’t demonstrate their development to meet the requirement of the improvisational speaking task.
Content2- Content1
z -,905
p-value ,366
Table 8
There isn’t a significant difference between content1 and content2 as participants didn’t demonstrate their development to meet the requirement of the improvisational speaking task.
Language2- Language1
z -1,633
p-value ,102
Table 9
There isn’t a significant difference between language1 and language2 as participants didn’t demonstrate their development to meet the requirement of the improvisational speaking task.
Total2- Total1
z -1,191
p-value ,234
Table 10
There isn’t a significant difference between total1 and total2 as participants didn’t demonstrate their development to meet the requirement of the improvisational speaking task.
5.2. Writing
The Wilcoxon nonparametric test is used to ascertain the difference between pre-test and post-test results as two samples are drawn from same classroom. When the p-value which is obtained through the Wilcoxon test is smaller than 0,05 , it can be accepted that there is a significant difference between the results.
In the writing assessment tool, the dimensions are originality, fluency, flexibility, organization, words, sentences, style and grammar.
5.2.1. The Comparison of Creative Writing Pre-test and Post-test Results of Experimental Group
Originality2- Originality1
z -2,412
p-value ,016
Table 11
Up to the result, it can be asserted that there is a significant difference between originality1- originality2.
Fluency2- Fluency1
z -2,585
p-value ,010
Table 12
There is a significant difference between fluency1- fluency2. It can be asserted that participants demonstrated their development on fluency of ideas.
