CC BY
31
DOI 10.46566/2541-9285_2023_73_31
Tairova F.F.
English Philology Department Alisher Navo'i Tashkent State University of the Uzbek Language and Literature
Suleymenova G.B.
"Department of Informatics and Mathematics" Peoples' Friendship University named after Academician A.Kuatbekov
Uzbekistan
USING REALIA IN TEACHING DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS
Abstract. The use of realia in educating various age groups is the subject of this study, which takes a partial systematic approach. This course work focuses on exploring learners' expectation in English classes as well as how to manage those classes in a more effective and enjoyable way. The combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches is applied to collect data for studying. It is found out realia in some cases cannot be considered as a perfect aid to gain learners' understanding in explaining some points. This work looks into the motivational effects of blended learning on students of all ages as they learn to be more receptive and productive in their foreign language learning. We explore the neurological and psychological traits of language learners in different age groups.
Key words: realia, teaching English, teaching vocabulary, learners.
Introduction
The purpose of this course work is to emphasize the value of using realia with various age groups. It is crucial to learn multiple languages in order to connect with people and communicate as the world becomes more globalized. A universe of new options becomes available to us as we learn new languages. The effective usage of realia in the language learning process is projected in this research. Realia is the term for the use of actual objects from everyday life in the classroom to teach a specific subject or language. It enhances the students' knowledge of problems in real life and gives the class more life. It also seeks to draw attention to the advantages of using realia in EFL classes because it fosters a stimulating and innovative teaching-learning atmosphere and fosters cross-cultural understanding. Any language, being primarily a means of communication, also has a cumulative function, that is, the language not only transmits extra linguistic information, but also accumulates and stores it. The realia vocabulary for learning English will offer a useful and engaging method of instruction. Due of its participatory and useful approach, it enhances the likelihood that learners will retain the new words. When learning a foreign language, students are faced with not only the peculiarities of vocabulary,
grammar, phonetics and stylistics of the language, but also with facts from the social, every day, political or historical spheres of life in the country of the language being studied. The correct use or understanding of certain words or phrases requires knowledge of their origin, situations in which they can be used, or elementary information from the history, literature, art, political or economic reality of the country of the language being studied.
One technique to encourage creativity is through reality-based education, which also helps to make language learning more memorable and simpler to recall. This study also addresses how realia engages students and Compared to any other technique of language acquisition, it improves the ability to retain concepts and also offers a clear experience. Because it is a very relevant and useful way for improving understanding of a new language and is frequently more engaging than the information from text books, it appeals to language learners of all ages. Students can have a multifaceted learning experience thanks to the utilization of physical materials. Thus, including realia into the learning process enhances one's capacity to learn a new language makes learning engaging and applicable for their lives outside of the classroom.
Literature Review
"Realia are objects of any origin used to illustrate vocabulary and structure in language teaching" it was stated by Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1988). It also creates connection between real items and words for the learners. The use of realia is commonplace in the ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language/ English as a Foreign Language) classroom and is widely considered to have great value in fostering an active teaching-learning environment. By presenting information through diverse media, realia helps to make English language input as comprehensible as possible and to build "an associative bridge between the classroom and the world" Heaton (1975).
Children are very creative and want to be in play, so it is best to use their imagination and energy in games, songs, pictures or puzzle activities. Children, especially boys, do not tend to sit still and are sometimes aggressive, possibly due to hormonal changes followed by high energy Biddulph (1998). Furthermore, compared to boys, girls are better at language skills, fine motor skills and concentration while boys cannot sustain them for up to a year (Biddulph, 1998; Khan,T, 1998; Mcllvain, 2003). In classroom activities, the use of Total Physical Response (TPR) by Asher (1988) is a great way to teach English, especially to very young learners. This method combines language and physical movement while keeping children active in the learning process. Young learners are easily distracted and have very short attention spans. So it's good to remember that 5- or 10-minute activities are great for motivating learning. According to Scott & Ytreberg (1990) different activities need to be balanced. We encourage you to alternate between individual, pair, group, or whole class activities, with each task focusing on a different skill. We also encourage children to learn from each other by incorporating student-student interactions
into their activities, in addition to teacher-student interactions. Finally, Scott & Ytreberg (1990) point to a balance between quiet and noisy activities to create a peaceful and dynamic learning environment. Moreover, the use of stories in foreign language teaching is highly valuable because they are naturally acquired and contextualized use of foreign languages" (Slattery & Willis 2014). Cameron (2001) points to a mental process called 'mentalesis' that is used for the autonomous formulation of semantic language. So when children are told a story in a foreign language, they can use pictures in their native language to capture and summarize the main points. However, they rarely tell stories in their target language. Speaking is much more demanding than listening, and understanding meaning is not enough to tell a story. Pinter (2017) states that focused input is important, but ensuring production in language-focused activities is also very important.
Because of the prestige that comes with becoming a university teacher or professor, teaching ESL lessons to university students has a certain allure. But an ESL teacher frequently needs to have certain credentials, such a postgraduate degree and certain years of teaching experience, in order to get a job at a university. The objectives and subject matter of ESL courses at universities might vary greatly. For instance, academic writing, speaking, listening, and presentation skills, as well as English literature, may be the focus of university ESL courses. ESL students at universities frequently continue their education beyond the formal courses offered by the institution. Many university-level ESL students enroll in classes to get ready for the IELTS, TOEFL, or TOEIC exams, which are frequently needed for admission to a university, or to fulfill a need for a career.
Opportunities to teach this ESL age group can therefore be financially rewarding, but they also need for specialized training and experience in the aforementioned fields. The fact that students have typically developed strong critical thinking abilities and perspectives by this point of their lives makes teaching ESL in universities one of its most distinctive features. On the other side, one of the difficulties with this group is that they frequently lack the capacity to speak English fluently.
Methodology
The purpose of this study was to ascertain how realia influences secondary students' learning process in different ages. Here, various methods are employed to gather the crucial data needed to provide a response to our query. Realia is an efficient method that can be used to acquire newly presented language, according to the research. Realia offers an understandable input to young learners while also being an excellent methodological instrument for vocabulary learning, hence, it is important for teachers to consider this when teaching.
Moreover, beginning at age 7, the concrete operating phase lasts until age 12. Children can achieve real mental systems during this stage by getting through the pre-operational thinking barrier. In order to accomplish true mental
operation, learners can restrict their thinking. Students may only engage in mental exercises with things that they can touch or see.
When students reach this stage of cognitive development, they are on the verge of becoming adults through formal operation. The ability to understand the meanings of numbers helps a child. The children go through a process of internal evolution. As they develop new strategies, their thinking becomes more logical and abstract at this stage. They also become more efficient in terms of memory and attention.
The combined data from the pre- and post-tests were used in this experiment. Written assignments were provided as a task to assess pupils' vocabulary learning. For the theme was used fruits to give them concrete idea. I brought in a plastic bag of fruit and picked up in the supermarket on my way to school and then I have announced "Today we are going to talk about fruits and vegetables". This was great because they were beginners and needed to learn the words for such things. During the lesson, I showed them fruits and vegetables and as the result, they remembered words easier and it was unusual lesson for them.
Data Collection:
Tests were employed to gather data. They came in two varieties: pre-test and post-test. They happen every cycle because the pre-test was used to gauge the student's present level of understanding, and the post-test was used to determine the outcomes of the experiment's execution. Before the experiment, one of them was conducted, and after the experiment, the other.
Data Analysis:
Before beginning with the pre- and post-test analysis and interpretation, it is important to note that this study was conducted in a single experimental group, which implies that there was no control group. This survey was developed in one month, taking into account teachers' academic availability. It is also vital to mention that each academic hour lasts 45 minutes. It's vital to first describe the pre-purpose test's before analyzing the findings. Before starting the program, it was important to assess the pupils' English proficiency and determine their prior exposure to concrete English terminology.
Results and Discussions
Before beginning experimental research, we carried out pre-research observation in addition to this I carefully studied the English teacher's teaching strategy while conducting my investigation. As a researcher, I next conducted interviews with the teacher and other pupils in the class to had better understand their English-learning circumstances. Some issues with kids' vocabulary acquisition surfaced through interviews and observations. Students find it challenging to recall vocabulary words and their definitions. Additionally, they struggle to write the words correctly. They also have trouble pronouncing certain words, in addition to everything else. In addition, they showed no interest at all in applying the teacher's teaching methods. It was therefore
proposed to adopt the realia technique in teaching while keeping in mind all of these issues.
Analyzing the student's pre-test result we noticed that they had prior about those items. After the application of the treatment using realia, —the fruit and vegetable items during the activity the students touched, smelled, ate and felt some of them. It helped students to learn in a better way. Taking into account the graph at the last page, the item they learned the most were cherry and strawberry. They learned it easier because its yellow color was attractive for them and most of them liked it. Moreover, the vegetable they learn the most was the carrot. It could be because the majority of the students liked it very much. The graph above shows the pre-test percentage had greatly increased after treatment and in post-test percentage is greater than pro-test. The graph above shows the pre-test, 20% to 50% of the students had knowledge about those items. In the posttest shows 60% to 95% of the students answered correctly. It means that realia worked significantly with those types of items.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the use of realia to teach tangible vocabulary was successful with some concepts but less so with others since there are various factors that affect vocabulary Because the students are capable of making deliberate efforts to detect novel lexical elements and selective attending, it means that the teaching of concrete vocabulary and realia can be related at the time of instruction. However, since there is other factors that may affect how learners learn concrete vocabulary, our findings were not statistically significant. For instance: zeal, attitudes toward learning vocabulary, fear of failure, and the same attitude toward learning a foreign language. It may be claimed that concrete vocabulary is a suitable subject to be brought up utilizing realia, in addition to taking into account the results of the fruits and vegetables. Sometimes realia is not the best tool for getting kids to understand. To explain to these young learners, teachers need to combine many teaching tools such as pictures, objects, maps and stories. A combination of visual aids can be useful in the teaching process. The rule is that everything should be flexible. Realia is available and must be used at all grade levels. However, how to use it depends on the age of the students. Since the function of using authentic materials help to arouse interest and attract attention, more real objects can be used in teaching young students. Older students usually learn more complex structures that cannot be easily illustrated with real objects. Teachers use different structures to help young learners understand language. When teaching a new structure, teachers need to make sure that everyone is clear about the new way of doing things. Young children tend to be more concerned with distinguishing the different structures. Using real objects together with pictures or other aids helps teach these structures in a way that is easy to understand. This takes a lot of dedication and patience on the teacher's part.
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