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Rodrigo Guerrero Segura

Universidad de Guayaquil Facultad de Filosofía, Letras y Ciencias

e-mail: rodrigo.guerreros@ug.edu.ec

INCLUSIVE STRATEGIES TO OPTIMIZE ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING

FOR STUDENTS WITH INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS

Abstract

Inclusive teaching strategies have been shown to promote teaching and foster

students’ full participation and learning in language classrooms. Therefore, the

objective of this study was to determine if inclusive strategies have the same impact on

students with difficulties establishing and maintaining close interpersonal relationships.

The impact of these strategies was examined in 32 participants by using experimental

research. The experimental group (16 students) received instruction with inclusive

teaching strategies (Cooperative Teaching, Learning, and Peer Tutoring) for three

months. The control group (16 students) received traditional, behaviorist instruction.

The findings suggest that the proficiency levels of students with interpersonal

relationship problems raised to 24.73%. The control group showed 5.2% growth.

Implications suggest that immersion in an inclusive school environment can optimize

the students` language acquisition, and contribute to the solution of interpersonal

relationship problems.

Keywords: Strategies, Inclusion, Teaching, Learning, English

I. INTRODUCTION

Teaching strategies are an essential tool to support, facilitate, and optimize the daily

work of teachers. These strategies also favor the teaching process and encourage full

participation and learning of students. Inclusion, on the other hand, aims to identify and

eliminate barriers created by beliefs, knowledge, conflicts or infrastructure that prevent

students' learning and participation, with some type of special needs or problem.

Karina Moreno Rodríguez

Universidad de Guayaquil Facultad de Comunicación Social e-mail: karina.morenor@ug.edu.ec

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However, observations made at Unidad Educativa Fiscal Veintiocho de Mayo, helped

to identify a selective and exclusive school environment where the students with

interpersonal relationship problems have been relegated from the educational process.

This is due to the fact that school environments are usually governed by inefficient

methods of teaching and learning and because the teachers’ knowledge about the use

of inclusive educational practices, that guide integration in class, is limited. In this

context, the aim of this study is to determine the impact of inclusive strategies on the

English level of the students with difficulties establishing and maintaining close

interpersonal relationships by using experimental research.

II. DEVELOPMENT

Llorent and López (2012) in their work, "Study of interpersonal relationships in

classrooms with different students", emphasize the importance of positive

interpersonal relationships to reduce discrimination between peers, modify behavior,

and raise their academic performance. The authors also propose to use globalized

didactic units that include students with specific educational needs where cooperative

teaching and learning strategies can be applied to achieve integration into the

classroom. They also mention the need for integration of the teaching staff, authorities,

and families in order to contribute with the improvement process. (p. 90-105)

Regarding this, the inclusive strategies suggested in this work, intend to optimize the

teaching and learning of the English language in students with interpersonal

relationship problems by recognizing the differences in the classroom and promoting

awareness, respect, and tolerance towards others.

The first strategy used was Class-Wide Peer Tutoring where two students with

different academic abilities are brought together and then a task is assigned. Both of

the students have the chance to be tutors or leaders of the activity. In this way, the

participation of both members is guaranteed and they both received recognition for

completing the activity, which favors their self-esteem.

The second strategy used was the Peer Assisted Learning Strategy, where both

members play an active role during the development of a task. The difference is that

they both match the same level of English, but with different language skills. For

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example, a student who is able to write in English correctly is mixed with another

student who is an expert in oral presentation. In this way, they both contribute to the

development of an integrated task efficiently. Llorent and López (2012) also state that

teaching these types of strategies, create an atmosphere of self-confidence and

cooperation where the students can interact and participate in activities of their interest

(p.107).

For the implementation of the inclusive strategies, in the first exploratory phase, the

Department of Students Counseling at Unidad Educativa Fiscal Veintiocho de Mayo

provided information from a diagnostic test implemented at the beginning of the school

year. This test included a questionnaire with sections covering the following areas:

Listening Skills, Verbal Communication, Emotional Intelligence, and Working in Groups

and Teams. The results of this test were used to identify the students with interpersonal

relationship problems.

In the second phase, the English level of the students was measured by using a

cross-sectional study carried out with a written instrument validated by the Common

European Framework of Reference for Languages (Cambridge, 2002). Individuals with

the most basic level in language, 32 in total, were selected to be part of this study.

Then, these students were divided into two groups: The experimental group (16

students) and the control group (16 students). It was observed that both groups had

individuals that maintained standard grades to avoid discussing alternative variables,

regarding the level of English as shown in the following table below:

Table No. 1

Fuente: Investigación SPSS

Elaborado por: Guerrero R. y Moreno K.

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After the selection process, the treatment group (16 students) received instruction

with inclusive teaching strategies which involved the use of Class-Wide Peer Tutoring

and Peer Assisted Learning Strategy for three months. The control group (16 students)

only received traditional, behaviorist instruction. At the end of the sessions, the

students were submitted to a new evaluation, and a comparative study between the

two groups was achieved in order to identify the impact of the strategies on the English

level of the individuals. The following results were obtained:

Table No. 2

Fuente: Investigación SPSS

Elaborado por: Guerrero R. y Moreno K

The results show that the proficiency level of the experimental group who received

instruction with inclusive teaching strategies, raised to 24.73%, while the control group

only showed 5.2% growth. The analysis of this research demonstrates that the

experiment was carried out with a comprehensive selection of possible deviations and

hidden variables, so that nothing is random and imprecise in its interpretation.

This study, however had some limitations in regards to the experimental research.

First, the study was only limited to 32 students, and not to a normal average class size

of 45 students. Another limitation was the study only focused on the students with a

low level of English (according to the Common European Framework of Reference for

Languages, students are A1). Perhaps the results would be different if higher level

English students were selected. The study only focused on students that also had

interpersonal relationship problems and did not include any other type of problems,

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including physical limitations or other learning disabilities. The study was only done at

Unidad Educativa Fiscal Veintiocho de Mayo, which is considered a big school, and

does not take into account other types of school settings, like smaller schools,

Millennium schools, or private institutions.

II. CONCLUSIONS

The inclusive strategies had a significant impact on students' level because they

strengthened the motivation to learn and improved the attitudes towards the different

groups of a community.

Peer tutoring implemented in a diverse group, help to share responsibilities, achieve

specific learning goals, and raise self-esteem. Learning with the support of peers

allowed the students to participate actively and strengthened the cognitive and socio-

emotional area of learning.

The hypothesis of the researchers was demonstrated and with this, it can be affirmed

that the strategies influenced the students' learning system and contributed to the

solution of interpersonal conflicts.

The results will be used for the following studies, where researchers will relate other

types of inclusive strategies, such as task-based learning and project-based learning

in a different educational context.

V. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

Cambridge. (2002). COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK. Obtenido de

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf

Llorent, V., & Rafael, L. (2012). Estudio de las relaciones interpersonales en aulas con

alumnos “diferentes”. Campo Abierto, 90,105. Recuperado el 29 de Noviembre de

2016, de

http://mascvuex.unex.es/revistas/index.php/campoabierto/article/view/1491/939

Molina de Colmenares, N., & Pérez de Maldonado, I. (2006). El clima de relaciones

interpersonales en el aula: un caso de estudio. Paradigma, 27(2), 31. Recuperado el

29 de Noviembre de 2016, de

http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1011-225120060002