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The use of supplementary materials for teaching children in EFL clases

Abstract:

This thesis’s theme is the use of supplementary materials for teaching children in EFL classes. The purpose was to determine if supplementary materials were being used, and if so, how pertinent, appropriate, and qualified the materials were. Information was gathered in an elementary school in Ambato, Ecuador from one class each of fourth year, fifth year, and sixth year students, which were observed 10 times per class totaling 30 classes. Materials observed were: flash cards, pictures, posters, white board, songs, stories, and objects which were analyzed qualitatively with a detailed description of the class theme, the activity’s objective, the activity itself, the material’s age and level appropriateness, the material source and description, the facilitation of the activity, and the investigator’s opinion of each material. The quantitative analysis demonstrated the percentage of material use in the 30 classes. The conclusion reached was that the supplementary materials are important to the learning process. They assisted the transfer of prior knowledge to English, motivated class participation, production of target language, attracted and maintained the children’s attention, and stimulated the reasoning process.