Classroom Research Methods

1. Introduction

This report observes a second language teaching lesson from the VELTE course library at the Southampton. It focuses on 16 - 19 - year - old pre - intermediate learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds aiming to enter UK mainstream education. As John & Liz (2000) noted, the lesson uses the New Headway English Course textbook to teach collocations, sentence patterns and usage common verbs like get, make and do via review, new teaching and extension. Finally, students applied the pattern “I’d like…” in a simulated hotel booking task to enhance real - life language use.

2. Learner Activities During the Lesson

2.1 Revision Stage

The teacher started with vocabulary cards from the previous lesson and asked learners to describe each word. Some had difficulties and the teacher fered support. Eckman (1995) says review turns declarative knowledge into procedural competence. The teacher also corrected pronunciation, like the word “while,” to avoid repeated errors. As Ur (2012) points out, timely correction boosts classroom efficiency.

2.2 New Teaching Stage

The teacher asked learners to list common English verbs and introduced make, take, get, and do. Learners practiced word combinations with textbook phrases and reached the word “skyscraper.” Through conversation, the teacher brought out the pattern “How long does it take…?” and had students practice in pairs. With teacher support when necessary, this change from passive reception to active use reflects Vygotsky’s (1978) emphasis on social interaction in learning.

2.3 Expansion Stage

The teacher showed a hotel slide in Southampton and discussed hotels in different countries, introducing daily hotel - booking language and the “I’d like to…” pattern. This real - life expansion enhances EFL instruction's practicality.

3. Theoretical Basis

This lesson used PPP (Presentation - Practice - Production) and CLT methods. Harmer (2015) described PPP: the presentation stage introduced target language, practice had controlled tasks (e.g., fill - in - the - blanks) and free practice (e.g., dialogues), and production involved real - world scenarios such as booking a hotel. Scrivener (2011) emphasized the practicality PPP in helping learners use language functionally.

4. Conclusion

Through this lesson, learners improved common verb use and practiced real - life tasks such as hotel bookings. Various activities including teacher - student interaction, group work, and exercises effectively reinforced learning. The teacher rearranged seating to promote peer communication. The observation covered the first twenty, middle twenty, and final fifteen minutes class, and teaching objectives were confirmed via a post - lesson interview.

Reference List

Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1979). Communicative Approaches to Second Language T eaching and T esting. Ministry Education. Eckman, F.R . (1995). Second Language Acquisition: T heory and Pedagogy. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum As ociates. Harmer, J. (2015). T he Practice English Language T eaching. Harlow: Pearson Education. Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning T eaching: T he Es ential Guide to English Language T eaching (3rd ed.). Oxford: Macmillan Education. Soars, L. & Soars, J. (2002). New Headway English C ourse. Oxford Pres . Ur, P. (2012). A C ourse in English Language T eaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Pres . V ygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society: T he Development Higher Psychological Proces es. C ambridge: Harvard Pres .