The role of education based on the simulation of experimental interactive environments on improving the level of the four skills of the English language of teenagers

Dissertation to receive a master's degree in educational technology (M.A)

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of teaching based on the simulation of experimental interactive environments on the four skills of language learning in the English language course. Based on the goals pursued in the study, the method of this research is practical in terms of its purpose and in terms of its implementation in the form of a quasi-experiment with pre-test and post-test and considering a control group. The statistical population of this research is all adolescent male students between the ages of 13 and 16 years old who went to one of the English language schools in Kermanshah city in the first half of the academic year 1992-1993 to teach and learn English. In order to determine the sample, the "available sample" sampling method was used. For this purpose, 2 classes were selected from among the existing classes in one of the language schools in Kermanshah city and they were placed in two test groups (an experimental group and a control group). The preparation of the data collection tool in this research was done by a researcher and with the cooperation of 4 lecturers with educational experience and with a master's degree in English language education. These tests were in four sections: listening (answering 20 questions based on listening to four conversations), speaking (answering twenty conversational sentences), reading (a text with twenty four-choice questions) and writing (twenty four-choice questions related to grammar and sentence structure). The validity of the measurement tool of the research variables in all four sections was determined by English language teachers in English language schools in the city. To confirm the reliability, the method of performing two single forms of a subject without time interval and by calculating the correlation coefficient between the data of the two tests of listening (0.92), speaking (0.88), reading (0.79), and writing (0.91) was used. In order to analyze the data, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and to determine the level of homogeneity or non-homogeneity of the groups in the studied variables in the pre-test, inferential statistics test (multivariate analysis of variance and based on the results of the Pilapi effect, Wilks's lambda, Hotelling effect and the largest root test) tests were used, and in the comparison and analysis section of the post-tests, the "analysis of covariance with control of the pre-test effect" tests were used.

Key words: simulation of experimental interactive environments, reading, writing, English language.

Introduction:

Today, English language education has become a global priority due to the development of information, technology and communication. But in our country, language education, especially at the level of middle and high schools, which is the cornerstone of English language education, faces its own issues and problems (Kalantari and Gholami, 2012, p. 100). The source of many of these problems originates from the fact that English language teaching, like other subjects, in many schools and even private schools are teacher-centered and lack an interactive environment (Hosseini Fatemi et al., 2019, p. 5). And this is despite the fact that language teaching and learning has undergone many changes in this century and has been practiced in the classroom more than any other field in the whole world.

         The only reason for the success or failure of a language learner in foreign language classes and institutions is not his innate intelligence and talent. Rather, this issue includes more aspects. The field of language teaching is usually limited to the language learner in the classroom framework, and the teacher's perception of learning is an "island" attitude. Because there is an effort to make the whole inclusive learning process take place in the classroom (Pishghadam and Moradi Moghadam, 2012, p. 31). And this is the fact that the results of many researches have made it clear that language teaching depends on the environment more than anything else. Because the language teaching approach is communicative in an interactive environment, instead of relying on constructivist linguistic foundations and behaviorist learning hypothesis, it is based on the foundations of generative linguistics and cognitive learning theory. In addition, in this approach, communication ability is targeted instead of language ability, and the structural classification of the program gives way to focusing on actions, concepts, or playing a role in language interaction (Roberts, 1982, quoted by Goniband Shushtri, 1375, p. 88).

         Therefore, in the last decade, the role of interactive environments and communication methods of language teaching, more than other methods, have attracted the attention of researchers. (Chang and Lehman [1], 2002, p. 81).And the method of using language teaching oral communication has been proposed as one of the most well-known educational communication strategies (Lam [2], 2006, p. 142). Based on this and considering that it is not possible for students to be present in real environments to learn English, it is possible to provide learners with the feeling of being in a real environment by simulating these environments in educational spaces. Based on this, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of education based on the simulation of experimental interactive environments on the improvement of the four skills of the English language of teenagers. 1-2 Statement of the problem: In traditional teaching-learning methods, which today are referred to as passive methods, the teacher plays an active role in the teaching process and expresses the material orally in the class, and students without an active role, only have to listen to him and memorize the desired material. In such a situation, the necessary grounds for social growth, academic progress and intellectual development of learners are not provided. For this reason, today the subject of active educational methods and active learners has found a special place in educational discussions (Yariari et al., 1387, p. 146).

This issue is more important and prominent in English language teaching because the learning process never happens in a vacuum and the final product includes various interactions with the surrounding world. Most of the time, the language learner is measured in the form of a two-way teacher-learner relationship, and in this regard, the school and classroom environment is the first and last point that is looked at. Considering the importance of ecological and environmental factors in learning English, creating and simulating interactive and experience-based learning environments for learners has a high potential for learning (Pishghadam and Moradi, 2013, p. 31).

According to the theory of linguists, the basic skills of learning English are listening, speaking, reading and writing in order of priority. In cases where English is taught as a foreign language, it is not possible for learners to use the mentioned skills in the classroom (Abassi et al., 2018, p. 143). Therefore, learning English is difficult for this group of children, and success in achieving the complexities of this language requires a lot of effort. Although English language classes as a place to improve people's language, it is difficult to present innovations of teachers and language learners in order to facilitate this process (Mohammadi, 2008, p. 103). In this regard, the continuous use of traditional and uniform methods by the teachers has caused the learners to be discouraged and afraid of learning the language.

Education of the English language, due to the special characteristics of this course, has always been associated with problems and issues, and above all, it is tangible and important for the teachers and lecturers who are directly related to the education (Ahmadpour, 2013, p. 16). Therefore, during the last few years, the effective teaching of English language has become one of the main concerns of the country's curriculum planning authorities, because despite spending a large amount of time, energy and capital, millions of Iranian students, after six or seven years of English language education in schools, ultimately fail to achieve the ability to communicate effectively (Sajad, 2014; Mohseni Moghadam, 2014; Homai, 2015). Experience shows that the current teaching method, both in middle school and high school, as well as in university, has failed and any change in language teaching has failed so far. The failure of its language training program creates such a bitter experience of failure in language learners that it continues until the end of the language learners' education (Pishghadam, 1387, p. 24).

And all this is while with the increasing growth and progress of global communication in the age of communication based on mobile phones, the Internet and other easy communication media, the importance of English language education is increasing day by day, and this language, along with globalization in the 21st century, has a great impact on and work, outsourcing, tourism, international travel, migration, using scientific resources and many other topics (Mabasalt [3], 2012, p. 3).

The results of existing studies have reported various reasons for the weakness of language education in Iran. Ariazi (2005) attributes the basic problem of language education in Iran to the lack of a written program or a clear and clear policy about language education. Batani (1369) believes that language learning programs in schools have no effective results, except for the waste of capital and human resources.