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Language Teaching

Research Quarterly
2020, Vol. 17, 55–69

Intercultural Story-Based Framework in


Young Language Learners’ Classrooms:
from alternative teaching to alternative
assessment
Bisiri Effrosyni
Hellenic Open University, Greece

Special Issue: Interculturalism in Second Language Teaching

Received 15 November 2019 Accepted 29 March 2020

Abstract
Placing young learners at the center of the teaching attention and learning process is considered to be of high
importance in the teachers’ attempt to help them be motivated to participate in the learning activities
(Holderness, 1991, p.19). Towards that goal, young learners’ characteristics such as imagination, creativity,
curiosity and love for play need to be considered carefully in the language classroom. The aim of this paper is
the presentation of a story-based framework for young learners at beginner’s level pre-A1 of the CEFR (2001,
p.24) through using intercultural stories. The main aim is to encourage the young learners’ creativity and
develop their listening skill through incorporating both metacognitive and cognitive strategies. Listening to
stories in class is a shared social experience that provokes a shared response of laughter, sadness, excitement and
anticipation which is not only enjoyable but can help build up the child’s confidence and encourage social and
emotional development (Ellis and Brewster, 2014, p.7).
Keywords: Interculturalism, Stories, Listening, Metacognitive Strategies, Cognitive Strategies,
Assessment

bisiri.effrosyni@gmail.com
Bisiri Effrosyni 56

Introduction
The Importance of Fostering Intercultural Competencies
Given that Greece has been an immigrant/refugee receiving country for more than the last two
decades, there is an emerging need for fostering interculturalism in the classrooms and prepare
students to become familiar with the “other” (Griva & Papadopoulos, 2019).
Globalization has brought forth greater mobility and technology but has also challenged
education systems around the world by bringing together diverse student populations with
various levels of knowledge, experiences, and language skills. This diversity poses challenges
for teachers, as many must find a delicate balance between allowing students to make sense of
their worldviews and guiding them in considering and reconsidering topics that are quite
personal to them.
The linking of language and culture in the foreign language classroom is undeniable. With
increased globalization, migration and immigration there has been a growing recognition for the
need for an intercultural focus in language education. While language proficiency lies at the
heart of language studies it is no longer the only aim of language teaching and learning. The
Standards (ACTFL, 2006) define the language goals in terms of 5 Cs-Communication, Cultures,
Connections, Comparisons and Communities-designed to guide learners toward becoming viable
contributors and participants in a linguistically and culturally diverse society.
Intercultural communicative competence in foreign language teaching and learning,
constitutes an ongoing process that attempts to raise students’ awareness about their own culture,
helping them to interpret and understand other cultures (Kramsch, 1993). According to Kramsch
(1993) it can be considered a fifth skill that enables language proficiency.
Research on intercultural competence underscores the importance of preparing students to
engage and collaborate in a global society by discovering appropriate ways to interact with
people from other cultures (Sinecrope, Norris & Watanable, 2012). An interculturally competent
speaker of a foreign language possesses both communicative competence in that language as
well as particular language skills, attitudes, values and knowledge about a culture. An
interculturally competent speaker turns intercultural encounters into intercultural relationships.
When language skills and intercultural competence become linked in a language classroom,
students become optimally prepared for participation in a global world. Thus, the immigrant and
refugee students need to develop bicultural facility, living in a new country while existing
students (indigenous) need to develop a greater cultural proficiency because that is an economic
asset which they can use in their adult life.
Upbringing is equally important in this context of linguistic and cultural diversity. People who
come from bilingual households, for example, are already experienced in having to think about
the world in two different ways. When they deploy to a completely foreign environment, they
may already have the listening skills, observation skills or motivation to interact with another
person in a way that makes their cross-cultural experience more positive, versus someone who is
more rigid in their understanding of cultural differences.
57 Language Teaching Research Quarterly, Vol. 17, 55‐69

According to Klafehn (2012), intercultural competence is more a process reflected in what


one “does” than a static set of skills and abilities that one “has.” People who are cross-culturally
competent are continually acquiring and evaluating new cultural information and then using that
information to revise their beliefs as necessary. Someone who has a “relatively open mindset”
(ibid) may have an easier time achieving cultural competence, because they are likely to be more
accepting of new information and perspectives. On the other hand, people with more closed
mindsets may take longer to learn how to bridge differences and work together. A lot of what we
attribute to intercultural competence comes down to motivation and openness (Klafehn, 2012).
Individuals who are motivated to engage with other cultures and are open to new or different
ideas are going to be more likely to seek out and make use of information that helps them adapt
to new environments.
Multicultural awareness and intercultural sensitivity should be initiated in the young learners’
classroom through encouraging them to experience “interdependent relationships” (Kreijns,
2004 in Griva & Papadopoulos, 2019, p.57) with other learners from culturally diverse
backgrounds and attempting to incorporate these multicultural differences in the learning process
(Hachfeld et al., 2011, p.987).
Considerable differences are attributed to the learners’ reality (Kalantzis & Cope, 2004, p.43).
That is to say, the learners in their own everyday reality are exposed to their own experiences,
family backgrounds, interests, individualised needs and preferences, interactions,
communication, thoughts, cultural values and morals, intercultural awareness, community
values, ethics of society, which form their own personal identity (Kalantzis & Cope, 2004, p.42-
42). Since learners bring their own personal identity into the reality of the classroom, learning
becomes “a journey” that functions “as an agent of personal and cultural transformation”
(Kalantzis & Cope, 2004, p.44). Learning is a passage away from the young learners’ “comfort
zone” (Kalantzis & Cope, 2004, p.44) and their restricted and established reality to the diverse
cultural identities in the reality of the multicultural classroom.
For this reason, the teachers of young learners should be characterised by multicultural beliefs
and attitudes and attempt to cultivate and encourage multicultural awareness through their
teaching practices by implementing material and designing lessons that foster the young learners’
multicultural awareness and competence (Hachfeld et al., 2011, p.987).

Story-based Framework
When designing a parallel syllabus based upon a specific framework for young learners,
teachers have to be aware of how the various tasks and activities will contribute to the child
development and language learning creating a pleasant and motivating learning environment
(Hughes, 2010, p.182). Pantaleoni (1991, p.304 in Zouganeli, 2004, p.90), places emphasis upon
the need to select materials, which concern pedagogical issues, focusing on the development of
the whole child rather than linguistic skills only. Consequently, the teacher’s role should be that
of the facilitator attempting to create a motivating classroom environment for young children to

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engage in social and multicultural interaction by accommodating their individual needs,


strengths, weaknesses, and specific traits as language learners (Read, 2015, p. 30).
For this reason, the parallel syllabus of the specific teaching situation is designed to allow the
learners to be active participants in the learning process as well as encourage them to be more
autonomous in an enjoyable environment. As a result, the story-based framework is adopted to
trigger this situation (Ellis, 2016, p.27). Stories provide a useful tool in facilitating children’s
fantasy and the imagination as they develop positive attitudes in the English classroom (Zaro et
al., 1995, p.3). What is more, the richness of stories contributes to child cognitive and conceptual
development as it allows the teacher to cater for all learner types and a range of intelligences to
make learning experiences meaningful for each child (Ellis and Brewster, 2014, p.6).
The teaching process should contribute to the development of the learners’ conceptual growth
(Rixon, 1991, p.34) through the implementation of stories that promote the child’s cognitive
development (Beard, 1991, p.232 in Zouganeli, 2004, p.94). According to Piaget (1967 in
Brewster, 1991, p.2), a proponent of Cognitivism, all children proceed from a succession of
stages before they establish the capacity to perceive, think logically and comprehend. Teaching
instruction can have an impact on the evolution of the cognitive progress on condition that the
child is qualified to assimilate what is taught (Brewster, 1991, p.2). For Piaget, “thought is
internalized action” (1967 in Wood, 1988, p.21); action is interrelated to thought on condition
that knowledge as well as intelligence initiate from motor activity. As a result, both “actions”
and thought (“intuitive knowledge”) order the child’s perception of the world (Wood, 1988,
p.24).
There are three stages of cognitive development; the “sensori-motor”, the “concrete
operational” (18 months to 11 years approximately) and “formal operation” period (Brewster,
1991, p.2). The “concrete operational” stage is divided into two periods; the “pre-operational”
(till the age of 7) and the “operational” (8 to 11 years) (Brewster, 1991, p.2).
Piaget (1967 in Bouniol, 2004, p.85), stresses that learners in their concrete operational stage
between ages 7 and 11 have an archive of learning activities encompassing problems of
classification, ordering, location, conservation using concrete objects, so they are able to
comprehend concrete aspects and topics rather than abstract ones (Williams and Burden, 1997,
p.31). As a result, children at this age have deep affection for stories that trigger their
imagination and fantasy (Parker & Parker, 1991, p.185). In addition, Piaget (1967 in Bouniol,
2004, p.82) supported that the teaching approaches and methodologies should engage the
learners actively, interactively and in a challenging way. Consequently, stories request learners
to participate actively in the interactive world of imagination and fantasy (Brewster et al., 2002,
pp.186-187) empathising with the characters and the illustrations (Ellis & Brewster, 2014, p.6).
For this reason, stories introduce topics and themes familiar to the children as they can become
personally involved in a story and identify with the characters trying to interpret the narrative
and illustrations (Perkins, 1999, p.67).
What is more, the contribution of these principles on teaching young learners exerts influence
on the introduction of child-centred instruction and individualised learning (Brewster, 19911,
59 Language Teaching Research Quarterly, Vol. 17, 55‐69

p.4). The child-centred perspective of the teaching and the learning process, influenced by Piaget
(1967), resulted in individualised teaching methodologies for young learners taking into
consideration individual needs and preferences (Brewster, 1991, p.2). For Piaget (1967 in
Cameron, 2001, p.2), the child is an active learner and can acquire language by taking the
initiative and the proper steps to find solutions to difficulties appeared by the interaction with the
environment. Piaget’s educational implications are of high significance. Teachers should focus
on the stages of development and provide the appropriate instruction and materials directed at the
child’s mental growth (Wood, 1988, p.26).
One of the main arguments against Piaget and his theory is that social interaction is
undermined (Shorrocks, 1991, p.270). However, Vygotsky’s (1978 in Wood, 1988, p.11) theory
of development places instruction in the centre of cognitive and individual growth. He (1978 in
Wood, 1988, p.26) propounds that instruction is the medium of learning and that a child’s
learning can be realised with an adult’s assistance for meaningful social interaction. He (1978 in
Brewster, 1991, p.3) described the intellectual and mental capacity and skills as the ability to
acquire language skills through instruction. For this reason, Vygotsky (1978 in Wood, 1988,
p.26) describes the potential of what a child can do on their own and what they can accomplish
with the assistance of an experienced adult as the “zone of proximal development”.
Consequently, child-centred instruction that considers the learners’ individual differences is
more suitable for the learners who have larger zones of proximal development (Wood, 1988,
p.27). The only prerequisite in order the learning process to be triggered lies on the
communicative collaboration and interaction which fosters a child’s development and language
acquisition (Wood, 1988, p.27). Consequently, teachers should encourage social interaction and
collaboration among learners of different multicultural backgrounds in order learning to be
triggered.
It is essential to design activities and tasks that reflect the process of natural acquisition of
language (Zaro et al., 1995, p.4). Storytelling can be associated with hypotheses on the
acquisition of language put forward by Krashen (1985 in Zaro et al., 1995, p.4). That is to say,
much of the language used in stories includes many of the features that Krashen (ibid) refers to
as comprehensible input – these utterances have a lot of repetition and clarification, deliberate
rhythm and reference to things. Exposure to these utterances (what Krashen (1982) refers to as
comprehensible input or language beyond the current level of the learners) can facilitate both
acquisition and learning (Lightbown & Spada, 1999, p.39). Consequently, it is essential to design
activities and tasks that make available what Krashen (1981 in Morgan & Rivonlucri, 1988, p.1)
described as the “intake” for acquisition.
What is more, stories provide a rich and motivating context for learners to develop their
strategic awareness (Ellis & Brewster, 2014, p.7). Learning strategies are divided into cognitive
and metacognitive strategies (Ellis & Brewster, 2014, p.42). Cognitive strategies involve
immediate interactivity with the tasks and activities in order to develop comprehension
(Anastasiou & Griva, 2009, p.284). These include “reasoning, analysis, note-taking,
summarizing, synthesizing, outlining, reorganizing information to develop stronger schemas

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(knowledge structures), practicing in naturalistic settings, and practicing structures and sounds
formally” (Oxford, 2003, p.12). In the same line, metacognitive strategies incorporate awareness
of processes of thought (Pressley, 2002, p.304). On condition that metacognitive awareness is a
pivotal component of the learning process, metacognition qualifies learners to cogitate and
reflect on their individual thoughts in order to evaluate and ruminate on their comprehension and
performance (Jahandar et al., 2012, p.1). Metacognitive awareness presupposes the development
of metacognitive strategies such as “self- planning, self-monitoring, self-regulating, self-
questioning and self-reflecting” (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990 in
Anastasiou & Griva, 2009, p.284). Stories immerse young learners into a world of fantasy with
powerful characters that they can identify with and can create the ultimate conditions for learning
since they only prerequisite is their imaginativeness and innovativeness (Zaro & Salaberri, 1995,
p.3). As a result, this process of finding coherence in the world that a story creates, culminates
the young learners’ cognitive and metacognitive development (Hughes, 2010, p.186).
In addition, stories establish the optimal conditions for the reinforcement of intercultural
awareness in the young learners’ classroom. Since stories from different cultures expose learners
to cultural diversity, they cultivate favourable beliefs regarding other cultures (Gómez, 2010,
p.39). When young learners become familiar with intercultural stories, they are motivated to
foster their social and intercultural competence (Papadopoulos, 2018, p.116). For this reason,
young learners become culturally literate and can show comprehension of multicultural
diversity(Ellis, 2016, p.28).

Description of the Parallel Syllabus


Storytelling is widely accepted as one of the most natural and effective ways of introducing
children to continuous and coherent spoken discourse (Cameron, 2001, p.159). For this reason,
stories were selected as the main listening material as they link fantasy and the imagination with
the child’s experience, thoughts and emotions and contribute to the social and cognitive growth
of the learners (Brewster et al., 2002, p. 187).
As a consequence, the parallel syllabus (see Appendix I) of the specific teaching situation is
designed to promote the development of learners’ oracy skills through the teaching of the
listening skill to the young learners of the specific teaching situation and to accommodate the
learners’ need for practice. In addition, an attempt was made in the implemented story-based
framework to cater for diverse learning styles and preferences in order to satisfy the learners’
different and individual characteristics (Oxford, 2003, p.16). The application of stories facilitated
this venture as stories are conducive to the language learning, since the imaginative world they
offer can accommodate individual needs and learning styles providing meaningful experience for
the learners in a multicultural environment (Ellis & Brewster, 2014, p.6).
The parallel syllabus consists of six lessons designed to encourage children to develop
strategies for listening in a motivating environment. All lessons are based on the interactive
story Brave. The idea of using a “big book” (the interactive storybook on a projector) will help
create a motivating atmosphere to listen to a story as all learners will have to sit together and see
61 Language Teaching Research Quarterly, Vol. 17, 55‐69

the pictures clearly (Zouganeli, 2004, p.101). This story was selected because it is among the
learners’ favourite cartoons. All lessons are designed under the instructional sequence of pre-,
while-, post-listening procedure. Through the listening tasks designed for the specific teaching
context, learners can develop positive attitudes towards the learning process as listening to
stories in class is a shared social experience that provokes a shared response of laughter, sadness,
excitement and anticipation which is not only enjoyable but can help build up the child’s
confidence and encourage social and emotional development (Ellis and Brewster, 2014, p.7).
The tasks and activities of all lessons are designed to develop learners’ metacognitive
awareness and learning strategies so as to become more autonomous (Ellis and Brewster, 2014,
p.8). The lessons of the particular teaching situation try to incorporate both metacognitive and
cognitive strategies. Lesson 1 aims to introduce the story to the learners, revise vocabulary about
family members and check understanding of the main characters of the story. The learning
objectives of lesson 1 include the development of the cognitive strategies of using visual (the
pictures of the story) and audio (the teacher reading) clues to exhibit comprehension of the main
characters of the story. Additionally, the nature of such activities reinforces the use of the
strategies of matching, sorting and classifying, as for example when they are asked to match the
pictures and write the family members.
Lesson 2 aims to aid learners in listening and predicting what happens in the story as well as
to write descriptions of their own family trees. The tasks of lesson 2 provide learners with the
opportunity to develop the strategy of hypothesising to exhibit comprehension of the story.
Lesson 3 requires learners to listen and apply the strategy of hypothesising and helps them
learn how to learn. Particularly, the game asks learners to use both the strategies of memory
training and hypothesising using visual aids (the pictures of the characters).
The main objective of lesson 4 is to encourage learners to predict what they might think will
happen next in the story. For this reason, they are motivated and intrigued to check whether their
expectation corresponds to what they listen to. This also triggers children’s imagination. A song
is used as a springboard to creativity and allows learners to verbalise feelings and emotions that
they might instead have left outside the classroom (Rosenberg, 2015, p.123). These activities
maintain a non-threatening atmosphere in the classroom, the teacher can encourage risk-taking
and the joy of play, two factors which can help learners to discover their own strategies to learn a
language and enjoy the process (ibid).
Lesson 5 uses a variety of tasks to encourage the learners understand the story and develop
the strategies of sequencing, predicting and classifying. This can contribute to the global
development of the child as children need to gain a range of learning strategies and social skills,
as well as linguistic and intercultural understanding, so they can foster positive attitudes, values
and beliefs which contribute to their motivation to learn, to their realisation of their own ability
to learn, and to their future learning (Ellis and Brewster, 2014, p.42).
The main objective underlying lesson 6 is to give learners the opportunity to reflect and
experiment with the learning process and develop the speaking skill. It involves children in
making masks to use in role-play and acting out tasks. Slaven and Slaven (1991, p.49 in

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Zouganeli, 2004, p.144) argue that through a role play children can relate other’s experiences to
their own lives and assimilate a variety of thoughts and feelings unavailable to them in another
way. A written script is given to the learners so as not to waste time. As a result, children are
given the opportunity to rehearse and use English in a meaningful context participating in a play.

Towards assessing young language learners


Techniques of “high stakes” language exams derived from the approaches of first and second
generation of language testing have eliminated the teacher’s role as an assessor of
communicative performance in the classroom forcing him/her to adopt methodologies and
practices that focus on the test content casting aside the individual needs of every learner
(Pollard et al., 1994; Goldschmidt and Eyermann, 1999 in Broadfoot, 2005, p.130).
Consequently, first- and second-generation techniques were deemed disembodied and non-
authentic, as they do not resemble real-life situations (West, 2004, pp.50-51).The discrete-point,
non-authentic and threatening to children’s motivation multiple-choice tests appoint the
curriculum a “molecularized” role focusing on discrete points of language rather than the process
of language learning (Baker, 2010, p.5). Morrow (1979, p.10) criticises discrete-point testing
techniques as atomistic approaches for the reason that they present that knowledge of the
language is equated to knowledge of separate segments of language lacking the essential part of
combining and synthesising elements in appropriate ways in order to use the language in various
situations.
Venturing to eliminate the atomistic, non-authentic and disembodied techniques of the first-
and second-generation testing techniques of isolated “discrete points” of language (Bachman,
2000, p.3), communicative approaches to language teaching and testing have placed more
emphasis on alternative methods of assessment and “assessment for learning” (Grabe & Jiang,
2014, p.8). The main aim of these approaches is informal classroom assessment that attempts to
enhance the learners’ performance in communicative situations by providing direct interaction
and feedback to the learners (ibid). Classroom assessment techniques are reliable on the teacher’s
instructional materials that foster the learning process (Cheng, 2013, p.7). Communicative
testing techniques yield important details about the learners’ capacity to perform in the foreign
language in contextualised realistic tasks (Miyata-Boddy & Langham, 2000, p.75). For this
reason, Morrow (1979, p.19) insists that performance should be a characteristic to be assessed in
a communicative test.
There are two functions of assessment: formative and summative (West, 2000, pp.36-37);
formative is concerned with assisting learning (West, 2000, p.36) by providing feedback on
learners’ performance for improvement and enhancing of future learning (Brown, 2004, p.6),
whereas summative is concerned with testing for assessing learning (West, 2000, p.36) by
looking back at what a learner has learnt at the end of a course or unit without any reference to
future learning (Brown, 2004, p.6). For this reason, alternative methods of assessment require
formative evaluation that assists learning and entail complex critical thinking and application of
cognitive and metacognitive strategies (Baker, 2010, p.1). Alternative assessment is authentic
63 Language Teaching Research Quarterly, Vol. 17, 55‐69

reflecting real-life situations (Frey et al., 2012, p.1) and accommodates the individual learner
characteristics, needs and preferences (Rea-Dickins, 2000,p.116).
Authentic alternative assessment is suitable for young learners due to the fact that it stimulates
their motivation and cultivates positive attitudes in the language classroom by providing
continuous and extensive support and feedback on the learners’ performance (Brown, 2004, p.4).
The assessment techniques developed and implemented for alternative assessment embody tasks
that replicate real-life situations in communicative contexts empowering young learners to reflect
on and evaluate their own thought and performance (Kohonen, 1997, p.6). As a consequence, the
teachers’ responsibility is to provide positive “feedback on assessment” (Broadfoot, 2005, p.130)
based on their students’ performance in the learning process focusing on the learners’ continuous
performance rather than the activity itself (ibid).
For this reason, all the activities from the six lessons aim to encourage learners to become
aware of and develop their own metacognitive and cognitive strategies in order to become more
effective and independent learners (Ellis and Brewster, 2014, p.42). Nevertheless, this attempt
will not be efficient if assessment is not considered.

European Language Portfolio-Proposals for Development


Portfolio as a method of authentic and learner-centred assessment enables both young learners to
become involved in the learning process and give thought to their skills and abilities and teachers
to investigate and evaluate learning outcomes and provide beneficial feedback (Griva & Kofou,
2018, p.30). For the reason that portfolios consist of records of the learners’ learning processes
and performance, they encourage learners’ self-assessment and self-reflection (Harris, 1997,
p.18). Through self-assessment learners are in charge of their learning process (Anastasiadou,
2013, p.177) and can improve their insights into the language (McKay, 2006, p.166). As a result,
learners become autonomous and independent in a learner-centred classroom (Anastasiadou,
2013, p.191).Accordingly, portfolios require formative assessment and (Chirimbu, 2013, p.95)
offer global assessment by evaluating learners on both performance and the process of achieving
that (Harris, 1997, p.18).
In the current teaching situation, a portfolio is used based on the European Language
Portfolio-Proposals for Development (1997) by the Education Committee. Every child has their
own portfolio that is separated into different sections for the different language skills. Activity E
from lesson 2 and activity D from lesson 3 are materials that will be included in the portfolio.
They assess the learners’ understanding of the family members. Activity E from lesson 5 is a
book created by the learners’ version of the story and will also be included in the portfolio. In
activity C from lesson 6 learners make invitations for their parents and friends and these will be
included in the portfolio. Another way of assessment that does not intimidate young children and
make them more independent is self-assessment, such as in activity E from lesson 4 where
learners are motivated to watch the video from a song and correct their own answers.

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Bisiri Effrosyni 64

Games as an alternative assessment tool


Young learners should be permitted to be themselves in the classroom (Holderness, 1991, p.19).
As a result, it is of high significance that language learning be pertinent to their individual
characteristics as children and their own personal existence (Sawyer & Sawyer, 1993 in Griva &
Semoglou, 2012, p.34). Since learning a foreign language is not a voluntarily option made by
young learners, teachers are obliged to create the ultimate conditions in a friendly, learner-
centred and motivating classroom atmosphere especially through games (Ioannou-Georgiou &
Pavlou, 2003, p.8). In addition, they start their own language experience, so teachers have to
engrave their anticipation and eagerness of learning (Brumfit et al., 1991, p.v). They are
impassionate, impatient and energetic, without being self-conscious, or reserved as older learners
(Brumfit et al., 1991, p.v).
Due to the sensitivity of their young age, young learners are motivated to actively participate
in the learning process when games are implemented (Ioannou-Georgiou & Pavlou, 2003, p.8).
Games can create a pleasant, harmless and nondestructive classroom atmosphere where children
feel motivated to participate in the learning process (Anastasiadou & Griva, 2017, p.25). As a
consequence, games could be implemented as a method of alternative assessment.
Additionally, games can play a crucial role to the language learning process and their
contribution to language learning promotes interaction, takes under consideration the children’s
interests, skills and capacities (Zouganeli, 2004, p.136). For this reason, they can be used to
assess children’s performance such as in activity F from lesson 1. It is an assessment game,
which assesses learners’ understanding of the family members and the main characters.

Conclusion
All things considered, teaching approaches and materials should cater for the different needs of
the learners creating a motivating environment in the English classroom. The story-based
approach implemented in design of the parallel syllabus attempts to create positive attitudes
towards English and facilitate the language learning process.

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Lesson references
interactive story Brave (http://princess.en.disneyme.com/meridas-story).

Lessson 1
Flashcards
 http://images.clipartpanda.com/warlord-clipart-throne140126.jpg
 http://images.clipartpanda.com/topic-clipart-9abe6e0a267759633cc0486ab7e855ee.jpg
 http://images.clipartpanda.com/queen-clipart-queen-esther-clipart-1.jpg
 http://classroomclipart.com/images/gallery/Clipart/Sports/Archery_Clipart/TN_girl-aiming-with-bow-and-
arrow-archery-clipart-6223.jpg
 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/fd/47/cd/fd47cd64297e36482a7804ed6fc46449.jpg
 http://images.clipartpanda.com/wedding-clipart-wedding-clipart-04.jpg
 https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/b/b1/Wisp_full.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130225032635
MERIDA:https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/d/da/Merida_web_small.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20

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Bisiri Effrosyni 68

150727050003
ELINOR:https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/4a/35/83/4a3583a40fbbab7832c7e317144bf8f0.jpg
ANGUS:https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/21/Angus-
Brave.png/revision/latest?cb=20131111054017
FERGUS:http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/f/f5/King-Fergus-Brave.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-
width-down/2000?cb=20120504165413
TRIPLETS:https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ab/61/37/ab6137f9d13205ee2d8e58f057608b06.jpg
MERIDA’S FAMILY:http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/32000000/Family-Portraits-brave-32049932-
499-500.jpg
FAMILY TREE:http://lhctzz.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/coloring-pages-family-tree-coloring-pages-
printable-for-kids-printable-family-tree-az-coloring-pages.gif

Lesson 2
http://princess.en.disneyme.com/meridas-story

Lesson 4
song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvR9YOpDG4A)
https://www.google.gr/search?q=king&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj
ejsbnxpTUAhUFY1AKHfHcCpcQ_AUICigB&biw=1251&bih=662#tbm=isch&q=+colouring+page+brave+ta
pestry&imgrc=wTDaw8fOVr2LgM:

Lesson 5
song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvR9YOpDG4A)
http://wallpaper-gallery.net/single/disney-brave-wallpaper/disney-brave-wallpaper-10.html

Appendix I
Diagrammatic representation of the framework around the story Brave
Language Description
Listening Listening to instructions, listening for general understanding, listening the story being acted,
retelling the story, listen and match, listen and predict, listen and find the words, listen and sing,
listen and guess, listen and classify
Speaking acting the story, role play, describing favourite characters, speaking about family members,
dramatization, song
Reading match words to describe family members, family tree, ordering

Writing Writing a description about favourite characters of the story, writing a book, writing invitations,
writing family trees
69 Language Teaching Research Quarterly, Vol. 17, 55‐69

Lesson 6
Lesson 1 dramatisation
Lesson 2
Introduce the
story, revise Description of
vocabulary of
learners’ families, Lesson 4
family members, Lesson 5
descriptions of description of the Lesson 3
family members of characters’ Show
comprehension Show
the main families Description of
of the story comprehension
characters favourite
of the story,
character
make books

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