Effective Strategies for Homework Correction in EFL Classes

Abstract

1 IntroductionIn Romania there exist few schools which function according to foreign curricula, especially English-speaking schools, which are recognised in Great Britain, or the USA. Such is the case of the Athens Greek School in Bucharest, where the materials used are supplied by the Greek Ministry of Education, as well as the curriculum according to which the lesson plans are carried out. In the following I will present a didactic project applied to the 5th and 6th grade students. In Greece, grades D, E, ST (4th, 5th and 6th grades) are considered to be part of the primary school and follow the same Curriculum. Primary school learners should gradually develop the following skills:a) Receptive and productive speech skills such as:- Understanding and production of continuous and coherent oral and written language;- Understand and use concepts;- Production of speech acts;- Learning and communication strategies;- Parallel use of native and foreign language;- Developing multicultural awareness.These skills are described below.a. Understanding oral and written language:By the end f the cycle, students should be able to:- Understand all the known phrases and the general meaning of short oral or written texts containing known data.- Infer the meaning of unknown words and phrases from the context.- Understand short texts instructions, descriptions or other information, dialogues etc, where the language is known and simple suggestions.- Understand discourse containing mostly known phrases.- Understand the meaning of a text and the mood and feelings of the speaker or writer, correctly interpreting speech elements such as pronunciation, accentuation and intonation.- Categorize information contained in one or more written texts or spoken language- Trace elements from catalogues or other short texts and to classify and use them.- Understand texts with unfamiliar words and phrases from the context.- Discover the meaning of unknown words referring to sources such as books, glossaries and dictionaries.- Understand narratives of and events of the past, present and future.b. Production of oral and written languageLearners should be able to:- Make brief oral or written descriptions;- Use proper pronunciation, accent and intonation, when reproducing a spoken text, dialogue, etc.;- Respond orally or in writing to short texts, descriptions or other information with known linguistic elements and to ask for clarification using simple phrases;- Infer the meaning of unknown words and phrases from the context and to participate in any discussion taking place in real situations or contrived situations with defined roles;- Produce written text using information from various sources- Use the spoken and writing skills to present themselves or to describe people, places, local culture and traditions, experiences and future plans;- Make short oral presentation or answer if inquired about their daily activities;-Ask, describe and present brief events in the past, present and future;- In advanced stages to produce oral or written texts short having coherence and cohesion, showing deep understanding of the tenses used.c. Learning strategies and communicationStudents are expected to acquire the following skills:- cooperation, negotiation and understanding the others;- selection, extraction, processing, passing and sharing information;- making decisions and implementing them as a means for solving problems;- predicting;- the use of dictionaries, articles, encyclopaedias and literary texts in the foreign language to find out information on other subjects;- the use of modern technology.d. Multilingualism. Parallel use of skills in native and foreign languageAccording to the national curriculum, Greek students should be able to:- Read or hear instructions in Greek and translate a verbal action in English. …