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1. PROPOSAL OF A PROPAEDEUTIC MODULE IN THE
CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH FOR THE COMMERCIAL
SECTOR PROGRAM AT INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE
APRENDIZAJE – INA
THESIS DEFENSE TO OBTAIN THE DEGREE OF LICENTIATE
IN ENGLISH TEACHING
CHRISTIAN PEÑA BONILLA
SEPTEMBER, 2011

2. More than one thousand
million non-native speakers
using English worldwide
Very competitive English
programs at the National
Training Institute –INA
INTRODUCTION
Two programs:
English Executive for
Services
Conversational English for
the Commercial Sector
(CECS)
False beginners versus
absolute beginners

3. The ever-growing field of
English in the Costa Rican
labor market
The intricacies of the access
to higher education
Justification
The CECS offer at INA
Absolute beginners’
academic alternatives and
needs
+
Elementary school
graduates’ background

4. Problem
statement
What the first
CECS course
demands
CECS absolute
beginners’
shortcomings
Does INA count
on a mechanism
to meet
complete
beginners’
shortages in the
CECS program?

5. Mission: To provide training services that
ultimately foster productive work and better
people’s life conditions
Vision: To become a leading institution in
the vocational training field

6. General
objective
To propose a propaedeutic course aimed at providing INA
students of the Conversational English for the Commercial
Sector Program with the linguistic fundamentals they need to
assimilate the contents of their official introductory modules

7. Specific
objectives
To determine the necessity of adapting specific traditional
methods and approaches of language teaching for CECS
beginners
To define the topics that instructors demand to explain to
CECS students prior to their introductory course
To value INA instructors’ resort to Spanish especially in the
CECS first module

8. To define the level of grammar proficiency that CECS
participants experience in their first course
To establish the degree of motivation among students
concerning their English production

9. Variables
Teaching
methodology
Topics
Use of Spanish
Motivation
Grammar
proficiency

10. Form-Focused Instruction
(FFI)
Propaedeutics
Presentation, Practice
Production (PPP)
THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Grammar-Translation (GTM)
Audio-lingualism (ALM)
Total Physical Response
(TPR)
Intrinsic motivation

11. A descriptive research work
carried out in Centro de
Formación Profesional de
Alajuelita
A population sample of 60
participants (not only
beginners)
METHODOLOGICAL
FRAMEWORK
A 23-item questionnaire
administered to students
and based on the Likert
scale standards
A 14-question interview
administered to three
instructors

12. Use of translations
Grammar background
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
Satisfaction in terms of
progress
Suitability of the
introductory module of the
CECS program

13. GRAPH 1
THE USE OF SOME TRANSLATIONS IMPROVES MY LEARNING PROCESS
I TOTALLY AGREE
I AGREE
I DISAGREE
I TOTALLY DISAGREE
5%
13%
35%
47%
Source: Peña, Christian. Proposal of a Propaedeutic Module in the Conversational English for the Commercial
Sector Program at Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje.–INA. Universidad Magister, 2011.

14. GRAPH 4
MY GRAMMAR BACKGROUND IS A PLUS IN MY CLASSES
I AGREE
I DISAGREE
40%
60%
Source: Peña, Christian. Proposal of a Propaedeutic Module in the Conversational English for the Commercial
Sector Program at Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje.–INA. Universidad Magister, 2011.

15. GRAPH 6
I AM SATISFIED WITH MY PROGRESS IN THIS COURSE
I AGREE
I DISAGREE
36%
64%
Source: Peña, Christian. Proposal of a Propaedeutic Module in the Conversational English for the Commercial
Sector Program at Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje.–INA. Universidad Magister, 2011.

16. GRAPH 7
THIS IS THE MODULE I NEED TO BEGIN THIS ENGLISH PROGRAM
I AGREE
I DISAGREE
38%
62%
Source: Peña, Christian. Proposal of a Propaedeutic Module in the Conversational English for the Commercial
Sector Program at Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje.–INA. Universidad Magister, 2011.

17. CONCLUSIONS
A positive
students’
perspective on
translations
An easy-todifficult subject
organization
Low levels of oral
production in
English
Spelling, plurals,
third person
singular, and
subject-verb
agreement work
A well-balanced
use of Spanish
Unprofitability in
the oral use of
grammar and
lack of
satisfaction

18. RECOMMENDATIONS
Fomenting oral
production
through eclectic
methodologies
Arranging
contents from
easy to complex
structures
Following up
students’
difficulties
Placing more
worth on Spanish
at basic levels
Contextualizing
grammar through
games and
multimedia
Acknowledging
participation,
mistakes, and
talents

19. COURSE DESIGN
PROPOSAL
Macro-planning
Course
planning
Propaedeutic
module
Micro-planning
Course
syllabus
General objective: To use elementary English grammar
structures effectively in simple present exercises and short
dialogues prior to INA conversational programs

20. Specific objectives
Contents
Thematic units
Teaching and learning strategies
Evaluation
Duration
Language structures
Content words

Sports and routines

Verbs

Hobbies, clothes,

Nouns (gender
music, and food
and number)


Working on word classification and
naming exercises

Practicing the questions “What is
this?’”, “What is that?’”, “What is it

Basic descriptions

Manners and
Qualifying
like?’”, and “How do you (verb)?”
procedures
Possessive
with any necessary translations
Adjectives


Related vocabulary

Adverbs

Joining TPR and ALM exercises
To construct

Likes and dislikes

The sentence

Participating in straightforward but 
Students
basic

Important events

The subject
clear lectures in Spanish and
construct
sentences in

Vacations

Subject pronouns
English on subject and predicate
basic
English

Jobs, occupations,

The predicate
definitions
sentences in
and professions

Verb to be
Identifying subjects and predicates
English

Basic directions

Action verbs

Related vocabulary

online (web) and offline (copies)

Practicing the “You + VERB” TPR
activity with basic verbs


Practicing the “Who is he/she?”,
“What do you do?”, and “What do
you like?” questions with ALM
/TPR
First written
test

First oral test

15
hours
(5 sessions)

22. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!