Samenvatting

This study was conducted at the secondary school Bonnfentencollege in Maastricht. The participants of the study were twenty-five third-year pupils, and the study was conducted over 2,5 weeks. The goal of the study was to measure the effects teaching of compensation strategies on the amount of Dutch spoken during English speaking activities in the EFL classroom. Thus, the research question is: What are the effects of teaching pupils compensation strategies on the use of Dutch during English speaking activities?

Before the study started, the pupils audio recorded two conversations during a speaking activity and filled in a questionnaire. Then, they were taught two to three compensation strategies each lesson over the course of two weeks, and practised these strategies via problem-solving speaking activities. At the end of the study, the pupils made an audio recording of two conversations again, and filled in the same questionnaire. Furthermore, five pupils were interviewed about the speaking skill and the compensation strategies.

The questionnaires, audio recordings and interviews were analysed and compared. Overall, the pupils do not find the speaking skill difficult, but do find it important. Out of the twenty conversations recorded before the study, the pupils switched from English to Dutch 45 times; an average of 2,25 times per conversation. After having been taught the strategies, the pupils switched from English to Dutch 28 times in twenty conversations, with an average of 1,4 times per conversation.