Elementary and Junior High School English Teachers'' Perceptions and Implementation of Remedial Instruction for Underachievers

• Main Authors: Ying-Hsiu Chen, 陳映秀
• Other Authors: Yueh-Kuei Hsu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44927924334514431504

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語研究所 === 92 === With the implementation of Grades 1 to 9 English Curriculum in Taiwan, English education has been extended to the fifth grade at the elementary school level. The existence of a large gap among the students'' English language abilities observed both in the elementary school and junior high school contexts has drawn increasing attention of the practicing teachers, schools and educational authorities. In view of this problem, the implementation of remedial instruction for the underachievers has been included as an important measure of contemporary educational reform. The major purpose of the present study is to emphasize the significance of remedial instruction. With the understanding of the teachers'' perceptions, implementation, difficulties and support needed in remedial instruction, it is hoped that the educational authorities could take necessary actions to assist the frontline teachers in order for remedial instruction to be fully realized in each classroom and to help every underachiever. Teachers are active agents in putting remedial instruction into practice in the classrooms. The present study investigated the teachers'' perceptions and implementation of remedial instruction for underachievers. Based on the difficulties and necessary support the teachers need, this research then provided insights for the practitioners and educators in the implementation of remedial instruction. The target population for the present study is elementary and junior high school English teachers in Taipei City. A total number of 239 questionnaires were collected, including 92 and 147 from elementary and junior high schools respectively. Besides, 4 key persons in the field of Grade 1 to 9 English Curriculum were interviewed in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the issue of remedial instruction,. Findings of the present study are as follows. First, the importance of remedial instruction was widely recognized, and most of the teachers were willing to implement remedial instruction for the underachievers. Their knowledge of remedial instruction procedures, however, still had room for improvement. Secondly, effective in-class strategies identified are “peer-tutoring” and “cooperative learning.” It was further suggested that teachers'' positive attitude towards the students have profound influence on the students'' learning motivation and attitude. Third, school-wide remedial programs were more frequently implemented in junior high schools, with “pull-out resource program” and “after-class session” to be the two common programs. However, the teachers'' evaluation suggested only minor effects the two programs had in enhancing the learning of underachievers. Fourth, difficulties the teachers encountered included heavy teaching workload, lacking complete sets of remedial instruction measures, and being difficult in raising students'' motivation and interest. Necessary support were reducing teachers'' teaching workload, incorporation of resources from the parents and the community, providing learning materials appropriate for students'' language abilities, and administering ability grouping for English courses. Finally, the teachers'' suggestions for promoting the effectiveness of remedial instruction were allocating special funding for remedial instruction, providing relative teacher training courses, promoting extensive communication between elementary and junior high school teachers, and establishing a comprehensive teaching resource bank.