An Exploratory Study of How EFL Junior High School Students Develop L2 Literacy through Task-Based Reading-to-Writing Instruction

• Main Authors: Chien-Ying Chen, 成建英
• Other Authors: Pi-Ching Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/77178869731474180343

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 外國語文學系碩博士班 === 94 === Abstract 　This study investigates the effects of reading and writing on the L2 literacy development of junior high school students. In addition, the performance between the high-EPL group and the low-EPL group on vocabulary growth was compared in the study. Further, the student responses to reading and then writing about the selected literary text, including their attitudes toward peer-tutored writing activities, were explored and analyzed. 　The subjects in this study included 63 seventh-grade students in one English learning center in the Tainan City. A five-week study, composed of 10 eighty-minute classes, was conducted. All the subjects were requested to read the assigned text, The Phantom of the Opera, and then shared their ideas in class. From the sixth class, the beginning of writing treatment, they chose one chapter of the text, respectively writing three summary drafts in response to the selected chapter. Under the teacher’s guidance, all the subjects learned to edit peers’ drafts and respond constructively. At the final stage of writing treatment, all the subjects worked together to produce a class book. In data collection, the students’ performance on five vocabulary quizzes, a post test, and a delayed-recall test, including the student responses to the questionnaires entitled The Scale of Reading and Writing Attitudes (SORWA) were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Based on the data analyses, the findings of the study were summarized as follows: 1. Although the high-EPL group outperformed the low-EPL group on the five vocabulary quizzes, the post test, and the delayed-recall test, both groups developed a similar pattern of vocabulary learning. 2. Most of the subjects enjoyed reading the selected text and were interested in writing summaries about the text because they developed personal growth through active interaction between themselves with the characters in the story. 3. Most of the subjects agreed that the integrative reading-to-writing instruction not only provided them with a helpful source for writing but improved their ability in relation to word choice, sentence structure, punctuation, and rhetorical conventions. 4. Most of the students had a rather positive attitude toward peer-editing; however, they did not wish to have more opportunities to edit peers’ drafts. 　In sum, the use of simplified short stories can be a powerful pedagogical tool to integrated reading with writing into an EFL classroom and also create a pleasant learning atmosphere. Besides, the application of pair or group discussions and peer editing is worth a try to motivate low EPL students. Most importantly, taken into consideration the successful development of L2 literacy, appropriate reading materials must be carefully selected before proceeding language instruction.