A Research on Developing Young EFL Learners’ L2 Literacy through Task-Based Reading-to-Writing Instruction

• Main Authors: Pei-yao Chou, 周珮瑤
• Other Authors: Pi-Ching Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/74351778211975492999

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 外國語文學系專班 === 95 === The main purpose of the study is to explore the effects of reading and writing on the L2 literacy development of EFL young learners. The learning performance between the early-starter group and the relatively late-starter group on vocabulary growth was observed and compared in the study. EFL young learners’ response to the reading-to-writing instruction and the attitudes towards teacher review on their writing were also probed and analyzed. This qualitative-quantitative study includes a task-based reading-to-writing experimental teaching and a questionnaire survey. A total study sample of 71 fifth-graders from one elementary school in Kaohsiung County was collected in the study. A twelve-week study, composed of 12 forty-minute classes, was conducted under the task-based instruction. All the subjects were requested to read the assigned text entitled The Wizard of Oz. Students learned to write a summary out of the previous reading material in the following weeks. The teacher corrected students’ writing and students revised their summaries. Students’ performance on three vocabulary quizzes and a delayed-recall test was collected. Ten out of seventy-one summaries would be chosen and published in school quarterly column. Students’ responses to the questionnaires, The Scale of Reading and Writing Attitudes (SORWA), were also analyzed. The findings are summarized as follows: 1. Young EFL learners from both early-starter and late-starter groups enlarged their vocabulary size after the reading treatment in the task-based instruction. 2. Students regarded the reading instruction enhanced their motivation to learn English, and reading short stories helped them enlarge their vocabulary size. 3. Students agreed that the English writing task enhanced their reading efficiency and improved their ability to use words appropriately. However, they did not wish to receive more reading-to-writing tasks in class. They considered the task rather difficult and they suffered the anxiety to conduct English writing. 4. The results of the questionnaire indicated that students considered teacher comments enhances their English writing. 5. Both late starters already had the competence to conduct simple English writing tasks, and students’ writings from both groups were selected and published in the school quarterly column. The findings of this study will provide references for elementary school English teachers to employ short stories as a useful pedagogical tool to integrate reading and writing in an EFL classroom. The result may also suggest that appropriate reading materials must be carefully selected to help young EFL learners develop reading and writing skills