A Study on Preservice Teachers’ Construction of Meanings about EFL Remedial Instruction

• Main Authors: Hung-jin Liu, 劉虹均
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/34838532795562412294

碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系碩士班 === 95 === The purpose of the current study was to explore preservice teachers’ construction of meanings about English as a Foreign Language (EFL) remedial instruction. Two preservice teacher participants were selected from a national university of science and technology in central Taiwan. Three major data were collected in the current study: reflective journal, classroom observation, and interview. Reflective journals were collected from preservice teacher participants after the teacher training program. Classroom observation and interviews were conducted before, during and after English remedial teaching practice. In addition, an open-ended questionnaire was distributed to students to examine their perceptions on English remedial instruction. All the collected data were analyzed based on content analysis (Patton, 1990) and constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Results show that preservice teachers regarded EFL remedial instruction as after-school instruction before the teacher training program. During the teacher training program, preservice teachers started to construct professional knowledge and developed critical reflection which reconstructed their meanings about EFL remedial instruction. They began to view EFL remedial instruction as compensatory instruction which aimed to compensate for low-achievers’ learning weaknesses. During English remedial teaching practice, they were able to connect their knowledge and belief to classroom actions. They also reflected their classroom actions and reconstructed their meanings about EFL remedial instruction. Then they began to perceived EFL remedial instruction to be diagnostic instruction which was conducted based on the diagnosis of low-achievers’ weaknesses. Toward the end of English remedial teaching practice, they became more aware of low-achievers’ affectiveness and took both cognitive and affective domains into considerations. At the end of English remedial teaching practice, preservice teachers constructed new meanings about EFL remedial instruction. They regarded EFL remedial instruction as underachiever-centered instruction. The results of the current study pinpoint the important role of teacher training program in promoting preservice teacher professional development on English remedial instruction. English teacher educators in Technological and Vocational Education System (TVES) college are suggested to develop teacher training program to prepare English remedial instructors as well as enhance the effectiveness of English remedial instruction. In addition, the current study indicates the importance of critical reflection in assisting preservice teachers to become more professional.