| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 英語教學碩士在職專班 === 98 === In Taiwan, with the policy of creating an English-friendly environment and new elementary school English curriculum, different kinds of environmental print (EP) such as English signs and English learning related posters can be seen in nearly every elementary school. It is important to have a clear idea about the effectiveness of elementary school’s environmental print (ESEP) and how to make use of ESEP. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the design of the ESEP and its effect in language learning and teaching.
Participants of the study were nine school staff and 622 students sampled from the third grade to the sixth grade in one elementary school in Taipei county. Two sets of interviews and questionnaires were employed to collect data. Both qualitative analysis of interviews and quantitative statistical analysis (descriptive statistics focusing on frequency and percentage examination, and chi-square test) of the questionnaire were employed.
The major findings are summarized as follows. First, the design of ESEP is primarily a top-down process. The educational authority and the school’s administrative staff directed the design of ESEP. Second, the degree of the involvement of the design of ESEP influenced English teachers’ willingness to conduct ESEP instruction. Third, more than 80% of the students noticed the existence of ESPE and showed high interest in learning about ESEP. However, without English teachers’ instruction, the effectiveness of ESEP in students’ language learning was not obvious. Fourth, most participants appreciated the existence of ESEP, and they gave suggestions for future ESEP development. Finally, some implications and suggestions for future research were discussed.
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