Investigating the Distributions of Types of Form-Focused Instruction in Taiwan Junior High School English Textbooks and Their Teaching Manuals

• Main Authors: Wan-Ting Chen, 陳宛廷
• Other Authors: Dr. Chang Huei-Fang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/69674707583505811772

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 98 === One important issue in English pedagogy is effective instruction on form and the use of form. The contents of textbooks and teaching manuals affect greatly the ways of instruction in English classrooms. Researchers pointed out that Form-Focused Instruction (FFI) is beneficial for effective instruction in English pedagogy. However, the real application of types of FFI in various teaching conditions and their effects still need further explorations. In order to shed more lights on current use of FFI in Taiwan junior high school (JHS) English pedagogy, the study aims to investigate the distributions of types of FFI in two versions of Taiwan JHS English textbooks and their teaching manuals. With the discussion of the findings, the study can provide readers with useful insights into the selection, use, and improvements of the contents of textbooks and teaching manuals for effective instruction. The study used content analysis to investigate the distributions of FFI types in two popular versions of Taiwan JHS English textbooks and teaching manuals in depth. For more thorough understanding of the instructional contents of these textbooks and teaching manuals, the researcher also used chi-square tests to compare the distributions of FFI types between two versions and between different teaching levels of the same version. Major findings are summarized as follows: First, investigated textbooks and teaching manuals adopted FFI as the major instructional contents. For FFI supertypes, most of the textbooks and teaching manuals adopted the most distributions of FonF which carries out attention to form, meaning, and use in instruction, and the least distributions of Corrective Feedback (CF). For FFI subtypes, the textbooks and teaching manuals adopted insufficient use of contextualized FonFS subtype, more unobtrusive FonF subtypes than obtrusive FonF subtypes, and more input-based FFI than output-based FFI. Second, the study found that different versions of textbooks and teaching manuals had different tendencies in the use of FFI types. For example, for FFI supertypes, K version tended to adopt more distributions of Focus on FormS (FonFS) than N version. For FFI subtypes, N version adopted more obtrusive Input-based FonF than K version, whereas K versions adopted more obtrusive Output-based FonF than N version. Third, the study found that factors of different teaching levels would affect the use of FFI types in textbooks and teaching manuals. For example, investigated textbooks and teaching manuals had an increasing use of FFI, an increasing degree of obtrusiveness of FonF subtypes, and a decreasing use of contextualized FonFS subtype with teaching levels due to the influences of the instructional factors and the learner factors of different teaching levels. Findings of the study provided a better understanding of the nature of FFI types used in current Taiwan JHS English textbooks and teaching manuals and their influences on instructional effectiveness. Teachers are suggested to use these insights to select proper textbooks and teaching manuals for use, make effective instruction with investigated contents of textbooks and teaching manuals, and carry out suitable compensative instruction. Editors are suggested to make necessary adjustments of their designs to improve the contents and instructional effectiveness of the textbooks and teaching manuals.