| Summary: | 碩士 === 高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 100 === The purpose of the study is to compare the boy and the girl student responses to English learning and cooperative learning through an English singing contest (ESC) in a junior high school in Taiwan. Mainly, the boy and the girl student responses in the study questionnaire to the ESC were compared and probed in six aspects. First, the boy and the girl student responses to English learning, cooperative learning, and devotion were investigated. Finally, the boy and the girl student responses to the difficulties and gains and suggestions for the ESC were explored.
The subjects in this study were composed of 127 boy and 139 girl eighth-graders in ten classes of Ruei-fong Junior High School in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. All the subjects participated in the ten-week ESC. During the ESC, the subjects were guided to select proper English songs for their classes to join the contest. During the ten-week ESC, the subjects learned and practiced singing English songs with the whole class. The subjects also discussed with peers and prepared some props or gestures for better stage effects. After the formal stage performance for the ESC, all the subjects were required to fill out the study questionnaire.
The boy and the girl student responses to the study questionnaire were examined by an independent samples t-test. Moreover, descriptive statistics were applied to explore the student responses to the five-point scale questions about the ESC, English leaning, cooperative learning, and difficulties encountered in the ESC. As for the data collected from the two open-ended questions of the subjects, gains and suggestions for the ESC were analyzed and discussed qualitatively and quantitatively.
Based on the data analyses, the major findings of the present study are summarized as follows:
1. There are six significant differences in the boy and the girl student responses to the ESC. In addition, from the higher mean scores of the girls than those of the boys, the girl students more agree than the boy students that learning English through singing songs and the English Singing Contest (ESC) is attractive and popular.
2. There are six significant differences in the boy and the girl student responses to English learning in ESC. In addition, from the higher mean scores of the girls than those of the boys, the girl students agree more strongly than the boy students that English learning in the ESC provides opportunities to practice English listening, pronunciation, as well as vocabulary.
3. There are four significant differences in the boy and the girl student responses to cooperative learning in the ESC. In addition, from the higher mean scores of the girls than those of the boys, the girl students agree more strongly than the boy students that they paid attention to those classmates with weak English proficiency, and they had significant preference on interactive and cooperative activities in the ESC.
4. There are three significant differences in the boy and the girl student responses to devoting themselves to the ESC. In addition, from the higher mean scores of the girls than those of the boys, the girl students agree more strongly than the boy students that they obviously devoted themselves to the ESC by listening to English songs actively. Besides, the girl students hold stronger agreement than the boy students that they spent much time practicing singing English songs and created gestures or movements to reinforce the stage effects.
5. From the student responses to their gains for the ESC, both the boy and the girl students expressed that they gained most in learning new English words or learning new English songs. Half of the boy and the girl students also expressed that the ESC inspired the class cooperative spirits or enhanced their self-confidence and English learning interests.
6. There are four significant differences in the boy and the girl student responses to difficulties encountered in the ESC. First, more boys than the girls expressed that singing English songs in public was difficult and unaccustomed. Additionally, more boys than girls agreed it was troublesome to spend plenty of time practicing singing English songs. Moreover, more boy students than girl students thought practicing singing English songs brought malignant influences on learning other school subjects. Finally, more boys than girls thought it was not easy to decide on a proper song for the contest although not many of the students showed great difficulty in choosing suitable English songs for the whole class. To deal with the difficulties, the boy and the girl students made some practical suggestions for the ESC. Some students suggested improving the school facilities for the ESC, such as the light and sound effects. Some students suggested having more feedbacks, including the concrete prizes and compliments or advices from the teachers.
The study findings imply that the ESC positively influences on English learning for both boy and girl students. Particularly, the ESC can bring more positive responses to English listening, English pronunciation, vocabulary learning, and cooperative learning for the girl students than the boy students. Based on the study findings, the researcher suggests that the authority of English education arrange the ESC as an annual academic activity and improve relevant facilities for the ESC. In addition, teachers should take boy students’ and girl students’ different interests into account when asking them to sing English songs on stage. For example, teachers can encourage boy and girl students to sing English songs in public by sharing different duties. Finally, teachers should provide students with strategies or methods to overcome the obstacles in lyrics memorizing, onstage singing, and time-consuming practice.
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