Using Consciousness-Raising Grammar Teaching in EFL Elementary English Class: Effects on English Grammar Learning

• Main Authors: Lin, Miaohsiu, 林妙修
• Other Authors: 張秀穗
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/03537460129542842148

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 兒童英語教育學系碩士班 === 100 === This study aimed to investigate the comparative effects of consciousness-raising and non-consciousness-raising grammar teaching on EFL elementary school students’ learning of the English future tense. This study was guided by three research questions. First, which was better for students to learn English grammar, consciousness-raising or non-consciousness-raising grammar teaching? Second, which was better for the high-level students and low-level students to learn English grammar, consciousness-raising or non-consciousness-raising? Third, how did participants view consciousness-raising tasks? 120 Taipei city students participated in the experiment for 8 weeks, twice a week. The participants were randomly assigned to two different treatments, consciousness-raising tasks and non-consciousness-raising tasks. The experimental group received consciousness-raising grammar teaching, while the control group didn’t receive any consciousness-raising grammar teaching. The pretest was conducted one week before instruction and the posttest was conducted after the experiment teaching to measure the effects of different teaching methods. After the posttest, participants in the experimental group responded to question items on a questionnaire concerning the consciousness-raising grammar teaching. The results were as follows: First, all participants improved significantly in the posttest as compared to the pretest. There were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the posttest. Second, for the high-level students, there were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the posttest. Third, the low-level students in the experimental group outperformed those in the control group in the posttest. Fourth, the low-level students in the experimental group made significant progress in the posttest, while the high-level students in the experimental group yielded no significant differences. Fifth, the participants in the experimental group had positive thoughts on consciousness-raising tasks and thought consciousness-raising tasks improved their English learning of the target structures. Based on the findings and results, the researcher suggested that English teachers apply consciousness-raising grammar teaching in the courses, especially to low-level students or for remedial instruction to raise their consciousness on the target structure. Future researchers may exclude students attending after-school cram school English classes. Experimental teaching may be extended longer to see the long-lasting effects of consciousness-raising tasks. Further, future studies may investigate the effects of consciousness-raising grammar teaching of other linguistic structures in English. Moreover, other researchers may test participants’ overall performance on listening, speaking, reading and writing.