A Study of the Effects of Science Picture Books Instruction on Sixth Graders’ English Learning in a Taiwanese Context

• Main Authors: Sin-Siao Liu, 劉歆筱
• Other Authors: Hsiu-Sui Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/05431522715179494001

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 兒童英語教育學系碩士班 === 102 === The purpose of the study is to probe into the effects of science picture books instruction on all subjects’ English language proficiency. In addition, the high English achievers' and low English achievers' English language proficiency before and after the science picture books instruction were compared. Moreover, the high English achievers' and low English achievers' responses to the three science books and the science picture books instruction, as well as their suggestions were analyzed and discussed. The subjects consisted of 73 sixth-graders from two classes in a local elementary school in New Taipei City. According to their English proficiency, the subjects were divided into two groups—24 high English achievers and 24 low English achievers. All the subjects took part in the 14-week study. Before the science picture books instruction, the all subjects took the CYLET as the pretest. During the science picture books instruction, they were guided to read the three science picture books. Meanwhile, the two groups were encouraged to participate in variety activities to make progress in English language proficiency. After each science picture book instruction, the subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire about their responses to the three science books and the science picture books instruction, as well as their suggestions. They took the CYLET as the posttest after the science picture books instruction. Paired sample t test and independent sample t test were used for analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences between the pretest and the posttest of English language proficiency for all participants. The increased mean scores in the post-test for the two groups showed that all participants benefited from the science picture books instruction in promoting their English language proficiency. Especially, their reading and writing ability was improved more than their listening ability. Moreover, the results showed that both the high English achievers and the low English achievers’ English language proficiency in the posttest as compared to that in the pretest reached statistical significance. The low English achievers made even more progress than the high English achievers in listening ability and reading and writing ability after the science picture books instruction; however, no claim can be made that the science picture books instruction is more effective on English language proficiency for the low English achievers than the high English achievers. Finally, from the high English achievers’ and the low English achievers’ responses, both of them showed positive responses to the three science picture books. Beside, both groups also benefited from the science picture books instruction in terms of science knowledge learning, English vocabulary learning, listening ability, reading and writing ability, and thinking skills cultivation.