The Effects of Decodable Text Instruction on Word Learning of Fourth-grade EFL Learners

• Main Authors: Mei-Lun Chang, 張美倫
• Other Authors: Ya-Ming Tai
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/19408321555146078809

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 兒童英語教育學系碩士班 === 101 === The study explored the effects of decodable text instruction on word learning of Fourth-grade EFL learners in Taiwan. Participants included 38 fourth students in an elementary school in Taipei City. Two intact classes with comparable English learning background and proficiency were recruited. One class was assigned to the experimental group, receiving decodable texts as scaffolding materials. The other class was assigned to the control group, treated as traditional phonics teaching. The instruction lasted for five weeks, three sessions a week, and fifteen minutes per session. Both groups took the pretest and posttest for word reading, word spelling, and word meaning. The major findings were as follows: 1.In the aspect of word reading, word spelling, and word meaning, both groups made significantly improvement after five-week phonics instruction with or without the scaffolding material, decodable texts. 2.In the aspect of word reading and word spelling, the results of post-tests showed that the differences between the control group and the experimental group were significant. EFL learners receive decodable texts as scaffolding materials perform better than learners treated without decodable texts. 3.In the aspect of word meaning, the results of post-test showed that the mean score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group, which indicates that EFL learners make more progress with decodable texts than learners treated without decodable texts. However, the difference between the control group and the experimental group was non-significant. According to the findings, it is recommended to include decodable texts as scaffolding materials in phonics instruction to facilitate EFL learners’ word learning. Keywords: phonics instruction, decodable text, word learning