THESIS REVIEW

MA3C0301Alice朱惠絹

INTRO TO THE THESIS Title:

A case study of teaching phonics to EFL elementary school students in an English remedial program

字母拼讀法輔助「攜手計畫」國小學生英語補救教學之個案研究

Author:

Su– Ching Lin University:

STUST (Master of Applied English ) Year of completion:

2014

reasons for choosing the thesis1. Case study2. Phonics instruction3. Remedial programs

MOTIVATION & PURPOSES

an extremely dual-peak phenomenon

low-achieving high- achieving

resource-deficient resource-abundant

Be lacking of practicing opportunities and appropriate guidance

with poor academic performance

a need to implement the remedial instruction

Collaboration Plan After-School Alternative Program( ASAP) 補救教學方案 launched by MOE, 2006

-be aimed at helping students with poor academic performance

Technology-based Educational Assessment Center (TEAC) (NUT, 2011)國立臺南大學科技評量中心

After-School Alternative Program technology- based testing (ASAP-tbt) 補救教學科技化評量

Remedial instruction

diagnosis report

RQS 1. How does phonics instruction of the After

School Alternative Program affect EFL underachievers’ decoding ability?

2. How does phonics instruction of the After School Alternative Program affect EFL underachievers’ encoding ability?

3 What are the attitudes of EFL underachievers toward After School Alternative Program instruction?

DEFINITIONS

After-School Alternative Programtechnology- based testing (ASAP-tbt) The purpose is to support acting appraisal of

slow-learning students in elementary/ junior high school in Taiwan.

Students’ learning progress under ASAP program will be analyzed, followed up and accumulated

3 times computerized examination each year:

- September: screening examination - February: the firs-track examination - June: the second-track examination

DEFINITIONS Phonics: is defined as an approach in which

students are taught the relationship between letters and sounds and how to use the information to read words ( Beck, 2006).

DEFINITIONS

Decoding: is defined by the broad term in the present study, which refers to the process readers use to translate written language into inner speech as in the process of word recognition or sound out written language into oral speech (Eldredge, 1995).

ig. See “cat” in print sound out [k ᴂ t ] Encoding: refers to the processing of a linguistic

message into linguistic symbols using phonological, grammatical and semantic systems (Richards et al., 2003). In this study, encoding ability was assessed by spelling. The participants were required to spell pseudo-words using their phonics knowledge. Their encoding abilities were examined in written dictation.

ig. hear [k ᴂ t ] spell “cat”

METHOD

RESEARCH PROCESS

Investigation on students’ background

Questionnaire

PretestASAP technology-based testing

Designing

Phonics instruction (Power-on Station ) And Classroom observation

Questionnaire

Posttest Interview ASAP technology-based testing

Data Analysis

PERIOD ( 5 MONTHS ) Aug 15, 2013 ~ Aug 30, 2013 Mon ~ Fri 40 mins a day Sep 2, 2013 ~ Dec 30, 2013 40 mins a week

PARTICIPANTS

Students are from an elementary school in a rural area of Changhua County.

Total :53 students, one class in each grade The participants scored under 60 in their

previous semester English tests.

4 Grade sixth students

(S1,S2,S3,S4)

2 Grade fifth students (S5,S6)

6 Participants(S1~S6)all boys

DATA COLLECTIONResearch Question Data Collection

1. How does phonics instruction of the After School Alternative Program affect EFL underachievers’ decoding ability?

A pretest, a posttest, an interview (Q1), a questionnaire (Q,5,6,8,10), observations, field notes

2. How does phonics instruction of the After School Alternative Program affect EFL underachievers’ encoding ability?

A pretest, a posttest, a questionnaire (Q4,5,7,8,9), an interview (Q2), observations, field notes

3. What are the attitudes of EFL underachievers toward After School Alternative Program instruction?

A questionnaire (Q1,2,3), an interview (Q3,4,5), observations, field notes

RESULTS/ FINDINGS alphabetic knowledge was improved phonemic awareness was improved decoding ability was improved encoding ability was improved attitude to and perception of the program of

instruction positive attitudes toward ASAP

instruction

STRENGTHS OF THE THESIS The LR is comprehensive and relevant to the

research - with key writers in the fields (ig. Marilyn Jager Adams

and Jeanne Chall )

- with the most recent, relevant studies related The researcher did very detailed recordings on

classroom observations and field notes Assessment results are shown in tables. - very clear and convenient for readers to read Well- designed research process+ ASAP

technology-based testing - used in the pretest and posttest did help to

diagnose students’ learning problem.

WEAKNESSES/LIMITATIONS OF THE THESIS

It’s a small sample (5 participants) and lack of diversity (5 from a single elementary school in Chang Hua County)

- Can we apply the result to others?- Can the result be generalized to all 5th and 6th

graders in Taiwan? The study period is short - can not investigate potential differences in

the long term effects

COMMENTARY AND/OR SUGGESTIONS

1. 5 participants larger sample size 2. all male participants to be more

balanced on gender 3. 5 months more instruction time 4. no observers in the classroom to build

up a teaching research community 5. the result of RQ3 only through interviews

with participants and the researcher’s observations do follow –up interviews : feedbacks from participants’ homeroom teachers, English teachers, or parents (differences? changes?)

COMMENTARY AND/OR SUGGESTIONS

6. the validity of the result of RQ3: through the questionnaire about students’ attitude to instruction to check for correlation with social desirability scores

7. no ideas about the lessons designed lesson plans could be offered

8. no ideas about the teaching materials: Power-on Station series could be offered in appendix

Thank you.