英語教育起步早，國中學生學得好? 以臺灣中學英語教師之觀點看英語向下延伸

Abstract

English has become a global language and plays an important role of international communication and global economic activities. High English proficiency has been regarded as a tool to have good jobs and high social status. In Taiwan, the Ministry of Education (the MOE) has implemented the policy of English education which started English curriculum at elementary school level since 2001. The fifth graders started English classes as a compulsory curriculum. The English education policy for children has been changed by years. In the school year, 2011, English curriculum was compulsory for the first graders in Taoyuan County. The purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers’ experiences with teaching students of different starting ages, and to evaluate the impacts on this policy of junior high English education and curriculum. The method was to interview five junior high school teachers with rich teaching experiences. Qualitative research design was employed in this study to gather and analyze data. The subjects were from the public junior high school in Taoyuan County. Through the research, the teachers’ reactions, perspectives and preparations for the new policy were revealed. Results of this study showed that junior high school English teachers thought the important factors impacting on English learning included motivation, exposure to English at school and resource. The starting age of learning English were not directly related to students’ English achievement. As to the negative side of the policy, the teachers claimed that too early learning of L2 would lead to serious double-peak phenomenon in class. The students who fell behind would increase and they may give up learning easily. As to the positive side of the policy, the teachers thought the policy would increase the opportunities of English learning for disadvantage families. Then, students’ English oral skills would be better when learning English at young age. In conclusion, successful English learning is impacted by a lot of relevant factors. Therefore, this study suggests that: (1) Teachers should teach and help students’ learning according to students’ diverse levels of English proficiency. (2) Teachers should adjust or change their teaching and design activities to motivate students for solving the problem of low degree of participation in class. (3) When implementing an English education policy, the government should take account of not only the starting age of learning English but also students’ and teachers’ needs. It is important to provide a plenty of education resource, listen to what teachers’ think and improve English education environment.