A Case Study of Early Literacy Instruction in an American Elementary School

一所美國小學早期讀寫教學之個案研究

鄭錦桂(Chin-Kuei Cheng)

《Hwa Kang English Journal》 22卷 (2017/07) Pp. 23-58

https://doi.org/10.3966/221880882017072201002

摘要

In the last few years, both Taipei and New Taipei City have tried to promote English reading in elementary schools by adding more English teaching hours, providing more funding for schools to purchase English books, and offering teacher trainings on reading instruction. Despite these great efforts, the evaluation reports of elementary schools in both cities have shown that the check-out rates of English books from school libraries remain low, reading activities are still uncommon, and many teachers still feel lack of knowledge in teaching children how to read in English (胡潔芳、張期敏，2010, 2012；陳純音，2009, 2010). To look for new ideas, the researcher went to the United States to find out how early literacy instruction is implemented in an American elementary school. The researcher first interviewed three teachers who taught kindergarten, first grade, and second grade respectively. Then she visited each of their classrooms four to five times. In addition, documents, such as students' writing samples, teachers' notes and records, class schedules, were also collected. The findings revealed that the three participating teachers adopted a balanced, eclectic perspective and that their teaching practices seemed to be consistent with their teaching beliefs. They integrated all the components of literacy in various activities that differed by level of teacher support and child control. They also constantly monitored their students' progress through different types of formal and informal assessments. Based on these findings, the pedagogical implications for English instruction in Taiwan as well as suggestions for further research will be provided at the end of the paper.

關鍵字

Early literacy instruction ； American elementary school ； Teachers' beliefs and practices ； case study

並列摘要

近幾年，台北市與新北市皆大力施推動國小英語閱讀教學，採取的措施包括增加英語教學時數、提供更多經費讓學校購買英語圖書及舉辦閱讀教學的研習。儘管如此，兩市國小英語訪視的成果報告書皆顯示各校英語圖書之借閱率仍偏低，課堂上的閱讀活動並不普遍，且許多國小英語教師仍覺得自己的閱讀教學知能不足(胡潔芳、張期敏，2010, 2012；陳純音，2009, 2010).。因此，當研究者於2013年至美國擔任一年訪問學者時，便進入當地一所小學觀察美國教師如何進行讀寫教學，希望藉此學習新的教學觀點與策略。研究者首先訪談三位美國教師，這三位教師分別教授幼稚園、一年級及二年級。接著，研究者進入這三位教師的課室進行觀察，觀察每位老師的次數是四至五次。此外，研究者還收集學生的寫作樣本、教學札記及記錄、課表等文件。研究結果顯示這三位老師皆持平衡及折衷的教學觀，而他們的教學方法也與其教學信念相符。他們使用多元的活動，並在各活動中調整教師支持度及學生掌控度，達到整合讀寫能力構成要素的目的。他們也藉著各種正式及非正式的評量方式持續不斷地監控學生的進展。文末研究者根據研究結果提供教學及對未來研究的建議。

並列關鍵字

早期讀寫教學 ； 美國小學 ； 教師信念與實踐 ； 個案研究

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