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生活化英語教學的迷思:台北縣市兒童全英語補習班之研究
(碩士班:呂佩樺) (指導教授:黃樹仁)

刊登日期:2006-08-31  
友善列印


  • 研究生:呂佩樺
  • 論文名稱:生活化英語教學的迷思:台北縣市兒童全英語補習班之研究
  • 指導教授:黃樹仁
  • 關鍵字:兒童全英語補習班 ; 兒童英語補習現象 ; 英語教學法 ; 英語學習成效 ; 家長期望
  • [摘要]

    由台灣的兒童全英語補習班的普及數量和密集程度顯示,目前小朋友課後參與英語補習為其生活中的一部份。而小朋友是否參與此類型的補習班,主要是因小朋友的家長對其的認同度、接受度、與經濟能力等條件決定。由於現象顯示目前此類型之補習班廣受歡迎,其背後真正的決策者—家長與他們的觀點與想法,為欲探討此議題不可忽視的一群人。因此,本文在第二章以台灣人民教育程度提升,導致對下一代教育的要求提升,作為解釋小朋友參與全英語補習班現象的背景因素,並嘗試納入政府制度、社會結構、和家長心態的轉變等其他因素,一同對小朋友參與此類型補習班的現象做探討。

    此種補習班最大的特色即為其教學方式採中、外籍教師聯合全程以英語授課,以及傾向學習英語系國家為英語非母語的第二語言學習者設計的教學方法。不僅如此,一般學校的英語課程也顯示逐漸跟進此類型教學方法的現象。但由於英語為第二語言的教學法本就非為非英語系國家設計,無論是適用環境、學習過程、所需條件、與學習時間等要件都不同,因此台灣的全英語補習班在套用此法後,除了並未必能呈現明顯的學習成效,此外還將衍生出其他許多教學安排上的問題。

    許多文獻都討論到補習班師資的問題,雖然師資為影響小朋友學習過程與成果的重要因素之一,但本文發現這並不足以完全解釋台灣小朋友參與課後兒童全英語補習班學習成效不如預期的問題。除了補習班外籍教師聘請困難為補習業者長期以來面臨的問題外,外籍教師的引進也對補習班教師人力結構與教師間的互動上,帶來(非)預期的衝擊。不僅如此,因台灣社會其他環境與資源上的限制,同時受社會大眾文化價值的影響,補習班的課程內容與設計不止遭遇困難與挑戰,亦需在執行的過程中不斷進行調適。同時,又因家長對兒童全英語補習班有極大的影響力,補習班為滿足家長的需求,其部分的運作過程與現況,早已偏離他們所提倡之理念的軌道。

    某一個社會對教育方式的調適與進步,不代表就能為另一個社會帶來同樣的結果,有時甚至會產生反效果。現象顯示,在台灣既非英語系國家,且又極度缺乏英語練習的環境的情況下,套用英語系國家的英語為第二語言教學法的效果並不如預期,不止教學上困難重重,台灣的小朋友並未如補習班宣稱的能自然的學會說英語。而此種教學訴求甚至連帶影響台灣正規教育學校教師的教學信心。


  • [ 英文摘要 ]

    Children's learning centers in Taiwan have been hiring foreign teachers from English-speaking countries throughout the world to teach English to children for more than 20 years. This educational trend has reached its peak in this recent decade. Currently, there are over 5,000 children's English learning centers across Taiwan; furthermore, nearly 800 of them are established in Taipei. Since over 70% of the children attend English learning centers after school, children are expected to perform better in English, especially in their conversation skills. However, Taiwanese children not only do not seem to benefit from this extra education, but their English performance has even degraded: Taiwanese children ranked 4th in 2002 and dropped to 11th in 2004, according to an Asian ranking (Cambridge Examination Centre 2005). With this kind of failure, people look for a source problem to blame.

    Many scholars believe that the problem stems from a tremendous demand for English, which causes a shortage in the supply of teachers and thus poor quality foreign teachers are recruited. The lack of strict government laws and the hasty decision of the learning center owners for higher profits are also major causes for the problem. Although these explanations reveal some important problems within the learning centers, they are insufficient to explain the phenomenon as a whole. First of all, a social problem cannot simply be caused by only one or few things, because the society we live in is far more sophisticated. One social problem is affiliated with another and is therefore produced and entwined in daily life. By focusing on one aspect only, we may neglect other possible explanations or produce factual but biased results.

    Thus, this study tries to explain a seemly, but not purely, education problem from a sociological perspective, and provides a causal relationship between all the possible variables including the ones mentioned above, but also parental ideology, language teaching methods and cross cultural aspects. The results of this study show that the parents, as the most influential decision makers of children's English learning; and their beliefs are one of the biggest reason for the learning centers' gain in popularity. As education expands, parents' expectation for the achievement of the next generation increases. When the educational reform in Taiwan came into play in the 1990's and changed the conception of both people and education, parents started to urge for better ways of teaching and higher qualities of education for their children. Since it is now believed that a better way for Taiwanese children to learn English is to immerse them in an ‘All English' environment, the English learning centers taught by foreign teachers became the mainstream. While the introduction of foreign teachers changed Taiwan's social structure, it also caused internal problems within the learning centers and problems between foreign and Chinese teachers. And since it is also believed that children will benefit more from English as Second Language (ESL) teaching methods, they have been broadly used throughout the learning centers. However, the results indicate that the use of immersion and ESL teaching methods are also major reasons for the degradation of Taiwanese children's English ability. It is found that the teaching methods that are suitable and appropriate for one place may not produce the same result in another, because one should never forget to take the different social values, norms, policies, and environmental resources into consideration. In conclusion, the problem is multifaceted and steps should be taken to improve the education of Taiwanese children at many levels.