The Effects of Post-Reading Activities on Young EFL Learners' Word Learning

Abstract

許多教學者認為透過閱讀可以無意間促進單字學習，所以在教學現場就很少或不特別做單字的直接教學。本研究使用英語繪本來探討三種閱讀後教學活動對臺灣學童學習英文單字的成效，此三種閱讀後教學活動分別為：在句型情境中教單字「word instruction in context」、用單一詞彙來教單字「word instruction in isolation」以及重複閱讀「repeated reading」，最後一種閱讀後教學活動也是本研究的控制組。研究對象是臺北市某國小五年級三個班級和六年級三個班級的學童。研究方法是五、六年級共三大組的學生交替接受三種閱讀後教學活動，並以後測來評量單字學習成效。研究結果顯示，「用單一詞彙來教單字」的閱讀後教學活動比透過「在句型情境中教單字」和「重複閱讀」來學習單字有幫助。除此之外，對於語言能力較好的國小學童，他們在接受「用單一詞彙來教單字」直接教學的表現優於另外兩個閱讀後教學活動；對於語言能力比較弱的國小學童，本研究發現他們在接受這三種閱讀後教學活動之後，在閱讀認字測驗和聽力認字測驗的單字學習表現並沒有顯著差異。Many teachers give little classroom attention to direct vocabulary instruction, assuming students will learn words incidentally through reading. This study used storybooks to assess the effects of three types of post-reading word instruction on word learning: word instruction in context, word instruction in isolation, andrepeated reading, which served as the controlled condition. Three intact classes of fifth graders and three intact classes of sixth graders at an elementary school in Taipei City were recruited for the study. A counterbalanced treatment, post-test-only design was used. The results showed that word instruction in isolationpromoted written and spoken word learning beyond word instruction in context and repeated reading. For the higher-proficiency students, those receiving word instruction in isolation performed significantly better than those who read the stories repeatedly and those receiving word instruction in context. On the other hand, no significant main effect of post-reading activities on written or spoken word learning was found with the lower-proficiency students.