A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RESPONSES TO ENGLISH SINGING INSTRUCTION IN CONSTRUCTIVISM FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN KAOHSIUNG CITY

• Main Authors: Chih-ling Tan, 譚智玲
• Other Authors: Ye-ling Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81380025135220142939

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 95 === ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to compare the teacher and student responses to English singing instructions in constructivism of elementary schools in Kaohsiung City. Furthermore, the teacher and student responses to English learning through songs are explored as well as the comparison of favorite English songs. In addition, the responses to cooperative learning in English songs’ activities between the teachers and the students are compared and discussed. Finally, the difficulties encountered in teaching/learning English through songs are declared. The subjects of the study were 100 elementary school English teachers and 420 fifth-graders. The distribution of the subjects involved all over Kaohsiung City from north to south in order to be a relative representative investigation in Kaohsiung. Besides, the teachers were qualified English teachers approved by Ministry of Education who had attained to the courses of teaching English through songs’ activities. In addition, the students have learned English for two years. The singing instructions were applied during the fifteen weeks, 80 minutes a week, at the beginning of the third year of English curriculum of the fifth grade. All subjects were required to answer questions about learning English songs in their English classes. In data collection, the teacher and student responses to two questionnaires, the QTRELS and QSRELS, were compared by independent t-tests and descriptive statistics. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the findings of the study are summarized as follows: 1. More teacher subjects than the student subjects consented that singing instructions were benefit to knowledge construction. 2. More teacher subjects than the student subjects thought that learning English through songs enabled English learning. 3. The favorite types of songs were different between the teachers and the students. For the teachers, old English pop songs were their favorite selections to use in the class. For the students, new English pop songs were their favorite kind of songs to learn. 4. More teacher subjects than the student subjects agreed that cooperative learning in English singing instructions helped English learning. 5. The difficulties encountered in using English songs for the teachers were lack of facilities and hard to find appropriate English songs to apply in their English classes. For the students, being unable to read the lyrics and understand the meaning of the lyrics were two major problems in learning English songs. Based on the study findings, the researcher suggests that the authority of English education supports the facilities and English songs resources requested by EFL teachers since the teachers have desire and confidence in teaching English through songs. In addition, the teachers should take students’ favorite songs into account when teaching English songs. Finally, the tight syllabus of English in school usually is a limitation for teachers to fully explain the stanzas. However, providing students with related resources of songs on the Internet would be one of the solutions.