The concluding chapter presents a summary of the major findings of this study. In the
second part, some implications for English education are explained. Afterwards, suggestions
for future research are illustrated.
Summary of Major Findings
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of English-only instruction in
teaching second graders and the perceptions of both the students and teacher. The major
findings of the study include the following:
First, most of the students in the study showed a positive attitude toward the
English-only instruction, although five out of 26 students held a negative attitude regarding the
instruction. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the study found that most of the
students felt happy in the English-only instruction class. Additionally, students indicated that
they could recognize the words after using the teaching process above. Moreover, students’
willingness to continue receiving English-only instruction was revealed in the interview data.
Due to the use of multiple teaching materials, most students found satisfaction with their
learning experience in the English-only instruction classroom. Most of them expressed in the
interview that the English-only instruction helped their listening and speaking abilities. They
concentrated more in the class and tended to search for help from other classmates, if they
could not understand what the teacher talked about. From the students’ feedback sheet, the
students also expressed their satisfaction with the English-only instruction.
Second, this study found that, when the teacher insisted on speaking English in the
classroom, students would adapt quickly and adjust to the new teaching model, leading to
overall acceptance of the English-only model. Students were willing to learn if the teacher
could provide gestures, movement, materials and activities in an English-only instruction
class. To make students understand the instruction more easily in an English-only class,
simple class management language was used. The repetitive use of class management
chunks or gestures helped students know what to do and how to act in the class. The teacher
in this study also used games in teaching words and reviewing the class. Students liked the
teaching part of passing the ball most. While playing the game, students were asked to speak
in English and it was found that they were really into the game and able to use English in the
game. One of the students even mentioned that she could review the words while playing the
game.
Third, difficulty was found in class management and giving instructions when all
English was used. The teacher had trouble in using only English to solve disputes among
students or to regain control of the situation. When giving instructions or teaching some
abstract concepts of the words that could not be explained by the body gesture, it was better
for the teacher to do code-switching.
Implications for English Education
Based on the findings of this study, five implications can be drawn:
First, it is not easy for teachers to speak only in English when using or teaching words
that don’t have concrete concepts, so it is better for teachers to use multiple ways of
explaining a word. For example, the teacher often made gestures to express the idea or
meaning of the words, such as the words: ‘tea pot’ and ‘hear’. The use of body language
could add the meaning to the words, through illustrating the words visually. Teachers also
need to double-check if the students got the correct meaning of the words. For example,
teachers could ask students to use their body to demonstrate the words as confirmation of or
review of the words.
Second, the teacher’s language in the class should be flexible. Teachers need to adjust
their language use by observing the learning ability of the students. When the learning
ability is not as good as expected or there are difficulties in understanding, the teachers can
be free to adapt the target language by moving from English to Chinese as needed or by
using different teaching methods, such as games and songs.
Third, the homeroom teacher could play a large role in helping the students learn
English. Homeroom teachers understand students most because in elementary school, they
are in the same classroom with the students and teach most of the subjects to those students.
In this study, the teacher found it easy to observe the students’ English learning abilities and
they could work together with more easily with the teacher. The homeroom teacher was able
to arrange the learning time with more flexibility than a subject teacher would, because the
homeroom teacher’s time in the morning section could easily be rearranged. The homeroom
teacher also knows the students better than the subject teacher because the subject teacher
only teaches them once a week. Furthermore, the homeroom teacher could arrange remedial
learning for the low-proficiency students that require extra help.
Fourth, teachers need the support of the school administration department. There should
be adequate equipment, such as a dedicated English classroom for teachers to create an
English-friendly learning environment. The school administration should also make supports
for teacher empowerment available, such as: providing teacher-training, building an English
learning corner for students, and recruiting native English-speaking teachers to help.
Fifth, for students who show a pattern of insufficient progress, teachers could adopt
changes in the method of instruction, such as: peer learning, small groups and longer tutoring
sessions. In this study, help for slow learners from the other students (their peers), could help
slow learners to clarify what the teacher said in English, give them opportunity to practice
with their classmates and enable them to get help in a timely manner during the teaching
process.
Suggestions for Future Research
The present study is aimed at how the second graders and the teacher perceived
English-only instruction and what obstacles the teacher encountered. But some issues are still
waiting to be solved. First, English teaching for first and second graders is still in the
beginning stages in most Taiwan cities, so it is recommended that future researchers spend
more time on this learning stage in order to obtain more student data. Therefore, future
researchers could compare and contrast different cities’ learning conditions and the methods
they use.
Second, this study was conducted for only ten weeks due to the time constraint. It was
insufficient to make it possible for all the participating students to meet the learning needs. It
is recommended that future research is done by observing teachers and students over a whole
year or even a longer time span. A longer period of observing the classroom may help make
a better comparison and contrast between the teacher’s and students’ perceptions, and the
actual implementation of English-only instruction.
Finally, a true experimental design could be employed for further research. There is
no data analysis on the pre-test and post-test of students of this study. An experimental
design would help to generalize the findings to achieve better validity of a wider
population of EFL elementary school students in Taiwan.
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Appendix A
Vocabulary row, boat, stream, dream, down Teaching
Aids
projector, textbook (Go Go Starter 2)
YouTube website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aruzEMKRFvs flash cards, worksheet, whiteboard markers
a handout of song lyrics Teaching
Objectives Knows the expression of text.
Understands the words of the subject.
Acknowledges the manner in English.
Week 1
Steps Activity Time Aids
Warm-up ABC song
Teacher shows the video: Row Row Row Your Boat
10 mins
YouTube website Practice Teacher introduces the vocabulary
Uses TPR to show the vocabulary
Students comes to the front to point to the vocabulary that the teacher says
20 mins
flash cards
Wrap-up Students write down the vocabulary by following the lines of the worksheet
Students read out loud the vocabulary to the teacher
10
mins worksheet
Week 2
Steps Activity Time Aids
Warm-up Teacher reviews the target words
Students to clap hands while listening to the target words Practice Teacher passes out the song lyrics handout of
song lyrics
Students repeat the lyrics on the handout
Listen to the song again and have students to sing along
Have students to read or sing the song without hearing the melody
Wrap-up While listening to the CD, students have to circle the correct words they hear in the song
Students to read the target words out loud to
Students to read the target words out loud to