In this study, the correlation among the sixth grade students’ phonological awareness literacy, English alphabet knowledge, and word decoding ability is explored. The author also included the current situation of the sixth grade students’ English learning. In addition, their English learning difficulties and strategies are also discussed. The author elaborates on some limitations of this study below and makes some suggestions for future research.
First, there are some remaining test items for phonological awareness. In this research, only phoneme blending and phoneme segmentation were included. There are also some tasks, such as, identifying and comparing sound units and syllables. The result may be different if other phonological awareness tasks are designed to examine the relevance of these variables. Second, the sixth grade students were asked to reflect on their current English learning according to the categories of English pronunciation, listening, reading, speaking, and spelling. They had to respond to each category by ranking whether their English learning situation was easy or difficult. The author used a pie chart to present their responses and analyze their feedback as well. In the future, these data may be analyzed more deeply by adding a section on interviewing students in order to discover more information about their situations.
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Appendices
Sixth Grade Students’ English Learning Difficulties 1. Grammar. Sometimes I forget the rules of English sentences.
2. English reading. I cannot understand the whole article.
3. English learning is difficult for me.
4. Pronunciation, English spelling, reading comprehension. My English pronunciation is not good, and I cannot totally understand English either.
5. Memorizing vocabulary. Because some words are long, I cannot memorize them.
6. English speaking. I am afraid to speak English.
7. English reading. English reading comprehension is important, and most articles are not from English books.
8. English pronunciation. I do not know how to spell English words.
9. Chatting with others in English. Wrong pronunciation will make me feel embarrassed.
10. Grammar is much more difficult. I learned lots of grammar rules, but I do not know how to properly use those them.
11. Memorizing grammar rules and reading vocabulary. I cannot understand English rules or what the English teachers say at cram school.
12. English speaking. I have to speak English when I talk to foreigners. I may have difficulties with some English expressions while communicating with them.
13. English spelling. If I spell English words wrong, I will get the wrong answer.
14. I do not exactly know what my own difficulties are in learning English, and I think English learning is okay for me now.
15. English spelling. I have to memorize words repeatedly, and then I will know how to spell them.
16. English grammar. Some grammar rules seem to be easy, but actually I still feel it is hard for me.
17. English speaking. I do not speak English well.
18. Grammar. There are many grammar rules to memorize.
19. Memorizing English vocabulary. Some words are long, and sometimes, I spell words wrongly.
20. That is English grammar. For example, “es” will be added to the word "sandwich" in order to express "many sandwiches" instead of adding "s."
21. Grammar. I have to memorize the rules of making sentences.
22. English listening. Some English words are almost same in their pronunciation.
23. English spelling and word reading.
24. Memorizing English words. Some words are long and I cannot memorize them all.
25. English reading. There are many unknown words in the paragraph.
26. English vocabulary. I forget English words easily, and cannot write them all.
27. English reading. I know the word meaning, but I cannot read them out orally.
28. English vocabulary.
Even if I can memorize many words, I cannot use them in making sentences. In addition, there are still lots of unknown words.
29. English grammar and vocabulary learning. I cannot understand some English grammar, and English vocabulary are not easy to memorize.
30. English reading. There are some unknown words in articles.
31. English spelling. I have to memorize the words.
32. English listening and English composition. First, I cannot understand the meaning by listening, and then I know not much about English grammar.
33. English spelling. I spend lots of time memorizing English words one by one.
34. Everything in English learning.
35. English composition. English grammar in junior and senior high school is not easy for me to memorize or comprehend, and I do not know how to use it in English composition.
36. English grammar. It is difficult for me to memorize.
37. English pronunciation. I do not know how to read words orally, but I know their meaning.
38. English grammar. There are many rules for me to memorize.
39. English reading. It is not easy to memorize.
40. English grammar. It is difficult.
41. English vocabulary. It is difficult to memorize.
42. It is boring when I read English words aloud.
43. English reading. I cannot understand the content of articles.
44. English pronunciation. It takes time to advance English pronunciation. One week is not enough.
45. English grammar. It is not easy for me to understand English sentences and rules.
46. I feel English learning is difficult, and I cannot learn it easily.
47. English speaking. I do not like to speak English.
48. I think my English learning is okay now.
49. English learning is hard for me.
50. English reading. It is difficult.
51. English grammar. There are many rules, and I cannot memorize them easily.
52. English reading. I cannot understand the meaning of articles.
53. English learning is difficult for me.
54. English vocabulary words. I cannot memorize them.
55. Everything. I do not understand anything in English learning, and it is hard for me.
56. English grammar. The rules are not easy to memorize.
57. English reading is difficult for me; because my English spelling ability is weak, I cannot understand the meaning.
58. Grammar. The rules are messy for me.
59. English reading. Now, I have learned a few words, and some words are still not
familiar to me.
60. English reading, speaking, English spelling. I do not like English.
61. I feel that English learning is easy.
62. English is a difficult subject for me.
63. Phonics. Some of the pronunciations are difficult, and I cannot understand them.
64. English spelling and articulation.
65. English reading. I still do not know many English words.
66. English is an easy subject for me.
67. English reading comprehension. I am not good at English.
68. No.
69. Memorizing vocabulary. I am not good at memorizing English words in a short time.
70. Sometimes, vocabulary words are hard for me to memorize.
71. English learning is easy.
72. English learning is easy.
73. English speaking. I can read English words aloud.
74. English reading comprehension. It is difficult.
75. English spelling. I can spell out many words, but some words are too long to memorize.
76. English reading. It is difficult.
77. English speaking. I have to understand English through listening before I learn to speak it.
78. Memorizing vocabulary words. It takes me lots of time to memorize them.
79. Grammar. Some vocabulary words have not been taught yet.
80. English listening, reading, and speaking.
81. English reading. It is difficult.
82. English listening and speaking.
Sixth Grade Students’ English Learning Strategies
1. I will watch more English programs on TV and consult grammar rules on the internet.
2. No.
3. No.
4. No.
5. No.
6. I will memorize and write English words repeatedly. If I have English learning materials such as CDs, I try to listen to them often. I can memorize things by doing the same thing several times.
7. No.
8. I will use phonics rules to spell all English words, and then I can further use KK rules to spell English words.
9. Yes, I will listen to English tapes more, especially unknown words.
10. I will use homonymic sounds to learn English.
11. No.
12. No.
13. No.
14. Yes, I will go to cram school to practice English.
15. Yes, I will go to cram school to practice English.
16. No.
17. No 18. No.
19. Yes, I learn one grammar rule every day.
20. I read English articles every day.
21. Yes, I concentrate on my English classes and review lessons before tests.
22. I do homework from the cram school every day. Also, I will write English words one
time when I memorize them or have an English test.
23. I practice English listening every day.
24. No.
25. No.
26. No.
27. I concentrate in English class and read English for one hour every day.
28. No.
29. Yes, I will use the time I read books to memorize English words. By doing so, I can accumulate my word bank.
30. I will study English hard and practice more.
31. Yes, I will read more books related to English.
32. Yes, I go to English classes after school.
33. No.
34. No.
35. No.
36. No.
37. I go to cram school to learn English.
38. No.
39. No.
40. No.
41. I use homonyms and things to memorize English words.
42. No.
43. No.
44. No.
45. No.
46. I go to cram school to learn English and read English books.
47. I go to cram school to learn English.
48. No.
49. No.
50. I go to cram school.
51. No.
52. No.
53. I go to cram school.
54. No.
55. No.
56. No.
57. I read English materials and books.
58. No.
60. Yes, I learn from the basic alphabet and then learn more about vocabulary and grammar gradually.
61. Yes, I watch English programs such as Let’s Talk in English and also read ABC English magazine when I eat my breakfast in the morning.
62. No.
63. I will go to cram school to chat with foreigners after class.
64. No.
65. Yes, I will go to cram school.
66. Yes, I will connect the familiar sounds or pictures to English words.
67. I go to cram school.
68. Yes, I will go to English classes.
69. No.
70. No.
71. Try to connect the sounds with things in daily life.
72. I use familiar sounds to memorize words.
73. I will go to English classes.
74. No.
75. No.
76. Yes, I will use e-books to improve my English learning.
77. Yes, I will speak English with my family members.
78. Yes, I will review all the words I learned today.
79. I will listen to English programs such as Let’s Talk in English or go to cram school.
80. I go to English class 81. No.
82. I go to cram school.
六年級小朋友英語學習困境
1. 文法，因為有時候會忘記句子的使用規則。
2. 英語閱讀， 因為有些會看不懂。
3. 全部， 因為都看不懂、不會唸、不會背、不會拼音。
4. 發音、拼音、閱讀測驗、因為我的拼音發音不太會所以看不懂英文。
5. 背單字， 因為有些單字很長， 有很多字母我背不太起來。
6. 英語口說， 因為我不太敢講。
7. 閱讀， 因為到了國中都會考閱讀測驗,而且大部分不會出現在課本上。
8. 用英語發音， 因為有些文字不知如何拼。
9. 跟對方用英文交談，發音容易唸錯怕出糗。
10. 我覺得最難的是文法，因為有很多文法我學了還是不太會。
11. 背文法，唸單字，因為安親班的英文老師有時候講的我不懂，也不太會背。
12. 英語口說，因為和外國人講話必須用英文和他溝通，再溝通時會遇到不會說的單 字。
13. 拼音，因為英文拼音要是不小心寫錯了，那一題就錯了。
14. 不知道，都還可以。
14. 不知道，都還可以。