Demographic information about the participants

Table 4.1 shows the gender distribution of the participants. Among the 1550 respondents, 343 (22.1%) of them were male and 1,207 (77.9%) were female. The ratio is, on the whole, consistent with that of the statistic data about elementary school teachers’ gender distribution made by Department of Statistics of the Ministry of education in 2011. Both statistics indicate the fact that female elementary school teachers in Taiwan have long been outnumbering male teachers in elementary schools.

Table 4.1 Gender of Respondents

Category Frequency Percentage

Male 343 22.1%

Female 1,207 77.9%

Table 4.2 shows the age differences of the respondents. Of all the respondents surveyed in this study, nearly half of them (739, 47.7%) were between the age of 31 to

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40 years old, and about a fifth of the total participants (281, 18.1%) were between 21 to 30 years old. That is, about two-thirds of the teacher respondents (1,020, 65%)

belonged to the younger generation among teaching staff in elementary schools. This is true to reality, because a higher elementary school teacher attrition and turnover rate had been a common phenomenon in Taiwan.

Table 4.2 Age of Respondents

Category Frequency Percentage

21~30 years old 281 18.1%

31~40 years old 739 47.7%

41~50 years old 428 27.6%

51~60 years old 100 6.5%

61 years old and above 2 .1%

Table 4.3 shows the majority of respondents (1,050, 67.7%) in the survey study had no more than 10 years of teaching experiences. Nearly one-fifth of them (260, 16.8%) had 11 to 15 years of teaching experience. And about one-tenth of them (136, 8.8%) had 16 to 20 years of teaching experiences, while only a small percentage of them (85, 5.5%) had taught for 21 to 25 years. Only relatively few of the respondents (19, 1.3%) had taught in schools for more than 26 years.

Table 4.3 Respondents’ Years of Teaching

Category Frequency Percentage

5 years and below 369 23.8%

6~10 years 681 43.9%

11~15 years 260 16.8%

16~20 years 136 8.8%

(table continues)

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Table 4.3 (continued)

21~25 years 85 5.5%

26~30 years 15 1.0%

30 years and above 4 .3%

As Table 4.4 indicates, among all the respondents surveyed, only about one-fifth of them (276, 17.8%) were homeroom teachers, who were required, apart from their basic teaching load, to take charge of an individual class. Nearly two-fifths of the respondents (626. 40.4%) were subject teachers, who only had to teach the English subject, unlike the rest of their colleagues who might also have to teach more than one single subject or take care of administrative affairs. In addition, about one-fifth of the respondents (269, 17.4%) were substitute teachers, who were not regarded as official members of the teaching faculty. Part of them might also belong to the substitute teachers in elementary schools recruited through the channel of the 2688 Project. With the special teacher personnel increment project launched by Ministry of Education since 2006, they hoped to help ease the heavy workload for elementary school teachers.

Table 4.4 Position in School

Category Frequency Percentage

Subject Teacher 626 40.4%

Homeroom Teacher 276 17.8%

Substitute Teacher 269 17.4%

Chief 251 16.2%

Part-time Faculty 93 6.0%

Director 84 5.4%

Member of Consulting Team 29 1.9%

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Table 4.5 shows the academic status of the respondents, or highest education, to be more specific. Of all the respondents, only about one-sixth of them (251, 16.2%) had a college diploma in teacher training institutes. And the majority of them (1,299, 83.8%) became teachers through other training raining programs. This might be the result of the large-scaled elementary English pre-service teacher training programs operated in more than 20 universities in Taiwan starting from 1999 and its equivalent programs during the successive years. It was because all the elementary schools in Taiwan were scheduled to begin teaching English in the fifth and sixth grades in 1991. The academic status of the respondents could also be regarded as an indirect result of the diversified and open teacher training policy issued in 1994. Generally speaking, the figures in the table served as a positive sign indicating that the elementary English teachers were qualified for their above-average education level.

Table 4.5 Highest Education

Category Frequency Percentage

Others 508 32.8%

BA of Foreign Language Major 438 28.3%

MA of English Major 222 14.3%

BA of English Major in Teacher Training Institutions 143 9.2%

Teachers’ In-Service 40-Credit Courses 131 8.5%

BA of English Minor in Teacher Training Institutions 108 7.0%

PH.D of English Major － －

As can be seen in Table 4.6, almost half of the school (733, 47.3%) where the respondents teach had no more than 12 class and were usually categorized as

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small-scaled schools, which might best be explained by the declining birthrate in Taiwan during the past decade.

Table 4.6 School Size

Category Frequency Percentage

12 classes and below 733 47.3%

13-24 classes 270 17.4%

25-36 classes 208 13.4%

37-48 classes 142 9.2%

49-60 classes 82 5.3%

61 classes and above 115 7.4%

Table 4.7 shows the distribution of the locations of schools where the respondents reported to teach. Of all the 1,550 respondents, about two-fifths of them (620, 40.0%) taught in schools located in municipalities, including Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taichung City, Tainan City and Kaohsiung City. And nearly half of them (752, 48.5%) reported to be teaching in schools located in counties or cities in northern, central, and southern parts of Taiwan. The rest of them (178, 11.5%) taught in schools located in counties or cities in eastern Taiwan as well as in outlying islands.

Table 4.7 Location of School

Category Frequency Percentage

Municipality 620 40.0%

Northern County/City 299 19.3%

Central County/City 286 18.4%

Southern County/City 167 10.8%

Eastern County/City 136 8.8%

Outlying Island 42 2.7%

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In the present study, in order to generate a more sensible result from data analysis, schools where the respondents taught were divided into the following three groups, including metropolitan, township/city, and remote area, as indicated in Table 4.8, based mainly on the type of economic prosperity of each local area and the quality of

educational resources each of them enjoyed.

Table 4.8 Groups of School

Category Frequency Percentage

Metropolitan 620 40.0%

Township/City 752 48.5%

Remote Area 178 11.5%

4.1.2 Frequency and patterns of IT use in English instruction