臺灣十二年國民基本教育課程綱要下國民中學英語課本與習作聽力活動之研究 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文指導教授：黃怡萍博士 Advisor: Yi-Ping Huang. 立. 政治大. 臺灣十二年國民基本教育課程綱要下國民中學英語課本與習作聽力活動之研究. ‧ 國. 學. An Evaluation of Listening Activities in Junior High School English Textbooks and. ‧. Workbooks Based on Taiwan’s Twelve-Year Curriculum for Basic Education. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：陳婷婷撰 Name: Ting-Ting Chen 中華民國一百零八年十二月 December 2019. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(3) An Evaluation of Listening Activities in Junior High School English Textbooks and Workbooks Based on Taiwan’s Twelve-Year Curriculum for Basic Education. 立. 政治大. National Chengchi University. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Ting-Ting Chen December, 2019. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(4) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(5) To Yi-Ping Huang 獻給我的恩師黃怡萍教授. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(6) Acknowledgments I would like to express my deepest thanks to Dr. Yi-Ping Huang, associate professor of department of the Master of Arts in English Teaching of National Chengchi University, for her step-by-step instructions and sincere concern throughout my research. My genuine thanks also go to Dr. Chieh-Yue Yeh, Dr. Hsueh-Ying Yu and Dr. Li-Yuan Hsu who put a lot of effort into reading my research paper and. 政治大. offering beneficial suggestions. Besides, I acquire knowledge about English teaching. 立. under expert guidance of Dr. Hsueh-Ying Yu, Dr. Ming-Chung Yu, Dr. Hsun-Huei. ‧ 國. 學. Chang, Dr. Chin-Chi Chao, Dr. Siaw-Fong Chung, Dr. Yi-Ping Huang and Dr. LiYuan Hsu during my study at National Chengchi University. I also greatly appreciate. ‧. the support of my dear classmates and colleagues who help me get through ups and. Nat. sit. y. downs of strenuous study life.. n. al. er. io. And last but not least, I owe my accomplishment to my family for their financial. v. and mental support; thus, I could go back to campus and enjoy the school life again.. Ch. engchi. i n U. iv. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(7) TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication Page…………………………………….……………...………….…….iii Acknowledgement……………………………………….………………………….iv Table of Contents………………………...………………………………….………v Chinese Abstract…………………………………….………………………...…….ix English Abstract……………………………………….………………………..…....x Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………...1 Background and Motivation……………………………………………………1 Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………………....4. 政治大. Research Questions……………………………………………………………..5. 立. Significance of the Study………………………………………………….........5. ‧ 國. 學. Chapter Two: Literature Review…………………………………………………..7 The Role of Listening Competence in Communication and Interaction……….7. ‧. The Importance of Listening Skills in Listening Activities…………...……..…9. y. Nat. sit. The Significance of Core Competences in the English Subject……………....12. n. al. er. io. The Essentials of Textbooks and Workbooks in School Settings……………..15. i n U. v. The Importance of Textbook Evaluation……………………………………...17. Ch. engchi. Chapter Three: Methodology……………………………………………………..21 Teaching Materials…………………………………………………………….22 Data Analysis………………………………………………………………….24 Chapter Four: Results…………………………………………………………….29 Chapter Five: Discussion………………………………………………………….45 Core Findings………………………………………………………………….45 The Similarities and Differences of the Incorporation of the Learning Performance Descriptors among the Three Versions of Textbooks and Workbooks…………………………………………………………………….50 v. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(8) Chapter Six: Conclusion…………………………………………………………..53 Implications of the Research…………………………………………………..53 Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………….55 Suggestions for Future Studies………………………………………………..55 References………………………………………………………………………..…56 Appendixes…………………………………………………………………………63. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. vi. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(9) LISTS OF TABLES Table 2.1 The Classification of the Learning Performance Descriptors Based On the Listening Process…………………………………………………….11 Table 2.2 Related Studies about the Textbook and Workbook Evaluation in Taiwan…………………………………………………………………....20 Table 3.1 Contents of Textbooks……………………………………………………23 Table 3.2 Contents of Workbooks…………………………………………………..24 Table 3.3 A Trial Analysis of Unit 3, Han Lin Textbook………………………...…28 Table 4.1 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in. 政治大. Textbook A……………………………………………………………….32. 立. Table 4.2 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in. ‧ 國. 學. Textbook B……………………………………………………………….34 Table 4.3 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in. ‧. Textbook C………………………………………………………........….36. y. Nat. sit. Table 4.4 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in. n. al. er. io. Workbook A…………...…………………………………………………38. i n U. v. Table 4.5 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in. Ch. engchi. Workbook B…………………………………………………..…...……..40 Table 4.6 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in Workbook C…………………………………………………………...…42 Table 4.7 Proportional Frequency of the Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors Among Three Versions of Textbooks and Workbooks……...44. vii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(10) LISTS OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Process of the Study Method……………………………………………22 Figure 4.1 A Listening Activity in Textbook A……………………...…...………..…30 Figure 4.2 A Listening Activity in Textbook A………………………………..……..31. Figure 4.3 A Listening Activity in Textbook B………………………………......…33 Figure 4.4 A Listening Activity in Textbook C……..…..…………...………………35 Figure 4.5 A Listening Activity in Textbook C…………………..………..…..……..35 Figure 4.6 A Listening Activity in Workbook A…………………………...……..….37 Figure 4.7 A Listening Activity in Workbook B…………………………...……..….39. 政治大. Figure 4.8 A Listening Activity in Workbook C…………………………...……..….41. 立. Figure 4.9 A Broken Out of the Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors. ‧ 國. 學. Among Three Versions of Textbooks and Workbooks ............................43. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. viii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(11) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文提要論文名稱：臺灣十二年國民基本教育課程綱要下國民中學英語課本與習作聽力活動之研究指導教授：黃怡萍. 政治大論文提要內容：英語教科書與習作的聽力活動是了解學習者的英語聽力理解能立研究生：陳婷婷. 力的主要管道之一。因此，本研究的目的是要探討市面上主要的三家英語教科. ‧ 國. 學. 書出版商的教科書與習作的編撰是否有根據十二年國民教育英語文課程綱要。. ‧. 於是，研究者使用英文科課程綱要所提出的國中階段十一項聽力學習表現來檢核各個版本的教科書和習作的聽力活動，並提出兩個研究問題：一、第一冊教. y. Nat. io. sit. 科書和習作聽力活動學習表現分布情形；二、比較三家出版社聽力活動學習表. n. al. er. 現分布情形。研究結果顯示十一項聽力學習表現的分布如下：三家出版社皆最. Ch. i n U. v. 著重聽懂課堂中所學的字詞(52.5%)和基本句型的句子(34.8%)；較少強調的是聽. engchi. 懂教室用語及日常生活用語(4.7%)和聽懂日常生活對話的主旨(6.8%)；最少強調的是聽懂短文敘述的情境及主旨(0.8%)和大眾廣播(0.1%)及辨識句子語調所表達的情緒和態度(0.1%)；然而，有四項學習表現沒有出現在三家出版社：聽懂歌曲、韻文、簡易故事、短劇和簡易影片的主要內容及了解歌謠、韻文的節奏和音韻。雖然本研究只分析第一冊，希望研究結果能使出版社在編輯其餘五冊聽力活動時，能考量每一項學習表現；此外，教育從業者能額外補充聽力活動是重要的，用以培養學習者全方位的聽力能力。. ix. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(12) Abstract Listening activities in textbooks and workbooks are one of the major ways to understand learners’ listening comprehension. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore if listening activities in textbooks and workbooks from the three commercial publishers were designed based on the reformed English curricula. In this light, coursebook evaluation was explored via the checklist of the eleven types of the. 政治大. learning performance descriptors proposed by the English curricula. And the two. 立. research questions were proposed: (1) the incorporation of the learning performance. ‧ 國. 學. descriptors in listening activities in the first volume, and (2) a comparison of the. ‧. occurrence of the learning performance descriptors among the three sets. Results indicated that the occurrence of the learning performance descriptor were as follows:. y. Nat. io. sit. all of the three versions put the largest emphasis on understanding vocabulary. n. al. er. (52.5%) and sentence patterns (34.8%), following the less focus on understanding. Ch. i n U. v. classroom English and daily language (4.7%) and understanding the gist of. engchi. conversation (6.8%), with the least focus on understanding the contexts and gist of narration (0.8%) and public announcements (0.1%), and recognizing emotion and attitude through sentence intonation (0.1%); however, four types were not found across the three versions: understanding the gist of songs, verses, simple stories, short dramas, simple videos, and understanding rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses. Although this study only analyzed the first volume, it might inform textbook editors to take each learning performance descriptor into account when editing the other five volumes. And teachers could acknowledge that providing extra listening activities is essential for developing the holistic listening competencies of learners. x. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(13) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background and Motivation English as a language for genuine communication and interaction has long been valued. Consequently, the Ministry of Education of Taiwan proposes ‘core competences’ to highlight the importance of language use via the implementation of. 政治大. the reformed curriculum guidelines in 2019, the Twelve-Year Basic Education. 立. Curricula. In other words, the new national guidelines focus on the development of. ‧ 國. 學. the core competences (Lin, 2017). And one of the core competences of the English. ‧. subject is to cultivate the four skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading and writing) and to make use of them in real-life scenarios (MOE, 2018).. y. Nat. io. sit. To describe and examine the learning efficacy of the four skills, ‘learning foci’. n. al. er. proposed by MOE are applied in teaching and learning contexts. Thus, National. Ch. i n U. v. Academy for Educational Research (NAER, 2015) and Lin (2017) declared that. engchi. learning foci, inclusive of ‘learning performance descriptors’ (LPDs) (i.e., the exhibition of a learner’s cognitive process, skills and affection) and ‘learning contents’ (i.e., the inclusion of a subject’s knowledge, such as important facts, concepts, principles, skills, attitude and metacognition), provided a two-dimensional framework for curriculum designs, material development, and textbook evaluation. Accordingly, the design of teaching materials and textbook evaluation should be conducted systematically and rigorously. Many studies have shown that major and primary teaching materials in class are textbooks and workbooks. For example, Richards (2001) indicated that textbooks 1. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(14) and workbooks were traditional resources which teachers were used to employing in teaching communities. Also, Holger (2016) claimed that textbooks offered language learners a main source of language input and practice. Moreover, for most schools, well-designed coursebooks were top priority in comparison of self-compiled teaching materials for the former were produced by authorities (Yeh, 2016). And Wang (2011) pointed out functions of workbooks in English classes were irreplaceable for teachers were able to know students’ learning difficulties by checking their workbooks and students had more chances to practice listening skills. On the other hand, Maryam and. 政治大 enthusiasm if inappropriate textbooks were used. All in all, coursebooks play a 立 Azizeh (2017) argued that textbooks might spoil teachers’ skills and students’. ‧ 國. 學. prominent role in school systems for the following two reasons. First of all, textbooks give teachers the overall concept for planning instructions. Secondly, workbooks. ‧. provide necessary feedback on learners’ performance. Therefore, it was influential to. io. er. taught and how learners learned (McGrath, 2002).. sit. y. Nat. select teaching materials properly because they had a certain effect on what teachers. al. With respect to the importance of textbooks and workbooks in language teaching. n. v i n C h has becomeUan area of increasing and learning contexts, coursebook evaluation engchi. interest to the language study. As a result, many studies have applied a number of checklists to evaluate textbooks and workbooks. Note that Richards (2001) studied evaluation checklists could only be done based on their distinct purposes; in other words, specific schemes were used in different textbook evaluations. For instance, Maryam and Azizeh (2017) analyzed listening and speaking activities of Iranian EFL textbook through Bloom’s revised taxonomy and found that these exercises only focused on the practice of lower levels of cognitive processes, such as remembering; therefore, they advised that textbook writers should take higher levels of cognition skills into consideration, such as applying. And Amir and Siavash (2017) evaluated an 2. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(15) EFL textbook regarding listening and speaking via a checklist of Al-sowat’s and suggested that supplementary materials could complement textbooks depending on teachers’ needs. In brief, textbook evaluation helped teachers know the strengths and weaknesses of materials and that assisted them to make the adjustments for their instructions (Mumtaz, Humaira, & Maimoona, 2015). It is also of supreme importance to examine if the design of textbooks and workbooks is in line with the curriculum guidelines. For example, Cunningsworth (1995) proposed one of the criteria for textbook evaluation was to see whether coursebooks corresponded to course objectives. To wit, if coursebooks were edited. 政治大. based on the national curriculum guidelines, teachers would acknowledge they were. 立. teaching in the appropriate way (Wang, 2011). As a result, much research has. ‧ 國. 學. analyzed contents of commercially produced books to explore to what extent they match curriculum guidelines. Take Hsu’s study (2018) as an example. The researcher. ‧. analyzed the cultural contents in junior high school textbooks and found out. y. Nat. sit. disproportionate distribution of three cultural objectives suggested by the nine-year. n. al. er. io. curriculum guidelines. Besides, Yeh (2016) did the pre-use analyses of textbook. i n U. v. writing in terms of the twelve-year curriculum guidelines and proposed eight. Ch. engchi. important issues and suggestions about the prospects of upcoming textbooks. In this light, well-designed textbooks should maintain the status quo of the educational guidelines to ensure standardization and continuity of different sets of coursebooks in the teaching area (McGrath, 2002). Sadly, there was a gap between teaching materials and the curriculum guidelines for commercial publishers didn’t fully recognize the guidelines and they urgently published coursebooks to satisfy teachers’ needs (Lin, 2017). Accordingly, it is questionable if commercial publishers could publish teaching materials based on the learning performance descriptors introduced by the new guidelines. 3. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(16) Purpose of the Study Much work has been done on the investigation of the four language skills in teaching materials via a multitude of coding schemes (Afshin & Elham, 2015; Amir & Siavash, 2017; Huang, 2009; Peng, 2008; Tsai, 2018; Wang, 2011; Wang, 2014). For example, Wang (2011) evaluated the reading and writing activities in junior high school workbooks via the checklist of the nine-year curriculum guidelines, and found the imbalanced distribution of the text types. Yet, research into the evaluation of the listening activities in junior high school textbooks and workbooks via the checklist of. 政治大. the twelve-year curriculum guidelines has lagged. Furthermore, since 2014, listening. 立. comprehension tests have been included in Comprehensive Assessment Program for. ‧ 國. 學. junior high school students (RCPET, 2010). For teaching purposes, it is useful to spend some time categorizing listening activities through the checklist of the learning. ‧. performance descriptors proposed by MOE. In essence, the design of listening. y. Nat. sit. exercises is worth investigating in order to understand whether to adapt or include. n. al. er. io. extra teaching materials in listening practice. As a result, this research intends to focus. i n U. v. on the evaluation of the listening activities in the textbooks and workbooks via the new curriculum guidelines.. Ch. engchi. Given that there is a radical reform of the new curricula, and listening activities in junior high school coursebooks are less explored regarding the new curriculum guidelines, three versions of the widely used textbooks and workbooks from three commercial publishers, Han Lin, Kang Hsuan and Nan I, will be employed with the aim of investigating whether or not the incorporation of the learning performance descriptors in listening exercises in different publications of coursebooks and workbooks is presented in a balanced way. In addition, understanding what types of the learning performance descriptors are ignored or overemphasized will help 4. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(17) coursebook editors further refine listening materials. What’s more, via probing into the learning performance descriptors, we are able to have an understanding of core competencies.. Research Questions In view of the research purposes, the study aims to explore the following two research questions. 1. To what extent are the descriptors of learning performance in the new curriculum addressed in the listening activities in the three sets of junior high school English textbooks and workbooks?. 立. 政治大. 2. What are the similarities and differences of the incorporation of the learning. ‧ 國. 學. performance descriptors among the three versions of junior high school English textbooks and workbooks?. sit. y. ‧. Nat. Significance of the Study. n. al. er. io. Through answering these questions, this study may contribute to a better. i n U. v. understanding of the incorporation of the learning performance descriptors in. Ch. engchi. instructional materials so that teachers would know where to adapt listening texts to their needs. And some constructive suggestions will be put forward to editors and publishers with the expectation of developing or adjusting textbooks and workbooks to meet the needs of the new national guidelines.. 5. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(18) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 6. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(19) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW A substantial literature review on listening competence, teaching materials, and textbook and workbook evaluation is elaborated in the following five sections. Firstly, the role of listening competence in communication and interaction is addressed. Secondly, the importance of listening skills in listening activities is discussed in this. 政治大. section. Thirdly, the applications of core competences in the English subject are. 立. explicitly introduced. Fourthly, the significance of textbooks and workbooks in school. ‧ 國. 學. settings is explored. Lastly, the research literature on textbooks and workbooks. ‧. evaluation is delineated.. y. Nat. io. sit. The Role of Listening Competence in Communication and Interaction. n. al. er. Given that language use in communication and interaction is one of the core. Ch. i n U. v. curriculum objectives in the guidelines, one way to examine the notion of. engchi. communicative competence is to refer to the concept of listening competence. As Mumtaz et al. (2015) pointed out, “listening refers receiver’s intentionally ability to know what has been said and its functions in the communications” (2015, p.226). Generally speaking, language ability comprises two aspects: language knowledge and language use, and they exercise simultaneously and interdependently during listening processes. And the latter was more important than the former (MOE, 2018). That is to say, English is a tool for the sake of communication. According to Richards (2001), communicative competence referred to the ability to use appropriate and efficient language in communication. Therefore, coursebook writing 7. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(20) should cultivate students’ basic communicative competence for the following two reasons. For one thing, the reformed guidelines specified language functions in communication and interactions. For another, equally important, according to NAER (2017), book publishers should take account of core competences on textbook writing to develop appropriate teaching and learning materials. Likewise, from Goh’s (2012) viewpoints, the development of language use would activate communication. Hence, how to develop communicative competence interests many researchers. Many studies have shown that listening competence is highly relevant to intelligible communication. As Hughes (2003) indicated that during communication. 政治大. processes, listening and speaking skills commonly worked together. Moreover, Brown. 立. (2010) stated listening and speaking were counterparts, but typically people listened. ‧ 國. 學. more than spoke in a normal day. In light of communicative competence, listening competence should be taken into account for a strong bond of listening and speaking. ‧. skill. For instance, Graham et al. (2015) pointed out that among the four language. y. Nat. sit. skills, the distinct features of listening competence were similar to those of. n. al. er. io. communicative competence. Similarly, Pamela (1978) stated that the necessary. i n U. v. prerequisite of communication was listening competence for the following two. Ch. engchi. reasons: first of all, teaching listening skills prior to oral skills could enhance proper language use. Secondly, listening ability was not only receptive but also productive; thus, learners were able to manipulate listening competence meaningfully and creatively and that had positive effect on language learning. Furthermore, Gilman (1984) studied listening comprehension by combining meaning and sound came before speaking production in terms of a child’s first or second language acquisition; therefore, listening practice was an efficient way to attain communicative competence. Likely, Hua (2006) expressed that listening was of the most wide use function in one’s daily life. In essence, by means of enhancing one’s listening ability, 8. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(21) one’s communicative ability would improve. Three dimensions constitute listening competence: language knowledge, listening skills and listening strategies. Language knowledge is a foundation of language learning. According to Rost (2016), listening ability was the subgroup of general language ability. When it comes to listening skills, they were essential and natural input for communication (Mumtaz et al., 2015). And due to complexity of listening process, many researchers introduced various listening skills to deal with the issue. For example, Reima (2017) studied that using written scaffolds, such as “keyword captions” (2017, p.831), benefited listeners’ listening comprehension. In. 政治大. view of listening strategies, they were discussed by many studies (MOE, 2018;. 立. Richards & Burns, 2012). Thus, MOE (2018) claimed enabling students to acquire. ‧ 國. 學. learning strategies was of great significance. For example, listening strategies introduced by MOE (2018) were: (1) students were able to incorporate background. ‧. knowledge of relevant topics into listening text processing, (2) students were able to. y. Nat. sit. make use of language or non-language communicative strategies, such as asking for. n. al. er. io. repetition, hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. to enhance communication efficacy.. i n U. v. Likewise, Richards and Burns (2012) figured out by learning strategies, learners. Ch. engchi. would “gain greater control, goal-directedness, autonomy, and self-efficacy” (2012, p.44). In other words, by means of listening strategy training, listeners’ awareness about how to process listening information could be raised. All in all, approaches to fostering listening abilities in a holistic manner imply to educators feasible ways to teaching the language.. The Importance of Listening Skills in Listening Activities Much research has studied that different listening activities could make different demands on learners’ listening skills and linguistic knowledge (Hughes, 2003; Hua, 9. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(22) 2006; Morley, 1972; Richards & Burns, 2012; Rost, 2016). For example, Morley (1972) proposed that besides spending much time practicing listening to improve listening comprehension, “a directed program of purposeful listening can shorten the time” (1972: introduction). That is, providing immediate listening tasks to complete would strengthen one’s listening competence (Morley, 1972). Likewise, Hua (2006) suggested that teachers should provide a variety of listening activities for listening practices in order to maximize chances for learners to practice their listening skills so that they could have greater comprehension. Consequently, listening lessons should include various text types so that learners have opportunities to make use of a. 政治大. multitude of listening skills needed for comprehending real-time listening materials. 立. and enhancing listening ability.. ‧ 國. 學. Regarding listening skills, Richards and Burns (2012) studied learners applied the following processing skills simultaneously in comprehending listening texts:. ‧. bottom-up processing (i.e., language-focused: sounds, words and grammar), top-down. y. Nat. sit. processing (i.e., knowledge-based: making predictions and inferences and activating. n. al. er. io. background knowledge), and interactive processing (i.e., applying both bottom-up and. i n U. v. top-down processes). Accordingly, the eleven types of the learning performance. Ch. engchi. descriptors could be categorized based on the listening processes mentioned above (see Table 2.1). And Field (2004) studied that less proficient listeners paid a lot of attention to recognizing every word to understand the meaning of texts. Similarly, Richards and Burns (2012) stated that low-proficiency learners usually employed bottom-up skills while listening through recognizing words and basic sentence patterns. Although understanding lexical-grammatical features was essential for basiclevel learners, the use of top-down or bottom-up listening processes while listening was not in a linear order, depending on familiarity of topics or vocabulary and the difficulty of texts (Ji, 2003; Richards & Burns, 2012). That is, if topics or words were 10. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(23) less familiar and texts were more challenging, learners were likely to make more use of bottom-up processing (Richards & Burns, 2012). On the other hand, as long as students had a certain amount of vocabulary and important grammatical features, they drew more on top-down processing to comprehend familiar topics (Ji, 2003; Richards & Burns, 2012). Thus, effective listening activities made listeners practice interactive processing (Field, 2004; Ji, 2003; Richards & Burns, 2012). Consequently, it is concluded that both bottom-up and top-down complement each other for successful listening comprehension.. 政治大. Table 2.1 The Classification of the Learning Performance Descriptors Based On the. 立. Listening Process. ‧ 國. 學. LPD. Listening process. Bottom-up Top-down. ‧. Understand vocabulary learned in class.. . n. Ch. engchi. Understand the gist of simple songs and verses.. sit er. io. al. Understand the gist of daily conversation.. y. Nat. Understand frequently-used classroom language and daily language. Understand basic or important sentence patterns.. i n U. . . v.  . Understand the gist of simple stories and short dramas.. . Recognize the contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration. Understand the gist of simple videos.. . Recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation. Understand rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses.. . Understand public announcements.. .  . Note. Check in each blank means classification. 11. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(24) The Significance of Core Competences in the English Subject Many international organizations, such as OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), indicated the importance of core competences (Lin, 2017). According to OECD (2014), the term competency was defined as “the expected areas and levels of performance.” Namely, the core competencies mean one’s ability to perform a job or a character well. Besides, UNESCO (2015) claimed “core competencies are a set of related knowledge, skills and abilities that result in essential behaviors expected from those working for the organization.” Moreover,. 政治大. MOE (2014) proposed core competencies (i.e., one’s knowledge, ability and attitude. 立. to adapt to current lives and to face future challenges) in the Grade 1-12 Curricula.. ‧ 國. 學. Accordingly, Tsai (2011) stated that core competences helped individual adapt the current life and face challenges in the future.. ‧. Given that the implementation of the guidelines ensured the quality of the. y. Nat. sit. national education (Lu, 2017), it is essential to acknowledge the core value of the. n. al. er. io. educational guidelines. According to MOE (2014), the reformed guidelines valued the. i n U. v. spirit of all-around education through cultivating the core competences. Therefore, the. Ch. engchi. new national guidelines focused on the development of the core competencies (Lin, 2017). And the development of the English subject guidelines should take the core competences into consideration. Namely, in addition to the national guidelines, there were subject guidelines used for syllabus designs, assessments and teaching practice (Lu, 2017). Take the guidelines of the English subject as an example. The core competences of the English subject were characterized as: 1. Value individual’s difference and their affective factors for the sake of learnercentered learning. 2. Focus on language functions, like communication. 12. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(25) 3.. Cultivate students’ autonomy and life-long learning ability.. 4.. Guide students to think independently and cultivate students to process and execute information.. 5. Explore culture differences in various nations, and reflect on cross-culture issues through language learning in order to enhance social engagement and to build up a global vision. 6.. Cultivate students’ logical thinking and motivate their creativity. Based on the above descriptions, one of the curriculum objectives of English. learning and teaching is to cultivate the four skills and to use them in real life. 政治大. communication. In order to judge the execution of the core competencies in curricula,. 立. learning foci are applied to monitor curriculum development.. ‧ 國. 學. Functions of Learning Foci. According to MOE (2018), learning foci provided a framework for the. ‧. following purposes in teaching situations: syllabus designs, development of. y. Nat. sit. teaching materials, textbook evaluation and learning assessments. And. n. al. er. io. two-dimensional framework consisted of learning foci: learning performance, which. i n U. v. was the center of the guidelines, and learning contents, which extracted important. Ch. engchi. content knowledge from learning performance.. With respect to the learning performance in the English subject, the learnercentered principle is its core. And it is subdivided into nine sections: 1. The language ability of listening 2. The language ability of speaking 3. The language ability of reading 4. The language ability of writing 5. The integration of the four language skills 6. Learning motivation and attitude 13. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(26) 7. Ways of learning and learning strategies 8. Culture understanding 9. Logical thinking, critical thinking and creativity, which inclusive of differentiation. and information synthesizing When it comes to the learning contents, four major topics are included: knowledge of the language, functions of communication, culture and customs, and thinking ability. In brief, the learning performance focuses on cognitive process, and the learning contents on cognitive knowledge. And the framework was employed to describe educational objectives (Lin, 2017). Anderson and Krathwohl’s study (2001). 政治大. showed that although the taxonomy table could not directly tell teachers what was. 立. worth teaching, it helped teachers become curriculum implementers and makers by. ‧ 國. 學. having a deeper understanding of the national curriculum objectives and it provided teachers with various possibilities for instructional approaches.. ‧. In order to explicitly describe curriculum objectives, Tsai (2016) pointed out. y. Nat. sit. the writing of learning performance usually began with verbs which represented the. n. al. er. io. three dimensions: cognition, skills and affection. Take the cognitive dimension as an. i n U. v. example. As NAER (2014) proposed, this dimension included remembering,. Ch. engchi. understanding, application, analysis, evaluation, and creation, which were aligned with six levels of measurable verbs in Bloom’s taxonomy (Rost, 2016). For instance, there are eleven items in learning performance to represent listening abilities, and each item begins with verbs, such as understand frequently-used classroom language and daily language. And numbers in front of each listening ability consist of three parts. The first Arabic number is about types of learning performance. For example, the listening ability in learning performance belongs to the first type; therefore, the Arabic number 1 represents the listening ability. The second Roman numeral is about learning phases. Therefore, the Roman numeral IV stands for the learning phase in 14. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(27) junior high school. And the last number is a serial number. An asterisk (i.e., *) next to the numbers shows higher level of learning performance, which means schools could adapt teaching materials based on students’ proficiency level. A double-circle (i.e., ◎) symbolizes that this type of ability would repeatedly appear in different learning phases, such as *◎1-IV-9 recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation (see Appendix 1 for detail). Regarding learning contents of listening ability, it exemplified the important language knowledge of learning performance (MOE, 2018). Therefore, learning contents were described in nouns or noun phrases (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). To sum up, the two-dimensional framework of the. 政治大. learning foci delineates the core competencies of the English subject.. 立. Given the pivotal role of learning foci in the English subject, this study will. ‧ 國. 學. apply learning performance descriptors to analyzing listening activities in coursebooks. Namely, as long as listening exercises are constructed according to. ‧. learning performance descriptors, students’ auditory ability will match the listening. y. Nat. n. er. io. al. sit. performance suggested by MOE.. i n U. v. The Essentials of Textbooks and Workbooks in School Settings. Ch. engchi. A great number of studies have shown that the importance of textbooks and workbooks are irreplaceable in teaching and learning contexts. Therefore, Richards (2001) claimed that the most widely used teaching materials in class were commercial textbooks and ancillary workbooks because they provided learners with systematic activities to practice communicative interaction based on a graded syllabus. Also, the study from Huang, Wang, Chang, Chen and Yang (2017) showed that textbooks were the commonest form of instructional materials in language teaching. Furthermore, Mohammad and Heidar (2014) commented that textbooks, which consistently and logically monitored class progression, guided novice teachers reliably. 15. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(28) Many researchers have concerned how to incorporate the national guidelines into textbooks. For example, Chou et al. (2015) stated that in teaching and learning situations, textbooks almost equaled syllabi due to teachers’ as well as students’ heavy reliance on them. Similarly, Huang et al. (2017) argued that textbooks were influential medium for conveying the twelve-year curriculum guidelines. Besides, Huang et al. (2017) also suggested that textbooks could acquaint teachers and learners into core competences suggested by MOE as long as book publishers met the demand of the learning foci, inclusive of the learning performance and the learning contents. However, Chou et al. (2015) indicated that many teachers, who used textbooks, had. 政治大. little concern about curriculum guidelines; thus, it was crucial whether the principles. 立. of the curriculum guidelines could be integrated into textbooks.. ‧ 國. 學. Regarding the crucial role of workbooks, MOE (2018) proposed that besides textbooks, student workbooks, which were major supplementary materials, could. ‧. enrich the learning contents. For this reason, some studies have highly valued the. y. Nat. sit. essence of workbooks. See McGrath (2002) for an example. Although commercial. n. al. er. io. publishers had tried their best to include as much materials in textbooks as possible,. i n U. v. there was still a gap between coursebooks and syllabi. Thus, workbooks could mend. Ch. engchi. the above shortcoming. And in Taiwan, many researchers have done the research on the crucial role of workbooks. For example, Wang (2017) analyzed the contents of Chinese exercise books to see whether they could follow the principles of textbooks writing. To sum up, workbooks could supplement textbooks and shorten the gap between learners and syllabi by providing extra practices and a variety of materials. Generally speaking, textbooks and workbooks are essential elements in language teaching and learning for the three reasons. First of all, textbooks give teachers the overall concept for planning instruction. Secondly, workbooks provide necessary feedback on learners’ performance. Thirdly, textbooks and workbooks would be 16. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(29) developed or adjusted depending on the evaluation via the curriculum guidelines. So this study will focus on gauging widely used junior high school textbooks and workbooks.. The Importance of Textbook Evaluation Textbooks and workbooks serve major input of practice for learners in learning contexts, so the evaluation of textbooks and workbooks deserves exploration. Based on Richards’ (2001) study, the researcher drew on the functions of well-chosen textbooks were: providing the basis for subject development and assessments, helping. 政治大. teaching by giving a consistent approach, and releasing some of teachers’ stress of. 立. designing teaching materials. As a result, because highly scrutinized textbooks have a. ‧ 國. 學. positive effect on the language teaching and learning, textbook evaluation should be done rigorously.. ‧. There are three advantages of textbook evaluation. First of all, it ensures the. y. Nat. sit. design of course contents. Take Richards’ (1983) study as an example. In order to. n. al. er. io. provide understandable and purposeful listening activities, checklists were served as. i n U. v. the criteria in examining listening tasks. Secondly, the primary reason for evaluating. Ch. engchi. textbooks is to bridge the gap between teachers’ and learners’ needs and teaching materials. Thus, Azam and Ali’s work (2016) showed that coursebook evaluation not only assisted teachers to find proper teaching materials but regulated and adjusted teaching to cater students’ needs. In addition, Richards (2001) stated that certain information should be considered before evaluating textbooks, such as teachers’ and learners’ needs. What’s more, Jayakaran, Reza, and Vahid (2011) claimed that the checklists must take account of specific learning-teaching content and general attributes, such as teachers’ and learners’ needs. Lastly, textbook evaluation helps to examine the implementation of the curriculum guidelines in coursebooks. Huang et al. 17. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(30) (2017) noted that textbook edition and evaluation must take the curriculum guidelines into accounts to achieve the goal of competence-oriented programs. Consequently, if the mismatch between coursebook writing and review happened, new adaptations from the national guidelines would be in vain (Huang et al., 2017). Three basic ways were carried out textbook evaluation based in the literature: the impressionistic method, the checklist method, and the in-depth method (McGrath, 2002). And different evaluation methods served as different purposes depending on their distinct contexts. In other words, one suitable textbook could only be an ideal fit in one situation for it could meet certain needs (Richards, 2001). Take Lopez-. 政治大. Medina’s study (2016) as an example. The researcher used two dimensions to. 立. evaluate textbooks in CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) classrooms:. ‧ 國. 學. the current available ELT textbook checklists from research literature and selfdeveloping criteria for teaching materials in CLIL.. ‧ y. Nat. sit. Relevant Research on Textbook Evaluation in Taiwan. n. al. er. io. To the best of the researcher’s search for related studies on textbook evaluation. i n U. v. in Taiwan, five studies have been done on the evaluation of textbooks in four. Ch. engchi. language skills (Huang, 2009; Peng, 2008; Tsai, 2018; Wang, 2011; Wang, 2014) (see Table 2.2 below). In terms of listening skills, Tsai (2018) researched the design of listening activities in five sets of senior high school textbooks based on the FunctionResponse Matrix and discovered most of the listening activities emphasized listening for main ideas and details. When it comes to speaking, Huang (2009) analyzed the design of speaking activities in textbooks through the nine-year curricula and concluded that was not in compliance with the curriculum guidelines which emphasized on communicative activities. Regarding reading, Peng (2008) evaluated the incorporation of eight genres in reading texts and noticed the imbalanced display 18. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(31) of different genres. Furthermore, Wang (2014) used self-made content analysis to analyze comics from three versions of textbooks and discovered the disproportion of comics from version to version. Concerning writing, Wang (2011) found the imbalanced distribution of competence indicators when applying competence indicators to exploring whether the display of writing activities was in alignment with the nine-year curricula. Among the five studies, only one study was about listening, which focused on examining high school textbooks. In other words, little information was available in the literature on the evaluation of listening activities in junior high school textbooks. 政治大. and workbooks, especially through the twelve-year curriculum guidelines. Thus, the. 立. evaluation of listening activities in teaching materials is of particular interest for the. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. researcher.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 19. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(32) Table 2.2 Related Studies about the Textbook and Workbook Evaluation in Taiwan Research topic. The language skill. A Study on the Listening Activities in the Taiwanese Senior High. listening skill. School English Textbooks (Tsai, 2018) An Evaluation of Speaking Activities in Junior High School English. speaking skill. Textbooks for the Nine-year Integrated Curriculum (Huang, 2009) 1. Exploring Genres of the Reading Texts: A Study on EFL. reading skill. 治政 A Content Analysis Study of Comics in English Textbooks 大 for 立 Junior High Schools (Wang, 2014) Textbooks of Junior High School (Peng, 2008). 學. ‧ 國. 2.. A study on reading and writing competence indicators of the grades. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. (Wang, 2011). ‧. 1-9English curriculum in junior high school English workbooks. writing skill. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 20. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(33) CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Learning performance descriptors proposed by the general guidelines consists of descriptors that depict some criteria as a foundation of students’ learning and assessments of the four skills. In light of the standard criteria set by MOE, the research aims to evaluate the integration of the learning performance descriptors in. 政治大. three versions of textbooks and workbooks. Also, this study intends to investigate the. 立. similarities and differences regarding the incorporation of the learning performance. ‧ 國. 學. descriptors in listening activities among the three versions of textbooks and. ‧. workbooks. Therefore, in order to examine the above two research purposes, the sequence of the research method is displayed in the following two sections: teaching. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. materials and data analysis. Figure 3.1 presents the brief process of the methodology.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 21. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(34) Collecting the three sets of textbooks and workbooks from the three publishers as the materials. Constructing the coding scheme as the instruments. Doing a trial analysis to reach the common ground between the two raters. Ensuring inter-rater reliability at the agreement rate. 治政 Going through formal coding procedure on textbooks and大 workbooks 立 ‧ 國. 學. Analyzing the coding results and making a comparison among the three versions of. ‧. textbooks and workbooks Figure 3.1 Process of the Study Method. n. Ch. er. io. al. sit. y. Nat Teaching Materials. i n U. v. Currently available junior high school English textbooks verified by National. engchi. Academy for Educational Research (NAER, 2019) consisted of Volume one. And the three sets of textbooks and workbooks from the three publishers, Han Lin, Kang Hsuan and Nan I, were chosen because they met the following three essential requirements. First of all, they were all authorized by MOE. That is to say, commercial publishers need to take the national curriculum guidelines into accounts when editing coursebooks. In other words, junior high school textbooks and workbooks have to be officially approved by MOE before they can be distributed on the market. Secondly, these books are all currently available in the market. Thus, the researcher has access to these three sets of textbooks and workbooks. Thirdly, because 22. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(35) they are widely used in Taiwan, the study findings might have profound implications for people who care about the quality of textbooks and workbooks. Generally speaking, textbooks include the following sections: warm-up, dialogue, theme words, sentence pattern, reading, pronunciation, listening activity, oral practice, reading exercise and extension. And the names of these sectors varied from version to version. For example, listening activity was called ‘Exercise’ in Textbook A, ‘Listen Up’ in Textbook B, and ‘Listening’ in Textbook C. Workbooks include two parts: reading and writing practice and listening activity. And tasks in reading and writing practice comprised fill-in the blanks, choosing, cloze, matching,. 政治大. making sentences, and reading comprehension. Regarding the research topic, the. 立. researcher analyzed the listening activities in textbooks, including dialogues, theme. ‧ 國. 學. words, pronunciation and listening exercises (see Table 3.1 and Appendix 4 for contents of textbooks). And listening activities in workbooks are in form of circling,. ‧. fill-in the blanks, matching and multiple choices (see Table 3.2 and Appendix 5 for. y. Nat. n. er. io. al. sit. contents of workbooks).. Table 3.1 Contents of Textbooks. i n U. v. Listening Tasks. Ch. Dialogues. Listen to dialogues and answer related questions.. Theme Words. Listen to dialogues, statements or questions and answer. engchi. Listening Activities. related questions. Pronunciation. Listen to sounds and answer related questions.. Listening Exercises. Listen to dialogues, statements, questions or short paragraphs and answer related questions.. 23. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(36) Table 3.2 Contents of Workbooks Listening Tasks. Listening Activities. Circle. Listen to words and circle correct phonics.. Fill in. Fill in blanks with words according to statements.. Match. Listen to statements and match correct pictures.. Choose. Listen to dialogues, statements, questions or short paragraphs and choose correct pictures, responses or answers.. 立. 治政大 Data Analysis. This section comprises three parts. Firstly, coding schemes are constructed to. ‧ 國. 學. analyze the data. Secondly, the research questions are delineated based on the. ‧. frequency tables. Thirdly, inter-rater reliability is introduced to understand the agreement rate between the raters.. io. sit. y. Nat. Coding Schemes. n. al. er. In order to systematically and rigorously categorize listening activities in. i n U. v. textbooks and workbooks, the coding schemes with learning performance descriptors. Ch. engchi. were constructed (see Appendix 2 and 3). According to MOE (2018), there were eleven kinds of listening abilities listed in the learning performance descriptors (see Appendix 1).The coding scheme described was one that enabled the researcher to classify the listening activities and was designed to gain quantitative results. Then, the qualitative analysis was carried to explain the incorporation of learning performance descriptors and to offer suggestions for coursebook editing. In other words, the primary means of the evaluation of listening activities in textbooks and workbooks was to use the frequency tables in numerical forms to see the display of the learning performance descriptors. Note that pronunciation exercises were unclassifiable in this 24. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(37) learning phase of junior high school because they had been classified to the second and third learning phases respectively: 1-II-2 Understanding and distinguishing consonants and vowels and their basic combinations, and 1-III-1 Understanding and distinguishing consonants and vowels and their diverse combinations. Furthermore, recognizing phonetic symbols was excluded in this coding scheme. According to NAER (2019), there were a variety of ways to learn pronunciation, and phonetic symbols were one of the supplementary tools. Namely, students could acknowledge the sound of words from diverse resources, such as teachers’ direct instruction or mobile devices (NAER, 2019). Thus, understanding phonetic symbols is not the. 政治大. requisite listening ability.. 立. Research Questions. ‧ 國. 學. The following shows how the two research questions would be answered. Research question 1. To what extent are the descriptors of learning performance in. ‧. the new curriculum addressed in the listening activities in the three sets of junior high. y. Nat. sit. school English textbooks and workbooks?. n. al. er. io. The researcher knew the most and least emphasized learning performance. i n U. v. descriptors in the first volume by analyzing the coding sheets to see the occurrence of. Ch. engchi. the individual type of the learning performance descriptor in each unit, and gauged a total occurrence in volume 1. Research question 2. What are the similarities and differences of the incorporation of the learning performance descriptors among the three versions of junior high school English textbooks and workbooks? After getting the sorting results in percentile forms from the three versions of textbooks and workbooks, the comparison among different versions would be explored to see the similarities and differences of the occurrence of the learning performance descriptors incorporated in listening activities. 25. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(38) Inter-rater Reliability The method follows the principle of inter-rater reliability. According to Huang and Jian (1996), it was said that, in terms of content analysis, the higher the agreement rate, the better the reliability of content analysis. Therefore, the formula for calculating inter-rater reliability as: Pi =. 2M N1+N2. Pi: agreement rate M: items on which the two coders agree. 政治大 In view of the reliability of coding results, a trial analysis of one lesson from 立. N1 and N2: items on which the individual coder should have agreed. each set of textbook and workbook was done in order to find any discrepancy in the. ‧ 國. 學. two raters, the researcher and a colleague. In other words, the sample of the coding. ‧. scheme comprised the learning performance descriptors and lesson three in each series was used to undergo the inter-rater training to ensure the reliability of the. y. Nat. io. sit. categorization. Hence, the research outcome would show the frequency of the. n. al. er. learning performance occurrences appeared in listening activities, through employing. Ch. i n U. v. a use of the second rater to attain its inter-rater reliability. The researcher was the chief. engchi. examiner to conduct the process of classification in the coding scheme, with another in-service English teacher with 12 years of teaching experience, who was quite familiar with these sets of textbooks and workbooks, was invited to join the study as an inter rater. After the trial analysis, formal coding procedure would begin. Briefly, two coders were responsible for classifying the listening activities of the chosen textbooks and workbooks. The evaluation scheme was discussed and clarified between the coders before coding. In order to make the result of data analysis reliable, two coders worked independently based on the coding scheme. In addition, two coders would 26. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(39) discuss any discrepancies in order to make an agreement on final coding results. Trial Analysis To make sure the second rater’s understanding on the coding process, the researcher addressed the relevant information as the following. Firstly, the two raters went through the contents of the coding scheme (see Appendix 2 and 3) to understand the descriptors of learning performance. Then, lesson three in each series of textbook and workbook was chosen for the trial analysis. For example, there were six items of the listening exercises in the unit three of Han Lin Textbook. Thus, the two raters had to classify each item according to the coding scheme. Some items would belong to. 政治大. more than one descriptors, depending on what learning performance descriptors that. 立. learners needed to acknowledge. After that, the coding results were calculated to. ‧ 國. 學. understand the agreement rate (see Table 3.3). According to Cohen (1960), if interrater reliability reached 0.61 to 0.8, it was interpreted as considerable consensus. ‧. between the raters; once it arrived at 0.81 to 1.00, the coding result was all but perfect.. y. Nat. sit. Consequently, the agreement rate of the trial analysis, 0.84, in this study at present. al. n. independently.. er. io. was highly desirable; thus, the two raters would conduct formal coding procedure. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 27. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(40) 0. 0. 1. 0. 0. 學. 0. 0 The second. 6. 1. 6. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. n. engchi. Ch. Understand the gist of simple videos.. Understand the gist of daily conversation.. v i n U The inter-rater reliability = (P1+P2+P3+P4+P5+P6)÷6 = 0.84. io. al. Understand basic or important sentence patterns.. 11+11. P1 =. 2x8. = 0.73. Nat. y. Understand public announcements.. 0. 立. 政治大. Understand frequently-used classroom language and daily language. Understand basic or important sentence patterns. Understand vocabulary learned in class. Understand the gist of daily conversation. Understand the gist of simple songs and verses. Understand the gist of simple stories and short dramas. Recognize the contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration. Understand the gist of simple videos. Recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation. Understand rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses. Understand public announcements, such as MRT, train stations, and airport announcements.. rater. sit. Understand rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses.. 5. Raters. er. Recognize the contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration.. 0. LPD. ‧. Understand the gist of simple stories and short dramas.. 6. Recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation.. Understand the gist of simple songs and verses.. The researcher. ‧ 國. Table 3.3 A Trial Analysis of Unit 3, Han Lin Textbook. 28. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(41) CHAPTER 4 RESULTS Results of the data sources are delineated in this section where the frequency of occurrence of the learning performance descriptors in listening exercises in volume 1 in the three series of textbooks and workbooks are counted. Accordingly, in terms of Textbook A, B and C, Table 4.1-4.3 respectively describe the frequency of occurrence. 政治大. of learning performance descriptors, and Workbook A, B and C are examined through. 立. Table 4.4-4.6. Based on Table 4.1 to 4.6, numbers in each blank represent numbers of. ‧ 國. 學. occurrences of different listening items. That is, one piece of listening exercise might. ‧. be categorized to more than one learning performance descriptor according to what skills listeners had to require. And the letter ‘T’ means the total number of the. y. Nat. io. sit. occurrence; ‘%’ stands for the percentage of the frequency of occurrence of each. n. al. er. learning performance descriptor.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 29. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(42) Table 4.1 shows the frequency of occurrence of each type of the learning performance descriptors in Textbook A. In brief, among the eleven types, only five types were found. More specifically, two types accounted for a large proportion of the overall incorporation: understanding vocabulary learned in class (50%), and understanding basic or important sentence patterns (38%), which meant the training of bottom-up listening skills (i.e., recognizing words and the focused grammar points) was the main focus in this version. Take Figure 4.1 as an example. Listeners need to understand the words, like ‘sofa,’ and prepositions, such as ‘on’ and ‘next to,’ in order to choose the correct picture.. 立. 政治大. Nat. sit. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Script: Sandy is on the sofa, and her parents are next to the sofa.. io. n. al. er. Figure 4.1 A Listening Activity in Textbook A. Ch. i n U. v. However, the following three items occupied few of the occurrences in this. engchi. textbook: understanding frequently-used classroom language and daily language (3%), understanding the gist of daily conversation (5%), and recognizing the contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration (4%). Accordingly, this version focused little on top-down listening processing skills, such as acknowledging the gist of the discourse. Take Figure 4.2 as an example. This listening item tests the gist of the dialogue, which is seldom focused on in Textbook A; therefore, as long as listeners acknowledge the main idea of the discourse is that parent birds were feeding their babies worms, they are able to choose the correct option.. 30. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(43) Script: (B represents boy, G represents girl, and Q represents question) B: Look at the baby birds in the tree. Aw. Aren’t they cute? G: Yes. Where are their mom and dad? B: Look! Two big birds are coming with some worms. They are the parent birds.. 治政大 Q: What are the parent birds doing? 立 G: And now the babies are eating the worms.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 4.2 A Listening Activity in Textbook A. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 31. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(44) Table 4.1 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in Textbook A Review 3. 4. 10 2. 6. 10. 1-IV-2 Understand 1 frequently-used classroom language and daily language. 1-IV-3 Understand basic or 5 important sentence patterns.. 0. 2. 0. 9. 2. 1-IV-4 Understand the gist of 1 daily conversation.. 1. 2. 6. %. ‧ 國. ◎1-IV-6 Understand the gist 0 of simple stories and short dramas. 1-IV-7 Recognize the 0 contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration. 1-IV-8 Understand the gist of 0 simple videos.. Nat. io. n. al0. *◎1-IV-9 Recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation. *◎1-IV-10 Understand rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses. *◎1-IV-11 Understand public announcements, such as MRT, train stations, and airport announcements.. 8. 6. 1. 50. 50. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 3. 3. 6. 5. 1. 4. 5. 1. 38. 38. 0. 0. 0. 0. 政治大 0 0 0 0 0 0. 1. 0. 5. 5. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. 1. 1. 0. 0. 4. 4. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. i n U. 0. v. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. y. 立. 1. Ch. engchi. 0. sit. ◎1-IV-5 Understand the gist 0 of simple songs and verses.. 6. 0. er. LPD ◎1-IV-1 Understand vocabulary learned in class.. 5. 學. T. ‧. 3. Lesson. Review 2. 2. Review 1. 1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. Note. Number in each blank means number of occurrence. T means the total number of occurrence. % means frequency of occurrence.. 32. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(45) Table 4.2 indicates the arrangement of the learning performance descriptors in Textbook B. Six descriptors of the listening ability were not found whereas the proportion of the other five types from the highest to the lowest was: understanding vocabulary learned in class (43%), understanding basic or important sentence patterns (39%), understanding the gist of daily conversation(12%), understanding frequently-used classroom language and daily language (5%), and recognizing emotion and attitude through sentence intonation (1%). The statistic mentioned above indicated many listening activities were designed based on target words listed in word lists. Take the following dialogue as an example. If listeners do not. 政治大. understand the keyword ‘late,’ they would not answer the question successfully.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Script: (M represents woman, W represents man, and Q represents question) M: What time is it? W: It’s six fifty.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. M: Oh, no. I’m late! W: Late for what? M: My English class! Q: What time is the English class? Figure 4.3 A Listening Activity in Textbook B. 33. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(46) Table 4.2 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in Textbook B 3. 9. 9. 0. 11 9. 1-IV-2 Understand frequently-used classroom language and daily language. 1-IV-3 Understand basic or important sentence patterns.. 2. 0. 0. 1. 7. 7. 1-IV-4 Understand the gist of daily conversation.. 2. 2. %. 0. 53. 43. 1. 0. 6. 5. 9. 6. 0. 48. 39. 政治大 0 0 0 0 0. 3. 2. 0. 15. 12. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. 0. v0. 0. 0. 1. 1. ◎1-IV-5 Understand the gist of simple songs and verses.. Nat. io. n. al 0 0 Ch. *◎1-IV-9 Recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation. *◎1-IV-10 Understand rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses. *◎1-IV-11 Understand public announcements, such as MRT, train stations, and airport announcements.. 0. 8. 7. 1. 0. 1. 0. 10 9. 0. 0. 3. 0. 3. 0. engchi. sit. ‧ 國. ◎1-IV-6 Understand the gist of simple stories and short dramas. 1-IV-7 Recognize the contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration. 1-IV-8 Understand the gist of simple videos.. 6. y. 立0. 5. er. LPD ◎1-IV-1 Understand vocabulary learned in class.. 4. ‧. Review 3. Review 1. T. 學. 2. Lesson. Review 2. 1. i n U 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. Note. Number in each blank means number of occurrence. T means the total number of occurrence. % means frequency of occurrence.. 34. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(47) According to Table 4.3, only five types of the listening performance were included in Textbook C. More concisely, two types of the learning performance accounted for the largest proportion of the whole occurrences with ninety-four percent: understanding vocabulary learned in class (48%), and understanding basic or important sentence patterns (46%). Namely, this version of the textbook emphasized bottom-up listening skills which helped comprehend the meaning of utterances. For example, in Figure 4.4, listeners have to know the compound noun ‘basketball courts’ and the sentence pattern ‘there are’ or they would have no idea what the conversation is talking about.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Script: W: Are there any basketball courts at your school?. ‧. B: Yes, there are three. W: Wow! Your school is big.. y. Nat. Figure 4.4 A Listening Activity in Textbook C. al. er. io. sit. B: Yes, it is.. n. v i n C h types occupiedUfew of the occurrences: At the opposite extreme, three engchi. understanding frequently-used classroom language and daily language (4%), understanding the gist of daily conversation (1%), and understanding public announcements (1%). Thus, real-life listening texts were underestimated in this edition. However, one discourse was uniquely in a setting of the Taipei MRT station, which illustrated the lifelike listening scenario (see Figure 4.5).. Script: Next station is Yuanshan Station. Figure 4.5 A Listening Activity in Textbook C 35. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.

(48) Table 4.3 The Occurrence of the Learning Performance Descriptors in Textbook C Review 3. 3. 4. %. 7. 7. 0. 5. 7. 0. 38. 48. 1-IV-2 Understand 0 frequently-used classroom language and daily language. 1-IV-3 Understand basic or 7 important sentence patterns.. 3. 0. 0. 0. 0. 3. 4. 7. 0. 6. 5. 0. 37. 46. 1-IV-4 Understand the gist of daily conversation.. 0. 0. 0. 政治大 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0. 0. 1. 1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. i n U. ◎1-IV-5 Understand the gist 0 of simple songs and verses.. 立. ‧ 國. ◎1-IV-6 Understand the gist 0 of simple stories and short dramas. 1-IV-7 Recognize the 0 contexts and the gist of short exposition and narration. 1-IV-8 Understand the gist 0 of simple videos.. Nat. io. n. a l0. *◎1-IV-9 Recognize emotion and attitude through sentence intonation. *◎1-IV-10 Understand rhyme and rhythm of songs and verses. *◎1-IV-11 Understand public announcements, such as MRT, train stations, and airport announcements.. 7. 5. 0. 0. 0. 5. 7. 0. 0. 1. 0. 0. Ch. engchi. 0. sit. 0. 0. 0. er. LPD ◎1-IV-1 Understand vocabulary learned in class.. 6. y. Lesson. 5. 學. T. ‧. 2. Review 2. Review 1. 1. 0. v. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. 0. 0. 1. 1. Note. Number in each blank means number of occurrence. T means the total number of occurrence. % means frequency of occurrence.. 36. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000017.