歌謠韻文對台灣國小學童英語口說溝通態度之成效：個案研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)! ୯ҥࡹ‫ݯ‬εᏢम୯ᇟЎᏢ‫س‬ᅺγӧᙍ஑੤ᅺγፕЎ!. ࡰᏤ௲௤Ǻէܴ۸റγ! Advisor: Dr. Yu, Ming-chung. ᄺᖳᜩЎჹѠ᡼୯λᏢูमᇟαᇥྎ೯ᄊࡋϐԋਏǺঁਢࣴ‫!ز‬ The Effects of Songs and Chants on a Young EFL Learner’s Attitudes toward Oral Communication: A Case Study. ࣴ‫ز‬ғǺ஭Ӽྼኗ! Name: Chang, An-yu. ύ๮҇୯!΋ԭ႟Οԃ!ΎД! July, 2014.

(2) The Effects of Songs and Chants on a Young EFL Learner’s Attitudes toward Oral Communication: A Case Study. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. National Chengchi University. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Chang, An-yu July, 2014.

(3) To Prof. Yu, Ming-chung ᝘๏‫ޑך‬ৱৣէܴ۸௲௤!. iii. !.

(4) Acknowledgments. Along the long journey of my studies at Chengchi University, I have been inspired and encouraged by many great people. Without their support and help, it would be impossible for me to complete the English Teaching MA program. Here, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to several important people who contributed to the completion of this thesis. First of all, my deepest acknowledgments go to my thesis advisor, Prof. Yu, Ming-chung, who has generously offered his expertise and advice from the beginning to the final stage of my thesis work. Without his guidance and kind help, this thesis would not have come into being. Moreover, I wish to show my gratitude to the committee members, Dr. Chen, Chen-kuan and Dr. Huang, Yi-ping for their patient reading of my manuscript. Their insightful suggestions and comments were of great value for the completion of this thesis. In addition, I am very grateful to my best friend, Emma Yang, whose constant encouragement and useful information accompanied me during the process of thesis writing. Special thanks to my colleagues, Fallmorning Peng and Pearl Tu for their substantial assistance to my observation of the participating class. My warmest thanks also go to my husband and my lovely son. Their love encourages me to overcome the difficulties on this long journey. Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this work to my beloved father rested in heaven. It was he who had taught me how to be persistent and strong.. iv.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS. Dedication…….…..………….……………………………………………………iii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………iv Table of Contents.………………………………………..……………………………v Chinese Abstract…..………………………..……………………………………...viii English Abstract….……………………………..…………………………………...ix Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………..1 Background and Motivation…………………………………………………...1 Purpose of Study…….………………………………………………………….3 Significance of Study…………………………………………………………..4 Chapter Two: Literature Review………………………………………………….5 English Learning Attitudes……………………………………………………..5 Attitudes and Motivation………………………………………………….6 The Components of Learning Attitudes……………………………………7 Learners’ Attitudes toward Foreign Language Learning………………….9 Young Learners’ Attitudes toward Oral Communication in English…..11 Oral Communicative Competence…………………………………………….12 Basic Types of Speaking Performance…………………………………...15 Micro- and Macro-skills of Oral Production…………………………..16 Communicative Functions of Speaking………………………………….17 Graded-activities for Macro-skills of Speaking and Oral Interaction……17 The Instruction of Songs and Chants………………………………………….18 Focus on Forms……….……………………..…………………..……….19 Focus on Functions…...………………………..………………………20 Teachers’ Beliefs……...…………………….……………………………21 Learners’ Affective Factors………………………………………………21 Research Questions………………………………………………………23 Chapter Three: Methodology……………..…………………………………….25 The Participant and Context………...…………………………………………25 The Participant…………………………………………………………25 The Context…………………………………………………………….27 Materials……………………………………………………….…………….29 Instruments……………………………………………………….………….30 The Teacher’s Journals…………………………………………………..31 Video-recordings of Classroom Observation…………………………….32 Semi-structured Interviews…………………………………………….33 Procedures and Instruction…………………………………………………….36 v.

(6) The Instruction of Songs and Chants ……….………………………….37 Data Analysis………………………………………………………………..38 Criteria of Learning Attitudes toward Oral Communication in English…40 Criteria and Checklists of the Oral Performance……………………….40 Validity and Reliability…………………………………………………42 Chapter Four: Results…………………………………………………………..43 Cognitive Aspects...…………………………….……………..……………...43 The Participant’s Cognitive Responses before the Songs and Chants Instruction………………………………………………………………..44 The Participant’s Cognitive Responses after the Songs and Chants Instruction……………………………….……………………………..46 Affective States………………………………….…………………………….47 Behavioral Responses………………………………..………...…………...…51 Verbal Behaviors toward Oral communication…………………………..52 Summary of Three Oral Interviews……………………………………52 The Ability of Greeting & Asking and Answering about Personal Information…………………………………………………………….54 The Ability of Describing Personal Appearances ……...…………...……..56 The Ability of Asking and Answering about School Things…………..58 General Comments……………………………………………………….60 In-class Oral Performance………………………………………………..62 Imitative Speaking……………………………………………………….64 Intensive Speaking……………………………………………………….65 Responsive Speaking……….………………………………………….66 Transactional Speaking…………………….…………………………...67 Nonverbal Behaviors toward the Instruction of Songs and Chants……68 Chapter Five: Discussion………………………………………………………….77 Cognitive Aspects……………………………..…..………………………….77 Communicative Needs…………………………………………………...78 Affective States...…………………………………………….……………….79 Learner’s Aptitudes……………………………………………...……….79 Behavioral Responses………………………………………………..…….….81 Limited Length of Oral Performance……………………….……….…81 Implicit Speaking Strategies…………………………………………...83 Chapter Six: Conclusions and Implications……………….………………….…87 Summary of the Study………………………………………………….……87 Implications………………………..………………………………………...88 Limitations………………………………………………………….………..89 vi.

(7) Suggestions for Future Research………………………………………..……90 References………………………………………………………………………....91 Appendixes Appendix 1: Songs and Chants from the Textbook………………………….99 Appendix 2: Songs and Chants from Supplementary Materials…………… 100 Appendix 3: The Teacher’s Journal……………………………………...…101 Appendix 4: Semi-structured Interview (1st)………………………………104 Appendix 5: Semi-structured Interview (2nd)……………….………………106 Appendix 6: Semi-structured Interview (3rd)……….……………………….108 Appendix 7: Criteria and Checklists of Classroom Observation…………….110. vii.

(8) ! ! ୯ҥࡹ‫ݯ‬εᏢम୯ᇟЎᏢ‫س‬ᅺγӧᙍ஑੤! ᅺγፕЎගा! ! ፕЎӜᆀǺᄺᖳᜩЎჹѠ᡼୯λᏢูमᇟαᇥྎ೯ᄊࡋϐԋਏǺঁਢࣴ‫!ز‬ ࡰᏤ௲௤Ǻէܴ۸!റγ! ࣴ‫ز‬ғǺ஭Ӽྼ! ፕЎගाϣ৒Ǻ! !. ҁঁਢࣴ‫ز‬ԑӧ௖૸मᇟᄺᖳᜩЎჹ΋Տ୯λᏢูαᇥྎ೯ᄊࡋϐԋਏǶ!. ၗ਑ԏ໣ᆶϩ‫݋‬Ьा௦‫ڗ‬፦‫܄‬ϐၗ਑ԏ໣Ϸϩ‫ݤ݋‬Ǵаයჹ‫ܭ‬ᄺᖳᜩЎ௲Ꮲϐ! ‫ܭ‬୯λᏢูαᇥྎ೯ᄊࡋૈԖ‫׳‬ుΕ‫ޑ‬ΑှǶୖᆶҁࣴ‫ޑز‬Ꮲғࣁ΋Տ൩᠐‫!ܭ‬ ཥчѱεࠠϦҥ୯λΟԃભǴவλ҂ୖᆶၸҺՖፐѦमᇟፐำ‫ޑ‬ᏢูǶࣴ‫ز‬ය! ໔Ծ҇୯΋ԭԃΖДԿ҇୯΋ԭ႟΋ԃΒДǴၗ਑ԏ໣БԄаъ่ᄬԄೖፋǵ! ፐ୸ᒵቹᢀჸϷ௲ৣВᇞࣁЬǶ! !. ҁঁਢࣴ‫ز‬аᏢಞᄊࡋ‫ޑ‬Οঁय़ӛٰ௖૸ᄺᖳᜩЎ௲Ꮲჹ୯λᏢูαᇥྎ. ೯ᄊࡋϐԋਏǶࣴ‫่݀ز‬ᡉҢǴคፕӧᇡ‫ޕ‬ǵ௃གϷՉࣁ฻य़ӛǴჹ၉Ԅ‫ޑ‬ᄺ! ᖳᜩЎჹ୯λᏢู‫ޑ‬αᇥྎ೯ᄊࡋࣣԖ҅य़ԋਏǶ୤җ‫ڙܭ‬၂‫ޣ‬ϐঁ‫܄‬ϯৡ౦Ǵ ᄺᖳᜩЎ௲Ꮲ‫ࠠ୏ࢲޑ‬ᄊΨёૈჹᏢู‫ޑ‬ᄊࡋౢғόӕቹៜǶࣴ‫ޣز‬ਥᏵ೭٤! ว౜ǴගрჹᄺᖳᜩЎ௲Ꮲϐ‫ܭ‬୯λᏢูαᇥྎ೯ᄊࡋ‫ݤ࣮ޑ‬ǴϷ҂ٰࣴ‫ز‬Б! ӛ‫ࡌޑ‬᝼Ǵаයჹमᇟ௲ᏢૈԖ‫׳‬ӭࡌ೛‫زࣴޑ܄‬ଅ᝘Ƕ. viii.

(9) ABSTRACT This case study attempts to have a better understanding of the effects of songs and chants on a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward oral communication. To achieve the purpose of this study, qualitative methods were adopted to capture a holistic picture of the young learner’s English learning at school. The participant was a third grader who studied in a large-sized public elementary school in New Taipei City. She had never taken any extracurricular English courses after school. The only instruction she received was the eighty-minute lesson per week from her school English teacher. Data was collected from August, 2011 to February, 2012. The teacher’s journals, video-recordings of classroom observation, and three semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect data for the analyses of the effects of songs and chants on a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward oral communication. The results revealed that the participant showed positive attitudinal changes while receiving the songs and chants related instruction. According to the participant’s cognitive responses, emotional states and behaviors, both verbally and nonverbally, the researcher suggested that songs and chants could motivate the young learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in English. However, the types of songs and chants related activities might affect the young learner’s willingness to speak. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions were recommended for future research. It is hoped to provide some insights into the dynamics of songs and chants instruction as well as young EFL learners’ attitudes toward oral communication.. ix.

(10) x.

(11) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background and Motivation The learning attitude plays an important role in successful language learning. Learners with positive attitudes are considered to have more opportunities to achieve the goals. Many researchers have discussed learning attitudes by using survey-based instruments. For example, participants reported their own ideas through questionnaires. However, for young learners with little cognitive development, what are the key factors that may influence their thoughts, emotions and behaviors when learning a foreign language? Does a learner have the same attitude toward the four different language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing? Since the learning attitude is a complex construct, the process of how it changes in different situations may provide more information about this psychological issue. In an English as a foreign language (EFL) learning context, such as Taiwan, most people start learning English as a school subject, instead of real life communication. Many people may have favorable attitudes toward English learning, however, they still find it difficult to communicate in English. Communicative competence has become one of the global issues of English learning since it was introduced to the field of second language acquisition four decades ago. With its emphasis moving from structural and cognitive perspectives to social and cultural implications, communicative competence in current language classrooms refers to a more dynamic interpersonal relationship through which negotiations are exchanged in situational context (Brown, 2007). Along with the widespread practice of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) around the world, 1.

(12) providing students with authentic materials and meaningful context which can enhance communication in their real lives becomes a major goal for language teachers (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). In Taiwan, since English was officially announced as a compulsory course in elementary schools in 2001, CLT has been taken as the principle in curriculum development. Based on this approach, communicative competence becomes the core of course planning and material design. According to the Guidelines of the Grades 1 – 9 Integrated Curriculum announced by the Ministry of Education (MOE), students should be able to develop the basic interpersonal communicating skills, such as greetings, requesting, making phone calls, etc. (MOE, 2008). However, in an EFL learning environment, to create a situational context in a classroom in which students can interact with each other in a more effective way is still a challenge for many language teachers. With little communication need outside the classroom, how to motivate students’ positive attitude toward oral communicating in English deserves careful study. Songs and chants are widely recognized as materials that are beneficial for children’s language development. The repetitive and predictive value in songs and chants provide children with a rich environment to establish their preliminary communicative competence (Douville, 2001). Hadley (2001) also claimed that since communicative competence is a major goal of English language acquisition, it is without any doubt that one of the priorities in a language classroom is the development of oral fluency. To achieve this goal, the instruction of songs and chants is highly recommended because it can create a natural as well as joyful environment for communication development, especially for young learners. Songs and chants can be taught for various purposes in language classrooms (Ur, 1984). The engaging prosodic features in songs and chants are proven effective and 2.

(13) successful in enhancing learners’ phonemic awareness, vocabulary acquisition and oral fluency (Wu, 2007; Pien, 2008; Lee, 2010). Songs and chants which are composed of formulaic dialogues in situational context are regarded as good materials for teaching interpersonal communicative skills (Read, 2007). Graham (2006) also claimed that songs and chants based on everyday conversation can foster learners’ proficiency in speaking. Therefore, the aspects on oral communication are worth studying. Most of the existing studies on the instruction of songs and chants are based on quantitative methods through which students’ language proficiency was evaluated by tests and their attitudes were discussed merely by questionnaires. Little research has been done to observe and record the process and progress of learners’ attitudes toward oral communication through qualitative methods in an EFL learning context, especially for young learners.. Purpose of Study The purpose of this research was to probe the effectiveness of songs and chants instruction on a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward English oral communication. It aimed to explore how the young learner actually responded to English communication in classroom activities and how the young learner’s attitude might be changed after receiving the instruction of songs and chants. To achieve these purposes, a case study which lasted six months was conducted in a third grader’s language classroom. By implementing the instruction of songs and chants which were mainly composed of formulaic dialogues, the researcher collected data from multiple instruments and induced the conclusion of this study.. 3.

(14) Significance of Study By investigating a young learner’s oral performance and interactions in an elementary EFL classroom, this case study contributes a better understanding of how the instruction of songs and chants might affect a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in English. In addition, this study provides a detailed analysis of the basic oral communicative competence that young learners may achieve through the songs and chants instruction.. 4.

(15) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter comprised three main sections. The first section reviewed the literature regarding attitudes toward learning English as a second and foreign language. In addition, it proposed a pedagogical framework of the young learners’ attitudes toward oral communication in English utilized in this case study. The second section introduced the rationale and key categories of oral communicative competence to be evaluated in this case study. The study on oral communicative competence was to provide more information about the learner’s direct and explicit responses in attitudes toward English oral communication. The third section provided an overview of the current research regarding songs and chants from four aspects: (1) focus on forms, (2) focus on functions, (3) teachers’ beliefs, and (4) learners’ affective factors. Finally, three research questions were presented to probe the effects of songs and chants instruction on a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in English.. English Learning Attitudes The role of attitudes has long been considered as one of the most important factors in the affective domain which can influence the outcomes of a student’s learning. Many definitions have been proposed to describe the essence of this affective factor. Chang (2007) indicated that the attitude was a consistent and constant tendency that an individual held toward someone, something, or the surrounding situations. According to Ellis (1985), attitudes were the sets of beliefs which learners held about the factors such as the target language culture, the 5.

(16) teachers, and the learning tasks in classroom learning. Brown (2007) further defined attitudes as “a set of personal feelings, opinions, or biases about races, cultures, ethnic groups, classes of people, and languages” (p. 377). Maio and Haddock (2009) illustrated the attitude as an evaluative judgment which might differ in direction and strength. From this perspective, a person’s attitudes toward a specific object can be positive, negative, or even neutral. For young children, however, Brown (2007) argued that most of their positive attitudes were learned from adults instead of innate characteristics. Although positive attitudes are more favorable in a person’s learning; learners should also be aware of the negative attitudes which might hinder the outcomes of learning (Chang, 2007).. Attitudes and Motivation Attitudes and motivation are two individual learner factors which are often considered to be closely related to each other. Many researchers tried to identify the relationships between attitudes and motivation in the process of learning. Gardner and Lambert’s studies on the effect of attitudes toward language learning for over the past three decades have defined attitudes as the components that constitute the construct of motivation (Brown, 2007). According to Gardner (1985), when learning a second language, the learner’s motivation would be referred to a combination of efforts, desire to achieve the goal, and favorable attitudes. Another extension of motivation related research also illustrated the relationship between attitudes and motivation in second language acquisition. In the schematic model of Willingness to Communicate (WTC) proposed by MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei and Noels, twelve linguistic and psychological variables were divided into six layers ranging from the lowest social and individual context (Layer VI) to the highest communication behaviors (Layer I). Within the construct of this 6.

(17) WTC pyramid, the factor of intergroup attitudes was situated in the fifth layer, namely, the affective-cognitive context. Motivational propensities such as intergroup motivation and interpersonal motivation belonged to the third layer which was one level above the affective-cognitive context (Dornyei, 2003). The construct of WTC seemed to echo Gardner and Lambert’s definition of motivation as a construct of some attitudes. To obtain motivation in learning, a person should establish positive attitudes which can play as a role of mediator to achieve successful learning outcomes. The results of Gardner’s research on Spanish students also showed that among the six individual difference variables, the integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation had the greatest influence on motivation in learning (Gardner, 2007). When learners were integratively motivated and have favorable attitudes toward the language learning situation, they were more likely to attain the ultimate level of learning achievement.. The Components of Learning Attitudes Since attitudes play such an important role in the construct of motivation, what were the components comprised in attitudinal factors? Many researchers agreed that the attitude was a multi-component model (Gardner, 1985; Chang, 2007; Maio & Haddock, 2009). According to Maio and Haddock (2009), the multi-component model of attitude comprised three key components: 1. Cognitive component – The cognitive component refers to a person’s beliefs and thoughts associated with the attitude object. 2. Affective component – The affective component refers to the feelings or emotions aroused in response to the attitude object. 3. Behavioral component – The behavioral component is the behavior or experience related to the attitude object. 7.

(18) The preceding definition echoed Chang’s illustration of an individual’s attitude as a consistent and constant tendency which could be inferred from the individual’s behaviors. In addition to one’s behaviors, affection and cognition were also regarded as key components of an individual’s attitudes. However, the extent to which each component influenced a person’s attitudes might be different according to one’s age, gender, or personality (Chang, 2007). In regard to language learning, Krashen (1982) argued that attitudinal factors were more related to subconscious learning which could enhance the success of children’s second language acquisition. Gardner (1985) earlier identified attitudes as a complex construct which comprised affective component, cognitive component, and conative component. According to Gardner’s definition, these three components referred to an individual’s emotional reaction, beliefs, and behavioral tendency toward the attitude objects or situations respectively. Gardner (2007) further emphasized that with respect to second language learning, attitudes and motivation were not simple constructs and the characteristics of these two crucial factors were affective, behavioral, and cognitive in nature. In addition to the components of the learner’s attitudes, Gardner (1985) also classified the attitude variables into two types. The first type was the attitude toward learning the language which was defined as the educational attitude, such as attitude toward the teacher, the course or the language learning itself. The second type was the attitude toward the second language community which was referred to as the social attitude. Although both types of attitude variables were considered to influence the language learning, the first type, namely, the educational variable was generally suggested to have a closer and more consistent relationship with the achievement of second language acquisition.. 8.

(19) In short, many researchers have agreed that the learning attitude is a complex construct in which one’s beliefs, emotions and behaviors interrelate with each other. The following subsection further introduces the components and variables in the attitudes toward language learning.. Learners’ Attitudes toward Foreign Language Learning A growing body of research has discussed how the learners’ attitudes might influence their achievement of language learning. A large-scale survey-based research was conducted by Pan (2002), who tried to evaluate primary school students’ attitudes toward English learning on the base of three components. She further divided the English learning attitudes into five variables: (1) concentration on learning, (2) activeness in learning, (3) attitude toward the English course, (4) attitude toward the English teacher, and (5) attitude toward the English assignments. The data collected from over 300 questionnaires showed that the five variables were inter-related with each other. Therefore, the learners’ attitudes in affective aspect were assumed to be consistent with those in behavioral and cognitive aspects (Pan, 2002). In addition to the survey-based research, Kuo (2010) tried to examine that to what extent the English song teaching might affect low achievers’ English vocabulary ability and their learning attitudes. She adopted the three key components, namely, affective component, behavioral component, and cognitive component, in her attitude scale trying to figure out (1) students’ perception toward themselves and the English language, (2) students’ feelings while learning English, and (3) students’ participation in English class. The results showed improvement on both the participants’ vocabulary ability and their attitudes toward English learning.. 9.

(20) That is, the participants’ achievement in English was consistent with their English learning attitudes. There has been a great deal of research showing that positive attitudes are related to successful second language learning. However, Brown (2007) argued that young children’s learning might be less affected by attitudes because of the limited cognitive development. Mihaljevic Djigunovic (2012) claimed that young children were generally considered to be highly motivated in foreign language learning due to their positive attitudes at the beginning. Such attitudes, however, may fluctuate later as young learners encounter various types of teaching styles, learning materials and classroom activities. Gardner further claimed that the influence of the educational context such as the teacher, the content of course, learning materials, the class atmosphere, etc. on an individual’s attitudes may affect his or her level of motivation (Gardner, 2007). When individuals have favorable attitudes toward the language learning situation, they are considered to be more integratively motivated. Another problem in the measurement of affective factors was the use of self-rating methods (Brown, 2007). Many studies aiming to probe learners’ attitudes utilized survey-based instruments in which the participants reported their ideas (Pan, 2002; Abidin, Pour-Mohammadi & Alzwari, 2012). Wesely (2012) argued that in survey-based research on attitudes, a danger of utilizing self-reported instruments was that the participants might report what they were expected to believe. In addition, the implications of some studies remained at interpretive level without the empirical connection between learners’ attitudes and their learning outcomes (Wesely, 2012). Little research has been done to investigate how teaching interacts with learners’ attitudes and motivation in second or foreign language classrooms (Lightbrown & Spada, 1999).. 10.

(21) Young Learners’ Attitudes toward Oral Communication in English Since the ultimate goal of second or foreign language learning is to use the target language for communication and positive attitudes are generally regarded as one of the key factors that a learner may succeed in language acquisition, the relationships between the learners’ attitudes and their learning outcomes are worthy discussing. Dornyei (2003) pointed out that whether the learner’s environment was an ESL learning context or an EFL learning context might have different effects on a person’s learning attitudes. In EFL context, English is mainly learned as a school subject rather than the second language shared by the community. The effects that attitudes may bring on language acquisition could vary in the language learning context. That is, foreign language learners may have less exposure in the target language than second language learners outside of the language classroom (Masgoret & Gardner, 2003). As a consequence, many EFL learners may find that once they leave the language classroom, they have no need for communication in English. Petrides (2006) conducted a large-scale quantitative research aiming to investigate the attitudinal and motivational impact on young EFL learners’ listening as well as speaking performance. The results showed that young English learners in Cyprus had greater difficulties to communicate in speaking than in listening interaction. Attitudes and motivation were examined through questionnaires as important factors that affected these young learners’ English learning. The results of this study revealed the problem which was commonly seen in EFL classrooms. For English curriculum in many EFL countries, the abilities of listening and speaking gained more emphasis than those of reading and writing. Since some researchers argued that young learners’ attitudes may fluctuate as they encounter various types of teaching styles, learning materials and classroom activities, it was worth probing 11.

(22) how young learners’ attitudes vary when facing different kinds of learning activities in English classrooms. Although learners’ attitudinal tendency might not be easily measured on scales, it could be inferred through observation of the learner’s behaviors. Chang and Wu (2004) conducted an action research in which a group of six teachers observed six graders’ classes to probe the effect of cooperative learning on their attitudes toward language learning. They established the construct of study on the basis of the three components; namely, affective component, behavioral component, and cognitive component. The multi-dimensional data which was collected from classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, the teacher’s logs, and students’ feedback was discussed from four aspects of learning attitudes: (1) students’ learning interest, (2) students’ attention in class, (3) peer interaction among students, and (4) the interaction between the teacher and students. To conclude, many studies have suggested that there is a close connection between learners’ attitudes and their learning outcome. Little research, however, has been done on how young learners’ attitudes may change in the real classrooms. Since language is for communication, the attitude toward English oral communication is worthy probing.. Oral Communicative Competence The rationale of communicative competence has been widespread in EFL countries as the core of curriculum designs for the last three decades. According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics, communicative competence refers to the knowledge which is “not only formally possible in a language but also feasible and appropriate in a particular speech community.” Among the various interpretations of this term, the model of communicative 12.

(23) competence proposed by Canale and Swain in 1980s provided language instructors with a theoretical framework which could be served as a basis for communicative syllabus design (Savignon, 1983). The model of communicative competence comprised four components; that is, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. To achieve the real competency in communication, learners need to obtain knowledge and skills from four aspects of the language. However, the communicative functions in young children’s utterance are more straightforward than those in adults’ utterance (Yalden, 1996). Adults’ language may serve a variety of social functions at a time, whereas the language which young children produce conveys only one function at a time. Yalden (1996) proposed a Balanced System in which the language development was divided into three levels. In this Balanced System, the lower the learners’ level is; the more linguistic forms (e.g. grammar and pronunciation) are required in the syllabus and less communicative functions (e.g. interpersonal and discourse skills) are emphasized. As learners progress from the elementary level toward the intermediate level, and upwards to the advanced level, more and more instructional time is allocated for the communicative functions. In this respect, the linguistic forms and communicative functions keep a balanced relationship in the language development. From Yalden’s point of view, the components of communicative competence gain different emphasis as the stages of learners’ language development shift. When designing learning activities for young children at the elementary level, teachers should be more aware of the grammatical competence which refers to the codes and usage of the linguistic system (Brown, 2007). These grammatical aspects of communicative competence provide young learners with fundamental knowledge which benefits their learning at a wider discourse level. 13.

(24) Within the construct of communicative competence, language classrooms are treated as meaningful and authentic environments in which interpersonal negotiation is exchanged among language learners (Brown, 2007). Among a variety of learning activities which are designed to acquire communicative competence, the skills of speaking and listening were regarded prior to the others in primary education (Sevik, 2011). Chang (2006) also argued that although ideally the four skills – listening, speaking, reading, and writing, are of equal importance to English education in the Nine-year Integrated Curriculum for Elementary and Junior High Schools, with limited time of instruction, learning activities on listening and speaking gained much more emphasis than those on reading and writing in elementary schools in Taiwan. Chern (2010) further suggested that in the first two years of the English curriculum, that is, the third and the fourth grades, the abilities of listening and speaking should be placed prior to those of reading and writing. We, therefore, can see that the oral communicative competence plays a more important role for young learners when they learn English at an early stage. However, according to a nation-wide survey conducted in Taiwan, the speaking ability was generally given the least weight in assessing students’ English proficiency at primary level (Chang, 2007). The result shows that although speaking activities are widely employed in the primary language classroom, students’ speaking proficiency is not well evaluated to see the effectiveness of classroom practice. The focus of this research is on oral communication. According to Ur (1996), a successful speaking activity should involve learners’ participation, high motivation, and an acceptable language base. Chou (2001) also mentioned that an effective oral practice activity should include three hierarchical stages: (1) mechanical practice, (2) meaningful practice, and (3) communicative practice. However, due to the time constraint and large class size, many language teachers find it is difficult to complete 14.

(25) the final stage in classrooms. Many cut-and-dry style dialogues are therefore only allow learners to practice pronunciation. Some taxonomies regarding oral production are employed in this study to discuss young learners’ oral communicative competence.. Basic Types of Speaking Performance According to Brown (2007), classroom speaking performance can be divided into six categories: 1. Imitative Imitative language refers to the simplest production which is conventionally labeled as pronunciation, focusing on purely phonetic performance in a word, a phrase or sometimes a sentence. 2. Intensive Intensive language requires the competence mainly on semantic features. Minimal interaction may be involved in this category. 3. Responsive Responsive language includes interaction within short conversations. Such speaking activities can be authentic and meaningful in context. 4. Transactional (dialogue) Transactional language can be viewed as an extended form of responsive production. It has more specific information exchanged or negotiated. 5. Interpersonal (dialogue) Interpersonal language contains longer and more complex dialogue which is carried out to maintain social relationships. 6. Extensive (monologue). 15.

(26) Extensive language requires more formal and deliberative styles, such as short speeches, oral presentations, and storytelling. These six categories construct the continuum of classroom speaking performance. Within this construct, imitative language stands at one end of the continuum, while extensive monologue stands at the other. That is, they are more like one-way productive performance in which the interaction between interlocutors is not a prerequisite. For the other four categories, two or more participants are involved in the interaction. Brown (2010) later integrated the transactional language and interpersonal language into interactive language when describing basic types of speaking. He further claimed that the difference between responsive and interactive oral production lies on the length and complexity of the interaction. For young EFL learners who were at the beginning stage of establishing communicative competence, most learning activities are designed to achieve the objectives in the first four categories. That is, imitative speaking, intensive speaking, responsive speaking, and transactional speaking are taken into consideration while examining young EFL learners’ oral production at the beginners’ stage.. Micro- and Macro-skills of Oral Production Based on the framework and categories of speaking performance defined by Brown in the preceding section, he further listed eleven micro-skills and five macro-skills as objectives of oral production (Brown, 2010). Micro-skills imply the speakers’ abilities to produce smaller language chunks, whereas macro-skills refer to larger elements such as fluency, function, discourse, cohesion, and strategies. In fact, Brown’s micro-skills embrace a broad range of language elements focusing not only on forms but also on functions. To obtain the micro-skills of oral production, 16.

(27) learners have to be able to produce the distinct phonological features, use grammatically appropriate forms in words and sentence structures, to manipulate language chunks of different lengths according to various pragmatic purposes, and to be able to use strategic and cohesive devices in one’s own speaking. The macro-skills identified by Brown required more advanced speaking strategies and appropriate sociolinguistic features to accomplish a variety of communicative functions in conversations.. Communicative Functions of Speaking Luoma (2004) summarized the two categories of the functional competence defined in Common European Framework of Reference (CEF). They were micro-functions and macro-functions. The micro-functions which were mostly completed within a turn in an interaction were divided into six subcategories ranging from the simple functions such as greeting, giving and asking factual information, asking about abilities and permission, and requesting to more complex ones such as discourse structuring and repair in communication. Macro-functions, on the other hand, imply the language chunks which serve the functions as narration, commentary, explanation, and demonstration. As learners grow and improve their abilities, they learn how to express different functions in various kinds of situations.. Graded-activities for Macro-skills of Speaking and Oral Interaction Nunan (2004), based on an English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum, suggested over fifty speaking learning tasks which were graded into seven levels. The seven levels scaffold the macro-skills of speaking and oral interaction, ranging from the basic skills such as naming common objects (Level 1) to the most complicated skills such as using a range of conversational and discourse strategies 17.

(28) (Level 7). According to Nunan’s taxonomy and related activities, memorizing and reciting songs and rhymes in chorus can build Level 1 macro-skill, and to recite songs and rhymes individually can help learners obtain Level 2 macro-skill of speaking. In this respect, songs and chants are effective learning tasks which are beneficial for establishing learners’ fundamental macro-skills of oral interaction. Many other learning tasks in Level 1 and Level 2 can be incorporated into songs and rhymes reciting tasks. Personal information, requests for objects, statements of abilities (Level 1), family and friends, statements of likes, and routine activities (Level 2) are topics which are commonly seen in songs and rhymes tasks. When the lyrics and sentence structures of songs and chants comprise higher level oral interaction such as formulaic conversations for greeting, leave-taking (Level 3), making requests and offers (Level 4), learners are expected to obtain more advanced skills of oral interaction. As we have seen, in different taxonomies of oral performance, tasks such as greeting, asking personal information, naming the objects, describing things, talking about family and friends, and requesting are basic oral communicative functions required in the second or foreign language classroom, especially for learners at primary levels. These functions are objectives to be achieved as well as themes of the course design in the curriculum. Therefore, the above communicative functions are learning objectives to be discussed in this study.. The Instruction of Songs and Chants Songs exist in all human languages (Maley, 1987). According to Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, among all intelligences that a person might possess, the musical intelligence is the earliest one to emerge (Gardner, 2004). Several reasons have been discussed to explain why songs and chants can facilitate the 18.

(29) acquisition of language learning. Forster (2006) proposed views from neurological aspects to explain why the processing of linguistic and musical information benefit each other in human brains. She further argued that since English is a stressed-timed language, the rhythmic nature in songs and chants could help young learners to learn the prosodic features of the language. Moreover, repetitions of sound and sentence patterns along with engaging tunes could unconsciously stick in our minds for a long period of time (Abbott, 2002). Chang (2009) also reported that the English song contests among elementary schools were held in most counties around Taiwan and were regarded as incentive English learning activities. Moreover, songs are also important ways of expressing the differences among cultures (MacNaughton & Williams, 2004). By teaching through a variety of songs, the language teacher can introduce students to the cultural aspects of the target language community (Orlova, 2003). This section reviewed the current research regarding songs and chants from four aspects: (1) focus on forms, (2) focus on functions, (3) teachers’ belief, and (4) learners’ affective factors.. Focus on Forms A growing body of research has been done on the effectiveness of songs and chants on phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and vocabulary acquisition (Medina, 1990; Danielson, 2000; Wu, 2007; Pien, 2008; Chen & Chen, 2009; Lee, 2010). Due to children’s limited memory capacity, the repeated and memorable lyrics can help them concentrate on the target elements, such as sounds, words, or sentence patterns (Richard, 2006). In addition to the acquisition of sounds and words, a few studies have also been done on the grammatical aspects of foreign language learning, such as time and tenses, through songs and chants (Saricoban & Metin, 2000). However, most of the discussion about the effectiveness of songs and chants 19.

(30) on language forms came from the results of experimental research methods. Little research has been done to observe the process of students’ learning. In addition to teaching songs and chants in conventional ways, with the fast-developing technology, researchers started to discuss the effectiveness of computer-assisted songs and chants instruction (Chen, 2009). Although multimedia was integrated into the research on the instruction of songs and chants, the focus of evaluation was still on learners’ productive performance, instead of their learning processes.. Focus on Functions Since the song is a form of human language and language is for communication, we cannot overlook the functional aspects of the song instruction. Songs can offer great opportunities for teacher- student as well as student-student interactions which convey meaningful exchange of ideas (Maley, 1987). Richard (2006) also advocated that singing and chanting is a two-way meaningful communication learning process in which listening and speaking are practiced repeatedly. In addition to the content of communication, children express their feelings when they chant musically (Alcock, Cullen & George, 2008). The rhythmic patterns of chants are also essential elements for children when they learn to express their feelings in spoken language (Graham, 2006). According to Maley (1987), the type of spoken-language use that songs give us is reactional. That is, through songs, people react personally to another person’s verbal sensibility. Read (2007) further claimed that songs and chants also help children to develop social skills. Some interpersonal skills, such as turn-taking, can be enhanced through interactive chants. Moreover, Graham (2006) encouraged teachers to create tailor-made songs and chants integrating natural daily-talks which can foster students’ communicative proficiency. 20.

(31) Teachers’ Beliefs Since songs and chants appear to be one of the most essential parts in certified textbooks for public elementary schools in Taiwan, language teachers are obliged to teach them in class. It was noteworthy that if teachers themselves enjoy the song or chant while teaching, students’ enjoyment also grows during the learning process (MacNaughton & Williams, 2004). Lo (2002) argued that around 75% of the EFL teachers agreed that the instruction of songs and chants was an effective method in the language classroom. Taipei County Government (2008) conducted a county-wide survey among 481 English teachers from public junior high schools and elementary schools. The results showed that within seven kinds of teaching materials, songs ranked as the best materials that could enhance students’ oral proficiency. Sevik (2011) also demonstrated the strong beliefs among primary school EFL teachers in the pedagogical value of teaching young learners through songs related learning activities. However, although most teachers had positive attitudes toward the effectiveness of using songs in EFL learning context, they did not think that they had enough resources while teaching (Sevik, 2011). That is, it is not always easy to find appropriate songs for every topic covered in the course books.. Learners’ Affective Factors Almost all children are naturally gifted in rhyming and rhythms (Chang, 2001). In the ESL or EFL classrooms, songs create a safe and non-threatening atmosphere in which young learners’ affective filters could become lower (Schoepp, 2001). That is, according to Krashen (1982), when the learners’ affective filters are lower, they have a more positive attitude towards learning and therefore more input can therefore reach their brains. Music plays an important part in children’s play 21.

(32) (Hill-Clarke & Robinson, 2004). The rhythmic patterns of songs and chants which are closely related to the natural movement in children’s games also make language learning fun and friendly (Graham, 2006). Moreover, compared with the foreign language, music is more frequently heard outside of the classroom. If students enjoy singing the songs, they would expose themselves to the English speaking environment more often (Schoepp, 2001). Given all these findings, the importance of songs and chants instruction in language learning cannot be denied. However, most studies seemed to focus more on the results instead of the process. In spite of the beliefs in that songs and chants may enhance learners’ oral communicative abilities, little research has been done to probe how the learners’ attitudes might differ while receiving the songs and chants instruction. Due to the limitation of large class sizes and mixed-level students, most researchers utilized quantitative instruments such as standardized tests to assess the outcome of students’ oral performance. Moreover, most discussions were about the effect of songs and chants on high graders in elementary schools or high school students (Hwang, 2007; Tseng, 2007). Little research has been done to probe the learning process of very young learners’ oral communication through songs and chants learning activities. Since communication is an interactive and dynamic on-going process, the acquisition of children’s communicative competence may not be easily measured quantitatively (Cheng, 1987). It is, therefore, more feasible to employ qualitative instruments, such as the teacher’s journals, classroom observation to constantly and consistently record students’ interaction and progress in class. To get a more detailed picture of the above issues, this study is aimed to explore the effects of songs and chants instruction on a young learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in an EFL learning context. 22.

(33) Research Questions To find out the relationships between songs and chants instruction and the young learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in English, three questions to be investigated in this research were as follows: (1) What are the young learner’s cognitive responses to English oral communication before and after receiving songs and chants instruction? (2) How do the young learner’s affective states differ while receiving the instruction of songs and chants? (3) What are the young learner’s behavioral responses to English oral communication while receiving the songs and chants instruction?. 23.

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(35) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY The aim of this research was to probe the effects of songs and chants instruction on a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward English oral communication. Since the research was to investigate more in-depth instances through observation, a longitudinal case study was employed to serve the purposes of this research (Nunan, 1992). According to the definition of Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics, a case study refers to a more intensive study on aspects of behaviors, such as a child’s language development for a long period of time. By using this method, the researcher could collect more detailed information for further analyses. The details of methodology were elaborated in the following five sections. The first section described the participant and her learning context. The materials and instruments employed in this study were introduced in the second and third section accordingly. The fourth section illustrated the procedures and instruction of this research. The last section dealt with data analyses.. The Participant and Context The Participant The participant in this case study was a nine-year girl, Tin, whose name was pseudonymous for ethical reasons. Tin was a third grader at a public elementary school located in an urban area of New Taipei City. Among the 204 public elementary schools in New Taipei City, the size of this school is reported as the tenth among all. That is, this school is labeled as a super-large size school, containing over 25.

(36) 3,400 students. The participant was selected because of three reasons. First of all, Tin had never taken any extracurricular English courses after school since she was a kindergartener. The kindergarten she attended belonged to the same public elementary school and no English classes were provided during the two years. From the researcher’s experience of English teaching at this school for over ten years, most parents chose bilingual kindergartens for their children. In each class, about four-fifths of the students attended cram schools to take extracurricular English courses. According to the semi-structured interview carried out at the beginning of Grade 3 in the observed class, only two boys and one girl went to public kindergartens and had never taken any extracurricular English courses after school since then. However, the two boys joined the voluntary experimental English program provided by New Taipei City government and received two more sessions of English instruction every Friday afternoon. This voluntary experimental English program lasted for one school year. It was free and open to all students, regardless of their English proficiency. In the observed class, fourteen students voluntarily joined this program, but Tin was not one of them. In other words, Tin neither attended any English cram schools nor joined any voluntary experimental English programs. Table 3.1 demonstrates the demographic data based on a background survey that was carried out in the observed class prior to the study. Notably, Tin was the one who had received the least formal instruction in English since she started school at the age of four.. 26.

(37) Table 3.1 Demographic Data of the Observed Class Male. Female. Number of students. 18. 14. Public kindergarten (A). 6. 1. No extracurricular English class (B). 7. 2. (A+B). 2. 1. (A+B) + No free experimental English program. 0. 1 (Tin). Secondly, Tin was a very shy girl. Since the observed class was new to the researcher, in order to get an overview of students’ English oral proficiency, the researcher gave a one-on-one oral interview to the observed class at the beginning of the first semester. During the test, Tin was not capable of answering most of the questions. The only response she gave was her name in a one-word sentence. According to the researcher’s observation in the first two English sessions, Tin was very dependent on her classmates in English classes and not confident in using English, especially in speaking. Thirdly and the most basically, with a long-term case study on such a young learner, the great willingness from the participant and her parents was a precondition. Therefore, the above objective as well as subjective reasons explained why Tin was selected as the participant of this case study.. The Context This study aimed to probe the effects of songs and chants on a young EFL learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in English. According to the Guidelines of Grade 1 – 9 Integrated Curriculum announced by MOE, Grade 3 is the 27.

(38) primary stage where the notion of communicative competence becomes a prerequisite in English curriculum. The objectives of third graders’ English learning are on the four skills, with greater emphasis on listening and speaking. Different from the Guidelines of Grade 1 – 9 Integrated Curriculum announced by MOE, the guidelines declared by New Taipei City government require English as a compulsory subject starting from Grade 1 (New Taipei City, 2008). All third graders in public elementary schools in New Taipei City have received two years’ English instruction in Grade 1 and 2. Within the city-defined framework, students receive English instruction one session per week (each session lasts forty minutes) in the first two years, and through Grade 3 to Grade 6, the instruction of English extends to two sessions per week. The objective of the Grade-1 curriculum is to get students familiar with the English graphemes. That is, students have to learn the letter shapes as well as the letter names correspondingly. As students move to Grade 2, they are expected to establish phonemic awareness, which means students should be able to identify and manipulate the individual sounds in words (Armbruster, Lehr & Osborn, 2001). Under such construct, the objectives of the first two years’ English instructions in New Taipei City are mainly and merely on word-level. Not until Grade 3 does the language focus move to sentence-level which embodies communicative competence as its core of learning. The researcher, who was also the English teacher of the participant, had been teaching at this school for more than ten years, and was certified as a trainer in the field of instruction of songs and chants in New Taipei City. The researcher taught six Grade 3 classes twice a week. All of the second graders were re-allocated in normal class groupings during the summer vacation. The observed class was selected because their homeroom teacher was very supportive. All English lessons were given according to the syllabus designed by the researcher herself. In this school, 28.

(39) there were no school-wide fixed tests on English. English teachers were free to decide on their teaching methods as well as ways of assessing students’ learning.. Materials The research site is a public elementary school; therefore, only MOE-certified textbooks are accepted as the main materials for all subjects. Since the instruction of songs and chants plays an essential role in the Guidelines of Grade 1 – 9 Integrated Curriculum, most MOE-certified English textbooks contain a song or chant in each unit, especially the textbooks for lower graders. In the researcher’s school, teachers have freedom in selecting textbooks. At the end of every school year, English teachers have to evaluate all MOE-certified textbooks and choose the most appropriate ones according to the needs in each grade. The English textbook selected for Grade 3 was Story.com, which was theme-based and adopted Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as its core of design. Most of the songs and chants were composed of formulaic speech aiming to enhance students’ oral communicative competence (see Appendix 1). There were five units in the textbook, exclusive of two review sections and one culture & festivals section. In each unit, upon completion of presenting the song or chant in the textbook, the researcher provided students with one more song or chant which was based on similar grammar levels from supplementary materials (see Appendix 2). That is, the students learned ten songs or chants in one semester. The themes and linguistic elements of the supplementary song or chant were highly relevant to the ones in the textbook as well. For example, in Unit One, students learned to ask names of other people and answer the corresponding questions from others. Both the song in the textbook and the one from supplementary materials were composed of the same formulaic speech: 29.

(40) “What’s Your Name?” from Story.com (textbook) A: Hello. What’s your name? B: My name is Andy. A: Hello, Andy. Hello. “The Hello Song” from Let’s Chant, Let’s Sing! (supplementary material) A: Hello, hello, hello. What’s your name? B: My name is John. A: Hello, John. Hello, John. Hello. Singing or chanting through a diversity of tunes and beats could bring more fun to the classroom activities. The table below lists the six songs and four chants utilized in the study.. Table 3.2 The Songs and Chants Utilized in the Study Unit / Theme. Textbook. Supplementary Materials. 1 / Name. What’s Your Name? (song). The Hello Song (song). 2 / Greetings. How Are You? (song). How Are You? (song). 3 / Appearance. Tall, Short, Fat, Thin (chant). Tall, Short, Strong, Thin (song). 4 / School things. What’s This? (song). Book, Books (chant). 5 / School things. This Is for You (chant). The Yo-yo Chant (chant). Instruments In order to meet the purpose of this case study, three instruments were used to keep a thorough record. Since the present study aimed to probe the young learner’s attitudes toward oral communication in English when receiving the instruction of songs and chants, constant observation and interviews over a long period of time 30.

(41) were adopted to gather extensive data for further discussion. First of all, the teacher’s journal after each class was kept to record the participant’s learning attitudes toward English speaking in class. Second, in order to gather more in-depth data, all sessions during the observation were video-recorded to monitor the participant’s oral interactions as well as learning attitudes toward various kinds of learning activities. Third, three one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted throughout the study for different purposes. The first interview was employed at the beginning of the first semester to select the participant of this study; the second interview was served at the end of the first semester to see if there was any effect on the participant’s oral communicative competence and her attitudes toward English speaking through songs and chants instruction. The last interview was conducted at the beginning of the second semester to see how the effects on the participant retained after the winter vacation. The three instruments utilized in this study were elaborated in details as follows:. The Teacher’s Journals The journal is one of the commonly used introspective tools in language research (Nunan, 1992). Lynch (1996) also claimed that journals could provide a rich source of information about how the curriculum was developing. Since the researcher also functioned as the teacher in this study, the teacher’s journal after each class could serve as a retrospective tool which helped the researcher to collect deeper data from classroom activities after the class. Moreover, by keeping a journal, the researcher made this study more process-oriented. Such insights into processes of learning as well as teaching would be more difficult to be obtained in any other way (Nunan, 1992). Upon completion of each class period, the teacher, who was also the researcher, 31.

(42) kept a journal describing the participant’s learning attitudes towards oral communication among different kinds of classroom activities. Instead of keeping the journals in narratives, the researcher adapted Lynch’s REST project teacher/researcher journal which helped the teacher as well as the researcher to keep track of the classroom experiences in a more structured format ( Lynch, 1996). The journal format mainly consisted of six parts: (1) the materials, (2) objectives of the lesson, (3) classroom activities and exercises, (4) teacher’s presentations, (5) students’ participation, and (6) observations and comments from the researcher as well as the teacher (see Appendix 3). Significant data closely related to the research questions were further categorized on the basis of the three key factors of learning attitudes – the affective factor, the behavioral factor, and the cognitive factor. Since the two-session English class was the only formal English instruction that the participant received every week, the teacher’s journals helped the researcher to collect more in-depth and thorough records of the participant’s learning process.. Video-recordings of Classroom Observation “Observation is a central tool for assessment of oral language in the classroom,” (McKay 2006, p. 195). Through observation of events, activities and interactions in the classroom, teachers may assess what students have or have not learned (Genesee & Upshur, 1996). Since the researcher herself was also the English teacher of the participant, it might be more difficult for the researcher to observe everything that happened in the classroom while teaching. For a more detailed analysis of various kinds of classroom interactions, the researcher videotaped all lessons during the observation. The images and sounds recorded in the video could add certain benefits of repeatedly observing and recalling what had happened in the classroom. Incidences closely related to the participant’s learning attitudes toward oral 32.

(43) communication in English were further transcribed for subsequent analysis. Observation of the learner’s attitudes was coded based on the three key components of learning attitudes. That is, the affective component, the behavioral component, and the cognitive component. The three components were generally considered to constitute the framework of learning attitude which could affect the outcome of foreign language learning.. Semi-structured Interviews To directly evaluate the participant’s progress in oral communicative competence and to probe her general impression of the songs and chants instruction, three one-on-one semi-structured interviews were employed for different purposes. The first interview was employed at the beginning of the first semester to select the participant of this study; the second interview was served at the end of the first semester to see if there was any effect on the participant’s oral communicative competence and her attitudes toward English communication through songs and chants instruction. The last interview was conducted at the beginning of the second semester to see how the effects on the participant retained after the winter vacation. The processes of three interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for further analysis. In order to obtain background information of the observed class and select the participant of the study, the first interview comprised two parts (see Appendix 4). The first part was an oral interview conducted in English to evaluate the oral communicative competence of students in the observed class. McKay (2006) suggested that the oral interview was typically on a one-on-one basis; that is, the teacher talked with one child at a time. Such face-to-face oral tasks might not guarantee equal standardization as that in tape-mediated tasks, they were more like 33.