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The teacher participants who teach every lesson are fewer in number in this study, and over 60 percent of the private high school teachers do this in class

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Chapter Ⅴ Discussion and Conclusion

5.1 Discussion

In this section, the researcher will try to explore the answers to the five research questions based on the findings in Chapter Four:

1. Do high school English teachers in Taiwan skip lessons in class?

2. If English teachers skip lessons or teach every lesson in class, what are their reasons?

3. What topics/text types of reading passages are more likely to be skipped in class and why?

4. Are there any similarities or differences of the skipped lessons chosen in different series of textbooks?

5. Are the skipped lessons included in school exams?

5.1.1 Skipping lessons in public and private schools

Nearly 60 percent of the teacher participants in the present study skip lessons in class, and there are up to 80 percent of public school teachers doing this. Owing to insufficient teaching hours, English teachers, especially in public schools, are unable to teach all the lessons carefully in a school semester. Although private school teacher participants also complain about the instructional time constraints, the number is much fewer than that in public schools.

The teacher participants who teach every lesson are fewer in number in this study, and over 60 percent of the private high school teachers do this in class. The general reasons, as what private school teacher participates indicated in Table 4.4, are students’ low English proficiency level and their passive attitude in learning, though very few public high school teacher participants still complained about these. Besides,

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some private school teacher participants remarked that they have more instructional hours in a semester.

5.1.2 Textbook selection and the skipping of each topic/text type

The present study confirms that Far East, Lungteng, and San-min (Chen) series are the main streams in high school English textbook markets. The other series are not chosen at all in this study. Table 4.5 indicates that Far East series are used by more high school grades of students than Lungteng and San-min (Chen) series are.

According to the researcher’s own teaching experience and the information from the Internet, Far East series are considered easier and close to daily life. Since the year 2004 the whole versions are renewed, the materials have become more current and diversified. San-min (Chen) series were edited by Professor Ling-hsia Chen from Taiwan University. These series are generally regarded as the most difficult ones, used by some famous public high schools. Actually San-min series have another two versions: Tse version (edited by Prof. Kuo-ping Tse) and Sung version (by Mei-hua Sung). These two versions are thought of as much easier than San-min (Chen) version.

Lungteng series in early stages focused on vocational high school textbooks. When

high school textbook market opened, they followed up to edit some high school textbooks. Later they update the whole series and become dominant in the publishing circles. Their teaching aids, materials, and reference books are welcomed by students and teachers.

As for the skipping of each topic/text type, Table 4.6 suggests that the topic of conversation skills is skipped most frequently, and it is only found in the volumes with this topic in Far East series. The Far East Publishing Company may have found out about this situation, so this topic has been removed in the new versions of Book 1 and Book 2. The average frequencies of skipping for poetry and story are higher than the ones for the other topics/text types. It is thus clear that these two topics are

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skipped most frequently in the three series of textbooks. The topics/text types of science, culture, and environment are skipped not so frequently. Tables 4.7 to 4.24 prove that these topics are usually listed on the lower part of the frequency lists. The least frequently skipped topic is practical skills/knowledge. It is the favorite topic for the majority of the teacher participants.

5.1.3 The topics/text types teachers are more or less likely to teach

From the frequency of skipping for each lesson of each volume in the three series (Tables 4.7 to 4.24), the topics/text types which are more or less likely to be skipped are clear.

In these 18 volumes of textbooks in three series, there are 10 volumes whose most frequently skipped topic/text type is story. It is thus evident that story is English teachers’ first choice to skip in class when they have insufficient instructional hours.

In Lungteng and San-min (Chen) series, story takes the lead in four volumes in both series of textbooks. The average frequency of skipping in section 4.4 and the detail frequency for each lessons in section 4.5 show that the volumes having the topic of conversation skills whose most frequently skipped topic is conversation skills. In Lungteng and San-min (Chen) series without this topic, the most frequently skipped

topic/text type is story.

The stories which are frequently skipped by teachers are usually long and boring, not positive enough, really easy to understand, already familiar to students, have many conversations between characters, or embarrass teachers in class. However, some stories are still taught in class. Teachers are more willing to teach the stories which are adapted from some famous literature, short and encouraging, leave questions for students to reflect on, or are special forms of stories like mythology or musical.

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The topic of conversation skills is skipped most frequently in Far East series, and this topic is only found in Far East old textbook versions from Book 3 to Book 6.

These lessons are mostly considered easy for independent study, or not interesting to students. The text type of drama is also skipped for the same reason.

Poetry is skipped most frequently in four volumes from the 18 textbooks. The poems which are frequently skipped are either easy to understand, or too difficult for students, too difficult to teach, or too boring. Some poems are still taught in class if they are more modern, telling a story, or have clear introduction of the rules of poetry.

The topic of practical skills/knowledge is most of the times English teachers’ last choice to skip. In six volumes in the 18 textbooks, the topic of practical skills/knowledge is skipped least frequently. Lessons of this topic are usually closer to life experience, provide some useful information which can be applied right away, or give some tips for students to follow easily. This corresponds to Lu’s study (2004) that in evaluating the reading passages, most of the teachers were concerned with the practicality of the reading passages in real life.

The topic of science or technology is much liked by teacher participants. There are four volumes whose least skipped topic is science. Only in San-min (Chen) Book 2 the first skipped topic is science, but only by three teacher participants. The lessons of science more likely to be taught are those introduce new technology, or explain the reasons for some special natural phenomenon. Teachers tend to skip the lessons of science which are not interesting, or too difficult to teach.

Culture is also a welcome topic. In four volumes of textbooks, the topic of culture is teachers’ last choice to skip. Some foreign cultures are new and interesting to students. Students can widen their horizon by learning cultures of other countries.

The topic of environment is the least skipped topic in the three volumes in the 18 textbooks. It is taught because it raises students’ awareness to living surroundings, and

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it is usually a hot topic in the reading comprehension articles in the entrance exams.

The lessons with topic of language skills/knowledge are not many in three series of textbooks; however there are three volumes whose least skipped topics are language skills/knowledge. They usually guide students the ways to learn the English language more effectively, or teach some interesting proverbs or sayings used by Americans.

5.1.4 The general reasons to skip certain topics/text types

Table 4.25 indicates most of the topics/text types are skipped for their easiness for independent study. The instructional time constraints are the second reason frequently mentioned by teacher participants, but what the researcher wants to investigate is why a certain topic/text type is skipped instead of the others. Why a lesson is not taught is generally due to insufficient instructional time, as Table 4.3 suggests. The time constraints can not explain the topic selection.

Stories are skipped mostly for their easiness, but the frequency lists and the teachers’ comments from Tables 4.7 to 4.24 reveal that some stories are still taught by English teachers in class.

The topic of the topic of conversation skills is skipped in high frequency because it is mostly regarded as easy for independent study. Therefore Far East Company has taken away this topic in their new versions of textbooks.

Quite a few teacher participants consider poetry easy for independent study, which is beyond the researcher’s expectation because poetry is thought to be the most difficult text type to teach in the researcher’s self experience. However some modern poems including songs and nursery rhymes are really easy to understand. That explains why some teacher participants regard poetry as an easy text type.

The topics of science, culture, and practical knowledge/skills are mainly thought of as easy for independent study as well. However Table 4.7 to Table 4.24 show that

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teachers would like to teach lessons of these topics in class. The topic of environment is generally considered not interesting to students, but the topic is preferred in some volumes of the textbooks.

5.1.5 Whether to include the skipped lessons in school exams

According to teacher participants’ answers in the questionnaires, up to 60 percent of the skipped lessons are still included in school exams. Some teachers mentioned if reading passages are excluded from school exams, the vocabulary, idioms, and grammar parts are still taught in class and included in school exams. In this case, some teachers choose inclusion but others choose exclusion. It is difficult for the researcher to find out whether the whole lesson is included or only the vocabulary, idioms, and grammar parts are included in school exams. Whatever the case, language knowledge seems to be more emphasized by English teachers than language use.

According to Table 4.26, except for the topics/text types of poetry, people, and practical skills/knowledge, the other topics/text types are mostly included in school exams. Even if teachers skip some lessons in class, the lessons are still taken care of in other ways. English teachers may ask students to read the skipped lessons on their own, or include them in school exams.

5.2 Conclusion

This study aims to investigate high school English teachers’ selective use of textbook lessons. A questionnaire survey was conducted to get a picture of what lessons are actually skipped. Qualitative method was adopted to analyze the result of the questionnaires.

It is generally found that more teacher participants skip lessons in class than those who teach every lesson. Public school teachers tend to skip lessons; however private

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school teachers are more likely to teach every lesson carefully in class. The major reason why teachers skip lessons is the instructional time constraints. For those who teach every lesson, students’ low English proficiency level is the major concern.

In the selection of textbooks, Far East series is preferred by three grades of students in high schools. When it comes to the selection of reading passages, the topic of conversation skills is skipped most frequently only in Far East series. Poetry and story are the top two text types to be skipped in three series of textbooks. Practical skills/knowledge is the topic English teachers like most.

The frequency of skipping of each lesson in the 18 textbooks reveals a clearer picture. The topic of conversation skills is skipped most frequently in the Far East old versions because lessons of this topic are considered too easy. In the volumes without this topic, story is actually the most frequently skipped topic/text type in the three textbook series. The major reason is that stories are mostly regarded as easy for independent study; however some stories adapted from literature, or the short, encouraging stories are still taught in class. Poetry is sometimes listed as the most frequently skipped topic/text type in some textbook volumes. Songs or nursery rhymes are much easier for students to read on their own, or the poems with too difficult rules will be skipped in class. Teachers tend to teach more modern poems or the ones with clearer explanations. The topics of science, culture, and environment are now and then the least frequently skipped topics in some textbook volumes because they teach students to care about their surroundings and widen students’ horizons. The topic of practical skills/knowledge is most of the times English teachers’ last choice to skip because it provides useful tips for students to apply in their lives.

In general, the skipped topics/text types are mostly thought to be easy for independent study, as teachers’ comments suggest. But if every skipped lesson is analyzed more closely, the reasons may vary. The instructional time constraints cannot

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explain the topic selection. Although the skipped lessons are not taken much care of in class, teacher participants indicated that the vocabulary and grammar parts are mostly still included in school exams.

5.3 Limitation of the Study

This study is limited in the following aspects:

1. The investigation of the selection of self-learning lessons was based on 113 English teachers’ responses to the questionnaire. The teacher participants in charge of the English subject in each school may not be representative enough of all the high school English teachers. The findings should not be over-generalized.

2. The skipping of topics/text types was only explored in the form of questionnaires instead of interviews. There may be a gap between what teachers wrote and what they put into practice in their classroom.

3. Because many teacher participants didn’t give their reasons for the skipped lessons, multiple choices for teachers to choose from may generate more answers.

4. The instructions of the questionnaire should have been defined more clearly whether the fact that only reading passages are skipped belongs to inclusion in or exclusion from school exams.

5.4 Implications of the Study

5.4.1 Implications for high school teachers

Under instructional time constraints, most of the English participants choose to skip some lessons in class. Hutchinson and Torres (1994, p.318) pointed out,

“Nothing that happens in education is anything more than a workable compromise.”

Indeed, teachers have to make compromises within the local contexts. They should try their best to help students of different proficiency levels by modifying the materials

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according to student factors and situational factors. They can select some important points, or sections, or lessons according to students’ interest and proficiency (Chou, 1998).

The present study reveals that texts with many dialogues, stories, and poetry are what English teachers tend to skip. High school English teachers can try to examine what topics/text types their school teachers select or skip in class, and can take the result of this study as a reference if they cannot but skip some lessons under instructional time pressure.

5.4.2 Implications for material writers

To help teachers solve the problem of insufficient instructional time, materials can include some self-study sections or lessons. These sections or lessons should contain detailed explanation for students to study on their own. Based on the finding that English teacher participants skip topics/text types of conversation skills, story, and poetry most frequently for their easiness, material writers should reduce the reading passages of these topics.

Based on the lessons which are skipped most frequently in this study, the researcher tries to give some suggestions for the material writers:

The topic of conversation skills in Lesson 5 “Asking and Giving Directions” in Far East Book 3 (skipped by 15 teacher participants): The text type of dialogues is

not welcomed by the teacher participants. Eight teacher participants consider it easy.

It is suggested that the text type of dialogues not be included in the reading selection.

The short story in Lesson 11 “The problem of Fathers and Sons” in Far East Book 6 (skipped by 19 teacher participants): There are some Spanish words and sentences in this story. The material writers should try to avoid using the language other than English in the reading passages because teachers in class may find it hard to pronounce the words, and may not fully understand the implied meaning in the

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foreign culture. Besides, the impolite language used by the son in the story may not be encouraged by teachers. The stories included had better be more positive and encouraging.

The poem in Lesson 10 “How to Read a Poem: Meter in Poetry” in Lungteng Book 2 (skipped by nine teacher participants): The explanation of the rules of meter and feet is a little complicated, and the some of the language of this poem is slightly difficult. It causes more trouble for English teachers to take care of both the rules and meaning in teaching the poem. Since English poetry has been a new text type for high school freshmen, the rules introduced should be more basic, and the poems included have to be easier to understand.

5.4.3 Implications for teacher educators

Seminars introducing how to wisely select or skip textbook materials under instructional time constraints, and workshops including demonstration on what topics/text types of reading passages benefit students most should be included in the in-service training. Teachers need to know how to make the best use of the textbook they have selected.

5.4.4 Implications for policy makers

Based on the responses of the English teacher participants in high school in this study, the policy-making agencies should ask the textbook publishers to include fewer lessons in a volume, or give more freedom for individual schools to allocate their instructional time based on the local needs.

5.4.5 Suggestions for future research

1. This study is based on the results of the questionnaires. Some interviews should be conducted to better understand the reasons behind the selection English teachers make when deciding self-learning lessons.

2. The lessons skipped most frequently can be further analyzed their readability with

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computer software. Then the difficulty level of the skipped lessons can be manifested by concrete numbers.

3. The size and area of schools may affect the choices teachers make when skipping lessons. The area differences need investigation.

4. Whether teachers really understand their students’ preferences for certain topics/text types leaves an open space for future study.

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