2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Construction of the elementary school English curriculum incorporating assessment results and improvement of the coordination with junior high school English
| Project/Area Number |
17320090
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan University |
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Principal Investigator |
YUKAWA Emiko Ritsumeikan University, College of Letters, Professor (30309075)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TAKANASHI Tsuneo Kyoto Notre Dame University, English Department, Visiting Professor (10113812)
KOYAMA Tetsuharu Kyoto Notre Dame University, English Department, Associate Professor (60367977)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | Elementary School English / assessment / listening test / speaking test / elementary-junior high school coordination / curriculum / instructional goals / English activities |
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| Research Abstract |
Elementary school 'English activities' have been taught aiming at 'international understanding' as a part of the Integrated Studies. However, they lack concrete instructional goals for each grade, which in turn hinders assessment of student achievement. This research focused on schools in which English is taught for 20 hours or more per year from the third to sixth grade and examined the practice and the outcome of the English education in those schools. Based on these data, suggestions were made for both elementary and junior high school English education.
In 2005, the first year of this project, actual English lessons were observed to understand the English teaching practice at school, and at the same time a questionnaire survey was conducted with 100 respondents (teachers) on their conceptions of instructional goals of English activities/education. In the second year (2006) two tests were originally developed by the research team, (YTK Listening Test and YTK Speaking Test) and were administered. (975 students in 7 schools and 236 students in 4 schools took the test respectively). In the last year (2007) more YTK Listening Test data were collected from the groups with different characteristics than the previous participants (46 students in 'h' school, 63 students in 'I' school, and 514 students in 3 junior high schools just after entrance). The results show that the students who participated in the study, including the ones who never studied English outside the school, were able to score 70-80% of the YTK Listening Test, but were not good at grasping the gist of a text read to them. They were also capable to carry a three-minute conversation with two students talking to a native speaker tester when some scaffolding was provided. The study further examined the validity to use such tests as formative assessment tools at 'j' elementary school.
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