Research Paper Draft 1

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Outline

1. Introduction

 1-1 purpose of this study

・to clarify the cause that why some children cannot develop their English skills though they have experiences of English learning in their childhood

・to find a remedy for this problem. On the other hand, I want to know what the effective way of teaching English to young children is

1-2 the reason why I decide to research about English education in elementary school

・If the answer of this question is clarified, I can teach English to children effectively when I become a teacher.

1-3 significance of this study

・The education in childhood can become a base of English learning.

2. Current situation of English learning in Japan

1-1. the situation of utilization of English in Japan

1-2. current English education in Japan

・The education in childhood can become a base of English learning.

3. Research question

・What is the cause that some children cannot develop their English skills though they have experiences of English learning in their childhood?

・What is the effective way of teaching English to children in elementary school?

4. The ineffective and effective way of teaching English to elementary school students

4-1 Ineffective way of teaching English

4-2. Group peer assessment

4-3. Problem based learning

4-4. Scaffolded Think-Group-Share Learning

5. Conclusion

5-1. Summary of this research paper

6. Reference

Synthesis Paper

I read five articles about English education to elementary school children and found three common issues to help me answer my research questions.

The first issue is that the student-centered class is related to the effectiveness of learning English. From Kamil, A, K.’s article (2019), I found that the reason which students’ interest decreases, and their attitudes toward English classes deteriorate is that students find book-dependent and book-oriented teaching methods boring. In addition, problem-based learning (Lu-Fang, L., 2015) is more effective than teacher lectured-based instructional technique because students can use many words to express their thought through a task. Thus, I suppose that the passive learning is not so effective for children to learn English. Teachers have to think about the effective method, which students can use English actually and keep their motivation.  

Second issue is that cooperative activity is effective for elementary school students. I researched about the way of teaching English effectively, and almost all of the methods which I found need cooperation among some students such as group activities. For example, Scaffolded Think-Group-Share learning (Octavia, M. & Hee, J.C., 2017) is one of the cooperative methods. Moreover, Yu-ju Hung’s article (2018) refer to the effectiveness of “peer assessment”. This arrangement is helpful to engage students, positively affect learning, and take control of their learning. Therefore, I thought the cooperation among students is important point for students to learn English.

Third issue is that communicative output activities, especially speaking activities affect students’ skill of using English. Kamil, A, K.’s article (2019) says, “The main problem encountered by students while learning foreign languages is that teachers focus mostly on correcting grammar mistakes rather than improving communication skills. This has a negative effect on students learning of English and results in the development of negative attitudes among them toward their success in English classes.” (Kamil Arif Kırkıç, 2019). In addition, both of Scaffolded Think-Group-Share Learning Octavia, M. & Hee, J.C.,2017) and problem-based learning (Lu-Fang, L., 2015) are group activity with students’ talking. Therefore, I suppose that one of the important points to teach English is the communication among students.

Annotated Bibliography 5

・Reference

Octavia, M. & Hee, J.C. (2017) The Effect of Scaffolded Think-Group-Share Learning on Indonesian Elementary Schooler Satisfaction and Learning Achievement in English Classes, Volume 10, Issue 2 175-183 DOI: 10.26822/iejee.2017236113

・Summary

The Indonesian government has improved teaching strategies in elementary school English classes in order to help children acquire English more effectively. “Scaffolded Think-Group-Share” learning is one of the cooperative methods. This method was developed based on the existing cooperative learning method, which includes three components: students think individually, talk with each other in pairs, and share their ideas with the larger group. To investigate this methods, two other methods are compared in this study. From the study, researchers found that it can have a positive effect on students’ satisfaction and learning achievement in English.

・Assessment

Many people know that it is more important for students to introduce some cooperative activities like discussions into the class. However, I suppose that few people know that what kind of cooperative activity is the best way for students to learn English effectively. In this article, the three different kinds of cooperative learning methods are compared, so I can learn how to conduct the cooperative activity in the class. Thus, it is useful to find the better way of teaching English.

・Reflection

This article explains what “Scaffolded Think-Group-Share” learning is, and how effective it is for students. In this method, students work individually at first and make hard scaffold for the cooperative activity. This process affects students’ satisfaction, by inducing students to participate the class more actively. I want to know about the effective way of teaching English, so this article helps me to answer my research question.

Annotated Bibliography 4

・Reference

Kamil, A, K. (2019). Educational Research and Reviews: The effect of an innovative teaching technique on the success and attitudes of sixth grade English language students Vol. 14(7), pp. 254-261 DOI: 10.5897/ERR2018.3652

・Summary

Turkish Ministry of National Education (MNE) decided to innovate English education in Turkey. Boray Technique (BT) is the method of leaning English developed in Anatolia. This method was developed to revolutionize English language education in Turkey, and to liberate students’ ability to speak English through the initiative of institutions and teachers. From the study, BT leads to a positive change in six grade students’ attitudes and increases their levels of success.

・Assessment

The goal of this study is to identify how the Boray Technique affects sixth grade students’ levels of success in their English classes and their attitudes toward English classes. From this article, I found that BT increases students’ interests in English language and their level of success and helps them overcome the “I understand but I cannot speak”. Moreover, this article is useful to understand why students cannot develop their English skills. However, there is no concrete explanation about BT, so I couldn’t find the method of BT concretely.

・Reflection

This article explains that why 90% of Turkish students are not successful in English, despite receiving English education from elementary school to high school. One of the main causes of this problem is students’ feeling of anxious about speaking English. I think Japanese students also have this feeling. Therefore, this consideration in this article helps me to answer my research question: “What is the cause that some children cannot develop their English skills though they have experiences of English learning in their childhood?”.

Annotated Bibliography 3

・Reference

Okumura, S. (2017) Homeroom Teachers or Specialist Teachers?: Considerations for the Workforce for Teaching English as a Subject at Elementary Schools in Japan. Asian Journal of Education and Training, Vol 3(1): 1-5.

doi; 10.20448/journal.522/2017.3.1/522.1.1.5

・Summary

In Japan, English will be taught in elementary school as an academic subject from 2020. However, a number of elementary school homeroom teachers have been anxious about English education due to a lack of English ability. There are both of benefit and drawback of Homeroom and specialist teachers. Specialist teachers can focus on teaching English, and actively participate in professional development opportunities for content-based approaches in order to develop the knowledge and skill. On the other hand, homeroom teachers can connect English teaching with other subjects. However, teachers for English as a subject in elementary schools should possess varied knowledge, skills and enthusiasm, so this article explain about specialist teachers systems.

・Assessment

The author of this article possessed certification for a secondary English specialist, in addition to that for an elementary school generalist, he has some English knowledge on teaching English. Thus, I think that his idea for teaching English is reliable and persuasive. Moreover, this article describes the benefits and drawbacks of homeroom and specialist teachers. This comparison is useful to consider what skills are need to teach English to elementary school students.

・Reflection

This paper argues about workforce for teaching English as a subject at elementary schools with a comprehensive perspective on the Japanese elementary education. What is discussed in this paper is not related to individual teaching method directly, but this topic is the major problem for English education in Japanese elementary school. The question; who should teach English to children is related to the way of teaching English to children in elementary school. Although I cannot change the system of education, this study helps me considering the way of teaching English.

Annotated Bibliography 2

・Reference

Lu-Fang, L. (2015). System: The impact of problem-based learning on Chinese-speaking elementary school students’ English vocabulary learning and use. 30-42. doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.08.004

・Summary

This article explains the effect and utility of Program-based learning. The study was conducted in an elementary school in Taiwan. The participants were fifth grade students. They were assigned two groups: one is experimental group which used the PBL technique to learn vocabulary, and another is used teacher lecture-based instructional techniques. There were no differences between the two groups in the vocabulary test, but PBL group used significantly higher proportion of vocabulary and wrote longer composition than Non-PBL group. PBL technique can be used to foster elementary school students’ ability to learn and use vocabulary in context.

・Assessment

In this study, the group used the Program-based learning technique and the group used teacher lecture-based instructional techniques are compared, and thereby I can understand concretely what effects are students given by the PBL technique. In addition, this article explains why vocabulary is necessary for speaking English and how does PBL technique improve it. So, I can comprehend why the PBL technique is important for students. Therefore, I think this article is useful to know the merits of the PBL technique.

・Reflection

This article let me find that the important things for students learning English is not only knowledge of English. The PBL technique develops the skill of using English which is necessary to communicate with other people. I had thought that the ordinary way to teach English to elementary school students is some game form. So, I was surprised to know that learning English through discussing problems to solve them is better than ordinary method. In this way, this article helps me researching about the new best way of teaching English to children. On the other hand, I understand that it is not enough for EFL learners to use English in the real world. This perception is related to my first research questions: “What is the cause some children cannot develop their English skills though they have experiences of learning English?”.

Annotated Bibliography 1

・Reference

Yu-ju Hung. (2018). Studies in Educational Evaluation: Group peer assessment of oral English performance in a Taiwanese elementary school 19-28

doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2018.02.001

・Summary

An educational arrangement that students assess their peers’ performance and stimulate them to reflect and discuss is called “peer assessment” (PS). In this article, the implementation of peer assessment of oral performance in EFL classes is investigated. The participants in the study are elementary students ages 10-12 in southern Taiwan. They made some groups, and each group worked presentation activity. After that, students evaluated their presentation with each other. The result of this survey indicates that both the instructor and students found that peer assessment engages students, positively affect learning, and take control of their learning.

・Assessment

The goal of this article is to explode the potential benefits and challenges of implementing peer assessment. This article refers not only to the benefits of peer assessment but also to the challenges of it. By reading this article, you can know the negative aspect of peer assessment and consider practically how to introduce peer assessment into your class, so this is very useful article.

・Reflection

The result of this study in this article demonstrates that peer assessment is useful as a way to provide oral language practice and to develop students’ interactive and self-monitoring skills. Then, one of my research questions is “What is the effective way of teaching English to children in elementary school?”. This article taught me the usefulness of peer assessment as one of the ways of learning English for elementary school children. Therefore, this article is helpful for me to answer my research question.

A list of sources

1. Body, education and children’s literature: an experience with a group of 6th grade students of English as a foreign language:Newton Freire, Murce Filho* (2014)

*UFG, Campus Samambaia, Caixa Postal 131, Goiânia, 740001-970, Brazil

2. Developmental trends and precursors of English spelling in Chinese children who learn English-as-a-second language: Comparisons between average and at-risk spellers:Susanna Siu-sze Yeunga,⁎, Shen Qiaob (2019)

aDepartment of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region bFaculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

3. Group peer assessment of oral English performance in a Taiwanese elementary school:Yu-ju Hung (2018)

Foreign Languages Section, R.O.C. Air Force Academy, Taiwan, No. Sisou 1, Jieshou W. Rd., Gangshan Dist., Kaohsiung City 82047, Taiwan

4. English expressive vocabulary growth and its unique role in predicting English word reading: A longitudinal study involving Hong Kong Chinese ESL childre:Yingyi Liu, Susanna Siu-sze Yeung, Dan Lin, Richard Kwok Shing Wong (2017)

5. Develop and evaluate the effects of multimodal presentation system on elementary student learning effectiveness: within classroom English learning activity:Fang-O Kuoa,b, Pao-Ta Yua, Wei-Hung Hsiaoc,* (2014)

6. Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching English to Elementary School Children:Orhan Kocamana &Gökhan Cansızb (2012)

2. https://www.journals.elsevier.com/research-in-developmental-disabilities

3. https://www.journals.elsevier.com/studies-in-educational-evaluation

4. https://www.journals.elsevier.com/contemporary-educational-psychology

The reason for choosing my research topic

My research topic is “The effectiveness or effective way and influence of English education in childhood”. From two experiences, I thought I want to research this topic.

First experience is when I was in childhood. When I was four years old, I had attended an English conversation school. In that school, I might sing English songs or do some games using English. Nevertheless, I cannot remember clearly what I did and even the atmosphere at the class. I have few memories of an English conversation school, so I doubt that my experiences in that school help developing my English skill.

Second experience is when I was watching TV. I found that English conversation school is one of the most popular lesson for children in Japan. However, I sometimes hear that Japanese people cannot speak English. Although many children learn English in their childhood, why does this problem happen?

Through these experiences, I suppose that there are some unmeaning way of teaching English to children. I want to know the cause why some children cannot develop their English skills though they have experiences of learning English in their childhood.

On the other hand, what is the effectiveness of English education in childhood? It is said generally that it is effective to start learning English from early childhood, and actually some children learned to speak English. What is the effective way of teaching English to young children? What is the difference between children who learned to speak English and cannot speak it. It is interesting topic to me.

An educator of English should know the way of teaching English to all age of children, so this topic is important to me. Moreover, this topic is also important for children because the guideline of English education in Japan will be improved by the result of this research. Therefore, I decided to research this topic.