Teacher-Pupil Talk in a Bilingual Kindergarten English Class

Abstract

本文分析雙語幼稚園英語課堂中師生言談的內容及互動之特徵。研究對象為一外籍教師及五位幼兒。研究者選取在該園幼兒學習時間最長的三種活動，即讀本閱讀、寫作和說故事，並隨機擷取每種活動完整之一堂課錄音。錄音語料採用兒童語料交換系統格式進行轉寫、編碼和分析。師生言談編碼分析主要包含四大類目：請求、提供、回饋／回應和教室管理。本研究重要發現為：(1)教師主導課室學習活動，學生扮演被動之角色，接受教導；(2)在讀本閱讀和寫作活動，師生言談主要偏重語文技巧的學習和教室管理；(3)在說故事活動中師生言談互動有較大之變異，老師釋放較多發言機會給幼兒，也引發幼兒較多之談話和較高程度之參與。本文依據研究結果提出幼兒英語教育和未來研究之建議。

This study investigated the features of teacher-pupil talk in a bilingual kindergarten English class. One foreign English teacher and five children participated in the study. Basal reading, writing and storybook reading, the three activities that took up most class time, were selected for analysis. One complete period of each of activity was randomly sampled, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the CHILDES system. A coding scheme was developed to examine teacher-pupil talk types in four main categories, "request," "provision," "feedback/response," and "management/discipline." Three major findings were produced: (1) The teacher was dominant, leading the learning activities, while the pupils were passive, following the teacher's instruction. (2) Teacher and pupil talk during basal reading and writing activities consisted predominantly of language skill practices and management utterances. (3) In contrast, during the story-telling activity, the teacher allowed more speaking time and pupils made greater contributions to classroom conversation. The article concludes with implications for early childhood English instruction and suggestions for future studies.