Research question 1a

What is the underlying assumption of the role of phonics reflected in the textbooks?

writing starts in relation to the teaching of speaking and when phonics is taught in each of the textbooks.

Table 4.1 When phonics, reading, and writing is taught textbooks Happy English (HE) Joy English (JE) Hello Darbie (HD) New Wow English (NWE) Magic Land (ML) Go SuperKid (GS) When learning to read and write starts Book 1 Lesson 1 Book 1 Lesson 1 Book 1 Lesson 1 Book 1 Lesson 1 Book 1 Lesson 1 Book 1 Lesson 1 When phonics is taught Book 2: After L/S/R/W practice of the main lesson content Book 1: After L/S/R/W practice of the main lesson content Book 2: After L/S/R/W practice of the main lesson content Book 1: After L/S/R/W practice of the main lesson content Book 1: After L/S/R/W practice of the main lesson content Book 1: After L/S/R/W practice of the main lesson content

With respect to the onset of teaching reading and writing, all six series are

consistent in introducing the teaching of written words in the first lesson of Book 1 when the teaching of speaking starts. This produces a fundamental difference between young Taiwanese EFL learners and English L1 learners: for the former, literacy acquisition in English does not build on their existing knowledge of the language. Learning to speak and to read in English is something that Taiwanese

learners have to do simultaneously. To a certain extent, the result allows the conclusion that phonics may not assume the role of a mediator between spoken and written language in the textbooks. However, considering the possible

sequences (see Table 4.2) in which the teaching of the spoken and written form of the vocabulary and phonics can be conducted within a lesson, conclusions cannot be drawn without taking into account how exactly the teaching is meant to be conducted and what teaching process is involved according to the textbooks. Hence, teacher’s guides were examined to further the investigation.

Table 4.2 Possible sequences for the teaching of the spoken and written words and phonics

S  Phonics  W Phonics  W  S S  W Phonics W  S  Phonics Phonics  S  W W  Phonics  S

An analysis of suggested and implied procedure revealed a largely similar approach in all the textbooks. All the textbooks claimed to endorse a

communicative approach, and a conversation pattern formed the backbone of each lesson. The first stage of teaching involved introducing key words through using picture cards that contained both the picture (the meaning) and the written word on the same side. Then the conversation was introduced and practiced orally followed by the presentation of the sentence pattern cards (written form). Various ‘listen and repeat’ exercises were used to reinforce learning. To assess

typical lesson in Taiwan. In a typical classroom, during a lesson each student sits at their own desk with their own textbooks open to the page according to the progress of the class. What this implies is that any ‘listen and repeat’ exercise naturally involves the learners looking at both the written words and pictures in the textbook. The link between written words, their sounds and their meanings are established through repeated visual contact and exposure to aural repetition. In other words, all the written words are learned through a look and say whole word approach. Phonics does not appear to play any role in the process. Indeed, as Table 4.1 shows, although the teaching of written words begins in Lesson 1 Book 1 in all six series of textbooks, phonics teaching does not start until Book 2 in Hello Darbie and Happy English. In addition, instead of teaching phonics before the introduction of the key vocabulary to enable the newly learned letter sounds to play a role in the process, the phonics section in each of the textbooks is placed after the key content of the lesson. Phonics appears to be a separate skill training section of the lesson.

The fact that the teaching of written and spoken words start simultaneously indicates that learners do not have the prerequisite established oral repertoire for phonics to serve the same function as in English L1 literacy development. As the phonics section is separate from the key content of the lesson, neither is it used as a means of sounding out new vocabulary. There is no independent means by which learners can retrieve sounds of written words especially in the initial stage of learning. This raises the question of what exactly the underlying assumption of

the role of phonics reflected in the textbooks is. Although phonics does not play a role in the teaching of the key content, each of the textbooks seem to hold the prospect that learners can eventually use phonics to sound out and to spell written words, as reflected in their curriculum objectives. Indeed, without the existing oral ability, phonics can still be used to sound out words (i.e. as a pronunciation

system). However, with the nature of English orthography and without the existing oral repertoire to confirm the choice of sounds, it is questionable how well phonics can serve as a pronunciation system.

In terms of spelling, phonics knowledge is as important for EFL learners as it is for English L1 learners. Nonetheless, when and how learners are trained to produce written words will ultimately affect the extent to which learners apply their phonics knowledge in written tasks. The textbooks were examined further to clarify when learners are expected to spell words, and just as had been the case with lesson structure and teaching procedures, great similarities were seen between

publishers. In all the workbooks, distinctions between writing activities for year 3 & 4 learners and year 5 & 6 learners can be found. In all series, learners are

required to match written words or sentences to their meanings (pictures) and to select a correct response to a sentence (e.g. linking ‘What’s your name?” to ‘My name is Eric.’) from Workbook 1. In other words, great demand is made on learners to recognize the meaning of written words (reading). However, very little demand is made on them to produce written words independently in the

mainly of either ‘trace’ or ‘copy’ activities related to key words or ‘fill in the missing words’ which can be performed via identifying then copying the correct words among a list of words provided. The most learners have to do related to phonics is to produce a missing letter in a word independently according to its sound.

Activities that require learners to produce written words or sentences

independently start to occur in all the workbooks for year 5 and year 6 learners. By then, learners are required to spell words or even produce sentences

independently. The consistency across the six sets of workbooks seems to reveal a deliberate attempt on the part of the compilers to avoid overburdening learners with the demand to produce written words independently in the early stages of learning, suggesting an awareness of the consequences of such demand.

However, it is not clear on what basis learners are considered capable of spelling words independently in year 5 and 6. Are they believed to have acquired sufficient phonics knowledge and skills to apply to spelling tasks or is it a decision based simply on cognitive maturity? None of the books provide an explanation for the decision. Analysis of the words that learners are required to produce in all the workbooks, however, showed that they include words under both the vocabulary for recognition and for production categories. Examination of the extent to which learners can apply the phonics knowledge they acquired to tackle the words in both categories may help to clarify the decision and it is an issue that forms part of the investigation of research question 1c. Examination of the workbooks makes it clear that the only route by which learners can increase their familiarity with the spelling of the key words in the workbooks is through tracing and copying

activities.

In summary, the analysis of the student book, teacher’s guides and workbooks indicates that rather than treating phonics as a mediator between spoken and written language, phonics is taught as a separate skill that learners can potentially use as a pronunciation system and as a spelling strategy. However, it is not considered as a skill that learners should possess before they learn to read and spell and therefore is not engaged to play a significant role in the teaching /

learning process during the four years of primary school English education. Based on the assumption that teaching of the textbooks is carried out following the procedures intended by the textbook compilers, these findings have several implications. First, for Taiwanese EFL learners, literacy acquisition follows a very different mechanism from that of English L1 learners. Written words are not ‘recognised’ through a system of decoding, but rather are learned and recognized as a whole unit. Because of the nature of the learning process, it is questionable how relevant phonics is to reading. In addition, learners are encouraged to memorize the spelling of words through repeated tracing and copying. Such acquisition processes greatly resemble those by which Taiwanese learners gain their familiarity with Chinese characters. Indeed, it appears that L1 learning

practices are promoted in the EFL classroom in Taiwan. According to sociocultural theory, many artifacts carry traces of their social influences (Johnson, 2009): the design of the workbook activities reflects what the Taiwan-based textbook

fundamental differences between English and Chinese, L1 literacy acquisition experiences appear to play a crucial role in shaping the view of the compilers of how literacy teaching should be conducted. Whether conscious or not, the decision-making behind the arrangement of the textbooks, teaching procedures and workbook activities appears to reflect local social cultural influences.

It is beyond the present research to judge whether such influences may enhance or hinder EFL acquisition for young Taiwanese learners. What is clear, however, is that they may have a great impact on the effect of phonics instruction, especially on the efficacy with which phonics is exercised in spelling. Once learners are accustomed to learning through rote visual memorization, despite knowledge of the sound-letter correspondence, there is a high risk that they will become

unresponsive to strategy training at later stages of their learning. The fact that the MoE places phonics instruction under the teaching of reading and emphasizes learners’ ability to use phonics to sound out and to spell words suggests that phonics should play a role in learner’s literacy acquisition. However, the result of the textbooks analysis does not indicate a strong link between the role of phonics and Taiwanese EFL learners’ literacy acquisition. To achieve the objectives set out by the MoE, it appears that textbook compilers need to take into account the influence of literacy instruction on learners’ learning strategies.

4.2. Research question 1b