A formative evaluation of the English Language Program in Fong-Shin Senior High School, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan.

摘要

English as a foreign language (EFL) is a required course throughout all the secondary education curriculum in Taiwan. It is governed under the nationally mandated curriculum standards and included in the Joint College Entrance Examination. In the study, Stake's (1967) model was employed to detect possible discrepancies among nationally mandated curriculum goals, classroom transactions, and the alignment between what has been taught and what has been tested in this school.; The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which the nationally mandated curriculum goals of the senior high school English language program has been achieved in Fong-Shin Senior High School in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan. The contingencies among background conditions, classroom activities, and outcomes of the English language program were described and analyzed. Congruencies between what was intended and what occurred were also analyzed.; Relevant data were collected around each research question by teacher and student interviews, video taped classroom observations, translating the curriculum guidelines, and retrieving test scores from school management information system. The research questions were defined and categorized under Stake's model as descriptive and judgmental.; Findings were that teaching activities were dominated by grammar translation techniques to train students with reading skills and small amounts of student centered writing activities, and that Chinese was the main instructional medium. These phenomenona were in conflict with the nationally mandated senior high school EFL curriculum standards that expected students to be trained with listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills equally. Analysis on test scores revealed a relatively high correlation between school tests and the Joint College Entrance Examination. However, both kinds of testing only tested students on reading and writing skills. To address community expectations, especially in a Chinese value system, school administration and teaching staff are implementing curriculum guidelines as required. But, from the stand point of policy making under a nationally mandated curriculum system, the Ministry of Education needs to adjust the discrepancies found among curriculum standards, materials, and tests.