영어인증제를 위한 어휘력 프로그램이 학업성취도와 정의적 영역에 미치는 영향

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the vocabulary program for the English Certification System on elementary school children's overall English academic achievement and affective domain. In order to do that, the pass rate of the English Certification System after the program implementation was analyzed and also in what ways the program influenced on the children's affective domain was examined. For the research method, the participants are the 3rd grade children from a local elementary school in Ulsan where the current researcher is working. The 121 students were divided into the experimental group and the control group, and the homogeneity of the groups were achieved through the speaking and listening tests and their English academic achievement test in the first semester of 2011. The results of the subjects' English academic achievement test both for the experimental and control groups were obtained after the ten-sessions vocabulary improvement program were administered in the second semester of 2011. The two English academic achievement test results were analyzed and compared. The results of this study are as follows: First, the ten-sessions program for vocabulary improvement has shown a statistically significant increase in the children's academic achievement in English speaking and listening in the experimental group. Although no treatments were given to the children in the control group, the results have shown a statistical significance in the group. This rather confusing result might stem from the effects of children's additional private English studies, which the current researcher has not accounted for. Second, the implementation of the ten-sessions program for vocabulary improvement in the 2nd semester of 2011 have shown a statistical significance in that the higher pass rate of the English certification system by the children in the experimental group were demonstrated in both the speaking and listening tests. Lastly, the vocabulary improvement program for the English certification system has resulted positively on the affective domain of the students. Most of the students in the experimental group have shown an increase in some of the affective variables such as the improvement in self-confidence, self-value, and taking initiatives. They also felt the need for further English studies, and the anxieties they felt in English classes were somewhat reduced. Based on the above results, the following suggestions are made: First, to establish the English Certification System as a proper evaluation system, attention in and efforts for studying the system by respective teachers in the field are required. Second, follow-up research need to be carried by modifying and supplementing the weaknesses of the system. Further research on valuation models and vocabulary studies of elementary school children are needed also to enhance the overall English.