Effects of Learning English in Elementary School Days on the Proficiency of, and the Attitude towards, the Language in High School Years (III)

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between English learning experiences in elementary school days and English proficiency and attitude toward learning it in high school years. Participants were 630 students learning at either of the two courses at a SELHi, one regular and the other English-focused. They took a survey on pre-junior-high English learning experiences and current drive to learn the language. They also sat for an ACE battery test with listening, reading, grammag and vocabulary components. T-tests indicated significantly higher means for those with the early learning experience, in motivation, listening, and reading, but not in grammar or vocabulary The effects on motivation, listening, and reading were significant even after the infiuences of sex, school course and year were partialed out by multiple regression. There was also some evidence that early English learning had a greater impact on motivation if the student entered an English-focused, rather than regulag high school course, and the effects on proficiency was stronger if early English learning had continued for three or more, than for two or feweg years.