Abstract
English learning is very popular in Taiwan. In recent years, it is very common for children to attend English classes at the private children language institute. Now that a large percentage of junior high school students have had the experience of pre-junior high English learning in the private children language institute during their primary school years, the researcher aims to explore the effects of pre-junior high English learning experience on students’ English achievement in junior high. To be more specific, this study aims to investigate the following four research questions: 1.Does students’ pre-junior high English learning experience have a long-term effect on their later English achievement? 2.Is there a positive correlation between students’ length of pre-junior high English learning and their later English achievement? 3.What characteristics of the instructions in the private children language institute and after-class practice are relevant to students’ good English performance in junior high? 4.What characteristics of the instructions in the private children language institute help to boost students’ interest in and motivation for learning English? A total of 217 students from a junior high school in Taichung County participated in this study. The instruments employed included a questionnaire probing students’ English learning experience in the private children language institute and students’ scores of English monthly exams of five consecutive semesters. Results of the four research questions are presented as follows: 1.Pre-junior high English learning exerted a long-term significantly positive impact on students’ English achievement in junior high. 2.The length of pre-junior English learning significantly influenced students’ English achievement of only the 1st semester of the seventh grade, but not the rest of the semesters investigated. 3.The instructor’s nationality, placement method and in-class activity in the private children language institute were found to be significantly relevant to students’ good English performance in junior high. 4.In-class activity and the instructor’s proportion of encouragement and blame were significantly correlated with students’ interest in and motivation for English learning.