초등영어 교과서의 단어 읽기 지원 정도 분석

Do English textbooks scaffold students’ word reading? To answer this question, this study investigated the supportiveness of primary school English textbooks for word reading. Six textbooks for grades 3-4 and eight textbooks for grades 3-6 were analyzed and compared with one another. Three foundational literacy skills (alphabet learning, phonics, and vocabulary) were scrutinized from the standpoint of reading development. The analyzed data showed that each element is insufficient to establish word recognition. For alphabet learning, four textbooks failed to provide students with enough experience to recognize descriptive feature of English orthography. In phonics, since the range of phonogram are very limited, phonics does not support students’ word decoding. Only one textbook provided quality activities for phonics learning, but its phonogram coverage was limited as well. All textbooks presented a variety of activities for vocabulary leaning, but some textbooks showed an inappropriate level of difficulty in regards to students’ cognitive level, and these materials repeated the same types of activities. On the basis of the findings, the big picture of word reading in elementary school level was suggested and some ideas for quality textbook development and its use at school field were suggested.