A Study of the Effects of English Accleration and Enrichment Curriculum of Gifted Students in Junior High School of Kaohsiung City. Li-Ching Ko, Chien-Hung Lin, Jian-Feng Lin

Motivation In order to satisfy the students’ learning needs, let them avoid repeating to learn what they have learned, and make them feel bored in class, the curriculum should be designed according to the individual student’s current abilities in different subjects. Nowadays, the tendency that the students learn English in advance is more and more popular. Some students even start to learn English when they are very young. Therefore, how the teachers help the students who have passed the identification of English competence to compact and accelerate their curriculum, how the teachers develop the English enrichment curriculum, and if the curriculum are effective for the students are worthy of investigating.

questions The research questions are as the following: 1.What is the effect of English acceleration and enrichment curriculum for the students who have passed the identification of English competence? 2.What is the pressure of the gifted students who participated in the English acceleration program? 3.What are the opinions and suggestions of the parents, the English teachers, and the home teachers of the gifted students who participated in the English acceleration program? The purpose of the study is to analyze the effects of English acceleration and enrichment curriculum for the students who have passed the identification of English competence.

Literature Review Curriculum Compacting is an instructional technique that is specifically designed to make appropriate curricular adjustments for students in any curricular area and at any grade level. Essentially, the procedure involves (1) defining the goals and outcomes of a articular unit or segment of instruction, (2) determining and documenting which students have already mastered most or all of a specified set of learning outcomes, and (3) providing replacement strategies for material already mastered through the use of instructional options that enable a more challenging and productive use of the student's time (Tsai, 2001 ； Reis, Burns & Renzulli, 1992 ； Reis & Renzulli, 1989 ； Reis & Westberg, 1994). The theory of curriculum compacting-1

Literature Review The theory of curriculum compacting-2 Renzulli and Reis(1986) proposed that the purpose of curriculum compacting for the gifted students are: 1.Let the gifted students participate in the research which they are interested in. 2.Reduce the opportunities to let the gifted students feel bored. 3.Avoid repeating to learn what they have mastered. 4.Help the gifted students to learn with their own intellectual progress.

Literature Review The related researches of curriculum compacting-1 According to the literature of the researches in Taiwan and in other countries, the results of the researches said that curriculum compacting brought many benefits to the high ability students with specific strengths in normal classes. If they spend much of their time in school practicing skills and learning content they already know without any curriculum compacting, all of these factors may be causing the most capable children to learn less and proceed haltingly in their development, thereby creating or encouraging their underachievement (Chen,1996 ； Archambault, Westberg, Brown, Hallmark, Zhang & Emmons,1993;Purcell, 1993;Renzulli & Reis, 1991;Westberg, Archambault, Dobyns & Salvin,1993).

Literature Review The related researches of curriculum compacting-2 Resi, Westberg, Kulikowich and Purcell(1998) stated that using the compacting process with a much broader segment of their other high ability students is positive for their learning needs. In addition, when teachers eliminated as much as 50% of regular curricular activities and materials for targeted students, no differences were observed in post test achievement scores between treatment and control groups in math concepts, math computation, social studies, and spelling. Reis(1993) also found that the students with high achievements have mastered 40%-50% of the curriculum before the teachers implement curricular instruction (cited from Reis et al.,1998).

Literature Review The related researches of curriculum compacting-3 Schultz(1991) also found that when teachers implemented curriculum compacting for targeted students in the fourth grade, no differences were observed in post test achievement scores between treatment and control groups in math. According to the results, if the teachers can help the gifted students in their classes implement curriculum compacting to avoid the boredom with the repetition of the materials that they have mastered and increase the challenging learning content, these ways may be very helpful for their learning.

Methodology The study utilized qualitative analysis. The subjects in this study sampled two gifted junior high school students participating in the program, their mothers, their English teacher in the gifted class, and their home teachers, as well as their English teachers in the regular classes. The researchers interviewed with all of the subjects profoundly and investigated the research questions through analyzing and inducing the data from the interview.

Results and Discussion 1.The students developed more positive learning attitudes and overcame the learning difficulties actively and seriously. 2.The students owned better interpersonal interactions and increased the width and depth of English learning. 3.The students made a big progress on the ability of English reading, writing, and grammar efficiently. 4.The students became more interested in learning English. 5.The students were satisfied with the challenging curriculum. I. The analyses of the effects of English acceleration and enrichment curriculum for the students who have passed the identification of English competence.

Results and Discussion II. The pressure of the gifted students who participated in the English acceleration program. 1.The homework of the curriculum was too much for the students, and the more difficult and challenging homework took them more time to finish it. 2.The multiple learning activities were too many for the students to have a good balance on all of the learning tasks.

Results and Discussion III. The opinions and suggestions of the parents, the English teachers, and the home teachers of the gifted students who participated in the English acceleration program. 1.All of the people who participated in the English acceleration program support the English differentiated enrichment curriculum. 2.The teacher’s professional abilities and enthusiasm are the successful important keys of the program. 3.The content of the English enrichment curriculum should include wide, multiple, and challenging learning activities. 4.All of the people who participated in the English acceleration program suggest that the program should be implemented in advance to satisfy the gifted students’ learning needs.

Conclusion-1 According to the findings of the study, the researcher thinks that the English enrichment curriculum should be planned based on the following principles: 1.Put more emphasis on the students’ intellectual needs; choose and provide plenty and well-organized reading materials. 2.Plan leaning activities which can help facilitate the students’ critical and creative thinking. 3.Emphasize the literature based teaching materials which integrated reading and writing well. 4.Develop students’ meta-awareness and meta-monitor. 5.Encourage the students to learn actively.

Conclusion-2 6.Guide the students to be aware of and appreciate the multiple cultures. 7.Apply the technique of cooperative learning. 8.Help the students to develop the independent ability. 9.Encourage the students to apply the multiple research methods and understand the importance of investigating issues. 10.Apply the principle of authentic assessment.

Conclusion-3 All of the parents, the English teachers, and the home teachers of the gifted students who participated in the English acceleration program suggest that the program should be implemented in advance to satisfy the gifted students’ learning needs. The study may provide the staff of administration and the teachers in junior high school a practical model of developing curriculum and good references when they have to provide the students who have passed the identification of English competence with the curricular adjustments.