本研究旨在探討運用字彙直行短詩教學策略，加以探究國小學生短詩寫作能力的發展。傳統式字彙教學侷限於字彙的背誦與句型機械化的重複練習，而本研究的支持論點為，字是建構語言的基本元素，是形成句子段落乃至於文章的主要單位。一個字雖然可能僅止於一個單字，但是語言學習者如果將字與其它單字連結，可以據以延伸成一個短詩的呈現；例如，「歡迎」一字：WELCOME： “When you Enter this Little school, Come On to Make Each day a happy day.” 
本研究的對象是國小20位五年級學生，研究期程為一個學期，共計21週。透過字彙直行短詩教學策略，幫助學生發展短詩寫作能力的練習，在每次課堂示範後，鼓勵每一位學生在直行詩習寫卷上，將各課的主要字彙合計30個字彙練習完成直行短詩寫作，連同課堂觀察與訪談記錄所得到的資料亦併入研究分析，以字彙運用、句子形成、表達能力與學習動機四個向度作為資料分析。
研究結果發現字彙直行短詩練習，不僅可以提供學生複習先前所學過字彙的機會，甚至可以學習將字彙從認識字彙提升到應用字彙的層次，同時也從中協助發展學生的句子寫作能力；此外學生的句子表達，也因此得到啟發進而進一步促進英語學習動機。

This study aims at the application of vocabulary acrostics teaching through ‘short poem’ practice on developing elementary school students’ sentence writing skills. Traditional vocabulary teaching focused on memory of vocabulary words and mechanical repetition of sentence patterns, the underlying theory of the study is that words are the basic building blocks of language, the units of meaning from which larger structures such as sentences, paragraphs and whole texts are formed. A word alone may be a word only, but it is up to the language learner to associate with other words then expand to a presentation of a short poem. Acrostics ‘short poem’ refers to using letters in a topic word to begin each line to form a poem, for example,  the word WELCOME: When you Enter this Little School, Come On to Make Each day a happy day. Participants of the study were 20 fifth-grade students. The study lasts for one semester in a twenty-one week period. The study used vocabulary acrostics teaching through ‘short poem’ practice to help develop students’ sentence writing skills. After demonstration of vocabulary acrostics in class, students were encouraged to practice acrostics ‘short poem’ writing on a worksheet for every main word totaling thirty as listed in the textbook. Observation and interviews were also conducted to collect data for analysis. Data collected were categorized into four main areas, including vocabulary application, sentence formation, student’s expressiveness and student’s motivation. The findings revealed that the vocabulary acrostics practice not only provided the students with opportunities of reviewing vocabulary they have learned and even helped them to improve their ability of words for production. It also developed students’ writing skills in sentence formation. Besides, the application of vocabulary acrostics teaching also helped students explore their expressiveness in writing and motivated them to learn English.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………  i
CHINESE ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………….  ii
ENGLISH ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………  iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………….  iv
LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………….……  viii
LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………….  ix
CHAPTER ONE—INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………  1
1.1	Statement of the Problem  ..………………..…………………………..  3
1.2	Research Question ………………………………………………………  4
1.3	Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………..   5
1.4	Significance of the Study ………………….…………………………..   6
CHAPTER TWO —REVIEW OF LITERATURE ………………………………   8
     2.1 Acrostics …………………….….……………………………………...   8
     2.2 Vocabulary Teaching …………………….….…………………………..  11
          2.2.1 Vocabulary Instruction ……….….…………………..…………  11
          2.2.2 Levels of Word Knowledge ………………..…………………   17
          2.2.3 Vocabulary Acquisition …………………..…………….………  18
     2.3 Student Portfolios ………………………………………..…..…………... 24
          2.3.1 Definition of Student Portfolio …………………..…………....  24
          2.3.2 The Function of Portfolios …………………..………………..  25
          2.3.3 Value of Portfolios & Summary …………………..…………..  27
CHAPTER THREE—METHODOLOGY ………………..……………………..  28
     3.1 Participants …………..………………………………………………..  28
     3.2 Instruments ………………..…………………………………………..  30
     3.3 Procedures ……………………………………………..…..…………..  31
          3.3.1 Pilot Study …………………………………………………….  31
          3.3.2 Main Study …………………………………………………….  33
     3.4 Data Collection …………..…………………………………………....  36
     3.5 Data Analysis ………………..………………………………………..   37
     	 3.5.1 Vocabulary Application………………………………………..   38
		 3.5.2 Sentence Formation …………………………………………….  39
 		 3.5.3 Expressiveness………………………………………………….  40
         3.5.4 Motivation………………………………………………………  41
	3.6 Coding Data………………………………………………………………. 42
CHAPTER FOUR—FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION…………………………..  43
	4.1 Findings………………………………………………………………….  43
    	4.1.1 Findings of the Study on Vocabulary Application.………………... 44
	    4.1.2 Findings of the Study on Sentence Formation .………………….  49
4.1.3 Findings of the Study on Student’s Expressiveness …………..….. 55
4.1.4 Findings of the Study on Student’s Motivation …………..……..  60
	4.2 Discussion………………………………………………………………… 65
		4.2.1 Discussion on Findings Regarding Vocabulary Application ..…….. 66
		4.2.2 Discussion on Findings Regarding Sentence Formation………. .… 70
	    4.2.3 Discussion on Findings Regarding Student’s Expressiveness ..….  75
        4.2.4 Discussion on Findings Regarding Student’s Motivation .....……  79
	4.3 Summary…………………………………………………………………  81
CHAPTER FIVE—CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………………………………………..…………..  83
	5.1 Conclusions …………… ..………………………………………………  83
    5.2 Limitations ………………………………………………………………  85
    5.2 Recommendations ……………………………………………………..   86
REFERENCES ………………..………………………………………………….  89
APPENDIX 1 ………………..………………………………………..………….  99
APPENDIX 2 ………………..………………………………………..……………100
APPENDIX 3 ………………..………………………………………..…………  101
APPENDIX 4 ………………..………………………………………..…………  102
APPENDIX 5 ………………..………………………………………..…………  117
APPENDIX 6 ………………..………………………………………..…………  121
APPENDIX 7 ……………………………………………………………………  123
APPENDIX 8 ……………………………………………………………………  124
APPENDIX 9 ……………………………………………………………………  125
APPENDIX 10 …………………………………………………………………..  126
APPENDIX 11………………………………………………………………….   127













    

                                             
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Instruction methods ……………………………..……..……………….  13
Table 2 Broad conclusions about what ‘works’ in vocabulary instruction ……...  16
Table 3 General description of potential participants …………..……..………….. 28
Table 4 Allocation of four words for each student ………………..……..……….. 31
Table 5 Pilot results ………………..……..………………………………………. 32










                                                                   


LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Existing common vocabulary learning strategies: a dynamic classification  …………………………………………………………   21
Figure 2 A model of vocabulary acquisition …………………………………….   22

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