Elementary English-as-a-foreign-language teachers' beliefs about English literacy interventions in Taiwan

The implementation of English education at the elementary level in Taiwan is still in its early stage. However, researchers and educators in this field have noticed the variation of student English proficiency which increases the difficulty of teaching in today's EFL classes and results in calls for intervention programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate EFL teachers' beliefs about English literacy instruction in EFL interventions in elementary schools of Taiwan. This study also measured the extent to which the EFL teachers believed the principles and procedures of scientifically-proven effective Reading RecoveryRTM could be incorporated into elementary EFL intervention programs in Taiwan.;A survey instrument developed with four widely used instruments in language education and professional development, the theories regarding language acquisition, as well as the typical procedures in a Reading RecoveryRTM session was used to collect data from the 183 preservice and inservice EFL teachers in the rural area located in central Taiwan. The instrument consisted of 48 five-point Likert scale and two open-ended survey items. A total of 147 (80.3%) questionnaires were returned with usable data for statistical analysis.;Descriptive statistics including means and standard deviations were used to examine the EFL teachers' beliefs about features, practices, and procedures contributing to optimal English literacy instruction and intervention. Moreover, descriptive statistics were used to examine the EFL teachers' perceptions of English literacy intervention professional development. Inferential analysis with one-way ANOVAs and Tukey's HSD tests were adopted to compare these beliefs and perceptions held by the EFL teachers based on their demographic characteristics.;Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses revealed special training and ongoing professional development were needed for improving intervention strategies and implementing an effective EFL literacy intervention program. The results also suggested an optimal EFL literacy intervention program should foster the learners' processing strategies through one-to-one scaffolded instruction and sufficient opportunities for practice.;Despite holding different beliefs about English literacy teaching and learning, the EFL teachers in this study highly appreciated the institutionalized tenets, practices, and procedures of Reading RecoveryRTM, and believed an EFL literacy intervention program incorporating Reading Recovery RTM practices and procedures should help struggling English learners in Taiwan.