Programming E-Books: Culture, English, and Scratch for Schoolchildren of Rural Taiwan

There were few papers for interdisciplinary integration of Scratch programming, English learning, and local cultures as far as the digital animated E-book creation of elementary schools was concerned. This article proposes an interdisciplinary innovative teaching mode, with college students as teachers, Scratch programming and English learning as tools, and a local legend The Wind Chasers of Siraya as material for schoolchildren in a remote area of Taiwan. Schoolchildren were divided into four groups, and each group was responsible for a part, and finally these four parts were integrated into a complete animated English picture book with images, sound, music, and games. The purpose is to enhance the acquisition and learning of information technology and English application among schoolchildren in the remote area. Participants were evaluated in accordance with their learning motivation, self-efficacy, and learning effect. The self-efficacy scale was designed from three dimensions of the self-efficacy theory presented by Bandura and the syllabus of five functions in Scratch. The teaching effects were investigated with paired sample
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test. The results of these assessments revealed that schoolchildren’s learning motivation has been elevated, with a significant improvement of self-efficacy and overall learning achievement. In addition, the post-test revealed that Scratch programming and English learning from the culture-based illustration book had significant correlation, which suggested that the overall program successfully integrated these two subjects.