嘉
南 學
第 三 十 一
期 of College Students’ Out-of-Class English Learning Activities
A Preliminary
Study
— 464
—報
第464～475 頁，民國九十四年
CHIA-NAN
VOL. 31,
ANNUAL BULLETIN
PP. 464－475, 2005
A Preliminary Study of College Students’ Out-of-Class English
Learning Activities
Li-Bi Shen, Ching-Ya Tseng, Shu-Wei Kuo, Ying-Ju Su and Ming-Yuan Chen
Department of Applied Foreign Languages,
Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science,
Tainan, Taiwan 71710, R.O.C.
ABSTRACT
This study explored 316 EFL college students’ out-of-class English learning activities,
learning difficulties, and the relationships between genders, grades, weekly hours of
independent English study, and English learning activities. The results can be summarized
as follows. (1) More than 51% of the students write emails in English, read English news
online, study English online, and watch English movies to learn English. (2) Most students
study English for future career and for personal interest. (3) Most students believe that their
reading abilities are better than listening, speaking, and writing ones. (4) Writing is the most
difficult language skill for EFL college students. (5) Limited vocabulary is students’ major
problem in improving four language skills. (6) EFL college students tend to tackle their
learning difficulties by using self-learning magazines and asking for English teachers’ help.
(7) Students with higher entrance exam scores tend to spend more time in out-of-class
English learning. (8) Gender and learning activities are not closely related, except that more
male than female students write email in English. (9) Students’ English scores and their
learning activities (i.e., email writing, listening to ICRT, reading English magazines, reading
news online, watching movies, and studying English online) are related. (10) Learning
activities and time spent are not closely tied.
Key words: Out-of-class learning, Independent English learning, Learning difficulties,
Language skills
BACKGROUND
Language learning can occur in any place, at any time, and in any form. In Taiwan, though the majority
speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese, English remains an important foreign language taught at schools. In
recent years, the promotion of GEPT (General English Proficiency Test) by the government leads to
English learning craze for all Taiwan citizens. More and more students thus spent their leisure hours
learning English. How do they learn English independently? Have they ever met any difficulty while
learning English alone? How do they solve their learning problems? Are genders, grades, and hours spent
Li-Bi Shen, Ching-Ya Tseng, Shu-Wei Kuo, Ying-Ju Su and Ming-Yuan Chen
— 465 —
in studying English predictors of the amount of their out-of-class learning activities? This survey intended
to explore the aforementioned issues.
Out-of-class English Learning Activities
Out-of-class English learning activities are defined as students’ activities in listening, speaking,
reading, writing, vocabulary learning, and grammar learning to improve their English outside of the
classroom in this paper. Studies on out-of-class learning activities are not profuse (e.g. Benson, 2001;
Brooks, 1992; Freeman, 1999; Hyland, 2004; Pickard, 1996; Spratt, Humphreys, & Chan, 2002; Suh,
Wasanasomsithi, Short, & Majid, 1999; Yap, 1998). Benson (2001) classified out-of-class learning into
three categories: (a) self-instruction (i.e., students’ locating resources to help them improve the target
language), (b) naturalistic language learning (i.e., students’ learning to communicate and interact with the
target language group unintentionally), and (c) self-directed naturalistic language learning (i.e., students’
creating or searching out a language learning situation). Pickard (1996) indicated that listening to the radio,
reading newspapers, and novels outside of the classroom appear to rank highest in students’ learning
activities; however, students made little use of the facilities in out-of-class English learning, such as
English newspapers, satellite TV, and self-study materials in the library. Freeman (1999) suggested that
teachers spend some time to ensure their students’ use of time wisely, since EFL students spent 88% of the
time in out-of-class language learning, such as listening to the radio and chatting to foreigners.
Researchers, such as Brooks (1992) and Suh, Wasanasomsithi, Short, and Majid (1999), observed that
watching television, going to the cinema, listening to music and interacting with native speakers are the
major out-of-class activities students do. Suh, Wasanasomsithi, Short, and Majid (1999, p.14) further
emphasized that “Out-of-class leisure activities will probably never replace the need for in-class second
language instruction”; however, some leisure activities are useful in the development of students’ English
conversation skills. They advised ESL instructors to help students identify appropriate leisure activities and
provide sufficient guidance to students to prevent the fossilization of bad language habits. Moreover, both
Pickard (1996) and Yap (1998) agreed that students tend to choose activities involving receptive skills,
such as reading and listening, rather than the productive skills, such as speaking and writing. Spratt,
Humphreys, and Chan (2002) discovered that most activities adult learners engaged in are related to
communication and entertainment, such as watching movies and television in English and using the
internet. Additionally, Hyland (2004) noted that the activities students do in English are speaking with
family members, talking to people in the stores, talking on the phone, speaking with friends, listening to the
radio, attending meetings, reading novels, speaking with colleagues, listening to songs, reading newspapers
and magazines, watching TV programs, watching videos, surfing the internet, reading academic books, and
writing e-mails in ranking order.
Language Learning Difficulties
For years, more researchers have identified factors leading to EFL/ESL students’ learning difficulties
in listening comprehension (i.e., Chang, Chang, & Kuo, 1995; Chao & Cheng, 2004; Chen, 2002;
Underwood, 1994;Yen, 1987) than any other language skills. Yen (1987) pointed out that university
students’ listening difficulties are in sound discrimination, sound stream division, stress and intonation,
vocabulary, phrase and syntax. And the seven potential difficulties in listening comprehension identified by
— 466 — A Preliminary Study of College Students’ Out-of-Class English Learning Activities
Underwood (1994) are: (1) lacking of control over the speaker’s speed, (2) not being able to get things
repeated, (3) the listener’s limited vocabulary, (4) failure to recognize the signals, (5) problems of
interpretation, (6) inability to concentrate, and (7) established learning habits. Chang, Chang, and Kuo
(1995) found that (1) fast speed, (2) a cluster of sounds difficult for segmentation, (3) obsession with the
Chinese translation, (4) association of sounds with words and meanings, and (5) idiomatic expressions are
the top five listening difficulties of the college students. Chao and Cheng (2004,) in reviewing Rubin and
Thompson’s study, identified three common problems in listening to a foreign language; they are difficulty
in catching up the fast speed, getting meaning from the TV, and comprehending the vocabulary. Moreover,
Chao and Cheng (2004) found out that students’ problems in listening are limited vocabulary, unknown
words in the text, little practice in English listening, flaws in text content design, speaker’s fast speed, poor
competence, inability to catch the speed, lengthy sentences, linking sounds, and insufficient pauses. To sum
up, it seems that pronunciation, fast speed, and limited vocabulary are common factors leading to students’
listening difficulties. In speaking, Morley (1994) identified that nonnative speakers may experience such
problems as complete breakdown in communication, ineffectual speech performance, negative judgments
about personal qualities, anticipatory-apprehensive listener reactions, and pejorative stereotyping. In
reading, Lubliner (2004) explained that proficient reading entails cognitive and linguistic skills, such as
vocabulary, topic knowledge, ability to draw inferences, awareness of purpose, memory, fluency, ability to
lift words off the page automatically and efficiently, and the ability to decode and comprehend
simultaneously while moving through the text. In writing, researchers such as Chen, Yeh, and Yang (2004)
and Chen (1999) all agreed that students had trouble in vocabulary, grammar, organization, and content
while writing.
McCarthy (1990, xiii) once pointed out that, “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no
matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of
meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way.” Specifically, Nation (1990)
indicated that getting learners to do language tasks when their vocabulary is inadequate for the task is a
frustrating experience. Chen and Yeh (2004) believed that the five most difficult factors affecting
vocabulary learning are vocabulary abstractness, metaphorical meaning, formality (formal or informal
usage), derivational complexity (difference between oral and written vocabulary), and register restrictions
(in certain social contexts). In addition, phonetic irregularity, variable stress, homophone, and word length
(or multi-syllable words) are all intra-lexical factors that affect vocabulary learning. In respect of grammar
learning, “there are mountains of evidence that many learners, of whatever age or tendency in learning
style, are unable to transfer good formal knowledge of grammar to effective use (Gerngross & Punchta,
1994, 2).”
It is noteworthy that the identification of students’ English learning activities, problems, and solutions
will inform textbook writers and publishers to produce more effective self-learning materials in English for
EFL learners. Further, if teachers could identify ineffective EFL learners through examining learners’ outof-class reading behaviors and learning problems, they can improve their teaching as well. Once the
problems have been identified, the researchers and educators can help develop better English learning
approaches for the field. Therefore, it is the purpose of this study to take a close look at students’ English
Li-Bi Shen, Ching-Ya Tseng, Shu-Wei Kuo, Ying-Ju Su and Ming-Yuan Chen
— 467 —
learning activities and learning difficulties.
Research questions:
A. EFL students’ out-of-class learning activities in English
(1)What do EFL college students do to learn English after school?
(2)Why do EFL college students learn English after school?
(3)How do EFL college students perceive themselves in terms of their language abilities?
(4)What is the most difficult language skill for EFL college students?
(5)What are the major difficulties EFL students encountered in listening, speaking, reading, writing,
grammar learning, and vocabulary learning while learning English?
(6)How do those EFL college students tackle their English self-learning problems?
B. The relationship between grades, gender, study hours, and students’ learning activities
(7)Do students with higher scores in English spend more time on English learning?
(8)Do male and female EFL students differ in their English learning activities?
(9)Do high achievers and low achievers differ in their English learning activities?
(10)Are students’ study time and the amount of their learning activities related?
METHOD
A. Participants
The participants are 316 EFL (English as a foreign language) college students in Taiwan ranging from
18 to 40 years old. There are 73 males, 231 females, and 12 unidentified subjects; 68.3% of the subjects are
from southern Taiwan and 31.7% of them from northern Taiwan. Based on their College Joint Entrance
Exam scores in English: 28.7% of the students have scores between 0 and 59, 50.2% of the students have
scores between 60 and 79, and 21.1% of the students have scores between 80 and 100. Further, 33.2% of
the students spent less than 3.5 hours, 35.8% spent more than 3.5 hours but less than 10 hours, and 31% of
the students spent more than 10 hours in English study every week.
B. Instrument and procedures
A 41-item English learning questionnaire (see Appendix A) was designed for the study: 9 items in
demographic section, 10 items in things-they-do section, 4 items on reasons for learning, 5 items for selfevaluation, 7 open-ended items for learning difficulties, and 6 items on solution for the problems. The
survey questionnaire was developed in the following procedures. First, each of the five researchers
generates a questionnaire respectively. Second, these five questionnaires were gathered, evaluated, and
integrated into one questionnaire in a meeting. Third, 20 students were invited to complete the first survey
questionnaire. Then, the questionnaire has been revised again based on the results of the pilot study.
Finally, the researchers distributed the questionnaire on campus, in the library, in the university, in the
cafeteria, or in the classrooms. The researchers waited for the responses, and collected back those
questionnaires as soon as they were completed. Totally, 316 questionnaires were gathered.
C. Data Analysis
Data was analyzed through totaling the frequency and percentages of responses for each of the item on
the questionnaire by SPSS 12.0 for Windows. A two-way contingency table analysis was conducted and
Pearson Chi-squared test was used. Responses to the open-ended questions were typed verbatim and then
— 468 — A Preliminary Study of College Students’ Out-of-Class English Learning Activities
categorized qualitatively and reported by percentages.
RESULTS
For Research Questions 1 to 6
Students’ out-of-class English learning activities can be summarized as follows: watching English
movies (75%), reading English news online (54.5%), writing emails in English (53.8%), studying English
online (51.1%), listening to ICRT (49.4%), watching English news on TV (44.9%), reading English
newspaper (44%), reading English magazines (41.7%), studying vocabulary books (20.9%) and studying
grammar books (11.4%). The reasons why students study English after school are getting a good job in
future (68%), personal interest (54%), and planning to get advanced study in foreign countries (32%).
More than 40% of the students believed that they are not good at listening and speaking and more than
47% of the students rated their writing abilities negatively instead of reading abilities (23%). They also
believed that writing (41.5%) is the most difficult language skills, followed by listening (33.9%), speaking
(19.3%), and reading (4.4%).
Table 1 presented students’ major difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, and writing English. The
major difficulties in listening are fast speed and limited vocabulary; in speaking are limited vocabulary and
pronunciation; in reading are limited vocabulary and poor grammar; and in writing are poor grammar and
limited vocabulary. Limited vocabulary seems to play a critical role in students’ listening, speaking,
reading, and writing.
Table 1
Learning difficulties in four language skills by ranking
Listening
N (%)
Speaking
N (%)
Reading
N (%)
Writing
N (%)
Fast speed
155(49.1)
Limited vocabulary
110(34.8)
Limited vocabulary
252(79.7)
Poor grammar
173(54.8)
Limited vocabulary
91(28.8)
Pronunciation
48(15.2)
Grammar
35(11.1)
Limited vocabulary
70(22.2)
Accent
30(9.5)
Shyness
45(14.2)
Pronunciation
6(1.9)
Hard to express
27(8.5)
Liaison
14(4.4)
Grammar
44(13.9)
Patience
5(1.6)
Organization
20(6.3)
Environment
6(1.9)
Environment
25(7.9)
Reading speed
4(1.3)
Spelling
8(2.5)
Concentration
2(0.6)
Fluency
23(7.3)
Others (missing)
14(4.4)
Others (missing)
18(5.7)
Others (missing)
18(5.7)
Others (missing)
21(6.7)
Li-Bi Shen, Ching-Ya Tseng, Shu-Wei Kuo, Ying-Ju Su and Ming-Yuan Chen
— 469 —
Table 2 illustrated students’ major difficulties in vocabulary and grammar learning. In vocabulary
learning, memorization and usages play an important role, while in grammar learning, usages/ functions
and complexity of grammar rules are their major problems.
Table 2
Vocabulary
Learning difficulties in vocabulary and grammar by ranking
N (%)
Memorization
145 (45.8)
Grammar
N (%)
Usages/ Functions
107 (33.9)
Usages
59(18.7)
Complexity
89 (28.2)
Synonyms
35 (11.1)
Memorization
34 (10.8)
Laziness
28 (8.9)
Verb tenses
26 (8.2)
Pronunciation
11 (3.5)
Laziness
8 (2.5)
Spelling
5 (1.6)
L1 transfer
5 (1.6)
Boring
3 (0.9)
Others (missing)
Total
33 (10.4)
316(100.0)
Others (missing)
44 (13.9)
Total
316(100.0)
And the solution students adopted in dealing with their learning difficulties are using self-learning
magazines (53%), asking for English teacher’s help (48%), going to cram school (39%), chatting with
foreigners (27%), and finding an English tutor (13%).
For Research Questions 7-10
The relationship between college entrance exam scores and their weekly hours of study was illustrated
in Table 3. In general, students with higher entrance exam scores spent more time on out-of-class English
learning. Students with English scores between 60 and 79 are likely to spend 10 hours per week to study
English, while students with English scores between 80 and 100 tend to spend 3.5 to 10 hours to study.
Students with lower College Joint Entrance Exam scores in English (i.e., between 0 and 59) tend to spend
less than 3.5 hours to study English after school.
Table 3 Relationship between scores and weekly study hours
Hours of study
every week
<=3.5 hours
n (%)
>3.5 and <10 hrs
n (%)
>10 hours
n (%)
Score 100-80
18 (26.1)
36 (52.2)
15 (21.7)
Score 79-60
42 (26.8)
53 (33.8)
62 (39.5)
Score 59-0
34 (51.5)
16 (24.2)
16 (24.2)
Total
94 (32.2)
105 (36)
93 (31.8)
Pearson Chi-square = 23.966 df=4 p value=0.000
— 470 — A Preliminary Study of College Students’ Out-of-Class English Learning Activities
Gender and English learning activities are not closely related, except that more male (66%) than
female (50%) students write e-mails in English with Pearsonχ2 = 7.46, df=2, p=0.02398 at significant
level. Table 4 showed that the relationship between students’ College Joint Entrance Exam scores in
English and their learning activities are related in some ways. In other words, high achievers do differ from
low achievers in their learning activities, such as writing e-mail in English, listening to ICRT, reading
English magazines, reading English newspaper, watching English news on TV, reading news online,
watching English movies, and studying English online. However, they don’t differ in studying vocabulary
books and studying grammar books.
Table 4
Items
E-mail
ICRT
Magazine
Newspaper
TV
News online
Movie
Study online
Vocabulary
Grammar
*p< .05. **p< .01
The Relationship between Scores and Learning Activities
Pearson χ2
df
p value
28.6
4
9.593e-06**
14.1
4
0.006196**
19.7
4
0.0005675**
45.9
4
2.63e-09**
11.1
4
0.0253*
46.5
4
1.944e-09**
19.8
4
0.0005403**
16.8
4
0.002154**
0.347
2
0.8406
0.41
2
0.8145
Table 5 showed that students’ weekly hours of study and their learning activities are related with
p<0.05 and p<0.01 at significant level. Students with longer study hours differ from those with shorter
study hours in their learning activities, except watching English news on TV (p=0.8129), or studying
English online (p=0.1838).
Table 5 The Relationship between Weekly Study Hours and Learning Activities
Items
Pearsonχ2
df
p value
Scores
22.9
4
0.0001326*
E-mail
13.5
4
0.008913*
ICRT
10.5
4
0.03277*
Magazine
13.5
4
0.009228*
Newspaper
11.3
4
0.02321*
TV
1.58
4
0.8129
News online
13.9
4
0.007626*
Movie
9.96
4
0.04113*
Study online
6.21
4
0.1838
Vocabulary
40
2
2.029e-09*
Grammar
29.2
2
4.471e-07*
Note: *p<0.05, **p<0.01
Li-Bi Shen, Ching-Ya Tseng, Shu-Wei Kuo, Ying-Ju Su and Ming-Yuan Chen
— 471 —
There is a tendency that the longer the students study, the more learning activities they are involved in.
However, this study does not provide strong evidence that students’ weekly hours of study and students’
learning activities are very closely related.
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
This paper aimed at investigating EFL college students’ out-of-class English learning activities,
learning difficulties, and solutions for coping with their problems. The relationships between gender,
grades, time and their learning activities were also explored. The aforementioned results brought us to the
following conclusions. (1) On the one hand, more than half of the students like to write emails in English,
read English news online, study English online, and watch English movies. On the other hand, more than
half of the students do not listen to ICRT, read English magazine, read English newspaper, watch English
news on TV, study vocabulary books and study grammar books. (2) Most students study English for future
career or personal interest. (3) Most students believe that their reading abilities are better than their
listening, speaking, and writing abilities in English. (4) The most difficult language skill for EFL college
students is writing. (5) Limited vocabulary is the major problem in listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. The major problems in vocabulary learning are memorization and usages; in grammar learning are
complexity and usages. (6) EFL college students tend to tackle their learning difficulties by using selflearning magazines. (7) Students with higher entrance exam scores tend to spend more time in out-of-class
English learning. (8) Gender and learning activities are not closely related, except that more male than
female students write e-mails in English. (9) Students’ entrance exam scores and their learning activities
are related in some ways. (10) Although the longer students study, the more learning activities they attend,
there is no strong evidence that students’ weekly hours of English study and their learning activities are
strongly tied.
Although students’ out-of-class learning activities might be differed from Freeman’s (1999), Brooks’
(1992), Spratt, Humphreys, & Chan’s (2002), and Suh, Wasanasomsithi, Short, and Majid’s (1999) studies,
they all fell into Benson’s categories of self-instruction of out-of-class learning. The fact that limited
vocabulary causes students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing difficulties support McCarthy’s
(1990) view on the critical role of vocabulary in language learning. It also confirmed Nation’s (1990) and
Chao & Cheng’s (2004) view on the problem of limited vocabulary in students’ learning difficulties.
Therefore, how to improve students’ word power becomes an important issue for EFL teachers. And since
students perceived that writing is more difficult than other skills, how to enhance their writing abilities
turns out to be another important issue. As we review the percentages of students’ out-of-class learning
activities, almost half of the participants do not do those English learning activities often, while 79% of the
students do not study vocabulary books and 89% of them do not study grammar books after school. Thus,
we believed that students didn’t do enough to learn English is the other important issue. Moreover, the fact
that the students with English scores between 60 and 79 are likely to spend 10 hours per week to study
English seems to demonstrate that (1) those students are ineffective self-access learners, or (2) language
skills such as writing and listening might be ineffective by self-learning for less competent EFL learners.
Should EFL teachers encourage their students to do more out-of-class English learning activities? Should
teachers offer out-of-class counseling service and self-learning strategies for improving students’ language
— 472 — A Preliminary Study of College Students’ Out-of-Class English Learning Activities
skills? Should students make good use of English learning resources and facilities available in the library
and language center in the university to improve their English? Should publishers and textbook writers
develop more effective and inexpensive self-learning magazines for students? Should the authority improve
school facilities to help students? Further research is needed to find out if there are more out-of-class
learning activities and if there are effective ways for students to improve their English outside of the
classroom.
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(pp.145-158). Taipei: Crane.
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Feng Institute of Technology Journal, 7, 356-361.
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learning. Wu Feng Institute of Technology Journal, 12, 107-114.
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general English and business English writing. Proceedings of 2004 International Conference and
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430-438.
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18. Suh, J.S., Wasanasomsithi, P., Short, S., & Majid, N.A. (1999). Out of class learning experiences and
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Appendix A.
English Learning Questionnaire
A. Personal Information (Please check or circle the answer)
Department: ___________________ Gender: Male / Female
Age: _____________
Years of learning English: _________ City where you are from: _________________
Entrance Exam (English) score: ( ) 100-80 (
) 79-60
( ) Below 60
Hours in studying English everyday: _____ hours Every week: ______ hours
Have you ever been to any English speaking country? ( ) Yes ______ ( ) No
B. Things you do to learn English after school
1. Do you write e-mail in English?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
2. Do you listen to ICRT?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
3. Do you read any English magazine?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
4. Do you read any English newspaper?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
5. Do you watch English news on TV?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
6. Do you look at English news on-line?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
7. Do you watch English movies?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
8. Do you go on-line to study English?
( ) Yes
( ) Sometimes ( ) No
9. Do you study vocabulary book everyday? Yes ( )
No ( )
10. Do you study grammar book everyday?
( ) Yes
( ) No
C. Reasons for learning English after school: (Please check all apply)
1. ( ) Personal Interest
2. ( ) To get a good job in the future
3. ( ) For advanced study in foreign countries
4. ( ) Others (Please specify) __________________________________________
D. Self-evaluation: (5 Excellent 4 good 3 fair 2 not very good 1 poor)
1. Your listening ability:
5
4
3
2
1
2. Your speaking ability:
5
4
3
2
1
3. Your reading ability:
5
4
3
2
1
4. Your writing ability:
5
4
3
2
1
— 474 — A Preliminary Study of College Students’ Out-of-Class English Learning Activities
5. Your word power (vocabulary): 5
4
3
2
1
E. Learning difficulties in English:
1. The most difficult English language skill for you to learn is:
( ) listening ( ) speaking ( ) reading, ( ) writing
2. The most difficult part in listening is ____________________________________
3. The most difficult part in speaking is ____________________________________
4. The most difficult part in reading is _____________________________________
5. The most difficult part in writing is _____________________________________
6. The most difficult part in learning vocabulary is ___________________________
7. The most difficult part in learning grammar is _____________________________
F. Solution for English learning difficulties or problem
1. ( ) Go to cram school or language institute
2. ( ) Use self-learning magazine
3. ( ) Ask for English teacher’s help in the university
4. ( ) Chat with foreigners
5. ( ) Find an English tutor
6. Others: (Please specify) ______________________________________________
CHIA-NAN
VOL. 31,
ANNUAL
BULLETIN
Li-Bi Shen,
Ching-Ya Tseng,
PP. 464－475, 2005
Shu-Wei Kuo, Ying-Ju Su and Ming-Yuan Chen
— 475 —
大學生課外英文學習活動之研究
沈麗璧
曾靖雅
郭書偉
蘇瑛茹
陳明源
嘉南藥理科技大學應用外語系
摘
要
本研究探討316位英文為第二外語之大學生的課外英文學習活動，學習困難，並
探討性別，英文成績，學習英文時數，及英文學習活動之間的關係。研究結果顯示：
(壹)有一半以上的學生寫英文電子郵件，閱讀網上英文新聞，上網學英文及看英文影
片來學英文。(貳)大多數學生學英文是為了找工作或個人興趣所致。(參)大多數學生相
信，他們的閱讀能力，勝過聽，說，寫的能力。(肆)最困難的語言技巧是寫作。(伍)字
彙量有限是自學語言最大的障礙。(陸)大學生解決英語學習困難的方法是使用自學雜
誌及請教英文老師。(柒)入學成績較高的同學，似乎花較多的時間學習英文。(捌)性別
及學習活動並無直接關係，但是較多男同學用英文寫電子郵件。(玖)學生的英文成績
及英文學習活動（例如寫電子郵件，收聽ICRT，閱讀英文雜誌，閱讀網上英文新聞，
及上網學英文）有相關。(拾)時間長短與學習活動多寡無絕對關聯。
關鍵字：課外學習、英文自學活動、學習困難、語言技巧