Selected Papers from the Third Conference on College English
ISBN 978-986-01-6985-0
第三屆「大學英文」學術研討會精選論文集
College English:
Issues and Trends
- Volume 3 -
國立政治大學外文中心
2010 年 4 月
發刊序
第三屆大學英文學術研討會「大學英文：教與學的機會及挑戰」
於 98 年 4 月 11 日假政治大學舉行，共有來自日本、韓國、香港、美
國、紐西蘭各地及本地的教師及研究人員與會，發表論文共 24 篇。
會後發表者投稿的全文經邀請學者專家匿名審查，今共有 7 篇論文集
結成冊。本屆論文集延續政治大學外文中心舉辦大學英文研討會的宗
旨，為大專院校的英文教學與研究社群提供一處交流的平台，議題涵
蓋大學英文教育的多元面象，呈現現階段英語教育者的研究成果。編
輯委員會除感謝賜稿與審稿學者的參與之外，也要感謝外語學院于乃
明院長及副院長兼外文中心主任尤雪瑛老師的支持與指導，還有珮宜
助教的細心聯繫與校對。
編輯委員會
99 年 4 月
目
次
1. Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’
Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan .............. Herbert Hanreich∕
1
2. Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching
............................................................................................Shen, Fu-Yuan∕ 17
3. Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on
Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights
.......................................................................................... Lee, Fong-King∕ 35
4. The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback
on a New Piece of Writing ......................................................David Frear∕ 57
5. Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com:
Facilitative or Debilitative?.............................................Pong, Ken-Hung∕ 73
6. EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners.......................... Kong Nam-Hee∕ 101
7. Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language:
A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater
Taipei Area...........................................................................Liou, Yi-Shin∕ 133
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 1
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning:
‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at
Universities in Taiwan
Herbert Hanreich
Assistant Professor, I-Shou University
義守大學應用英語系專任助理教授
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 3
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning:
‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at
Universities in Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Foreign language departments at universities in Taiwan are considered by a
majority of the students as institutions in which language learning is the main priority of
the program, with teachers functioning predominantly as language instructors, providing
other aspects of the subject as complementary items. The genuine academic aspects of
such a study remain rather in the background if compared to foreign language
departments in the West (in this case: Europe). The reasons are manifold; they are
cultural (abstract thinking is not really practiced in Asian education), historical (English
learning is ‘in’ in Taiwan), and home-grown: There is a growing number of teachers at
those departments with an academic background and expertise in English teaching.
Such a situation and its further development are subject to criticism. An academic
subject focusing on techniques and strategies regarding how to best learn and teach a
foreign language is narrowing down the intellectual scope of what teaching and learning
at universities could and should be (the difference between colleges and graduate
schools is played down here). Students studying language at universities need
intellectual challenges which could only be delivered if they are to explore the vast
fields of knowledge surrounding the language they wish to master at a high level. Such
fields include old and new subjects of the humanities and liberal arts which should have
a more prominent position within the foreign language curricula in Taiwan than they
have now. They might also help students to rely less on rote learning and focus more on
understanding.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Introduction
In Taiwan there is a misconception of the academic function of English
departments at institutions of higher education. In many cases, they are offering
predominantly English language learning programs instead of exploring the intellectual
world of both, the subject to be taught and the subjects (students) who are taught. The
departments where such a trend has become endemic are usually named ‘applied’ or
‘practical’ English departments, indicating already in the title the direction which is
pursued there academically. Their rationale is that what they teach is closer to market
demands in a ‘real’ labor world than, say, departments that focus rather on literature and
other humanities, thus providing their students with a more competitive edge when
seeking jobs after graduation.
But the problem is that these schools are neglecting their academic duties: their
curricula are confusing, the students are misled, and the teachers are teaching subjects
that should not be taught there. This paper, therefore, deals critically with ‘applied’aspects of the curricula (I). In the second chapter it analyzes the academic benefits the
students usually receive when attending such programs (II); then it takes a look at the
expertise that teachers (are to) convey to their students at such departments (III). In the
last section (IV) it seeks to describe academic practices which are supposed to be
offered at any institution of higher education.
I. On the inapplicability of “applied” programs at universities
One could be surprised upon noting the adjective “applied” in the title of university
departments in Taiwan offering foreign language programs as an academic discipline;
for a language is always applied whenever it is spoken. These acts of applying a
language are usually called ‘communication’, and it takes place whenever a language is
spoken in order to communicate something with someone for whatever reasons, no
matter whether or not this communication happens in the mother tongue or in any other
language.
There are situations when communication is hampered. The reasons can be
manifold. They could include personal (e.g. different intellectual standards), structural
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 5
(e.g. using different semantics) or simply cultural (e.g. using different languages)
difficulties among people who wish to communicate with each other. Apparently,
applied language programs concentrate on the last point. They offer so-called basic
language-skills courses as their core courses such as writing, reading, listening and
speaking, flanked by others which are often related to culture, new media or literature.
Growing importance is given also to so-called English for Specific Purpose courses
(ESP), where those English language skills are applied within specific professional
contexts. Such ESP courses for instance could be business, journalism or tourism
English; Internet English (“e-learning”) and technology English are other options
among ESP courses within applied English curricula.
Usually, applied English department courses focus on the acquisition of a foreign
language for the sake of communication, with profession-oriented courses as valueadded ingredients of departmental menus. In one word, applied English departments are
teaching a foreign language by offering students a study environment where they would
be able to apply the language they are learning within a professional world.
There are two questions that could come into mind if one looks at the situation
from an outside point of view: First: Should academic institutions teach languages at all,
thus competing with cram schools, high schools and other language institutions?
Second: Should academic institutions prepare their students directly for their future
professions, thus competing with vocational and other profession-oriented schools? In
my view the answers to both questions should be negative.
As for the first, I am not aware that English language learning is taught as an
academic discipline at institutions of higher education in European countries. If you
study at English departments e.g. in France or in Germany, generally the focus is on
English or Anglo-Saxon/American literature, history and culture, with a strong presence
of linguistics; language skills courses are also an integrated part of the curricula.
However, they are held at a very high level aiming at the refinement of language skills.
Linguistics courses are hardly applied linguistics courses with the hidden agenda of
teaching English. Instead, they are courses where the development of the English
language (syntax, semantics, grammar, etc.) from one historical period to another one is
under scrutiny (e.g. from Chaucer to Shakespeare). Linguistic theories with their strong
penchant for philosophy of language are likewise included. Usually, these are the
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
students’ most feared courses, for they require a strong feeling for language, a detailed
knowledge of copious facts related to linguistica, and sufficient patience to seep through
texts written in a language that often only faintly resembles modern spoken English.
The proficient command of the English language of the students is simply taken for
granted, even despite the fact that the courses are often taught in the native language of
the country where the university is located. An average student would have to read most
of the classical literature (and relevant commentaries) during the undergraduate study,
usually from critical editions. Discussing and evaluating various editions of classical
literary works is part of the syllabi of literature courses.
Studying English there has a rather clear structure and goal: to explore at an
academic level the linguistic and, in a broad sense, cultural dimensions of a specific
language and of the people who speak it as their mother tongue. It is about
understanding and analyzing contents and contexts related to the discipline.
Graduate students are expected to acquire a profound knowledge about the
discipline they study. The problem of applying of what is being studied in class later on
in the profession is not directly taken care of in the curricula, for a very good reason:
The application is not considered to be a matter of the study but a matter of the student.
A department cannot act as if it knew why and for what purpose each individual studies.
Nor would it know or anticipate what cannot be possibly known or anticipated: How the
individual students could integrate the knowledge they acquire into the profession the
individual would eventually have, because this is often simply not even known to the
students themselves during their study.
The curriculum of any university department, therefore, should essentially care for
the individual’s ability to fully understand the complexity of the subject matter as it
emerges through relevant methods of research. And such methods, in addition, would
also have to be learned and taught, enabling future professionals to use appropriate tools
to become experts in their fields of study. Academic teaching should have as its main
goal the generation of experts, leaving the application of what is being learned to
outside factors which are far beyond its control (see Liessmann 2006, 29). Only
profound knowledge (or knowledge that is profound enough to be easily ‘refreshed’, i.e.
up-dated concerning latest related developments) internalizes both the quality and
ability of being applied by the bearer at any time in ever-changing circumstances.
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 7
Application is an intellectual ability coupled with personal skills which solely lie in
the hands of the learned individual (see, with respect to learning in general, Spitzer
2009, 356).
In addition, focusing on specific applications would considerably narrow down the
academic options which a given study could offer to its students. It would also narrow
down the intellectual potential of the students if their interests were guided already at
the beginning of their study towards a certain direction which has been prescribed by
curricula experts. The field of application of studies such as English is vast, and job
opportunities often come up unexpectedly. People are better prepared for the
unexpected if they are open-minded with respect to their future profession, especially at
times when it is becoming increasingly important to be able to communicate with other
experts from other fields on the basis of one’s expertise. Future job designs reckon with
an increased demand of flexibility regarding the application of one’s knowledge, for
new areas of knowledge are permanently created as a result of on-going interdisciplinary cooperation among disciplines which, in the past, had no common borders.
M. C. Taylor, in an op-ed article in the New York Times on April 27, 2009 (End the
University as We Know It) was right on target when writing that through the
“intersection of multiple perspectives and approaches, new theoretical insights will
develop and unexpected practical solutions will emerge.” Indeed, we don’t know what
modern job profiles would look like five years from now!
It goes without saying that individuals with an education that focuses solely on the
subject matter are better prepared for such new tasks than those whose education has
been oriented along guidelines of applicability for jobs of yesterday’s generation.
Creativity, one would have to admit, is not an academic virtue in a study program where
its contents are already prefixed by practical considerations regarding contemporary
labor demands. One could even say that an academic education that marginalizes the
circumstances of application of the subject to be studied prepares its students best for
future jobs.
II. What do students learn at ‘applied’ language departments?
Any student at any academic department studies in order to become an expert in a
field that would become his or her professional environment. Law students study the
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
law in order to become experts in interpreting the law; medical students become experts
in treating sick people or preventing them from falling sick; students of philosophy
study thought systems which have evolved over thousands of years in the minds of
people, thus acquiring an expertise in translating previous human intellectual endeavor
into contemporary intellectual constellations and so on.
But what is the expertise the students of applied English programs have received
during their study? That is a question for which there is no easy answer. What could
help to better understand the situation is to look at the curricula of applied English
departments, and to briefly analyze - based on the curricula - the specific education
which the students receive there.
As mentioned above, the main courses at such departments include basic language
skills and courses where these skills are taught to be applied within specific professional
contexts. As for language skills, it is already discussed in the previous chapter that the
practical mastering of any given language is not an academic qualification. Admittedly,
there are some exceptions if exotic languages are involved. Naturally, ‘exotic’ is a
relative concept, depending on the own cultural context in which one finds him/herself.
For instance, the study of the Arabic language in Taiwan or of the Chinese language in
Italy fits with the term ‘exotic’ despite the fact that both are world languages. There is
simply no cultural environment in the countries of the study where one could become
familiar with such ‘exotic’ languages.
But English, the modern lingua franca, is hardly exotic at any place of the planet,
and definitely not in Taiwan, where since decades students have to learn this language
as a compulsory subject in secondary education for at least six years. If the learning or
studying of English as a foreign language is offered at English departments in Taiwan it
would mean that universities continue to do the job of high-schools; students would not
get an academic education by learning English as a foreign language. They are just
doing what they should have done when they were younger; or what they could do now
by themselves: learning English. Likewise, professors would be doing the job that
should have been done and apparently hasn’t been done well by high-school teachers.
Learning English is just for the sake of speaking English.
Since ‘English learning’ is not a candidate for a university student’s education, the
afore-mentioned ‘value-added’ components of applied-English departments are as it
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 9
seems expected to realize this function: job-oriented ESP courses. Indeed, reference to
such courses seems to fill in the legitimacy gap that arises for departments when they
are asked to justify their existence within the academic family at universities. It is
suggested that a closer look be taken into such an argumentation.
Let’s take for instance business English, which is as it seems the most prominent –
and for many students and parents the most persuasive – course from all ESP options.
Many students in Taiwan have experience with business in one way or another (as parttimers; family background; etc.), and it seems to be obvious that any input of
information or the training of skills related to any kind of business is of very practical
use.
One may ask what kind of expertise students acquire when they attend a course in
business English. Do they learn more about business? Not really, because – as just
mentioned before – many have minimal business experience anyway. What most of
them wish to learn at applied English departments is to communicate in English (thus
applying it) for business operations which they already know. Selling goods in English
to foreigners for instance or communicating and corresponding with business partners if
working for, say, an international trade company, is exactly what the term ‘applied’
would mean for students if ‘English learning’ at departments is meant to be job-related.
Not a great perspective, one would think, but which is often heard from students when
asked about the reasons why they study applied English. But would they really learn
English this way? This question will be discussed after the next paragraph.
Students taking language-based business courses do not necessarily learn more
about business than they already know. And teaching more is not the job of business
English teachers (who usually have an academic background of teaching English as a
foreign language) because they would not be qualified as experts. Business matters are
better taken care of by business departments. Secondly, if students at applied English
departments received a more sophisticated and more professional business education,
then the term ‘applied English’ would have no function, for it can only be applied if the
subject, for which English is to be applied, is already there or already known by the
students. But, as a rule, students at applied English departments are not knowledgeable
about business operations at a more-than-simple level, so there is no content (or
expertise) for which any foreign language application could possibly work or make
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
sense. Students do not have the jobs that would allow them to recognize professional
situations for which specific English terms would have to be successfully applied;
usually, they do not know the terms they would need in their native language unless
they are professionals. In one word: ‘Applied Business English’ cannot be applied by
students for any business situation because they have never previously been in such a
situation in which ‘applying the English language’ would make sense.
Moreover, business situations can never be anticipated and prepared on a one-toone scale. If you have to communicate in English, then you simply have to speak
English sufficiently, which, by the way, is much better learned if you read, say,
Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov than studying textbooks on business English,
which are usually compulsory for such courses. In many cases, real business situations
also require the ability to conduct small talks, engage in light and witty conversations or
telling stories or jokes that are often not directly related to the business operations. But
it is an ability which is important for the creation of a pleasant and confidential
atmosphere which would make successful business deals more likely than just going
along standardized rules as prescribed by textbooks.
Potential business partners usually do not follow the script of business related
textbooks. Missing catchwords could confuse a business-English-textbook-trained
person in situations when smooth and eloquent conversation is needed. It is easy for
English teachers at English departments in Taiwan to gain such an experience of
embarrassment: Holding oral exams about a subject that students prepared along
textbooks and asking questions which are genuinely related to the subject but not
covered by the book usually result in answers that are not the least satisfactory.
Highly professional business people who lack English proficiency would learn key
words and phrases on their own when they need conducting business operations in
English; or this is what at least could be expected from them. For situations where
fluent English is vital but not available (e.g. for negotiations or signing contracts) this
task should be left to someone with adequate English proficiency. A successful
completion of a business English course does not guarantee a successful business
communication.
Coming back to our question – what is the expertise students acquire if studying at
applied language programs –, it has become clear that from the perspective presented
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 11
here it is difficult to find a positive answer: Speaking better English cannot possibly be
an academic goal (hundreds of millions of native speakers can do better), and the
assumption that one would be better prepared for future careers if learning how to apply
English in communication has more to do with marketing strategies of universities
craving for more students than with the reality in a real world.
The sober reality is rather that our graduating students’ English language abilities
are, generally speaking, poor, particularly of those students who study at applied
English departments. Only a very few of them are able to participate in a ‘normal’
conversation held in English. They cannot follow, say, BBC news. Main reasons lie in
the fact that first they have hardly ever been exposed to ‘real’ sources of English
language despite (or one should rather say: because of) the ‘applied’ factor. Second they
have been dealing exclusively with textbooks throughout their whole study, thus
facilitating easy access to information which is only learned for the sake of being tested
but not for the sake of being understood or intellectually absorbed.
Therefore, in Taiwan the main problem to successfully graduate from a language
study program is not a matter of providing an ‘applied’ environment for the students,
but more a matter of studying in the right way: Students have to learn how to study
properly. How this be achieved? A comprehensive answer (that cannot be given here)
would include a critical analysis of cultural misconceptions that are prevailing in higher
education in Taiwan: It would have to deal with the wrong perception that studying
means that there is a container full of information which has to be transferred by ways
of applying certain teaching techniques and teaching materials into the brains of the
learners.
Before we pursue this question I wish to discuss the dilemma of applied language
departments from the perspective of teachers.
III. What should teachers teach at applied language departments?
Professors are experts. They are to teach and further develop fundamentals and
refinements of their specific subject for which they are experts at universities. Research
and teaching go hand in hand: Professors teach their research subject because they are
experts in exactly this field. Students register at departments where they expect an
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
education of becoming experts themselves. This is the theory. The practice looks
different at applied English departments.
What is the expertise of professors at applied English departments? ‘Applied’
English? Certainly not, because they are usually not experts in the subject for which
‘applied’ makes sense (e.g. tourism or business). Rather, they are by the majority
experts on teaching English as a foreign language – from this field they received their
PhD degrees. If that is so, then what could they teach as experts within their field of
expertise (which is, again, teaching English as a foreign language)? Teaching English?
This is not what they should do at English departments at any university; this is, as just
discussed, a high-school-and-bushiban job. Is it then teaching how to teach English?
This would include expertise in pedagogy, for ‘teaching’, as an academic discipline, is
the expertise of pedagogues and of departments of pedagogy. Pedagogy is an academic
discipline in itself, which, therefore, is not in the hands of English-language-teaching
experts.
When one looks at the professional and educational profiles of such experts of
foreign language teaching, one could find that they have been specializing in developing
and applying methods, strategies and models (often based on quantitative evaluation)
that could be used in order to enhance and improve the teaching of a foreign language.
Optimizing the learning of a foreign language by optimizing teaching methods and
strategies – this is the expertise of many professors who are employed at applied
language departments; and on which they focus their research activities. But what has
such an expertise to do with what is perceived to be academically needed at applied
English departments?
If it is correct (as we assume it is in chapter I) that the main focus of applied
language departments is in fact, first, to facilitate the acquisition of a foreign language,
and, second, to provide students with a practical perspective so as to ensure and enhance
job-related applicability of what they study, then the academic input of the expertise of
the foreign language teaching experts for such purposes is somehow incomprehensible.
They cannot possibly apply their expertise within applied language departments.
There are several reasons for this assumption: First, students register at applied
English departments not for the sake of learning how to better learn and teach
English – they simply want to learn English. Second, students don’t want to learn how
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 13
to improve English teaching methods: The simple reason is that only a few students go
into the English teaching business after graduation. And if they do so, they would not
need to learn how to develop models on the improvement of English teaching; they
would simply need to understand how to apply what others (their professors, for
instance) found out in their research on this topic. Finally, such professors are not
experts in the application of their research findings because they are investigating very
specific models and learning/teaching patterns without taking into account broader
perspectives that are vital elements for any teaching situation. Researchers, for
methodological reasons, have to narrow the scope of their approach in order to produce
results under very specific situations; this is how science globally is conducted. But
applied English departments would need teachers with an integrated approach coupled
with adequate teaching experience. A research perspective which necessarily minimizes
its focus in order to maximize scientific quality is professionally blind for the multifacetted tasks which underlie good teaching when standing in front of the class.
It seems to be obvious that professors with the professional background of
conducting research in view of developing and applying improved language teaching
methods have no subject to teach at applied language departments. They are at the
wrong place. As professionals practicing their expertise, they should be working at
research-oriented institutions specialized in pedagogical strategies with respect to
foreign language learning and teaching, but not at academic institutions that focus – as
the word ‘applied’ suggests -on the practice of language teaching. Again, it sounds
paradoxical: Based on their expertise, these professionals in applying foreign language
teaching methods should not have a place as teachers at applied language departments
(although they could be good teachers there).
If language teaching as well as the teaching of teaching models is not the
appropriate subject to be represented in the curricula –so what is it then? This is
discussed in the following section.
IV. ‘Academicizing’ at applied language departments
In general, there is a philosophical component in the assessment of what ‘teaching’
means because it is always about what kind of person a student should come out as at
the end of the teaching process. This is particularly true at institutions of higher
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
education where the formation of the personality of individual students is closely
connected with their intellectual abilities (see Liessmann 2006, 54). These ‘academic’
abilities comprise (see Bubner 1993, 98) the abilities to analyze a problem from
different perspectives; to give a critical account of what others so far have contributed to
understanding and solving problems; to think rationally and systematically; to think in
an abstract manner; to judge the subject matter independently from contemporary fads
and trends; to integrate others’ ideas into one’s own drain of thoughts; to understand the
history of a given problem; etc.. In addition, academic thinking also includes the ability
to deal (at least indirectly) with fundamental questions intrinsically related to
scholarship and scientific attitudes at a more general level, such as: What is knowledge?
How to evaluate knowledge and for what purpose? What is ‘truth’ (see Habermas 2003,
103)?
These kinds of questions should accompany the teaching (not only) at English
departments which, of course, would only make sense if they could be applied to the
contents which are taught. Those content-oriented subjects could come from the vast
field of the humanities in which language is involved almost by nature: History,
literature, linguistics, arts, (cross-)cultural issues, etc.. Academic input, i.e. the
application of academic skills which Stanley Fish calls ‘academicizing’ (Fish 2008,
170) is vital for higher education; it is vital for the transformation of information (facts)
into individual knowledge. The systematic acquisition and mastering of such academic
skills are values that individuals retain. I would argue that any demanding job requires
the application of these individual talents, which could be developed and practiced in
higher education, for instance, at English language departments.
There is an essential difference between knowledge and facts/information:
Knowledge is an individual state of mind. It is the intellectual ability to transform
information into a system of thought and to communicate it to others in the form of, as
it has been suggested in the case of teaching science, “a conversation among a
community rather than as a simple accumulation of facts” (Readings 1999, 5). Any
academic institution must strengthen this ability, which means that facts and data would
have to be studied in a way that they could be presented or re-told by the learner within
a coherent network of rational arguments and counterarguments. The generation of facts
and data is another, a further level of higher education. One of the major goals of
Language Teaching beyond Language Learning: ‘Academicizing’ Language Programs at Universities in Taiwan 15
academic education, therefore, is to eliminate irrationality, superstition, naiveté, and
ideologies from the minds of the students through means of applied rationality.
Academic learning is the understanding of information as “a difference which
makes a difference” (Bateson 1972, 457), i.e. to interpret it within an appropriate, everchanging context. Essentially, knowledge is more than information; it includes both, the
ability to reproduce facts, and to put and re-interpret them into a relevant context,
respectively. Knowledge depends on the context, and contexts are often not ‘given’ a
priori; they change, or they have yet to be ‘created’ or established as relevant contexts
by the ‘knowledgeable’ individual. What knowledge ‘is’, is not (or cannot be) decided
at the time the individual learns about the information.
The main idea of knowledge, therefore, is not its applicability, but the ‘pursuit of
truth’ within varying contexts: To be able to give a rational account of what there is and
why at that time. And ‘truths’ often contradict opportune application: The ‘truth’ of the
US-led Iraq war is different now in 2009 than what it was in March 2003.
Stanley Fish defines the function of universities as spreading knowledge
completely separated from its applicability. In defending such academic values he
states: “If colleges and universities are to be ‘accountable’ to anyone or anything, it
should be to the academic values – dedicated and responsible teaching, rigorous and
honest research – without which higher education would be little different from the
bottom-line enterprise its critics would have it become.” (Fish 2008, 159)
Knowledge should be acquired so as to provide its bearer freedom and
independence from influences and developments of the Zeitgeist, from fashions that
come and go. It is also about the development of one’s personality and of professional
attitudes. Professionals are only credible as professionals if their whole personality is
behind the way they practice their profession: Professional ‘competence’, therefore, is
not just a technical skill but it also includes the mastery of the subject with professional
dignity; it includes the ability of self-reflection. In order to achieve this task the teachers
themselves need to “have a mental life” (Barzun 2002, 389).
There is a ‘moral dimension’ (Hanreich 2007, 270) in the process of learning
which is, however, neglected if education is predominantly oriented towards
applicability.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
References
Barzun, J. (2002). The art of making teachers. In Murray, M. (Ed.): A Jacques Barzun
Reader: HarperCollins Publishers New York
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind: University of Chicago Press.
Bubner, R. (1993). Humboldts Universitaet – ein Ideal, das nicht sterben will. In R. B.:
Zwischenrufe: Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt.
Fish, St. (2008). Save the world in your own time: Oxford University Press.
Habermas, J. (2003). Die Idee der Universitaet – Lernprozesse. In J. H.: Zeitdiagnosen:
Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt.
Hanreich, H. (2007). ‘Application’ – A Critique of its Applications at Applied English
Departments in Taiwan. In Yea-Ru Tsai et al. (Eds.): Applied English Education,
Kaohsiung, R.O.C.: Dept. of Applied English, I-Shou University.
Liessmann, K. P. (2006). Theorie der Unbildung: Zsolnay Verlag Wien.
Readings, B. (1999). The university in ruins: Harvard University Press.
Spitzer, M. (2009). Lernen: Spektrum Akademischer Verlag Heidelberg
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 17
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent
Reading in Poetry Teaching
英詩教學中整合"美學欣賞的觀點"與"求知式的閱讀"
Shen, Fu-Yuan 沈富源
Assistant Professor, National Taitung University
國立台東大學英美語文學系專任助理教授
18
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 19
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent
Reading in Poetry Teaching
英詩教學中整合"美學欣賞的觀點"與"求知式的閱讀"
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the pendulum of poetry teaching has swung between two extremes:
the conventional critical-interpretation approach and the untraditional response-based
method. The critical-interpretation approach overemphasizes the importance of
transmitting the knowledge of poetic conventions to students in order to develop their
capability of comprehending and evaluating literary merits. On the other hand, the
response-based method highly underscores the aesthetic stance students take in
appreciating poetry to generate a unique, personal, and affective experience with
literature. In this study I propose coordinating aesthetic stance with efferent reading in
teaching poetry. A sample demonstration of teaching Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach”
is provided to illustrate the suggested dualistic model of poetry instruction. The model
suggests that in order for teachers to develop a genuine passion for reading poetry in
students, it may be not productive to engage students in the formal analysis of poems
before the poems have been personalized. Only after students have experienced
aesthetic participation with literature can they cultivate a life-long interest in poetry.
Keywords: aesthetic stance, efferent reading, poetry teaching, literature instruction
20
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
A national survey conducted in the U.S. reported that students’ recreational and
academic reading attitudes gradually became more negative throughout the elementary
school years (McKenna, Kear, Ellsworth, 1995). Studies have also indicated that
students’ enthusiasm for poetry declined as they became older (e.g., Terry, 1974). Galda
(1993) argued that it is “the teaching practices, rather than the genre itself that creates
such a distaste in readers” (p.106). Galda provided some reasons why the poetry
students learned in school was neither playful nor pleasant. First, the poems they
encounter are “basalized,” inauthentic works. Second, they associate poetry with the
torturous process of memorizing a poem for class testing or recitation. Third, they are
instructed to find the meanings to poems for which they may search in vain. Students
are often frustrated due to their own perceived inability to solve the problem of
uncovering a complex poem’s hidden meanings. Fawcett’s (1995) observation also
confirmed such findings. When students connect poetry with a problem-solving puzzle
or a painstaking examination, it is little wonder that students lose interest in poetry.
In this article, I review the traditional efferent-reading approach to poetry teaching
which more often than not results in students’ reluctance towards poetry reading. I then
argue for the benefits of coordinating efferent reading and aesthetic stance in poetry
instruction by (a) exploring Rosenblatt’s (1997) concept of aesthetic stance, (b)
addressing the importance of the reader’s affective responses to poems, and (c)
providing an overview of response-based instruction in poetry. Finally, based on
research evidence discussed above, I offer an eclectic approach to poetry instruction in
college.
The Deficiency of Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching
One of main causes for students’ dislike of poetry is that school teachers
commonly put the entire focus of instruction on the formal analysis of poems. Such a
narrow, short-sighted teaching perspective leads to the phenomenon that teachers often
ignore their students’ personal responses to poetry (McClure, Harrison, & Reed, 1989).
McClure, Harrison, and Reed pointed out that the use of critical interpretation approach
robs poetry of its vitality and relevancy. This is because the traditional literary theory
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 21
(e.g., New Criticism) has focused on the text or the author instead of the reader.1 As a
result, teachers are concerned mainly about whether students can “discover the ‘correct’
meaning of text,” and “recognize significant poetic elements, forms, and common poetic
devices” (McClure, Harrison, & Reed, p. 174). To reach this teaching goal, teachers
extensively drill on these aspects of poetry. Students are discouraged from bringing any
personal perspectives to interpret poems. They are even admonished not to commit the
“intentional fallacy” in interpreting poems. This critical interpretation approach is now
widely recognized as the major factor which causes students to consider the study of
poetry unpleasant. Scholes (2001) believed that the New Critical method was “bad for
poets and poetry and really terrible for students and teachers of poetry” (cited in
Showalter, 2003, p. 63). On the whole, the teaching approach utilizing traditional
literary theory in poetry class is unlikely to produce “creative and highly imaginative
responses, characterized by strong emotional feelings” (McClure, Harrison, and Reed,
p.175).
Recently scholars and educators have become aware that “poetry is not a vehicle
for objective dissection or analysis” (McClure, Harrison, and Reed, 1989, p. 178).
Poetry should be “conceived as a source of enjoyment and an artistic venture” (ibid.). A
selection of poetry should be thought of as a living object, waiting to be experienced by
the reader. The major spokesman of such a viewpoint is Louise Rosenblatt. Rosenblatt
(1980) defined a poem as “a happening, an event, in which the listener or reader draws
on images and feelings and ideas stirred up by the words of the text; out of these is
shaped the lived-through experience” (p. 386). In other words, students are entitled to
take a reader-response perspective toward the text. Students’ affectionate engagement in
poetry reading is more valuable than their detached literary analyses. The reader should
generate “the lived-through” experience with the text, instead of searching for the
obscure, elusive, and often ambiguous meanings within the text.
Promoting Aesthetic Responses to Poetry
Rosenblatt (1980) criticized traditional literature teaching in that efferent reading
1
Brooks and Warren’s (1938) Understanding Poetry is representative of New Criticism, a method
of practical criticism on poems’ textual properties. It was once widely adopted as a textbook in
colleges.
22
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
was overemphasized in instructional practices to the extent of neglecting the aesthetic
stance.2 Rosenblatt pointed out that “the learning environment and teaching approaches
have tended to inculcate a predominantly efferent stance toward all texts” (p. 389).
Consequently, instead of preserving students’ spontaneous, affective sensibility to the
literary text, literature instruction has been oriented “to satisfy the efferent purposes of
categorizing the genre, paraphrasing the ‘objective’ meaning or analyzing the
techniques represented by the text” (Rosenblatt, p. 392). To remedy this instructional
deficiency, Rosenblatt argued that aesthetic reading ability should be nurtured from the
beginning and throughout the entire curriculum. A teaching program should include the
component of reader response to develop students’ capability of aesthetic reading.
One issue central to this controversy between the critical interpretation approach
and the aesthetic response method is how and when to teach literary conventions. In the
critical interpretation approach, the formal analysis of literary text is of primary
importance; conversely, according to reader-response theory, the aesthetic experience
with literature is the priority. Rosenblatt (1980) claimed that frequent affective
engagement with poetic texts “should precede the theoretical analysis of such
conventions” and thus knowledge of literary conventions “will be absorbed in the actual
reading” (p. 393). Ideally, students come to understand literary conventions through
implicit assimilation rather than explicit instruction.
Indeed Rosenblatt (1978) advocated that reader-response reading should proceed
beyond the whimsical emotional responses to disciplined critical analyses. Rosenblatt
actually acknowledged that efferent analyses did contribute to strengthen aesthetic
engagement with text, stating the following:
In the basic paradigm for literary criticism, then, the movement is from an
intensely realized aesthetic transaction with the text to reflection on semantic or
technical or other details in order to return to, and correlate them with, that
particular personally apprehended aesthetic reading.
2
Efferent reading refers to reading for facts and information. Rosenblatt (1980) differentiated
efferent and aesthetic reading: “Efferent reading will select out the desired referents and ignore or
subordinate affect. Aesthetic reading, in contrast, will fuse the cognitive and affective elements of
consciousness—sensations, images, feelings, ideas—into a personally lived-through poem or
story” (p. 388).
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 23
(p. 162)
In light of Rosenblatt’s (1980) instructional suggestion, teachers should encourage
students’ spontaneous comments on the literary text and use them as the springboard for
further inquiry. The importance of affective response is due to the fact that “once there
has been indeed a lived-through evocation from the text, students can be led toward
increasingly self-critical and sound interpretation” (Rosenblatt, p. 395). With this basis
in mind, the trajectory of teaching poetry starts from an aesthetic stance, proceeds
through reader-text transaction, and ends with critical analyses. To sum up, the aesthetic
experience is essential to poetry reading. The initial lived-through experience can be
powerful enough to motivate and sustain students’ interest in poetry. Through aesthetic
reading, students may become passionate about the written word and make themselves
life-long readers of poetry. In addition, aesthetic experience serves as the entry point to
the text and further leads readers to reflection and analysis. After this has been done,
then students can begin to acquire knowledge of literary conventions with less
difficulty.
Overview of Response-Based Teaching Methods
In response to Rosenblatt’s call for combining efferent reading and aesthetic
engagement, McClure, Harrison, and Reed (1989) proposed an alternative approach to
poetry instruction. This alternative method, “freedoms within form,” encouraged
students to “write and respond freely to poetry yet respect its conventions and forms”
(p. 186). Without much teacher instruction, but deeply immersed in hearing, reading,
and writing poetry, students slowly but surely internalize literary elements. It has been
proven that their critical insights and literary understandings deepen with this method.
Fawcett (1995) reported an instructional experiment with teaching poems to
students in cooperation with one classroom teacher. Fawcett postulated that poetry can
not be taught, nor should poetry be taught as a subject separated from students’
experiences. The instructional approach she practiced in the classroom reflected her
beliefs about poetry. In order to attract students, she merely began reading poetry to
them every time she visited the classroom once a week. In between she asked the
classroom teacher to read to the students as many poems as possible. The poems
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Fawcett herself read in class were those that would interest her students. The poems
concerned girlfriends, boyfriends, parent-child problems, and physical appearance.
Humorous poems by Shel Silverstein were also included.
Fawcett began teaching the elements of poetry such as rhyme, rhythm, imagery,
and figurative language only after a genuine interest in the poems germinated. Fawcett
then read some of her own poems to the students; this in turn inspired students to create
their own poems. By means of personalizing poetry-reading, Fawcett successfully
turned the lessons into enjoyable experiences rather than just a lesson in abstract theory
and criticism which the students had come to expect in literature class. Fawcett’s
immersion approach corresponds to Rosenblatt’s (1978) aesthetic reading. Fawcett
provided students with various opportunities of connecting poems to their lives, and
thus they gained the lived-through experiences of reading poems. Specifically, the
students had affectionate evocation through these fine poems, then began reflective
thinking about what they read, and finally critically evaluated these works. By means of
fostering aesthetic responses to poems, the students eventually developed enthusiasm
for reading and may ultimately become passionate readers.
The Stricklands (1997) engaged students in playing with poetry through three
kinds of activities: immersion, exploration, and experimentation. At the immersion
stage of the instruction, the Stricklands read aloud a great number of poems to students
and occasionally invited them to clap along or take part in choral reading of a particular
poem. Between poems the Stricklands asked students questions such as what they feel
about these poems and what thought they want to share with others. In the second
activity, students were guided, by way of their responses, to explore the constitution of
poetry. In the last phase of the teaching activity, students were instructed to experiment
with writing poetry. The students were encouraged to express their feelings and
thoughts in poetic language. The Stricklands reported that the students benefited
significantly from these learning activities.
From the perspective of aesthetic reading, Cai and Traw (1997) contended that
literary instruction should combine reader response and critical analysis, both of which
are “mutually complementary” to “ensure the most rewarding experience of literature”
(p. 28). The rationale behind the transition from the personal, seminal responses to
sophisticated critical analyses is based on the fact that when responding to poetry with
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 25
favor or dislike, students begin to make a basic interpretation. Then they need to take
further steps to explain how the poems they read evoke personal positive or negative
experiences and elaborate on what poetic setting, images, or characters spark particular
emotions. In this way, students’ focus on evocation progressively shifts to reflective and
critical thinking about what they read. Both affective engagement and critical analysis
are indispensable parts of literary appreciation.
Cai and Traw (1997) described readers’ initial, unsophisticated responses as entry
points into a poem. They also pointed out one tough problem that students may stop at
the entry level of evocation “without making any further effort at interpretation” (p. 22).
To circumvent this problem, Cai and Traw advocated helping students develop literary
literacy. They defined literary literacy as “the ability to understand, interpret, and
critique literature” (p. 21). The purpose of developing students’ literary literacy is to
“help students achieve a more active, competent literary transaction with literature” and
assist them in “arriving at a fuller, richer reading that does justice to its artistic
complexity” (p. 24).
To acquire literary literacy, students need to study literary conventions, that is, the
elements constituting poetry, drama, and novel. This claim is based on the assumption
that “knowledge of literary conventions is the foundation of literary interpretation and
criticism” (Cai & Traw, 1997, p. 25). If students understand literary conventions and
possess a repertoire of interpretive strategies, they can respond to literature critically
and achieve a better understanding of literary subtleties. The point to be emphasized
here is that the acquisition of literary conventions is best accomplished through
students’ affective engagement in appreciating poetry. The literary conventions should
not be taught as discrete knowledge separated from poetry reading. In short, what Cai
and Traw proposed for poetry instruction is a holistic approach to the development of
students’ literary literacy meaning the ability to generate personal responses to and
conduct critical analyses on literature. Cai and Traw regarded such a holistic approach
as “the only way to turn our students into enthusiastic, understanding, and appreciative
readers of literature” (p. 31).
Eva-Wood (2008) reported a case study applying a feel-and-think-aloud method to
teach poetry at the eleventh grade level class. Eva-Wood’s teaching theory was framed
on the presumption that students’ active engagement in the process of voicing feelings
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
and thoughts about poems can deepen and enrich their literary analyses. From
classroom discussions, Eva-Wood identified four major reading strategies her students
used in response to poems. These “affectively based comprehension strategies” included
“responding to key words and phrases,” “visualizing and using the senses,” “relating the
text to personal experiences,” and “identifying with the poems' speakers” (p. 568). The
research outcome indicated that students had significant progress in both meta-cognitive
skills and affective attitudes toward poetry.
In brief, poetry can be used powerfully as an integral part of literacy and literary
learning. A consensus is building among educators that a reader’s affective response to
poems plays an essential role in poetry instruction. The immersion approach, the
holistic approach, and the feel-and-think-aloud method all emphasize that students
should be exposed to rich poetry reading and at the same time provided with abundant
opportunities of “reflection and refraction” about poems (Purves, 2000).
Incorporating Aesthetic Stance into Efferent Reading
Based on the research evidence discussed above, I posit that an effective approach
to poetry teaching should integrate aesthetic stance into efferent reading. Table 1
presents the application of Eva-Wood’s (2008) “affectively based comprehension
strategies” to acquiring elements of poetry which are traditionally taught through
efferent reading. These comprehension strategies regarding affectionate responses to
poetry include sensory visualization, personal connection, and empathic identification.
Sensory visualization is of particular value to activate readers’ affective responses to
text (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). Students should be explicitly instructed to employ
their senses and sensory recollections to visualize the imagery of the poems they read.
They can verbalize descriptions or draw pictures about the sense impressions they
obtain from the poem. Furthermore, by sensory visualization, students can better
comprehend the figurative language used in the poem. It is well known that the
language of poetry is more sensuous than ordinary discourse. Figures of speech (e.g.,
metaphor and simile) can be better understood through sensory imagination rather than
logical reasoning. Collins (2001) accurately describes the way sensory imagination
works to help readers understand figurative speech: “To follow the connections in a
metaphor is to make a mental leap, to exercise an imaginary agility, even to open a new
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 27
synapse as two disparate things are linked” (cited in Showalter, 2003, p. 63).
Table 1
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading
Aesthetic Stance:
Activating affective responses to text
Efferent Reading:
Teaching elements of poetry3
Sensory visualization
Imagery
Figures of speech
Personal connection
Theme (meaning and idea)
Empathetic identification
The speaker (voice and tone)
Another helpful strategy to initiate students’ affective responses to poetry is to
develop the personal connection. Students are encouraged to relate a recently read poem
to their life experiences. Students can draw on their prior knowledge and past
experiences to comprehend the poem.4 Capitalizing on their own “funds of knowledge”
(Moll & Greenberg, 1990), students can efficiently guide themselves to understand the
poem. In this way, it is quite easy for students to engage themselves in the poetic world.
Consequently, lived experiences with literature are realized through students’ mental
union with poetry.
In addition to personal connection, students can affectively respond to poetry by
identifying with a poem’s speaker. Students are encouraged to imagine they are situated
as the speaker in order to experience the speaker’s delight, horror, surprise, suffering,
despair, or other emotion. Students who earnestly engage in this exercise will eventually
empathize with the speaker.5 The development of empathy allows student to share the
speaker’s ideas and values. While these feelings and thoughts resonate in their minds,
students may produce a valuable, personal insight about the themes of the poem itself
(Dadlez, 1997; Oattley, 2002).
3
4
5
A nonexhaustive list of the elements of poetry includes imagery, figurative language, allusion,
tone, musical devices, rhythm, meter, and pattern (Perrine and Arp, 1992).
Using prior knowledge, background information, and past experiences is an evidence-based
reading comprehension strategy (Pressley, 1998).
Eva-Wood (2008) listed “three levels of engagement” in the process of identifying with the
speaker: “Who is this person? What does this person think and feel? Does this person’s story
reflect common human experiences or my own experiences?” (p. 572).
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
In classroom practices, teachers can first prepare a list of literary properties of a
particular poem. Take Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” for example: Table 2
illustrates the formal analysis of this poem. Following the practice of efferent reading
(i.e., reading for information), this poem’s textual elements are detected, located, and
identified. Such a literary analysis is of particular value for students to appreciate the
poet’s literary craftsmanship. In spite of the importance of formal investigation of a
poem’s literary qualities, teachers should not display this table of efferent-reading
analysis to their students before they are affectively engaged with the poem. The
efferent reading should not override the aesthetic reading or dominate the pedagogical
process.
Table 2
Efferent-Reading Analysis of “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold
Elements of poetry
Text of poem
Theme
Ah, love, let us be true / To one another!
Diction
in the tranquil bay
on a darkling plain
Figurative Language
Metaphor
Simile
the sea meets the moon-blanched land
The Sea of Faith / Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled
the world, which seems / To lie before us like a land of dreams
Tone
the waves / bring / The eternal note of sadness in
Musical Devices
Alliteration
the long line of spray
Consonance
On the French coast the light
Repetition
Begin, and cease, and then again begin
So various, so beautiful, so new, /
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain
Beyond the formal analysis, Table 3 presents a teacher’s model for responding
affectively to poetry. In the demonstration, the teacher’s explicit instructions can help
students understand how to apply these reader-response strategies to more fully
appreciate poems.
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 29
Table 3
Teacher’s Modeling of Affective Responses to “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold
Reading strategies
Protocol
Text of poem
Sensory visualization Teacher: Let’s read the lines The sea is calm tonight,
aloud several times. OK. Here The tide is full, the moon
we go. Hmm, All right. lies fair
Students. Pay attention to the
words rich in sensory details.
Label these words and phrases
as sight, smell, touch, hearing,
etc. The first two lines create a
vivid picture for readers to
witness. A picturesque beach
seems to appear before the
reader.
Teacher: The words “sweet”
and “cadence” appeal to the
senses of smell and hearing.
The sound and smell compose
a sharp and vivid picture of the
night seashore in the mind’s
eye.
Personal connection
Come to the window,
sweet is the night-air!
With tremulous cadence
slow
Teacher: Students, you have to Sophocles long ago
use prior knowledge about Heard it on the Aegean
Sophocles. Have you ever
heard of him? He was a great
playwright of ancient Greece.
His most famous tragedy is
Oedipus the King.
Teacher: Relate this verse to
your experiences in life. This
line definitely evokes the
remembered emotions of the
time you took a walk on the
beach.
/
Listen! You hear the
grating roar / Of pebbles
which the waves draw
back, and fling
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Table 3 (Continued)
Teacher’s Modeling of Affective Responses to “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold
Reading strategies
Protocol
Empathy and
identification (EI)
Who is the
speaker?
Teacher: A man walks on the But now I only hear / Its
beach at night. He is quite melancholy,
long,
sensitive to the surroundings. withdrawing roar
His response to the sound is
not of delight, but of grief.
EI
Teacher: The poem’s speaker
desires for true love. In the
troublesome world nothing is
dependable. To the speaker,
only love is the most valuable
thing, worthy of pursuit.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! For the
world / Hath really neither
joy, nor love, nor light; /
Nor certitude, nor peace,
nor help for pain
Teacher: Since the start of
recorded history, war has
never ceased. Even today
fighting continues as several
wars between nations and
people are ongoing. The
speaker’s sad, sorrowful tone
is understandable. He is in
despair. I can sympathize with
his grief and sadness over the
future of human beings.
Swept
with
confused
alarms of struggle and
flight, / Where ignorant
armies clash by night.
What does the
speaker think
and feel?
EI
Can I
sympathize,
identify with the
speaker?
Text of poem
Teachers should provide students ample opportunity to respond affectively to
poetry; this can be practiced in pairs or small groups. The feel-and-think-aloud strategy
is an effective meta-cognitive method of training students to aesthetically respond to
poetry (Eva-Wood, 2008). Overemphasizing the formal analysis of poems on the basis
of efferent reading is often counterproductive. Such a traditional teaching method might
result in cultivating students’ resistance to poetry. Tapping aesthetic stance into efferent
reading is essential to poetry instruction.
Coordinating Aesthetic Stance and Efferent Reading in Poetry Teaching 31
Guiding Students to a Better Appreciation of Poetry
The ultimate goal of literature instruction in college is “to develop fluent,
independent readers who turn to books for enjoyment and information” (Sloan, 2002, p.
28). If poetry teaching attempts to achieve this goal, teachers should start by fostering
aesthetic reading ability in students. They should be encouraged to aesthetically respond
to poems. In other words, students should learn to glean “a private experience of the
sheer pleasure of being engrossed in another world” of the text (Purves, 2000, p. 212).
In pedagogical practices, teachers should train students to utilize affectively based
reading strategies (e.g., sensory visualization, personal connection, and empathetic
identification). Aesthetically engaging students with poetic texts is indispensable to
poetry teaching. Showalter (2003) stated that “the potential power of teaching poetry
depends on active student engagement with both poetic language and meaning” (p. 69).
By affectionate engagement with text, students can grow an authentic, personal love of
poetry and then can advance to develop their literary criticism and analytical skills. In
this way, students’ abilities of appreciating, interpreting, and evaluating poetry will be a
natural product of literature instruction, rather than the by-product of tiresome drill and
rote learning.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
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Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 35
Problems in Intercultural Communication:
An Inter-University Study on Chinese
Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong,
and Pedagogical Insights
Lee, Fong-King 李芳琼
Associate Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University
香港浸會大學語言中心專任副教授
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 37
Problems in Intercultural Communication:
An Inter-University Study on Chinese
Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong,
and Pedagogical Insights
ABSTRACT
This paper reports on the problems that university students encounter in
intercultural communication outside the classroom, describes how students tackle
problems they encounter during real life intercultural communication and makes
pedagogical recommendations.
Eleven students from eight universities in Hong Kong participated in the study.
Data were collected by means of qualitative self-report entries recording in real life. The
students were asked to describe the occasions during which they used English, reflect
on their use of English during the occasion, and to comment on the extent to which the
university ESL courses had equipped them with the skills to cope with the occasions
described. They were allowed to write freely but some guiding questions were also
provided so that they could have a framework to follow in writing the journal entries.
The students submitted their journals to the researcher through e-mail regularly for one
semester. Clarifications with the students were made, when necessary, through
telephone conversations or e-mails.
The most pressing issue identified from the journal entries is intercultural
communication in which three problems arose, namely following the speaker’s accent
and high delivery speed and the lack of conversation topics. The problems indicate both
the importance of language skills, particularly comprehension skills, and knowledge
about one’s own and other cultures in initiating and sustaining intercultural
communication. The analysis shed some light on the imminent need to strengthen
language skills on the one hand, and intercultural knowledge on the other in current
university English language courses in Hong Kong.
38
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Introduction
Business bodies and the general public in Hong Kong have constantly expressed
their concern about the English standard of local undergraduates for years. Research on
the English capabilities of Hong Kong’s undergraduates dates back to the 1980s. Given
the Hong Kong’s higher education reform that will take place in 2012, universities are
preparing for a new undergraduate program proactively, one of which is the English as a
second language (ESL) curriculum. This paper reports and discusses some real life
intercultural communication problems encountered by Hong Kong’s undergraduates,
based on their records and reflections on their use of English in self-reports. It is hoped
that the discussion of the problems can shed some light on the planning of a new ESL
curriculum in Hong Kong’s universities or elsewhere in which English is learnt and
taught as a second or foreign language.
Background to the study
ESL in Hong Kong’s universities and English language needs
ESL courses that aim to enhance undergraduates’ English proficiency are provided
in the current three-year university education, in spite of the fact that many local
undergraduates have already studied English as a subject for at least 13 years. Surveying
the homepages of Hong Kong’s universities on the Web, it was found that the ESL
courses comprise mainly two types: credit and non-crediting bearing English courses.
The credit-bearing English courses concentrate on (1) English for academic
purposes (EAP) for a specific discipline or target students (e.g., English for Arts,
English for Engineering students), (2) English for specific professional or occupational
purposes (ESP/EOP) (e.g., business negotiations) and (3) generic English (GE)
language skills (e.g., grammar and pronunciation practice). These courses help students
practise their language skills for study, work or the profession in context. Nevertheless,
the duration of study, content and assessment vary according to an individual
university’s or department’s language policy. Some universities or departments list ESL
courses as core compulsory and an exit requirement and require students to study one to
two courses; some list ESL courses as electives and students determine when and what
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 39
to study within their three years of study; and some grant exemptions to individual
students who have reached a proficiency level acceptable to the university’s or
department’s language policy. For instance, in one university, students need to study an
EAP course in the first semester of their first year of study and an EOP course in the
second semester of their second year of study. In another university, all students are
required to study a GE course in the second semester of their first year of study.
Non-credit bearing courses complement the undergraduates’ needs and wants.
Courses such as examination preparation courses and social English, or services such as
writing clinics and self-access learning workshops are of this kind and are offered
throughout the academic year or during summer holidays. All students can register on a
voluntary basis.
Since the 1990s, research on surveying and interviewing Hong Kong’s
undergraduates and teachers on their perceptions and self-evaluation of needs, ability
and proficiency (e.g., Flowerdew & Miller, 1992; Asker, 1995; Littlewood & Liu, 1996,
Bhatia & Candlin, 2001; Yang & Lau, 2003; Jackson, 2005) as well as language
attitudes, strategies and motivation (e.g., Axler, Yang & Stevens, 1998; Lin &
Detaramani, 1998; Ma, 2002; Gan, 2003) have been conducted and pedagogical
recommendations have been made.
Littlewood & Liu (1996) who surveyed first-year undergraduates’ and teachers’
perceptions of their English language proficiency, attitudes towards language learning
and English use inside and outside the classroom showed that a majority of
undergraduates did not have a positive attitude towards learning English, and that their
language ability rating was always slightly higher than their teachers’ ratings. Grammar,
vocabulary, speaking and writing, in particular, were the areas that deserved more work
from students. In a subsequent study, Chan (2001) also surveyed the needs of
undergraduates and teachers at her university by asking them to indicate the level of
importance of a number of sub-skills used for the following: studies, profession, social
and private life. Follow-up interviews were also conducted. Both groups regarded such
activities as reading magazines, periodicals and speaking at seminars and meetings as
important for academic studies, whereas listening and speaking at conferences and
listening on the phone were important for their professions. Additionally, Yang and Lau
(2003) conducted a three-year longitudinal study examining the attitudes of
40
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
undergraduates regarding their English learning by means of questionnaires and
interviews at regular intervals. It was found that the students generally agreed on the
importance of using English as the medium of instruction at university and felt that the
English courses were effective in sharpening their English skills.
In addition to the studies on English for academic purposes, other researchers
focused their attention on English skills for specific purposes. Bhatia & Candlin (2001)
evaluated the extent to which the English requirements for business school and
professional needs were met by the existing English courses and the range of
communicative demands placed on business students. After examining undergraduates’,
employers’ and teachers’ views through questionnaires, focused group interviews and
syllabuses, the researchers recommended offering an EAP programme to all first-year
business students and a genre-based ESP or EOP elective in Year two or three on a
short-intensive, modular basis, or online. In another study by Jackson (2005), 45
business lecturers from five tertiary institutions were interviewed to examine their
perceptions of the linguistic and conceptual problems encountered by Hong Kong’s
undergraduates; Jackson’s findings and pedagogical implications for ESP course design
are also in line with those of Bhatia and Candlin.
Hong Kong’s 2012 higher education reform
In the face of ongoing economic, technological, social and cultural changes, the
Hong Kong Education Commission, a government advisory body on education policy,
submitted a Reform Proposal for the Education System in Hong Kong in September of
2000. The 2000 blueprint outlined a new education system; the new academic structure
of Hong Kong education was then launched with significant impact on all stages of
education, from kindergarten to higher education. The education reform focuses on
seven major areas: curriculum reform, assessment mechanisms, language education, and
support for professional development, student admission systems and an increase in
post-secondary education opportunities. The most drastic aspect of the reform is the
academic structure of senior secondary education from ‘2+2’ to ‘3’ years, and that of
higher education from ‘3’ to ‘4’ years. According to the proposed time schedule, higher
education reform will take place in 2012 with respect to the duration of study,
admission system and content. With the reform of senior secondary education,
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 41
universities should begin taking heed of new developments and adjust the contents of
their undergraduate programmes accordingly. Programme contents, however, have been
left very much in the hands of individual universities in accordance with their missions.
Among the variety of subject curricula, language curriculum is of a concern because of
public demand and the language policy of the government, which aims at producing
students and workers who are both fluent biliterate (in written Chinese and English) and
trilingual (in Cantonese, Putonghua and English) (Education Commission, 2006). Thus,
the education reform provides an unprecedented opportunity for universities to revisit
their programmes and proactively respond to public concern over undergraduates’
English standards.
Needs analysis which is essential for teaching and learning undoubtedly plays an
important role in the ESL curriculum and course design. In fact, the first step for
curriculum designers in developing workable courses is collecting and assessing the
needs, wants and inadequacies of stakeholders through questionnaires, discussions,
interviews, observations and assessment (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998; Hutchison
& Waters, 1996). Given the current education reform initiatives along with past research
on Hong Kong undergraduates’ English standards and needs primarily based on
questionnaires and interviews, a research project that aims to investigate
undergraduates’ needs from multi-perspectives began in 2008, including administering
surveys to stakeholders (undergraduates, graduates, employers and university teachers)
regarding their perceptions of the importance of English language and cultural-related
skills for work, study and daily interactions, conducting follow-up interviews, collecting
and analysing undergraduates’ self-reports on their use of English and related language
problems in real life communication. This paper is based on the data collected from
undergraduates’ self-reports, reporting on their real-life communication problems when
they interacted with native English speakers and other English-speaking counterparts.
The analysis yields some pedagogical insights into the new university ESL curriculum
or courses.
42
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Methodology
Research questions
There were two broad research questions:
1. What are the situations in which English is frequently used by Hong Kong
undergraduates outside the classroom?
2. What are the problems that Hong Kong undergraduates encounter in real life
interactions in English?
Self-reports
The situations in which the undergraduates use English in real life and the
corresponding problems were collected through self-reports. The self-reports allow the
researcher to describe and yield insights into their language learning experiences,
processes and emotional issues that inhibit language learning which are inaccessible
from the researcher’s perspective and quantitative analysis, and to identify patterns or
categories from the data themselves rather than being imposed from the outside
(Mackey & Gass, 2005).
The participants who wrote the self-reports were those recommended by the
members of the research team. Each team member recommended five to six
undergraduates whom they were teaching or had taught before. The students should be
at different years of study and universities, with different majors and were willing to
commit to the project for a semester. A total of fourteen participants who aged between
19 and 22 at different years of study (first, second and third years) and with different
majors (e.g., business, education, Arts, Science etc.) at the eight universities out of the
nine public 1 and private 2 universities in Hong Kong were selected based on the
previous criteria. Then the Research Associate contacted the students by email,
explaining the project objectives and their role and invited them to participate in the
project. Only eleven of them responded to the invitation and finally submitted their
1
2
There are seven public/government-funded universities in Hong Kong.
There are two private university in Hong Kong.
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 43
journals. Although the number of volunteered students was very small and came from a
limited range of disciplines, they had included four first-year students (36.36%), two
second-year students (18.18%) and five third-year students (45.46%), representing
science, social science, arts, humanities and nursing disciplines from the eight
universities. All students met the university English language requirement and had
passed the Use of English paper in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination. Five
of them (45.45%) obtained Grades D-E3 and 6 (54.55%) obtained Grades A-C. Table 1
is a summary of the 11 students’ profiles.
Table 1:
Students’ profiles
Name
Gender
Age
Major
Eng grade
Yr of study
DC
Male
19
Maths
E
1
SL
Female
19
Chinese
E
1
C
Female
19
English
C
1
KY
Male
19
Nursing
C
1
S
Female
19
Physical Education
D
2
Sin
Male
20
Chinese
E
2
CH
Female
21
Chemistry
C
3
E
Female
22
Marketing
B
3
W
Female
22
English
B
3
EV
Female
21
Social Science
A
3
I
Female
21
Logistics
D
3
The purpose of the study was explained to each student and they were asked to
write a three-month journal at self-determined regular intervals, for instance once every
ten days, from mid-January to the end of April in the academic year of 2007-2008.
Some guiding questions and areas for reflections were emailed to them for their
consideration (see Appendix A). They were asked to submit their journals once a week.
The students were advised to (1) write a description of the occasion in which English
was used and (2) reflect on the use of English and the extent to which English language
courses at their university could have prepared them for various communicative
3
Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination is a university entrance examination. All candidates’
results are categorized into five grades, from A to E representing different levels of performance.
Grade A is the highest grade and Grade E is the pass grade.
44
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
purposes. There were contacts with the students by email once a week, encouraging
them to continue the commitment, answering queries and reminding them to follow the
schedule. Only four students were able to follow the schedule; the others submitted their
journals about twice a week. Nevertheless, most of the students followed the suggested
structure and wrote their encounters in detail and in different forms. For instance, one
student illustrated the problems according to their dialogues with English-speaking
counterparts. Each student’s journals were studied carefully and any unclear expressions
or ideas were clarified via email subsequently.
Each student submitted three to 15 journals within three months. Identification and
coding of the situations were made based on the instances described in the written
journals in an inductive manner. A total of 85 journals were received and 99 instances
were identified and coded according to the dominant language skills involved (e.g.,
speaking and listening) and communicative purposes (e.g., study, work and social
interaction). For instance, the instance of seeking advice from a lecturer requires mainly
speaking and listening skills and is used for the study purpose. Identification and coding
were followed by frequency count (see Appendix B).
Results
Research question 1: Situations in which English is used
The 99 instances covered a wide range of situations from study, part-time work,
social interactions to job applications. Grouping the situations according to
communicative purposes, English was used for part-time job (11.11%), private study
(31.31%), leisure (17.17%) and social interaction (40.40%). Noticeably, the speaking
and listening skills for work, study and social purposes stood out, totalling 58 instances
(58.59%). Among the 58 instances, 35 of them were casual chats with English-speaking
counterparts of different social hierarchies on different occasions (see Appendix B, 3.7
for details). The English speakers came from different countries and social hierarchies
and the interactions took place on both formal and informal occasions: American,
British, Irish, Australian, European and Asian English-speaking exchange students,
professors, tutors, maids and visitors in a gathering, at a Rugby competition, in an
exhibition, in a hostel, at an MTR station, a Western restaurant, and so forth.
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 45
Research question 2: Problems encountered by the undergraduates
Examining the instances for a range of communicative purposes, four common
problems which were repeatedly mentioned by the undergraduates in their journals were
identified, regardless of their proficiency level. The following paragraphs summarize
each problem and are supplemented with the students’ written descriptions 4 and
dialogues5 extracted from their journals.
1. Understanding the interlocutor’s accent
The first and most frequently mentioned problem is to understand the interlocutor’s
accent. The English-speaking interlocutors included both native English speakers and
English speakers of other languages. According to the undergraduates’ written accounts,
they found it difficult to follow the interlocutor’s English accent which in return
affected their comprehension of the message. For instance, when E was working as parttime staff for the Hong Kong International Art Fair, she encountered a few Englishspeaking visitors from different countries, each with different accents. She wrote,
‘I spoke to an Australian lady, a Malaysian man, a Korean girl and a British guy and some foreigners
whom I have no idea where they came from. These people spoke with different accents. Frankly, I could
not fully understand what they said immediately because of the accent, and I had to think for three more
seconds to understand their requests.’ (E – Journal 9)
C who is an English major and achieved a good English grade in the university
entrance examination reported the same problem when she interacted with an Australian
professor. Apart from the face-to-face interactions, another student, W, also recorded the
same problem when she was watching a film featuring American film actors and
actresses. She found it difficult to follow their variety of accents and speed of dialogue,
and eventually turned to the Chinese subtitles.
2. Following the speaker’s delivery speed
In addition to accent, the English speaker’s speed of delivery was mentioned. The
phrases ‘s/he spoke too or very fast’ was reported by most students in their journals
4
5
The written descriptions were edited.
The dialogues were slightly edited by adding two symbols – (.) and ( ) to better reflect the
conversation, both of which are based on Jefferson’s transcript symbol (2004). A dot in
parentheses (.) indicates a brief interval within or between utterances. The empty parentheses ( )
indicate that the student was unable to comprehend what was said.
46
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
during both face-to-face interactions and entertainment (see Appendix E for the written
accounts).
A student, S, even illustrated the problem by writing down her dialogues with the
exchange students in the journals. In both situations, S initiated another topic (Line 8 in
situation 1 and Line 5 in situation 2) because she could not understand what the
exchange student said. The empty parentheses6 represent the missing part of the speech.
Situation 1: S met an exchange student (ES) at the lift lobby at her hostel.
1
ES:
You go downstairs?
2
S:
Yes! (He presses the button ‘up’. Then he presses
3
‘down’.) Oh, thank you. I can’t see this.
4
(.)7
5
S:
You are not live in this floor?
6
ES:
No, I live upstairs.
7
S:
You find friends?
8
ES: →
Yes (
9
S:
(lift doors are opened) See you.
10
ES:
See you.’
) (Fingers move like playing piano)
(S – Journal 2)
Situation 2: S had a casual chat with Sa, an exchange student from France at the
lift lobby of the hostel.
1
Sa:
Hi.
2
S:
Hi.
3
Sa:
(press the ‘up’ button) I go upstairs. You?
4
S:
I go to learn piano.
5
Sa: →
Good (
6
S:
(I didn’t know what she said. She spoke quickly) Grade 8
7
Sa:
Oh good.
8
S:
You go to do homework?
9
Sa:
Something about the graphic.
10
S:
I see (.) I go now.’
)
(S – Journal 3)
6
7
Refers to endnote (5).
Refers to endnote (5).
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 47
3. Expressing with the appropriate word and expression
The third problem is limited vocabulary and an inability to retrieve the appropriate
word or expression at the right time. For example, E wrote,
‘As for speaking, I am a bad speaker because I will feel uneasy when I have to speak in English. I
could not explain why my brain processed the language on the interview day successfully. It would be
nice if this “ability” could appear at the right time each time, for instance when I am presenting in
English.’ (E- Journal 8)
Further, S mentioned the vocabulary problem three times in her journals, and all
instances were supported with evidence. In the first instance, she could not retrieve the
phrase ‘rush hour’ while interacting with an Australian fan of Rugby Seven. Instead she
described it as ‘the time that people after work’. She felt nervous when she could not
find the right words (see Appendix C, situation 1). In the second instance, S wanted to
express her anger at an exchange student who frightened her. However, she did not
know the appropriate expression and she just laughed with her friend (see Appendix C,
situation 2). In the third instance, S experienced the same vocabulary problem when
interacting with Alex on another day (see Appendix C, situation 3).
When considering students’ confidence with English vocabulary, it is important to
note that their concept of vocabulary included slangs or colloquial expressions. The lack
of vocabulary was not only a stumbling block for in speaking but also in writing in
intercultural communication. In one of E’s journals, E and her friends planned to travel
to England and Scotland during the summer holidays. E registered and pre-paid for
accommodations at a hostel. Her friend registered a few days later but was charged a
higher rate. Noticing the different rate, E wrote to the hostel arguing against the
additional cost for her friend. Her complaint was not dealt with. One of her friends
wrote back in a strong and angry tone and successfully received a reply saying, ‘Please
don’t get mad.’ Reflecting on this instance, E felt that her failure was caused by an
inappropriate tone and her limited vocabulary.
4. Lacking conversational topics
A lack of conversational topics was also reported by a few students. They ended
their conversations quickly after several short exchanges. In the following extract, SK
said he did not greet the exchange student even though she saw him in the elevator
lobby of the residential hall.
48
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
I did not call him because I don’t know what to say afterwards. (SK, Journal 2)
Discussion
Pedagogical insights
The undergraduates’ major problems which include understanding the Englishspeaking interlocutor’s accent, following their delivery speed and expressing ideas in a
relatively short period of time in real time communication seem to be caused by their
inadequate mastery of the language and language skills. The lack of conversational
topics, however, appears to be a culture-related issue. The four problems are indeed not
uncommon; they are prevalent among ESL learners in intercultural or interpersonal
communication and have been discussed by Byram in his intercultural competence
construct (1997; 2000). Byram’s intercultural competence consists of five elements,
namely attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and
interaction, and critical cultural awareness or political education. The knowledge
element which consists of a broad range of entities, including one’s knowledge of the
language used in intercultural communication such as the knowledge about the accents
of a variety of English, a wide range of vocabulary for expressions and topic of interests
of one’s interlocutors from another culture in conversations, are shown in the paper. The
undergraduates’ ability to comprehend, produce and sustain a conversation is also a
demonstration of their ‘skills of discovery and interaction’ element which refers to the
‘ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to
operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time
communication and interaction’ (Byram, 1997: 52). Initiating a topic concerns the
interlocutor’s ability to acquire new knowledge (that of the English language and topics
of interest, for example). Many undergraduates who have some passive understanding
of other cultures and the English language at the rational level may still lack an active
understanding8 at the experiential level. The lacks, linguistic and experiential, that have
been manifested in the written accounts are not contradictory and should be properly
addressed in the ESL curriculum and courses in Hong Kong’s universities which
8
I borrow ‘passive understanding’ and ‘active understanding’ from Sikkema & Niyekawa-Howard
(1977).
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 49
primarily emphasize skill training for study and work purposes.
There are two possible ways to address the experiential and linguistic lacks. The
first way is to integrate the lacks into the existing GE, EAP, EOP or ESP courses. The
intended outcomes are to raise their knowledge sensitivity and cultural awareness,
anticipate and solve intercultural communication problems in a monolingual and monocultural classroom environment. Teachers can provide relevant knowledge and
examples to dovetail specific course contents and focus, particularly listening to
different accents and delivery speeds in intercultural communication contexts, and
encourage undergraduates to share intercultural communication experiences, if any. The
second way is to offer an independent course on English for intercultural
communication in addition to the EAP or ESP courses. In the course, students can
discuss topics such as (1) relationships between language and culture9, (2) conversation
topics and politeness by culture, and (3) understanding the use of vocabulary and
grammar, accents, delivery speed and even language use for different functions by
people of different cultural backgrounds. They can record, analyze and solve
intercultural communication problems with teachers and peers. Relevant examples and
knowledge of native and non-native English speakers’ accents, salient pronunciation
features and linguistic devices for different speech functions can be reinforced in
context simultaneously. The clear learning and teaching purposes, constant discussion
and anticipation of problems can help undergraduates overcome anxiety in expressing
their views and be more comfortable when interacting with English-speaking
interlocutors in real life communication.
Conclusion
The paper has reported four potential problems of Hong Kong undergraduates in
intercultural communication and has attempted to explain them with reference to
Byram’s intercultural communication construct. The problems have provided some
insights into the way in which a new ESL curriculum or course may proceed. The major
change is to emphasize the intercultural communication element in which relevant skills
such as listening and speaking and vocabulary are practised in context and with a clear
9
‘Culture’ here refers to the concept of culture in general, rather than about a specific culture.
50
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
purpose, and cultural awareness is raised. The more the students are prepared for,
experience and reflect on intercultural encounters, the less their anxiety, frustration and
evasion are. Since the scope of the study was relatively small and the single data
collection method (i.e., self reports) may not be sufficient to make any generalisations,
caution should be exercised when interpreting the data or applying the findings to other
L2 learners elsewhere. To validate the pedagogical recommendation, self-reports can be
supplemented with follow-up interviews. More data can be sought from other
stakeholders including teachers, employers and working graduates.
Acknowledgements
The study is a Public Policy Research project supported by the Research Grants
Council of Hong Kong Government in 2008-2010 (PPR-HKBU-05). I would like to
thank the research team members: Dr. Max Hui-Bon-Hua, project co-investigator for
recommending his students to join the project; and Mr. Victor Ho, Research Associate,
for recommending, contacting and compiling undergraduates’ self-reports.
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 51
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Yang, A. & Lau, L. (2003). Student attitudes to the learning of English at secondary and
tertiary levels. System, 31, 107-123.
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 53
Appendix A: Questions for journal writing
Description of the situation:
1. What was the situation (meeting, casual/working lunch, presentation, seminar,
casual chat, etc.)? When and where did it take place?
2. Who were involved in the situation?
3. What was your role in the situation (gave a presentation on a certain topic,
participated in the conversation, led a discussion, answered a stranger’s question,
wrote a letter/report, etc.)? Please give details about the process.
Appendix B
Dominant language skill(s) and purpose(s)
1. Speaking (for study purpose)
1.1 Oral presentation in front of audience for study
1.2 Oral test (IELTS, computerized test)
1.3 Asking questions in a seminar
Subtotal
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
Listening (for leisure and study purposes)
Watching movies/videos/TV programmes
Listening to radio
Listening to a speech/oral presentation/lecture
Subtotal
Speaking and listening (for study, work and social purposes)
Group discussion (e.g. for study/business)
Interviewing (e.g. job/scholarship/internship/project)
Part-time tutoring
Consulting a vet
Arguing with senior staff in a part-time job
Seeking advice from a lecturer
Casual chat with English-speaking counterparts of different
social hierarchies on different occasions (e.g.
professors/tutors/visitors/exchange students in the
street/lobby/kitchen/a Western restaurant/MTR stations)
3.8 Answering enquiries at an exhibition
3.9 Asking for/showing English speakers direction
Subtotal
Frequency (%)
5 (5.05%)
2 (2.02%)
1 (1.01%)
8 (8.08%)
12 (12.12%)
1 (1.01%)
4 (4.04%)
17 (17.17%)
6 (6.06%)
7 (7.07%)
3 (3.03%)
1 (1.01%)
1 (1.01%)
1 (1.01%)
35 (35.35%)
1 (1.01%)
3 (3.03%)
58 (58.59%)
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
4. Writing (for study and work purposes)
4.1 Writing assignments (e.g. essays, reports)
4.2 Sitting for a written test (e.g. business writing ability
test/company’s selection test)
4.3 Filling out an application form (e.g. joining a political party,
for further study)
4.4 Writing an application letter
4.5 Writing emails (e.g. complaint, argument or reply)
Subtotal
5.
5.1
5.2
5.3
Reading (for leisure purpose)
Reading articles (e.g. journals/magazines for project/essay)
Reading novels
Reading English comics
Subtotal
Total
2 (2.02%)
2 (2.02%)
2 (2.02%)
3 (3.03%)
3 (3.03%)
12 (12.12%)
2 (2.02%)
1 (1.01%)
1 (1.01%)
4 (4.04%)
99 (100%)
Appendix C
More examples on limited vocabulary for expressions
Situation 1: S went to Hong Kong stadium to watch Rugby Seven. On the way to Causeway Bay,
two foreign strangers talked to S. S was answering their questions.
1
A:
Excuse me, how to go Hong Kong Stadium?
2
S:
You go to watch Rugby Seven?
3
A:
Yes.
4
S:
Oh, me too. Let’s go together.
5
A:
Is it also so many people in the street?
6
S:
No because it’s the time that people after work, yet this is a
7
busy region.
8
B:
Oh yes, it’s rush hour.
9
S:
Where do you come from?
10
A:
Australia. And you?
11
S:
I am a local student.
‘I felt nervous as I could not think of the expression rush hour at the right time.’ (S – Journal 6)
Situation 2: Sandy (S’s roommate), S and Alex, an exchange student, are in the hostel’s kitchen.
Alex shouted at their back.
1
Alex:
Wow!
2
Sandy:
Ah (scream)
3
S:
You shock me.
4
(S and Sandy laughed.)
Problems in Intercultural Communication: An Inter-University Study on Chinese Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong, and Pedagogical Insights 55
‘I encountered a big problem on this occasion. I didn’t have any phrase to express my anger. I
did not know the way to express my thoughts. Actually I wanted to say something to punish him.
However I really could not say a word that could express this feeling. We just laughed.’ (S –
Journal 1)
Situation 3: S has a casual chat with Alex.
1
S:
Play basketball?
2
Alex:
Yes.
3
S:
Where?
4
Alex:
(
)10 park.
5
S:
(turn to Ricky) Where is it? (in Cantonese)
6
Ricky:
(answer in Cantonese)
10
The empty parentheses ( ) indicate that the student was unable to comprehend what was said.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 57
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct
Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of
Writing
David Frear
Doctoral Candidate, The University of Auckland
奧克蘭大學應用外語文學系博士候選人
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 59
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct
Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of
Writing
ABSTRACT
The value of written corrective feedback (CF) has been an issue of considerable
debate in the literature (e.g. Truscott, 1996; Ferris, 1999), and this polemic has lead to a
trend in recent studies to draw on second language acquisition (SLA) research as a way
to further comprehend the intricacies of this complex issue. Indeed, Ellis, Sheen
Murakami and Takashima (2008) delineate between focused CF and unfocused CF. For
direct CF, they found that both types of focuses were effective in new pieces of writing,
and that this effect was durable. As only this one study has examined these focuses for
the target form of articles, arguably further research is needed with different target
forms. With this in mind, the study presented here contrasted the effectiveness of
focused direct CF for past tense forms, unfocused direct CF and a control group (no CF)
on the accuracy of student writing. Using mixed between-within ANOVAs, it was
revealed that all three conditions improved in accuracy between two writing tasks;
however, both the focused direct CF and unfocused direct CF groups significantly
outperformed the control group in the second piece of writing.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Operationalizing Key Terminology
Embedded within the abstract are a number of terms that need to be
operationalized prior to reviewing the literature. These included focused CF, unfocused
CF and direct CF. Focused CF entails providing feedback on a small number of
preselected forms while unfocused CF involves giving feedback on all or an array of
errors. Direct CF comprises the crossing out of an error and the provision of its
correction above the error. One can thus have focused direct CF or unfocused direct CF.
Literature Review
There has been a debate in the literature that has questioned the value of CF.
Truscott (1996, p. 328) argued that CF has no place in the second language (L2) writing
class due to the following four reasons:
‘(a) Research evidence shows it to be ineffective; (b) this lack of effectiveness is
exactly what should be expected given the correction process and the nature of
language learning; (c) grammar correction has significantly harmful effects; and (d)
the various arguments for continuing it all lack merit.’
In essence, Truscott was claiming that there was no research evidence to support
the idea that CF can assist with the acquisition of particular forms.
Ferris (1999) agreed with some of these assertions yet argued for the continued use
of CF as students desire to be corrected, subject teachers demand accuracy in students'
writing and L2 learners need to develop that ability to self-edit their errors. She called
for additional research into CF to which Truscott (1999) agreed. After five years of
additional research, however, Ferris (2004) acknowledged that the research base had
failed to provide any conclusive evidence as to the benefits of CF.
These claims about acquisition and CF eventually drew the attention of second
language acquisition (SLA) specialists who began to investigate CF utilizing theories
and concepts from SLA and the more established findings of oral CF. Notably, Ellis,
Sheen, Murakami and Takashima (2008) separated CF into focused and unfocused
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 61
types. By far the majority of research has been unfocused (e.g. Lalande, 1982; Robb,
Ross & Shortreed, 1986; Fathman & Whalley, 1990; Chandler, 2003; Ferris, 2006).
More recently those researchers from an SLA background have begun using focused CF
(e.g. Bitchener, Young & Cameron, 2005; Sheen, 2007; Bitchener & Knoch, 2008).
While there has been this recent interest in focused CF, only one study has
contrasted the effects of focused and unfocused CF. Ellis, Sheen, Murakami and
Takashima (2008) investigated the effectiveness of focused direct CF, unfocused direct
CF and a control group (no CF) on the accuracy of new pieces of writing. Utilizing 49
English as a foreign language (EFL) students at a Japanese university, they adopted a
quasi-experimental design comprised of a pretest-treatment-immediate posttest and a
delayed posttest. The three tests involved picture sequence writing tasks, and they
investigated the English article system for the functions of first mention and anaphoric
reference. They found that the writing for all three conditions improved between the
pretest and the immediate posttest, yet there were group differences in the delayed
posttest. These were between both the focused and unfocused direct CF conditions and
the control group.
As only this one study has contrasted focused and unfocused direct CF for the
English article system, there is obviously a need for further research into these types of
CF with alternate forms. Indeed, it is to fill this gap that the following research question
was devised.
Research Question
What effect does focused and unfocused direct corrective feedback have learners' use
of the past tense in a new piece of writing?
Methodology
Structures
The linguistic structure investigated in this study was the simple past tense. It was
selected on the basis of feedback from teachers currently teaching at the university
where the research was conducted. They acknowledged that the acquisition of this form
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
was varied with some who had mastered it, and others who had not.
The simple past is not functionally complex; however, it does have numerous
forms, so what actually constitutes the simple past needs to be discussed. In general, its
function represents a completed action or state in the past. This function can be
expressed through the use of the past tense copula (was or were), regular verbs (e.g.
walked and talked) and irregular verbs (e.g. went and did). It can be expressed in the
active or the passive voice. A decision was made not to give feedback on the passive
voice. This decision was made on the basis that the passive voice represents a
potentially untreatable sentence structure error (Ferris & Roberts, 2001). In sum, the
forms of the simple past for this study comprised the past tense copula verbs, irregular
verbs and regular verbs, all of which were in the active voice.
Population and sample
This population for this study was university-level Chinese learners of English in
Taiwan. In this context, classes are organized on the basis of the major of the students,
and they stay in these classes for all the subjects that they are required to take for the
duration of their undergraduate study. The sample was taken from one sophomore class
that majored in computer science industrial engineering, a sophomore class of
information telecommunication engineering students and a junior-year class of business
management majors. This way of organizing classes meant that there was a range of
proficiency in the classes, yet the vast majority could be classified as being at an
intermediate level.
A questionnaire investigated general background information on the participants.
The ages of the participants were between 19 and 21 years of age, who had on average
been studying English for around 10 years and 65% were male while 35% were female.
This study represented part of a larger pilot study investigating CF and acquisition,
and the sample used for this part of that research included 106 students who completed
the initial piece of writing. However, at the completion the second writing task, only 91
were included in the study. While this would appear to be an extreme mortality rate,
there are some legitimate reasons for this reduction in the number of participants. First
of all, some of the learners failed to provide at least two obligatory occasion analyses,
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 63
and they were removed from the study. Other students only attended one of the two
episodes of data collection or arrived to class late so they too were not included. Finally,
if a participant obtained a 90% obligatory occasion analysis score for the first piece of
writing, they were deemed to have acquired the target form, and they also were cut from
the sample. This 90% score is a criterion that is used to identify whether or not someone
has acquired a particular form (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005).
The participants were randomly and equally assigned to one of the three groups
following the completion of the first writing task. After removing learners due to the
aforementioned reasons, there were 30 in the focused direct CF group, 30 in the
unfocused direct CF one and 31 in the control.
Design
Using the two CF conditions and the control group, the design was quasiexperimental. The following represent the three experimental conditions:
1. Unfocused direct CF
This entailed providing the correct form for all linguistic errors by crossing out the
errors and writing the correct forms above the errors.
I walk hame yesterday and eat a breakfasts.
walked home
ate
I walk hame yesterday and eat a breakfasts.
breakfast
2. Focused direct CF
Focused direct CF involved crossing out only the target form and providing the
correct form solely for these errors.
I walk hame yesterday and eat a breakfasts.
walked
ate
I walk hame yesterday and eat a breakfasts.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
3. Control
The control group had no CF and were required to undertake conversation tasks
designed to enhance fluency.
With the exception of the control group, which completed the writing tasks and
conversation tasks, each of the two CF conditions followed the pilot’s structure as
presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The Design of the Pilot Study
Task 1 (writing task) → Corrective Feedback → Task 2 (writing task)
Instruments
There were two types of instruments used to collect the data: a questionnaire and
two writing tasks. The questionnaire was designed to collect the participants’
background data including age, gender, field of study, years of studying English and
average hours studying English per week before university and during university.
The writing tasks doubled as both the tests and the means for eliciting a writing
sample to which CF and revision were provided. Each task included instructions in
English and the following materials within a task package: a text; pictures that
corresponded to the content of the text; a sheet with a rectangular box in which to write
key words; a lined piece of paper that had the first sentence of the text written on it for
rewriting the text. The text comprised a narrative genre in the form of a fictional
newspaper article reporting on an event unique to the Taiwanese context. In order to
ensure the texts were not too difficult, the verbs used in the text were selected from the
General Service List.
There were two narrative tasks designed by the researcher, both of which had six
pictures that corresponded to their content. The stories were told from the perspective of
a policeman who reported on the events. “A Landslide in Nantou” reported the events
surrounding a woman being trapped in her house following a landslide. “The Lost Bag”
recounted the events of a woman who lost her bag at the Shi Lin Night Market.
These tasks were designed by the researcher, so a number of procedures were
employed to ensure that they were both as authentic as possible, and that they elicited
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 65
the target structure. The texts were first given to two experienced ESOL tutors at
Auckland University, and their feedback was used to enhance their authenticity. Prior to
the implementation of the pilot study, four different writing tasks were given to a class
of 31 students at the same university in Taiwan. This was done so as to ascertain
whether the writing tasks elicited sufficient obligatory occasions. This trial was
successful in eliciting the simple past forms.
However, the trial brought to the attention of the researcher a problem with the
procedures used for their implementation. The design of the tasks required the teacher to
read the text to the students, and this limited the ability to counterbalance the tasks.
Counterbalancing involves splitting the tasks equally within a class so as to remove the
influence of varying degrees of difficulty. A decision was made to counterbalance the
classes rather than tasks. That is, each of the three classes had the three experimental
conditions, yet each class had different writing tasks.
Procedures
There were a series of different procedures applied for the writing tasks and CF
sessions.
A.Writing tasks
The procedure for completing the writing tasks was as follows:
1. The participants were given the task package including the aforementioned
materials.
2. They were informed that they had to rewrite a text based on a narrative text
provided.
3. They were instructed to read the text once and underline any unknown
vocabulary.
4. The students were put into groups of four and asked to discuss any unknown
vocabulary.
5. Any vocabulary that the students did not know was explained by the teacher.
6. The students read the narrative again.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
7. The narrative text was collected by the teacher.
8. The narrative was then to be read to the students twice during which the
students noted down important words on the page designed for these key words.
9. The students then compared key words with a partner and added any new ones
to their list.
10.The participants were told that they could use the pictures and the key words to
rewrite the text, and that they should double space their writing.
11.The completed writing task was collected.
B. Corrective feedback sessions
The CF sessions involved the following procedures for direct CF and the control
group:
1. Direct CF
a. The students were returned their corrected texts.
b. They were asked to study the corrections for five minutes.
c. The teacher did not give any further comment on the corrections.
d. The corrected texts were collected.
2. Control
a. The control group was given fluency conversation tasks to complete in pairs.
Data collection
The data was collected over a three week period as presented in Table 1. It
involved a trial of the tasks, the completion of a background questionnaire and the
signing of ethics approval documents. Additionally, the two tasks were completed and a
CF session carried out.
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 67
Table 1: Data Collection Schedule for the Study
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Trial
Tasks
Background
questionnaire
CF session
Ethics approval
Task 1
Task 2
Data analysis
The data analyses of the writing tasks involved tests for reliability, the use of
obligatory occasion analysis and the subsequent statistical analysis of these data through
SPSS version 16 so as to address the research question.
The obligatory occasion analyses were subject to a test of reliability. This
comprised a second scoring of the data two months after the initial scoring by the
researcher. Forty texts were randomly selected from the pretest across the three
experimental groups. An intra-rater reliability score of r = .995 was calculated using a
Pearson Product Moment Correlation.
The type of obligatory occasion analysis chosen for this study was Pica’s (1983)
Target-Like Use Analysis (TLU), which takes into consideration the overuse of a
particular form. Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005) provide the following formula for TLU:
n correct suppliances in contexts
──────────────── x 100
n obligatory occasions + n suppliance
in non-obligatory contexts
In the process of scoring simple past tense forms to be applied to TLU, however,
two scoring issues were raised. The first related to errors in obligatory contexts. If a
student provided a correct past tense irregular verb form but the meaning was wrong,
for example, it was coded as an obligatory occasion but not a correct suppliance. The
second coding issue related to missing verbs. If a sentence had a verb missing and the
context established that a simple past tense form was needed, it was coded as an
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
obligatory occasion but not a correct suppliance. On the other hand, if a verb was
missing but there were a variety of possible past tense forms that could be used (e.g. the
past progressive tense or the past perfect tense), it was neither coded as an obligatory
occasion nor an incorrect suppliance.
Following the scoring of the TLU, these data were subject to a variety of statistical
analyses to address the research question. A one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey
was first of all conducted on the scores from task 1. The scores for tasks 1 and 2
underwent a mixed between-within ANOVA (three groups x two times).
Results
Table 2 provides the descriptive statistics for task one and task two. All the mean
scores increased for all three groups between the two episodes of writing. A one-way
ANOVA of writing task 1 revealed no significant differences between the three
conditions (F (2, 88) = 1.83, p =.17). There was no effect of significance for the timegroup interaction (F (2, 88) = 2.07, p =.13); however, there were for group (F (2, 88) =
4.06, p =.001) and for time (F (2, 88) = 83.85, p =.001).
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for the Effect of Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of
Writing
Corrective Feedback
n
Task 1
Task 2
M
SD
M
SD
Focused Direct
30
38.93
27.15
63.35
18.70
Unfocused Direct
30
29.85
22.44
60.29
23.83
Control
31
27.32
24.82
44.70
27.93
Discussion
The research question investigated the effect of focused and unfocused direct CF
on a new piece of writing. Between task one and task two, the two types of CF were
applied while the control group completed a conversation task. The results revealed that
the writing for all three conditions significantly improved in accuracy between the two
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 69
times. There were also group differences between the groups and post hoc analyses
revealed that these were between both the focused and unfocused direct CF conditions
and the control group.
Thus, the writing process alone would appear to result in improvements in the
accuracy of the participants' writing as claimed by Truscott (1996); however, both
focused direct CF and unfocused direct CF resulted in considerably more accurate
writing. Of course, there is also the possibility that the control group may have become
aware of the form, a situation that could have influenced the results.
What is surprising about the findings is that there were no differences between the
focused and unfocused direct CF. One would expect that focused CF would result in
more accurate writing. Ellis, Sheen, Murakami and Takashima (2003) had the same
result in their delayed posttest, and they suggest a possible reason for this being related
to the degree of focus. In other words, the two focuses might better be described as
focused and less focused rather than focused and unfocused. An analysis of the types of
error that the participants made in the unfocused group would be able to provide an
insight into the extent of how focused the unfocused condition actually was.
Conclusion
The study was not without its limitations, however. Perhaps the greatest problem is
that there was no delayed posttest, so no assertions can be made about the long-term
benefits, or otherwise, of the three conditions. The issue of counterbalancing is another
concern. The decision to counterbalance the classes rather than the tasks increased the
chances of the participants in the control group becoming aware of the target structure,
hence influencing the results of, in particular, the control group.
As for the pedagogic implications of this study, the limitations hinder its
generalizability so little can be definitively stated. However, as the findings are similar
to those of the only other study that has investigated focused and unfocused CF, the
inclusion of focused and unfocused direct CF in EFL writing classrooms may well be
justified. Repeating this study under more robust conditions would provide a better
understanding of the focus of feedback.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
References
Bitchener, J., and Knoch, U., (2008). The value of written corrective feedback for
migrant and international students. Language Teaching Research, 12, 409-431.
Bitchener, J., Young, S., and Cameron, D. (2005). The effect of different types of
corrective feedback on ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language
Writing, 9, 227-258.
Ellis, R., and Barkhuizen, G. (2005). Analysing Learner Language. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Ellis, R., Sheen, Y., Murakami, M., and Takashima, H. (2008). The effects of focused
and unfocused written corrective feedback on Japanese university students’ use
of English articles in narratives. System. 36 353-371.
Fathman, A., and Whalley, E. (1990). Teacher response to student writing: Focus on
form versus content. In B. Kroll (Ed.), Second language writing: Research
insights for the classroom (pp. 178-190). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Ferris, D. (1999). The case for grammar correction in L2 writing classes: A response to
Truscott (1996). Journal of Second Language Writing, 8, 1-11.
Ferris, D. (2004). The grammar correction debate in L2 writing: Where are we and
where do we go from here? (and what do we do in the meantime…?). Journal of
Second Language Writing, 13, 49-62.
Lalande, J. F. (1982). Reducing composition errors: An experiment. Modern Language
Journal, 66, 140-49.
Pica, T. (1983). Adult acquisition of English as a second language under different
conditions of exposure. Language Learning, 33, 465-49.
Robb, T., Ross, S., and Shortreed, I. (1986). Salience of feedback on error and its effect
on EFL writing quality. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 83-93.
Sheen, Y. (2007). The effect of focused written corrective feedback and language
aptitude on ESL learners’ acquisition of articles. TESOL Quarterly, 41, 255-283.
The Effect of Focused and Unfocused Direct Written Corrective Feedback on a New Piece of Writing 71
Truscott, J. (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes.
Language Learning, 46, 327-69.
Truscott, J. (1999). The case for grammar correction in L2 writing classes: A response
to Ferris. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8, 111-22.
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Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 73
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own
Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or
Debilitative?
Pong, Ken-Hung 潘根鴻
Instructor, China University of Technology
中國科技大學應用英語系專任講師
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 75
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own
Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or
Debilitative?
ABSTRACT
In recent years there have been numerous studies on anxiety, particularly anxiety
and its relationship to motivation. However, very little research has been done with
respect to anxiety in public speaking courses EFL learners. If public speaking often
brings about a high level of anxiety for those speaking in their L1, for EFL learners the
anxiety may be compounded by the awareness of their limited language proficiency as
well as their very limited opportunity to practice public speaking. Yet, public speaking
courses may be required if English language is their major area of study. As a result,
EFL learners may often feel an overwhelming amount of anxiety, to the point of
becoming debilitative.
Horwitz and Young (1991) explained that there are primarily two types of anxiety:
facilitative and debilitative. Facilitative anxiety motivates the student to “fight” the new
learning task and prepares the student emotionally to approach the learning task as a
challenge. On the other hand, debilitative anxiety motivates the student to “flee” the
new learning task and stimulates the individual to adopt avoidance behavior.
MacIntypre, Noels, and Clement (1997) found that those with high anxiety seemed to be
in a viciously debilitative cycle, where high anxiety led to lower participation, which led
to even greater anxiety, and hence even lower participation.
The participants are 32 third-year college students in Taiwan with all learners at
the low-intermediate to intermediate-level proficiency. They are all English language
majors at a university of technology located in a rural section of northern Taiwan, and
all were enrolled in a required two-semester course on public speaking and presentation
in English. In order to study EFL learners’ perceptions of the role of anxiety in their
public speaking course to find ways to help students to best cope with such anxiety,
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
journal writings and surveys were designed to address the following research questions:
I.
Do learners experience facilitative or debilitative anxiety with regard to the
notion of posting their own delivered speeches on Youtube.com?
II. Of the major themes that emerge from the learners’ journal responses, to what
extent does anxiety interrelate with these themes?
III. Do highly desired student activities yield minimal anxiety and why?
This study provides evidence that for low-intermediate to intermediate proficiency
EFL learners in a public speaking course, the issue of anxiety is particularly relevant.
As this study shows, these learners are willing to put up with moderate to substantial
level of anxiety in more than a few instances if they perceive the activity to be of great
value. That is, even though anxiety may be unavoidable for many students, if activities
selected are those that students regard as highly beneficial, useful, or practical, students
may go as far as to want those types of activities despite the significant level of anxiety
that it may induce, rationalizing that the gains from such activities outweigh the anxiety
costs. Thus, major emphasis should be placed on the interest level of a particular
activity in preparation for a major goal such as posting a well-prepared video of oneself
on Youtube.com. The challenge is for the instructor to create the necessary learning
environment that will enable learners to channel that anxiety into a facilitative instead of
debilitative form.
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 77
Introduction
In recent years there have been numerous studies on anxiety, particularly anxiety
and its relationship to motivation. However, little research has been done with respect to
anxiety in public speaking courses for learners of English as a foreign language. If
public speaking often brings about a high level of anxiety for those speaking in their
native language, for EFL learners the anxiety may be compounded by the awareness of
their limited language proficiency. The very limited opportunity to practice public
speaking in an EFL environment only adds to the problem. Yet, for many of these
students, public speaking courses may be a required course if English language is their
major area of study. The consequence is that in these public speaking courses EFL
learners may often feel an overwhelming amount of anxiety, to the point of becoming
debilitative. This article presents a qualitative study of one class of 32 EFL college
students of low-intermediate proficiency level and their reactions towards the notion of
posting their speeches on Youtube.com as well as suggestions for course modification.
Implications for the foreign language teacher are suggested.
Literature Review
Public speaking: the most feared of all?
Anxiety is defined as a state of uneasiness and apprehension or fear caused by the
anticipation of something threatening (Oxford, 1993). Oxford notes that speaking in
front of others is often the most anxiety-provoking of all, that many teachers have
observed students who exhibit extreme anxiety when they are required to use the new
language in activities such as oral reports, role-plays, or speaking tests.
Research on anxiety has ranked public speaking among the most feared
experience, in some instances above death, heights, and flying (Wallechinsky, Wallace,
and Wallace, 1978). Gardner (1991a) confirmed that speaking is by far the most anxiety
provoking of all for L2 learners. MacIntyre (1998) would agree, contending that language
learning provokes a traumatic reaction in some individuals. Therefore, MacIntyre notes that
Young’s (1991) findings that some teachers feel it necessary to induce anxiety in order to
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stimulate learning means that such principles inevitably lead to severe anxiety reactions
amongst students.
Reviews of apprehension surrounding public speaking reveal numerous
contributing factors. These include perceived skill deficiency, fear of evaluation,
audience scrutiny, lack of experience in public speaking situations, poor preparation, a
low level of self-esteem, and below-average abilities and achievement, and even genetic
predisposition. (Bippus & Daly, 1999; Pearson, Dewitt, Child, Kahl, and Dandamudi,
2007). Other studies (Cao & Philp 2006) have focused on students’ willingness to
communicate (WTC), finding that a number of factors were perceived by learners to
influence WTC behavior in class: the group size, familiarity with interlocutor(s),
interlocutor(s)’ participation, familiarity with topics under discussion, self-confidence,
medium of communication and cultural background.
Speaking in a foreign language often generates additional anxiety due to the need
to pronounce, and learners often feel insecure or inadequate about their pronunciation
accuracy. Shams (2006) noted that foreign language learners attach great importance to
their own pronunciation, often resulting in anxiety. In her study, the learners were able
to reduce their anxiety through the use of computerized pronunciation practice.
Kimura studied affective factors of Japanese EFL learners at a junior college in
oral communication tasks and found that, in general, easier tasks are less anxietyprovoking than more challenging tasks, and that pair work also helped to reduce
anxiety. Rojo-Laurilla’s research on maritime students in the Philippines showed that
students who are aware of their strengths and weaknesses in communication tend to not
only improve in subsequent communication based activities, but also were able to
reduce their anxiety.
Anxiety: facilitative or debilitative?
Horwitz and Young (1991) explained that there are primarily two types of anxiety:
facilitative and debilitative. Facilitative anxiety motivates the student to “fight” the new
learning task and prepares the student emotionally to approach the learning task as a
challenge. On the other hand, debilitative anxiety motivates the student to “flee” the
new learning task and stimulates the individual emotionally to adopt avoidance
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 79
behavior. There are often situations where anxiety becomes debilitative. MacIntypre,
Noels, and Clement (1997) researched biases in foreign language learners’ self-ratings,
and found that anxious students tended to underestimate their competence relative to
less anxious students, who tended to overestimate their competence. They found that
those with high anxiety seemed to be in a vicious cycle, where high anxiety led to lower
participation, which led to even greater anxiety, and hence even lower participation.
Feigenbaum (2007) showed that frequent occurrences of debilitating anxiety results
from speaking to the teacher and large numbers of peers directly. Cheng (2005) studied
the fear of evaluation by peers and instructors with respect to oral performance and
found that the greater the fear of evaluation, the lower the level of achievement.
Similarly, Yurong & Nan (2008) studied the effects of affective factors on oral English
fluency of college students in China and found that high anxiety negatively correlated
with oral achievement while self-esteem positively correlated.
Negative impact of debilitative anxiety
Studies on the impact of anxiety on second or foreign language learners have
repeatedly confirmed through qualitative (Yan & Horwitz 2008) as well as quantitative
investigations findings on the negative impact of anxiety on second language
achievement (see. e.g., Aida, 1994; Horwitz et al., 1986; Liu, 1989; MacIntyre &
Gardner, 1989, 1991; Phillips, 1992; Saito & Samimy, 1996). Yan’s study employed a
qualitative approach to examine learners' perceptions of relationships between the
origins and consequences of anxiety in their language learning, and they found that
personal issues strongly influence anxiety. Yan & Horwitz noticed that motivation also
seemed to play a role in affecting anxiety. Thus, they recommended that further
research be directed towards understanding the relationship between motivation and
anxiety in language learning, with emphasis on personal and sociocultural factors
associated with language learning, because interactions between “personal variables
related to language learning will take different forms in different contextual settings.”
That personal issues strongly influence anxiety corroborates with Spielmann &
Radnofsky’s (2001) finding that students prefer focusing on what’s relevant to them
rather than on the difficulty of the task. That is, high relevance in the eyes of students
may go a long way towards reducing anxiety.
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Yang’s (1999) studied learners' beliefs and found that those beliefs were closely
linked to learners’ use of formal oral-practice strategies, suggesting a cyclical
relationship between learners' beliefs and strategy use. That is, that which they believed
affected their strategies, which in turn confirmed their beliefs. However, Yang’s
research did not delve into whether the strategies were successful in reducing anxiety.
Merritt, Richards, and Davis (2001) aimed to assess whether a specific training program
in vocal and physical skills could reduce the level of perceived performance anxiety.
Results indicated that the particular vocal and physical skills training program used
showed positive results in effectively reducing the level of perceived performance
anxiety.
Liu’s (2006) research on Chinese EFL students revealed that most students would
become very nervous when doing oral presentations, particularly the lower-proficiency
ones, and especially when they were singled out to speak English in class. They felt the
least anxious during pair work, and with increasingly greater exposure to oral English,
the students gradually felt less anxious about using the target language. Daubney (2002)
found that academic and social evaluation contribute to anxiety. Daubney asserts that
anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning
process, noting that anxiety is associated with negative feelings such as uneasiness,
frustration, self-doubt, apprehension and tension.
Is there such a thing as “facilitative” anxiety?
According to Gardner and MacIntyre (1991), the use of affective learning
strategies help reduce the level of language anxiety, freeing up cognitive resources to be
applied to the use of cognitive strategies. Furthermore, affective variables are probably
more powerful in influencing strategy use than intelligence and aptitude. Poza’s (2005)
research showed that when free from the time constrains of the classroom, coupled with
the absence of the instructor and peers, learners showed an increase in the amount of
risk-taking in terms of saying something that they were not sure about. Poza attributes
this willingness to take risks to the reduction of fear of negative evaluation. That is, the
absence of the instructor and peers helped to reduce anxiety. By having more time to
prepare their answers and record their contributions as many times as they needed,
enabling learners to record only the best version, anxiety was greatly reduced. The
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 81
capability of putting forth the best version available, thereby bringing about the results
that one wants and hence reducing anxiety as a result, was confirmed in Huang’s (2005)
study. Huang’s research showed that self-efficacy was the single most important
variable for increasing motivation while decreasing anxiety.
Interventions to help manage public speaking anxiety of learners often focus on
lowering anxiety and increasing perceived competence. Ayres et al. (1995) reported that
the public speaking anxiety of at-risk students lessened after exposure to a videotape
intervention designed to reduce speech anxiety. Chesebro et al. (1992) suggested that
teachers direct their attention to reducing levels of anxiety by increasing student selfesteem, especially in the area of communication competence. The result has been a
plethora of research on strategies for coping, such as PAVES (Posture, Attitude, Voice,
Eye Contact, Smile) (Combes et al. 2008). Other studies have focused on managing
presentation anxiety through techniques such as acknowledging presentation fears,
practice sessions, peer evaluations, videotaped examples of effective presentations, and
class discussions (Hartman & LeMay 2004).
Ohata (2005) compared the teachers’ perspectives on language anxiety with those
of students and found that while many teachers believed in facilitative anxiety, the vast
majority of students felt that anxiety was debilitative. Krashen contended that there is
nothing facilitative about anxiety in language acquisition, but that “helpful” anxiety
might exist for performing language tasks (Arnold 1999) (p. 62). Chen (2000)
researched Toastmasters members and compiled a list of advice on reducing public
speaking anxiety including practicing often, developing a positive learning
environment, creating student-leadership responsibilities, etc. Although such advice
directly targets EFL learners of public speaking, what was not reported was the
applicability of such advice to lower-proficiency EFL learners. More recently, Na
(2007) proposed that teachers should take measures to reduce anxiety, but not
completely eliminate it. That is, Na believes that adequate anxiety plays a facilitative role
and can motivate students to maintain their efforts on learning. Therefore, the teachers’ real
job is to help students keep adequate anxiety, neither too high nor too low. The issue thus
remains: should foreign language teachers focus on “adequate” anxiety, on reducing anxiety
as much as possible, or something else when it comes to teaching public speaking? Arnold
notes that “the jury is still out” concerning the existence of helpful anxiety (p. 62).
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Research Questions
In order to study EFL learners’ perceptions of the role of anxiety in their public
speaking course, journal writings and surveys were designed to address the following
research questions:
I.
Do learners experience facilitative or debilitative anxiety with regard to the
notion of posting their own delivered speeches on Youtube.com?
II. From the learners’ journal responses regarding anxiety, are there themes that
emerge?
III. What is the relationship between learners’ suggestions and anxiety?
To address these questions, the researcher applied a grounded-theory analysis.
Grounded-theory analysis was developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) to derive
meaningful categories in data-based qualitative studies. Grounded theory is defined by
Strauss and Corbin as “a general methodology for developing theory that is grounded in
data systematically gathered and analyzed” (p.158). Grounded-theory analysis was
chosen as the approach for this study because this study sought to identify factors that
served as impetus for becoming more diligent while gauging the level of anxiety
induced by each factor. Thus, it was important to select an approach that could
systematically incorporate all of the learners and their comments to gain a more
thorough perspective.
Method
Participants
The participants are 32 third-year college students in Taiwan with all learners at
the low-intermediate to intermediate-level proficiency (as measured by online
simulation General English Proficiency Tests). They are all English language majors at
a university of technology located in a rural section of northern Taiwan, and all were
enrolled in a required two-semester course on public speaking and presentation in
English. Of the 32 students, 27 were female and 5 were male. The participants’ age
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 83
range was from 20 to 23 years and had studied English for at least six years in grade
school before entering university, although none of them had enrolled in English
language courses extensively during grade school. Since the instructor was previously
the faculty advisor to this group of learners (for the past two years), the instructor
understood that the vast majority of students came from middle to lower-middle class
socio-economic background, with nearly all of them receiving some type of financial
aid to cover their tuition and expenses.
The instructor for the public speaking course was a Taiwanese-American who
grew up in New York and whose native language was English, having received his
entire education in the USA. The instructor had already known the students for nearly
2.5 years, having taught the learners every semester throughout this time period. Based
on prior experience with this group of students, the instructor perceived these learners to
be highly willing to learn, yet with concomitant poor learning habits as well as a deeplyrooted sense of insecurity about their potential for making great progress in learning the
English language. The instructor’s attitude towards the learners in this public speaking
course was one of being as flexible as possible in supporting students’ needs whilst
being insistent that they post their speeches on youtube.com. In other words, the goal
was not to be modified, but the process was up for negotiation.
Data collection procedure
The public speaking course began with the instructor informing students early on
in the semester that they would be preparing their own speeches for posting on
Youtube.com as part of their final exam project. The instructor initially assigned the
topic, “Why Taiwanese People Generally Dislike Mainland Products” as the standard
topic for students to work on, and this was later modified to an optional “Why Do
People Like or Dislike Products from Certain Countries” as a result of student request.
Throughout the first half of the semester, the class focused on learning phrases
commonly used in formal public speaking, with practice sessions that required the use
of those phrases and included peer evaluation and videoing.
During the middle of the first semester, students were asked to write in their first of
two journal entries. The first entry asked learners to reflect on their thoughts of posting
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on Youtube.com, whether this goal would prompted them to work harder, as well as any
suggestions they might have for videoing and evaluating their speeches. The reason for
waiting until November was to see how students would feel after having experienced
some practice and preparation in their speech-making process, so that they would have
concrete experience to reflect upon, which the instructor felt would more accurately
reflect their true feelings as opposed to unsubstantiated fears.
Towards the end of the 1st semester, learners were asked to record a second journal
entry to provide detailed reflections on that 1st semester as well as suggestions for the
2nd semester of this public speaking course. To elicit detailed suggestions, the instructor
provided examples by asking learners to also offer suggestions for videoing and peerevaluating, both of which were conducted during the first semester. However, learners’
responses were not limited to the aforementioned examples cited by the instructor.
Students were also encouraged to reflect upon and write on any other thoughts
pertaining to this public speaking course. Students were given approximately twenty
minutes to write in their journals each of the two times and were free to write in their
native language (Chinese), in English, or both. This time period for writing was
determined by seeing how many students had finished writing their journal entries. The
instructor waited until at least 80 percent of the students were finished writing before
wrapping up the journal writing exercise. The journal writing was semi-structured.
Specifically, the instructor asked them to write about their thoughts of posting their own
speeches on Youtube.com and any other thoughts related to this course. The use of the
data from their journal writings for this research project was approved by the entire
class. The resulting responses helped to address the first research question, that is, do
learners experience facilitative or debilitative anxiety with regard to the notion of
posting their own delivered speeches on Youtube.com?
Despite the original intention of analyzing the journal responses, the wide diversity
of responses within the same class with regard to desired teaching techniques and
classroom activities led the researcher to conclude that administering a survey based on
the learners’ collective ideas was needed to see the relative percentage of students who
preferred a specific activity. The researcher subsequently compiled a list of activities
and techniques in a survey form for the students to anonymously complete at the end of
the first semester. The reason for anonymity was to ensure that students felt comfortable
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 85
about being honest in their responses, in contrast to journal writings, where the
instructor knows exactly who the writer was. The survey asked learners to rank the level
of anxiety different activities induce as well as to rank their preference for those
activities. These survey responses served to help answer the second research question,
which is to determine the anxiety levels experienced amongst the most preferred courserelated activities. The benefit of administering this survey at the end of the first semester
was that learners had undergone some of the activities listed on the survey and had a
reasonably clear idea of what it was like to perform public speaking, and therefore were
presumably responding based on some prior practical experience as opposed to pure
speculation as to the desirability of the activities.
Data Analysis
Applying the first level of the grounded theory involved a thematic analysis of data
from their journal entries. The purpose of using thematic analysis techniques was
“finding and marking the underlying ideas in the data, grouping similar information
together, and relating different ideas and themes to one another” (Rubin & Rubin, 1995,
p. 229). The researcher read the journals responses regarding Youtube.com, translated
the Chinese comments into English as precisely as possible, and then summarized and
coded the responses into one of three following basic categories: (a) Emphatic “yes”
(Want to be posted on Youtube.com); (b) Conditional “yes” (“Yes”, but only if…); and
(c) “No”. This coding process helped to answer the first research question, as to whether
or not anxiety developed from the notion of posting on Youtube.com was facilitative or
debilitative, and the proffered reasons.
The second level of applying the grounded theory involved further organizing the
journal responses into clusters of major themes. The third and final level involved
determining interrelationships between those thematic clusters. This served to answer
the second research question as to what extent anxiety interrelates with these themes.
Journal entries from both the first and second journal entries offered widely
divergent viewpoints as to the process of preparing their speeches (both written and oral
aspects). Learners themselves had many points of disagreements. This prompted the
researcher to identify patterns of suggestions emerging from their responses. The
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researcher sifted through the journal entries to develop a survey to determine anxiety
levels associated with suggestions which were all offered by the learners. Also, from
this survey the researcher sought to determine whether interrelationships existed
between anxiety and learners’ suggestions for the course as well as interrelationships
amongst the suggestions themselves (the third research question). A list of suggestions
was compiled and organized into a survey in learners’ L1. This survey was then
distributed to learners to be completed anonymously. The survey asked that they rate
each of the collective suggestions in terms of the amount of anxiety induced by that
particular suggestion, ranking from 1 to 5 (1 = least anxiety, 5 = greatest anxiety), as
well as the desirability of those suggestions from 1 to 3 (1 = highly preferred, 3 = least
preferred). The survey responses were then read and analyzed by the researcher to
determine the extent to which the listed activities or techniques were anxiety provoking,
and to what extent they preferred those activities.
Results
Journal entries
The results from preliminary coding of learners’ responses with regard to posting
speeches on Youtube.com revealed 11 of whom approved with little or no hesitation,
another 14 of whom approved but with substantial reservations about the process of
preparation, and the remaining 7 of whom disapproved of the idea almost vehemently.
However, these figures do little justice to feelings and thoughts of the learners, so the
researcher sought to identify major themes that emerged. The researcher identified eight
major themes emerged from all the journal comments on the application of
Youtube.com as well as overall course design. The themes are listed here, but not in any
particular order:
1) Choice of topic: Comments referred to the extent of suitable of a given topic.
2) Pronunciation: Comments on whether others will understand them.
3) Writing: Comments on capability to write in English.
4) Developing courage: Comments on courage to post their speeches on
Youtube.com.
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 87
5) Global dialogue: Comments on dialogue with online viewers of their speeches.
6) Shyness: Comments on shyness; fear of being verbally attacked; losing “face.”
7) Impetus for preparing well: Comments on extent of motivation.
8) Respect for learners: Comments on extent to which learners feel respected.
Theme1: Choice of topic
This first theme identified by the grounded theory analysis was somewhat
surprising to the instructor because all along the instructor had believed that a
controversial topic would invite the greatest amount of dialogue on the Internet which
would presumably lead to truly authentic exchange of ideas on a global level. However,
several learners had reservations:
We are just students. I think we shouldn’t announce our views regarding
problems between China and Taiwan at this critical period when all the news and
politics are a mess.
Other learners offered suggestions for modification:
I have to say, the topic is too serious. I think we can change the topic. We can
talk about something like “What will USA be like after Obama’s election to the
presidency?”
Another student concurred:
I feel a little embarrassed because I am afraid that someone else will be
unhappy. Maybe the topic can be about loving this world…. “Global warming and
what we can do about it.” I think this will be interesting and many people will also
want to know. So it won’t be a bad idea to switch the topic.
These and other similar responses illustrate that students are afraid of offending
others or getting verbally attacked. Although some students wanted a controversial
topic, by far most of them preferred a “safe” topic, one that was minimally
controversial.
Theme2: Pronunciation
The instructor again was somewhat surprised at the high importance placed on
pronunciation, because students rarely approached the instructor with pronunciation
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questions. However, it soon became quite clear that pronunciation was of virtually
unanimous concern to the students:
We can strengthen our pronunciation because many students’ pronunciation
are not clear enough.
We can practice pronunciation more, because I am not good at it. Therefore, I
wish to learn the pronunciation aspect well.
Many students had negative perceptions of their own pronunciation. However, this
may have been inadvertently due to their teachers’ influence:
We can focus more on speaking and pronunciation, because from listening to
the teacher, the teacher says that this will be very important for the upcoming
graduation project….
The graduation project is a required group project that includes a group
presentation in English for at least 12 minutes followed by a Q&A with the evaluators,
and they appear to know from word of mouth that poor pronunciation sometimes led
directly to failing grades on the presentation part of the graduation project, which mean
delaying graduation. Thus, anxiety over their upcoming graduation project may have
exerted at least some influence on their concern over their pronunciation.
Theme3: Writing and speaking skills
The instructor of this course felt that students should be writing and revising their
own speeches while orally practicing what they have written. However, this requires
enormous sacrifice of time from the teacher, as one learner explained why:
I think teacher can help us to revise our article. Revise and correct our
grammar and vocabulary usage one student at a time.
In fact, I don’t know what to suggest for this semester, but I’d like the teacher
to teach us more writing and speaking. My writing is very, very poor. I hope that I
can learn more and more writing techniques.
It was quite clear that students wanted the instructor to spend more time in both
writing and speaking, and that students practically craved for individualized attention.
Theme4: Developing courage
Developing courage to speak directly to an audience is one of the goals of the
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 89
public speaking course. Hence, the instructor wanted to offer students as many
opportunities to practice in front of their peers as possible. One learner commented:
I think not bad, because posting on Youtube.com …can develop our courage
and let us know how to face and respond to everyone.
Thus, students generally felt that developing courage was important, but wanted to
use less invasive methods such as avoiding the use of video cameras.
Theme5: Global dialogue
One of the instructor’s objectives was to generate authentic dialogue on a global
scale, and Youtube.com allows for this to occur. Some students were very optimistic
about the rare opportunity to establish dialogue on an international level:
Whether the speech article is good or not, that manner (posting on
Youtube.com) is a very helpful way to enhance interaction from everybody,
everywhere.
However, others were deeply afraid of offending strangers:
I feel that teacher should not put the speech on youtube.com, because
everyone can search it, and it may be possible that some unreasonable people will
post nasty comments. Those with differing views may disagree and feel that we are
criticizing other countries, resulting in some unnecessary misunderstanding, and
friends and relatives will all be able to search it, causing us to feel uncomfortable
and have difficulty in performing well.
Even though the instructor had previously explained that their speeches should be
backed up by substantive evidence, clearly the above learner felt that misunderstandings
were bound to occur.
Theme6: Shyness, embarrassment
Shyness is practically the opposite of courage, so the instructor wanted learners to
overcome shyness. The question is “how,” since overcoming shyness is easier said than
done:
I’m too shy, so I am afraid my speech won’t come out well. I hope that it’s not
put on Youtube.com. I can put it on my own blog. When I’m too tense I cannot
perform well.
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I feel that if the performance is just so-so, and it gets posted for others to see,
I will get laughed at!!
These learners felt that their self-esteem, already low as it is, would be completely
annihilated if they were seen and criticized by strangers. Although learners generally
agreed in principle about overcoming shyness, many disliked the actual process, such as
the use of videoing during their practice sessions:
During the first time I was videoed, it felt really terrible. Horrible. The
pressure was huge when facing the camera.
Clearly, the use of video camera was not well received.
Theme7: Impetus for preparing well
That the goal of posting on Youtube.com may possibly increase learners’
collective level of effort was the main reason for the instructor’s push to require the
learners to post their speeches. Some learners agreed, such as the following:
I think this idea is very good, because many students will work hard to
prepare this speech. This is the first time I’ve heard of this method. This is very
special…. Some students…won’t diligently use one’s heart to do it, but if use this
method (posting on Youtube.com), it can really push students hard to prepare the
speech. And that can be a great memory in college life. This is great!
Interestingly, in a follow-up journal entry two weeks later, the same learner wrote:
I think this idea is very good, but I think not everybody will work hard to
prepare. Those whom are usually diligent will be diligent, and those whom rarely
put in the effort still won’t put in the effort. As for me, maybe this time I will work
harder than normal to prepare.
The above learner apparently felt that the concept of posting on Youtube.com may
work to push some people to work harder such as herself, but that it may not work with
everyone.
Theme8: Respect for learners
The instructor did not think this was an issue. However, as one learner put it:
Those who perform well should be selected for posting or voluntarily post it.
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 91
Making it voluntary would respect the few students whom do not like being
exposed!
Comment like this one made it glaringly clear that some students felt that they
were being disrespected by being forced against their will to post on videos of
themselves on the Internet.
Survey results
The survey was a compilation of activities and suggestions recommended by
learners collectively. As noted above, learners were asked to identify the level of
anxiety that an activity induces as well as to rank the extent to which the activity is
preferred for that same activity. The results showed that the overwhelming majority of
the learners did not prefer activities that were on the extreme high end of being anxiety
inducing. However, it is important to note that these high anxiety activities were not
necessarily disliked. Many of the highest anxiety producing activities were ranked a “2”
on the preference scale (with 1 being most liked and 3 being most disliked). This
appears to show that anxiety does not exert a total influence on learners’ decision as to
preference. On the opposite extreme, towards the low-anxiety end of the spectrum, one
interest result was that most of the minimally anxiety inducing activities were not
necessarily preferred as well (also ranked a “2”). When the instructor asked the learners
as an open-ended question why this was the case during class, several responded that
those activities were simply boring. Nevertheless, in general, the highly preferred
activities or suggestions ranged on the middle to lower-middle end of the anxiety
spectrum, revealing that this range of anxiety was manageable or at least tolerable while
being of relatively high interest to the learner involved.
Notable activities/ suggestions and some possible explanations:
Below is a brief listing of learners’ suggestions found to be both highly preferred
(ranked “1”) as well as inducing relatively high (ranked “4” or “5”) anxiety. These are
not listed in any particular order.
a) Individual speech, practiced with small group (3-4 peers).
b) Individual speech, practiced with a larger group (5-7 peers).
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c) Individual speech, practiced with the entire class watching.
d) Individually written speech (as opposed to written by group collectively).
e) Midterm and final exams videoed in class, with only the instructor watching.
f) Midterm and final exams videoed in class, with the entire class watching.
g) Pronunciation completely and private (one to one) corrected by the instructor.
From the above list, one can infer that despite the relatively high anxiety levels,
those activities were ranked a “1” because they were deemed by the individuals to hold
great value in some form (personal preference, knowledge gained, etc.). One learner
cited in a journal entry that the public speaking course would be absolutely meaningless
if one cannot stand up on stage in front of a large group of people, as frightening a
prospect as it may appear. Underlying reasoning appears to be that if one wants to learn
anything at all about public speaking, one has to “bite the bullet” and deal with the
anxiety to make any progress at all. Clearly, from the standpoint of the learners, there is
more to judging the utility of an activity than the mere anxiety that it induces, although
there is no denying that anxiety plays an increasingly greater role in learners’
preferences towards the extreme high end of the anxiety scale.
Findings and Implications
1st research question: Do learners experience facilitative or debilitative anxiety
with regard to the notion of posting their own delivered speeches on Youtube.com?
Although on surface it appeared from the initial coding process that 25 out of 32
learners responded with either an unqualified “yes” (11 of them) or a conditional “yes”
(14 of them) as to whether they would like their speeches posted, a closer look at their
comments from their journals reveals that only 11 out of the 25 viewed the anxiety as
entirely facilitative, looking forward to posting their videos. Even amongst these 11
learners, however, many of them felt that they still needed much more practice and
coaching before they would feel fully ready to post their videos.
The 14 learners who answered with a conditional “yes” about posting may either
view the anxiety as facilitative or debilitative, depending on whether their personal
requirements were met. For instance, if a learner required that their writing and
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 93
speaking (including pronunciation) be totally error-free before feeling the anxiety would
be manageable and thus facilitative, such a requirement posed a tall order for the
instructor to fill, given their very limited self-esteem and relatively low proficiency. In
fact, the conditional “yes” of the 14 learners were tantamount to “no, I don’t want to
post, unless all my requirements are met, and if they are not, I will be experiencing
debilitating anxiety.” What this suggests of the 14 students is that their self-esteem may
easily be shattered if their needs are not completely fulfilled. The implication is that the
instructor for this type of course plays a potentially crucial role in facilitating the
development of self-esteem to prevent the seemingly unavoidable anxiety of public
speaking in a foreign language from becoming debilitative. For these 14 individuals, the
pressure appeared to stem primarily from videoing them during in class with all their
peers and instructor watching. Therefore, perhaps one way of reducing this fear would
be to completely eliminate the use of video cameras in the classroom, while increasing
their opportunities to rehearse in small group environments before having to face the
entire class. The caveat here is that groups need at least one or two individuals whose
English proficiency is relatively higher to be able to provide constructive feedback, in
light of the complaint that peer evaluation doesn’t work for low-intermediate level peer
evaluators whom may not understand enough to fairly evaluate the speaker. Also, the
instructor will need to strike a fine balance of providing compliments where appropriate
along with constructive criticism while not appearing overly critical. And if videoing is
absolutely required, the instructor may want to allow learners to video themselves
outside of the classroom context and choose the best version to submit as a homework
assignment. This would reduce the fear of being videoed in class where learners often
only have one chance to get it right.
As for the remaining 7 learners whom basically replied a “no” towards posting
their speeches, it was clear from the content of their journal entries that posting their
speeches would under no circumstances be preferred. It appeared quite obvious that
they felt that at this stage of their language development (low-intermediate to
intermediate proficiency), no amount of preparation would be enough to overcome their
perceived sense of inevitable humiliation from being watched by others. For these
learners, the instructor needs to be very careful in tending to their needs, for posting
videos of them would in all likelihood shatter their self-esteem, whatever is left of it.
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One alternative for these individuals would be to let them know that the period of
posting can be as short as 24 hours, and that the video can be removed afterwards.
Another measure that would probably please these individuals (and certainly the 14
conditional “yes” learners) is to post the audio to the speeches and perhaps a short
PowerPoint presentation to go along with it but not include their faces in the videos.
This would enable these individuals to remain completely anonymous and therefore
maintain a sense of security. For these 7 individuals, then, the implication for the
instructor is that there needs to be an alternative approach, instead of a one-size-fits-all
where everyone is required to post their speeches with their faces in the videos.
2nd research question: From the learners’ journal responses regarding anxiety, are
there themes that emerge? (relationship of themes with anxiety)
1) Choice of topic: high relationship (with anxiety). That is, the more
controversial the topic, the greater the anxiety for many.
2) Pronunciation: high relationship. That is, the poorer their perceived
pronunciation, the higher the anxiety of posting on Youtube.com.
3) Writing and speaking practice: high relationship. The poorer their perceived
writing and speaking skills, the greater the potential anxiety.
4) Developing courage: negative relationship. The greater the perceived courage,
the lower the anxiety level, and the greater the willingness to take risks.
5) Start dialogue with the world: negative relationship. The more learners were
willing to face the public, less the anxiety expressed.
6) Shyness, embarrassment: highest relationship. Those whom felt extremely shy
about facing others also appeared to experience the greatest levels of anxiety.
7) Impetus for preparing well: both negative and positive relationship. This
finding is unique in that some learners conceded that they needed the anxiety to
find the impetus to work harder to prepare their speeches (positive
relationship—facilitative anxiety), while others expressed that the anxiety
experienced from the notion of posting on youtube.com would be so harmful
that they would not be able to concentrate or remember their speech and hence
would not be able to be fully prepared (debilitative anxiety).
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 95
8) Need for respect: high relationship. The more learners felt that posting their
videos was disrespectful, the greater the anxiety expressed.
3rd research question: What is the relationship between learners’ suggestions and
anxiety?
Surprisingly, the highly preferred suggestions (suggestions ranked with a “1” in
terms of desirability) on more than several occasions included those that involved
substantial anxiety. The possible explanation is that learners perceived the gains
(knowledge, skills acquisition, pleasure etc.) to be greater than the costs (anxiety).
Furthermore, many of those activities that yielded minimal anxiety were deemed to
not be desirable. This may simply mean that those activities are rather boring. Hence,
low anxiety, but not much to be gained either. The implication here is that instructors
should not choose an activity based purely on the ease or difficulty level of the task,
because such task may be boring. Instead, the instructor should choose activities and
design their courses on that which would ignite the interest of the learners, and not be
overly concerned with the difficulty level of the activity.
In fact, most of the highly preferred activities were those that yield moderate to
substantial anxiety, as opposed to minimal anxiety. This appears to show that if the
activity is deemed useful enough or interesting enough or both (significant gains in the
eyes of the learners), moderate or even substantial anxiety is manageable and
facilitative. Thus, the old saying that only through facing and overcoming substantial
difficulties will one build character seems to apply here, with the caveat that the
difficult must not be too extreme, and must not be so minimal as to yield boredom.
Again, one cannot stress enough that the primary emphasis should be on that which
interests the learners, a finding highly supported by the results from the survey.
Conclusion
The present study provides evidence that for low-intermediate to intermediate
proficiency EFL learners in a public speaking course, the issue of anxiety is particularly
relevant. Learners’ self-esteem in their use of their foreign language on a public setting
such as Youtube.com needs to be handled with great care to avoid allowing their
collective anxieties from becoming debilitative. As in any relatively large language
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
class, reactions towards posting speeches on Youtube.com and suggestions for the
course exhibit highly divergent viewpoints. Nevertheless, some common patterns or
themes can be found within this diversity. As this study shows, these learners are
willing to put up with moderate to substantial level of anxiety in more than a few
instances if they perceive the activity to be of great value. That is, even though anxiety
may be unavoidable for many students, if activities selected are those that students
regard as highly beneficial, useful, or practical, students may go as far as to want those
types of activities despite the significant level of anxiety that it may induce,
rationalizing that the gains from such activities outweigh the anxiety costs. Thus, major
emphasis should be on the interest level of a particular activity. However, activities that
yield extremely high levels of anxiety resulted in almost no one preferring them, even if
the ideas were interesting. Youtube.com presents a unique challenge to both learners
and instructors because learners may initially feel overwhelmed by anxiety. However, if
the anxiety is properly diffused, the results may be quite rewarding, and learners in this
study have recognized this. The challenge is for the instructor to create the necessary
learning environment that will enable learners to channel that anxiety into a facilitative
instead of debilitative form.
Learners’ Anxieties on Posting Their Own Speeches on Youtube.com: Facilitative or Debilitative? 97
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EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 101
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners
Kong Nam-Hee 孔南姬
Assistant Professor, Seoul Cyber University
首爾網絡大學教育學部助理教授
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EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 103
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners
ABSTRACT
Choosing appropriate materials and various teaching techniques are of the utmost
importance in online learning, where many sources of distraction may exist in a
student’s environment. This study aims to examine the learning effectiveness of an
online English reading course with particular materials and teaching techniques for
Korean adult learners. The overall findings of the study based on a questionnaire
showed that the selection of appropriate text materials and the use of effective teaching
techniques served to inspire and motivate students in a significant way, which in turn
contributed to the improvement of their reading skills. The results indicate that the
journal articles for counseling and advice on ethical issues featured in the columns of
“Dear Abby” and “The Ethicist” can serve as alternative texts in EFL reading classes for
adult learners. Various teaching techniques utilized online can also help motivate
students to stay in class and take a greater interest in their learning. To conclude,
pedagogical suggestions for L2 online reading will be discussed.
Key words: online language learning, EFL adult learners, reading skills
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Introduction
Online educational environments continue to develop rapidly and enthusiastically.
It has become a fact of life in Korea where over 90% of the population now has high
speed Internet access. The development of increasingly sophisticated communication
technologies has led to the evolution of a wide range of online courses. More classes
and materials are appearing daily. The interaction between students and teachers and
between students themselves has increased dramatically in online settings. The pace of
change is accelerating and new approaches are being tried almost everyday.
Universities, colleges, and other institutions struggle to define the possibilities, as well
as the limitations, of online teaching and learning. It now depends more on the ability of
educators to tutor and support learners online than on the technology itself.
E-language learning that takes place in front of a computer may not successfully
replace classroom based instruction. It may not fully meet the students’ academic, social
and emotional needs since the interaction in e-learning is limited to posting questions,
exchanging e-mails and sharing documents on the web. However, E-learning allows
students to learn on their own time, at their own pace, regardless of their age and
without having to attend lectures on the premises of a university. It can better serve a
large population of non-traditional students, not to mention the advantage of the reusability of teaching and learning content. It provides an alternative, complementary
learning space for lifelong learning opportunities. It should be noted that, throughout
this paper, the use of the term “online learning or e-learning” refers to the online
learning environments that provide bulletin boards, discussion forums, any form of
instant or email-based messaging, and other equivalent textual communication means.
Traditional text-only based online environments that do not typically offer any multimedia presentations and environments that cater to real-time audio and/or video
conferencing are not taken into consideration. Thus, the course delivery of this study is
based on asynchronous online education where the instructor and students participate in
learning activities at the different times. Even though there are not real-time interaction
and quick feedback as in synchronous online environments where the instructor and
students participate in learning activities at the same time, it has its own advantages
such as flexible access to teaching materials, time to reflect rather than react, integrating
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 105
ideas with the work environment, and cost effective technology.
The ability to read is a critical academic skill. It is decidedly helpful for adult
learners of English in EFL settings to develop English reading ability first because a
majority of information is available in English, including textbooks. Moreover, in EFL
contexts, where there are relatively few chances to be exposed to spoken English, the
text input can be a great resource for language learning. However, its importance has
received less attention due to current demands to improve both speaking and other
communication skills. The situation is no different at Seoul Cyber University (SCU),
which was the research site of the present study. The present study was motivated by
the recognition of the importance of English reading ability and the identification of
certain problems in the current presentation of English reading courses at SCU. The
preliminary survey and the ‘classroom’ experience of this researcher showed that the
students at SCU had low interest in the English reading courses. Using difficult and
uninteresting textbooks along with the vocabulary-and-grammar centered assessment
were considered the main problems. This study therefore attempted to look for an
alternative approach to English reading instruction designed especially for mature adult
e-learners in a formal college setting.
With the recent emphasis on communicative language teaching in English, many
college English instructors are under great pressure to improve their instructional
practice beyond many of the latest teaching approaches and methods. Unfortunately, in
the case of online teaching there are great limitations in applying those approaches and
methods. In addition, there have been few studies to date on college language
instruction for adult learners delivered entirely online and how course design for online
learning takes place in practice. Even though many publications and materials are
available for EFL instruction, there are not many which are designed for mature adult
learners in a formal online college classroom. A majority of textbooks are designed
mainly for young students attending tertiary institutions. A considerable proportion of
the topics treated are considered unsuitable for adult learners in an EFL context. If
instructional materials are not designed for online education at their cognitive level,
they run the risk of lacking the necessary clarity and exhaustiveness in the provision of
relevant information (Strambi & Bouvet 2003).
Unlike face-to-face settings, it is not easy to maintain learners’ attention for long
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periods of time in online settings. Much of the content is dry and sometimes boring and
not sufficient to maintain the adult beginner’s interest and attention. Special care needs
to be taken to minimize boredom during class sessions. This is true especially for
working adult learners who are resuming their studies after many years. A majority of
students having full-time jobs; they need to balance family, work, and social
commitments. Besides, since the effort required to master a foreign language is
considerable, while the outcome in terms of proficiency is often modest, it is
particularly difficult for these students to maintain a high level of concentration. The
instructors thus need to focus on engaging and helping the students overcome
difficulties in order to provide them with valuable language learning.
Based on this research background, the present study attempted to investigate
whether particular materials in a certain context could be utilized, and whether certain
online teaching techniques could help students stay focused in class and take a greater
interest in their learning. This study, therefore, was intended to help adult beginners of
English develop effective reading skills, upon which they will build subsequent learning
levels. It is also hoped that this study will help meet the needs of faculty who find
themselves teaching in this new environment and provide suggestions regarding
effective course design and implementation.
For these considerations, the main concern of the study was to examine how well
the students adjust to this alternative approach of online learning and determine what
they think of it as a way of learning to read English. To this end, two main research
questions were posed as follows:
1. What are the students’ perceptions of online reading with particular mater
ials and teaching techniques?
2. How can the online reading class be made more effective, thereby maxim
izing the efforts of beginning level adult students?
Literature Review
Reading is one of the essential skills for second language learners. They should
learn to read because for them, “reading may be both a means to the end of acquiring
the language, as a major source of comprehensible input, and an end in itself, as the skill
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 107
that many serious learners most need to employ” (Eskey, 2005, p563). Efforts to
understand both the dynamics of reading and how to learn to read effectively have
yielded a great amount of research on reading: reading processes, reading and
vocabulary, reading and grammar, reading and background knowledge, reading and
reading strategies, and so on (Eskey, 2005; Goodman, 1968; Pressley, 2000, Sadoski &
Paivio, 2004)).
Despite the wealth of literature on English reading as a second/other language
(hereafter L2 as ESOL), L2 in-class reading has suffered a lack of systematic, organized
teaching approaches based on well-known theories and strong empirical evidence
(Bernhardt, 1991; Diaz-Rico, 2004; Grabe & Stoller, 2002). L2 reading was not handled
in a way that stimulates interest and builds overall proficiency, and most L2 teachers
were forced to engage in the practices of L2 reading in which word-decoding skills and
translation were the primary focus (Schulz, 1983; Young, 1989).
It is no wonder that there exists a close relationship between reading instruction
and reading attitude or reading comprehension. The way in which students are taught
reading plays a crucial role in forming their concepts of reading and affecting reading
process and thus becomes an important variable influencing successful attainment of
reading proficiency (Bernhardt, 1991; Suh, 2009; Im & Huh. 2005). Some studies have
looked at the current Korean classroom methodology and evaluated textbook design
(Lassche, 2004; Kwok, 2004; Kim, 2004). As Lassche (2004) noted in her survey, L2
classroom work in many Korean high schools is controlled by the teacher or the
textbook. Students have little choice about what texts to read, what questions to answer,
or how questions can be answered. Courses are completely lecture-based and teachers
rely exclusively on mid-term and final examinations for grading. Textbooks include
reading exercises that do not challenge students beyond finding right or wrong answers
to a word or phrase level question. Many studies have written on the need to change this
practice. (Song, 2003; Brown, 2003; Day & Park, 2005).
Many ways to improve reading fluency have been mentioned since the 1970s:
repeated reading (Samuels, 1979), easy extensive reading (Nation and Wang, 1999;
Jeon, 2008), and carefully organized speed reading courses. Along with repeated
reading, easy extensive reading of a specific genre in textual form is also an effective
way of increasing reading proficiency. This is because students meet the same words
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and grammatical structures in repetition. Thus, it is easier for certain types of readers to
become familiar with and confident in English (Nation, 2005; Nation and Wang, 1999).
Increasingly the detailed specifications of what the lower level and upper level
processes might include have emerged over the last thirty years (Weil, 2008). Some
research has sought to contrast how competent readers differ from less competent
readers. Another key line of research in L2 reading includes the fluency/accuracy model
(Joh, 2004; Lassche, 2004). These investigators addressed the notion that the fluencybased model of reading comprehension tended to increase the student’s interest and
motivation. This fluency-related work is compared to an accuracy-based approach
which requires students to analyze and comprehend idiosyncratic surface or text-level
features. The fluency-related work refers to student-led interpretation of text, and
requires an imagined appreciation of the situation surrounding the text. Answers are
assessed in terms of their appropriateness to context by the text. On the other hand, an
accuracy-based intensive reading approach is assumed to de-emphasize the role of
readers in the reading process and focus on the detailed analysis of structure and
translation-focused reading activity.
However, most novice-level students may not be ready for full-fledged fluency
work. The idea is to begin the process and gradually increase the fluency load
proportion over the course of both the lesson and the language program. At the
beginning, therefore, students probably need a mostly accuracy-based approach, with
corresponding exercises having a pedagogical, pre-communicative orientation, as
Widdowson (1979) has long recommended. As time goes on, however, teachers should
increase the fluency demands on their students, with greater attention to authentic
practice and a communicative, meaning-based orientation.
Building learners’ understanding of word meanings and enhancing their lexical
competence are critically important in learning a foreign language. Students must learn
and experience the words of the new language in meaningful context. They should
experience them as native speakers of the language would naturally use them (Pawley &
Snyder 1983). After a period of time, during which vocabulary learning and teaching
was relatively ignored and down-played, the importance of vocabulary knowledge in
language learning has come to be appreciated anew from a different perspective by
teachers and researchers alike. Consequently, much effort has recently been made to
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 109
explore the nature of vocabulary knowledge (Laufer & Goldstein, 2004; Laufer, Elder,
Hill, & Congdon, 2004). Since vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in L2 reading
and comprehension (Laufer, 1991; Qian, 2002), it is the opinion of this writer that
vocabulary should be emphasized by assigning it as a pre-reading activity.
Numerous studies have proven that factors such as direct instruction of vocabulary
or grammar and language practice may contribute to the development of reading ability.
They have noted the importance of paying special attention to the grammatical elements
and syntactic knowledge while reading a text in order to help understand the text easily
(Lee, 2008; Joh, 2004, Kim, 2007). Lee (2008), for example, in her recent study with
low level college students, investigated whether differences exist between color-coding
(grammatical knowledge) and changes in reading performance. She found that focusing
on the important grammatical elements in a sentence helped L2 learners improve their
English reading performance by raising grammatical consciousness. The majority of
studies (VanPatten, 2002; Robinson, 2003; etc.) showed a clear advantage for learners
receiving explicit grammar instruction. It is assumed that it helps L2 learners identify
surface level features of the text and develop their inter-language at a more rapid pace.
With appropriate comprehension questions and exercises concerning the reading, they
can be gradually challenged to exercise greater and greater fluency.
Teachers of reading are challenged to improve their pedagogic competence so that
both the text materials and the methodologies of teaching and learning are enjoyable
enough to hold the attention of a working adult learner during class. This is especially
true if the classes are offered online, since there are many sources of distraction in a
student’s environment. Teachers need to know learners’ favorite topics as well as their
interests to provide the best instruction, which in turn will increase motivation to read
and spark their curiosity. The text materials should be relevant to them, and the
intellectual and cognitive level of the material should be appropriate and stimulating to
learners (Wright, 1990; Kim, 2006). The role of appropriate text material in lower level
classes for adult learners is especially important. The content of the reading should be
appropriate for academic use so as to help students not only develop their language, but
also to acquire new and helpful knowledge.
Regarding materials design, many books and papers have sought to clarify and
expand the information categories which reading comprehension can explore. However,
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there are quite a few that have discussion of exactly what information needs practicing.
McDonough and Shaw’s (2003) book on materials design provides a brief discussion of
reading comprehension, mentions rhetorical structure and vocabulary coverage, and
gives excerpts of questions from various textbooks on the market. Nuttall (2000)
provides much more detail on information categories, but then does not apply these
suggestions with specific examples. Aebersold and Lee-Field (2001) provide an
excellent rationale for teaching reading in their core chapters, but do not clarify specific
text features.
In sum, the previous studies regarding the important themes in relation to the
course design of this study were briefly reviewed.
Method
Participants
The participants for this study were online university students in Korea enrolled in
an elective beginning-level English reading course entitled “Basic English Reading.”
According to background information gathered at the beginning of the study, most
subjects achieved a TOEIC score under 400, which indicated that their English
proficiency seemed to range between the beginning or low intermediate levels. Initially,
many of the students were unable to comprehend either an authentic text or natural
speech. The general goal of the course was to maximize students’ opportunities to use
basic reading skills such as reading for general comprehension and for details. Upon
completing the course, students should have been able to apply these skills to authentic
and simplified articles.
As non-English majors, they were mostly freshmen and sophomores. The age of
the participants was heterogeneous, ranging from the early 20s to the 50s. They came
from a variety of disciplines and all had previously received six years of formal English
instruction in middle and high school. As adult learners resuming their studies after
many years, 79% of the participants said that they’d had between a two and five year
absence from English study while only 21% had less than a one year absence. Some
were returning to further their education with direct career or professional outcomes in
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 111
mind, while others were adults who had not had the opportunity to attend conventional
universities. Most of the participants were employed full time. As mature adults, most
of the students had numerous work, family, and social obligations. With the goal of
working towards a better life and career, some of them had taken up their studies as
continuing education. The increasing importance of English as an international language
has motivated most of the students to resume their English learning after many years of
being stagnant. They regarded English learning as a personal investment in the future,
encouraging personal growth and developing potential, possibly ensuring continued
employment.
Regarding their previous experiences, they’d had few that involved English
reading online. The exception appeared to be limited exposure to some short passages
for the preparation of English tests like TOEIC. A majority of the students reported that
they had not had an online reading classroom experience, and only a small number of
participants (23%) answered that they’d had less than one year online experience.
Data collection and analysis
The results of the research were based on the answers to a survey conducted online
at the end of the semester. Data in the study were analyzed quantitatively. After the
questionnaire was piloted on a small sample of students, several modifications were
carried out by expert validation. Respondents were required to rate their agreement to
each statement on a Likert-type scale. For data analysis, each item was given a
numerical score (i.e., strongly disagree=1. disagree=2, neutral=3, agree=4, and strongly
agree=5).
One hundred seven (107) students out of 158 enrolled responded to the
questionnaire, with an overall response rate of 67.7%. Originally, there were 112
students who answered, but incomplete questionnaires were eliminated to ensure the
reliability of the survey, thus reducing the final number to 107. There were, perhaps, a
number of reasons for the low response rate. The questionnaire was made available in
mid-December, which coincided with the final examination weeks and the academic
winter holiday.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Procedures
The study was conducted during one semester consisting of 15 weeks, from August
to December, 2008. It aimed to discover the importance of both selecting text material
and course designs that were appealing to the learner’s reading appetites in learning
English online. Its intent was to make decisions on teaching materials and practices in
order to provide students with more suitable language knowledge and encouragement.
As previously mentioned, a questionnaire was used to assess their overall course
experience. It was completed online in class at the end of the semester. The
questionnaire was anonymous, and students were asked to be as honest and objective as
possible in their answers. It sought their general opinions regarding their experience of
the course they had just taken.
Course Description
As a three-hour credit elective course in the Department of General Education, it
was designed for non-English majors. It should be noted here that throughout this paper,
the use of the terms “a class,’ “during class,” etc. refer to any such time as a student
interfaced with the online material provided by the instructor. Three online lectures
were offered each week throughout the semester for a grand total of 39. It was designed
so that approximately 50 minutes were devoted to going through the whole sequence
during class.
With the growing popularity of communicative language teaching in the field of
L2 learning, there has been a concerted effort to integrate the four language skills, i.e.
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. On this view, while focusing on basic reading
skills for adult learners, this course was also constructed to nurture the other language
abilities; the basic grammar as explicit knowledge, vocabulary and listening skills. In
designing the course, the researcher attempted to take into account the probable
implications of contemporary theory and research concerning reading as highlighted in
the previous section.
The course interface is divided into 5 frame segments: Vocabulary, Self Reading,
Reading, Grammar Focus, Quiz and Cultural Notes. Among these Self Reading and
Reading are shown in Figure 1 & 2.
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 113
Figure 1. Self Reading Interface
Figure 2. (Main) Reading Interface
The functions of each frame segment are as follows:
The segment menu is located on the top right hand side of the page. It displays
links to the individual segments: Vocabulary, Self Reading, Reading, Grammar Focus,
Quiz and Cultural Notes. Students were expected to work through these five or six
segments methodically and at their own pace. They were encouraged to study in
sequence, but this was not obligatory. Students could re-visit and review each segment
as desired.
Vocabulary: Key words were displayed prior to the main text with some practice
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
activity. Students could click on words/expressions to obtain definitions in English or in
Korean while hearing those words/expressions spoken by a native speaker. Students
were asked to do it until they became familiar with the words given.
Self Reading: The whole text was given with a native speaker’s pre-recorded
audio. Students could listen to them before and after the Reading segment. It was
designed for students to have exposure to spoken English.
Reading
(1) The upper left quadrant displayed a pre-recorded video of the lecture. Important
English structures were pointed out here and explained analytically.
(2) The lower left quadrant (directly below video screen) indicated the learning path of
this segment which allowed students to control the sequence and pace of learning.
Students could review each stage of the video when necessary.
(3) The upper right quadrant showed the parts of the main text for which the instructor
gave an explanation by analyzing the structures and interpreting difficult words.
(4) Glosses were supplied in the lower right quadrant for “unfamiliar” words or phrases.
It was hoped that these would help limit the need for continual dictionary
consultation that may have interrupted and hindered the reading comprehension
process.
Grammar Focus: The grammatical notes and explanations were given to enhance
textual understanding in this section. It was designed for reviewing the important
grammatical points from the text which were essential for comprehending the text
material. These were given by the lecturer’s pre-recorded audio alone.
Quiz: Three different kinds of questions, i.e. true/false comprehension check,
vocabulary in context and grammatical knowledge were given. Students were asked to
mark true/false according to the main text and find proper vocabulary in context. Key
grammatical points were checked by choosing one for the blank.
Cultural Notes: During the third class each week, Cultural Notes were added to
the list of segments in order to highlight some significant differences between Western
and Eastern countries.
A well-organized course medium is the essential entry point for online students in
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 115
course delivery. Each courseware may have a different main menu and various
functions; the important thing is organizing the course materials so that they are easy to
locate and access. This course design was based on the belief that frequent sessions are
generally more effective than longer, infrequent sessions because fatigue and other
factors may lead to inattention, especially in online learning. Students could remain at
each segment as long as they wanted, until they acquired a good grasp of each point
presented. This resulted in more individual study time. Moreover, the students were in
control of the entire class period, except for the 20 minute instruction segment in
Reading. The digital versions for most practice and question types were designed for
students to just click, fill in the blanks, and drag and drop with immediate feedback
being provided whenever an on-screen check or hint button was clicked.
Assuming that competence in L2 vocabulary is a prerequisite for the development
of L2 reading fluency, especially in the beginning stage, key vocabulary for the reading
text was provided first. Students would then practice enough to become familiar with
them just by clicking on the words. They were enabled to expand and deepen their
vocabulary knowledge by reading the main text immediately after learning these new
words. This allowed students to see their new vocabulary words used in context, thus
re-enforcing the learning process.
In Self Reading, the native speaker’s audio was provided along with the written
text. A basic goal of this section was to improve students’ listening ability by exposing
them to as much spoken English as possible. At first, the students were instructed to
listen carefully to the text material without viewing the written text. The second time
through, they were told to refer to the text and try to recognize how the words or
phrases were chunked in order to convey meaning. Assuming that L2 parsing skills can
facilitate the achievement of L2 reading fluency, the students were encouraged to focus
on meaningful units while listening. While focusing their attention on breath groups in a
sentence, they were also asked to concentrate on prosodic features such as intonation,
stress and duration. Additionally they were to make note of any portions (e.g. phrases,
sentences, etc.) that were not clearly understood in hopes of receiving clarification
during the next segment, i.e. Reading.
Well-chosen text materials are essential to online students, along with the medium
used in course delivery. A total of 39 articles were thus carefully selected for the
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Reading section. They were from the columns of “Dear Abby” and “The Ethicist”
published in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and were appropriate for students’
current knowledge as well as their English performance level. Most of the articles were
on moral and ethical issues in real-life situations. Some of the most intriguing and
thought-provoking issues were chosen from among the articles made available during
the past several years. These materials served to raise and preserve adult learners’
interest and motivation in class, stirring their curiosity about how the columnists would
respond. The intention was to make the students “get involved emotionally and
intellectually in interpreting the culture and real life fact” (Heusinkveld, 1985). These
were introduced in ascending order of difficulty with regard to the words and structures.
In the modality of instruction, the instructor did not participate in real time. Whenever
any student logged on and interfaced with online course content, at no point did he or
she interact with the instructor in real time. In this respect, the modality employed
created a learning environment that was entirely unlike an offline (i.e. traditional)
classroom setting.
Based on the previous research that explicit grammar instruction is effective
especially during the initial stage in reading class (Norris & Ortega, 2000; Williams
2005), this section focused on the detailed analysis of structure. The students were
instructed to notice the essential grammatical elements in a sentence (i.e., a verb and its
subject) while reading, because doing so will help learners understand the structure of a
sentence and grasp its gist. The instruction was thus designed for the students to raise
their consciousness of the essential grammatical forms, resulting in comprehending the
text effectively. The students were also trained to analyze the text by connecting lexical
and grammatical points through the content for comprehension.
In Grammar Focus, important English structures were provided by the lecturer’s
voice alone so that students were reminded of the key grammar points that they had just
encountered in the main text. This section was also designed for reviewing the
important grammatical points from the main text. Students thus had an opportunity to
go over the grammatical points highlighted here while being trained to grasp meanings
contained in the text material.
Provided on the Quiz were three different kinds of questions: checking
comprehension, vocabulary in context, and grammatical knowledge. Students could
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 117
check these three items for themselves by clicking an expository comment.
Other factors that must be considered in the class of adult learners were taken into
account, such as being aware of their self-directing capacity, strengthening self-esteem
and encouraging personal relationships. Class participation was required for their
evaluation in this course by posting any questions or comments on the bulletin board
during or after the class. Without interaction with classmates and feedback from
instructors, e-learners might easily lose motivation and possibly fail the course because
of feeling alone. Care was also taken in order that unfamiliar teaching patterns and
innovative activities would not make them feel uncomfortable; that the intellectual and
cognitive level of the material might be appropriate and stimulating to adult learners,
with each student being appropriately challenged. Considering the fact that adult
learners are easily discouraged, the tasks or exercises were carefully chosen so as to
conform closely to their current proficiency level. Most importantly, the students were
encouraged to cognitively process, synthesize and learn the course materials by
themselves, with the instructor serving as a facilitator to help them succeed in their
learning journey.
Instrument
The questionnaire was broken down into four sections (see Appendix): The first
part of the questionnaire (Items 1 to 9) was to find out the participants’ background
information including their previous online experience of reading and readiness for
online learning. The second part of the questionnaire (Items 10 to 20) asked the
participants about their degree of satisfaction concerning each segment: overall content
and structure. The third part of the questionnaire (Items 21 to 25) examined the
participants’ general opinions on course completion: class activities, resources, etc. The
last section (Items 26 to 28) was about the students’ perceptions of online reading
courses compared to traditional (face-to-face) learning. Lastly, one open-ended
question, Item 29, was for gathering other detailed comments regarding online reading
courses in general.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Results & Discussion
Based on the findings in the questionnaire, the students’ reactions to this class were
very positive. Items in Table 1 survey the level of general satisfaction with the content
and structure of this online reading course. The majority (62%) of the respondents
reported that they were satisfied with the overall structure. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of
the participants felt that they had made progress (Item 21). As for the length of time
allotted for each class, most of the students (61%) believed that the amount of material
per lesson was appropriate for them to digest (Item 15). Finding the correct measure in
this regard does much to foster a sense of accomplishment for both students and
teachers. It can be assessed that the amount of material to be covered in each class
should be carefully considered for online classes.
Concerning the reading materials used in the study, most of them were regarded as
interesting and realistic enough to keep them focused until they could achieve a
thorough comprehension (Item 12, 22). It is assumed that this factor contributed to the
improvement of their reading skills (Item 21). The important conclusion gleaned from
this information is that the instructor needs to know the students’ favorite topics as well
as their interests in order to provide the best instruction. Attention to this fact will
increase motivation to read.
Table 1. Student Responses upon Overall Course Design
Questionnaire Items
A
N
D
M
SD
10. I was satisfied with the overall structure of this course as
an English reading course.
11. I was satisfied with the content of the course.
12. Learning was fun with the course text material and
I fully engaged myself in classes until the very end.
15. I was satisfied with the length of time allotted for each
class.
21. My reading ability improved greatly with this course
taking.
22. The reading topic in each class was interesting enough to
hold my attention throughout the class period.
62
31
7
2.6 2.0
62
63
31
29
6
8
2.6 1.9
2.6 2.0
61
31
8
2.5 1.9
69
24
7
2.6 2.0
62
34
4
2.6 1.9
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 119
Note: Numerical values represent percentages. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest
whole number and thus may not add up to 100. A=collapsed scores for Strongly Agree
and Agree; N=Neutral; D=collapsed scores for Disagree and Strongly Disagree; M=Mean;
SD=Standard Deviation
As shown below, the items in Table 2 examine the level of general satisfaction
with its individual components. Overall, more than half of the respondents rated “agree”
and “strongly agree” for the appropriateness of each segment. The majority of the
students (69%) responded that the Vocabulary segment before main reading was helpful
for the development of reading ability. The result (67%) of Item 14 indicated that the
reading with a native-speaker audio was of great help in building listening skills. This
kind of activity is recommended as a preliminary step for the development of adult
learners’ spoken English proficiency in online reading courses.
By means of the instruction connecting lexical and grammatical points through the
content, students were taught how to read analytically in the main Reading section.
Since a considerable number of the students (88%) were in their late 20’s and 40’s, this
cognitive style of learning was preferred. They were led through the process of
incorporating general analytic skills with basic grammatical knowledge to comprehend
a whole passage. The respondents in this study generally endorsed the concept of
analytical reading for adult learners, especially at the beginning level of reading. In Item
16, 70% of the participants indicated that analytical reading enhanced their reading
comprehension skills. Regarding the importance of grammatical knowledge and the
appropriateness of the segment, Grammar Focus in this course (Item 17), the majority of
the participants (75%) either strongly agreed or agreed. Knowledge of the target
language structure can effectively facilitate understanding of the text material.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Table 2. Student Responses upon Each Course Segment
Questionnaire Items
A
N
D
M
SD
13. The vocabulary list provided at the beginning of each
class hour was appropriate and helpful for my reading
activity.
14. The “Self-Reading” segment was appropriate and
helpful for my understanding of spoken English.
16. The “Reading” segment enhanced my ability to read
analytically and helped improve my reading
comprehension skills.
17. The “Grammar Focus” segment was appropriate and
helpful for comprehending the text material.
18. True/False questions in “Quiz” segment were well-suited
for checking comprehension.
19. The multiple choice questions (Section 2 & 3) in “Quiz”
were helpful in identifying grammar structures in the
reading.
20. Answer & Commentary in the Quiz section was helpful
because it offered clear explanations concerning my
incorrect answers.
69
23
7
2.7 2.0
67
27
6
2.7 2.0
70
22
7
2.7 2.1
75
22
3
2.8 2.1
62
34
4
2.6 1.9
64
32
5
2.6 2.0
56
30
14
2.4 1.9
Items in Table 3 indicate whether or not the learners view online language learning
as different from traditional face-to-face learning. Only 21% of the respondents
regarded it is ineffective compared to face-to-face learning, while 46% of them thought
the opposite (Item 26). A further 33% of the participants neither agreed nor disagreed
with this statement. As for the preference for online courses, most of the respondents
(61%) answered that they liked online learning more with its easy accessibility, which
permitted them to better balance work and family life while engaged in their studies
(Item 27). The result of Item 28 (59%) indicates that most of the students were satisfied
to the point of being open to further online language study. Based on the results of these
three items, it can be determined that online reading courses offer an important formal
study option at the college level.
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 121
Table 3. Preference for Online or Traditional (face-to-face) Learning
Questionnaire Items
26. Online learning is not as effective as face-to-face
learning.
27. I prefer online courses because of their accessibility.
28. I did not have any difficulty taking online classes and
look forward to more of them in the future.
A
N
D
M
SD
21
33
46
1.7 1.5
61
59
22
27
19
14
2.5 1.9
2.5 1.9
Although the students appeared satisfied overall with their experience in this
course, several shortcomings were identified. Whether they made full use of the study
resources provided, and participated actively or not was addressed by Item 23. Here,
30% of the respondents either strongly disagreed or disagreed, while only 45% reported
differently. Responses indicate that many of the participants were not self-directed and
independent enough to be successful in the online learning environment, and more
teacher guidance and encouragement should have been provided to students, especially
during the initial learning stage (Maor, 2003). They believed that they engaged in
inadequate participation and felt stressed due to lack of time and other commitments. In
terms of peer pressure, 48% of the participants answered that it was very helpful for
their study to be aware of other students through interactions via the Bulletin Board,
Study Q&A, etc. included in the e-learning platforms (Item 24).
Table 4. Resources & Interaction
Questionnaire Items
A
N
D
M
SD
23. I made full use of the resources provided in the Study
Library and participated in class interaction through
Study Q&A, Bulletin & Discussion Board activities.
24. The online activities and the “presence” of other learners
were positive and motivating elements of the learning
experience.
25. The learning environment was supportive.
45
25
30
2.3 1.8
48
31
13
2.4 1.8
51
29
20
2.4 1.9
Even if this kind of online learning does not lead directly to better results than
conventional methods in face-to-face classes, it may still be a worthwhile approach
since it can motivate students to stay in class and take a greater interest in their learning.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Most of the respondents answered that they felt they had made some progress and
would continue their online studies (Item 21, 28). They showed their interest in a
different culture and the Western way of thought along with language learning.
Finally, in Item 29, for other comments or suggestions, many participants
emphasized that their personal diversity and needs should not be underestimated. Some
of them reported that they experienced problems in structuring and organizing their
studies. And the importance of peer learners for their feeling of satisfaction and social
support was mentioned. Some students felt that there was a need for one or two
additional face-to-face sessions, including one devoted to introducing themselves to the
lecturer and peers. It was also noted that some of the participants were proud of
themselves just to have completed the whole semester.
Conclusion and Implications
The present study investigated the experience of adult learners in a formal collegelevel English reading course taught online. This study assumed that form-focused
instruction promoted low level adult learners’ focal attention to the essential syntactic
patterns in a sentence, resulting in comprehending the text effectively. It also assumed
that the text materials should be relevant to them in order to create enough interest to
maintain or increase their motivation for learning. More importantly, the format of the
online presentation should be enjoyable for working adult learners.
Most of the participants in the study felt that they had benefited from taking this
course. Based on the results of the study, it can be determined that the selection of
appropriate text materials and the use of effective teaching techniques served to inspire
and motivate students in a significant way. Particular journal articles effectively
complemented EFL teaching materials and therefore can be used in an EFL reading
course. Students experienced greater course satisfaction and learned more in less time
with greater ease and confidence because reading materials were appealing to them and
appropriate instructional strategies were employed.
Motivation and the ability to engage in self-regulated learning have an important
role for success in e-language learning. Students, however, do not automatically have
good study skills, discipline or motivation. Instructors need to create conditions that
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 123
promote learner autonomy. As shown in the findings of the study, if the online course is
planned carefully and conducted appropriately, a boring classroom can be transformed
into a supportive, low-anxiety, and collaborative one full of interest and enthusiasm.
From the results of this study, some pedagogical implications can be suggested.
First of all, more attention should be given to local contextual conditions and the learner
profile. Instructors are advised to try to match reading materials with student interests.
And “modifications should be made towards a more learner-centered framework which
would better match specific needs” (Inozu & Ilin, 2007). Thus, the course should be
designed and developed for adult learners to become easily familiar with the patterns
and culture that are related to the target language. The consideration of age
appropriateness and cognitive abilities can provide working adult EFL learners with
enjoyable learning experiences.
Next, the opinions of those who have used particular materials in a certain context
should be valuable information for teachers in similar contexts. This study intends to
provide EFL teachers with alternative teaching resources and suggests that specific
journal articles can be a valuable option. These provide not only a high degree of
vocabulary enlargement and exposure to common lexical phrases, but can also be used
as oral material. Perhaps most of all, these intriguing and thought-provoking reading
materials can be outstanding exemplars of real-life English. By using texts from popular
media, (e.g. newspapers) EFL teachers may find that students not only learn a new
language but also receive practical advice for daily lives. Even though it is difficult to
draw clear conclusions about whether an online environment provides the better setting
for language learning, a well designed course with level-appropriate text materials
together with interactivity among students as well as between students and teachers
makes the former more active participants and warrants assumptions of increased
pedagogical effectiveness.
Although the findings of this study may appear to be somewhat positive, some
limitations are duly acknowledged. First, the survey test tool fails to measure learners’
comprehensive reading ability because the focus of assessment is confined to measure
their level of satisfaction. Second, the questionnaire lacks a wide range of items
regarding learners’ individual differences. Further research is recommended based on
this exploratory study to see whether it is in correlation to individual student’s
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
demographic variations. Lastly, more studies are needed to find out whether other
samples with different reading proficiency would benefit from this kind of online
reading class.
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 125
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VanPatten, B. (2002). Processing instruction: An update. Language Learning, 52, 755803.
Weil, N. (2008). Vocabulary Size, Background Characteristics and Reading Skills of
Korean Intensive English Students. Asian EFL Journal 10(4).
Widdowson, H. G. (1979). Explorations in applied linguistics. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.
Williams, J. (2005). Form-focused instruction. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research
in second language teaching and learning (pp. 671-691) Malwah, NJ; Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Wright, T. (1990). Review: ELT textbooks and materials: Problems in evaluation and
development. ELT Journal, 44, 343-346.
Young, D. (1989). A systematic approach to foreign language reading instruction: What
does the research suggest? Hispania, 72, 755-762.
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 129
Appendix
Questionnaire
This questionnaire is designed to examine your perceptions of the online reading course you
have just taken. Unless the answer items are given separately, please answer by marking the one
that matches your idea most, according to the following scale: SA (strongly agree), A (agree), N
(neutral), D (disagree), SD (strongly disagree). Please answer all of the questions as best as you
can. Your answers will be kept confidential. Thank you for your cooperation.
Section I. Student Background Information
1. Age:
20s _____ 30s_____ 40s_____ 50s or above_____
2. Gender: Male ____ Female ____
3. Occupation:
None__ Public or Private Business __ Homemaker __ Army and others __ Part time job __
4. To which proficiency level of English do you think you belong?
Beginners __ Low Intermediate __ Intermediate __ Upper intermediate __ Advanced __
5. Prior to this course, when did you last study English?
6 months ago __ 1 year ago __ 2-4 years ago __ 3-5 years ago __ More than 5 years ago __
6. English is very crucial in this world of globalization.
Strongly disagree ____ Disagree ____ Undecided ____ Agree____ Strongly agree ____
7. Have you ever taken online English courses before? If yes, for how long?
None ____ Less than 1 year ____ 2-3 years ____ 4-5 years ____ More than 5 years ____
8. Have you ever taken English Reading classes online? If yes, for how long?
None ____ Less than 1 year ____ 2-3 years ____ 4-5 years ____ More than 5 years ____
9. I enjoy learning that is both interesting and challenging, and I am motivated in such
situations to go beyond the minimum requirements.
Strongly disagree ____ Disagree ____ Undecided ____ Agree____ Strongly agree ____
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Section II. Students’ Views regarding Online Language Learning Experience
10. I was satisfied with the overall structure of the English reading course.
11. I was satisfied with the content of the course.
12. Learning was fun with the text material and I fully engaged myself in classes until the very
end.
13. The vocabulary list provided at the beginning of each class hour was appropriate and helpful
for my reading activity.
14. The “Self-Reading” segment was appropriate and helpful for my understanding of spoken
English.
15. I was satisfied with the length of time allotted for each class.
16. The “Reading” segment enhanced my ability to read analytically and helped improve my
reading comprehension skills.
17. The “Grammar Focus” segment was appropriate and helpful for comprehending the text
material.
18. True/False questions in “Quiz” segment were well-suited for checking comprehension.
19. The multiple choice questions (Section 2 & 3) in “Quiz” were helpful in identifying
grammar structures in the reading.
20. Answer & Commentary in the Quiz section was helpful because it offered clear explanations
concerning my incorrect answers.
Section III. Opinions on Course Completion
21. My reading ability improved greatly with this course taking.
22. The reading topic in each class was interesting enough to hold my attention throughout the
class period.
23. I made full use of the resources provided in the Study Library and participated in class
interaction through Study Q&A, Bulletin & Discussion Board activities.
24. The online activities and the “presence” of other learners were positive and motivating
elements of the learning experience.
25. The learning environment was supportive.
EFL Online Reading for Adult Learners 131
Section IV. Preference for Online or Traditional (face-to-face) Learning.
26. Online learning is not as effective as face-to-face learning..
27. I prefer online courses because of their accessibility.
28. I did not have any difficulty taking online classes and look forward to more of them in the
future.
Section V.
29. Please write any suggestions for improving this course.
132
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 133
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an
International Language: A Comparative Study of
College Teachers and Students in the Greater
Taipei Area
Liou, Yi-Shin 劉怡昕
Associate Professor, Ching Kuo Institute of Management and Health
經國管理暨健康學院通識教育中心專任副教授
134
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 135
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an
International Language: A Comparative Study of
College Teachers and Students in the Greater
Taipei Area
ABSTRACT
English as an International language (EIL) has been a major research topic of
applied linguistics and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL)
education since the last decade. 80% of the users of the English language in the world
are non-native speakers (NNS), making the traditionally defined Native Speakers (NS)
the minority group of this language. Speaking English varieties in inner, outer and
expanding circle countries (Kachru 1985) were celebrated as an approach expressing
personal and national identity. Accordingly, the fact of EIL has the potential to
challenge the conventional ownership of English and to be a source changing teachers’
and learners’ sense of competence and expertise. There have been numerous studies and
suggestions concerning how to teach English as an international language. However,
little empirical research has been conducted to understand NNS English teachers’ and
learners’ perception of the spread of English as an international language – particularly
in those countries where English is a foreign language. EFL (English as a foreign
language) teachers’ and learners’ perspectives are still lacking in the EIL studies that
intend to generate possible repositioning for them in the TESOL industry.
This research investigates how Taiwanese college students and teachers perceive
the issues related to EIL. Based on 126 responded questionnaires from college English
teachers and 529 from college students, this study presented collective data of
Taiwanese NNS English teachers’ and learners’ attitudes towards the notion of EIL. The
research analysis focuses on the comparison between teachers’ and students’ attitudes
towards their command of English in different social context, their perception of NNS
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
and NS English teachers’ teaching competence, and their attitudes towards the English
educational policy of having NS English teachers in Taiwan. The findings of this study
provide empirical insights into understanding how the notion of EIL will be perceived
in EFL countries.
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 137
Introduction
People use English for international communication more than any other language
in the world. English is recognized as the lingua franca for communication across
nations and cultures, and is the most desired second or foreign language in most
countries in the world. English is used as a second or foreign language in the workplace,
international trade, global media, tourism, business, education, technology, and on
diplomatic occasions. Linguistic scholars estimated that at the end of the 20th century,
80% of English users were non-native speakers (Crystal, 1997). Meanwhile, the
percentage of non-native speakers is growing rapidly. Graddol (1997) predicted that this
trend would continue for the next 50 years, and ‘The centrality of the native speaker is
being challenged’ (Graddol, 1999:68). Earlier in 1985, Kachru (1985) suggested that
native speakers of English had become a minority. Since the early 1970s, it has been
recognized that ‘English’ does not exist any longer as a singular term, resulting in new
terms such as ‘new Englishes’, and journal titles such as ‘World Englishes’ (Crystal,
2001).
Taiwan represents a perfect case study for exploring the potential issues of the
notion of EIL. As an norm-dependent country (Kachru, 1996), Taiwan is mainly
dependent on American English as the norm provider in teaching English. The fact that
80% of the English users in the world are non-native speakers seems to have little
impact on people’s preference for learning American English. People’s exposure to
other varieties of English is very limited, and this has led to a low tolerance of varieties
other than American English. To most people in Taiwan, the ultimate goal of learning
English is to speak like native speakers and communicate with them (C. L. Chen, 2003;
C. P. Chen, 2002; Chou, 2004; Chuang, 2002; Liao, 2004; Wei, 2003; Yo, 2003). These
facts make it interesting to study the implications of the ideas of teaching English as an
international language from the perspectives of English teachers and learners in Taiwan.
The purpose of this paper is to offer an empirical investigation of this issue.
The Concentric Model of World English
British colonization in the 19th century and the rise of the United States as the
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
leading economic and political power thereafter are two major factors leading to the
spread of English as the global lingua franca (Crystal, 1997). With regard to the wide
spread of English language, Kachru proposed a concentric model of world English,
representing ‘the type of spread, the patterns of acquisition and the functional domains
in which English is used across cultures and languages’, (Kachru, 1985:12). This model
specifies the following circles in greater detail.
(a) The inner circle: In the inner circle countries, English is the primary majority
language of the country. Typical countries include the United Kingdom, Australia, New
Zealand, Canada, and the United States. There are about 320-380 million English users
in these countries, accounting for about 20-28% of the total English users (Crystal,
2003:61).
(b) The outer circle: In the outer circle countries, the spread of English is largely a
result of colonization by English speaking nations. As a consequence of British
colonization, English was institutionalised in the multilingual contexts in the 19th
century. The imposition of English nevertheless provides a united second language for
intra-national communication in the multilingual countries such as Singapore, India, or
the Philippines. It is in these outer circle countries that varieties of English, including
standard, pidgin, and creole, emerged and developed as the local language (Crystal,
1997; Kachru, 1985). There are about 300-500 million English users in this circle,
constituting about 26% of the total English users (Crystal, 2003:61).
(c) The expanding circle: In the expanding circle countries, English serves mainly
as the language for international communication. English is widely studied as a foreign
language, such as in the European countries, China, Japan, or Taiwan. The spread of
English in this circle is largely caused by the recognition of the importance of English
as an international language. Crystal (1997) noticed that nowadays many expanding
circle countries have more English-speaking bilinguals than the countries in the outer
circle. There are no locally generated varieties of English, as the language is not
commonly used for local communication. There are about 500-1000 million English
users in this circle, which covers almost half of English users (Crystal, 2003:61).
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 139
Table 1
The Distribution of English Users in the World
Number of English speakers
Percentage
Inner circle
320–380 million
About 20%
Outer circle
300–500 million
About 26%
Expanding circle
500–1000 million
About 53%
Source: (from Crystal, 2003).
The numbers in Table 1 display a strong contrast of the distribution of native
speakers (mainly in inner circle countries) and non-native speakers in the world. A
question to be answered is how countries in different circles respond to the spread of
English, particularly from the perspectives of English teachers and learners.
Teaching English as an International Language
New pedagogies have been proposed to catch up with the fast spread of English as
an international language (EIL). With the wide spread of English as a global language,
attention has been paid to the non-native speaking (NNS) English teachers’ contribution
and their position in TESOL education. The traditional view of an effective English
teacher requires new definition (McKay, 2002).
From non-native teachers to bilingual teachers
The NNS English teachers are teachers in their own right. The NNS teachers’
bilingual advantages of teaching English to non-native learners were largely neglected
in the TESOL profession (Widdowson, 1992). Jenkins (2000:9) proposed that the
terminology of ‘non-native speakers’ should be replaced by ‘bilingual English
speakers’, while ‘native speakers’ should be substituted with ‘monolingual English
speakers’. Cook (Cook, 1999, 2004) valued bilingual speakers more than monolingual
speakers, in terms of their broader knowledge of languages and better understanding of
other cultures. In the context of English as a global language, 80% of the users are
multilingual learners learning English as their second or foreign language (see Figure
1). Bilingual teachers, as successful learners of new languages (Widdowson, 1992) and
as ‘skilled L2 users’ (Cook, 1999:98), are recognized as being in a better position for
140
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
teaching English for international communication.
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
80%
20%
Native
Non-
speakers
native
speakers
Figure 1. Global usage of English
New pronunciation teaching
It was commonly believed that the main purpose of learning a new language was to
communicate with its native speakers. Cook (1999) found that non-native accents were
often seen as a failure of learning the English language, a measurement regarded by
Jenkins (2000:9) as ‘unrealistic and irrelevant’. The EIL community, as Jenkins
(2002:85) claimed, ‘is an international community in which all participants have an
equal claim to membership’. Under these circumstances, the native speakers’
proficiency will not be the goal of students’ linguistic production. Local accents in
English have a right of their own. Native speakers (NS) can provide a model as ‘a point
of reference’ for ‘preventing non-native varieties far removed from mutual
intelligibility’ (Jenkins, 1998:124). If the bilingual speakers can achieve successful
communication with their imperfect command of English, they don’t need the native
speakers to tell them what is right and what is wrong (Widdowson, 1994).
New teaching content and support
In reference to the teaching content, the agenda for teaching and learning the
English language should match the scope of English as an international language
(Matsuda, 2003; McKay, 2002, 2003; Modiano, 1999). When teaching English as a
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 141
global language, it is essential to have learners exposed to different forms of English
usages in the outer circle and expanding circle countries. Even though the teachers
choose to teach a dominant English variety (e.g. American English), ‘an awareness of
different varieties would help students develop a more comprehensive view of the
English language’ (Matsuda, 2003:721). Modiano (1999) predicted that teaching
materials for teaching English as an international language would be available soon.
Other educational aids, dictionaries, and grammar textbooks will become commonplace
in classroom settings where English is taught for international communication.
New cultural materials
McKay (2002) argued that some of the cultural contents in teaching English
(teaching target culture) may be irrelevant to students’ concerns; sometimes they may
even present cultural conflicts. She proposed that teaching a target culture is only
suitable when the teacher is a native speaker and the student is a second/foreign
language learner. When English is taught as a global language, since the language is denationalized, the classroom should emphasize the source culture and the international
target cultures. Using the source culture is a way of empowering the students and
making them practice using English to express their own culture and identity. McKay
suggested that presenting international cultural materials could demonstrate crosscultural pragmatics by which the bilingual users of English can demonstrate their own
rules of social appropriateness, while they are also learning to understand the
appropriateness of other cultures. In the domain of teaching international culture in the
classroom, NNS and NS English teachers are on a level field, and both should focus on
enhancing international awareness.
EIL in Taiwan
In recent years, Taiwanese TESOL scholars have begun to pay attention to the
notion of English as a lingua franca. A notable example is the invitation of David
Graddol to deliver a speech “English Next” in a seminar hosted by the British Council
and the Chengchi University Foreign Language Centre in November 2008. The EIL and
ESP conference, held in March 2009, was organized by the English Teaching Resource
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Centre of the Ministry of Education and the National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, with a hope to link the notion of EIL with the idea of ESP (English for
Special Purposes) and bring them to Taiwanese English teachers’ awareness. The
ultimate goal of these endeavours was to precipitate changes in the teaching content and
methods and in the assessment of students’ learning achievements in the technology
universities in Taiwan. According to the proponents, English teaching should be
practical to students’ needs in their future workplaces.
Despite the body of literature on EIL that makes suggestions about English
language teaching, most EIL suggestions are based on theoretical assumptions or
personal opinions rather than on empirical studies. There are not many empirical studies
informing us how English teachers and learners in the expanding circle perceive the
spread of English as a lingua franca and whether they find the EIL suggestions suitable.
An important research question remains to be answered: What are Taiwanese teachers’
and learners’ attitudes toward the notion of English as an international language?
Research Methods
A questionnaire survey for answering this research question was a suitable research
method, as it helps generate a systematic overview of participants’ beliefs and practices.
The questionnaire comprised of a series of statements to collect information of
participants’ attitudes by using Likert-scales. The following sections present details of
the survey.
Research population
The research population was limited to the greater Taipei area, because the capital
city of a nation usually exposes its citizens to more international contacts than regional
cities and towns.
A questionnaire survey was distributed to 337 Taiwanese NNS English teachers of
21 tertiary technology institutes in the area of greater Taipei. The education goal in
tertiary technology institutes in Taiwan is to develop students’ practical working skills.
Likewise, the goal of English teaching is to develop students’ practical English
communication skills for their future participation in an international working context.
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 143
Given these goals, there should be more possibilities for teachers to consider EIL in
their teaching. English teachers in tertiary institutes also enjoy greater autonomy in
selecting the teaching content, as they are exempt from the responsibility of helping
students pass national examinations for higher education.
Another survey was ministered to 529 student participants of three tertiary
institutes in Taipei. The reason for choosing this group of student was that tertiary
students are free from the heavy pressure of learning English to pass the national
examinations for entering into higher educational institutions. Students have more
autonomy in deciding their investment in learning English. Compared with the students
in traditional universities in Taiwan, technology university students’ use of English
tends to focus on practical purposes rather than academic ones. If the idea of EIL is
acceptable to Taiwanese students in general, technology university students should have
no problem accepting it.
Result and Discussion
Demographic analysis of respondents
On the teachers’ side, the total number of anonymous respondents was 126, or 37%
of the research population, and of these 73% were female. The respondents’ ages ranged
from 25 to 63 years old. Teaching experience ranged from 1 to 42 years. The majority
of the respondents held a master degree (50.8%), and nearly one third held a PhD
degree (27.8%). Most of them majored in English literature or applied linguistics in
English.
On the students’ side (see Table 2), 44% of the respondents were 4-year
technology college/university students, 23% belonged to a 5-year junior college, 14%
belonged to an Open College, 11% belonged to a 2-year junior college, and 8%
belonged to a 2-year senior college; and 79% of the respondents were female.
Concerning the distribution of respondents’ major subject, 44% were English majors
and 55% were non-English majors.
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Table 2
Distribution of Participant’s Schooling Type
Frequency
Percent
4-year Technology College (四技)
231
44%
5-year Junior College (五專)
123
23%
Open College (空專)
72
14%
2-year Junior College (二專)
58
11%
2-year Senior College (二技)
44
8%
N=529.
Participants’ attitudes towards English language proficiency
and knowledge
The questions were designed to understand participants’ attitudes and beliefs in
English teaching and learning practice aligned with the suggestions of teaching EIL on
pronunciation, grammar, teaching materials, cultural contents, and the new positions of
NS and NNS teachers. IT should be noted that American English remains the dominant
variety of English taught in Taiwan. The respondents are comparatively less exposed to
the English varieties of outer circles countries. The validity of their answers concerning
English varieties would be problematic if respondents do not have sufficient exposure to
the samples of EIL before they reveal their attitudes. For this reason, the design of this
questionnaire focused on the participants’ teaching and learning experiences and
excluded the issues of English varieties.
Participants’ attitudes towards grammar and pronunciation
Grammar and pronunciation, particularly pronunciation, have been the prime
concerns of NNS English teachers’ professional competence (Jenkins, 2000; Sifakis &
Sougari, 2005). In the questionnaire, the first group of questions was designed to
understand participants’ attitude towards language proficiency of different users and in
different contexts, particularly with regard to grammar and pronunciation. It consisted
of four pairs of questions (Table 3). The first pair of questions, Q1 and Q2, aimed at
understanding participants’ attitudes towards teachers’ language productive competence
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 145
in English within classroom context. The second pair of questions, Q3 and Q4, sought to
uncover teachers’ attitude on the same subjects outside classroom context. The third
pair of questions, Q5 and Q6, attempted to reveal participants’ expectation of students’
language productive performances in English. The last pair of questions hoped to
explore participants’ attitudes toward the general public’s command of English.
Table 3
Participants’ Attitude towards English Users’ Proficiency in English
No.
Statement
Participants
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Q1
ELT teachers should teach good
pronunciation to students.
Teachers
47%
51%
2%
-
Students
40%
51%
8%
0.4%
ELT teachers should teach good
grammar to the students.
Teachers
44%
52%
3%
1%
Students
35%
59%
6%
-
ELT teachers must try to obtain
accent-free language proficiency
at all times.
Teachers
50%
46%
5%
-
Students
27%
52%
19 %
0.2%
ELT teachers must try to speak
English without grammatical
errors at all times.
Teachers
32%
48%
20%
1%
Students
21%
44%
34%
1%
Students’ pronunciation should
sound like standard English.
Teachers
28%
50%
22 %
-
Students
37%
54%
8%
0.4%
Student should use correct
grammar.
Teachers
29%
55%
17%
-
Students
38%
53%
8%
0.4 %
People using English should try
to speak accent-free English.
Teachers
22%
44%
31%
3%
Students
16%
51%
31 %
1%
People using English should try
to avoid grammatical errors.
Teachers
18%
47%
33%
2%
Students
14%
47%
36%
2%
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
The survey results show that teacher participants, when playing the role of teaching
professional English in a classroom context, exhibited uncompromising attitudes
towards accented English, both in pronunciation and grammar. The majority of the
teachers (98%) believed that teaching standard pronunciation to students is essential in
their teaching practice (Q1). Equally important is to teach correct grammar in the
classroom with 96% of the teachers agreeing that English teachers should be able to
teach correct grammar in the classroom (Q2). When the context moved away from
classroom, the results indicated a notable change in teachers’ attitude towards their use
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
of the English language. A lower percentage of the respondents, 80%, agreed that
teachers should mind their grammar when they are using English outside the classroom
(Q4). However, on the issue of pronunciation, 96% of the respondents (nearly the same
as within the classroom context) agree that they should keep their pronunciation
standardized at all times (Q3). Teachers’ expectations of their students’ performances
were not, however, as strict as towards themselves. A lower percentage of the teachers,
78%, agreed that they preferred their students speak in Standard English (Q5). In spite
of this more liberal attitude towards the students’ productive performances in
pronunciation, teachers had a higher expectation of their students’ performance in
grammar, with 84% of the teachers expecting students to use English with correct
grammar (Q6). This was higher than teachers’ expectations of their own use of grammar
outside classroom (Q4). As for Taiwanese people’s use of English in general, teachers
displayed an even more relaxed attitude. A comparatively lower percentage of the
teachers (66%) agreed that general English users should speak in Standard English
(Q7). About the same percentage of teachers (65%) agreed that people should mind
their grammatical mistakes when they use English (Q8).
The results showed evident differences in teachers’ attitudes towards EIL in
different contexts (Figure 2). Teachers displayed a strong anti-EIL attitude when they
played the role of professional English teachers. Their attitudes towards EIL became
more moderate when English was used outside classroom context, especially when the
English users were their students or the general public. Locally accented English and
imperfect command of English grammar were acceptable.
120%
100%
98% 96%
95%
79%
80%
78%
83%
66% 65%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Q1&Q2
Q3&Q4
Q5&Q6
Q7&Q8
Figure 2. Teachers’ attitude towards English use in different contexts.
P
G
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 147
100%
91% 93%
91% 91%
79%
80%
67%
65%
61%
60%
P
40%
G
20%
0%
Q1&Q2
Q3&Q4
Q5&Q6
Q7&Q8
Figure 3. Students’ attitude towards English use in different contexts.
On the students’ side, the survey results showed that students exhibited strong
rejection to locally accented English in classroom contexts (Figure 3). It was found that
91% of the learners believed that teaching standard pronunciation to students is
essential in teachers’ teaching practice (Q1). Equally important is teaching correct
grammar in the classroom, with 93% of the respondents insisting on this (Q2). When
the context moved away from the classroom, the results showed a notable change in
learners’ attitudes towards grammar. A lower percentage of the respondents, 65%,
agreed that teachers should mind their grammar when they are using English outside the
classroom (Q4). However, on the issue of pronunciation, a higher percentage of
respondents (79%) believed that teachers should keep their pronunciation standardized
at all time (Q3).
When playing the role of English learners, student participants also revealed
uncompromising attitudes towards EIL. Their expectations of their command of English
were almost as high as their expectations for teachers, with 91% of respondents hoping
that they could speak like native English speakers (Q5), and an equal percentage of
respondents wishing they could use English with correct grammar (Q6). Both of these
expectations were much higher than what they expected of teachers’ command of
English outside the classroom context. As for Taiwanese people’s use of English in
general, the participants displayed a very tolerant attitude. A comparatively lower
percentage of the learners (67%) agreed that general English users should speak in
Standard English (Q7). A even lower percentage of the respondents (61%) agreed that
people should mind their grammatical mistakes when they use English (Q8).
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College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Summing up, the results showed that participants’ attitudes towards EIL are
heavily dependent on the context where English is used. Participants showed strong
resistance to the notion of EIL when teaching and learning English. The notion of EIL
was, however, acceptable when English was used for communication.
Participants’ attitudes towards choosing textbooks
Some EIL scholars believe that English teachers should be free to choose from a
broader range of textbooks. Tomlinson (2005) criticised the fact that the textbooks
published by the inner circle countries have been used to impose the native speakers’
value system and ideology on NNS English learners. McKay (2002) enthusiastically
proposed that teachers should use locally produced English textbooks in their
classroom, since these textbooks would reflect needs and English usage in the local
context and enable learners to use English to express their identity in an international
society. To investigate if our respondents accepted these proposals, Question Q9 was
designed to understand their preferences of textbook selection.
Table 4
Participants’ Attitudes towards Choosing Textbooks
No.
Statement
Participants
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
I prefer textbooks published
in English speaking
countries.
Teachers
46%
36%
16%
1%
Q9
Students
15%
52%
31%
2%
The results display a negative attitude towards suggestions concerning choosing
textbooks in teaching English as an international language, with 82% of the teacher
respondents still preferring having textbooks published in English speaking countries.
Student participants showed less interest in those textbooks. Only 67% of student
participants shared teachers’ enthusiasm. However, there were still more than half of the
student-respondents showing a positive attitude towards textbooks published in English
speaking countries. This finding reveals a gap between EIL idealism in promoting EIL
teaching materials and the actual needs of the teachers and learners in learning English
in expanding circle countries.
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 149
Participants’ attitude in integrating cultures in English teaching
EIL scholars suggested that English has become an international language and
should thus be denationalised (Llurda, 2004; McKay, 2002; Modiano, 1999, 2005). A
denationalised language should be separated from its original cultural context. The
English language is used for international communication and it should carry the users’
cultural and national identity. Question Q10 was designed to understand participants’
attitudes towards integrating Anglo-American culture with the English language
teaching content. Participants showed a higher degree of agreement to EIL scholars’
suggestions concerning teaching non-Anglo cultures in ELT classrooms. In contrast
with teachers’ strong beliefs in teaching the language in accordance with native
speakers’ norms (Q1 and Q2), teachers’ attitude towards including Anglo-American
culture in teaching the English language appeared to be less enthusiastic. Yet still half
of the respondents (68%) agreed that their teaching should integrate English native
speakers’ cultures. Student respondents displayed the same degree of agreement with
teachers (69%).
Table 5
Participants’ Attitude towards Integrating Target Culture in Teaching
No.
Statement
If cultural materials are to be
integrated in English language
Q10 classes, they should focus on the
English speaking countries’
cultures.
Participants
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Teachers
25%
43%
31%
1%
Students
20%
49%
28%
3%
Participants’ attitude towards professional competency:
NS versus NNS
Language proficiency is often regarded as the most important qualification of
language teachers. NNS teachers, with their non-nativeness in language proficiency, are
frequently portrayed as second-class teachers with low self-esteem in the literature, and
150
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
are often treated unfairly in terms of job opportunities and respect (Ellis, 2002). NNS
teachers’ contributions in teaching English as an international language are highly
valued in the EIL literature, especially their pedagogical advantages. Questions Q11 to
Q14 were designed to look into participants’ attitudes towards English proficiency and
pedagogy competence in teaching English, and their attitudes towards NS teachers’
professional competences.
Table 6 shows a group of NNS teachers who reveal high self-esteem in their
professional role, which is in line with EIL scholars’ re-positioning of NNS English
teachers in the field of TESOL. Local teachers are born with local advantages, and this
cannot be replaced by NS teachers who are foreign to local teaching cultures and
contexts (Widdowson, 1994). Q11 was designed to explore participants’ evaluation of
the professional competence of an English teacher. More than half of the teacher
respondents (60%) did not agree that language proficiency is more important than
pedagogical knowledge, while 72% of the teacher respondents disagreed (16% of them
strongly) that government should hire NS teachers into the state schooling system
(Q13). An important clue to this result can be found in the result of question Q12, which
was designed to understand Taiwanese teachers’ evaluation of NS teachers’ teaching
effectiveness to Taiwanese students. The result shows that 76% of teacher respondents
did not agree that NS teachers are more effective language teachers. This attitude can be
further confirmed by the result of question Q14, where 80% (32% strongly agree) of the
respondents believed that NNS teachers are better models to their students in learning
English.
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 151
Table 6
Participants’ Attitude towards English Teacher’s Professional Competence
No.
Statement
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
6%
33%
52%
8%
13%
36%
44%
5%
Teachers
5%
18%
64%
12%
Students
17%
41%
38%
3%
Teachers
2%
25%
56%
16%
Students
16%
44%
35%
3%
Teachers
32%
48%
14%
1%
Students
23%
61%
13%
2%
Participants
ELT teachers should focus
Teachers
Q11 more on language knowledge
Students
than on the pedagogy.
Native speaking teachers are
Q12 more effective teachers for
language students.
I agree that government
should hire native speaking
Q13 teachers from English
speaking countries to teach
in Taiwan.
Bilingual non-native
speaking teachers are better
Q14
models to my students on
learning English.
Interestingly, students held a rather different view on these issues. They see
teachers’ language proficiency and pedagogy as equally important. Results show that
nearly half (49%) of them agreed that language proficiency is more important (Q11),
and 58% believed that NS English teachers are more effective in teaching English
(Q12). Also, 60% supported the government’s policy of hiring NS English teachers to
teach in the official schooling system in Taiwan. However, they valued bilingual local
English teachers as their model in learning English. Lastly, 84% of the student
respondents agreed that local English teachers are better role models in learning
English. As learners with specific needs, students’ attitudes could challenge what the
EIL proponents have envisioned.
Coming back to the teachers’ attitudes, most respondents demonstrated a much
higher tolerance of students’ and the general public’s productive skills. Judging from
these results solely, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that most of the respondents are
already practicing the implications of EIL in their teaching. However, when we consider
these answers, along with respondents’ high expectation of their students’ productive
152
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
performances, they remind us that respondents’ ultimate goals in teaching English
remain to attain native-like proficiency and use correct grammar. It is highly possible
that respondents’ encouragement and tolerance towards students’ imperfect command
of English is part of their teaching strategy: empowering and motivating students to
practice more, in order to improve their productive skills in the target language.
Respondents’ preferences in recruitment
According to the discourse of EIL, NNS and NS teachers should enjoy equal
professional opportunities in the context of EIL. In order to have a better understanding
of the participants’ perception of the ownership of English and its relationship to their
perception of teachers’ professional competence, the questionnaire asked the
participants to imagine that they are in charge of recruiting teachers for their institutes
and list their preferences for teachers from different countries. Teachers from 7
countries were listed on the choices, with USA, UK, and Australia representing inner
circle countries, Singapore and India representing outer circle countries, and Germany
and Taiwan representing expanding circle countries. German teachers were put on the
list for the purpose of discerning participants attitudes towards ‘whiteness’ and
professional competence (Golombek & Jordan, 2005).
On the teacher respondents’ side, the results showed a very interesting distribution
of the job opportunities in Taiwan (Figure 4). Taiwanese NNS applicants would have
won the best job opportunities in this job market. Nearly half of respondents (48%) put
Taiwanese applicants as their first priority in recruitment. However, Taiwanese NNS
teachers would have to face strong competition from American teachers. Nearly the
same percentage of the respondents (40%) put American teachers as their first priority.
If we include the respondents’ preferences for British teachers (4%), the respondents’
preferences for NS teachers (44%) have made NS applicants as competitive as
Taiwanese applicants. Judging from Taiwanese NNS teachers’ strong opposition (72%)
to the government’s NS teacher policy, teachers’ personal preferences for NS applicants
presents contradictory attitudes towards NS teachers’ professional competence. Teacher
respondents’ low preference for teachers from Germany shows that ‘whiteness’ is not a
criterion in the respondents’ recruitment considerations. This result also revealed
Taiwanese teachers’ diverse attitudes towards NS teachers from different inner circle
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 153
countries. American applicants are the most favoured among NS applicants. British
applicants’ opportunities remain high, but are dramatically lower than American
teachers’ opportunities. Australian applicants were on the list, but were not considered
to be the first priority of recruitment.
Students showed a rather consistent preference for NS English teachers (Figure 5).
They preferred NS English teachers rather than local English teachers, who were
preferred by EIL scholars. 53% of them chose English teachers from the US as their
first preference in recruitment. Taiwanese English teachers’ job opportunities were only
half of American teachers’ opportunities. Student respondents welcomed British
English teachers to teach English in Taiwan, but their job opportunities are just a quarter
of their American counterparts. These empirical findings suggest that, without
appropriate introduction and explanation of the development of EIL in the world, it is
very difficult for learners to accept the notion of EIL.
50%
48%
40%
40%
30%
20%
10%
4%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Australia
Singapore
India
German
2%
0%
0%
0%
Singapore
A ustralia
India
German
0%
Taiwan
USA
UK
Figure 4. Teachers’ recruitment preferences.
60%
53%
50%
40%
26%
30%
20%
13%
10%
0%
USA
Taiwan
UK
Figure 5. Students’ recruitment preferences.
154
College English: Issues and Trends Volume 3
Conclusion
This paper showed that, concerning the notions of EIL, participants held different
attitudes towards different issues of teaching English as an international language.
Teacher respondents’ perception of their teaching professionalism was positively related
to their high expectations on subject competence. When teaching English in the
classroom, teachers have a strong sense of commanding the ‘correct’ use of English
rather than the locally accented English or other varieties that were welcomed by the
EIL scholars. Having a good command of Standard English, in both pronunciation and
grammar, was highly valued as an important criterion of a ‘good’ English teacher.
Teacher participants also showed consistent attitudes in choosing textbooks and the
cultural contents to be taught in the classroom. In other circumstances, they accepted
English variations. As a general English user, the same individuals were more likely to
become EIL users. Teacher respondents were aware of their pedagogical competence,
and they knew what they could contribute from their bilingual advantages to the
teaching of English.
Most learners wished to learn the English of native speakers rather than of EIL
users. In their view, English still belongs to its native speakers. Some students’
preference (33%) for textbooks published by NNS publishers should be interpreted with
caution. One of the possible reasons might be students’ difficulty in using English
textbooks without Chinese interpretations, rather than an ideological choice. The shift of
the participants’ attitude from an EFL speaker to an EIL user will depend on the change
of social expectations, which includes changes in textbooks, English proficiency
assessments, and NNS English users awareness of English as an international language.
There are several limitations in this paper. First, the data of student participants
was obtained by convenient sampling, and the reliability of the collected data could be
improved by random sampling. Second, as explained in the section of research method,
the Taipei metropolis was selected on the assumption that a negative attitude towards
EIL in this area implies an even lower acceptability of EIL in other parts of Taiwan.
Whether this assumption is valid can be examined by applying the same study to other
areas of Taiwan. Resolving the limitations requires the input of more research resources,
which can be fulfilled by future studies.
Who Wants EIL? Attitudes towards English as an International Language: A Comparative Study of College Teachers and Students in the Greater Taipei Area 155
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College English: Issues and Trends
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