September 2009

The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly

September 2009

Volume 11, Issue 3

Senior Editors:

Paul Robertson and Roger Nunn

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Published by the Asian EFL Journal Press

Asian EFL Journal Press

A Division of Time Taylor International Ltd

Time Taylor College

Daen dong

Busan, Korea

http://www.asian-efl-journal.com

©Asian EFL Journal Press 2009

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

no reproduction of any part may take place without

the written permission of the Asian EFL Journal Press.

No unauthorized photocopying

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in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,

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written permission of the Asian EFL Journal.

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Publisher: Dr. Paul Robertson

Chief Editor: Dr. Roger Nunn

Journal Production Editor: Dana Lingley

ISSN: 1738-1460

http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/

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Table of Contents:

Foreword by Roger Nunn….…………………………………………... 5-8

1. Yen Shu-chi and Chou Tun-whei ………………….……………… 9-28

- The Effect of MTI on L2 Proficiency and Learning Strateies

2. Lei Lei and Xiaoqing Qin…………………….………………..... 29-51

- An Empirical Study of Success and Failure Attributions of

EFL Learners at the Tertiary Level in China

3. Ali Akbar Ansarin and Farzad Rashidi……................................. 52-74

- Discourse Community or Cultural Conventions: Rhetorical

Analysis of Research Abstracts

4. Eddie White…….. …………………………………………….… 75-109

- Assessing the Assessment: An Evaluation of a Self-assessment

of a Class Participation procedure

5. Iman Rasti………… …………..….…………………………….. 110-155

- Iranian Candidates‟ Attitude Towards IELTS

6. Wen-chi Vivian Wu…… ……………………………………….. 156-189

- Criteria for Establishing an Authentic EFL Learning

Environment in Taiwan

7. Yuxiu Hu and Adams B. Bodomo………..…………….………. 190-233

- Harbinglish: L1 Influence on the Learning of English by

High School Students in Harbin, China

8. Harshita Aini Haroon and Azlina Murad Sani…………..….… 234-266

- Children‟s Achievement in two Second Languages: The Roles

of Gender, Language use Domains and Beliefs

9. Adel Abu Radwan………………….. ………………...………… 267-298

- Input Processing Instruction and Traditional Output Practice

Instruction: Effects on the Acquisition of Arabic Morphology

10. Zubeyde Sinem Genc and Ozlem Tekyildiz….…….………… 299-328

- Use of Refusal Strategies by Turkish EFL Learners and Native

Speakers of English in Urban and Rural Areas

11. Seyed Vahid Aryadoust and Hoda Lashkary………………… 329-352

- Teaching Aids: Effective in Iranian Students‟ Lexical

Acquisition?

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Book Reviews

1. Cultural Globalization and Language Education

B. Kumaravadivelu

Reviewed by Gregory P. Glasgow ……………………………… 353-355

2. The Experience of Language Teaching

Rose M. Senior

Reviewed by Ben Shearon ……..……………..………………… 356-357

3. Language Teacher Supervision: A Case-Based Approach

Kathleen M. Bailey

Reviewed by Servet Celik ……………………..………………… 358-360

4. Teaching Speaking in the Language Classroom

Christine Goh. Singapore

Reviewed by Zeng Yajun ……………………...………………… 361-362

Asian EFL Journal editorial information and guidelines………….….. 363-377

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Forward

In this issue we present a very broad variety of papers covering a wide range of issues.

These include some perennial language learning topics such as visual aids and

memory, some cultural topics such as trilingualism and comparisons of rhetorical

language use across cultures. Other topics include assessment and approaches to

improving the quality of learning. We hope that you will find at least something of

interest within this very broad range.

Memory is so obviously important in language learning so it seems logical to

make it the focus of an investigation. In The Effect of MTI on L2 Proficiency and

Learning Strategies Yen, Shu-chin and Chou, Tun-whei investigate whether Memory

Trigger Instruction (MTI) increases students‘ use of memory strategies, and whether

this results in an increase in students‘ overall English proficiency. Their results

suggest that MTI can significantly increase both strategy use and students‘ English

proficiency. They conclude that the development of a broad variety of mnemonic

techniques is likely to increase the effectiveness of MTI and further suggest that MTI

could be extended to other areas of language instruction, such as listening, speaking

and writing.

As political ideology increasingly underpins academic writing in our international

field, it is important to keep reminding ourselves that improved learning remains the

ultimate aim of all EFL research. Lei Lei, and Xiaoqing Qin (An Empirical Study of

Success and Failure Attributions of EFL Learners at the Tertiary Level in China)

investigate the perceptions of reasons for success and failure of tertiary-level EFL

learners in relation to English language achievement. Their learners attribute English

learning success to factors of effort, teacher, confidence and practical use, and failure

to factors of lack of confidence, lack of effort, test-oriented learning, lack of practical

use and lack of external help. They conclude that all these factors in combination

influence EFL learning success.

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In Discourse Community or Cultural Conventions: Rhetorical Analysis of

Research Abstracts, Ali Akbar Ansarin and Farzad Rashidi investigate the generic

structure of the moves used in abstracts written in English by English and Persian

speakers. While differences were identified at a micro-level, no major rhetorical

differences were found in the use of rhetorical conventions. The findings appear to

suggest that in the field of applied linguistics, research-article abstract writers

manifest their affinity to the perceived norms of rhetorical behavior within a discourse

community rather than to their national community and native language writing

culture. Whether this applied beyond abstract writing would be more difficult to

establish and needs further investigation.

Involving students in their own assessment has supporters and detractors. Eddie

White‘s pilot study in self-assessment, Assessing the Assessment: an Evaluation of a

Self-Assessment of Class Participation Procedure, considers practicality, reliability,

validity, authenticity, and washback. White‘s initial study confirms the common

expectations about the difficulty of training students in self-assessment. However, he

identifies an advantage that makes it worthwhile to persist as it is found to be very

effective as a consciousness-raising tool that promotes more class participation.

Moving to a study in more formal testing, Iranian Candidates' Attitudes towards

IELTS, Iman Rasti considers the relationship between examinees' characteristics and

their attitudes using an attitude questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and narrative

written self-reports. He found that the majority of candidates (80%) had a positive

attitude towards IELTS regardless of sex, age, educational background, and scores.

In a study that may well be echoed in other contexts, Wen-chi (Vivian) Wu in

Criteria for Establishing an Authentic EFL Learning Environment in Taiwan explores

the perceptions of faculty and students of their learning environment The entire EFL

environment was perceived to be detrimental to learning The lack of native speakers,

sufficient teachers, real-life learning materials, English-language speaking and

listening practice, and multimedia teaching resources were found to be particularly

detrimental. Among other suggestions, Wu advocates a more interactive relationship

of collaboration between teachers and students and designing genuine experiences

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within the community rather than the current concentration on teacher- and

classroom-centered instruction.

Yuxiu Hu and Adam B. Bodomo in Harbinglish: L1 Influence on the Learning of

English by High School Students in Harbin, China report on the important role of L1

in L2 acquisition, thus contributing to an important debate by using new data to

provide a new perspective. They suggest that the transfer, in this context at least, is

considerably stronger than is often acknowledged, concluding that the common errors

made by high school learners of English in Harbin are mainly due to the influence of

their native language.

In Children‟s Achievement in Two Second Languages: The Roles of Gender,

Language Use Domains and Beliefs, Harshita Aini Haroon and Azlina Murad Sani

investigate associations between the achievement of young learners in two second

languages and gender, language use and language learning beliefs. Achievements in

the first language and both second languages were found to positively correlate with

each other. They also confirm previous findings that girls are dominant in languages.

Haroon and Sani also found significant associations between English achievement and

some language learning beliefs and communication strategies.

It is unusual for AEJ to accept a study beyond our usual EFL scope. In this case

we felt there was much of relevance to EFL teachers in this paper so made an

exception. Adel Abu Radwan (Input Processing Instruction and Traditional Output

Practice Instruction: Effects on the Acquisition of Arabic Morphology) investigates

the claim that focusing learners‘ attention on interpreting the meaning of various

language forms is superior to other types of formal instruction. He compares the

effects of meaning-based input processing instruction and traditional output-based

instruction on the acquisition of several formal features necessary for the

interpretation of sentences containing psychological verbs in Arabic. The findings

indicate that processing instruction seems to affect certain areas of interlanguage (IL)

grammar such as clitics and theme-verbs.

In Use of Refusal Strategies by Turkish EFL Learners and Native Speakers of

English in Urban and Rural Areas, Zubeyde Sinem Genc and Ozlem Tekyildiz

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investigate the ways in which Turkish learners of English use the speech act of refusal.

Their aim was to reveal whether regional variety affects the kind of refusal strategies

used. Their findings indicated that all the subjects regardless of origin seem to use

similar notions of directness and indirectness in their interactions with interlocutors of

varied social status. The status of the interlocutor was observed to be an important

factor in strategy choice for all respondents.

It is difficult to relate the affect of particular aspects of classroom approach to

improved learning. In Teaching Aids: Effective in Iranian Students' Lexical

Acquisition?, Seyed Vahid Aryadoust and Hoda Lashkary investigate the effects of

employing teaching aids, including the of use videos, flash cards, and dictionaries on

lexical acquisition over a four-month period to observe whether vocabulary

acquisition is improved by the use of aids. In a traditional experimental study, the

results indicated that the vocabulary was mastered better by the subjects taught using

teaching aids. Naturally, further research would be needed to confirm the findings for

other contexts.

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The Effect of MTI on L2 Proficiency and Learning Strategies

Yen, shu-chin

Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, Taiwan

Chou, tun-whei

Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, Taiwan

Bio data:

Shu-chin Yen is currently an assistant professor in the English Department at Wenzao

Ursuline College of Languages in Taiwan. Her research interests lie in Academic

writing, language learning strategies and computer assisted language learning.

Tun-Whei Isabel Chuo is currently an associate professor in the English Department

and the Graduate Institute of Foreign Language Education and Cultural Industries at

Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Taiwan. She also serves as the director for

the English Teaching and Learning Resource Center in Southern Taiwan. She

received her master's degree in Applied Linguistics from Penn State University and

her Ed.D. degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on TESOL from La

Sierra University.

Abstract

Studies on the use of learning strategies indicate that memory strategy and affective

strategy are the strategies least used by Asian students (including Taiwanese students).

This study investigates whether Memory Trigger Instruction (MTI) will increase

students‘ use of memory strategy, and whether this will result in an increase in

students‘ overall English proficiency and use of other learning strategies. Four

techniques of MTI are employed in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

classroom. The participants are divided into MTI and Traditional Instruction (TI)

groups. The College Student English Proficiency Test (CSEPT) and the Strategy

Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) are administered before and after the MTI

treatment. Results suggest that MTI can significantly increase students‘ use of

memory strategy and students‘ English proficiency. However, MTI appears to have

no effect on students‘ choice of other learning strategies. Implications of these results

for future development of memory strategy instruction are: first, development and

evaluation of a greater variety of mnemonic techniques is likely to increase the

effectiveness of MTI; second, MTI could be extended to other areas of language

instruction, such as listening, speaking and writing.

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Introduction

Oxford (1990) defines language learning strategies as special actions taken

consciously by language learners to achieve effective learning. Current research in

L2 acquisition indicates that proficient language learners are more likely to use

language learning strategies and are capable of choosing strategies appropriate to the

text they encounter (Griffiths, 2003; O‘Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990; Vann

& Abraham, 1990). Numerous studies have been conducted on Asian students‘ use

of language-learning strategies. Politzer and McGroarthy (1985) discovered that

Asian students used fewer of the strategies expected of ―good‖ language learners than

Hispanic students did. O‘Malley (1987) ascribed Asian students‘ lack of success to

their reluctance to abandon familiar learning strategies. Among Chinese speakers,

research has indicated that Chinese students use compensation and metacognitive

strategies the most, and affective and memory strategies the least (Altan, 2004;

Bremner, 1999; Goh & Kwah, 1997). As for Taiwanese students‘ use of learning

strategies, Chen (2004) conducted a series of experiments on students‘ use of learning

strategies at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages; her results demonstrated that

students had the lowest mean score in the category of Memory Strategies (2.8),

compared with their scores in Cognitive Strategies (3.34), Compensation Strategies

(3.3), Meta-cognitive Strategies (3.44), Affective Strategies (2.88) and Social

Strategies (3.29). The above-mentioned literature suggests that enhancement of

students‘ use of memory strategy is a promising direction for improving students‘

overall proficiency (Altan, 2004; Chen, 2004).

Numerous mnemonic devices have been mentioned in the literature; however, the

effectiveness of the application of each device has not yet been evaluated in an EFL

context. For example, one of the most frequently studied mnemonic devices is the

keyword method, which involves memorizing a foreign word using both an acoustic

link (―a sound-alike native word‖) and an imagery link (an interactive image which

incorporates both native and foreign words) (Gu, 2003, p.11). The keyword method

is of limited use value for vocabulary acquisition since it does not take the ―multiple

dimensions of [a] word‖ (Gu, 2003, p.12) or its grammatical information (Paivio &

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Desrochers, 1981) into account. Thus, Gu (2003) proposes using the keyword

method in context, which would embed the keyword in a context or sentence. The

effectiveness of other mnemonic devices, such as semantic networking, vocabulary in

discourse context and vocabulary in musical applications, requires further empirical

research to evaluate.

In this study, we have conducted a Memory Trigger Instruction (MTI) experiment

to investigate students‘ use of memory strategies, using Oxford‘s theory of memory

strategy as a matrix; the matrix is also a component of the four MTI configurations

used in this experiment. The current study investigates (1) whether MTI

significantly increases students‘ frequency of memory strategy use, (2) whether use of

MTI affects students‘ choice of other learning strategies, and (3) whether MTI has a

positive effect on students‘ overall English proficiency, such as their proficiency in

reading and usage.

Literature Review

MTI Techniques

MTI is comprised of two parts: (1) memory strategy theory, formulated by Oxford

(1990) and (2) mnemonic devices, or the so-called mechanical techniques used to

―reinforce‖ memory, which include the techniques of keyword, discourse and music

applications, plus Oxford‘s paradigm. Four techniques are used in this experiment:

technique 1 applies Oxford‘s theory of memory strategy, whereas techniques 2, 3, and

4 apply the keyword, discourse and musical techniques in addition to the version of

Oxford‘s paradigm used in technique 1.

Technique 1 (Oxford‟s theory of memory strategy)

Oxford (1990) categorizes memory strategies into clusters of ―mental linkage creation,

image / sound application, [together with] review and action employment‖ (p.38).

She describes the process of mental linkage of words as ―word association‖ and

―image application‖ with the help of visual aids such as pictures. ―Sound

application‖ refers to mental link created by the phonological aspects of a word such

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as syllabic structure and stress pattern. ―Reviewing‖ and ―action employment‖ refer

to mechanical techniques or skills used to reinforce memory. In technique 1, three

elements of Oxford‘s memory strategy are employed: rhythmic properties, word

memorization and contextual word usage. Rhythmic properties refer to phonetic

elements such as the stress patterns and syllabic structures of target words. Frankish

(1989) demonstrates that the prosodic features of a word facilitate the memorization

of suprasegmental units.

―Word memorization‖ refers to the technique of memorizing words with the help

of images or word association. Kasper (1993) claims that ―each image [should be

made] as unique as possible‖ to facilitate the memorization process (p.250). Word

association also involves finding antonyms or synonyms for individual words.

Antonyms and synonyms are arranged according to their level of difficulty:

intermediate-level items appear first, followed by basic- and advanced-level items.

Studies reveal that the initial items of a word group are remembered best; the final

items of a word group are more difficult to recall. The items located in the middle of

a word group are the hardest to recall (Frensch, 1994; Healy, Havas & Parker, 2000).

Contextual word usage refers to memorization of target words in context.

Numerous studies indicate that embedding new words in a context may be the best

way to memorize a word effectively, since not only the target words but also the

words surrounding them can be acquired (Gu, 2003; Sansome, 2000).

Technique 2 (Discourse method + Oxford‟s paradigm)

Technique 2 integrates the discourse method into Oxford‘s paradigm. Cook (1989)

defines discourse as a super-sentential unit of words, either in oral or written form,

having a communicative function and internal coherence. ―Formal links between

sentences and between clauses are known as cohesive devices‖ (p.14). Verb forms,

parallelism, referring expressions, substitutions and conjunctions are all examples of

cohesive devices (Cook, 1989). Such cohesive devices may also aid a

second-language learner in memorizing a cluster of words.

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Technique 3 (Keyword method + Oxford‟s paradigm)

The keyword method and Oxford‘s paradigm are combined in technique 3. The

―keyword method‖ refers to memorization of a target word using an acoustic link (a

sound-alike native-language word) and an ―imagery link‖, which serves as a bridge or

―referent‖ between the native-language word and the target word. The acoustic and

imagery links should form a strong association with the target word; the relationship

between keyword and target word should be constructed in such a way that when

learners hear or see the keyword, association to the target word will occur to them

immediately (Gu, 2003; Hulstijn, 1997).

Technique 4 (Music method + Oxford‟s paradigm)

It has been proposed that the use of music or song is conducive to language learning

for both affective and cognitive reasons (Scheopp, 2001). Songs develop a weak

affective filter in the sense that they create a non-threatening and stress-free

atmosphere, which is believed to enhance learning (Adamowski, 1997; Bechtold,

1983; Domoney & Harris, 1993; Lo & Li, 1998). The use of song (music) can also

facilitate language automaticity, which has been defined as ―a component of language

fluency . . . involve[ing] both knowing what to say and producing language rapidly

without pauses‖ (Gatbonton & Segalowize, 1988, p.473). Gatbonton and

Segalowize (1988), demonstrate the effectiveness of melody in boosting

memorization.

Vocabulary and L2 Reading Comprehension

Knowledge of vocabulary remains a central issue in L2 reading comprehension.

Eskey (1988), McLaughlin (1990) and Segalowitz (1991) all emphasize the

importance of vocabulary in L2 reading. They claim that less proficient readers

often appear to be word-bound, and this phenomenon is often taken as evidence that

those readers are stuck at the word level. Furthermore, Eskey (1973) holds that good

reading is a matter of knowledge of language structure rather than a guessing-game.

Neely (1977) elaborates on Eskey‘s view, claiming that good readers know the

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language because they are capable of decoding the lexical units in the texts that they

encounter. Generally speaking, reading comprehension is achieved not only by

using background knowledge of the world but also by relying on automatic word

identification (Berman, 1984; Carrell, 1989).

Methodology

Subjects

Subjects were selected from the student population of Wenzao Ursuline College of

Languages in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A sample of 96 students was selected from a total

population of 700 four-year college seniors. Data collected from 21 out of the 96

participants were excluded because they failed to participate in the whole research

project. For example, some of them missed the tests given during the experiment.

Two complete classes of English majors were divided into an experimental group (35

participants) and a control group (32 participants). The experimental group will

hereafter be referred to as the Memory Trigger Instruction (MTI) group, and the

control group will be referred to as the Traditional Instruction (TI) group. The

participants were all native speakers of Mandarin Chinese who were learning English

as a foreign language. They had taken the College Student English Proficiency Test

(CSEPT) and the Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) upon their

admission to Wenzao.

MTI Materials

Essays from Contemporary Culture was the primary textbook used by these two

groups in a course entitled, Language and Culture. It is an authentic textbook

designed to develop undergraduate students‘ critical thinking. The material in this

textbook was used to design the MTI models.

MTI Model Design

Example 1 (Oxford‟s theory of memory strategy) The word ―wheedle‖ was paired

with three elements (rhythmic properties, word memorization and context word

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usage). The phonetic transcription of ―wheedle‖ is the first element; synonyms for

―wheedle‖ arranged by degree of difficulty are the second element, and a sentence

using the word ―wheedle‖ is the third element (see Appendix 1).

Example 2 (discourse method + Oxford‟s paradigm).

―Xiao-Ming lives with his grandmother, who has osteoporosis. After a car

accident, she lay comatose in hospital and was very frail‖.

In this passage, three vocabulary words have been underlined. Cohesive devices and

contextual clues (such as ―car accident‖ and ―hospital‖) within the discourse

suggested the negative connotations of these vocabulary words (see Appendix 2).

Example 3 (Keyword method + Oxford‟s paradigm).

―美加 (mecca)是大人與小孩都想去的地方.‖

―Mecca‖ is defined as ―a place where people go, because it is famous or because it

has something that they want‖ (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, p.1130). The keyword

method uses underlining to indicate that a definition of the target word ―mecca‖ will

follow. ―美加 (meijia),‖ the L1 acoustic link to ―mecca,‖ functions as a keyword to

boost memorization of the target word. The imagery link to the pronunciation of the

target word is formed by using the national flags of the United States (the first

syllable of which is pronounced ―美‖ in Chinese) and Canada (the first syllable of

which is pronounced ―加‖ in Chinese). The keyword sentence can be translated as

―America and Canada are the places where people want to go‖ (see Appendix 3).

Example 4 (Music method + Oxford‟s paradigm).

―Frenzy 就是名詞的 crazy / 單字就照按ㄋㄟ甲背下去 / 看到壞人 culprit就想要

koooo(吐痰聲) / 是一個 provocative 也倒是挑臖的行為 / vilify, codify 放在一

起 / 把毀謗的話，編成一本壞話集.”

This discourse can be translated as ―Frenzy is the noun form of crazy / This is an

example to boost memorization / Culprits are very irritating / But to annoy them will

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provoke them / combining the words ―codifying‖ and ―vilifying‖ / we compose a

pamphlet to malign evildoers (compose is a synonym for codify, and malign is a

synonym for vilify). It consists of a piece of rap music. The underlined words

provide definitions for the target vocabulary words surrounding them (see Appendix

4).

Instruments

The instrument used to assess students‘ pre-treatment and post-treatment proficiency

is the College Student English Proficiency Test (CSEPT level 2). CSEPT is a

standardized proficiency test developed and administered by the Language Training

and Testing Center (LTTC) in Taiwan. The test is comprised of three sections:

Listening, Usage, and Reading. It aims to measure students‘ comprehension of

general spoken English, English language structure, and English written materials.

The total possible score on this test is 360; each section has a total possible score of

120.

Oxford‘s (1990) Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL); its Cronbach

alpha reliability coefficients range from 0.89 to 0.98 was used to measure students‘

use of learning strategies (Griffiths, 2003). SILL consists of 50 statements related to

six categories of language learning strategies: (1) memory strategies, (2) cognitive

strategies, (3) compensation strategies, (4) meta-cognitive strategies, (5) affective

strategies, and (6) social strategies. On a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never

or almost never true) to 5 (always or almost always true), participants were requested

to mark their response to each statement.

Procedure

This research project was conducted from November 2006 to June 2007. The

CSEPT and the SILL were administered as pre-tests to both the MTI and the TI

groups. Both groups received reading instruction for three hours per week in the

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course ―Language and Culture‖. They all used the same textbook and syllabus.

However, the TI group received traditional reading instruction with no emphasis on

any particular learning strategy, whereas the MTI group received Memory Trigger

Instruction with an emphasis on mnemonic techniques. Both groups received

instruction for a period of 27 weeks. Afterward, the CSEPT and the SILL were

administered as post-tests to both MTI and TI groups.

Data Analysis

The independent variables in this experiment are instruction methods (Memory

Trigger vs. Traditional), and the dependent variables are CSEPT and SILL pretest and

posttest scores. SPSS was used to perform an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Results

Effect of MTI on Students‟ Use of Memory Strategies

A post-treatment ANCOVA was used to calculate the difference between the TI and

MTI groups pre- and post-treatment SILL scores, with both groups‘ pre-treatment

SILL scores as a covariate. Results demonstrated that the pretest scores were

significantly correlated with the posttest scores; F (5,383) = 5.583, p<.001 and that

there was a significant difference in the posttest scores between the two groups after

controlling for pretest scores; F (11,383) = 3.263, p<.001 (see Table 1).

Additionally, the MTI group had a higher posttest mean score (M = 3.806) than the

control group did (M = 3.179, see Table 2). These findings indicate that MTI was

more effective than TI in increasing students‘ use of memory strategies.

Table 1

ANCOVA Results for Students‟ use of Memory Strategy

Source df SS MS F

MS Pretest 5 6.631 1.326 5.583***

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Instruction method 11 8.527 .775 3.263***

Error 383 90.978 .238

Total 399 5116.560

Note. MS = Memory Strategy

The F value of 5.583 is equivalent to a p value of .000 and the F value of 3.263, a p

value of .000

*** p<.001

Table 2

T-test Results for Students‟ Use of Memory Strategy

Instruction

Method

Pretest Posttest t

n M SD M SD

TI 32 2.78 0.66 3.179 .4285 2.989*

MTI 35 2.83 0.61 3.806 .4984 8.727***

Note. TI = Traditional Instruction; MTI = Memory Trigger Instruction

The t value of 2.989 is equivalent to a p value of .005. The t value of 8.727 is

equivalent to a p value of .000.

*** p<.001; * p< .01

Effect of MTI on Students‟ Use of Other Strategies

Pairwise comparison was used to analyze students‘ use of individual learning

strategies. The results indicate that MTI has no significant effect on students‘ use of

other strategies. Memory strategy is used less frequently than compensation strategy

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(compensation to memory =.224, p<.05). Memory strategy is more frequently used

than affective strategy (memory to affective = .224, p<.05), cognitive strategy is more

frequently used than affective strategy (cognitive to affective =.395, p<.05);

compensation strategy is more frequently used than affective strategy (compensation

to affective = .448, p<.05). Compensation strategy is also more frequently used than

social strategy (compensation to social =.194, p<.05); meta-cognitive strategy is more

frequently used than affective strategy (meta-cognitive to affective = .281, p<.05), and

social strategy is more frequently used than affective strategy (social to affective

= .254, p<.05). From these results, we conclude that compensation strategy is used

the most frequently by students, while affective strategy is used the least frequently.

However, no significant differences were found among students‘ use of memory,

cognitive, social and meta-cognitive strategies. Thus, students‘ use of strategies

from most to least frequent can be listed as: compensation strategy > memory strategy

= cognitive strategy = social strategy = meta-cognitive strategy > affective strategy.

These findings are consistent with the results of previous studies.

Effect of MTI on Students‟ Overall English Proficiency

The effect of MTI on students‘ overall English proficiency was investigated by

measuring the difference in students‘ pre-test and post-test overall CSEPT scores, and

by measuring the difference in their CSEPT reading and usage scores. As previously

mentioned, CSEPT is divided into three parts, listening, usage and reading. In this

study, both pre- and post- CSEPT scores include mean scores in usage and reading.

An ANCOVA was used to analyze the difference in posttest scores between the TI

and MTI groups, with the pretest scores as a covariate. Results showed that after

controlling for pretest scores, there was a significant between-group difference in the

posttest scores for both of the CSEPT components: usage (F = 10.788, p<.001),

reading (F = 7.144, p<.001, see Table 3) as well as a significant difference in overall

CSEPT scores (F = 9.911, p<.001). Table 3 also shows that the MTI group had a

higher posttest mean score on the two CSEPT components than the control group did.

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These results reveal that MTI (M = 90.05) was more effective than TI (M = 83.7) in

improving students‘ overall English proficiency as well as their usage and reading.

Table 3

Means, Standard Deviations and ANCOVA Results: CSEPT Usage and Reading

Scores

CSEPT

Component

TI MTI

Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest ANCOVA

M SD M SD M SD M SD F

Usage 71.66 14.3 81.41 12.64 71.25 12.40 87.06 11.52 10.788***

Reading 79.06 12.04 86.00 7.44 77.31 12.50 93.06 7.12 7.144***

Usage +

Reading

75.37 13.64 83.70 7.60 74.28 12.74 90.05 7.75 9.911***

Note. The F value of 10.788 is equivalent to a p value of .000, the F value of 7.144,

a p value of .000, and the F value of 9.911, a p value of .000.

*** p<.001

Discussion

The results obtained in this experiment suggest the following:

1. MTI can significantly increase students‘ use of memory strategy.

2. MTI shows no impact on students‘ use of other learning strategies.

3. MTI can enhance students‘ overall English proficiency.

In the paragraphs to follow, we describe the main features of MTI and its

contributions to EFL learning.

MTI Significantly Increases Students‟ Frequency of Memory Strategy Use

21

The SILL consists of six categories of language learning strategies. Memory

strategy is listed as the first category and there are nine items in this category. What

follows is our discussion of MTI‘s engagement in the SILL‘s memory strategy.

MTI-group students were trained to ―use rhymes to remember new English words‖

(item 5). Word association in the first MTI technique encourages students to ―think

of [the word] relationships between what [they] already know and new [words they

are going to] learn‖ (item 1). The second MTI technique (discourse method)

instructs students to ―use new English words in a sentence‖ (item 2). The keyword

method emphasizes acoustic and visual links between a native-language word and the

target word. This may increase the frequency with which students use the following

strategies: first, to ―remember a new English word by making a mental picture of a

situation in which the word might be used‖ (item 4); second, to remember a word by

―connect[ing] the sound . . . or [the] picture of the word‖ (item3). The music method

encourages students to ―physically act new English words‖ (item 7) through facial

expression, body language and articulation

MTI has No Impact on Students‟ Use of Other Learning Strategies

The introduction of MTI caused no significant changes in students‘ use of other

learning strategies. A comparison of pre- and post-test mean SILL scores reveals

that compensation strategy remains students‘ most frequently used strategy; affective

strategy is still students‘ least frequently used learning strategy. These results are

consistent with previous studies on Asian students‘ use of learning strategies (Altan,

2004; Bremner, 1999; Goh and Kwah, 1997). The only change to the sequential

order of learning-strategies usage observed here is in the use of memory strategy,

which no longer ranks as students‘ least-used learning strategy.

MTI Positively Affects Students‟ Overall English Proficiency

MTI has been demonstrated to increase students‘ level of overall English proficiency,

both in usage and reading. CSEPT‘s usage section tests knowledge of English

language structure, such as vocabulary or phrase determination in context; this is

22

closely related to bottom-up processing in reading (Eskey, 1988; McLaughlin, 1990;

Segalowitz, 1991). Studies in L2 reading comprehension indicate that vocabulary

problems represent the greatest stumbling block to fluent reading (Nation & Coady,

1988). Nation and Coady‘s (1988) study of the relationship between reading and

vocabulary found that vocabulary knowledge significantly influences reading fluency.

Our results suggest that MTI significantly improves students‘ reading ability and that

MTI could be a highly effective teaching method for an EFL reading class because it

provides diverse and effective techniques for vocabulary memorization.

Conclusion

This study investigated the effect of Memory Trigger Instruction (MTI) on students‘

overall English proficiency and on students‘ use of language learning strategies.

Four different combinations of MTI techniques were developed and studied in a

classroom setting. It was demonstrated that MTI improved students‘ overall English

proficiency significantly more than Traditional Instruction (TI) did, especially in the

area of reading fluency.

However, participation in MTI treatment did not influence students‘ choice of

learning strategies, except in the sense that after the MTI treatment, memory strategy

was no longer the least frequently used learning strategy for the participants in the

MTI group. These results provide support for the theory that an increase in students‘

use of memory strategy results in a considerable improvement in students‘ English

reading proficiency, which suggests that MTI may be a highly effective teaching

approach for an EFL reading class.

The effectiveness of MTI raises some issues for future research. First, we

suggest that different kinds of MTI techniques be developed. For example, MTI

techniques can be designed to include not only contextual and discourse settings, but

also affective factors. Oxford (1990) suggests that ―listening to self-talk, let[ting]

students consider cooperation and competition, and [allow(ing) students‘ judg[ing]

their empathy‖ are good activities for fostering students‘ use of affective learning

strategies (p.149-150). Integration of affective activities into MTI to form AMTI

23

(affective memory trigger instruction) may increase students‘ use of affective strategy.

Finally, the question of whether MTI could be used to improve other language skills,

such as listening, speaking and writing, also deserves further empirical investigation.

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27

Appendix

Appendix 1

• wheedle ['widl]

• d.f. to persuade someone to do something

• She wheedled him into taking her with him.

• synonyms: coax, trick, cajole

28

Appendix 3

Mecca

美加是大人與小孩都想去的地方。

Appendix 4Frenzy 就是名詞的 crazy

(狂熱) 單字就照按ㄋㄟ甲背下去

看到culprit就想要kooooo (吐痰聲) (壞人)系一個provocatively 的行為

(挑釁地)

Vilify, codify 放在一起把誹謗的話編成一本壞話集

29

An Empirical Study of Success and Failure Attributions

of EFL Learners at the Tertiary Level in China

Lei LEI

Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China

Xiaoqing QIN

Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China

Bio Data:

Lei LEI is an associate professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong

University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, P.R. He got his MA of

Applied Linguistics in June 2006 and is now doing his PhD research in SLA at

Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He has authored /co-authored 10 papers in refereed

journals of linguistics and applied linguistics at home and abroad and has chaired and

participated in ten research projects sponsored by Hubei Province and HUST.

Xiaoqing QIN is a professor at School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong University of

Science and Technology, China, P.R. He got his PhD of Applied Linguistics in May

1999 and did post-doctoral research at Nanjing University in the following two years.

He has published extensively at home and abroad, including papers published at Hong

Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics and RELC Journal. He has chaired over ten

research projects sponsored by State Ministry of Education, Hubei Province and

HUST.

Abstract

This study investigated the success and failure attributions of Chinese tertiary-level

EFL learners and its relation to the English language achievement. Factor analysis

provided clear evidence that Chinese EFL learners attributed English learning success

to factors of effort, teacher, confidence and practical use, and failure to factors of lack

of confidence, lack of effort, test-oriented learning, lack of practical use and lack of

external help. Results of regression analysis indicated that the teacher and effort

factors defined success of English learning, while lack of confidence, lack of practical

use and test-oriented learning interpreted EFL failure. It is concluded that the

interwoven functioning of all factors, i.e., effort, teacher, confidence and EFL

learning for practical use rather than for tests, guides the EFL learning to success.

Key words: success attribution; failure attribution; English language achievement;

factor analysis; regression analysis

30

1 Introduction

Heider (1958, pp.146-147) hypothesized that learners were constantly analyzing

reasons for the success and failure of the tasks related to their academic achievement.

These achievement attributions affected learner‘s affect responses, expectancy to

future success and subsequent behaviors, and accordingly affected learner‘s academic

achievement. Based on Heider‘s (1958) hypothesis, Weiner and his colleagues

(Weiner, 1979, 1986; Weiner & Kukla, 1970; Weiner, Russell, & Lerman, 1979)

originated and later elaborated the model of attribution theory.

Weiner‘s model of attribution theory was the most prominent and active topic

within socio-psychological field in 1980s (Pepitone, 1981) and its influence continued

unabated that ―no other motivational conception has achieved this degree of

visibility‖ (Graham, 1991, cited in Georgiou 1999). It has been utilized in a variety of

disciplines for the reason that it ―focuses upon the universal concern with

explanation----why a particular event, or state, or outcome has come about and the

consequences of phenomenal causality‖ (Weiner, 2000). Since 1990s, Weiner‘s model

has been used in the explanation of achievement attribution and foreign language

studies.

Studies on achievement attribution within the framework of Weiner‘s model fall

into three categories in terms of attribution measurement: 1) the researchers

hypothesize certain settings of academic success or failure and ask the subjects to

self-report reasons for the success or failure, followed by the subjects‘ self-assessment

of attributional dimension of the reasons. Most studies (Wagner, Spratt, Gal, & Paris,

1989) in this category used Causal Dimension Scale (CDS) or Causal Dimension

Scale II (CDSII) (McAuley, Duncan, & Russell, 1992; Russell, 1982). 2) The subjects

are required to choose out of the reasons presented by the researchers that are in

accord with the factuality of their academic success or failure (O'Sullivan & Howe,

1996). 3) Interview, diary-writing or autobiography approaches are employed

(Williams & Burden, 1999).

However, attributions are situation-specific and do not generalize (Siegel &

Shaughnessy, 1996). Learners from different cultural backgrounds attribute

31

divergently in dissimilar academic situations. Despite the fact that the measures

present a lucid top-down description of attributions commonly recognized in the

framework of attribution theory, its defect is still obvious, that is they fail to depict the

idiosyncratic attributions that learners with typical cultural and academic background

hold.

In the mid 1990s, researchers in applied linguistics began to investigate

achievement attributions in language learning. However, these studies followed the

set pattern in terms of research methodology. They either drew on scales revised from

CDSII (Tremblay & Gardner, 1995) or adopted the approaches of interviewing or

autobiography (Williams & Burden, 1999; Tse, 2000).

Recently, Chinese professionals commenced studies on attributions of Chinese

EFL learners which had the same limitations in terms of attribution measurement

(Jiang, 2003; Li, 2004; Qin, 2002; Zhang, 2002, 2004). However, the Chinese EFL

learners are educated in distinctive cultural and academic settings fairly divergent

from those of their western counterparts, which lends support to hypothesize that the

studies have failed to examine the idiosyncratic language learning attributions of

Chinese EFL learners.

In the present study, to avoid the methodological shortcomings, we investigated

the idiosyncratic success and failure attributions of Chinese tertiary-level EFL

learners and its relation to English learning achievement using the exploratory and

confirmatory factory analysis in conjunction with regression analysis.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Attribution in Academic Achievement Studies

Numerous studies focused on the role of attribution in academic achievement.

O'Sullivan & Howe (1996) studied the relation between the reading attributions of

American students and their reading achievement. The study found that the students

attributed their reading success mainly to ability, enjoyment of reading and help from

their family. The attribution factors were correlated with the reading achievement and

high achievers attributed more to adaptive attribution factors. Wagner et al.‘s (1989)

32

study on Arabic students resulted similarly to O'Sullivan & Howe‘s (1996), i.e., the

students attributed mostly to internal factors (such as efforts), which defined the

student‘s reading achievement.

In addition, Platt (1988) indicated that learner‘s success attribution to ability

positively affected their academic expectancy and self-concept while the success

attribution to effort brought about beneficial effects. Park & Kim (1998) examined the

achievement attribution of honor students and students on probation. They found that

honor students attributed more to internal factors. To be specific, they were more

likely to attribute success to effort and help from others and less likely to attribute

failure to low ability and absence of help from others. Georgiou (1999) supported the

above findings, that is successful learners attributed more to ability and other internal

factors and their internal attributions were positively correlated with their academic

achievement. Conversely, unsuccessful learners attributed more to external factors

(such as luck, effects from parents and teachers, etc.) and their external attributions

were negatively correlated with their academic achievement.

2.2 Attribution in FLL Studies

Since the 1990s, researchers began to explore learner‘s success and failure attributions

in foreign language learning (FLL) or foreign language teaching (FLT) situations.

However, the investigations in the field are relatively little (Williams & Burden,

1999). Firstly, Williams & Burden (1999) interviewed French language learners at

different ages (from 10 to 15 years old), aimed at examining the formation and

variation of their French learning attributions. Results showed that the older the

learners grew the more versatile and complicated their attributions developed.

Nevertheless, most learners attributed success to external factors with the teacher as a

key role in the formation and development of their attributions. Secondly, Tse (2000)

adopted the autobiography approach to investigate students‘ self-perception on FLL.

Most of the students attributed FLL success to teacher or classroom environment,

family or community assistance and personal drive to learn, and FLL failure to not

studying hard enough or not being sufficiently motivated, teacher or teaching method

33

and student composition of the courses. Finally, Graham (2004) conducted a

quantitative study on French learners‘ self-perception on French learning by means of

a self-designed questionnaire. She found that the learners tended to attribute success

to effort, high ability and effective learning strategies, and to attribute failure to low

ability and task being difficult.

Based on the above discussion, it appears to indicate that FLL attributions diverge

from those in other academic situations in that foreign language learners focus more

on external factors such as teachers, the family and the classroom environment, etc. It

may be for the reason that, in comparison with other academic tasks such as

mathematics and reading, FLL is more practice- and communication-oriented with

teachers and peer learners.

2.3 Attribution in FLL Studies in China

A number of studies have been conducted on Chinese learner‘s EFL attribution since

the late 1990s. Firstly, Qin (1998) and Qin & Wen (2002) examined the relation

between EFL motivation and causal attribution. The results showed that attribution

had a direct impact on EFL motivation and Chinese EFL learners often attributed EFL

success and failure to efforts, learning strategies, learning environment, classroom

teaching, past learning experiences, language competence, etc. Qin (2002) studied

qualitatively on the EFL attribution of Chinese learners and the findings replicated

those quantitative results in Qin (1998) and Qin & Wen (2002). Furthermore, Jiang

(2003) reported the impact of EFL attributions upon strategies used in EFL learning.

It was signified that EFL success and failure attributions were significantly correlated

with the use of different learning strategies. In addition, Zhang (2002, 2004)

questionnaire-surveyed what Chinese learners attributed to their EFL proficiency and

oral English achievement. The outcomes were rather discouraging that most students

thought of themselves EFL losers. They attributed failure to lack of ability and effort.

Finally, Li (2004) found that most EFL learners in China attributed their success and

failure to unstable, controllable and internal factors, such as effort, EFL learning

strategies, EFL learning attitude, etc.

34

Zhang (2002, 2004) and Li (2004) are subject to a number of limitations. Firstly,

the sample size was not big and representative enough. In Zhang (2002), only 89

English-majors participated in the study, of whom merely 21 participants represented

successful EFL learners, and similarly, only 74 EFL learners were surveyed in Li

(2004). Secondly, the statistical methods were not sufficiently inferential. In those

studies, they merely conducted descriptive statistics, i.e., frequency and percentage

analyses. Thirdly, the studies only analyzed the commonly recognized attribution

factors within the framework of Weiner‘s attribution theory. They failed to provide a

full description of the idiosyncratic attribution factors of Chinese EFL learners. Lastly,

they did not examine the relation between the attribution factors and the EFL

achievement. To avoid the methodological shortcomings, a fairly larger sample of

participants were surveyed and approaches of exploratory and confirmatory factor

analysis in conjunction with regression analysis were adopted in the present study to

investigate the idiosyncratic success and failure attributions of Chinese tertiary-level

EFL learners and its relation to English learning achievement.

3 Methodology

3.1 Research Questions

The research questions that guided the present study are:

1. To what factors do the tertiary-level EFL learners in China attribute their success in

English language learning?

2. How well do the factors of success attribution predict their English language

achievement?

3. To what factors do the tertiary-level EFL learners in China attribute their failure in

English language learning?

4. How well do the factors of failure attribution predict their English language

achievement?

35

3.2 Subjects

The subjects of this study are Grade 2004 and 2005 undergraduates at Huazhong

University of Science and Technology. When they participated in the study, they were

sophomores and freshmen respectively. A total of 949 subjects participated in the

questionnaire survey, of which 355 self-reported as successful learners and 594

unsuccessful learners. What needs caution is that only the Grade 2004 subjects took

College English Test Band 4 (CET 4) in June 2005, which was taken as the indicator

of the subject‘s English language achievement.

3.3 Instruments

Two instruments were utilized in the study.

On one hand, a questionnaire named Success and Failure Attribution Scales for

Tertiary-Level EFL learners was developed by the researchers for the reason that

there was no scale to be adopted to measure Chinese EFL learner‘s success and failure

attributions.

As for the procedure of questionnaire development, we first administered an

open-ended questionnaire to elicit data on how tertiary-level EFL learners in China

attributed EFL success and failure. A total of 70 sophomores randomly chosen from

two natural classes participated in the survey. Based on the data elicited, we

categorized the subjects‘ responses into the items of the scales. Then we conducted a

pilot study on a group of 230 sophomores to investigate the reliability and validity of

the scales. The results showed that the value of Cronbach‘s Alpha of the failure

attribution scale was .821 and the KMO value was .692 with Bartlett‘s test of

sphericity significant (p<.000), which meant that the scales were statistically reliable

and valid. Finally, after the pilot study, the researchers revised the scales by means of

interviewing the subjects and consulting the professional colleagues and the literature

concerned.

On the other, the learner‘s performance on CET 4 was taken as the indicator of the

subject‘s English language achievement primarily for the regression part of data

analysis. CET 4 is the lower-level part of College English Test (CET) which is a

36

large-scale standardized English language test administered twice a year by National

College English Testing Committee on behalf of State Ministry of Education. As a

criterion-related norm-referenced test, CET is to make assessment of the English

language proficiency of the tertiary-level non-English majors. Its reliability and

validity have been proved statistically satisfactory by numerous studies (Yang, 1998,

2003; Yang & Weir, 1999).

3.4 Data Collection

The large-scale questionnaire survey was administered in regular English class hours

in December 2005 and three steps were taken to guarantee the reliability and validity

of data collection. First, the researchers together with the English course teachers

explained the purpose of the survey to the subjects. Additionally, they promised to the

subjects that the data elicited were for research use only. Second, the subjects were

encouraged to raise any question they had while responding to the questionnaire and

the researchers would help and explain for them. Last, the researchers monitored the

whole responding process and reminded the subjects of completing the questionnaires

completely if any information was missed. On average, the responding duration was

twenty minutes.

3.5 Data Analysis

The following statistical approaches were utilized to analyze the data. Firstly, item

analysis on both the success and failure attribution scales was conducted. Item

analysis aims to exclude the inappropriate items in the scales that cannot tell

significantly the discrepancy of the subjects (Qin, 2003, p.33). On one hand, we put

the subjects into the low- and high-score groups in terms of the total score they got on

all the 51 items in the scale, with the top 25% as the high-score group and the bottom

25% as the low-score one. On the other, we employed independent samples t-test to

see whether the high- and low-score groups scored significantly differently on each

item.

37

Secondly, exploratory factor analysis was conducted on both scales, with a view

to extracting factors of success and failure attributions and testing the construct

validity of both scales. We chose maximum likelihood approach out of common

factor models for its appropriateness for factor extraction (Conway & Huffcutt, 2003;

Gorsuch, 1990). As for rotation, we adopted Promax approach out of oblique rotations

for the reason that oblique rotations were better in data reduction (Conway & Huffcutt,

2003; Ford, MacCallum, & Tait, 1986). Moreover, while determining of the number

of factors to be extracted and the factor items, the following points were proposed: 1)

the eigenvalue be more than 1 (Kaiser, 1956), 2) the suppressed absolute value of

variables be more than .30. The suppressed absolute value was the rotation loading or

validity coefficient. Nunnally (1978) argued that it be more than .40 to guarantee the

significance of the construct validity. However, other researchers suggested that it

was significant to explain the factors as long as the rotation loadings were more

than .30 (Hair, Anderson, & Tatham, 1998; Kline, 1994, p.52-53). Therefore, we set

the suppressed absolute value to more than .30. 3) Stevens (1996) posited that the

item loading on the corresponding factor be more than .40 and the item loading on all

the other factors (i.e., cross-factor loading) be less than .40 (cited in Ang, 2005). We

suggested that the cross-factor loading be less than .30 as we set rotation loading to

more than .30, (See Lei & Wei, 2005 for a detailed discussion on the choice of

exploratory factor analysis approaches).

Similar approaches as discussed above were adopted for the exploration of both

success and failure attribution factors, except for the more strict standards on failure

attribution factors, i.e., the suppressed absolute value of variables should be more

than .40 and the item cross-factor loading be less than .40. The only reason for the

more strict standards on failure attribution factors was that those on success

attribution factors were inappropriate and did not lead to satisfactory statistical results.

Thirdly, with the aid of confirmatory factor analysis, we verified significance on

both the success and failure attribution models obtained from the exploratory factor

analysis, in order to answer Research Question No. 1 and 3. As for the acceptability of

estimates in confirmatory factor analysis, we assumed that the values of NFI, RFI, IFI,

38

TLI, CFI be near or more than .90 (Byrne, 2001, p.79-88) and the value of RMSEA

be between .05 and .08 (Hair et al., 1998) to achieve a statistically satisfactory

goodness-of-fit in the model.

Finally, linear regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relation

between success and failure attribution factors and the English language achievement,

in order to answer Research Question No. 2 and 4. The learner‘s performance on CET

4, the indicator of the English language achievement, was taken as the dependent

variable in the regression model. The variable values of success and failure attribution

factors were taken as the independent variables. Moreover, the stepwise method was

adopted in the regression analysis. What needs caution is that only the data of the

Grade 2004 subjects were utilized for the regression analysis for the reason that only

this group of the subjects took CET 4. Out of them, a total of 116 subjects

self-reported successful learners and 245 self-reported unsuccessful learners.

4 Results

4.1 Item Analysis

The results of item analysis verified the significant score discrepancy the subjects

obtained on all the 51 items (p <.05) in both the success and failure scales, which

indicated that all the items in both scales were valid in differentiating the subjects.

Based on the results, no item was excluded from the scales.

4.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis

We conducted exploratory factor analysis on the success and failure attributions

respectively.

The KMO value of the Success Attribution Scale was .802 (chi-square value =

6041.563) with Bartlett‘s test of sphericity significant (p<.000), which signified that it

was appropriate to conduct exploratory factor analysis. After six rounds of

exploratory factor analysis, we got the statistically satisfactory model. The KMO

value was .745 (chi-square value = 1372.759) with Bartlett‘s test of sphericity

significant (p<.000) and 51.825% of variance was explained. Four factors were

39

extracted. Based on the results and the meaning of the variables in each factor, we

labeled the four factors extracted in the success attribution scale as effort, teacher,

confidence and practical use (See Table 1 for the details).

Table 1. Statistics of success attribution factors

Factors Variables Rotation

loadings

Initial

eigenvalue

Variance

explained %

Factor1

Effort

V8 I am diligent in English

learning. .754

3.682 21.659

V 24 I am perseverant in English

learning. .709

V 19 I invest much in rote learning. .596

V 9 I have specific goals in all

phases of English learning. .574

V 33

I memorize English words as

many as possible to enlarge my

vocabulary.

.544

V 7 I have enough time and energy

in English learning. .501

Factor2

Teacher

V 39 I love my English teacher. .779

1.929 11.347 V 16 I feel close to my English

teacher. .751

V 15 English class is interesting. .744

Factor3

Confidence

V 49 English learning is not hard for

me. .791

1.775 10.442

V 14 Word memorizing is rather easy

for me. .505

V 35 I have good foundations in

English learning. .500

V 43

I do not lose heart when meeting

with difficulties in English

learning.

.415

Factor4

Practical

use

V 38 I try to think in English. .659

1.429 8.404

V 37 I sometimes talk with others in

English. .573

V 22 I memorize words in contexts. .359

V 21 I read articles in English outside

the course-book. .318

The KMO value of the Failure Attribution Scale was .781 (chi-square value =

8462.189) with Bartlett‘s test of sphericity significant (p<.000), which indicated that

it was appropriate to exploratory conduct factor analysis. After six rounds of

exploratory factor analysis, we got the statistically satisfactory model. The KMO

40

value was .753 (chi-square value = 2945.215) with Bartlett‘s test of sphericity

significant (p<.000). A total of 57.833% of the variance was explained and 5 factors

were extracted. Based on the results and the meaning of the variables in each factor,

we labeled the five factors extracted in the failure attribution scale as lack of

confidence, lack of effort, test-oriented learning, lack of practical use and lack of

external help (See Table 2 for the details).

Table 2. Statistics of failure attribution factors

Factors Variables Rotation

loadings

Initial

eigenvalue

Variance

Explained %

Factor1

Lack of

confidence

V 49 English learning is hard for me. .726

3.900 20.524

V 28 I am not talented in English learning. .693

V 27 I am not confident enough in English

learning. .615

V 35 I have not good enough foundations


V 14 Word memorizing is rather hard for

me. .469

V 25 I have no good learning approaches


V 43 I lose heart when meeting with

difficulties in English learning. .451

Factor 2

Lack of

effort

V 8 I am not diligent in English learning. .774

2.319 12.204 V 24 I am not perseverant in English

learning. .706

V 19 I invest little in rote learning. .679

Factor 3

Test-oriented

learning

V 12 My oral English is poor, so I cannot

learn English well. .869

1.843 9.700 V 11

My English listening comprehension

is poor, so I cannot learn English

well.

.766

V 10 I learn English only for the written

exercises, not for practical use. .466

Factor 4

Lack of

practical use

V 37 I seldom talk with others in English. .901

1.640 8.630

V 38 I seldom try to think in English. .672

V 36

I am not brave enough to express

myself in English, for I am afraid of

making mistakes.

.553

Factor 5

Lack of

external help

V 47 I receive no help from my teachers

or friends in English learning. .711

1.287 6.774

V 48 I receive no help from my family in

English learning. .586

41

V 46

Parents or the school do not attach

enough importance to English

learning.

.501

4.3 Confirmatory Factor Analysis

We conducted confirmatory factor analysis to verify the significance of both the

success and failure attribution models discussed above. The statistics of the

confirmatory factor analysis are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Statistics of confirmatory factor analyses

X2 X

2/df NFI RFI IFI TLI CFI RMSEA

Model of success attributions 257.954 2.283 .985 .980 .992 .989 .992 .060

Model of failure attributions 475.928 3.352 .985 .980 .989 .986 .989 .063

Inferred from the statistics in Table 3, it is safe to conclude that the data within the

two models fit well and the manifest variables defined each concerned latent variable

well. Therefore, the two models were statistically significant and accordingly

accepted.

4.4 Regression Analysis

We employed regression analysis to investigate the relation between the factors of

success and failure attribution and English language achievement respectively.

First, the relation between success attribution factors and English language

achievement was investigated. The results showed that the F statistics was significant

(p <.05), which meant that the regression model was statistically significant and the

independent variables, i.e., effort and teacher, significantly explained the variance of

the dependent variable, i.e., English language achievement. In addition, we conducted

another linear regression analysis to investigate the relation between effort and

teacher factors. We assumed that the teacher factor affect learner‘s effort for the

reason that learners would work hard if they liked the teaching. Similarly, the

stepwise method was used. The results showed that the F statistics in model was

42

significant (p <.05), which meant that regression equation was statistically acceptable

and the teacher factor significantly explained the effort factor. Based on the results,

the path model on the relation between success attribution factors and English

language achievement was summarized in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Relation between success attribution factors and English language

achievement

As illustrated in the path model, the regression coefficients of teacher and effort

onto English language achievement (.282 and .283 respectively) were significant (p

<.05), i.e., the two factors predicted learners‘ English language achievement. It also

showed that the regression coefficient of teacher onto effort (.286) was significant (p

<.05), i.e., the teacher factor defined learner‘s effort.

Next, we investigated the relation between failure attribution factors and English

language achievement. The results showed that the F statistics was significant (p

<.05), which meant that the regression model was statistically significant and that

three independent variables, i.e., lack of confidence, lack of practical use and

test-oriented learning, significantly explained the variance of the dependent variable,

i.e., English language achievement. In addition, we conducted two regression analyses

to further investigate the relation between the three failure attribution factors. We

supposed that the three factors interplay with each other, that is test-oriented learning

lead to lack of practical use and lack of confidence, and lack of practical use make the

learners less confident. Similarly, the stepwise method was utilized. The results

showed that the F statistics in the models were significant (p <.05), which meant that

the regression equations were statistically acceptable. The results indicated that the

factor of test-oriented learning significantly interpreted lack of practical use and

.937

English

achievement

.283*

.282* .286*

.958

Teacher

Effort

43

test-oriented learning and lack of practical use significantly explained lack of

confidence. Based on the results of the regression analyses, the path model on the

relationship between failure attribution factors and English language achievement was

summarized in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Relation between failure attribution factors and English language

achievement

As illustrated in the path model, the regression coefficients of lack of confidence,

lack of practical use and test-oriented learning onto English language achievement

(.325, .174 and .152 respectively) were significant (p <.05), that is the three factors

predicted learner‘s English language achievement. Moreover, the regression

coefficients of lack of practical use and test-oriented learning onto lack of confidence

(.196 and .368 respectively) were significant (p <.05), that is lack of practical use and

test-oriented learning defined lack of confidence. Finally, the regression coefficient of

test-oriented learning onto lack of practical use (.370) was also significant (p <.05),

i.e., lack of practical use interpreted test-oriented learning.

5 Discussion

5.1 Success and failure attribution factors

The present study investigated the success and failure attributions of Chinese

tertiary-level EFL learners. Results showed that they attributed EFL success to factors

of effort, teacher, confidence and practical use and EFL failure to factors of lack of

confidence, lack of effort, test-oriented learning, lack of practical use and lack of

.948

.929

.368*

.325*

.152*

.174*

.370*

.196*

.873

English

achievement

Lack of

practical use

Test-orientation

Lack of

confidenc

e

44

external help. A closer look at the factors signifies that all success attribution factors

are mirror-imaged by the failure attribution factors, which requires us of a unified

discussion on the success and failure attribution factors as follows.

First, Chinese learners attribute EFL success to effort while they attribute EFL

failure to lack of effort. As Weiner (1979) posits, if learners attribute success or

failure to internal factors such as ability and effort, it will generate positive academic

motivation and behaviors and accordingly brings about positive effects. As shown by

the items that constitute the effort factor, successful EFL learners are diligent and

perseverant in EFL learning and invest much in rote learning while unsuccessful

learners are not diligent and perseverant enough in EFL learning. The findings here

are verified by previous FLL or FLT attribution studies (Graham, 2004; Li, 2004; Qin,

1998, 2002; Qin & Wen, 2002) as well as those in academic achievement field

(Georgiou, 1999; Park & Kim, 1998; Wagner et al., 1989).

The next factor Chinese learners attribute EFL success or failure to is the factor of

help from teachers, family or friends. When they find the English class interesting,

they may succeed in EFL learning. On the contrary, they fail the EFL learning if they

consider they lack the help from teachers, the family or friends. Weiner (1979) holds

that the teacher factor is external, stable and uncontrollable, which is adaptive in that

learners are affected much by such external factors as teachers, classroom

environment, the family, etc. Consequently, these external factors directly or

indirectly affect learners‘ academic motivation and effort, and accordingly determine

the academic success or failure. As reviewed in Section 2, learners tend to attribute

FLL and EFL success and failure to the teacher or classroom environment factors

(O'Sullivan & Howe, 1996; Park & Kim, 1998; Qin, 1998, 2002; Qin & Wen, 2002;

Tse, 2000; Williams & Burden, 1999). The high-achievers hold an active and positive

attitude to classroom teaching and acknowledge the good learning environment,

whereas the low-achievers do not consider the classroom teaching much helpful to

their EFL learning and hold that learning environment is not good enough (Qin 2002).

Furthermore, as hypothesized at the beginning of the paper, there exist

idiosyncratic EFL success and failure attributions of the Chinese learners that have

45

not been discovered since they are educated in distinctive cultural and academic

settings fairly divergent from those of their western counterparts. It is the new

findings, not reported by previous studies, that Chinese learners attribute EFL success

and failure to confidence and practical use factors. Successful learners are confident

in EFL learning in that they tend not to claim the EFL tasks hard to achieve and they

do not suppose they would lose heart in case that they meet with difficulties in EFL

learning. However, unsuccessful learners self-report the EFL tasks rather difficult and

that they are not talented enough in EFL learning. Similarly, successful learners put

English language into practical use for the reason that they think and talk with others

regularly in English while unsuccessful learners seldom communicate with others in

English and they ―learn‖ English the same way as they do in other courses like

mathematics, chemistry, etc.

Both the confidence and practical use factors are internal, stable and controllable.

As Weiner (1979, 1985) puts it, factors within the stability and controllability

dimensions affect expectancy, those within the stability and locus of causality

dimensions affect subsequent behaviors, and factors within the three dimensions

would intervene and affect learner‘s academic achievement (cited in Platt, 1988). If

learners are confident in EFL learning, they are highly motivated and work hard on it,

and they will be brave enough to put English into practical use. Consequently, both

the confidence and practical use factors are adaptive to EFL learning.

Another idiosyncratic attribution factor found in this study is that the Chinese

learners tend to attribute EFL failure to test-oriented learning. They report that they

learn English only for the written exercises rather than for oral or practical use, which

is not a rare phenomenon in China. First, it is common in China that the students learn

English primarily for the purpose of passing various tests, to which they confine what

they learn. Put in other words, the whole EFL learning process is test-oriented.

Furthermore, there is no part for oral skills in nearly all English tests in China and the

weight of listening skills in the tests is rather little. Consequently, it is not strange to

see that EFL learners (even some English teachers) attach too much emphasis to

written exercises and ignore practices of oral and listening skills. The test-oriented

46

learning and teaching approach is a key explanation for the EFL failure. Qin & Wen

(2002) found that Chinese EFL low-achievers tended to learn for short-term learning

goals and focus EFL learning much on the tests. They argue that test-oriented learning

might improve the test achievement in the short run, but it affects negatively learner‘s

academic motivation and achievement in the long run. The findings of Qin & Wen

(2002) interpret the factor of test-oriented learning found in the paper.

5.2 Relation between success and failure attributions and English language

achievement

Results showed that the teacher and effort factors predicted the EFL success, which

was partly confirmed by previous studies. O‘Sullivan & Howe (1996) and Wagner et

al (1989) found that student‘s attribution to external factors (such as help from their

family) and internal factors (such as efforts) are correlated with their reading

achievement. In addition, Platt (1988) and Georgiou (1999) argued that learners‘

attribution to effort and other internal factors is correlated with their academic

achievement. The findings may be well explained that the teacher and effort factors

are key to EFL success. Effort is very important in learning, without which learners

could achieve nothing. Meanwhile, in comparison with other academic tasks such as

mathematics, English learning is more practice- and communication-oriented with the

teacher and peer learners and EFL learners depend more on external help from the

teacher and the family. In a word, the teacher factor and the effort factor are

indispensable to success in English learning.

However, the attribution factors which predicted the EFL failure, i.e., lack of

confidence, lack of practical use and test-oriented learning, were totally different from

those that predicted the EFL success. As a matter of fact, the predictors of EFL failure

complemented those of EFL success. This difference explains sufficiently the reason

for EFL success and failure. Suppose a group of students in a class receive teaching

from the same teacher in the same class environment and work equally hard. Some of

them succeed while the others fail in EFL learning. What leads to the failure is not

that they work less diligently or they do not have a good teacher, but that they lack

47

practical use and confidence in EFL learning and the EFL learning is primarily

test-oriented. Put in other words, though the effort and teacher factors are

indispensable to success, they do not ensure EFL success. It is the interwoven

functioning of all factors, i.e., effort, teacher, confidence and EFL learning for

practical use rather than for tests, that guides the EFL learning to success.

6 Conclusion

This study investigated the success and failure attributions of Chinese tertiary-level

EFL learners and its relation to the English language achievement.

Major findings are summarized as follows: First, Chinese tertiary-level EFL

learners attribute EFL success to factors of effort, teacher, confidence and practical

use while they attribute EFL failure to factors of lack of confidence, lack of effort,

test-oriented learning, lack of practical use and lack of external help. Moreover, of the

success attribution model, the teacher and effort factors predict the English language

achievement while of the failure attribution model, lack of confidence, lack of

practical use and test-oriented learning interpret the English language achievement. In

addition, the study finds three idiosyncratic attribution factors of Chinese EFL

learners that have not been reported by previous studies, i.e., practical use and

confidence in both success and failure attributions and test-oriented learning in failure

attribution. Finally, the predictive factors of successful and unsuccessful English

language learning are complementary to each other. This result indicates that the

effort and teacher factors are indispensable to EFL success, but these two factors do

not ensure EFL success. It is the interwoven functioning of all factors, i.e., effort,

teacher, confidence and EFL learning for practical use rather than tests, that guides

the EFL learning to success.

A few limitations in the study exist due to practical difficulties. On one hand, the

sampling of the subjects is not representative enough for the reason that the subjects

are all undergraduates at one key university in China and they are mostly academic

high-achievers. Therefore, further research is needed to extend the sampling of

subjects to average universities in order to investigate EFL attributions of average

48

learners and academic low-achievers. On the other, the present study is

cross-sectional. Though the subjects are freshman and sophomore undergraduates, the

data were collected synchronically due to practical difficulties. A longitudinal study

tracing the same group of subjects is recommended to investigate diachronically the

learner‘s EFL attribution and its variations, which will lead to a better understanding

of the learner‘s EFL attribution.

Acknowledgement:

This article is sponsored by HUST Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project

for Young Researchers (Project No. 2006001) and Humanities in Scientific and

Technological Development: A Project of State Philosophy and Social Sciences Base

for Creative Researches(Project 985, Phase II). The authors extend their sincere

acknowledgements to the sponsors and the suggestions by the anonymous reviewers.

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52

Discourse Community or Cultural Conventions:

Rhetorical Analysis of Research Abstracts

Dr. Ali Akbar Ansarin

University of Tabriz, Iran

Farzad Rashidi

Bio Data:

Ali Akbar Ansarin is an assistant professor at the Department of English at the

University of Tabriz, Iran, where he teaches Second Language Acquisition,

Psycholinguistics, Contrastive Linguistics, Advanced Writing among other courses

both at graduate and undergraduate levels. He is currently the head of the department.

He received his MA in Linguistics from AMU and his PhD in English from Panjab

University, India.

Farzad Rashidi was a post graduate student at the Department of English, University

of Tabriz from 2003 to 2005. He received his MA ELT in 2005 and has taught

English for Specific purposes in various disciplines.

Abstract

Rhetorical needs and conventions of various genres have been studied by researchers

such as Swales (1990), Bhatia (1993), Dudley-Evens (1994), Ozturk (2006), and

others. Such studies would help researchers across borders to develop awareness and

mastery over these conventions which would finally lead to formation of specific

genres. Some scholars believe that researchers are influenced by their native language

writing culture. On the other hand, some other researchers are of the opinion that in

the light of familiarity with a particular genre some cognitive structuring or

socio-rhetorical networks are established. Consequently, these networks create

assimilation within a particular discourse community because it is assumed that these

networks are discourse community properties rather than being cultural or national

properties.

Appealing to Bhatia's argument for similarity of contextual configuration of

research article introductions with research article abstract, in this study we analyze

the generic structure of the moves as an index of rhetorical behavior and attitude

towards certain genre and discourse type, or cultural community, by English and

Persian speakers while writing research article abstracts in English. Sixty abstracts

written by these two groups were analyzed to find the trends in establishing a territory,

establishing a niche, and occupying a niche as set conventions or moves for writing

abstracts.

53

The analysis of the results revealed that, in general, both groups responded

similarly to using such moves. The groups differed only at micro-level analysis when

the sub-moves were compared. However, the difference was limited to their

preference for announcing the present research which is a subcategory of occupying a

niche move. No further difference was found in using these conventions. The findings

suggest that in the field of applied linguistics, research article abstract writers

manifest their affinity to rhetorical behavior of discourse community rather than to

their national community and native language writing culture.

Key words: Rhetoric, Abstracts, Cultural Conventions, Discourse

Introduction

There has been a growing interest in genre as a powerful means of analyzing and

understanding texts in cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural areas. The concept of

genre evolves with a new perspective on the nature of language, which views

language as a functional tool for achieving particular purposes. Researchers in English

for Academic Purposes (EAP) have performed various studies of written and spoken

genres, such as the research article (Swales, 1990), grant proposal (Conner &

Mauranen, 1999) and sales promotion letter (Bhatia, 1993). Some researchers in ESP

have explored how genres vary across linguistic and cultural communities (e.g.,

Ahmad, 1997; Conner, 1996) while others have focused on genre variation across

disciplinary lines, associating particular discursive features with disciplinary

communities, (e.g. Melander, Swales & Fredrickson, 1997; Samraj, 2002, 2005;

Swales & Najjar, 1987). The most comprehensive work on the introductions belongs

to Swales (1981, 1990), who developed a model for investigating their rhetorical

structure. Swales‘ model has been used with a great deal of success in the analysis of

introductions in various academic disciplines in English as well as other languages

(Swales and Najjar, 1987; Najjar, 1990; Taylor and Chen, 1991; Ahmad, 1997;

Jogthong, 2001). Taylor and Chen (1991) compared the structure of RA introductions

written by Chinese scholars and English-speaking scholars. The results revealed that

the Chinese group provided less extensive discussions of other scholars‘ work as

indicated by the length of citations. The reason for this difference is attributed to the

54

unacceptability of argumentative and confrontational styles in the Chinese

socio-cultural context, (Fakhri, 2004).

Cultural differences and the influence which they exert on writers and writing

process are different aspects of the issue. Tardy (2006, pp. 79–101), in her study of

first and second language genre learning, categorizes genre learning settings to

―practice-based‘‘ or ‗‗instructional‘‘, and argues that several similarities exist such as

effect of whether they are writing in their first or second language. More importantly

it is believed that ―many learners make use of textual interactions in building their

genre knowledge. Both L1 and L2 writers seem to build knowledge implicitly through

exposure to texts and also make explicit use of model texts to build knowledge of

generic structure...,‖ Tardy (2006, p. 8). Furthermore, she argues that the process of

developing such genre knowledge would not be necessarily similar in L1 and L2. She

claims that (oral) interactions are influential in genre learning, and interactions are

influenced by several factors such as ―race, class, and gender, as well as linguistic,

ethnic, and cultural background, (Tardy, 2006: 8).

Research article abstracts as an academic genre and miniature of research articles

fascinated the genres analysts. Abstracts‘ potential resemblance to research articles

introduction has led analysts to seek for an equal organizational pattern in the

abstracts. Bhatia‘s (1993) argument for similarity of contextual configuration of

research article introductions with research article abstracts is taken as trigger for

researchers to extend the initial framework of Swales to abstract section. Further

initiative is drawn from the fact that abstracts have the main function of serving as a

timesaving device by informing the readers about the exact content of the article,

indicating in this way whether the full text merits their further attention (Martin,

2003).

Some of the most important studies of abstracts in specific disciplines are those of

Anderson and MacLean, 1997; Salager-Maeyer, 1990; Kaplan et al., 1994; Gibson,

1993). The structure of research article abstract and its variation across disciplines and

cultures have also been studied (Melander et al., 1997; Hyland, 2000; Samraj, 2005).

55

Swales (2004) reconsider the status of ‗move‘ and defines it as ―a discoural or

rhetorical unit that performs a coherent communicative function in a written or spoken

discourse.‖ Furthermore, he revises and provides, what he calls, a ‗new look‘ and

‗flexible‘ conception of move which previously at different occasions was associated

to certain ―grammatical units such as a sentence, utterance, or paragraph‖. He argues

that what is more important is function not form. So ―it could be realized by a clause;

at the other by several sentences.‖ Based on the findings of some studies he proposes

a revised CARS model for Moves 1 and 2 highlighting the possible recycling of steps

of Move 2 and Move 1. In a different study, Lorés (2004) explored the rhetorical

structure and thematic organization of abstracts of papers in linguistics. She

demonstrated that significant number of abstracts make use of the CARS, while other

methods are still used. She used two models of CARS and IMRD, and called her

approach a ‗combinatory type‘. She claims that ―different sections or moves which

constitute each type of abstract seem to display a distinct combination of thematic

patterns, both within the moves or across boundaries between moves,‖ (Lorés, 2004,

p.298). It is understood that what she is establishing is the idea that in order to have an

exhaustive account of the organizational pattern of abstracts written within or across

certain fields of study, the CARS model could be basic framework which is needed to

be supported by the scaffold of IMRD model.

Kanoksilapatham (2005, p.286) in a study of biochemistry research articles

offered a template for the research article rhetorical organization. She argued that

Swales‘ move analysis, which was originally designed to analyze the ‗Introduction‘ of

articles, ―has been successfully extended to other sections of these professional texts.‖

She went on to offer a template consisting of fifteen distinct moves, spreading from

the Introduction section to the Methods, the Results and finally Discussion section of

a research article. In a similar study Ozturk (2006) explored the ―degree of variability

in the structure of research article introductions.‖ He showed the differences in two

sub-disciplines of applied linguistics, i.e., second language acquisition and second

language writing research. He reported some sub-disciplinary variation in these

sub-disciplines, as different and almost unrelated move structures were employed.

56

The primary purpose of this study is to make comparative examination of the

generic structure of two groups of abstracts written by non-native and native

researchers in the field of applied linguistics.

There seems to be two approaches available for Persian speakers while writing

abstracts. On one hand, they follow their presumed dominant style of writing which

would, in turn, reveal intertextuality influence and which would give away traces of

cognitive structuring established in L1. On the other hand, they would break their

Persian stereotypes and adopt the English patterns of organization of thought. The

latter might have developed through their interactions with the English texts produced

by their collogues across borders. However, this strategy could be conscious and

temporary.

According to Swales (1990) all the members of a discourse community should be

well aware of the conventions, which have been agreed upon by the members. Being

aware of these conventions help them to communicate successfully. According to

Bhatia (1993):

―The members of the discourse community have similar cognitive

structuring. This cognitive structuring reflects accumulated and

conventionalized social knowledge available to a particular discourse or

professional community. Cognitive structuring is very much like

schematic structuring in schema theory, except that in the former, it is

the conventionalized and standardized organization used by almost all

the members of the professional community, whereas in the latter, it is

often a reader‘s individual response to the text in question,‖(p. 31).

In sum, in this study, the rhetorical structures of the two groups of abstracts were

analyzed and compared based on a move and sub-move system. The analysis was

done based on the model proposed by Swales (1990). The reason that Swales‘ model

was used for analyzing the abstracts in this study was that, as mentioned before, his

model had been successfully applied in many previous studies.

More precisely this study tries to test the following hypothesis:

57

H: Native and non-native speakers do not make use of moves and sub-moves

(steps) in a similar manner prominently due to their different linguistic and

cultural background.

Methodology

Material

Sixty abstracts were selected from two journals publishing papers in the fields of

English language teaching and applied linguistics. In the first place the journal of

Applied Linguistics was selected as the leading journal which publishes articles

related to teaching and linguistics. Abstracts for the second group were mainly

drawn from the journals published by Iranian universities which are completely peer

reviewed and published after the approval of referees. The publication period of the

articles selected for analysis is from 1991 to 2005.

Procedures

The framework for the present research was taken from Swales (1990), and the same

coding system was utilized to analyze and show the result of the analysis of the

abstracts as shown in Table 1.

Abstracts in two groups i.e. abstract written by native and non-native researchers,

were selected randomly from leading academic journals. Specifically the journals of

Applied Linguistics and Nashriyeh Daneshkadeh Adabiyat va Ulume Ensani were

used respectively as the data source for abstracts. The writers of the abstracts for the

first journal were mainly from English speaking countries. The writers of the latter

journal were native speakers of Persian teaching English or Applied Linguistics at

different universities in Iran.

58

Table 1

Swales‘ Inventory of Moves Used by Research Paper Writers

Move 1 Establishing a territory

Step 1 Claiming centrality

Step 2 Making topic generalization

Step 3 Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2 Establishing a niche

Step 1A Counter-claiming

Step 1B Indicating a gap

Step 1C Question-raising

Step 1D Continuing a tradition

Move 3 Occupying a niche

Step 1A Outlining purposes

Step 1B Announcing present research

Step 2 Announcing principle findings

Step 3 Indicating RA structure

The abstracts were read carefully and the moves and steps were recognized and

marked. The recognition of the moves and sub-moves was done mainly on the bases

of the functions of the sentences. However, there are usually some devices, which can

help find the function of some sentences easily. This is done on the basis of based on

the words used in the text. For example, Swales believes that words such as, “this, the

present, we, here, now, I and herein‖ in research article introductions show Move 3,

(Swales, 1990, p.159). The unit of analysis in this research is sentence. Sometimes

more than one sentence makes one move or one step. One move, sometimes, could

have more than one step. In such cases the accumulated sum has been reported.

As the instances of moves were considered to be of countable nature, all the

occurrences were counted first. To ensure the objectivity of codification two persons

59

analyzed the abstracts separately and independently, and then the results were

compared and tallied. After making decision about the type and number of each move

and step, the data were analyzed statistically by SPSS software. Initially the data were

analyzed and compared descriptively. However, to make reliable inferences about the

data and make conclusions about the moves and sub-moves employed by non-native

and native speakers. As data were gathered from 30 abstracts from each group,

non-Nonparametric Test of Mann-Whitney was found as the most suitable statistical

tests in order to figure out the potential difference among the groups.

Results

In Move 1 the researchers intend to create a general territory to inform and assure the

readers that their research is relevant to the agreed issues of the discourse community.

To achieve this goal they may also utilize some sub-moves such as step 1 (Claiming

centrality). To clarify the point, some examples of the words used to indicate a certain

move or sub-moves are brought here. In these examples (N) stands for abstracts

written by native speakers (mainly native speakers of English) and (NN) stands for

abstracts written by Non-native writers (Persian speakers).

N9. the role of … continues to receive considerable attention…..

NN10. the importance of collection ……

The next sub-move, which can be opted for by the researcher in writing the abstract is

step 2 (making topic generalization). Through this step the researchers try to establish

a territory by stating a natural kind of general statement like:

N2. Metadiscourse is self-reflective linguistic material….

NN5. TOEFL is widely used as a certificating device and is strongly claimed……

The final sub-move for Move 1 is reviewing items of previous research. In this

step, the researcher reviews one or more items from previous researches to make his

study relevant to them and establish a territory. Here are two example of step 3.

N3. following Bibere et al. (1990)……..

60

NN10. the study follows earlier studies by Barnes and Todd (1977)…..

In Move 2 (Establishing a Niche), the researcher intends to justify his intention in

doing the research by describing an unanswered question or an inadequacy in

previous researches. This move consists of the sub-moves:

Step 1A (Counter-claiming)

N22. Although studies of this question have been carried out, a major problem in

the design of these studies have been their failure to gather sufficient

information.

NN16. As for writing courses, written feedback has been proved to be of little

help.

Step 1B (Indicating a Gap)

N25. However, as with a child‘s development, it must be part of a ……

NN10. there have been, however, few studies to take……

Step 1C (Question-raising)

N21. How did the instructional design affect the ways in which they developed

their talk?

NN13. ….to investigate whether or not the generic……

In Move 3 (Occupying a niche) the researcher intends to introduce his exact goals of

the research, procedure and methodology and also the principal findings of the

research. Occupying a niche is present in all the analyzed abstracts. The sub-moves of

Move 3 are:

Step 1A (outlining purpose):

N2. ….we offer a reassessment of meta discourse…..

61

NN2. This paper is an attempt….

Step 1B (Announcing present research):

N4. …real attrition data may need to be treated with caution.

NN1. the functional study is conceived as complementary with….

Step 2 (Announcing Principal findings):

N3. The analysis indicate that ….

NN12. It is found that figurative….

Step 3 (Indicating RA Structure)

N13. In the subsequent sections….

NN3. The consequence of the findings…..

The linguistic comparison of the words and statements used in the examples

mentioned above indicates that the linguistic behavior of the two groups is identical.

For example, in Move 1, Step 1, the words ―considerable‖ and ―importance‖ were

used by native and non-native speakers to highlight the importance of issue which the

author is dealing with.

The descriptive analysis of the moves and sub-moves in both groups is shown in

Table 2 and Figure 1. For example, we can see that the frequency of Move 1 in the

first group (non-native) is 22 and in the second group (native) is 16. The frequency of

Move 2 in the non-native group is 10 and in the native group 12, and finally the

frequency of Move 3 for non-native group is 69 and for native group 64 respectively.

62

Table 2

Frequency of moves used by non-native and native speakers in research abstracts

Abstract origin Move 1 Move 2 Move 3 Total Moves

Used

Non-native Speaker 22 (21.8%) 10 (9.9%) 69 (68.3%) 101 (100%)

Native Speaker 16 (17.4%) 12 (13%) 64 (69.6) 92 (100%)

22

10

69

16

12

64

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Move 1 (Establishing a territory) Move 2 (Establishing a niche) Move 3 (Occupying a niche)

Fre

qu

en

cy

Non-native speakers Native speakers

Figure 1: Use of three main moves by non-native and native speakers

As the mere descriptive statistics did not reveal much about the groups, inferential

statistical analysis of the data was done with Nonparametric Test (Mann-Whitney

Test). The rational for using nonparametric test was that the data pool was determined

as equal prior to the study, so statistically the normality of the population from which

the data were drawn could not be assumed. The results of the test are shown in Tables

3 and 4. As the study of Table 3 reveals, asymptotic significance is less than 0.05 only

63

in the case of Move 3_Step 1B (announcing present research). That is, the null

hypothesis is rejected. In other words, there is a difference between the groups in this

case. However, the difference is limited to one sub-move and the results fail to reveal

significant difference between the moves used by the two groups.

Table 3

Results of non-parametric Mann-Whitney Test comparing

use of moves and sub-moves by non-native and native speakers

Moves Mann-Whitney U Asymp. Sig.

(2-tailed)

Move1 369.000 .185

Move1_Step1 405.000 .351

Move1_Step2 390.000 .200

Move1_Step3 435.000 .756

Move2 420.000 .595

Move2_Step1A 450.000 1.000

Move2_Step1B 435.000 .767

Move2_Step1C 435.000 .643

Move2_Step1D 450.000 1.000

Move3 385.000 .283

Move3_Step1A 360.000 .055

Move3_Step1B 300.000 .008

Move3_Step2 435.000 .783

Move3_Step3 420.000 .393

Moves in general 386.500 .326

64

Table 4

Mean ranks comparison of non-native and native speakers‘ abstracts

Move Abstract origin N Mean Rank

Move 3_Step 1B Non-native 30 35.50

Native 30 25.50

Total 60 -

Discussion and Conclusions

As stated earlier in the introduction section, the present study investigates the

rhetorical structure of RA abstracts from articles in applied linguistics written by

native and non-native researchers. The analysis has been done using Swales‘ CARS

model as the analytical framework.

The non-parametric Mann Whitney test was run at all macro and micro levels i.e.

Moves and Steps (sub-moves). The results, as shown in Table 3, indicated that, in

general, both groups responded similarly to using such moves. The groups differed

only at micro-level analysis when the sub-moves were compared. However, the

difference was limited to their preference for announcing the present research which

is a subcategory of the move occupying a niche. The Mean Rank comparison as a

component of Mann-Whitney test, as shown in Table 4, reveals greater use of Move

3_Step 1B (announcing the present research) by non-native research abstract writers.

The Mean Rank for non-native speakers is relatively higher (i.e. 35.50) while this

mean for native speakers is 25.50. Furthermore, out of four steps of the move

‗occupying a niche‘, the deployment of three steps is more as compared to Move

3_Step 3 (Indicating RA structure) where its frequencies are 4 and 2 for non-native

and native speakers respectively.

In general, the analysis did not show any meaningful differences in the use of the

moves, but it showed minor differences in the sub-moves (steps). These differences,

65

according to Fakhri (2004), can be due to the cross-cultural differences of the contexts

in which the researchers are living. However, she compared the rhetorical structure of

RA introductions in Arabic and English. Therefore, it could be argued (though naively)

that either her conclusion on the Introduction section of research article may not be

appropriately generalized to the result of the present study which deals with the

Abstract section, or it could be said that the cultural difference of the research paper

writers has been overpowered by the need for creation of harmony in (geographically)

two diverse journals which in itself is driven by the desire for creation of a discourse

community across borders.

In an attempt to reflect upon on the results of empirical studies done by various

scholars through examining some journals like Review of Applied Linguistics (ARAL)

and Language Teaching, Swales (2004, p.208) divides research papers into theoretical

and experimental ones. More specifically, he argues that ―traditional research article

(or RA) needs to be sub-categorized into theory pieces, review articles and the

experimental or data-based RA itself,‖ (Swales, 2004, p.213). Further, he

acknowledges the modification in the size of Method sections of research articles in

some fields. For example, he demonstrates his surprise finding by reporting the fact

that ―the major differences do not lie so much in Introductions and Discussions […],

but rather in the Method and Result sections,‖ Swales (2004, p.208). This variation

has come a surprise confirmation of what he calls previous ‗speculation‘ in ―the 2001

issues of the journal Applied Linguistics,‖ (p.219). The Abstract as the miniature of

a research paper should show significant resemblance to it in its structural

organization. However, whatever the reason for this variation be, the findings of the

present study suggest that this variation exists and acknowledged or reflected upon

globally and across borders. More precisely, non-native research abstract writers

respond globally to the requirements of the sub-discipline of applied linguistics and

act harmoniously with their native colleagues when they produce such short written

communications. In other words, cultural differences are diluted in the face of

discourse community strategies, applied linguistic being an example of the case.

66

A major opposition could be seen between the findings of the present study and

the one completed by Taylor and Chen (1991) where Chinese used Move 2 with

considerable caution and hesitation, and Ahmad (1997) where she reports that

Malaysian scholars prefer to avoid this move. However, it has already been suggested

that when this move is used, it is not used to establish a niche (or more precisely to

indicate a gap), rather it is used with some face saving reasons ‗such as replicating

previous studies using local materials‘. For examples the writers make use of

structures such ‗the study address the same issue but it uses the texts produced by

non-native speakers‘. In line with Taylor and Chen‘s finding Kanoksilapatham

(2005, p.287) concludes that ―cultural variation plays a vital role within the genre of

research articles determining the rhetorical structure of Introductions.‖ However, the

intriguing question of variation due to disciplinary expectations, or modification of

rhetorical styles to match with the context still remained to be solved.

Speaking in terms of the context within which these texts are produced, the

findings of the present study fail to agree with Taylor and Chen‘s finding (1991) and

Ahmad (1997) and it shows a different result in terms of use of Move 2 where Iranian

non-native researchers (in terms of English language) do not resort to such hesitations

and cautions reported in Ahmad (1997). This could be due to various reasons such as

discussed in the following.

First, this could be attributed to different reasons such as cultural differences

prevailing in China or Malaysia and Iran, and researchers‘ different reaction to the

social norms and codes, or the pressure perceived by the researchers to publish in

their respective contexts.

The second justification could be difference in cognitive structuring of the

researchers in theses different contexts. In general, the findings of the present study

suggest that in order to establish niche (Iranian) non-native researchers follow their

fellow native speaker colleagues in the West when they counter-claim, indicate a gap,

raise a question, and continue a tradition. This would be due to difference in culture,

or again feeling affinity more with international colleagues.

67

A third argument could be linked to the cultural differences and the influence

which they put on writing process. As discussed already by Tardy (2006) the

processes of genre learning are not necessarily the same similar in L1 and L2 because

of race, class, and gender, as well as linguistic, ethnic, and cultural background. This

might lead one to conclude that the results also would be different. In line with the

finding of the present study, she has pointed out both L1 and L2 learners make use of

implicit exposure to specific genre as well as explicit use of model texts which build

knowledge of generic structures.

Fourth, the influence of Western academic influence either through education or

through other means is to be taken into consideration. Furthermore, to get an article

published, the discoursal requirements of the journal and the reviewers can also have

a huge impact upon the writers.

In sum, the findings suggest that in the field of applied linguistics, research

article abstract writers manifest their affinity to rhetorical behavior of discourse

community rather than to their national community and native language writing style.

The Iranian academicians, to a great extent, have succeeded in building a cognitive

structuring which is shared globally by their native colloquies across borders through

implicit exposure to rhetorical genre of research paper abstracts as well as explicit use

of the same organizational pattern of rhetoric in the research reports they produce.

It is worth noting that the result of the present study could be pedagogically

significant since reaching a consensus of opinion on conventions and standardized

structures in the abstracts can help the syllabus designers make it easier for the

learners to learn how to write widely acceptable abstracts, and to write abstracts

which would conform to the rhetorical genre of the discourse community. If an

explicit training of the organizational patterns of the research abstracts is planned, the

outcome would be tailoring of the minor difference, reported in this paper, which in

turn, would result in complete concurrence of the patterns used by both L1 and L2

speakers.

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68

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75

Assessing the Assessment: An Evaluation of a Self-assessment

of Class Participation Procedure

Eddy White

Tokyo Woman's Christian University

Bio data:

After teaching in Japan for 15 years, Eddy White is now an ESL instructor at tertiary

institutions in Vancouver, Canada. He has recently completed a doctoral program in

Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University, Australia. His research interests

focus on formative assessment, particulary the application of assessment for learning

theory and practice into an EFL context. Assessment literacy is also an area of

interest.

Abstract

This pilot study reports on the use of a self-assessment of class participation

procedure used in EFL classes at a university in Tokyo. In judging its effectiveness

and potential use for future courses, the self-assessment process is itself assessed

according to the five principles of practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and

washback. After implementation with approximately 70 students in three

communicative English classes, usage and student feedback point to the effectiveness

of the self-assessment instrument particularly as a consciousness-raising tool in

promoting more class participation. However, the main potential problem with

self-assessment, reliability of student scoring, is also apparent in the pilot study.

Key Words: self-assessment, class participation, pilot study, assessment for learning

Introduction

In the past 25 years or so, self-assessment (SA) has become a more advocated and

widespread assessment option, both in mainstream education and in English language

teaching. It has generated quite an extensive body of research and been a prominent

area of inquiry and discussion, particularly in the areas of learner autonomy and

language testing (Benson, 2001). In language learning contexts, SA has primarily

focused on issues of proficiency, ability and task-performance (see, for example,

Alderson & Banerjee, 2001; Douchy, Segers, & Sluijsmans 1999; Oscarson, 1997;

Ross, 2006). Self-assessment may be defined as ―any assessments that require

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students to judge their own language abilities or language performance‖ (Brown, 1998,

p. 53), and ―provides an approach in which learners typically rate themselves

according to a number of criteria or dimensions‖ (Bachman, 2000, p. xi). Cassidy

(2007) notes that, for students, self-assessment is defined by the acceptance of

responsibility for their own learning and performance.

This paper reports a pilot study focused on self-assessment of class participation

set in three EFL classes at a university in Tokyo, Japan. It examines the effectiveness

of the SA procedure used with regard to five fundamental principles of assessment:

practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback. In this investigation

students in communicative English classes used a performance-based assessment

instrument to self-assess their degree of active class participation.

A primary responsibility for teachers is to ―engineer an effective learning

environment‖ (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & William, 2002, p. 20). This is

premised on the idea that for learning to be effective, the active involvement of

students is essential. Encouraging such active participation can sometimes be

problematic for language teachers, especially in mandatory courses that may include

students with little need or desire to improve their spoken proficiency in the target

language. The use of a student self-assessment procedure is one possible way to

encourage active class participation and maximize L2 learning.

Class participation and language learning

Determining class participation may be regarded as ―assessing the quality of a

students‘ non-academic performance within a subjective criteria‖ (Shindler, 2003, p.

20). An examination of motivation in the classroom by Skinner and Belmont (1993)

discusses student engagement and their operationalization of this term offers a close

approximation of how class participation is considered in this investigation:

Engagement versus disaffection in school refers to the intensity and

emotional quality of children‘s involvement in initiating and carrying out

learning activities . . . Children who are engaged show sustained behavioral

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involvement in learning activities accompanied by a positive emotional tone.

They . . . initiate action when given the opportunity, and… they show

generally positive emotions during ongoing action, including enthusiasm,

optimism, curiosity and interest. The opposite of engagement is disaffection.

Disaffected children are passive, do not try hard, and give up easily in the

face of challenges… [they can] be bored, depressed, anxious or even angry

about their presence in the classroom; they can be withdrawn from learning

opportunities or even rebellious towards teachers and classmates (p. 572).

For learning to take place, students need to exert effort and be engaged and involved

as active participants in the learning process. This is especially true in the

communicative language learning environment where the target language is both the

object of study and the medium of student interaction.

The English language course discussed in this pilot study uses a communicative

teaching methodology focused on maximizing student speaking time through

pair/group work. The rationale for such student interaction is rooted in the interaction

hypothesis (Long, 1996), which posits that acquisition of language will occur as

learners actively engage in attempting to communicate in the target language.

According to Allwright (2000): ―interaction is language learning . . . It is not merely

the process whereby learned linguistic knowledge is practiced, but rather the process

whereby linguistic knowledge, and also linguistic ability, are themselves

developed‖(p. 6). Without students‘ active engagement in the communicative

language learning environment very little fluency development can take place. Such

classes can be an unproductive waste of time for disaffected, passive students.

Self-assessment pilot study

This report describes the implementation of a self-assessment of class participation

framework in English oral communication classes for first-year students at Tokyo

Woman‘s Christian University (TWCU). The SA procedure was conducted as a pilot

study in a course called Communication Skills (CS). Pilot studies enable researchers

to determine whether the research instrument may be inappropriate, too complicated

or otherwise ineffective (van Teijlingen & Hundley, 2001). This investigation was

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conducted over a one-semester period (Sept-Dec.) in order to determine whether the

SA procedure should become a more permanent feature of the CS course.

A self-assessment of class participation score sheet (Appendix A) was used with

three different CS classes, involving approximately 70 students. It was hoped that the

SA checklist used would become a teaching and learning tool by promoting students‘

language development, encouraging active engagement with the classroom

community, and discouraging disaffection and passivity.

Evaluating an assessment procedure

When designing and evaluating assessment procedures, the ―five cardinal criteria‖ to

be considered are practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity and washback (Brown,

2004, p.19). Based on these fundamental criteria, six essential questions will be used

to assess the SA procedure used in this pilot study:

1. Is the assessment procedure practical?

2. Is the assessment reliable?

3. Does the procedure demonstrate content validity?

4. Does the procedure demonstrate face validity?

5. Is the assessment authentic?

6. Does the assessment offer beneficial washback to the learner?

By answering these six questions, and thereby forming an overall assessment of this

SA procedure, an evaluation can be made as to the effectiveness of the procedure and

deciding whether it should continue to be used in future CS classes.

Review of the Literature

Self-assessment is often situated within the broader area of alternative assessment,

which has been defined as ―. . . an ongoing process involving the students and teacher

in making judgments about the students‘ progress in language using non-conventional

strategies‖ (Hancock, 1994, p.3). The use of portfolios, self-assessment procedures

and other such types of alternatives in assessment, may be characterized by: being

carried out in the context in which the learning takes place, allowing students to be

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assessed on what they normally do in class, encouraging disclosure of standards and

rating criteria to students, and requiring students to perform or do something while

providing information about their strengths and weaknesses (Brown & Hudson, 1998).

Self-assessment is one form of alternative assessment which seeks to make the

assessment process more student-centered in order to better support and maximize the

learning taking place.

The extensive literature on self-assessment identifies a number of potential

benefits and drawbacks associated with its use. Potential problems with students using

self-assessment include: lack of accuracy in student judgments, SA being prone to

evaluative biases, students having limited experience of assessing themselves, and

student perception of assessment as being the teachers‘ responsibility. Unreliable

scoring is the main argument against the use of SA. However, the potential benefits of

self-assessment have also been widely recognized. They include the fact that SA can

be directly integrated into the teaching/learning process, encourages learner autonomy

and may increase student motivation, it can reduce the teachers‘ assessment burden,

and can result in increased student involvement in monitoring and assessing their

language performance (Brindley, 1989; Brown 1998).

As mentioned, SA has been a prominent area of research on issues of proficiency,

ability and task-performance for language learners. This body of knowledge provides

teachers with a valuable source of theoretical underpinnings as well as practical

classroom applications for dealing with self-assessment (see, for example, Baily, 1998;

Blanche and Merino 1989; Boud, 1995; Boud and Falchikov, 1989; Cohen, 1994;

Harris, 1997; Simonian and Robertson, 2002; Saito, 2005; Todd, 2002).

Language teaching practice has been usefully informed by SA research from a

variety of educational contexts. Chappelle & Brindley (2002) summarize the major

insights on SA practice that have been provided:

1. The importance of providing students with training in the use of SA techniques;

ability to self-assess should not be taken for granted.

2. The transparency of the assessment instrument impacts accurate self-assessment.

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3. SA scales are most effective when statements they include are situation specific and

have a close relation to students‘ personal experiences.

4. A student‘s willingness to self-assess and also the accuracy of that assessment may

be affected by cultural factors.

Reviewing the research evidence, Ross (2006) reported finding, across a variety of

grades and subjects, persuasive evidence that SA made contributions to improved

behavior and student learning, as well as higher achievement by students. Harris

(1997) explained that the potential power of SA procedures in affecting students is

based on the simple fact that the assessment focus is on student-controlled behavior.

Self-assessment is a fundamental component of the assessment for learning (AfL)

movement, originating in mainstream education in the UK. AfL is defined by its

leading proponents as ―any assessment for which the first priority is to serve the

purpose of promoting students‘ learning‖ (Black et al., 2003, p. 2). In Black and

William‘s (1998) seminal review of the formative assessment literature, they contend

that self-assessment lies at the heart of assessment for learning for two reasons: it is a

way of informing and involving the students themselves in the assessment process and

it is a means by which they take responsibility for their own learning. Assessment for

Learning encourages teachers to equip students with the capacity and desire to take

charge of their own learning through developing self-assessment skills, and it forms

an important theoretical base for this investigation.

While an extensive body of SA literature exists, the issue of self-assessment of

class participation in an EFL/ESL context has been little researched or reported. The

number of such empirical SA studies or reports available in the literature is minimal.

In an unpublished paper, Philips (2000) created a self-assessment rubric in which

students rated their class participation in a pre-university ESL class in Hawaii. This

SA instrument was completed by students in the middle of the semester and followed

up by a teacher-student conference in which students set future goals. A copy of

Phillips self-assessment of class participation instrument is reproduced in Brown

(2004), making it one of the few examples of such a tool available in the literature. It

includes such criteria as attendance, asking/answering questions, participation in

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pair/group work, active listening and completion of peer reviews. The results of

Phillips investigation are, however, unreported,

Another such report comes from a Japanese context. Harrison, Head, Haugh, &

Sanderson (2005), focused on self-assessment and its uses to motivate active class

participation. The authors describe a number of SA approaches used in their classes at

a Japanese university, and student reactions to them. These included scoring of class

participation in note books, action logs and class journals related to class learning and

progress made, self-evaluation handouts, and learning journals. A questionnaire to

gauge student reactions to SA indicated that self-assessment may lead to: positive

learner outcomes such as increases in active participation and L2 communication,

student thinking about progress, student confidence, and increased awareness of the

connection between active participation and English language skill improvement.

Harrison et al. (2005) also include a number of principles to guide instructors who

wish to implement a SA framework. These principles include the importance of the fit

between the teacher‘s style, classroom approaches and the kind of SA carried out, the

need for repeated opportunities for SA, and the fact that students will find SA easier if

the procedures used have detailed, specific criteria. They concluded that students

can make a connection between self-evaluation and active class participation and that

this mode of assessment can provide a tool to assist students in more fully realizing

their learning potential.

The paper by Harrison et al. (2005) does not include any of the self-assessment

rubrics actually used by students. Also, in the otherwise extensive body of SA

literature, not enough is known about what students actually do, think and feel when

they are asked to engage in self-assessment (Andrade & Du, 2007). The pilot study

reported here is one of the few examples of self-assessment of class participation in an

EFL/ESL context, which includes both the assessment tool used, a detailed

description of the process and outcomes, and student views on the assessment

procedure.

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Methods

Setting and Context

Tokyo Woman‘s Christian University (TWCU) is a liberal arts institution in Japan.

For all students entering the university, English language classes are mandatory. One

of two required oral communication courses organized by the Dept. of English is

called Communication Skills (CS), and is geared towards fostering students‘ spoken

fluency and listening comprehension skills. The year-long course is in two parts;

CS-A is taken in the spring semester (April-July) and CS-B is taken in the fall

(Sept-Dec.). Beyond a broad goal of developing students‘ communicative fluency in

English, and the use of a textbook reflecting a communicative language teaching

methodology, there is no explicit syllabus containing course objectives and

assessment procedures in place. According to departmental guidelines for the CS

course, 50% of the final grade is to be comprised of language lab work, attendance

and a final speaking test. The remaining 50% is to be determined by weekly

classroom participation/performance. It is up to individual CS teachers to interpret

and to put these general guidelines into practice.

Participants

Approximately 70 female students from three different CS classes were involved in

this pilot study. Each class was comprised of 23 or 24 first-year students, all Japanese.

These first year students were grouped together according to their declared major

(English, Psychology, History). Classes meet for 90 minutes, once a week, for

approximately 15 weeks per semester.

The 18 to 19 year-old students in these classes exhibited various degrees of

spoken proficiency in English. Using the generic descriptions for speaking in the

ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1999), the English abilities of the students in these

groups would range from Novice Mid (‗communicate minimally and with difficulty

by using a number of isolated words and memorized phrases‘) to Intermediate Mid

(‗able to handle successfully a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks‘). Many

students, in particular the English majors, were eager to communicate in English and

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improve their fluency. However, because this is a mandatory course, classes

invariably contained students who had less desire to improve their speaking skills,

were passive in terms of participation and use of the target language, or may have had

a negative attitude about learning English.

The pilot study was conducted during the second semester (Sept.- Dec.) of the

school year. By September, students had already had a spring semester of 15 classes

together and were familiar with each other, the teacher, class materials and lesson

routines. It would be fair to say that for most, if not all, of these students this SA

procedure would have been their first experience of assessing themselves in this way.

Materials

This investigation made use of two sources of data, the SA score sheet (Appendix A),

and a student survey (Appendix C). For both documents, a complete translation into

the students native language, Japanese, was included.

The SA score sheet is a criterion-referenced analytical scoring instrument. It was

compiled and revised after considering the desired types of attitudes and behaviors

exhibited by students in being active class participants. Out of this process, six criteria

(explained in Table 1) were established: punctuality and participation, attentiveness

and task completion, speaking English, active listening, speaking Japanese and overall

effort and attitude.

Table 1. SA Score Sheet Assessment Criteria (without Japanese Translation)

1. Punctuality and preparation

I came to class on time and was prepared (including doing any review or homework)

2. Being attentive and completing tasks

I stayed focused on English and did not waste time chatting, checking my cell phone,

sleeping, etc. I actively completed textbook exercises or other activities.

3. Speaking English

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I tried to communicate as much as possible in English by giving lots of information,

asking questions and volunteering my thoughts and ideas.

4. Active listening

I tried to listen actively to my classmates and to the teacher

5. Speaking Japanese

I tried hard not to use any Japanese during English speaking activities and

discussions.

6. Overall effort and attitude

I have been an active member of this class, not a passive one. I made strong efforts

to communicate in English with other students and improve my speaking and listening

skills.

It was determined that these six criteria would cover the essential elements of active

class participation. They would enable students to assess their degree of active

engagement with the target language and their peers during class time. Students were

told that the teacher would use the same criterion to make decisions about the class

participation component of their final grades.

The SA score sheet has two sections. In Section 1, students were first asked to

write the date of the self-assessment, and then think back on what they had been doing

and saying in class during the previous three or four lessons. They then used the

following Likert scale to give themselves a score from 1 to 4 for each of the six

categories:

1= seldom true for me 2 = sometimes true for me

3= generally true for me 4 = almost always true for me

On Section 2 of the score sheet, students were asked to take a few minutes to write

some comments about their class participation and/or goals for future classes

(Appendix B provides some examples of student comments).

On the last day of class a student survey (Appendix C) was administered to get

some insight into student attitudes and understanding of the purpose, criteria and

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perceived benefits of both the SA score sheet and the self-assessment process.

Students used a Likert scale from 1 to 6, to show their level of agreement with the ten

items on the survey. At the end of the survey, space was provided for any additional

comments about the SA procedure. Approximately 70 SA score sheets, and 65 student

surveys from three different class groupings of students were collected and analyzed.

A few students were absent during the final class when surveys were completed.

Procedures

On the first day of class students were told, in English, about the importance of active

class participation and how it would be the primary consideration in determining their

course grades. This class then included a ten-minute introduction to the SA score

sheet, the six criteria to be assessed, and explanation of the SA procedure. Students

were told that their SA scores would not be used for determining final grades. They

were then given a few minutes to discuss with each other, in Japanese, whether they

understood what SA was about and how the score sheet would be used. They were

also given the opportunity to ask questions about the SA process during this first class,

although no questions were asked. This was the extent of student training and

preparation for the SA process to come.

At three different points throughout the semester, students in the three CS classes

were asked to complete the self-assessment rubric. The first of the approximately 15

classes began in late September and students self-assessed their class participation in

late October, November and December. They gave themselves a 1 to 4 score for each

of the six categories. A total score for that assessment period (usually 3 or 4 classes)

was then added up, out of a possible maximum score of 24. The final self-assessment

was completed during the last regular class meeting in late December.

On each of the three SA days, the last 10 minutes of a lesson was allotted for

students to complete the score sheet. Score sheets were then taken up by the teacher

and held until the next assessment, in the following month. No written commentary or

feedback was given by the teacher on the score sheets.

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In Section 2 of the score sheet, for the first and second assessments (October and

November) the students were also asked to write some comments about their class

participation or future goals. At the end of the course, students were asked to write

some final comments about their class participation overall during the entire period

(Sept.-Dec.). They were required to complete the comments section of the SA

checklist in English, with the aid of a dictionary if they wished. The SA survey was

distributed to students on the final day of class. Students completed it shortly after

finishing the last of the three self-assessments.

Results

This section will report findings from both the SA score sheet and the student survey.

SA score sheet

With approximately 70 students scoring themselves in six different categories on

three occasions during the semester, the SA rubric generated a large amount of

numerical data. As mentioned, the scoring options were from 1(seldom true for me) to

4 (almost always true for me). The total added score for the six criteria is a maximum

of 24.

While a detailed analysis and comparison of individual or class scores was not

undertaken in this pilot study, an examination of the score sheets revealed some

overall patterns:

1) The large majority of scores for the three groups were 3‘s or 4‘s.

2) Most students‘ scores fell in the 20-24 range for each total score.

3) Some scores of 2 (sometimes true for me) were evident throughout the

score sheets. Scores of 1(seldom true for me) were very rare.

4) The category which received the highest number of 2 scores was ‗Speaking

Japanese‘ (trying hard not to use Japanese during English speaking activities).

5) Total scores generally showed a pattern of increase over the three assessments

(for example, October total= 18, Nov. = 21, Dec. = 22). However some total

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scores remained the same, or even decreased from one assessment month to

another (possibly due to lateness or absences).

6) Individual and total scores for the English majors group were slightly higher

overall than the other groups.

In Section 2 of SA score sheet the students were asked to write some comments

about their active participation in class or future goals. The following ideas/attitudes

were recurring themes among the student commentary:

1) A desire to improve vocabulary skills (in order to help students better express

themselves in pair/group discussions).

2) Enjoyment in being able to communicate with fellow students.

3) A desire to use less Japanese.

4) Frustration with inability to express themselves in English (―So many times I

can‘t say things I want to!‖). Some students note that this is reason for

switching to Japanese.

5) Shyness, anxiousness, lack of confidence in ability to communicate.

6) Expressing the feeling of having ―poor English skills‖.

7) Worrying about making mistakes when speaking.

8) Wanting to be more fluent English speakers.

9) Feeling that ability to communicate in English was getting better.

Student comments in Section 2 give a deeper insight into their perspective on the

struggle to communicate in English and be active members of the classroom

community. Examples of such commentary can be read in Appendix B.

Self-assessment survey

In consideration of whether to make self-assessment of class participation a more

permanent component of the CS course, gaining student perspectives on the process

was essential. Consequently, a student survey (Appendix C) was administered and

completed by 65 students during the final class. For this pilot study, the most

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important points were the final three issues on the survey: if the SA process

encouraged students to actively participate in class (item 8), whether they spoke more

English in class due to the SA process (item 9), and if they recommended using SA

for future classes CS classes (item 10). Student responses to these three items are

represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 below. In addition to student attitudes toward these

final three items on the survey, some of the most interesting survey results relate to

item 7; whether students‘ assessments on the checklist were an honest reflection of

class efforts. Figure 4 below represents student responses to this reliability-related

item.

As mentioned, the survey used a six-point Likert scale on an agree-disagree

continuum. The four charts presented here show frequency of responses and

percentages from the 65 students who responded to the survey.

Figure 1 below shows student responses to the survey item checking whether they

thought the SA process encouraged them to actively participate in class.

Figure 1. SA encouraged active class participation (N=65)

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Combining the completely agree (1) and mostly agree (2) responses, 43% of students

showed strong agreement that SA promoted active class participation. Another large

grouping, 28%, indicated slight agreement with this proposition. A combined total of

29% disagreed that more active class participation resulted from the SA procedure.

Figure 2 shows student responses as to whether they spoke more English in class

because of the SA process that was embedded in the course.

Figure 2. Students spoke more English in class due to SA (N=65)

A primary reason for implementing the SA framework was to promote students‘

fluency by encouraging more spoken English during class time. According to

responses in item 9 on the checklist, a combined total of 74% agreed that SA

encouraged them to speak more English. Combining responses 1 and 2 show that

37 % of students expressed strong agreement. However, the same percentage of

respondents indicated only slight agreement with this proposition. A combined 14%

of students (choosing 5 and 6) expressed strong disagreement that SA resulted in them

speaking more English.

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Student responses as to whether they would recommend the use of self-assessment in

future CS classes are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Students recommend SA in future CS classes (N=65)

From the 65 students in three classes, responses to the final item on the questionnaire

show widespread agreement that the SA procedure should be used with future CS

classes. Out of the 84% of students agreeing, 49% (responses 1 and 2) expressed

strong agreement. However, 35% expressed lukewarm (slight) agreement and 16% of

students thought the SA framework should not be used with future classes.

The last figure in this section, Figure 4, displays responses to the survey item asking

whether the scores students had written during the three month SA process were an

honest reflection of their efforts to be active class participants. The reader is reminded

here that on the version of the survey used in class, a Japanese translation was

provided for each item.

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Figure 4. SA scores were honest reflection of class effort (N=65).

The number of students who expressed strong agreement (mostly or completely agree)

totaled 30% of students. But the largest grouping, 42%, expressed only slight

agreement that SA scores honestly reflected the class participation efforts they made

in class. The total number of students disagreeing here is 27%, with strong

disagreement (mostly or completely disagree) totaling 11%. These results bring the

issue of reliability to the fore, pointing to discrepancies between reported scores for

the categories on the score sheet and ‘true’ scores (ones which would honestly reflect

efforts made in class).

Responses to the remaining six survey items are presented below in Table 2. Once

again, response frequencies and percentages are given. Bold numbers indicate largest

response grouping for each survey item.

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Table 2. SA survey responses for items 1-6 (N= 65)

While a total of 91% of students understood why self-assessment was used in the CS

classes, a large number (31%) expressed only slight agreement. This indicates some

confusion on the part of students for the purpose of the whole exercise. Understanding

of the checklist criteria (item 2) was strong (72%, combining 1 and 2). Students also

indicted that the checklist criteria were helpful (item 3), with a combined total of 66%

(choosing 1 and 2) showing strong agreement.

A total of 83% of students agreed that SA was fair, with the number showing

complete agreement (39%) making up the largest response grouping. Disagreement

with the fairness of the procedure was expressed by 17% of students. In considering

whether or not the whole process was a waste of time (item 5), 14% seemed to think

so. A total of 58% (responses 5 and 6) showed strong disagreement with this idea.

A combined total of 52% (responses 1 and 2) expressed strong agreement that SA

was easy to do. However, the largest grouping (31%) expressed only slight agreement.

A total of 17%, 11 of 65 students, disagreed. What exactly was not easy about the SA

process remains unclear (for example, choosing numerical scores, consciously

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assessing their class participation in an objective way, remembering behavior from

previous classes).

At the end of the survey, students were given the opportunity to write some additional

comments about self-assessment. Only 7 of the 65 students decided to write

something, and these will be referred to in the discussion section.

Discussion

We now return to six key questions posed in the introduction that will help determine

the overall effectiveness of the SA procedure and whether it should be retained for

future CS classes.

1. Is the assessment procedure practical?

In terms of time-efficiency and ease of administration, the SA procedure was quickly

and easily implemented. About ten minutes at the end of class was sufficient for

completion of each of the three assessments in the cycle. Student scoring of the six

criteria on the rubric could be completed quickly and the 1- 4 scoring scale was

specific, providing a range of choice for students. Administration was also

unproblematic in requiring minimal time for the checklists to be collected and

returned after and prior to each assessment.

With regard to teacher feedback on the SA checklist, no scoring, writing of

comments, or other such action was required. Written feedback to student comments

in Section 2 of the score sheet was considered when planning and organizing the SA

process. However, with approximately 70 students doing a series of three assessments

each, this idea was rejected as impractical and too time-consuming. In any case, the

SA score sheet criterion let the student know the kinds of attitudes and behaviors they

needed to work on to improve levels of class participation.

As a whole, the process of administering the SA procedure three times, including

introducing the system in the first class could all be completed within a total one hour

of class time. For both students and the teacher, this SA procedure was easy to

administer and may be rated as high in terms of practicality.

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2. Is the assessment reliable?

This self-assessment procedure is complicated by the fact that the student is both the

rater and the subject being rated. Rater-reliability may influence scoring due to human

error, subjectivity and bias (Brown, 2004). In terms of assessment reliability, the

consistency and dependability of the assessment tool itself may be impacted by

sections or criteria which are poorly written, or ambiguous. These two aspects of

reliability may increase the likelihood that a reported score deviates from the students‘

‗true‘ score.

On the score sheet, student scores may have been affected by a number of

different considerations. Class participation criterion (speaking Japanese, active

listening) would have been an unconscious experience at times, making it more

difficult to score accurately. Additionally, this assessment framework required

students to engage in reflective assessment by looking back on participation and

communication in a previous set of classes over a number of weeks. This time factor,

and student recall, may also have impacted the reliability of SA scores.

Oscarson (1997) noted the possible cultural dimensions of engaging in such types

of alternative assessment as in this pilot study: ―In some cultures, the notion of learner

autonomy may not be highly esteemed. In others, social etiquette requires modesty,

which may affect the degree of accuracy in the assessments‖ (p.183). These factors

may impact reliability, and are relevant in dealing with Japanese students who have

minimal experience of this type of self-assessment and are culturally conditioned to

express modesty.

The scoring scale used on the rubric may have caused difficulties for students. It

was hoped that the four scoring options provided a good range of choice (‗seldom‘ to

‗almost always‘) without being too large and unwieldy or too small and not

comprehensive. However, the boundaries between scores may have been unclear or

been interpreted in differently by students, and thus impacted scoring choices.

Responses to item 7 on the survey (‗scores were an honest reflection of efforts

made‘) indicate that some students may have inflated their scores. A large number of

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students (42%) only slightly agreed that scores honestly reflected classroom behavior.

A further 28% disagreed that this was so. One possible reason for inflated scoring

may be due to the fact that students thought that their scores would be aggregated into

course grades (despite being told this would not be the case). Saito (2005) noted that

SA can be severely influenced when there is perceived advantage to a higher rating.

Responses to this survey item reflect the two most common concerns about using SA:

inflated student perceptions of their performance and motivation by self-interest (Ross,

2006). However, some elements of the SA instrument should have improved

reliability. These include the fact that the score sheet has a limited number of six

carefully specified criteria for students to score, and the provision of an L1

translation.

In terms of whether this SA instrument generated scoring that was dependable

(fairly reflecting students‘ in-class performance and participation), reliability may

receive a lower evaluation than the other assessment principles being considered here.

However, it should also be noted that by its‘ very nature self-assessment is a

subjective process. As such, it would be inappropriate to apply the same reliability

standards of more formal tests to a self-assessment procedure.

3. Does the procedure demonstrate content validity?

Content validity, requiring students to perform the behavior being measured, is the

major source of validity in a classroom assessment and it may be evaluated by

considering two key factors: 1) whether classroom objectives are identified and

appropriately framed, and 2) whether lesson objectives are represented in the form of

assessment specifications (Brown, 2004).

In the SA rubric, objectives for classroom participation are identified for students.

The six criteria were repeatedly referred to throughout the semester, through the cycle

of self-assessments and periodic reminders by the teacher of what active participation

entails. Survey responses showed that 95% of students agreed that they understood

the SA criteria. Content validity also considers whether objectives are framed in a

form that lends itself to assessment. The six criterion included in the score sheet (for

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example, being prepared for class, speaking as much English as possible) are things

that should have been noticeable and available for self-assessment. In the survey, 83%

of students agreed that self-assessment was easy to do. One potential area of

confusion for students is the fact that ‗active listening‘ is not clearly defined and may

have proved more difficult to score than other items. This criterion could perhaps be

better framed in revised versions of the score sheet.

The second key factor with regard to the content validity considers whether lesson

objectives are represented in the form of assessment specifications. As this assessment

procedure deals with issues of class participation over the course of a semester, it does

not lend itself to a structure based on individual lesson or textbook unit objectives.

Broader objectives of the Communication Skills course, to develop students‘ English

spoken fluency and interactive competence, are strongly represented in the six criteria

on the SA rubric. Indeed, they are a primary impetus for the creation and

implementation of the whole self-assessment procedure.

Considering these elements as a whole (the clear identification and appropriate

framing of class participation objectives and their representation in the score sheet

criterion specifications), it may be concluded that the SA procedure does indeed

demonstrate content validity. Students are instructed by the SA procedure ‗to perform

the behavior that is being measured‘ by being active members of the class, speaking

as much English as possible and staying focused. A significant challenge facing

teachers in devising any SA tool is how to translate learning goals into more

transparent categories and easily understood assessment criteria (Oscarson, 1997).

The SA procedure in this pilot study demonstrates content validity by successfully

meeting this challenge.

4. Does the procedure demonstrate face validity?

Face validity is the extent to which ―students view the assessment as fair, relevant,

and useful in improving learning‖ (Gronlund, 1998, p.210). The SA instrument being

assessed here can be completed in a timely manner, has clear directions (with L1

translation), six clearly defined criteria to judge active class participation, and

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criterion-specified behaviors that are directly related to course objectives of

developing communicative fluency in English. Student survey responses show that a

large number of students understood the SA criteria (95% agreement) and a total of

83% of students thought that SA was easy to do. Also, survey results show that

large numbers of students understood why SA was used (91%), believed SA criteria

was helpful (88%) and viewed SA of class participation as being fair (83%). As for

recommending SA usage in future CS classes, 84% agreed. These responses

demonstrate that a majority of students see the SA procedure as ‗fair, relevant and

useful‘, and therefore, face valid.

5. Is the assessment authentic?

In this context, the authenticity of an assessment procedure refers to whether tasks

included represent or approximate real world tasks. The criterion students are asked to

self-assess on the SA rubric include: 1) trying to communicate as much as possible in

English by giving lots of information, asking questions and volunteering thoughts and

ideas, 2) active listening, and 3) trying hard not to use any Japanese. These are the

kinds of behaviors and attitudes that students need to employ when interacting with

English speakers outside the classroom environment. In the sampling of students‘

comments on Section 2 of the scoresheet (Appendix B), comments by Yoshie point to

possible connections between the assessment criteria and real-world communication:

“Yesterday, some foreign customers came to my part-time job. I could explain in

English. I thought my communication skills are up by this class and I am happy about

being an active student.”

Being active, involved communicators of English is repeatedly emphasized for

students through the SA process, and is also desirable in communicating with English

speakers in more natural, outside-class situations. Authenticity, connection to

real-world language use, can indeed be demonstrated by the criteria used on the SA

instrument.

98

6. Does the assessment offer beneficial washback to the learner?

As mentioned, generating positive washback was a primary motive in the creation and

design of the self-assessment rubric used in the CS classes. Considering the potential

problem of dealing with unmotivated, passive L2 students it was hoped that by

engaging in self-assessment the washback effect would be, as Nunan (1988) puts it,

― . . . for students to develop not only their language but also a critical

self-consciousness . . . of their own role as active agents within the learning

process‖(p.134). Was the implementation of this SA framework effective in

promoting students as ‗active agents‘ in the classroom community? According to

survey responses, 71% of students agreed that SA encouraged their active

participation in class (30% expressed strong agreement).

As for whether the procedure caused students to speak more English, a total of

27% expressed strong agreement, while 37% agreed slightly. Some students

disagreed that SA made them participate more actively, or speak more English.

Indeed they may have been active members of class in any case, without

self-assessment. Yet, for a significant number the washback effects were positive and

beneficial. The inclusion of a follow-up task on the rubric, the commentary or

goal-setting element on Section 2, was intended to help raise the washback potential

of the SA procedure.

Only seven of 65 students added any written comments on the student survey. Yet,

these give some insights into washback effects of the SA procedure and are presented

here in Table 3. While the first two student comments reflect minimal washback, the

remainder point to the potential positive effects of using such a SA instrument to

impact class participation.

Table 3. Students‘ Written Survey Comments (verbatim)

1 ―I think this process don‘t so important maybe‖.

2 ―I think it isn‘t a bad process, but I don‘t think it isn‘t very helpful to improve

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student‘s communication skills of English. Therefore it is difficult to see if it is

good or bad‖.

3 ―Because of self-assessment, I tried to speak English as possible. I become more

active than before‖.

4 ―I think self-assessment is necessary, because it‘s easy and I can check my skill

constantly‖.

5 ―We can know what to do in this class by this SA. So I think this process is a

good thing. And we can also find own goal by this SA‖.

6 ―I think it is a good system for students to review their attitude to

communicate‖.

7 ―I don‘t think filling this SA form directly helped my class participation or

attitude or my English ability. However, unless you have this SA, we never

think back about ourselves so you should continue doing this‖.

This final comment, referring to the potential for SA to cause students to ‗think back

about ourselves‘ is an expression of one of the most important aspects of SA, noted by

Baily (1998):

From a pedagogic point of view, the most intriguing and potentially most

useful aspect of self-assessment as an evaluative procedure is probably the

consciousness-raising factor. In completing a self-assessment questionnaire

(honestly) language learners have to think about their language skills and may

presumably become more aware of what they have reported (p.228).

At least for some of the CS students, the SA procedure was successful in providing

what Shindler (2003) calls ―a concrete and meaningful mechanism for

reflection‖(p.21). Survey responses, and commentary from Table 3 above show that

while beneficial washback may have been negligible for some students. For many

others, however, it seems clear that this SA procedure did indeed have a positive

impact on students‘ active class participation and, consequently, perhaps aided the

development of their English fluency.

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Conclusion

This pilot study has assessed the performance and effectiveness of a student

self-assessment of class participation framework. By referring to the key criteria that

need to be considered in assessing an assessment procedure, and the findings of this

pilot study, a simplified scoring system (low, moderate, high) may be used to evaluate

this self-assessment process

Table 4. Evaluation of SA of Class Participation Procedure

Criteria Assessment

(low, moderate, high)

1. Practicality high

2. Reliability moderate

3. Content Validity high

4. Face Validity high

5. Authenticity high

6. Washback moderate- high

Despite areas of weakness, especially in terms of reliability, overall the SA procedure

may be judged effective in having a positive impact on a significant number of

students‘ active class participation. As a consequence, their communicative fluency in

English may have also been promoted. Due to its‘ beneficial impact on many of the

students involved in the pilot study, this SA of class participation framework may be

evaluated as a valuable student-centered, assessment tool and it will continue to be

used in future Communication Skills classes. While there is room for tweaking and

101

improving this SA procedure (for example, improving initial explanation and student

training), I am satisfied that it is effective in increasing students‘ active class

participation. This pilot study shows that self-assessment of class participation

procedures can be practical, valid, and authentic, have acceptable levels of reliability

and generate positive washback.

I have shared this SA tool with some of my colleagues who tell me of similar

positive effects on students‘ level of class participation as described here. It is hoped

that readers of this investigation will also find these assessment instruments and

procedures useful. EFL/ESL teachers are encouraged to experiment with this SA

instrument in their local contexts to determine if it has similar effects on student

behavior and engagement in their language classes. Or perhaps this investigation may

prompt teachers to devise their own student self-assessment instruments to help

engineer the types of learning environments and active classroom participation needed

to maximize students‘ language learning.

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Appendix A.Self Assessment score sheet (without Japanese translation), Section 1

106

Appendix A(continued) Self-assessment score sheet, Section 2.

Section 2

After completing the score sheet, take a few moments to write (in English) comments

about your performance or future goals.

Self-assessment # 1: Student comments/goals

Self-assessment # 2: Student comments/goals

Self-assessment # 3: Final comments about active participation in class (Sept-Dec.)

107

Appendix B.Sampling of student comments (verbatim) on Section 2 of SA score sheet

Student October

November December

(final comments)

Mari -->

I sometimes use Japanese so I

will try not to use Japanese from

now on. I think my grammar is

often wrong, and I sometimes

confuse how should I say in

English. So I want to speak

English more well.

When I confuse how should I say

in English, I sometimes use

Japanese. I will do my best even

if I don’t know English from now

on.

It was very hard for me to say my

own opinions in English, but it is

easier to say my ideas than

before. I sometimes still confused

to say, but I did my best. I

enjoyed to communicate with

classmates in English.

Haruka-->

I don’t like English. But this

English class is enjoy and like. So

I want to English well and like

English!! My aim is A!

I speaked Japanese…so I want to

only English speech with

everyone. And I like English a

little. Until now, I negative

English.

So, I wanted to talk many students

and get many opinion. So I try,

try, try!!

Miho-->

I want to build my vocabulary

more, to speak what I want to ask

smoothly. I will try hard not to

use Japanese more and more.

(Compared with last month) I

think I have been used to

speaking about me and

communicating with class

members in English. I would like

to communication even more

actively.

I realized that the important thing

is my attitude of speaking English

and listening other student’s

story. I tried to speak a lot, I tried

to listen carefully and ask many

questions

108

Yoshie-->

I try to communicate in English

every time but I often don’t know

English words and I can’t explain

my thoughts. I think I should

study English words.

Recently, I think communicate in

English is fun, but I can’t talk

enough because I know little

English words so I think I should

study English words.

Yesterday, some foreign

customers came to my part-time

job. I could explain in English. I

thought my communication skills

are up by this class and I am

happy about being an active

student.

Ayako-->

I checked my cell phone during

class. I want to stay focused on

English more and join actively. I

speak English in this class and I

can speak fluently in the future.

I enjoy class. Gradually I can ask

questions to the partner’s in

English more. I want to speak

only English in this class.

Moreover, I’d like to speak

actively more.

I think that I can speak and ask

questions more than before. Now

I enjoy talking to friends in

English. I also can say my

opinions in English easily, so I

want to develop my English skill

more.

Miyuki-->

I think I can speak and say my

opinion in English a little better

than I was former term. But I

can’t still command English very

well. I try to be able to speak

English!! I do my best!!

I can speak my opinion and listen

to my friends opinions more

evenly than last time I wrote this

paper. Before I was often

embarrassed, so I try to do my

best on and on!!

I think I can speak English better

than in September. Before when I

speak English I need many time

to think what I am speaking. But

little by little I can make this time

shorter. This is my big

development from Sept. to Dec.

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Appendix C. Self–Assessment survey (without Japanese translation)

110

Iranian Candidates' Attitudes towards IELTS

Iman Rasti

Bio data:

Iman Rasti is currently a PhD candidate in applied linguistics at Liverpool University.

He teaches English and academic writing to speakers of other languages at Liverpool.

His main research interests include discourse analysis, metadiscourse, and language

assessment. He has co-authored a ook on how to teach IELTS preparation programs.

Abstract

IELTS, International English Language Testing System, is designed to assess the

language ability of candidates who intend to study, work, or live where English is

used as the language of communication. Highly significant growth in candidature

particularly in South Asia and the Middle East clearly illustrates how globally IELTS

is recognized currently. Statistics demonstrate that Iran was among the top 25

locations in which candidates took IELTS in 2003 (IELTS Annual Review, 2003).

This study aimed at investigating the attitudes of Iranian candidates towards the

IELTS test. Using test method facets (Bachman 1990, p. 119) as the theoretical

framework, the relationship between examinees' characteristics and their attitudes

were studied. This study used casual comparative (ex post facto) as its research

method given the fact that there would be no manipulation of the variables involved.

Accordingly, an attitude questionnaire was developed based on the theoretical

framework of the study and then administered to 60 Iranian IELTS candidates who

had taken the actual test in Iran. The questionnaire was validated to ensure its

reliability and validity. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 12

candidates. In addition, narrative vignettes including candidates' written self-reports

were produced by 20 candidates. Data were analyzed using both quantitative and

qualitative methods. The collected data were analyzed through t-tests and other

statistical programs to see if there were any meaningful relationships between

candidates‘ age, sex, educational background, and test scores and their attitudes

towards the IELTS test. Written protocols including transcribed interviews and

candidates' written self- reports were codified for key concepts. The contribution of

different test method facets (factors) on IELTS examinees‘ performance was also

identified. The finding indicated that almost 80% of the participants in this study had

a positive attitude towards IELTS. No meaningful relationship was found between

Iranian candidates‘ sex, age, educational background, and IELTS scores with their

attitudes towards IELTS. Implications can be drawn for all the stakeholders including

111

candidates intending to sit the test, institutes running IELTS preparation programs,

teachers wishing to teach such programs and IELTS test administrators.

Key words: IELTS, Iranian candidates, Attitude, Test Method Facets

Acknowedgement: I am gtrateful to Dr. A.M. Riazi from Shiraz University for his

helpful comments on this paper.

1. Introduction

1.1. Preliminaries

IELTS, which is now jointly administered by the University of Cambridge Local

Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), the British Council, and the IDP Education

Australia, is required for anyone who wishes to pursue his education in an English

speaking country or anyone who desires to migrate to or work in such countries.

Hughes et al. (1988) believe that IELTS has an innovative format that reflects

changes in language learning and teaching theory and developments in language

testing. Statistics clearly show that IELTS is growing more popular worldwide day

in day out. Just as IELTS candidature is growing significantly, so is the number of

organizations, universities, professional bodies and governments that recognize

IELTS results. Iran was among the top 25 countries in terms of the number of

candidates who took the IELTS test in 2003 (IELTS Annual Review, 2003).

According to Keyvanfar (2005), in the last five years a great number of young

Iranians have traveled to other countries and they have been required to take the

IELTS or other proficiency exams for the assessment of their communicative abilities

in English.

The concept of attitude, on the other hand, has been the focus of attention in

explanation of human behavior offered by social psychologists. Attitudes are usually

defined as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a

certain thing such as an idea, object, person or situation. Students have positive or

negative attitudes towards the language they want to learn or the people who speak it.

Having positive attitudes towards tests also is claimed to be one of the reasons which

make students perform better on the tests (Malallaha 2000). A large number of studies

112

have investigated the relationships between attitudes and proficiency in the language

(see for example, Bachman 1976, Malallaha 2000, & Coleman et al. 2003). Gardner

(1985) believes that attitude and other affective variables are as important as aptitude

for language achievement.

The present study, therefore, seeks to investigate the attitudes of Iranian

candidates towards IELTS and determine whether their views towards this test have

any significant effect on their performance on the actual IELTS tests.

1.2. Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to determine the attitudes of Iranian candidates

towards the IELTS test and if their views have any significant relationship with their

performance on the actual IELTS test. In addition, factors such as testing environment,

test rubric, candidates' age, sex, and educational background and their relationship

with candidates‘ attitude will be investigated. The study, therefore, seeks answers to

the following research questions:

1- What do Iranian candidates think of the IELTS test?

2- Is there a significant relationship between testees' characteristics including their sex,

age, and educational background and their attitudes towards IELTS test?

3- Is there a significant relationship between Iranian IELTS candidates‘ scores

(performance) and their attitudes?

The dependent variables in this study are Iranian candidates‘ attitudes towards the

IELTS test and their test scores. The independent variables are sex, age, educational

background, and candidates' IELTS scores.

1.3. Significance of the Study

The present study hopes to gain significance as the results can help all the IELTS

stakeholders including candidates intending to sit the test, institutes running IELTS

preparation programs, teachers wishing to teach such programs and the IELTS test

administrators in Iran.

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IELTS Joint-funded research program 2006/2007 states that one of the areas of

interest for IELTS external research purposes is the investigation of attitudes of

IELTS test takers. Thus, the study gains significance from this point of view as well.

1.4. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework of this study is test method facets presented by Bachman

(1990). She points out that performance on language tests can be affected by the

facets such as familiarity of the place and equipment, personnel, time of testing,

physical conditions and also individual attributes including factors such as age, sex

and educational background and random factors including for example, idiosyncratic

differences in the way different test administrators carry out their responsibilities. The

attitude questionnaire administered in this study was developed based on the

theoretical framework of the study. Figure 1.1 shows the theoretical framework of this

study.

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Figure 1.1 The Theoretical Framework

2. Review of literature

2.1. History of IELTS

English Language Testing Service (ELTS) which was originally designed as a test for

prospective postgraduate students made its first appearance in 1980. ELTS replaced

115

the English Proficiency Test Battery (EPTB), a traditional largely multiple choice test

battery that had been used by the British Council in its overseas student recruitment

operation since the mid 1960s for the purpose of screening international applicants to

universities and colleges in the UK (Weir 1990). Hughes et al. (1988) believe that the

new test had an innovative format that reflected changes in language learning and

teaching theory and developments in language testing. They also state that ELTS was

influenced by the growth in ‗communicative‘ language learning and ‗English for

specific purposes‘. "Test tasks were based on an analysis of the ways in which

language was used in academic contexts and were intended to reflect the use of

language in the ‗real world‘ "(ibid).

During the 1980s the test numbers were quite low (4000 in 1981 rising to 10,000

by 1985) (Research Report 3, 1997) and it was clear that there were practical

difficulties with the administration of the test, relating to the number of test items and

the time taken to complete the test; there were also powerful reasons for change on

the grounds of test redundancy (Hughes et al. 1988).

In 1987 British Council and UCLES EFL (now known as Cambridge ESOL)

commissioned Edinburgh University to conduct a validation study. (See Criper and

Davies, 1988; Hughes, Porter and Weir, 1988). Following their report the ELTS

Revision Project, under the academic direction of Professor Charles Alderson of

Lancaster University, was set up to oversee the design and construction of the revised

test (Alderson & Clapham, 1993). There was consensus to broaden the international

participation in the revision project and in response to this the International

Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges (IDP), now known as

IDP Education Australia, joined British Council and UCLES to form an international

partnership, reflected in the new name for the test: The International English

Language Testing System. The recommendations of the revision team to simplify and

shorten ELTS were accepted and a compromise was sought "between practicality and

maximum predictive power". The number of subject-specific modules was reduced

from six to three and the Non-Academic test was replaced by the General Module. A

growing demand from other student groups and receiving institutions, especially in

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Australia, as well as developments in testing theory led to the emergence of IELTS

(International English language Testing System) in 1988 which was eventually

launched in December 1989 (IELTS Australia Published Research Reports, 2004).

"International" was taken as a prefix to acknowledge the involvement of the

International Development Program Education Australia (IDPEA) that joined the

British Council and the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate

(UCLES) in managing the test (IELTS Handbook, 2003). Charge and Taylor (1997)

believe that one important advantage of this aspect of the test's management was that

it helped to prevent any perception of Eurocentric bias and instead ensured a fully

international perspective. IELTS proponents claim that IELTS encourages, reflects

and respects international diversity and is fair to anyone who sits the test, regardless

of nationality, background, gender or lifestyle. The phrase ―International English

Language‖ in the IELTS‘s name is significant as it emphasizes the scope of both the

population of potential test takers and the varieties of English language to be

measured. But what renders IELTS ‗international‘? Chalhoub-Deville and

Wigglesworth (2005) hold that in making the argument for the international nature of

IELTS developers refer to the international partnership of the University of

Cambridge ESOL Examinations and the British Council, on the one hand, and the

IDP of Australia, on the other, as a significant dimension of the test. One IELTS

publication states: ―the fact that test materials are generated in both the UK and

Australia ensures that the content of each test reflects an international dimension‖

(IELTS, July 1996, p, 16). Chalhoub-Deville and Turner (2000) review IELTS

research documents and manuals and argue that:

such collaboration and approach to test development is likely to avoid

country- specific lexical or cultural knowledge that might disadvantage test

takers who do not have specific knowledge. Nevertheless, this does not

automatically render the test international. Research documenting claims that

IELTS can be used as a measure of English as an international language needs

to be made available. (p. 533.)

Chalhoub-Deville and Turner also note a conspicuous absence of any reference to

what might be referred to as the international English knowledge base, (e. g., Quirk

and Widdosown, 1985; Kachru, 1992; Crystal, 1997). Ingram and Wylie (1993) state

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that IELTS is rooted more in the traditional skills and components models (e.g.,

Canale and Swain, 1980; Bachman, 1990; Bachman and Palmer, 1996). IELTS

developers need to articulate the international English theoretical arguments and

empirical research that inform the construct definition and motivate the design of the

test and the intended interpretation and use of scores. Chalhoub-Deville and

Wigglesworth (2005) regards international collaboration in test development and the

ensuing sensitivity to English language variation in the international market a good

foundation. Nevertheless, given the explicit reference in the name, they believe a

research agenda that grounds construct formulation and test development efforts in

the international English knowledge base is critical. Also, research is needed that

systematically examines score interpretation in markets where the IELTS scores are

being marketed and used. Therefore, IELTS developers need to engage in a research

agenda that explores a range of international English language issues research.

In keeping with this history of innovation, the IELTS partners continue to be

committed to the ongoing development of the test. The IELTS reading, writing and

listening were revised in April 1995 (see Charge and Taylor, 1997). A revision project

for the Speaking Test was launched in 1998 and the revised IELTS Speaking Test was

introduced in July 2001 (see Taylor, 2001). New assessment criteria for the Writing

Test are operational from January 2005 (see Bridges and Shaw, 2004). A

computerized version of IELTS (CB IELTS) designed in 2005 is now subject to

successful trialing and validation.

Maycock and Green (2005) claim that CB IELTS is a linear computer-based

version of IELTS that has been under development since 1998. They maintain that CB

IELTS is generally popular with candidates. Their findings are in keeping with results

from similar studies (O‘Sullivan et al. 2004, and Taylor et al. 1998) in that candidate

ability and experience is not found to have any significant impact on the differences

between Paper-based and CB IELTS scores for any of the tested skills. Green and

Maycock (2004) believe that Computer-based IELTS test, in the context of growing

computer use, increases the options available to candidates and allow them every

opportunity to demonstrate their language ability in a familiar medium.

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2.2. The Global Popularity of IELTS

Since 1989 the number of people taking the test rose by around 15% each year so that

by 1995 there were over 43,000 candidates in 210 test centers around the world; while

just under 30,000 people took the test in 1991(IELTS Annual Review, 2000/ 2001).

The number of candidates taking IELTS in 2000 increased dramatically to more than

120,000 in over 200 countries (ibid). IELTS‘ candidature had reached 212,000 by the

end of 2001(ibid). Following a steady upward trend, this figure reached the peak of

475,000 people in 2003 (IELTS Annual Review, 2003). An analysis of the Candidate

Information data collected from candidates who took the IELTS test in 1995 reveals

that the majority of candidates (69%) take IELTS in South East Asia, Australia and

New Zealand (Charge and Taylor, 1997). South Korea, Greece, Hong Kong,

Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, India, Thailand, and China were among the top

10 locations in which candidates took the IELTS test (IELTS Annual Review,

2000/2001).

Along with such global popularity, a large number of studies have been conducted

worldwide to investigate issues related to IELTS. A number of studies, for instance,

have investigated the preparation materials and IELTS publications in the market.

Everett and Colman (2003) investigated the appropriateness of the content,

organization, learning approaches and presentation of the listening and reading

components of six of the most widely used IELTS publications. They also considered

the broader issue of the role of the publications in preparing students for the IELTS

and in the development of language skills in general, with particular reference to

preparation for further study. The study finds that IELTS preparation materials should

include more texts and tasks that would contribute to the social and academic

acculturation of students. Morgan Terry (2003) claims that the strong motivation and

serious purposes of IELTS candidates is taken for granted. However, he believes that

publishers need to respond more to the growing market for IELTS preparation and to

start investing in colorful, attractive, motivating publications that can help promote

learning for IELTS candidates in the way they have for students preparing for other

exams.

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Merrylees (2003) conducted a study to investigate two IELTS user groups:

candidates who sit the test for immigration purposes and candidates who sit the test

for secondary education purposes. He believed that with the increase in candidature of

both user groups, there is an increasing need to investigate and analyze how each

group is performing on the test in terms of nationality, age, gender and other factors.

A large number of studies have been also carried out investigating issues related

to writing section of the IELTS test. For example, Mickan and Slater (2003)

investigated candidates' interpretation of prompts and compared the written responses

of English background speakers with those of IELTS intending candidates, who were

not English background speakers. Their findings suggest implications for item writers

and for teachers preparing candidates for IELTS examinations. O'Loughlin and

Wigglesworth (2003) conducted a study on task difficulty in the IELTS Academic

Writing Task 1. The study examined firstly, the extent to which the difficulty of the

task is affected by the amount of information provided to the candidate and secondly,

the extent to which the difficulty of the task is affected by the presentation of the

information to the candidate. The findings indicated that there were no substantial

differences in difficulty between the tasks, either in terms of the amount of

information presented or in terms of the differences in presentation of the tasks. Annie

Brown (2003) wanted to find out whether handwriting and neatness have any impact

on the overall judgment of the IELTS writing quality of the candidates or not. The

findings of her study clearly indicated that in general the quality of handwriting in

IELTS does have an impact on the scores awarded to essays, and that increased

legibility results in higher ratings. Robert Ayres (2003) designed and delivered an

online academic writing course (www.ielts.ac.nz). His course is specifically targeted

at prospective candidates of IELTS examinations with the aim to develop both writing

proficiency and awareness of the IELTS examination format and requirement.

Some studies have examined the relationship between IELTS preparation

programs and candidates‘ performance on the actual IELTS test. Read and Hayes

(2003) for instance, investigated the impact of IELTS preparation programs on

international students‘ academic performance on tertiary study in New Zealand. The

120

findings of this study revealed that there were a number of substantial differences

between the performance of the group which was undergone preparation programs

and the group which was not. Elder and O'Loughlin (2003) investigated the

relationship between intensive English language study and band score gain on IELTS.

The results of their study revealed that students made variable progress in English

during the three month period with an average gain of about half a band overall. Rao,

McPherson, Chand and Khan (2003) assessed the impact of IELTS preparation

programs on candidates‘ performance on the General Training reading and writing

test modules. The findings revealed that there was significant gain in the scores of

candidates in the Writing module. The gain in the Reading module was not as

dramatic. The researchers highlight the influence of several factors such as time,

motivation, anxiety and the nature of the skill itself on the candidates‘ performance

during the preparation program, and in the actual IELTS exam. Brown (1998)

examined the approaches to IELTS preparation, with particular focus on the

Academic Writing component of the test. He presented an evaluation of an English

Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS) language program and

found out that IELTS preparation programs are more successful in preparing students

for the IELTS test than EAP courses.

Compared with such studies, however, it seems that fewer studies have been

carried out to examine and identify the IELTS candidates' attitudes and views towards

this test. The attitudes of IELTS stakeholders were once investigated in a study

conducted by Coleman et al. (2003). Respondents perceived the IELTS test to have

high validity in this study. Another study carried out by McDowell and Merrylees

(1998) investigated the receiving institutions‘ attitudes to IELTS. However, to the

best of my knowledge, no formal study seems to have been conducted to investigate

Iranian IELTS candidates‘ attitudes towards IELTS.

2.3. Attitudes toward Language, Language Learning, and Language Tests

Brown (1994) defines instrumental orientation as motivation to acquire a language as

means for attaining instrumental goals and integrative orientation as motivation to be

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integrated within the culture of the second language group. Students may wish to

learn a foreign language because of its practical benefits, like finding a job, or they

might learn it to become similar to native speakers, or at least talk to them or travel to

their country. According to Oxford and Shearin (1994) attitude is one of the factors

impacting motivation in language learning. Holmes (1992) believes that people

develop attitudes towards languages which reflect their views about those who speak

the languages, and the contexts and functions with which they are associated.

Attitudes in the context of language learning are defined as the way people look at the

language, the class and the people, and the culture of language. Attitudes that have

been explored in relation to language learning range from anxiety about the language

and the learning situation, through attitudes to speakers of the L2, the country in which

it is spoken, the classroom, the teacher, other learners, the nature of language learning,

particular elements in the learning activities, tests and beliefs about learning in

general (Johnson and Johnson, 1998). According to Brown (2000), second language

learners benefit from positive attitudes and negative attitudes may lead to decreased

motivation. Nevertheless, he believes negative attitudes can be changed, often by

exposure to reality – for example, by encounters with actual persons from other

cultures. Positive attitudes on the part of language learners can cause the development

of an integrative motivation and this can consequently facilitate second language

achievement. The influence of initial motivation and attitudes upon success in

language learning is widely acknowledged. To substantiate it, extensive studies have

been done to examine the effect of attitudes on language learning and the relationship

between attitudes and language success. Holmes (1992) state that if people feel

positive toward those who use the language, they would be more successful and also

more highly motivated toward learning it. Van Lier (1996) maintains that that one of

the claims of proponents of language awareness is that drawing attention to and

working with interesting and meaningful manifestations of language enhances

motivation and positive attitudes to language and language learning. Byram et al.

(1991) found that girls tend to have more positive attitudes towards the language

learning process.

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Mantle (1995) examined the language and culture attitudes of middle school

students participating in a foreign language exploratory program. Results clearly

revealed that many students enter their first language class with misconceptions about

language learning that may hinder their progress or persistence in language study. If

second language learners initiate their language learning while they have negative

attitudes towards the target language and the people using that language, they are not

expected to make considerable progress in their process of language learning. Truitt

(1995) found in a study regarding attitude of language learners that students‘ beliefs

and attitudes about language learning may vary based on cultural background and

previous experiences. Thus, it can be argued that positive or negative attitudes do not

develop accidentally but have some reasons for their emergence. Malallaha (2000)

investigated the attitudes of Arab learners towards English and discovered that they

have positive toward the English language and their proficiency in tests was positively

related to their positive attitude to English. Hence, it can be argued that having

positive or negative attitudes towards a certain language can exert considerable effect

on the learners‘ performance on a language test. By the same token, learners‘ attitudes

towards a certain language proficiency test may affect their performance on that test.

IELTS candidates‘ attitudes towards IELTS might, therefore, affect their overall band

score they get in this standardized test. The purpose of this study, as such, is to

investigate the relationship between Iranian IELTS candidates‘ attitudes and their

performance on IELTS.

3. Method

3.1. Participants

This study was conducted with 60 Iranian IELTS candidates who had taken the actual

IELTS test in Iran. The sampling procedure used in this study was purposive sampling

since it is believed that the participants in such studies must be typical informants of

the population. All the participants sat for the actual IELTS test held in Shiraz city on

September the 22nd

, 2006. In fact, all the candidates taking that test were selected for

this study. The participants were divided into two age groups: 20 to 30 and above 30.

123

There were 44 participants aged between 20 to 30 and 16 participants above 30. All

participants, both males and females, were from Iran and spoke Farsi as their first

language. Participants were from 6 different cities of Iran. There were 29 males and

31 females. Candidates were of different educational background ranging from

individuals having their high school diploma to those holding PhD. There were 40

candidates holding high school diploma or BA/S and only 20 participants holding

MA/S or PhD.

3.2. Instruments

Four instruments were used in this study to collect the required data. An attitude

questionnaire was developed by the researcher addressing the overall attitude of the

candidates towards the IELTS test based on the theoretical framework adopted for this

study (test method facets: Bachman 1990, p: 119). The questionnaire addressed the

following major categories: the overall attitude of the candidates towards IELTS, and

their attitudes towards the four components of the IELTS test that is listening, reading,

writing, and speaking. The format of the questionnaire items was Likert. The

respondents were asked to indicate their attitude by choosing one of the five

alternatives: Strongly agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, and Strongly disagree. To

check the reliability of the fifty-nine item questionnaire, which is to measure the

internal consistency of the questionnaire, Cronbach Alpha was used. Also, to check

the validity of the questionnaire, factor analysis was run. Exploratory factor analysis

with Vaimax rotation was run to find the underlying factors. The questionnaire

intended to measure the candidates‘ overall attitude towards IELTS and its four

components and factor analysis led to the validity of the questionnaire by yielding

five main factors. The loadings above 0.30 were considered. 10 items were omitted

after the study because their loadings did not reach the acceptable point.

A small portion of the candidates, 12, were selected randomly to take part in

semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher. The interviews were recorded

by permission and then transcribed for analysis. Transcribed protocols were

124

segmented for finding recurring patterns emerging from them and then codified again

by the researcher for key concepts and then by another coder.

20 participants were selected and invited randomly to produce vignettes in the

form of written self-reports of their overall attitudes towards IELTS. They were asked

to write down any comments regarding the test, test environment, timing, different

sections of the test, etc. The written protocols were, then, codified for key concepts by

the researcher and another coder who was recruited by the researcher how to codify

the written protocols. Based on the key points stated by the participants, the

researcher designed a coding scheme to analyze the data (see Appendix 1). Since the

key points stated by the participants in the interview and those who had produced

written self- reports were quite similar, the researcher designed one coding scheme for

the analysis of both of them. To calculate the inter- and intra- coder reliability indices

the percentage of similarity between 10% of the qualitative data was calculated. The

inter- coder reliability was proven to be 0.8 and the intra- coder reliability was 0.79.

The following is an example of a coded segment of a part of one interview. More

examples can be found in Appendix 2.

Interviewer:

What is your overall attitude towards IELTS?

Participant:

On the whole, I have a positive attitude towards IELTS...

Positive Attitude (PA)

Interviewer:

How did you find the listening section of IELTS?

Participant:

… the speakers‘ accent caused some problems for me…

Listening Accent (LA)

Interviewer:

How did you find the reading section of IELTS?

Participant:

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… the passages were lengthy and we were under time pressure…

Reading Lengthy Passages (RLP) Reading Time Limit (RTL)

The last instrument used in this study was the candidates‘ IELTS Report Forms

both to insure that they had taken the actual IELTS test and also to find out if there

were any meaningful relationship between candidate‘ attitudes towards IELTS and

their performance on the actual test. The participants‘ IELTS scores is shown in Table

3.1.

Table 3.1 Participants’ IELTS Scores

Score Frequency Percent

3.00

3.50

4.50

5.00

5.50

6.00

6.50

7.00

7.50

9.00

Total

1

1

2

15

13

18

5

3

1

1

60

1.7

1.7

3.3

25.0

21.7

30.0

8.3

5.0

1.7

1.7

100.0

3.3. Data Collection and Data Analysis Procedures

The participants were from six different cities of Iran. However, they either used to

live in Shiraz or they had come to Shiraz to collect their IELTS Report Forms of the

IELTS test they had taken in Shiraz on September the 22nd, 2006.

Therefore, the

researcher did not have any difficulty accessing to them. The participants were asked

to give a copy of their IELTS Report Form to the researcher. All the 60 participants

126

were asked to fill out the attitude questionnaire in Dibagaran Techical College, which

is one of the offsite IELTS venues of the British Council in Shiraz, upon their

collecting their IELTS Report Forms. Before administering the questionnaire, the

researcher explained the nature of the questionnaire and the study to participants.

Participants were allowed to spend as much time as they needed to fill out the

questionnaire. Having filled out the questionnaire, 20 participants were selected

randomly and invited to produce vignettes in the form of written self-reports. They

produced the written self-reports individually since the researcher did not have access

to all of the participants at one time. They were asked to write down any comments

regarding the test, test environment, timing, different sections of the test, etc. Finally,

12 participants were selected randomly and invited for the interview. The researcher

conducted the interviews himself in Dibagaran Technical College after the candidates

filled out the questionnaire. The interviews were conducted individually and each

interview lasted around 10 minutes. The semi-structured interviews were recorded by

permission. The researcher first asked each of them to present their overall attitude

towards IELTS and its administration and then asked them to express their ideas and

attitudes towards different components of IELTS including, listening, reading, writing,

and speaking respectively.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Factor Analysis

Exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation was run to determine the construct

validity of the questionnaire, using the loadings above 0.3. From the rotated

component matrix items were loaded in five factors. The underlying factors included

overall attitudes, and attitudes towards Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. 10

items (5, 9, 14,19,24,34,45,50,52, and 56) were omitted after the study since they did

not load on any factor.

Table 4.1. depicts the factors and items related to them.

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Table 4.1 Factors and items related to them

No. Factors Items related to them

1 Overall Attitude 1,2,3,4,6,7,8

2 Listening 10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,23

3 Reading 25,26,27,28,30,31,32,33,35,36

4 Writing 37,38,39,40,41,42,44

5 Speaking 46,47,48,49,51,53,54,55,57,58,59

The reason for which the researcher named the factors as such was that he intended to

measure the Overall Attitude of the candidates towards IELTS and their attitude

towards individual components of IELTS that is listening, reading, writing, and

speaking.

Exploratory factor analysis clearly divided the items into five factors. There was

high correlation among the items related to each factor. Therefore, it can be claimed

that the questionnaire measured what it had supposed to measure thus ensuring the

construct validity.

4.2. Correlation Results

Positive items of the questionnaire were scored from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly

disagree), while the reverse scoring was used for negative items. The respondents‘

total attitude score was computed by summing all item scores. Therefore, each

participant had a score for his attitude towards IELTS. To find out whether there was

any significant relationship between candidates‘ attitude towards IELTS and their

IELTS scores, Pearson Product Moment Correlation was run between candidates‘

attitude scores and their IELTS scores and a weak and reverse relationship was found

(-.225) and no significant relationship was found at 0.05 level of significance

(P=.084). Table 4.2 shows the correlation between attitude and candidates‘ IELTS

scores.

128

Table 4.2 Correlations between Attitude and Candidates’ IELTS Scores

ATTITUDE SCORE

ATTITUDE Pearson Correlation 1 -.225

Sig. (2-tailed) . .084

N 60 60

SCORE Pearson Correlation -.225 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .084 .

N 60 60

Iranian IELTS candidates' attitudes towards IELTS did not show any significant

relationship with their scores.

4.3. Independent t-tests

To find out whether there was any significant relationship between candidates‘ age,

sex, and educational background and their attitude towards IELTS, independent t-tests

were run.

The results of the independent t-tests run to find out the relationship between sex,

and attitude reveal that no significant relationship at the 0.05 level of significance

existed (P=0.99). Table 4.3 shows the independent t-test run between sex and attitude.

129

Table 4.3 Independent t-test between Sex and Attitude (Group Statistics)

Group Statistics

SEX N Mean Std. Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

ATTITUDE female 31 201.0645 17.56120 3.15408

male 29 201.0690 14.76466 2.74173

Independent Samples Test

ATTITUDE

Levene's Test

for Equality of

Variances t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t df

Sig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Equal

variances

assumed

.101 .752 -.001 58 .999 -.0044 4.20356 -8.41879 8.40989

Equal

variances

not

assumed

-.001 57.370 .999 -.0044 4.17915 -8.37189 8.36299

To examine whether there was any significant relationship between age groups and

attitude, independent t-test was run and the result indicated that no significant

difference existed between different age groups and their attitude towards IELTS

(P=0.195). Table 4.4 shows the independent t-test between age and attitude.

130

Table 4.4 Independent t-test between Age and Attitude

(Group Statistics)

Group Statistics

44 202.7045 14.11346 2.12768

16 196.5625 20.57172 5.14293

AGE

20-30

Abov e 30

ATTITUTE

N Mean Std. Deviation

Std. Error

Mean


ATTITUDE

Levene's

Test for

Equality of


F Sig. t df

Sig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Equal

variances

assumed

4.898 .031 1.312 58 .195 6.1420 4.68122 -3.22844 15.51253

Equal

variances

not

assumed

1.104 20.366 .283 6.1420 5.56568 -5.45440 17.73849

Finally, to determine whether there was any significant relationship between different

educational backgrounds and attitude independent t-test was run and the results depict

that no significant relationship had been found at 0.05 significance level (P=0.106).

Table 4.5 shows the independent t-test between education and attitude.

131

Table 4.5 Independent t-test between Education and Attitude

(Group Statistics)

Group Statistics

EDUCATION N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error

Mean

ATTITUDE Diploma-BA

MA & PhD

40

20

203.4500

196.3000

14.00357

19.23018

2.21416

4.30000


ATTITUDE

Levene's

Test for

Equality of


F Sig. t df

Sig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Equal

variances

assumed

2.363 .130 -1.641 58 .106 -7.1500 4.35605 -15.86957 1.56957

Equal

variances

not

assumed

-1.478 29.404 .150 -7.1500 4.83658 -17.03601 2.73601

To sum up, no relationship was found among variables such as sex, age, and

educational background and Iranian IELTS candidates‘ attitudes towards IELTS.

Males and females, candidates aged between 20-30 and candidates aged above 30,

candidates holding their high school diploma and BA/S and candidates holding their

MA/S and PhD have similar attitudes towards IELTS. In other words, Iranians‘ age,

sex and education did not have any significant relationship with their overall attitude

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towards IELTS. The same results were reached regarding Iranian IELTS candidates‘

attitudes and their scores on the actual IELTS test.

4.4. Descriptive Statistics

The frequency (F), the percentage (P), and the Chi-Square and its significance for

each item of the questionnaire are presented in separate tables. When no significant

difference is observed between the expected and observed score, the item is marked

with an asterisk (*). What follows is the analysis of the questionnaire items, self-

reports and interviews.

4.4.1. Questionnaires

4.4.1.1. Overall Attitude

Questionnaire Items •Disagree Undecided Agree

Chi-Square &

Sig. F P

%

F P

%

F P

%

1. Familiarity with the place of IELTS test helped me to perform better. 3 5 10 17.7 47 78.3 Chi-Square: 41.83

Sig: .000

2. The time of IELTS test administration affected my performance. 1 1.7 12 20 47 78.3 Chi-Square: 24.13

Sig: .000

3. The physical conditions of the test such as, temperature, lighting and

chairs affected my performance.

3 5 4 6.7 53 88.3 Chi-Square: 39.33

Sig: .000

4. The announcement of the remaining time in the reading and writing

sections by the invigilators was distractive.

26 43.3 4 6.7 30 50 Chi-Square: 27.83

Sig: .000

5. Fear of the test affected my performance. 14 23.3 10 16.7 36 60 Chi-Square: 37.16

Sig: .00

6. Familiarity with the format of the test and test rubric helped me to

perform better.

3 5 2 3.3 54 91.6 Chi-Square: 42.00

Sig: .000

7. I prefer IELTS to other English proficiency tests. 8 13.3 14 23.3 38 63.4 Chi-Square: 19.83

Sig: .001

8. I have a positive attitude towards IELTS. 10 16.7 4 6.7 46 76.7 Chi-Square: 23.06

Sig: .000

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9. IELTS is a proficiency test and does not evaluate other

competencies.

11 18.3 15 25 34 56.7 Chi-Square: 20.16

Sig: .000

•"Strongly disagree" has been merged with "Disagree" and "Strongly agree" has been merged with "Agree".

Almost 80% of the respondents believed that familiarity with the place of IELTS test

helped them to perform better. More than 75% of the candidates claimed that the time

of IELTS test administration affected their performance and almost 90% of them

regarded the physical conditions of the test such as, temperature, lighting and chairs

as important factors affecting their performance. Exactly half of the candidates

viewed the announcement of the remaining time in the reading and writing sections

by the invigilators as distractive. 60% of the respondents believed that their fear of the

test affected their performance. Just above 90% of the candidates considered their

familiarity with the format of the test and test rubric as beneficial. Approximately

60% of the respondents preferred IELTS to other English proficiency tests and nearly

80% of them had a positive attitude towards IELTS. Less than 60% of the candidates

believed that IELTS is not only a proficiency test to evaluate linguistic competence

but it is also a comprehensive test which measures other components such as

communicative competence.

4.4.1.2. The Listening Module

Questionnaire Items Disagree Undecided Agree

Chi-Square &

Sig. F P

%

F P

%

F P

%

10. Listening is the most difficult section of IELTS. 30 50 5 8.3 25 41.7 Chi-Square: 27.83

Sig: .000

11. Lack of familiarity with British or Australian accent

influenced my comprehension ability adversely.

14 23.4 12 20 34 56.7 Chi-Square: 22.50

Sig: .000

12. They speak very fast in this section. 13 21.7 11 18.3 36 60 Chi-Square: 44.33

Sig: .000

13. Wearing headphone helped me to listen better. 8 13.4 12 20 40 66.7 Chi-Square: 36.33

Sig: .000

14. The quality of the voice in the listening section influenced my

performance.

11 18.4 5 8.3 44 73.4 Chi-Square: 41.66

Sig: .000

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15. The reason why I missed some of the questions was that I had

to answer while listening to the tape.

14 23.3 6 10 40 66.6 Chi-Square: 26.50

Sig: .000

16. My performance improved as the test moved forward. 19 31.6 16 26.7 25 41.7 Chi-Square: 13.83

Sig: .008

17. Listening became harder section by section. 8 13.3 9 15 43 71.7 Chi-Square: 28.16

Sig: .000

*18. Having to answer a variety of the questions distracted me. 23 38.3 10 16.7 27 45 *Chi-Square: 8.83

Sig: .065

19. 10 minutes was not sufficient time for the answers to be

transferred to the answer sheet from the question booklet.

12 20 7 11.7 41 68.3 Chi-Square: 27.33

Sig: .000

20. The listening section tended to evaluate my knowledge of

vocabulary and my speed of writing rather than my listening

comprehension.

15 25 13 21.7 32 53.3 Chi-Square: 15.83

Sig: .003

*21. My familiarity with American accent disabled me to

understand well.

18 30 19 31.7 23 38.3 *Chi-Square: 7.33

Sig: .062

22. Listening to English programs (e.g., BBC) had a great

influence on my listening ability.

2 3.3 18 30 40 66.7 Chi-Square: 21.73

Sig: .000

23. Listening to English programs (e.g., BBC) made me perform

better on this section.

6 10 23 38.3 31 51.7 Chi-Square: 33.33

Sig: .000

24. Command of vocabulary items did not help me to perform

better.

13 21.7 9 15 38 63.3 Chi-Square: 31.66

Sig: .000

Only about 40% of the respondents viewed listening as the most difficult section of

IELTS. So, it can be concluded that based on the results of this study, listening is not

the most difficult section of IELTS unlike what people generally believe. Nearly half

of the candidates believed that their lack of familiarity with British or Australian

accent had influenced their comprehension ability adversely. Almost 6 out of 10

respondents claimed that tempo or speed was very high in the listening section of

IELTS. Approximately two thirds of the candidates were grateful that they had had

the opportunity to wear headphones in the listening section since they believed this

had helped them to comprehend more clearly. Nearly 80% of the respondents agreed

upon the fact that the quality of the voice in the listening section influenced their

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performance. Approximately 70% of the candidates put the blame of missing some

questions on the listening section on the fact that they had to respond at the same time

they were listening. They believed it was rather hard for them both to listen and write

simultaneously. Around 40% of the candidates maintained that their performance

improved as the test moved forward; however, just a little above 70% of them stated

that the listening section became more difficult section by section which in turn had

deteriorated their performance particularly on the last section. 45% of the respondents

held that the existence of a variety of questions had distracted them. Nearly 70% of

the IELTS candidates in this study stated that 10 minutes is sufficient time for the

answers to be transferred to the answer sheet from the question booklet. Almost half

of the respondents believed that the listening section tended to evaluate their

knowledge of vocabulary and their speed of writing rather than their listening

comprehension. Just little above 30% of the candidates was undecided about the

difference between American and British accents in the listening section.

Approximately 70% of the respondents agreed that listening to English programs can

have a great influence on their ability and consequently their better performance on

this section. Finally, around 60% of the candidates regarded good command of

vocabulary items as helpful in better listening comprehension.

4.4.1.3. The Reading Module


Chi-Square &

Sig. F P

%

F P

%

F P

%

25. Reading is the most difficult section of IELTS. 22 36.6 4 6.7 34 56.7 Chi-Square: 23.33

Sig: .000

26. The fact that I had to answer the reading questions

immediately after the listening section had influenced my

performance adversely.

25 41.7 18 30 17 28.3 Chi-Square: 29.16

Sig: .000

27. The variety of question types in the reading section

distracted me.

25 41.6 10 16.7 25 41.7 Chi-Square: 19.83

Sig: .000

28. Lengthy texts made me locate the answers more easily. 46 56.7 8 13.3 6 10 Chi-Square: 43.16

Sig: .000

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29. Lengthy texts made me exhausted. 11 18.3 4 6.7 45 75 Chi-Square: 42.16

Sig: .000

30. One hour is sufficient to answer all the reading

questions.

36 60 2 3.3 22 36.7 Chi-Square: 25.83

Sig: .000

*31. Texts became more difficult towards the end of the

reading section.

12 20 12 20 36 60 *Chi-Square: 4.53

Sig: .209

32. Good command of vocabulary items and grammatical

structures helped me perform better.

0 0 4 6.7 56 93.4 Chi-Square: 22.80

Sig: .000

33. Good command of grammatical structures helped me to

answer the questions better.

8 13.4 11 18.3 41 68.4 Chi-Square: 33.66

Sig: .065

34. The reading section does not evaluate the candidates‘

lexical or grammatical competence.

17 28.

4

9 15 34 56.7 Chi-Square: 24.00

Sig: .000

35. The General Training Module and the Academic

Module are different in terms of the difficulty level.

5 8.3 30 50 25 41.7 Chi-Square: 43.16

Sig: .000

36. Reading a lot of English texts before the exam helped

me approach this section better.

4 6.7 3 5 53 88.3 Chi-Square: 47.33

Sig: .000

Just more than half of the respondents believed that reading is the most difficult

section of IELTS (56.7%). Therefore, based on the findings of this study it can be

claimed that reading is the most difficult section of IELTS for Iranians which is in

line with what Keyvanfar (2004) found. Only around 30% of the candidates

complained about the fact that reading is immediately after listening, a fact which

may exert negative influence on the performance. Nearly 40% of them disliked the

variety of question types in the reading section of IELTS. Almost 75 % of the

respondents believed that lengthy passages had created difficulty for them locating the

answers easily. Exactly 80% of the candidates did not like lengthy passages and

believed it had made them exhausted and 60% of them regarded one hour as

insufficient time for responding all the questions in the reading section. 60% of them

believed that texts became more difficult towards the end of the reading section. More

137

than 90% of the respondents viewed good command of vocabulary items and

grammatical structures as quite helpful for them to answer the questions. Less than

30% of them accepted the idea that knowledge of vocabulary and grammar is not

important in the reading section. Half of the candidates were undecided about the

difference between the difficulty level of the reading of General Training Module and

Academic Module. Eventually, nearly 90% of the respondents believed that reading a

lot of English texts before the exam had helped them dramatically approach this

section better.

4.4.1.4. The Writing Module

Questionnaire Items Disagree Undecided Agree Chi-Square &

Sig.

F P

%

F P

%

F P

%

37. Writing is the most difficult section of IELTS. 43 71.7 8 13.3 9 15 Chi-Square: 51.83

Sig: .000

38. I was tired because of my performance on the last two

sections.

15 25 9 25 36 60 Chi-Square: 12.13

Sig: .007

39. One hour is sufficient to fulfill two tasks. 25 41.7 9 15 26 43.3 Chi-Square: 23.16

Sig: .000

40. Lengthy topics distracted me. 19 31.7 11 18.3 30 50 Chi-Square: 18.83

Sig: .000

41. Knowledge of vocabulary and grammar helped me in this

section.

11 18.3 4 6.7 45 75 Chi-Square: 30.83

Sig: .000

42. Not having enough information on the given topic was my

main problem.

25 41.7 13 21.7 22 36.6 Chi-Square: 10.26

Sig: .016

43. Having practiced a lot before the actual test helped me to write

better and faster.

2 3.3 9 15 49 87.7 Chi-Square: 25.73

Sig: .000

44. One task to fulfill makes me have a full concentration and

write better.

10 16.7 9 15 41 68.3 Chi-Square: 8.93

Sig: .030

45. Knowledge of essay writing helped me write better. 14 23.3 4 6.7 42 70 Chi-Square: 25.16

Sig: .000

Only 15% of the respondents viewed writing as the most difficult section of the

IELTS test. So, it can be concluded that writing is one of the easiest sections of

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IELTS for Iranians. 60% of the candidates believed that they were tired in this section

because of their performance on the first two sections. Approximately half of the

respondents regarded one hour to fulfill two writing tasks in the writing section as

sufficient. Exactly 50% of them held that lengthy topics had adverse effects on their

concentration for writing. 75% of the respondents believed that the knowledge of

vocabulary and grammar is crucial in this section. Nearly 40% of the candidates stated

that they had not enough knowledge of the world or information related to the given

topic which, as a result, had negative effects on what they wrote. A large number of

candidates (almost 80%) viewed having practiced a lot before the actual test helped

them to write better and faster. Less than 70% of the respondents preferred to be given

only one task to fulfill in the writing section so that they can have a full concentration

on one of the tasks. And eventually, 70% of the candidates regarded the knowledge of

essay writing as very crucial in their performance on this section.

4.4.1.5. The Speaking Module


Chi-Square &

Sig. F P

%

F P

%

F P

%

46. Speaking is the most difficult section of IELTS. 36 60 13 21.7 11 18.4 Chi-Square: 41.66

Sig: .000

47. Sitting in front of an Iranian IELTS examiner was relaxing. 10 16.7 20 33.3 30 50 Chi-Square: 21.16

Sig: .000

48. The examiner‘s gender affected my performance. 13 21.7 18 30 29 48.4 Chi-Square: 20.50

Sig: .000

49. The interview tests one‘s listening ability more than speaking

ability.

31 51.7 18 30 11 18.3 Chi-Square: 40.16

Sig: .000

50. The examiner‘s accent did not have any effect on my

performance.

23 55 11 18.3 16 26.6 Chi-Square: 24.16

Sig: .000

51. Stress was my main problem in this section. 13 21.7 7 11.7 40 66.7 Chi-Square: 25.50

Sig: .000

*52. Being asked too many questions in rather a short time made

me disable to answer the questions well.

20 33.3 13 21.7 27 45 *Chi-Square: 6.33

Sig: .176

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53. I had self-confidence when faced with the interviewer. 31 51.7 8 13.3 21 35 Chi-Square: 17.83

Sig: .001

54. The fact that the interviewer was good-tempered helped me

perform better.

5 8.3 4 6.7 51 85 Chi-Square: 51.83

Sig: .000

55. 15 minutes was a fair criterion based on which my level of

speaking ability be assessed.

29 48.4 17 28.3 14 23.3 Chi-Square: 11.83

Sig: .019

56. Practicing similar questions before the actual test helped me. 5 8.4 19 31.7 36 60 Chi-Square: 28.16

Sig: .000

*57. I had stress because my voice was being recorded. 19 31.7 18 30 23 38.4 *Chi-Square: 6.00

Sig: .112

58. Living in Iran and having little opportunity to use the language

affected my performance.

5 8.3 8 13.3 47 78.3 Chi-Square: 20.40

Sig: .000

*59. The questions were not related at all. 18 30 18 30 24 40 *Chi-Square: 8.66

Sig: .070

Only less than 20% of the respondents believed that speaking is the most difficult

section of the IELTS test. Hence, based on the findings of this study it can be

concluded that the most difficult sections of IELTS for Iranians are reading, listening,

speaking, and writing respectively. Only half of the candidates regarded sitting in

front of an Iranian IELTS examiner relaxing. Nearly 50% of the respondents

maintained that the examiner‘s gender affected their performance. Less than 20

percent of the respondents agreed with the fact that the interview examines one‘s

listening ability more than speaking ability. Nearly half of the candidates regarded the

interviewer‘s accent as influential. Approximately 70% of the respondents reported to

have stress at the time of interview. Only 45% of them complained about being asked

too many questions in rather a short time. Almost half of the candidates held that they

had self-confidence when faced with the interviewer. 85% of the respondents were

pleased with the fact that the examiners were good-tempered. Nearly half of the

candidates did not agree with 15 minutes as a fair criterion based on which their level

of oral ability be assessed by the examiners. 60% of them believed that practicing

similar questions before the actual test can be very helpful. Less than 40% of the

respondents did not like their voices to be recorded as they believed it would add to

their test anxiety. Around 80% of the candidates viewed living in Iran and having

140

little opportunity to use the language much as a fact which affected their performance

in this section. Finally, only 40% of the respondents stated that the questions in this

section were not related to each other.

4.5. Vignettes (Written self-reports) and Interviews

The qualitative data including the written self-reports and interviews were analyzed

and codified and key concepts were extracted.

Almost 60 % of the respondents had a positive attitude towards IELTS. They believed

that IELTS is a comprehensive test which measures candidates‘ ability in four areas

of language quite precisely. Candidates maintained that at the first glance IELTS

seemed very difficult and stressful for them but once they practiced, they seemed to

like it more. In general, most candidates believed that stress was one the major

barriers in most of the components of the test and some of them claimed that IELTS is

more like an IQ test. Physical conditions of the test were also believed to have exerted

great influence on the candidates‘ performance on different sections of the test.

In the listening section, heavy accents of the speakers, stress, and confusion had

been enumerated by the participants as the main barriers to their answering the

questions properly. Most of the respondents held that they had missed a number of

questions due to the fact that they were supposed to both listen to and write

simultaneously. They also believed that there was a sharp difference between the

score they had expected to gain and what they actually got. Most candidates claimed

that they might have performed better on the listening section of IELTS had they

practiced more before the test and some of them believed that they might have

performed better if they had had the chance to listen to different sections twice. Some

candidates believed that the speakers spoke very fast and having a good command of

vocabulary items is very beneficial to them. Listening was viewed as one of the most

difficult sections of IELTS due to the fact that it was both fast and confusing.

However, participants believed that by practicing and building on their knowledge of

vocabulary it would become easier. Some of the candidates stated that they were

stressful at the outset of the listening section but as the test moved forward their level

141

of stress reduced dramatically. The good quality of the voice was also mentioned to

be helpful to the candidates in this section. On the whole, candidates had a positive

attitude towards the listening section of IELTS.

Participants in this study had a variety of opinions about the reading section of

IELTS. First, they believed in order to answer the questions correctly, one needs a

very good command of vocabulary. Second, they believed that in reading section the

candidate should comprehend the texts, must be quick and should know the strategies

to approach the questions. They also maintained that passages had been very lengthy

and they had been under time pressure which added to their level of stress. Most

candidates regarded one hour as insufficient to finish the reading section. They

believed that being under pressure of time limit increased their level of stress which in

turn exerted adverse influence on their performance in this section. Knowledge of

vocabulary was seen as one of the factors which can help candidates perform better in

the reading section. Reading was also viewed as the most boring and tiring section of

IELTS. Finally, most respondents regarded reading as the most difficult section of

IELTS and that is absolutely in line with what the researcher found in the analysis of

the questionnaires.

Writing seems to be the least difficult section of IELTS and this is also exactly in

line with what the researcher found in the analysis of the questionnaires. Meanwhile,

the respondents believed that having good general English that is having high

command of vocabulary and grammatical structures is definitely essential for one to

get a good score. They held that knowing the standard format of essay writing is very

important and attending IELTS preparation programs can be very helpful with a focus

on writing. As far as time limit was concerned, most of the respondents had no

objection about the 60 minutes given to them. Some candidates believed that one‘s

knowledge of the world or background knowledge is very helpful in this section since

if you do not have any clue whatsoever about the topic you are given, how can you

write about it? Most candidates believed that the topics were fine and selected based

on everyday issues but some of them claimed that having to fulfill two tasks is a bit

difficult and tiring. Using prefabricated chunks and phrases in essays seems to be a

142

good and effective strategy for most of them. Writing did not seem to produce any

stress for most of the candidates. Participants believed that linguistic competence is

very important. Only a small portion of the candidates objected to the time allotted for

the writing section but the rest of them viewed one hour as sufficient to fulfill two

tasks. Finally, some candidates were unhappy about the subjective scoring of the

writing section of IELTS.

As far as speaking is concerned, stress seems to be the most crucial problem for

half of the candidates. Candidates regarded the way the interviewers behaved with

them as a very significant factor in reducing or increasing their level of stress.

However, they believed that provided that they did away with stress, speaking would

be an easy section compared with the other three sections. They also maintained that

having a good knowledge of vocabulary could help them speak better and more

fluently. They held that the questions in this section were authentic and various but

the subjective scoring is not fair. They believed that interviewers had very heavy

accents and spoke very fast. Most candidates regarded speaking as one of the easiest

sections of IELTS. However, some of the candidates regarded the topics to discuss

rather bizarre and believed that chance could play a bit role in this section. They also

believed that having practiced similar questions before the test could have helped

them perform better. Knowledge of the world also was claimed to exert influence on

the way they performed in this section. Finally, some of the participants objected to

11 to 14 minutes and claimed that it is insufficient to assess their speaking ability.

4.6. Discussion

The findings of this study revealed that Iranians have a positive attitude towards

IELTS. Statistics(IELTS Annual Review, 2003) indicate Iran was among the top 25

countries where candidates took IELTS in 2003. Increasingly significant growth in

candidature in Iran shows how much popularity IELTS has gained among Iranians

which is exactly in line with the findings of the present study. Coleman et al. (2003)

also find IELTS a very popular test and according to their study IELTS stakeholders

in Australia, the UK, and China have a high attitude towards IELTS.

143

Reading was found to be the most difficult section of IELTS for Iranians and

writing the easiest. This is definitely in line with what Keyvanfar (2005) stated in her

study. Reading seems to be the most difficult section of IELTS since it is very much

dependent on vocabulary repertoire and most candidates ignore increasing their

knowledge of vocabulary. Good knowledge of vocabulary accompanied by proper

reading strategies can enhance one‘s chance of success in IELTS. Unlike reading,

good performance on the writing section of IELTS is more dependent on familiarity

with the format of essay writing and knowing a number of prefabricated patterns.

Practicing and attending IELTS preparation programs seem to be very helpful for

IELTS candidates to improve their writing abilities in a rather short time.

Lambert (1972) found a positive relation between attitude and linguistic abilities.

However, the present study found no significant relationship between candidates‘

IELTS scores and their attitude towards IELTS. The findings demonstrate that

although candidates have a positive attitude towards IELTS, this does not affect their

performance on the test and thus the scores they get. Obviously having a mere high

attitude towards this test does not guarantee gaining a good score and no formal study

has shown this either. Candidates, however, should go through learning effective

strategies to approach the test and attending IELTS preparation programs can be a

good and effective step. Many studies have investigated the impact of IELTS

preparation programs on candidates‘ performance on the IELTS test (see, for example,

Elder et al. 2003, Rao et al. 2003, and Brown 1998). The findings of such studies

mostly reveal that attending such programs has high impact on candidates‘ better

performance. Nevertheless, whether such programs can be found in various parts of

the country is a big question. Unfortunately, the growing demand of candidates to

attend IELTS preparation programs in Iran does not fit the number of qualified IELTS

instructors and standard IELTS preparation programs. This is a serious problem which

needs to be solved in order to satisfy the never ending demand of Iranian IELTS

candidates.

Merrylees (2003) believes that with the increase in candidature of IELTS, there is

an increasing need to investigate and analyze how candidates perform on the test in

144

terms of nationality, age, gender and other factors. Based on the findings of the

present study no significant difference was found between Iranian males and females

in terms of their attitude towards IELTS. This is exactly the same as what Keyvanfar

(2005) found. She states that both males and females have a high tendency to take

IELTS in Iran. The reason for this might be justified by the fact that many young

Iranians, regardless of their gender, intend to pursue their studies in English speaking

countries and as a result have to sit the test. In addition, sex differences do not

necessarily reflect low or high attitude towards a language proficiency test and no

formal study, to the best of my knowledge, has investigated the relationship between

sex and IELTS candidates‘ attitudes.

Having investigated the relationship between Iranian IELTS candidates‘ age and

their attitude towards IELTS, the present study found no significant difference. The

fact that different age groups have a positive attitude towards IELTS makes it obvious

why IELTS is so popular a test among Iranians. Terry (2003) found out that IELTS is

important for all people regardless of their age and claimed that the strong motivation

and serious purposes of IELTS candidates should be taken for granted.

The current study found no significant difference between Iranian IELTS

candidates‘ educational background and their attitude towards IELTS. Candidates‘

education ranged from those holding their high school diplomas to those having their

PhD. This can be justified by the fact that the popularity of IELTS in Iran is not

dependent on people‘s level of education. However, in some countries students and

those having academic degrees seem to be more in favor of IELTS than ordinary

people. Coleman et al. (2003) conducted a study investigating the attitude of

university students towards IELTS in Australia, the UK, and China. They found that

university students and staff are very much in favor of IELTS.

5. Conclusion

5.1. Conclusion

The findings of this study clearly highlighted that Iranians have a positive attitude

towards IELTS. Almost 80% of the respondents to the attitude questionnaire had a

145

high opinion of IELTS. Approximately 70% of the respondents preferred IELTS to

other English proficiency tests. Around 60% of the candidates believed that IELTS is

not only a proficiency test which evaluates linguistic competence but also a

comprehensive test which measures other components such as communicative

competence. Participants in this study seemed to be very much influenced by the test

method facets. Exactly 80% of the respondents believed that familiarity with the place

of IELTS test helped them to perform better. 75% of the candidates claimed that the

time of IELTS test administration affected their performance and almost 90% of them

regarded the physical conditions of the test such as, temperature, light and chairs as

important factors affecting their performance. 53% of participants viewed reading as

the most difficult section of IELTS. Listening was viewed by candidates as the second

difficult component of the test. Speaking was regarded as the third difficult section of

IELTS and writing was viewed by 85% of the participants as the easiest component.

Stress seems to be a common problem for almost all the candidates in all the sections

particularly speaking. 80% of the candidates viewed living in Iran and having no or

little access to English speakers as a basic problem for the improvement of their oral

abilities. The qualitative analysis of the written self-reports and the interviews also

clearly indicated that Iranians have a positive attitude towards IELTS. They believed

that IELTS is a comprehensive test which measures their ability in four areas of

language quite accurately. Participants in this study claimed that IELTS is a test

which assesses their linguistic and communicative abilities precisely. They believed

that IELTS is an authentic test. Candidates believed that first they did not like IELTS

very much but as they got familiar with the format of it, they seemed to like it more.

95% of the candidates considered their familiarity with the format of the test and test

rubric as beneficial. On the whole, IELTS was viewed as an authentic, comprehensive

English proficiency test which measures the linguistic level of the candidates in a very

reasonable way. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, it can be claimed that

IELTS is a very popular test in Iran.

To investigate whether there was a significant relationship between testees‘

characteristics including their sex, age, and educational background and their attitude

146

towards IELTS, independent t-tests were run and no significant relationship was

found.

To examine whether there was a significant relationship between Iranian IELTS

candidates‘ scores (performance) and their attitudes, Pearson Product Moment

Correlation was run and no significant relationship was found.

In conclusion, the findings of this study clearly demonstrate that while Iranian

IELTS candidates have a positive attitude towards IELTS, no meaningful relationship

exits between their sex, age, educational background, and IELTS scores with their

attitudes towards IELTS.

5.2. Implications

Implications can be drawn for all IELTS stakeholders from those who intend to sit for

IELTS and those who run IELTS preparation programs to those who develop the

questions and administer the IELTS tests. Those in charge of administration of IELTS

in Iran should pay proper attention to the demands of the Iranian candidates.

Equipping all the IELTS centers with some facilities such as headphones for the

listening section of IELTS seems to be essential. Participants in this study viewed

physical conditions of the IELTS centers such as, temperature, lighting, chairs, and

quality of the voice as really effective on their performance on the IELTS test and

thus their attitudes towards IELTS. IELTS administrators must recruit the examiners,

invigilators, and ushers to behave appropriately with the candidates since their

behavior seems to affect candidates‘ performance on different sections of the IELTS

test. IELTS centers and venues must be frequently visited and inspected by the IELTS

administrators to find out if they are in need of any modification.

IELTS test makers can also benefit from the findings of this study. They might

decide to modify the listening section of the IELTS test in a way so that it will reduce

the stress and confusion of the candidates who are not familiar with the format of the

test. They might also increase the time limit of the reading section or else truncate the

length of passages. IELTS test makers may give only one task to candidates and

assess their writing ability in writing English essays through that. Finally, they might

147

take required measures to alleviate the stress from candidates in the speaking section

since based on the findings of this study candidates suffered a lot from stress in their

IELTS interviews.

Those in charge of running IELTS preparation programs can also take advantage

of this and similar studies in that they can now be sure that reading and listening are

the most difficult sections and speaking and writing are the easiest sections of IELTS

for Iranians. They should provide the candidates with many authentic texts and

encourage them to read extensively outside the classroom. They should also expose

the candidates to authentic listening materials. Candidates can solve the problem of

stress in the speaking test by being provided with similar speaking questions. IELTS

candidates can benefit from strategies in all the four skills to approach the test more

confidently provided that IELTS instructors equip them with such strategies. Finally,

TEFL experts must train prospective IELTS instructors in Iran to meet the

never-ending and growing demands of IELTS candidates.

5.3. Suggestions for further Studies

Further studies must be carried out to investigate issues related to IELTS in Iran.

Studies can be done investigating the use of IELTS General Training. Studies can also

be conducted involving the IELTS Listening and Reading tests. Further studies can be

run on the use of IELTS for professional purposes or for migration. Studies to

establish appropriate IELTS score levels for specific uses of the test (for access to a

university department, for professional registration, for access to a vocational training

course) can also be conducted. Studies of test preparation practices and investigation

of the cognitive processes of IELTS test takers can be done as well. Finally, further

studies must be carried out to investigate the process of writing IELTS test items.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

Coding Scheme

Positive Attitude PA

Perfect Language Assessment PLA

1. Overall Attitude Intelligence I

Physical Conditions PC

Comprehensive Test CT

Stress S

Voice Quality LVQ

Accent LA

Confusion LC

Stress LS 1

2. Listening Practice Effect LPE

High Speed LS 2

Vocabulary LV

Vocabulary RV

Speed RS 1

Strategies RS 2

3. Reading Difficult RD

Time Limit RTL

Boring & Tiring RBT

Lengthy Passages RLP

Stress RS 3

General English WGE

4. Writing Format WF

Sufficient Time WST

Pre- fabricated Patterns WPP

Subjective Scoring WSS

Stress SS

Subjective Scoring SSS

5. Speaking

World Knowledge SWK

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APPENDIX 2

Interview and Written self- report Examples:

Example 1

Interviewer:

1. What is your overall attitude towards IELTS?

Participant:

In my opinion, IELTS is a very standard exam and I personally like it …

Interviewer:

2. How did you find the listening section?

Participant:

… one should have a good command of vocabulary … you have to be familiar with

different English accents …

Interviewer:

3. How did you find the reading section?

Participant:

I believe reading is indeed a speed test … reading texts were very difficult …

Interviewer:

4. How did you find the writing section?

Participant:

Familiarity with the format of writing is very important … I think there is enough

time for candidates to fulfill both tasks …

Interviewer:

5. How did you find the speaking section?

Participant:

… stress was one of the main problems for candidates in this section… knowledge of

the world is sometimes required for one to be able to answer some speaking

questions …

154

Example 2

Interviewer:

1. What is your overall attitude towards IELTS?

Participant:

I have a very high attitude towards IELTS …

Interviewer:

2. How did you find the listening section?

Participant:

… I suppose candidates have stress in this section since they are too much worried

about their score … Listening, I think is not merely a comprehension test but it is a

speed test …

Interviewer:

3. How did you find the reading section?

Participant:

… I like the reading section and I think good knowledge of vocabulary is really

essential … Reading strategies are very much needed …

Interviewer:

4. How did you find the writing section?

Participant:

I personally believe that knowledge of vocabulary is very important in this section

and using appropriate adverbs and adjectives in the description of graphs can help

candidates gain better scores …

Interviewer:

5. How did you find the speaking section?

Participant:

… stress can reduce one' score but it is very much dependent on the way the

interviewer behaves with the candidate … I think scoring is subjective in the speaking

section …

Example 3 (self-report)

Participant:

155

Generally, I have a positive attitude towards IELTS. Listening section was fine and

simple. The quality of the voice was ok and it helped me concentrate better. The

questions were rather easy in the reading section. However, we were under time

pressure. High speed is needed to cover all the questions. The topics of writing were

fine and predictable and we had enough time to fulfill both tasks. Speaking questions

were not related and I did not have information to answer most of them. Had I had

more knowledge of the world, I could have performed better in this section.

Example 4 (self-report)

Participant:

Before coming to your IELTS preparation courses, I was really afraid of taking this

test. However, once I became familiar with the format of this test I realized I could get

a good score. I like this test very much since it evaluates the linguistic competence

and it also tests all the components of language. Listening is one of the main sections

of IELTS and practice prior to the actual test is really helpful but heavy accents make

this section a bit difficult. I had to take notes while listening to the tape and it made

me miss some of the questions which caused me to have stress. You have to have a

very expansive repertoire of vocabulary in the reading section but I did not have such

knowledge. But high speed and knowing reading strategies can help candidates

answer better. Being under constant time pressure during the reading section was one

my main problems. Knowledge of vocabulary and grammar and familiarity with the

format of essay writing helped me to have a good feeling in the writing section.

Speaking was the most difficult section of IELTS for me since I live in Iran and have

little opportunity to be exposed to the language. I had too much stress in this section.

156

Criteria for Establishing an Authentic EFL Learning Environment

in Taiwan

Wen-chi Vivian Wu

Providence University, Taiwan

Bio data:

Wen-chi Vivian Wu, who received her doctorate in Education from the University of

South Dakota in 2006, is an assistant professor of the Department of English

Language, Literature and Linguistics at Providence University in Taiwan. As an

experienced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) instructor, she teaches a variety of

English-related courses including English grammar, pronunciation, conversation,

listening and speaking, and debate and public speech. She has published ten

peer-reviewed journals locally and abroad and given 12 international conference

presentations. Her recent research areas include learner motivation for English as a

global language, application of technology in instruction, computer-assisted language

learning, and learner-centered instruction. Over the past two years, she has integrated

international experiences into her conversation and writing courses linking her

students with college students and university professors in America.

Abstract

This study explored the perceptions of faculty and students at a Taiwanese technical

university regarding its English as a Foreign Language (EFL) environment using both

quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The study survey was designed by the

researcher and sampled 593 freshman EFL students. The qualitative data collection

consisted of interviews with five student members of the quantitative sample and five

of the university‘s EFL instructors to gather more information on their perceptions of

the environment. The entire EFL environment, including its physical, instructional,

and social aspects, was found to be an obstacle to students‘ learning. Students found

the lack of several traits particularly detrimental: native speakers, sufficient teachers,

real-life learning materials, English-language speaking and listening practice, and

multimedia teaching resources. Qualitative findings expanded on this, echoing as a

whole the quantitative data and additionally revealing student passivity, a lack of

learning goals, and teachers‘ unfamiliarity with new teaching methodologies. A

concentration on teacher-centered instruction, grammar, and students‘ lack of free

time reinforced the idea of the classroom being the only place for learning and using

English, rather than including genuine experiences within the community.

Keywords: EFL, CLT, learning environment, physical environment, instructional

arrangements, social situation, Taiwan

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Introduction

Taiwan‘s status as an English-learning environment is evolving and is unique among

the economic "little tigers" of Asia: it has an influx of English speakers, but does not

have the historical or social ties to create a true immersion environment. Yang (2001)

acknowledged this, stating that the English-learning environment in Taiwan compared

to two decades ago is drastically different. A trip to the local market shows high

availability of English literature and books, side-by-side with teaching video and

audiotapes. Computer-assisted programs and workbooks are also available, as well as

TV and radio programs in English. Even the street venders in the markets respond,

when the buyer is using English, ―One hundred dollars. Very cheap‖ (Yang, 2001, p.

15).

Despite all of this, English is still considered a foreign language in Taiwan, not a

second language, much less an official language (Wang, 2000). This means that the

Taiwanese educational system treats English as a subject, similar to math or

geography. In terms of communicative survival needs, Hammerly (1994) stated that

because learners would have minimal or no second-language survival needs in

Taiwan, English learning must happen in certain locations or places, like schools or

special programs. English is used only for the purposes of academic advancement,

career advancement, and traveling abroad. In other words, English in Taiwan is

considered to be simply a tool. The majority of people in Taiwan can live without

English at all.

In light of Taiwan‘s English learning environment in the context of EFL, it is

extremely difficult for learners to master the English language, in terms of speaking

and listening (Yang, 2001). Even though a student may be able to produce a perfectly

grammatical sentence, the usage and connotation is often dissimilar from that of

native speakers. Therefore, the problem encountered by EFL teachers, and examined

in this study, is how to create an authentic, learner-centered environment that best

motivates the students to learn.

Tsai (2003) recognized the existing obstacles to learning English, and further

stated that only creating an environment as close to the target culture as possible will

158

enable students to learn English fluently. Because of this, the purpose of this study

was to assess the perceptions of selected Taiwanese technological university EFL

faculty members and their students regarding characteristics of EFL learning, with a

focus on identifying obstacles to optimal EFL learning. Student and faculty

perceptions of an authentic learning environment were gathered and may serve the

function of improving student English proficiency.

It is essential for universities of technology to create an authentic English learning

environment which is accessible and available to their students. In light of this, this

empirical study focused on issues pertaining to a true immersion English environment,

such as students‘ perceptions of both existence and importance of EFL environment,

obstacles and incentives to their EFL learning environment, the features of an ideal

EFL learning environment, and approaches to establishing an optimal EFL learning

environment. The data provided by this study will help both administrators and

instructors at universities of technology first recognize the existing problems and

weaknesses students face, and will further lead to strategies that will help to remove

these obstacles from the English-learning environment; thus faculty and

administrators may, based on the findings, redesign programs and facilities to satisfy

the needs of the students.

This paper comprises five major sections. The first section starts with a brief

review of the literature related to the Taiwanese EFL learning Environment and

Taiwan‘s vocational educational system, followed by the three components in the

learning environment -- physical, instructional and social environments. In the second

section, the researcher will describe the research design by which both quantitative

and qualitative methodologies were used to collect data, and will discuss in more

detail the reliability and validity of this study. The third section presents the statistical

findings with tables, and interview findings with themes. In the fourth section, the

conclusions drawn from the study and an in-depth discussion of the finding will be

provided. Finally, recommendations for action and further study will be proposed to

conclude this study.

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Literature Review

To provide the reader with a theoretical background which will assist in better

understanding the context of this study, the researcher organized the review of related

literature under the following headings: 1. Taiwan‘s Learning Environment 2. The

Vocational School System in Taiwan 3. Learning Environment. Literature reporting in

empirical studies on this subject is scarce.

Taiwan’s Learning Environment

Taiwan follows the same pattern as the majority of other countries that begin English

instruction with primary school classes in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

settings. But, English instruction in the United States, when taught to non-native

speakers, is treated as English as a Second Language (ESL). The two types of

instruction are defined by geographic location, student goals, and teaching methods.

EFL learners are located in an area where English is not a primary language; ESL

learners are in regions where English is the main language spoken.

For Chinese or Taiwanese people in America, English is considered a second

language, creating an ESL situation for the learner. ―There is an immediate need for

the learners to get by in the community and to be able to communicate some things

rather quickly‖ (Hammerly, 1994, p. 6). This ESL learning context is significantly

different from EFL learning, where there are no nearby English speakers with whom

the student can practice outside of class. The lack of a surrounding community of

English speakers outside the classroom increases the challenge for EFL instructors

immensely (Parker, Heitzman, Fjerstad, Babbs, & Cohen, 1995). The opportunity for

communication in authentic situations and settings, especially with native speakers, is

a major factor for adults‘ second-language acquisition (Spolsky, 1989). That is why

many popular EFL programs and foreign-language teaching methods try to replicate

the target language environment through immersion camps and programs, bilingual

school curricula, and computer-assisted teaching (Lapkin, Swain, & Shapson, 1990).

However, the methods of learning need to match the context of the environment.

Savignon (1998) pointed out that the classroom context is very different from a

160

natural learning environment, though the classroom is the most important and often

sole point of access for many foreign-language learners. Stern (1983) stated that in an

EFL environment, the classroom setting makes the language simply another subject to

study instead of a living form of communication in society. When English is taught as

a skill to practice, then the classroom often provides the learner with an artificial

environment; the world surrounding the learner is not drawn on for interaction, input,

or feedback in the target language (Hammerly,1994; Yang, 2001).

The Vocational School System in Taiwan

―The technological and vocational educational system has played an important role in

economic and industrial development in Taiwan‖ (Yung & Welch, 1991, p. 250). The

isolated EFL environment typical in Taiwan, however, is not beneficial for those

development economic and industrial goals. The need for professional and technical

education has grown and diversified immensely, and the Taiwanese educational

system has been adapting to provide enough workers for the new economy. In 2003,

students in technical and professional higher education programs numbered 1.286

million, 1.22 times the number in general academic programs (MOE, 2005 a, b).

A large number of researchers agree that the English-language proficiency of

technical university students is far lower compared to academic university students, or

even academic high school students (Chen, 2002; Ou, 1997). Luo (2000) gave the

following four reasons why technically oriented students end up behind academically

oriented students in English: insufficient class hours, a stronger focus on the students‘

course of major, a weak junior and senior high English background, and low parental

concern. Luo‘s conclusions were supported by the findings of Su (2003), You et al.

(2000), Zhuang and Cho (1996).

Learning Environment

Various definitions of the learning environment exist in the literature, but many center

on the learner‘s situation while undergoing the process of learning. Smith, Neisworth,

and Greer (1978) defined the learning environment as having five dimensions, three

161

of which were employed in this study because they have the most impact on EFL

environments:

1. Physical environment, architecture, design, and arrangement considerations

for the school and particularly the instructional space.

2. Instructional arrangements, curriculum content and characteristics,

teaching method, and materials and media for instruction.

3. Social situation, teacher-child, child-child, interactions, group dynamics,

classroom, school, and community social aspects. (p. 11)

Defining the learning environment helps both the learner and the teacher

identify the learning context and focus on the process of learning. Even more

importantly, this allows them to make subjective judgments about the characteristics

of the environment and how they affect learning. Chang and Shu (2000) listed the

following three guiding principles to describe an excellent learning environment:

improving the learning outcome, providing the learner with care and support, and

inspiring and boosting the learning spirit to cultivate responsibility in the learner (p.

34).

Physical Environment

Previous studies of the physical environment of learning institutions were conducted

mostly during the mid-twentieth century when behavioral studies were at their height.

Smith, Neisworth, and Greer (1978) were careful to explain that the physical

environment is important, not just for considering the physiological needs of the

students, but in how it guides the behavior exhibited and relationships formed in the

classroom. Providing enough personal space, quick access to learning materials,

stimulating décor, and easily adaptable furnishings allows an instructor to construct a

curriculum much more varied and tailored to the students‘ needs and to keep the

students from being distracted by personal discomforts.

Kramsch (1993) created a unique bi-fold definition of the physical environment

that she called "setting," including place and time, and how they interrelate. Place is

the physical set-up, including the space occupied by the teacher and students, their

movements, seating arrangements, ambient surroundings, and quality of physical

materials such as blackboards and desks. Time ―includes the time devoted to each

162

activity, its timing within the whole lesson, its relative length, its pace, the presence or

absence of concurrent activities‖ (p. 37). The more efficient and comfortable the place,

the more flowing the time will be for creating opportunities for innovative teaching

strategies and interactions.

Walen (1971) called for innovative learning strategies in the English classroom

that are still not practiced to their fullest potential today in Taiwan, including English

corners. ―The main purpose of the English corner is providing students with

interaction and can be an outside meeting spot on campus or set up in a closed space,

like a classroom corner or separate classroom. The school can assign either a language

teacher or a foreigner to the room to guide the students when they are there‖ (Wang et

al., 2003). Faculty or interested students can schedule formal activities, including

theme weeks, discussion tables, lunches, forums, or study groups, to attract student

participation. English corners are often located in media centers, a cross between a

library and audiovisual center, and provide a variety of learning materials in and about

the target language and culture for student use (Pèrez, 2004).

Instructional Arrangements

The instructional arrangements of the learning environment are a vast collection of the

actual aspects that enable and quantify learning. These aspects cover the material and

media used to present the information, the information itself, and the teaching

strategies and activities employed in presenting the information. The teaching side of

the equation is also interrelated. The curriculum, teaching methods, and materials all

fit together to present information to the students (Smith et al., 1978).

Teaching Strategies

Teaching strategies should be based on an understanding of the psychology of the

learner, and the cognitive psychology framework is the mainstream of American

psychology. Cognitive psychology defines learning as a process of constructing

knowledge, nit simply receiving knowledge, and emphasizes the importance of

structure and of fitting new information in to knowledge already held including use of

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active learning Application of these ideas to education began in the academic

literature in the 1990s.

Campbell and Zhao (1993) determined that most teachers and students in

native-Chinese-speaking foreign-language classrooms felt that grammar analysis,

textbook and classroom exercises, and dominant teachers utilizing exclusively lecture

were the only effective teaching methodologies. Ya (2003) argued that the traditional

methodologies, such as memorization, recitation, and translation, killed student

motivation and potential with over-drilling and boredom. In addition, He (2001)

pointed out that question-and-answer drilling does not force them to use language

processing skills or engage comprehension, manipulation, or production. This method

also reinforces the roles of the student as a passive learner, the teacher as the active

knowledge transmitter, and of misconceptions about ―good teachers.‖

Chang and Shu (2000) stated that the acquisition of a language depends on

whether or not a teacher can create a learning environment which will benefit student

learning. Perhaps the most popular methodology to come about in the past 30 years to

create such an environment is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), also called

the communicative approach. CLT‘s main goal for learners is communicative

competence (Savignon, 2001). That is, it is more important for second-language

learners to be able to functionally communicate meaning in the language. Learners‘

proficiency is judged on how well they can make themselves understood in real-life

contexts (Zhao, 1991). CLT is also considered to create active learners, who negotiate

their own meanings from their language learning and can use the language

productively, as opposed to the passive learners of the traditional methodologies, who

simply absorb information offered by the instructor (Savignon, 2001).

Learning Materials and Media

Media are materials that provide pathways to learning, including low-tech

blackboards, flashcards, games, brochures, catalogs, or puppets, as well as high-tech

audiotape recorders, television, computers, and multimedia labs. However, while each

medium has distinct advantages, Brinton (2001) wrote that teachers must consider

164

several factors in choosing media, including the type of skill concept to be presented;

students‘ ages, interests, and learning styles; and the physical circumstances of the

classroom or lab. Rogers (1986) proposed that the development of multimedia, which

combines video and computers, is likely to revolutionize the way teachers use real-life

materials for pedagogic purposes.

Authentic language materials are defined as either spoken or written pieces of

communication originally produced for native speakers in non-teaching situations

(Liao, 1997). They not only allow students a greater range of vocabulary, genuine

practice, and linguistic richness, but also are usually far more interesting; Yang (2002)

called quality materials the key to successful teaching. However, he found the

materials generally used in Taiwanese English classrooms failed to focus on all skill

groups, making the content boring and tedious. One of the Taiwanese students‘

greatest complaints regarding their learning is about the materials chosen for foreign

language classes: they claim the level is too difficult and the activities are not

authentic, which was supported by Zeng et al. (2001), who found improper materials

to be a major obstacle to learning.

Social Interaction

In those countries where English is considered a foreign language, the most

detrimental factor for English learning is the lack of a language-rich environment. For

the majority of English learners, the classroom becomes the only channel for direct

instruction and interaction in the target language (Lee, 2001), and is best described as

the place where the student goes to be exposed to the learning environment

(Alexander & Simmons, 1975). This means that the classroom social situation

surrounding the learning environment becomes that much more vital to facilitating the

learning process (McCombs, 1991).

Past studies have found that both classroom climate and school environment in

developing countries are far better predictors of students‘ academic achievement and

engagement in the modern world than the students‘ background, physical

environment, or school social structure (Smith et al., 1978). Open and honest policies

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of communication between the teacher and students, among the students themselves,

and the students and administrators, along with clear objectives and assessments for

the students‘ learning, are all keys to a successful classroom. Teachers need to initiate

this type of environment, while treating the classroom as a conduit for student

learning in a broader social context.

One of the most innovative teaching and learning models for classroom

interaction is scaffolding. More capable peers and teachers begin by assisting students

in classroom tasks. Gradually, the student takes on more responsibility and

independence as assistance is withdrawn. In other words, a scaffold of support is built

around the student and carefully withdrawn as the student grows more autonomous in

his or her learning (Roehler & Cantlon, 1997). It depends on the building of positive

relationships and fosters collaboration and the construction of meaning from previous

experience (Lee, 2003).

Summary

As the need for technical university students‘ proficiency in English grows, EFL

programs need to become increasingly concerned with creating authentic as possible

leaning opportunities and environments. Optimizing the three most important

dimensions of the learning environment is the key to successful second language

acquisition. The physical environment must be comfortable and allow for natural

interaction in English both in and outside of class; the media and materials presenting

the language must be interesting and generated for native speakers; teachers must pass

on learning strategies to students and focus on active, participative, and cooperative

activities in the EFL classroom.

While places like Hong Kong, India, and Singapore offer true native-language

experiences to English learners, other East Asian nations like Taiwan must adapt

English-language programs to their EFL circumstances. Additionally, technical

university students have specific needs that are best served by tailoring learning

strategies, classrooms, activities, learning materials, and social interactions to provide

the most authentic learning experience possible. An authentic learning environment is

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widely recognized in the literature as one of the most essential factors in successfully

acquiring the English language in Taiwan.

This literature review found a fair amount of articles about how to create the best

ELF learning environment, but virtually no empirical research was found on the

subject. Therefore, the researcher designed this study, using quantitative and

qualitative methodologies, to document criteria by which the learning environment is

evaluated by students and faculty.

The Study of the EFL Environment

Based on the conclusions reached following the literature review, the following

research questions were developed for exploration in this story:

1. Are there significant differences in students‘ perceptions of the existence of

physical environment, instructional arrangements, and social interaction in

the EFL learning environment?

2. Are there significant differences in students‘ perceptions of the importance of

physical environment, instructional arrangements, and social interaction in

the EFL learning?

3. To what extent do students perceive the physical environment, instructional

arrangements, and social interaction as obstacles or incentives to their EFL

learning environment?

4. What are the best and worst characteristics of the EFL learning environment

at a selected Taiwanese technological university, as perceived by EFL

students and faculty?

5. Which ways do EFL faculty and students perceive to overcome obstacles and

to be the characteristics of an ideal program?

6. What changes do students and faculty perceive could affect learning

outcomes?

Research Methods

To investigate the perceptions of Taiwanese EFL students and faculty members

regarding the EFL learning environment at a selected Taiwanese technological

university, this study employed a dual approach of quantitative and qualitative

methodologies. The quantitative and qualitative methodologies reinforce each other,

exploring the topic more thoroughly and deeply, with the qualitative interviews

providing an opportunity to delve into participants‘ perceptions of the EFL learning

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experience. The random sample of students taking EFL courses was surveyed to

gather their perceptions of characteristics of the learning environment. Five faculty

and five students were also interviewed as part of the qualitative aspect of this study

to further identify perceptions of EFL learning characteristics, obstacles to change,

and optimal teaching and learning practices.

The target population consisted of students taking EFL courses at a private

technology university in Taiwan; this university was the researcher‘s place of

employment, offering convenient access to participants and research materials. The

total population was 3,589 non-English-major freshman students required to take EFL

in one of three different types of program: day school, evening school, or weekend

school. All students seeking degrees are required during the freshman year to take at

least four credits (if seeking a two-year degree) or eight credits of EFL (if seeking a

four-year degree).

Following the recommendations of Kreijcie and Morgan (1970), the sample for

the quantitative portion of the study was 593 freshman students selected from the

population using a two-stage random sampling procedure, combining cluster sampling

and random sampling with a sampling rate of 15.6% (593 out of 3,589). In the first

stage, 78 classes with 29 classes from the day school, 32 classes from the evening

school, and 17 classes from the evening school were numbered consecutively. The

researcher selected nine, nine, and eight classes, respectively, from the day, evening,

and weekend schools using a table of random numbers. In the second stage, 1,233

students in the selected 26 classes were numbered, and a table of random numbers

was used to select 593 students (from the 26 classes) for the sample. Consequently,

the students selected for participation were selected from the cluster sample of classes.

This process allowed the study survey to be distributed to selected students by faculty

who taught the selected classes.

For the qualitative portion of the study, five of the freshmen students were

selected purposefully from the student population. The study survey requested

students to indicate if they were willing to participate in an interview about EFL

learning environment issues. There were 30 students who indicated their willingness

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to be interviewed, including 20 males and 10 females. Of this number, the researcher

picked four males and one female to interview, representing two from the day school,

two from the evening school, and one from the weekend group.

From a population of 20 EFL faculty members (18 female and two male) who

taught the non-English-major freshman student population, five female teachers

representing this group were selected purposefully for qualitative interviews on the

EFL learning environment issues. The quantitative data-gathering instrument with a

total of 34 survey items on characteristics of the EFL learning environment was

designed by the researcher based on the review of related literature. The 34

characteristics were divided into two separate questions for each characteristic. The

first question asked students how much the characteristic was present in their

environment, and the second question asked how important the characteristic was to

their learning by using a five-point Likert scale, with ―1‖ indicating not at all‖ and

―5‖ indicating very highly for both questions. Then the 34 question items were

grouped into three categories ─ physical environment, instrumental arrangements, and

social interaction ─ with 8, 17, and 9 items, respectively, for each category. Out of the

sampled participants, 571 responded, resulting in a response rate of 96.3%, with 499

valid respondents (87.4%) and 72 invalid respondents (12.6%).

The researcher used two interview protocols, one each for students and faculty

participants, and data were grouped and labeled. Faculty and student responses were

analyzed through a matrix analysis using a phenomenology framework. This

framework examines a particular phenomenon as it appears through human

consciousness (Thompson, 1990), assuming humans must also recognize the

perceptions that lead them to awareness of the phenomenon (Scannell-Desch, 1999).

The methodology of phenomenology involves the researcher conducting intensive

inquiry into the experiences of those involved in the phenomenon and constructing

meaning based on that inquiry (Marcus & Liehr, 1998).

To assess the internal consistency of the survey, Cronbach‘s Alpha values were

computed. Compared to a minimum required value of .70 considered evidence of

reliability (Cronbach, 1975), the Cronbach‘s Alpha value for the survey, α = .92, was

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considerably higher, indicating the strong reliability of the survey, and the Alpha

value for each learning environment factor was also above .70, ranging from .87

to .97.

Table 1

Internal Reliability

Learning Environment –

Existence

Physical Environment (items 1-8) .87

Instructional Environment (items 9-25) .91

Social Environment (items 26-34) .90

General Environment (items 1-34) .96


Importance

Physical Environment (items 1-8) .87

Instructional Environment (items 9-25) .94

Social Environment (items 26-34) .92

General Environment (items 1-34) .97

To ensure internal validity of the survey instruments, critique sheets were

completed by faculty members at the researcher‘s university as well as by selected

students taking EFL classes. For the face validity, four university faculty members

proficient in quantitative instrument design and data analysis were asked to complete

and comment on the wording, organization, and appropriateness of the survey items.

Also, a pilot study group of 50 undergraduate students completed the survey for

critique. These students did not include any of the sample participants. Similarly,

three faculty members familiar with qualitative research methodologies and analysis

were asked to critique the qualitative overarching questions and the interview

protocols. The survey was revised with the recommendations of these groups.

Additional steps were adopted by the researcher during qualitative research tool

design to ensure that the researcher‘s personal feelings and experiences did not

interfere with the data collection process or the analysis of the results. Merriam (2002)

described a process known as bracketing -- researchers exploring their own

experiences to become aware of presuppositions, prejudices, and assumptions. In

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addition, Creswell (1998) cited Lincoln and Guba (1985) as considering another

verification method, member check, to be ―the most critical technique for establishing

credibility‖ (p. 202). The researcher employed member check with the faculty and

students interviewed by sending her transcriptions of interviews to the faculty and

student respondents for their accuracy verification.

Table 2

Summary of Guidelines for Ensuring Qualitative-Data Validity and Reliability

Guidelines Approaches

1. Determining methods of data

collection and analysis

The researcher described the data collection and analysis

methods used in the study.

2. Clarifying researcher bias from

the outset

The researcher bracketed her personal experiences and

prejudices before beginning the development of the

instruments and again before analyzing the data.

3. Follow-up data collection

The researcher re-contacted participants to have them

clarify, or expand upon the data collected previously when

needed.

4. Member checks

Participants read the transcripts of their own interviews,

providing comments as to their correctness.

6. Peer debriefing

The transcripts were read, comments upon by a colleague

proficient in qualitative methodologies.

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Data Analysis and Findings

The researcher used the software Statistical Package to analyze the quantitative data.

Question one answered how the three dimensions differed in the extent to which

respondents perceived the existence in their learning environment. A

dependent-sample one-way ANOVA was used to determine if there were significant

levels among the three dimensions. Question two applied the same quantitative

methods as used for question five above to see how the three categories differed on

the importance of the factor in the learning environment.

For question three, a series of dependent-sample t tests was used to determine if

the difference between existence and importance reached the significant level in the

three separate categories of the learning environment—physical environment,

instructional arraignments, and social interaction. If the mean score for existence was

higher than that of the score for importance, or vice-versa, and reached the

significance level of .05, the statistics allowed a determination of which variable was

an incentive or an obstacle (see Figure 1).

Research

Methods

Quantitative

Research

Factors

Learning

Environment

Statistics

Figure 1. Research Model for Research Questions 1, 2, and 3.

1. Physical

2. Social

3.Instructional

ANOVA t -Test

Importance

Existence

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The researcher followed Merriam‘s (2002) five basic steps in data analysis: 1.

Reading/memoing: The researcher gained a general understanding of the data by

going through each individual‘s transcript. 2. Describing: The researcher interpreted

the data by describing the thoughts and concerns provided by each participant. 3.

Categorizing: At this stage, the researcher examined carefully each of the

interpretations, found the common elements among all the transcripts, and put them

into categories. 4. Identifying themes: The researcher developed a theme ―title‖ for

each category. 5. Supporting: The researcher went back to each original transcript to

find evidence for each theme.

Student respondents reported moderate perceptions (M = 2.90) regarding the

extent to which environmental factors were present in their school learning

environment, including the physical, instructional, and social environments. The

respondents were more aware of instruction (M = 2.96) as an EFL environment factor

than they were of the physical (M = 2.83) or social environments (M = 2.84).

Giving further detail to factors present in the physical environment, student

respondents reported insufficient places outside of class to practice English (M = 2.57)

and class size as being too large (M = 2.68). For the instructional environment,

student respondents perceived a lack of opportunities to talk with native English

speakers (M = 2.38) or to view commercial movies and television in English (M =

2.57). For the social environment, respondents perceived a lack of opportunities to

actually use English in their learning community (M = 2.56) and insufficient peer

tutoring (M = 2.66).

Respondents rated the importance of the overall environment factors (M = 3.45)

as being higher than those factors they perceived as actually being present (M = 2.90)

in their EFL environment. Respondents perceived both the physical environmental (M

= 3.48) and instructional environment factors (M = 3.48) as being more important

than the social environment factors (M = 3.37).

Regarding the importance of the physical environment, a comfortable setting was

considered the most essential component in the classroom with the highest relative

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mean score (M = 3.64), although this mean is at the moderate level, followed by a

language lab with audio/visual materials for independent study (M = 3.56).

For the importance of the instructional environment, respondents placed equal

importance on both the practicality and usefulness of curriculum for obtaining jobs

(M = 3.80) and curriculum focused on meeting the needs of daily life (M = 3.79).

Also, learning strategies taught by teachers to make individual mastery of English

easier (M = 3.68) was perceived as being important. As for the social environment,

the teachers‘ enthusiasm for teaching was regarded as the most important of all the

social issues (M = 3.66).

Table 3

Means and Standard Deviations for Each Environmental Factor


Existence

Physical Environment (items 1-8) 2.83 .67

Instructional Arrangements (items 9-25) 2.96 .62

Social Interaction (items 26-34) 2.84 .71

General Environment (items 1-34) 2.90 .60


Importance

Physical Environment (items 1-8) 3.48 .64

Instructional Arrangements (items 9-25) 3.48 .65

Social Interaction (items 26-34) 3.37 .76

General Environment (items 1-34) 3.45 .64

Differences in the Perceived Existence of Physical, Instructional, and Social Dimensions of the

EFL Learning Environment

A one-way ANOVA, F (2, 996) = 23.61, p = .000, and the follow-up procedure

using Fisher‘s LSD indicated that students perceived instructional arrangements as

more significantly prominent than both the physical environment and social

interaction.

Differences in the Perceived Importance of Physical, Instructional, and Social

Dimensions of the EFL Learning Environment

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A one-way ANOVA, F (2, 996) = 21.74, p = .000, and the follow-up procedure

using Fisher‘s LSD indicated students perceived the physical environment and the

instructional arrangements as significantly more important than social interaction.

Obstacles or Incentives for the Three Dimensions of Physical Environment,

Instructional Arrangements, and Social Interaction

Physical environment was regarded as an obstacle by the students at their

institution because the mean difference between existence and importance of the

physical environment reached the significant level, t (498) = -16.82, p = .000. With a

medium to large effect size of .75, students found their physical environment for EFL

learning to be the greatest obstacle, t (498) = -6.82, p = .000. The instructional

arrangements in their classes were also considered an obstacle, t (498) = -14.87, p

= .000. Respondents found their social environment to be an obstacle, t (498) = -13.92,

p = .000.

Each individual factor in the EFL learning environment was found to be an

obstacle, -3.78 ≥ t ≥ -15.84, p = .000. In addition to knowing whether a significant

finding could have happened by chance, it is also useful to know the magnitude of a

finding. Because the statistical significance was obtained for each item, analysis of

practical significance was made to quantify the size the difference between the two

means. The purpose of measuring an effect size was to truly measure the significance

of the difference, weakening the sample size.

Typically, a number ranging from 0 to 1 is used to present an effect size, with

higher numbers indicating a larger effect. Cohen‘s (1977) classification of effect sizes

has accepted as a standard with effect size around .20 considered being small,

around .50 considered being medium, and around .80 considered being large.

Most factors had a medium effect size, with item 14, opportunities to talk with

native English speakers, having the largest effect size of .71, followed by item 2,

flexible classroom furnishings with an effect size of .65, item 5, a place to practice

English with an effect size of .65, and item 4, student-to teacher ratio with an effect

size of .61.

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By repeatedly revisiting the data, the researcher built a conceptual understanding

of what ―authentic environment‖ and the possibility and action of its creation meant to

the sample, both individually and as a whole. Five themes are identified in the

qualitative findings, meant to give a foundation for understanding the environment.

The themes were identified as interdependent phenomena, since socially defined

factors do not exist in isolation at the university.

Time

A first theme focused on the students‘ overwhelmingly recurrent response that, even

when they did know about the EFL resources available to them on campus and in the

community, they did not have the time to pursue them. Additionally, the researcher

observed that the students also felt such resources should have more time devoted to

them in the classroom. The student responses regarding this theme of time suggested

two alternative interpretations to the researcher: (1) The students are generally passive

learners and (2) the physical limitations of inadequate classrooms, even when they

have multimedia resources used for EFL, restricted opportunities.

A common theme within the student and teacher interviews was that not enough

classrooms used for EFL had multimedia resources and that only the classrooms in

one classroom building had overhead-mounted computer projectors and audio

speakers. To alleviate this, the university has offered two EFL language labs, both

appropriate for watching films, listening to music, and utilizing computer programs.

However, all of the students interviewed stated that their teachers had taken them to

the language lab only once during the semester to watch an English-language film. In

response, the instructors stated that attempting to schedule a window in a language lab

during the semester was very difficult and most classes received only one opportunity

per semester. Students are left to try to take advantage of the Self-Study Center and

library resources on their on time with limited instructor assistance. In this case, the

use of outside resources available to the EFL courses has been severely limited by the

physical arrangements of the buildings, the student-to-teacher ratio, and types of

instructional activities teachers have been able to use during class.

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Place

A second primary theme that emerged was related to the importance of learning

environment as a factor in desire to study EFL. The physical arrangements of the class

sizes, the schedule of time for classes, the learning technology equipment in

classrooms, the classroom furniture, the construction of buildings on the campus, and

the complex context of the learning community itself all influence both faculty and

student attitudes toward learning EFL. All instructors felt that their classrooms were

not suitable for teaching a language, naming everything from not being able to move

the chairs into a ―U‖ shape to the air conditioner being too noisy. The most common

complaint was that the rooms in the Teaching Building, which did contain multimedia

equipment, were too old, and the furniture was fixed in place, while other buildings

did not have multimedia equipment.

The faculty and student narratives reflected concern that a lack of classroom

functionality determines, to a great extent, the participants‘ beliefs about ―place.‖

While the students stated the instructors did not use multimedia enough in their

teaching, the instructors explained that it was because multimedia equipment was not

available in the majority of classrooms. Only the Teaching Building had

overhead-mounted computer projectors and audio speakers in the classroom, and even

there teachers had to supply their own notebook computers to use with the projectors.

Additionally, there was no campus support center to provide instructors with

televisions, VCRs, DVD players, or music equipment in the classrooms.

Students also identified as a problem what they saw as insufficient multimedia

materials in the classroom, saying that teachers suggested out-of-class use of

English-language films, songs, and speaking tapes, but used the language lab in-class

only sporadically. Student 2 stated that the ratio of use of the textbook and of

supplementary materials in the classroom was four-to-one, with multimedia never

being used as a supplementary material. Again, time played a role, as Student 2

expressed the contrast that additional resources were available to her after class to

pursue her interests, but the effort required without the teacher‘s support was too

great.

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The theme of place may also be considered psychologically when calculating

learning resource usage outside of the classroom. Students may simply have an

understanding of the classroom as the ―place‖ to use English, and not seek out people

using English outside of class. The student participants all observed that there was no

place to use English outside of the classroom, even though several stated that they did

indeed use English occasionally. Student 3 thought of his independent

English-language efforts as a ―subject,‖ separate from his daily life and interactions,

in which he relied only on Mandarin. However, the students did all say that if they

were provided with a physical place or activity to use English, they would attend,

usually provided they were accompanied by a peer. Without a ―scaffolding‖ system in

place to ease students into independent study of English and cooperative learning on

their own with peers, these EFL students stated that English was a tool to be used only

when absolutely necessary.

Expectations for EFL Learning and Teaching Contexts

The faculty and student narratives stated that the classroom context — including

methods, testing, and traditions of using teaching resources — limited expectations of

optimum outcomes for EFL learning. Faculty stated that they often used classroom

tests to assess their students‘ levels of English ability, and faculty generally found

student competence in English to be too low, especially among incoming university

freshmen, to allow higher-order learning engagement. Faculty also noted that the

students did best in activities involving reading, something common in beginning

learners of any language. Vocational high school EFL classes were perceived as not

devoting much time to English speaking and listening, and as stated above, neither do

the university courses, and students felt severely underdeveloped in conversational

skills. Additionally, the instructors stated that students‘ greatest need in terms of

language skills was speaking and listening. Faculty, therefore, felt it desirable to

include as many real-life supplementary materials as possible to introduce students to

common vocabulary and situations. However, as reported by both teachers and

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students, teachers favored the textbook and grammar lectures, rarely allowing time for

in-class discussion or conversation practice.

Additionally, all of the instructors stated that students‘ English ability was low.

Teacher 5 said, ―The students did not get a solid foundation in English when they

started to learn English in junior high school. Even though students were perceived to

know that English was very important for them to learn and they wanted to study it,

they felt that it was too late for them to do that.‖ The instructors felt that when

students were confronted by coursework in grammar and reading that was above their

level, they became passive and indifferent, no longer willing to believe that success

was in their grasp. However, the students offered a different perception of their

expectations of the teaching and learning context on their motivation. All of the

students felt real-life materials were far more interesting and easier to understand than

studying grammar or vocabulary and even with use of supplementary materials for

textbook lessons. Students expressed a desire to learn more practical and

conversational English. While the students admitted to being more comfortable

reading, they wanted to have more discussion and hear the teacher speak more

English in the classroom.

Level of Comfort with EFL Learning Environment

Another recurring theme within the participants‘ concerns about the EFL program

was how comfortable students were with the classroom learning environment context.

For some students the environment was considered pleasant and for others it was

fraught with anxiety. While students can be motivated by a challenge, they can also be

discouraged by failing to succeed in meeting a challenge. In trying to speak enough

English during class, instructors expressed the perception that they must walk a fine

line. Because of some inadequate backgrounds in listening, vocabulary, and everyday

situations, the faculty felt that students did not always have the sophistication to

understand ―everyday‖ vocabulary and sentence structure. This made faculty conclude

that they were limited in the types and amount of information they could present in

English.

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Additionally, students were used to the more traditional teaching. Only Student 1

desired his instructor to use a combination of new and traditional teaching methods,

but considered the use of supplementary materials to be the new part of the instruction.

Student 4 commented that ―most of the time, the teacher lectures and we are passive

learners in class.‖ This student made the following additional statement:

The teaching method of the teacher is more traditional…. For example, he

mentions his stories when studying abroad, and sometimes, practical English

words are also often mentioned. He mainly adopts textbooks without

supplemental activities, and the grammar and rules are often utilized in the

class. However, I like the teacher‘s teaching style in the class, and his

coverage of other topics beyond the textbook always draws attention.

Another element in students‘ comfort was their relationship to their instructor and

peers. Student said that they received ―no pressure‖ from their teacher in class, and

each stated it as a positive aspect to that relationship. Most of the students said that

their instructors were somewhat to very approachable and willing to answer questions

in class. However, none of them had casual relationships or chatted with their teachers

in English after class. Conversely, the instructors felt that they encouraged their

students to talk with them, either privately for additional help or after class, again

showing the differences in students‘ and teachers‘ perceptions.

Students also cited their interaction in class with their classmates as good, but

reported having limited contact with them in English outside of class. Both teachers

and students stated that they only studied together for EFL examinations and that they

never used English when conversing casually with each other.

Relationships

Another theme of the narratives focused on observations regarding social interaction

in the learning environment. Teacher 5 understood the benefit of adopting a positive

relationship with students, stating, ―I often encourage and praise my students instead

of criticizing them.‖ Interestingly, she also commented that she provided ―more time

for group discussion in order to reduce their pressure on learning,‖ indicating that she

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considered discussion to be a less stressful activity for students than lecturing. In

addition, she was the only teacher to report that she consistently used cooperative

learning and to successfully use pair and group work.

The teachers all encouraged their students to study, but most of their suggestions

related to activities outside the classroom, like watching films, reading newspapers, or

buying audiotapes. While students felt comfortable in class and with their

relationships with their instructors, they did not speak in English even with their

teacher, nor were they pushed to do so. Additionally, in their peer relationships,

students did not see the benefits of extending the ―place‖ of learning beyond the

classroom to interact in English.

Summary

The five themes－time, place, expectations for EFL learning and teaching contexts,

level of comfort with EFL learning environment, and relationships－were selected to

describe the boundaries of the phenomena of the university‘s learning environment

for EFL. Students and teachers produced remarkably similar responses. Teacher 5

capsulated the participants‘ feelings toward the EFL experience at the university with

the following statement:

Due to poor classroom design, the distance between the teacher and the

student is too far. The classrooms should be remodeled to make a better place

for the English learning environment, and there should be more

English-related learning materials being posted in the classroom. The number

of native English teachers is insufficient. The school should provide the basic

conversation practice and practice on how to use English slang after class. The

classroom should be equipped with audiovisual multimedia facilities. The

teacher and student ratio is too high. The students‘ learning attitude is not

good.

While all participants agreed on the benefits of multimedia, real-life materials in

learning, perceptions of their effects on motivation, sense of place, and relationships

diverged highly. Students saw the teachers as being responsible for making their use

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of multimedia convenient and regular within the place and time of learning (the

classroom) and generating greater interest, challenge, and proficiency than traditional

materials or methodologies. Conversely, teachers did not want to pull students out of

their passive comfort zone and felt that if students were truly motivated, they would

make the time to pursue learning on their own.

Discussion

The Physical, Instructional, and Social Environments as Obstacles

Physical Environment

The students expressed dissatisfaction with the physical environment and instructional

environments for their EFL instruction, despite faculty comments that there were

adequate facilities on campus, including an English Corner, language lab, and library

resources. The same teachers stated that some of the facilities were canceled or

curtailed because of lack of student interest or teacher availability, and students

reported being unaware of what was available to them. Although the library has

offered movies, and teachers have shown at least one film in class each semester,

students did not take advantage of what was available on their own or called the

material too difficult to understand. And while teachers have asked students

independently to pursue multimedia resources, they did not use them in the classroom

on a regular basis or arrange for students to use the language lab on class time. This

undercuts the importance of these resources for students.

The lack of authentic interaction in English created the greatest obstacle to

students‘ learning because it was almost nonexistent in the EFL environment. Its

detrimental effect, however, was far less obvious compared to very present,

uncomfortable classrooms. The students reported that they wanted comfortable

classrooms and language labs, which were something that large class size effectively

precluded. However, as discussed under the themes of Time and Place, a high

student-to-teacher ratio and infrequent use of the language labs altered the teaching

activities available to instructors in the classroom. The interviewed instructors were

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unhappy with the lack of flexibility and technological equipment in the classrooms,

indicating that they were left with no choice but to rely on the traditional

methodologies of lecture and textbook review.

Instructional Environment

A lack of focus on listening skills in previous coursework and student confidence may

be partly to blame for students‘ lack of initiative in using multimedia resources. If

teachers used more media and showed appropriate movies in classroom, with

supporting activities to help student comprehension, this use of media could increase

students‘ integrative motivation as they gain further exposure to authentic

English-language usage and Western culture. The program elements that students

asked for the most included more native English speakers and English-language TV

programs and movies. In the defense of faculty members using traditional drill

methods, however, it has been a challenge for Taiwanese faculty to locate Western

movies that represent realistic values of the culture, rather than focusing on violence,

sex, drug addiction, corporate greed, and glorifying Western culture.

Teachers overwhelmingly felt uncomfortable trying new methodologies, such as

discussions and student-pair work because they worried that they could not control

students‘ behavior or learning outcomes sufficiently. Only one faculty member was

comfortable holding discussions and conversation practice on a regular basis,

suggesting, as discussed in the Comfort theme, that both teachers and students need to

be eased into newer teaching methods for them to be effective. However, as the

students interviewed all confirmed, real-life materials may be actually easier to

understand than a steady concentration on grammar rules discussed in Chinese.

Real-life materials provide the benefit of a holistic, ―natural‖ approach, integrating the

four skills and highlighting the importance of communication instead of perfection.

By continuing to introduce everyday material in the classroom, instructors can create

a more interesting, active, and scaffolded learning experience that students can use to

extend their independent study. Also, as students realize that the focus of language

learning should be less on grammatical perfection and more on getting the intended

183

meaning across, teachers may be able to use more and higher levels of English in the

classroom, a desire made clear by the students interviewed during this study.

Social Environment

The examination of students‘ perceptions of their social environment produced results

echoing those of the physical and instructional environments. Students said that

genuine interaction was prohibited because of an insufficient number of teachers or

time with peers to practice their speaking skills because of the high student-teacher

ratio. Consistent with the review of related literature, the students felt that the greatest

asset to their learning English was in the enthusiasm and accessibility of their teachers.

Being able to work with faculty who stimulate interest and cooperative relationships

in the classroom is essential to producing greater student proficiency.

Taiwanese technical students in this study did not consider their daily interactions

to be a tool to be used in their learning. Even though faculty members have a high

ability level, their students may not seek them out for additional conversational

practice or personal relationships. Students do not believe that they can learn from

using English within a peer group in a classroom alone and in isolation from broader

engagement with English-language speakers. When faculty lecturers place a great

focus on teacher-centered instruction, they do not create an interactive relationship

with their students, nor do they imbue students with enthusiasm for English to be used

communicatively in the larger community. If students believe that their spoken

English must be perfect, they may be reluctant to try, even with faculty they may

believe are very approachable.

Despite the good news relayed by the participants, the overall conclusion was

negative. The students considered the overall EFL environment at their institution to

be an obstacle to their learning. While social interaction was considered to have the

least negative impact on their proficiency, the social aspect of the learning

environment was not perceived as a learning facilitator.

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Classroom Considered Lone “Place of Learning”

Students may feel that native speakers are the best resource for English learning,

considering interaction with their peers unsatisfying or unchallenging and interaction

with their instructors in English too intimidating. Viewing people from other countries

as a tool for instruction supports the idea of English learning happening only at

specific places and times. Additionally, the theme of Place was reinforced by the lack

of classroom multimedia technology. The faculty‘s reliance on teacher-centered

instruction and the students‘ own limited time for using English outside of class

echoed this. There was little transfer of classroom language learning to use in the

community. So, even when introduced to available resources, students may not

consider such resources as being really available to them as opportunities and dismiss

them.

This phenomenon would also explain the contradiction in several of the students‘

interviews as to why, when first asked what resources the school had, the students

could not name anything. Then, after being asked about their knowledge of specific

elements, they would say that their teacher had notified the class of them, but that the

individual student had not used them. Their low proficiency in their coursework has

led to low motivation in seeking out additional resources that may not have been

immediately apparent or that required an extra investment of time and effort. This

may become a cycle of reinforced failure to get beyond minimum achievement levels.

The students‘ relationships with their teachers are controlled more by the

curriculum and learning media than the act of learning. This was suggested in the

students‘ reliance on the material covered in the classroom. While teachers were

actively presenting the material through lecture and repetition, the mutual

give-and-take of the student-teacher relationship presented in CLT or other forms of

communicative teaching was not visible. Students take the path of least resistance:

When not confronted by a need to use English outside the classroom on a daily basis,

it is easy to see the inside of the room as the only place to speak English. By

redefining the sense of which places and times are included in the English-learning

environment, EFL programs could help instructors and students redefine their concept

185

of ―authentic‖ interaction. If students are enabled to see the usage of English as a

necessary part of an authentic environment, even if accuracy is not the ultimate goal,

students will understand that they can improve the environment just by using English,

and teachers would not feel so bound by the textbook and traditional teaching

methods. In turn, EFL English learners at their institution would understand that the

entire world and the entire day is their classroom.

Recommendations for Improving Practice

The recommendations emerging from the study results and conclusions are as

follows:

1. Schools can avoid learning contexts that decrease students‘ confidence in

their abilities to use available resources and can mitigate them by hiring

more teachers, generating peer interaction, adding multimedia equipment to

all classrooms, and making sure the language lab is staffed.

2. Before instructors can apply the techniques of cooperative and

communicative learning, such as scaffolding, they must ensure that the

activities fall within their own and students‘ comfort zones.

3. If teachers make one visit to the English Corner mandatory per semester, the

students will have a reason to visit with a friend, making it less intimidating.

Also, the English Corner needs to be staffed by a faculty or an upperclass

English major.

4. Teachers can direct students to the locations where they are most likely to

encounter native speakers, and can also seek out partnerships with Western

schools to utilize two-way audio and video conferencing with native

speakers since students‘ greatest desire was to have more contact with

native speakers.

5. Smaller classes and expanded English class hours create a more comfortable

physical situation as well as allow teachers longer blocks of time to attempt

more CLT and cooperative teaching methods.

Recommendations for Further Study

The following recommendations are proposed for future research.

1. While this study focused on a technical university, Taiwan‘s four-year

academic universities produce many graduates fluent in English. A

comparison with an academic university‘s EFL program, and the previous

preparation of its students, would provide further suggestions to improve

technical universities‘ programs.

186

2. Likewise, studying a technically oriented university in an ESL nation such as

Singapore or the Philippines would create a deeper understanding of the

differences between ESL and EFL environments and their divergent

resources and strategies.

3. Further qualitative study could involve classroom observation, with the

researcher tracking the frequency of unique teaching and learning activities,

as well as their correlation to students‘ confidence, motivation, and

proficiency.

4. A longitudinal study involving both quantitative and qualitative

methodologies would give the greatest insight into technical universities‘

development of their EFL programs, their role in the developing global

society, and their students‘ participation in using English in their daily lives

and careers after graduation.

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190

Harbinglish: L1 Influence on the Learning of English by High School

Students in Harbin, China

Yuxiu Hu and Adams B. Bodomo

University of Hong Kong

Bio data:

Yuxiu HU is currently a postgraduate student of Linguistics at the University of Hong

Kong. Her main research interests are in Second Language Acquisition and Syntax.

She received her M.A degree in Linguistics from the University of Hong Kong, and

holds a B.A degree in English Education. She once served as an English teacher in

Harbin, Heilongjiang Province of China.

Adams B. BODOMO is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hong

Kong. He does research on the syntactic and semantic structures of a wide range of

languages, including English, French, Norwegian, Twi, Dagaare, Zhuang and

comparative studies of Chinese and these languages. He has published many books

and articles on syntax and semantics.

Abstract

That L1 transfer is a common feature of L2 acquisition has been widely attested in the

literature of language acquisition (e.g. Lado, 1957; Selinker, 1972; Ellis, 1994). In

some studies, however, it has been suggested that L1 transfer may be extremely

restricted in L2 acquisition (e.g. Eubank, 1994; Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 1994).

In contrast to this suggestion, this paper reports on a study investigating the important

role of L1 in L2 acquisition with new data in a new environment, thus addressing an

important debate with new perspectives. Harbinglish in this study refers to

ungrammatical or at least deviant English sentences made by students from Harbin in

the Heilongjiang province of China. In designating the corpus of English produced by

Harbin learners of English as Harbinglish, we don‘t mean that these errors can only be

found in Harbin but that these are peculiar and rampant in Harbin and related

environments. Error Analysis of data and Contrastive Analysis between English and

Mandarin are used to test the research hypotheses. The grammar model of

Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) has been used for the syntactic analysis, another

new perspective to addressing an old but persistent problem in the literature on

language acquisition.

Key words: influence of L1; the learning of English; native language; second

language acquisition; English proficiency

191

1.Introduction

In Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang Province in Mainland China, Mandarin is

widely spoken in the local community. For most High School students, English is

their L2 (second language) which is learnt after their L1, Mandarin. These learners

have very few opportunities to get in contact with native speakers of English to

practice their English. Classroom teaching is the main way for students to learn

English. Mandarin has some very unique structural properties from the perspective of

English (Bodomo, 2003), thus it is very common for English teachers in Harbin to

find some syntactic errors which are similar to or even the same as the structure of

Mandarin. Some English sentences made by Harbin students are just word by word

translations from Mandarin sentences. For example, a sentence like I very like you is a

very common error in our data. Obviously, it is a word by word translation from the

Mandarin sentence 我非常喜欢你 wo fēicháng xi huān ni . The adverb very functions

as an adverbial of degree which immediately precedes the verb in Mandarin, while

very much modifies verbs in English, and it is more usually placed at the end of the

sentence and functions as the adverbial of degree, so the corresponding English

sentence is I like you very much.

The data for this study comprises forty compositions collected from examination

papers of first-year students and senior students of a high school in Harbin in the first

semester of the school year 2005-2006. These data are all primary data which are

collected from compositions of native Mandarin-speaking learners of English in

Harbin. Further still some data in Chan (2003), a study on Cantonese-speaking

learners of English in Hong Kong, will be used to augment our analysis and throw

more light on our hypothesis. Chan (2003) contains errors by Hong Kong students

similar to our data. Although our subjects are secondary school students in two highly

different cities: Harbin and Hong Kong, they made similar, though not necessarily the

same, errors in the process of English learning. Their native languages (NLs) are

Chinese varieties, the only difference being that one is Mandarin and the other one is

Cantonese.

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The research questions for our study are:

(1) Are the common errors made by high school learners of English in Harbin

mainly due to the influence of their native language (NL)?

(2) Is the influence of L1 on the learning of English reduced when students get

higher proficiency in English?

(3) How can teachers use CA and EA in the classroom?

In the rest of the paper, we will first review the L2 literature; then we will do a

contrastive study of Mandarin and English. Next, we will outline and discuss the

data, and errors of adverbial placement will be further analyzed in the framework of

Lexical Functional Grammar. Finally, we will draw conclusions on the basis of our

analysis and discussion.

2. Second Language Acquisition and related issues

Ellis (1985) defines Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research as the study of

the way in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue, inside or

outside of a classroom. Although there is a difference between a second language

and a foreign language (a foreign language is used in contrast to Native Language

(NL), while a second language is used in contrast to L1). In recent decades the term

second language has been increasingly applied to all types of non-native language

learning. Both second language and foreign language are non-mother tongue

languages. A mother tongue is one‘s L1. All languages learned after it are second

languages. So in this study, SLA will not be differentiated from Foreign Language

Learning.

2.1 Contrastive Analysis (CA)

Contrastive Analysis has been broadly applied in both second language teaching and

second language research since its firm establishment by Charles C. Fries in 1945. It

focuses on the differences and similarities between the native and target languages,

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that is, learning a language according to comparing and contrasting the structure of

the native language and the target language with a parallel description of both

languages (Fries, 1945). According to CA, one could predict what structures in the

target language may cause difficulties for the target language learners (Lado, 1957).

Although CA was criticized for its validity, some scholars still firmly believe that

contrastive analysis is important ―as a preliminary step to understanding the range of

transfer from one linguistic structure to another‖ (Gass & Selinker, 1994). No one can

easily deny that ―such interference does exist and can explain difficulties‖ (Brown,

1994).

2.2 Error Analysis (EA)

In the 1970s, EA supplanted CA (Ellis, 1994), since CA was criticized for its

inadequacy to account for target language learning problems. ―The main assumption

of Error Analysis (EA) is that error analysis will reveal to the investigator just what

difficulties the learners have: and those difficulties in the target language will show

up as errors in production.‖ (Schachter, 1974: 206). By doing EA, common

difficulties in second language learning can be found out; furthermore, the analysis

of these errors can serve as an aid in teaching. Errors can be used as a useful index

which can indicate a necessary, specific development stage in the process of second

language acquisition. (Yang & Xu, 2001). Corder (1974) suggests the following

steps in EA research:

1. Collection of a sample of learner language

2. Identification of errors

3. Description/Classification of errors

4. Explanation of errors

5. Evaluation of errors

Even though EA has its limitations, it can help us work out factors that set degrees

of difficulty in second language learning at the elementary or intermediate levels

(Huang, 1984).

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CA and EA are two types of data analyses that researchers have used in an attempt

to better understand the second language acquisition process (Larsen-Freeman &

Long, 1990). Although they were discredited during the 1970s and 1980s, they have

been revitalized by significant works in the past decade, especially in works such as

Odlin (1989), Kellerman (1995), and James (1998) as stated in Chan (2004). CA and

EA have been investigated with renewed vigor. Zhang (2003) investigates how

language transfer has an effect on language learning by conducting an error analysis

of college students‘ writing in Mainland China. Ohata (2004) examines some of the

characteristic phonological differences between Japanese and English based on CA,

and points out several problematic areas of pronunciation for Japanese learners of

English. With the help of CA and EA, Chan (2004) presents evidence for syntactic

transfer from Chinese to English that occurred among Chinese ESL learners in Hong

Kong; Chan (2003) explores Cantonese influence on the learning of prepositional

placement structures among Hong Kong learners of English. Na (2005) examines

syntactic errors in Vietnamese-English translation using CA and EA. Chen (2006)

examines whether a CAI (computer assisted instruction) tutorial program had an

impact on the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) grammar skills of beginning EFL

language learners through CA and EA.

In this study, it is important to stress that CA and EA are used as a synthesis to

explore Mandarin influence on the learning of English, with each method

complementing the other in creating a better understanding of the learning situation.

EA was not used to check on the predictions made by CA, but to inform CA of errors

that really occurred, while CA was used as an ancillary procedure to help EA find out

whether the common errors made by our subjects are mainly due to the differences

between Mandarin and English. CA was not used to predict errors but to explain

errors.

2.3 Interlanguage Hypothesis

Selinker (1972) introduced the term interlanguage to refer to learners‘ versions of

the TL. As originally conceived, interlanguages (ILs) are products of interaction

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between two linguistic systems, namely those of L1 and L2 (Yip, 1995). Rodby and

Winterowd (2005) defined interlanguage as an unstable grammar or a set of

constitutive rules that is developed by a second-language learner. Some of the rules

in an interlanguage are not accurate when compared to the rules that native speakers

of that language possess. These rules will change in the process of acquiring the

second language.

2.4 Language Transfer

In 1957 Lado claimed that:

individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of

forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign

language and culture—both productively when attempting to speak the

language and to act in the culture, and receptively when attempting to grasp

and understand the language and the culture as practiced by natives (p.2)

According to Odlin (1989), a great deal of evidence has been found for syntactic

transfer (both positive and negative) in studies of word order, and the study of second

language word order has been useful not only for a better understanding of transfer

but also for an understanding of discourse, syntactic typology, and other factors

affecting second language acquisition. Odlin argues convincingly that in the

acquisition of word order, transfer plays an important factor. His conclusion is that

―there is no universal constraint on the transfer of basic word order‖ (1990: 107).

3. Contrative study of Mandarin and English

Many works on the Chinese language have observed that Chinese including its

dialects like Mandarin and Cantonese has some very unique structural properties

which are different from that of English. This study aims to test L1 influence on

second language acquisition, so it is necessary to outline, albeit briefly, the main

differences between Mandarin and English. Mandarin and Cantonese, two dialects of

Chinese, will also be compared in this part so as to enable us to further address our

research questions later.

196

3.1 Topic-prominence VS Subject-prominence

What distinguishes topic from subject is that the subject must always have a direct

semantic relationship with the verb as the one that performs the action or exists in the

state named by the verb, but the topic needs not (Li & Thompson, 1981). Mandarin is

a topic prominent language. The concept of subject seems to be less significant, and a

sentence can have no subject, as illustrated in (1) below, while the concept of topic

appears to be quite crucial in explaining the structure of ordinary sentences in the

language.

(1) 好美啊

hǎo měi ā

very beautiful Sentence-final particle

„It‘s very beautiful.‟

On the other hand, English is a subject-prominent language; nearly all English

sentences must have a subject, and it typically occurs right before the verb and the

verb agrees with it in number.

3.2 Placement of Adverbials

In Mandarin, adverbials are placed immediately before the verb they modify, just in

the same position where attributives are put when they modify nouns (Yip, 1995).

Modern English is characterized by fairly rigid ordering rules with respect to most

constituents. Adverbials are, however, quite flexible in their positioning. They can be

found in three main positions- at the end, at the beginning or in the middle of a clause.

Among the three main positions, the end position is a very common one, as in He

likes basketball very much. Although sometimes adverbials in English seem to enjoy

considerable freedom with respect to syntactic position, at other times they display

extremely tight syntactic restrictions. For example, adverbs of manner usually come

after the verb in English (Dean, 1993). We must say study hard rather than hard study

in English, but if we translate study hard in English into Mandarin, it should be

197

translated as 努力学习 (hard study), because in Mandarin, adverbials showing

location, time, and manner are often placed between subjects and main verbs. This is

illustrated in (2):

(2) I fell asleep with a smile.

我带着微笑进入了梦乡。

Wǒ dàizhē wēixiào jìnrù lē mèngxiāng

1.SG PREP smile fell PERF sleep

I with smile fell sleep.

3.3 Agreement

This difference exists due to two facts. First, English has number markings which

mark nouns for singular and plural distinction, such as book and books. But the

category of number is not at all a necessary one for Mandarin. Mandarin does not

need to mark it. For example, 书 shū can refer to either‗book‘or ‗books‘in Mandarin.

If the concept of plurality is expressed in Mandarin, it is typically expressed by a

separate word, such as 一些 yìxiē ‗some‘, or 许多 xūduō ‗many‘, but involves no

morphological complexity within a word (Li and Thompson 1981). Second, English

marks verbs morphologically to agree with the noun class into which the subject falls

(Li & Thompson, 1981). A verb must agree morphologically with the subject of the

sentence. For instance, He goes to school. If we change the subject ‗he‘ into ‗they‘,

then the verb ‗goes‘ should be changed into ‗go‘. Again, the category of agreement

markers is not necessary for Mandarin. There is no change for the verb 去 qù ‗go‘,

irrespective of whether the subject is singular or plural1

.

3.4 Personal Pronoun Case

No distinction is made between nominative and objective cases in Mandarin. For

instance, 他 tā stands for either ‗he‘ or ‗him‘. But in English, a personal pronoun has

both nominative and objective forms. Other differences like genders of pronouns in

the spoken form won‘t be mentioned here for reasons of scope and space.

198

Systems of personal pronouns in Modern Standard Chinese and English are laid out

in two tables. Table 1 is quoted from Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar of Yip

and Don (2004), and table 2 is extracted from Qin Xuelin‘s An Essential English

Grammar (1996: 45) which is written in Chinese, (and translated into English by us).

Table 3.1 Personal pronouns in Modern Standard Chinese

Person singular Plural

First

person

我

wǒ

‗I; me‘

Speaker only Speaker and hearer

我们

wǒmen

‗we; us‘

咱们

zánmen

‗we; us‘

Second

person

Normal Polite

你们

nǐmen

‗you‘

你

nǐ

‗you‘

您

nín

‗you‘

Third

person

Masculine feminine neute

r

Masculine feminine neuter

他

tā

‗he; him‘

她

tā

‗she;

her‘

它

tā

‗it‘

他们

tāmen

‗they;them‘

她们

tāmen

‗they;them‘

它们

tāmen

‗they;them‘

Table 3.2 Personal Pronouns in English

Case

singular plural

first second third first second third

nominative I you She, he, it we you they

Person

Number

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objective me you Her, him, it us you them

3.5 Verb VS Adjective

Syntactically, without the help of the linking verb ‗be‘, adjectives can still function as

predicative complements when placed behind nominal headwords in Mandarin; while

in English predictive complements are used to describe adjectives that are normally

only used after a linking verb such as ‗be‘ (Collins, 1990), as shown in (3):

(3) 这孩子真可爱。

Zhè háizī zhēn kěài

DET baby really cute

‗This baby really cute.‘

In the English sentence the predicate is formed by the verb ‗to be‘, an adverb, and an

adjective. But from the Mandarin sentence, we can see that the difference is that there

is no equivalent of the verb ‗to be‘ to establish the link between the subject and

adjective.

3.6 Mandarin and Cantonese

Although Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible, their grammatical

structure is similar in most major respects (Matthews & Yip, 1994). Chao comments

that apart from some minor divergences, such as indirect object before direct object in

Cantonese, while Mandarin has the opposite order, ―one can say that there is

practically one universal Chinese grammar‖ (1968: 13).

Table 3.3 below illustrates specific examples of contrasting differences between

Chinese and English.

Table 3.3 Summary of contrasting differences between Mandarin and English

Differences Examples

Topic VS Subject C: 好美啊

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hǎo měi ā

very beautiful Sentence-final particle

E: It‘s very beautiful

Placement of Adverbials C: 努力学习

nǔlì xúexí

hard study

E: study hard

Personal Pronoun Case C: a. 我尊敬他

wǒ zūnjìng tā

I respect him

b. 他尊敬我

tā zūnjìng wǒ

he respect me

E: I respect him.

Verb VS Adjective C: 他不富有

tā bù fùyǒu

he not rich

E: He is not rich.

Agreement (1) C: 他有两只大手。

tā yǒu liǎng zhī dà shǒu

he has two Classifier big hand

E: He has two big hands.

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(2) C: 我只有一只手

wǒ zhǐ yǒu yì zhī shǒu

I only have one Classifier hand

E: I have only one hand.

4. Data Analysis

Six types of common errors are found in the data, namely extraneous verb ‗to be‘,

lack of agreement, wrong personal pronoun case, absence of subject, absence of

predicate, and wrong placement of adverbials. Mandarin and English have been

compared on the points referring to these errors in section 3. In this section, these

errors are analyzed by applying EA and CA. Similar errors found in Chan (2003)‘s

data are analyzed too.

4.1 Extraneous verb „to be‟

It is quite common to find that there is an additional verb ‗to be‘ before the predicate

verb in the sentences constructed by the subjects. For example:

(4) We were get together.

(5) They were very love me.

(6) They are will give a good price.

(7) I‟m very like her eyes.

In the above, the four sample sentences are ungrammatical because an extraneous

verb ‗to be‘ can be found in each sentence. The subjects not only put an extraneous

verb ‗to be‘ before the predicate verb, they also use the past form of the verb ‗to be‘,

because the context for the sentence (4) and (5) is in the past tense. At first, we

thought that this error might arise from the wrong assumption of considering the verb

‗to be‘ as an auxiliary verb by the subjects, because in English the verb ‗to be‘ can

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function as auxiliary verb of tense. But in most of the sample sentences with this error

in our data, there is no change for the predicate verbs, and from sentence (6), we can

see that there is still an extraneous verb ‗to be‘ even though there is an auxiliary verb

there already. So we assume that the cause of this error is one of differences between

English and Chinese. In Chinese, there is no need to use the linking verb ‗be‘ to link

the subject and the adjective. Adjectives in Chinese can function as predicates. And

actually there are several cases in which the so-called predicatives in English, such as

prepositional phrases expressing location or position, alone can function as predicates,

as in (8) below:

(8) 我现在在香港‘

Wǒ xiànzài zài xiānggǎng

1.SG now PREP Hong Kong

‗I now in Hong Kong‘

In English, on the other hand, there must be a link verb ‗be‘ between the subject and

the adjective or between the subject and the predicative. Chinese students try to apply

this rule when they construct English sentences, but the sentences they produce come

out to be both different from their L1 and also from the TL.

4.2 Lack of Agreement

a. Noun-number agreement

(9) We are best friend.

(10) He has two big hand.

(11) He is my good friends.

(12) This job give me a exercises.

In sentences (9) and (10), ‗friend‘ and ‗hand‘ should be in their plural forms, because

‗friend‘ is the complement of ‗we‘ which is a plural personal pronoun and the numeral

that modifies ‗hand‘ in the second sentence is ‗two‘. In English, there are number

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markers which mark nouns for singular and plural (or singular, dual and plural)

distinction, but according to Mandarin grammar, pengyou ‗friend‘ can stand for both

‗friend‘ and ‗friends‘, and shou ‗hand‘ for both ‗hand‘ and ‗hands‘, since there is no

number marker for nouns in Mandarin. That is also the cause of the error in sentences

(11) and (12). The subjects possibly mix up the plural form and singular form of

nouns in English or they just take the plural form as the only form of the noun.

Sentences (11) and (12) should be He is my good friend. This job gives me an

exercise.

b. Verb-subject agreement

(13) This job give me a exercises..

(14) I and she was four years‟ friend.

Unlike Mandarin, English marks verbs morphologically to agree with the noun class

into which the subject falls. The agreement indicates whether the subject is singular or

plural. The subject in the sentence (13) is third person singular, so the bound

morpheme –s should be added to the verb ‗give‘, to give us ‗gives‘. In sentence (14),

the subject is composed of two components ‗I‘ and ‗she‘ which are connected by the

conjunction ‗and‘, and these two components are not semantically the same thing, but

two individual people, so the verb ‗be‘ should be in the plural form ‗were‘. Of course,

the more idiomatic way is to say ‗she and I‘ in English.

4.3 Wrong Personal Pronoun Case

The wrong use of personal pronoun case is another common error found in our data.

Usually the nominative case of personal pronouns is found when the objective case

should be used. In Harbin, usually, the nominative case of the personal pronoun is

taught first, then the objective case, which is the reason why we have this perculiar

and recurrent error in the Harbin English, hence one of the reasons for which we

coined the term ―Harbinglish‖ for this kind of English. Errors of possessive forms of

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personal pronouns are observed too, but they are not as common as errors of personal

pronoun case. This is illustrated in the sample sentences in (15), (16), (17), and (18)

below.

(15) I admired he.

(16) I meet he at the junior middle school.

(17) She name is Xiao Feng.

(18) She‟s name is Guan Lifeng.

In sentences (15) and (16), the pronoun ‗he‘ functions as object, so it should be the

objective case ‗him‘. But in Mandarin, there is no distinction between nominative and

objective cases in the pronominal system, irrespective of whether these pronouns

function as subjects or objects, and the subjects first received the nominative case of

personal pronouns as the equivalent of the Mandarin personal pronouns, so they use

nominative case whenever a personal pronoun is needed. No personal pronoun of the

objective case is found in the subject position in our data.

In Mandarin, the possessive forms corresponding to personal pronouns are

expressed by adding the particle 的 de after the pronouns. But in English each

personal pronoun has its own possessive form, such as ‗she‘ and ‗her‘, ‗he‘ and ‗his‘,

and ‗they‘ and ‗their‘. In the sample sentence (17), the possessive adjective ‗her‘

corresponding to pronoun ‗she‘ should be used to modify the noun ‗name‘, but the

subject just used the personal pronoun ‗she‘. We don‘t know whether it is because the

subject just forgot the possessive form of the pronoun, or whether it is because of a

misuse of the personal pronoun. However, from sample sentence (18), we can see that

the error is made because of the Mandarin influence and the subject is aware that the

s-genitive could be used to express possession in English. The element 的 de in

Mandarin can be put after pronouns to express possession. The subject applies this

rule in constructing English sentences, so ‗she‘s‘ is just the translation from Mandarin

她的 ta de.

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4.4 Subject Omission

As mentioned, Mandarin is a topic-prominent language and a pro-drop, so a sentence

doesnot need to have a subject, as long as a topic is expressed in the sentence, but

there must be a subject in an English sentence.

(19) Shouldn‟t by bus or under the sun look book.

(20) A terrible tsunami attact(attack) the ocean. Lead to destruction of many

countries.

In sentence (19) above, the subject was trying to tell us how to protect our eyesight.

The sentence is absolutely correct in the structure of Mandarin. But in the structure of

English, it is ungrammatical, because English is a subject-prominent language. Errors

of adverbials will be discussed in some detail later. The verb ‗read‘ should be used

rather than the verb ‗look‘. In Mandarin, we can either say ‗read books‘ or ‗see books‘.

Both expressions are correct. So we can see that sentence (19) is just the result of

word by word translation from the equivalent Mandarin sentence. In sample sentence

(20) above, obviously, it is the tsunami that leads to the destruction. But what leads to

the destruction, which functions as the subject of the sentence, is not expressed by the

subject in the sentence.

4.5 Predicate Omission

In Mandarin, a sentence does not need to have a predicate in several cases, such as in

cases where the predicative is an adjective, or a numeral expressing age or a

prepositional phrase expressing location or position. We don‘t need the linking verb

‗be‘ to link the subject and complement of a sentence as we do in English. The

phenomenon of predicate omission is very common in Mandarin, and this is

illustrated in (21) to (23) below.

(21) 她不漂亮

Tā bú piàoliàng

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3.SG NEG beautiful

‗She is not beautiful.‘

(22) 她二十岁

Tā ershísùi

3.SG twenty years old

‗She is twenty years old.‘

(23) 哈尔滨在中国的北方

Hāerbīn zài zhōngguódēběifāng

Harbin PREP the north of China

‗Harbin is in the north of China‘

But in English, a sentence must have a predicate. The following sentences are also

found in our data:

(24) His home not poor.

(25) You can also take one of your old clothes which small for you.

Corresponding grammatical English sentences for sample sentences (24) and (25)

should be His home is not poor. You can also take one of your old clothes which are

small for you. So again we can see that the sample sentences are produced by

translation from the equivalent Mandarin sentences.

4.6 Errors of Adverbial Placement

a. Placement of adverb

The most common error found in the data in terms of adverbials is the position of the

adverb ‗very‘. The following are recurrent sample sentences found in the

compositions of the subjects:

(26) You have to hard study.

(27) Father very love she.

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Any adverb functioning as adverbials has to appear before the verb in a Chinese

sentence (Gao, 2000). So the words非常 feichang ‗very‘ and 努力 nuli ‗hard‘ should

be placed immediately before the verb in Mandarin. However, adverbs of manner

usually come after the verb in English (Dean, 1993). Hornby (1975) points out that

the position of adverbials of degree and manner cannot be shown simply in tables, but

many adverbs indicating manner are found in an end position. They are not placed

between a verb and its object. Van Ek and Robat (1984) also points out that the

adverbials denoting manner, means or instruments which are realized by adverb

phrases usually occur in final position, that is after the predicator and complements,

because these adverbials tend to receive end-focus.2 So hard functioning as the adverb

of manner in sample sentence (26) above should be placed after the verb study, that is

you have to study hard.

In English, very is traditionally classified as an adverb. It is used as an intensifier

pre-modifying a gradable adjective or adverb, eg. very good, very carefully, very

often . very can not modify a verb; but a gradable verb can be modified by very much

(Close, 1975) which denotes degree of the action, and the adverb much normally has

an end position (Hornby, 1975). Therefore, the correct English sentences should be

Father loves her very much, and You have to study hard. So we can see that students‘

performance in L2 is affected by their mother tongue, that is, by Mandarin. They

simply made direct translations from Mandarin, as a result of transferring the rules of

L1 structures on L2 structures.

b. Placement of prepositional phrase

It is found that some subjects put prepositional phrases in the wrong position which is

actually the position in the corresponding Mandarin sentence. The following sample

sentences (27) and (28) illustrate the point:

(27) Many people in the street live.

(28) We at home play games.

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In Mandarin, adverbials showing location are often placed between subjects and main

verbs. Whereas in English, prepositional phrases functioning as adverbials of location

should be placed either in the initial or final position of sentences. Therefore, the

ungrammatical sample sentences should be corrected as Many people live in the street.

We play games at home or At home, we play games. It is another type of error made

by students in the learning of L2 due to the effect of differences in word order

between their mother tongue and the target language.

4.7 Similar Errors Made by Hong Kong Students of English

Chan (2003) is a study that investigated Cantonese influence on the learning of

English among Hong Kong students of English. Although our subjects live in

different cities with totally different learning environments, we surprisingly found that

the errors made by Hong Kong students and Harbin students of English are

syntactically similar, though not always the same. The two cities are thousands of

miles away from each other, and the most critical difference is that Hong Kong was

once a colony of the United Kingdom and it has been a famous international

English-speaking city for a long time, while Harbin is a developing city in Mainland

China. We propose that it is because the grammatical structures of Mandarin and

Cantonese are similar in major respects, although Mandarin and Cantonese are not

mutually intelligible (Matthews & Yip, 1994).

4.7.1 Wrong placement of prepositional phrases

In Chan (2003), wrong placement of prepositional phrases made by her subjects,

Hong Kong students of English, are found, as shown in (29) and (30) below, where

sentences A are written by Hong Kong students, and sentences B are written by

Harbin students in each group:

(29) A. We in my home playing TV games.

B. Many people in the street live.

(30) A. I with friend eat lunch.

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B. I with a smile fell asleep.

The prepositional phrases were put in the wrong position in the sentences which are

correct syntactically in the structure of Cantonese. In Cantonese, adjuncts showing

location are often preceded by the subject, but are followed by main verbs (Chan,

2003). But in English, prepositional phrases functioning as adverbials of location

should be placed either in the initial or final position of sentences. The target English

structure for sample sentence (29) should be We are playing TV games in my house or

In my house, we are playing TV games. Similarly, the target English structure for

sentence (30) should be I have lunch with my friend. According to our data, similar

wrong sentences exist in compositions written by Harbin students too. For instance,

Many people in the street live. I with a smile fell asleep. As with Cantonese,

adverbials showing location are often placed between subjects and main verbs in

Mandarin.

4.7.2 Wrong placement of adverbs

Hong Kong students of English also put adverbs functioning as adverbials in the

wrong position in sentences according to Chan (2003), and this is illustrated in (31)

and (32) below:

(31) I very like you.

(32) Father very love she.

According to Matthews and Yip (1994), Cantonese lacks a systematic means of

forming adverbs from adjectives; adjectives are used to express modification of the

verb or verb phrase, with the help of adverbial constructions which are in three main

forms:(a) verb-dāk-adjective; (b) adjective-gám-verb; (c) reduplicated

adjective-(déi)-verb. And for the adverbial construction (b), an adjective followed by

the adverbial gám ‗in this way‘ should be put before the verb. One of the examples

provided in Matthews and Yip (1994) to illustrate this point is shown in (33) below:

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(33) Keuih hou lau gam sau-jo sin

s/he very mad thus close-PFV line

‗He put the phone down furiously.‘ (1994:181)

Therefore, the sample sentence is correct in the structure of Cantonese, as it is in

Mandarin. But as we have mentioned above, normally ‗very much‘ is placed in the

final position in English. So the target English sentence for the sample sentence (31)

should be I like you very much.

4.7.3 Agreement

Errors of agreement are found in Chan (2003)‘s data, as shown below in (34) and

(35).

(34) A. She always read comic books.

B. He play the computer.

(35) A. My favorite colour are red and black.

B. I and she was four years‟ friends.

Chinese words cannot take different endings, so no grammatical agreement is

necessary or possible (Lexus, Li & Sanders, 1990). As one variety of Chinese,

Cantonese does not have the category of agreement markers either. Irrespective of

whether the subject is singular or plural, the verb can be compatible with it. The

sample sentence A in group (34) is produced by a student in Hong Kong. Although

the subject ‗she‘ is singular, the verb is still in its original form. It is simply word by

word translation from Cantonese. The subject ‗my favorite colour‘ is singular in the

sentence A in (35), but the verb ‗be‘ is in its plural form. In English, the linking verb

has different forms to agree with the subject or the tense of the sentence, but not the

object. However, the linking verb hai ‗be‘ in Cantonese is not constrained by this rule.

There are no morphological changes for the linking verb hai ‗be‘ in Cantonese. This

211

difference between English and Cantonese becomes an error source for Chinese

learners of English.

4.7.4 Extraneous verb „to be‟

High-school students in Harbin often make this error too, that having an extraneous

verb ‗to be‘ in the construction. We found this to be a very pervasive error in our data.,

as illustrated in (36) and (37).

(36) I am go lunch with Jenny.

(37) They were get together.

We have mentioned that there is no need for an equivalent of the verb ‗to be‘ in

Mandarin to link the subject and adjective. According to Matthews and Yip (1994),

the verb ‗to be‘ is not used with adjectives in Cantonese either, and adjectives behave

very much like verbs in functioning as predicates. However, according to the English

rule there must be the verb ‗to be‘ to link subjects and adjective, and an adjective in

itself can not function as a predicate. Chinese students try to apply this rule when they

construct English sentences, but the sentences they produce turn out to be different

from their L1 and also from the TL. We can, of course, still discern an L1 influence

on their learning of English.

5. Data analysis in the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG)

Having analyzed some common errors by applying CA between English and

Mandarin, this paper further analyzes errors of adverbial placement in the framework

of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) as introduced in works such as Bresnan 2001,

and Falk 2001, in order to better illustrate our arguments. LFG can help give a clearer

illustration of the placement of adverbials in the sample sentences and the

corresponding Mandarin and English sentences, because LFG recognizes two

syntactic levels of representation: Constituent structure (c-structure) and Functional

structure (f-structure). C-structure models dominance and precedence relations

whereas f-structure models syntactic predicate and argument structure relations. And

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according to Morimoto (2001), word order is an issue of concern at the c-structure. So

for each sample sentence, c-structure and f-structure are drawn for illustration. In the

following analysis, c-structure analysis precedes f-structure analysis, and following

the analysis of each sample sentence, c-structures and f-structures of the

corresponding Mandarin and English sentences are provided for comparison.

The first illustration is made with the sample sentence Father very love she.

Diagram 5.1 c-structure of sample sentence Father very love she.

I‘

AdvP

Adv‘

[pres]

N‘

NP

Adv

V‘

VP

V‘

Pron

I

NP

N‘

N

Father

V

very love she

IP

213

Diagram 5.2 c-structure of corresponding Mandarin sentence of Father very love she.

Bàbà fēicháng ài tā

Father very love she

‗Father loves her very much.‘

Diagram 5.3 c-structure of corresponding English sentence of Father very love she.

IP

I‘

AdvP

[pres]

N‘

NP

Adv

VP

V‘

V‘

Pron

I

NP

N‘

N

V

I‘

AdvP

Adv‘

[pres]

N‘

NP

Adv

IP

V‘

VP

V‘

Pron

I

NP

N‘

N

爸爸

V

非常爱她

214

Comparing these three tree diagrams, we can find that the c-structures in diagrams 5.1

and 5.2 are totally the same, that is the c-structures for the sample sentence and the

corresponding Mandarin sentence are the same. The difference between the first two

diagrams and the third diagram lies in the position of the AdvP. In diagram 5.1 and

5.2, the AdvP precedes V‘, while the AdvP in diagram 5.3 is immediately preceded by

V‘. The structure of the English sentence made by our subject is the same with the

structure of Mandarin, but different from the corresponding English sentence

structure.

Now let‘s look at the f-structure of the sample sentence Father very love she and

the corresponding Mandarin and English sentences.

Diagram 5.4 f-structure of the sample sentence Father very love she.

SUBJ PRED ‗father‘

TENSE PRES

PRED ‗LOVE< SUBJ, OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗PRO‘

PERS 3

NUM SG

GEND FAM

CASE NOM

ADJ PRED ‗very‘

Diagram 5.5 f-structure of the corresponding Mandarin sentence of Father very love

she.

SUBJ PRED ‗bàbà‘

PRED ‗ài< SUBJ, OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗PRO‘

PERS 3

NUM SG

GEND FAM

ADJ PRED ‗fēicháng‘

Father loves her Very much

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Diagram 5.6 f-structure of the corresponding English sentence of Father very love

she.

SUBJ PRED ‗father‘

TENSE PRES

PRED ‗LOVE< SUBJ, OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗PRO‘

PERS 3

NUM SG

GEND FAMI

CASE OBJT

ADJ PRED ‗very much‘

Although the c-structures in diagrams 5.1 and 5.2 are totally the same, the f-structures

are a little different. There is no case for the object in the f-structure of the

corresponding Mandarin sentence. It is because no distinction is made between

nominative and objective cases in Mandarin. However, the f-structure of the sample

sentence is also different from the f-structure of the corresponding English sentence in

the value of the case for the object. In diagram 5.4, the value of the case is nominative,

while it is objective in diagram 5.6. In English, a pronoun that functions as object in

one sentence should be in its objective form. As we have analyzed in section 4.3, the

subjects first received the nominative case of personal pronouns as the equivalent of

the Mandarin personal pronouns, and they don‘t need to distinguish between the

nominative and objective forms of pronouns in Mandarin, so they use nominative case

whenever a personal pronoun is needed

Having analyzed adverb case, this section continues the analysis of adverbials

with the prepositional phrase case. First, take the sample sentence shouldn‟t by bus or

under the sun look book. as a case study.

216

Diagram 5.7 c-structure of the sample sentence

Diagram 5.8 c-structure of the corresponding Mandarin sentence

不应该在公交车上或在太阳底下看书

I‘

AdvP

Adv‘

should

N‘

NP

Adv

IP

PP

P‘

P‘

VP

V‘

N

I

NP

P‘ conj

Ø

P

not bus

P

or

V‘

NP

D N‘

V NP

by under the sun look book

N

I‘

AdvP

Adv‘

Adv

IP

PP

P‘

P‘

VP

V‘

I‘ NP

P‘

conj

Ø

V‘

V NP

I

217

不应该在太阳地下或在太阳地下看书

Bù yīnggāi zàigōngjiāochēshàng huò zàitàiyángdǐxià kàn shū

NEG should PP or PP look book

‗We should not read books in the bus or under the sun.‘

Diagram 5.9 c-structure of the corresponding English sentence

We should not read books in the bus or under the sun

This sample sentence is more complex than the sample sentences analyzed above,

since three differences on the syntactic level can be found. Firstly, in the first two

diagrams there are no NPs functioning as subjects for the sample sentence and the

corresponding Mandarin sentence, while there is one in the third, diagram 5.9. In

Mandarin, a sentence without subject is still grammatical. But there must be a subject

in an English sentence. The subject is influenced by the topic-prominence-property of

Mandarin. Secondly, the positions of the negator ‗not‘ are different. In diagrams 5.7

and 5.9 for the sample sentence and the corresponding English sentence, ‗not‘ is

dominated by VP and is behind the inflection; In diagram 5.8 for the corresponding

Mandarin sentence, ‗not‘ is dominated by I‘ and is before the inflection. In English,

when the negation of a statement is formed by the negative word ‗not‘, and the

statement containing an auxiliary word, ‗not‘ comes after the auxiliary word, so in

diagram 5.9 for the corresponding English sentence, ‗not‘ is after the inflection

‗should‘. In Mandarin, however, the negative words generally precede the verb phrase

no matter what the verb phrase is composed of (Li and Thompson, 1981), and when

auxiliary verbs are contained in Mandarin sentences, the position of the negative

I‘

AdvP

Adv‘

Adv

IP

PP

P‘

VP

V‘

I

NP

P‘ conj

N’ V‘

V NP

Pron

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words is decided by the scope of the negation; ‗not‘ is either placed before the

auxiliary verbs or before the notional verbs. The following example is quoted from Li

and Thompson (1981: 421):

(38). wǒ bu néng qù

I not can go

‗I cannot go.‘

(39). wǒ néng bu qù

I can not go

‗I‘m capable of not going.‘

Thirdly, the position of PP in diagrams 5.7 and 5.8 is different from that in diagram

5.9. In diagrams 5.7 and 5.8 for the sample sentence and the corresponding Mandarin

sentence, PP is dominated by V‘ and precedes another V‘, but in diagram 5.9 for the

corresponding English sentence, PP is dominated by V‘ but follows another V‘. In

English, prepositional phrases functioning as adverbials of location, time and manner

should be placed either in the initial or final position of sentences. For the

corresponding English sentence, the PP must be placed at the final position. But in

Mandarin, a PP that functions as an adverbial is located just before the verb that it

modifies. The subject is influenced by his mother tongue, so he or she put PP before

the verb like we do in Mandarin. As a high school student, although the subject has

acquired some English rules which are different from Mandarin ones such as the

position of ‗not‘, he or she still can not get rid of the influence of his or her mother

tongue such as the position of adverbials, which is a good piece of evidence to support

the Interlanguage Hypothesis.

Again let‘s look at the f-structures of the sample sentence and the corresponding

Mandarin and English sentences.

219

Diagram 5.10 f-structure for the sample sentence

TENSE SHOULD

NEG +

PRED ‗look <OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗book‘

ADJ CONJ OR

PRED ‗by <OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗bus‘

PRED ‗under <OBJ>‘

OBJ DEF +

PRED ‗sun‘

Diagram 5.11 f-structure of the corresponding Mandarin sentence

TENSE SHOULD

NEG +

PRED ‗kàn <OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗shū‘

ADJ CONJ Huò Zhě

PRED ‗zài <OBJ> shàng‘

OBJ PRED ‗bus‘

PRED ‗zài <OBJ> xià‘

OBJ PRED ‗sun‘

Diagram 5.12 f-structure of the corresponding English sentence

SUBJ PRED ‗PRO‘

TENSE SHOULD

NEG +

PRED ‗look <SUBJ, OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗book‘

ADJ CONJ OR

PRED ‗by <OBJ>‘

OBJ PRED ‗bus‘

PRED ‗under <OBJ>‘

OBJ DEF +

PRED ‗sun‘

220

Obviously, the first two diagrams are different from the third one in that they don‘t

have the SUBJECT of attribute. The explanation here is that the student is influenced

by his or her L1 with regard to the SUBJECT rule. However, after carefully

comparing these three diagrams, we can notice that there is no attribute of DEF for the

second object in the adjunct, and one more constituent appears in each PRED value of

the adjuncts in the diagram 5.11 for the corresponding Mandarin sentence. If the

subject is completely influenced by Mandarin, there should be no definite article ‗the‘

before the noun ‗sun‘, and there should be one position indicator after each object in

the prepositional phrase. Again the Interlanguage system developed by the subject is

proved.

C-structures more clearly illustrate the different positions of the adverbials in the

sample sentences and the corresponding Mandarin and English sentences. They more

clearly show readers that L1 does influence the performance of the subject in

producing L2 structures, while the similarities shown in the f-structures of the sample

sentences and the corresponding Mandarin and English indicate that the errors in the

sample sentences do not substantially affect the meaning that the subjects want to

express.

6. Conclusion

In this study, we have contrasted Mandarin and English on some points with regard to

the common errors found in our data. We have outlined these common errors made by

Harbin students, and have analyzed errors of adverbial placement in LFG. Now, it‘s

time to respond to the two research questions posed earlier, and restated below:

i. Are the common errors made by high school learners of English in Harbin mainly

due to the influence of their native language (NL)?

ii. Is the influence of L1 on the learning of English reduced when students get higher

proficiency in English?

221

6.1 NL Influence on the Learning of English

Through the contrastive study of Mandarin and English on the common errors we

found in our data, we can see that these errors actually result from the influence of L1,

such as errors of adverbial placement. According to the data, we can see the different

placements of adverbials in these two languages, so we find that the positions of

adverbials in the sample sentences are actually the positions in the corresponding

Mandarin sentences. An example is the position of ‗very‘ in the sample sentence,

Father very love she. Just as Lado (1957) claimed more that fifty years ago,

individuals tend to transfer the distribution of forms and meanings of their native

language to the foreign language. The subjects transferred the distribution of

adverbials of Mandarin to the English. Not only the distribution of adverbials, but

some other syntactic structures of Mandarin are transferred too, so the sentences the

subjects produced are the word by word translation of the corresponding Mandarin

sentences. One may argue that Harbin students of English are influenced by their L1

because they have less exposure to English in Harbin, but according to Chan‘s data

(2003) and our analysis of these data in section 4.7, Hong Kong students of English

also make similar errors and they are made because of the influence of Cantonese,

although Hong Kong is an international city where there is a better English learning

environment for students there. For example, one of the sample sentences in the data

of Chan (2003) I with friend eat lunch is the exact translation from the corresponding

Cantonese sentence.

To sum up, the common errors made by high school learners of English in Harbin

are mainly due to the influence of their native language (NL). While this position

appears non-controversial and incontrovertible, there have been suggestions in the

literature that L1 transfer may be extremely restricted in L2 acquisition (e.g. Eubank,

1994; Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 1994) and so the kind of study we have

undertaken here, bringing data from a language learning environment that has not

been previously studied, is needed to respond effectively to such skepticism about the

overarching influence of L1 in L2 acquisition.

222

6. 2 Influence of L1 and Proficiency of L2

Comparing errors made by the two groups of subjects in Harbin, we can find that the

number of these common errors made by the first year students exceeds those by the

senior students except in the case of predicate omission. Frequency counts have been

done for each of the twenty pieces of compositions in each group, as shown in table

6.1.

Table 6.1

First -year (times/piece) Senior (times/piece)

Errors of adverbial

placement

1.15 0.05

Lack of agreement 0.85 0.55

Subject omission 0.5 0.1

Predicate omission 0.25 0.3

Extraneous verb ‗to be‘ 1.15 0.05

Errors of pronoun 0.65 0.05

Referring to table 6.1, except for the errors of predicate omission, the other errors

occur more frequently in the first year students‘ compositions than the senior

students‘ ones, and the frequency of wrong placements of adverbials and extraneous

verb ‗to be‘ in first year students‘ compositions is even 1.1 times higher than those in

the senior students‘ ones. Errors of adverbial placement, extraneous verb ‗to be‘ and

pronouns rarely occur in the senior students‘ compositions, only one case occurs

among twenty pieces of compositions. After nearly two years‘ learning of English,

and with teachers‘ correction and their own efforts, the subjects got higher proficiency

in English, so they made fewer errors as listed in the table above. Although their L1

influence on the learning of English still exists, the influence got reduced. Much L1

influence is noticeable in the early stage when students‘ proficiency of English is still

low.

223

So it is demonstrated, from these statistics, that the influence of L1 on the learning

of English gets reduced when students get into higher proficiency levels of English.

6.3 How can teachers use CA and EA in the classroom to overcome negative L1

influence?

English has been taught as a foreign language and as a subject of knowledge in

Harbin over a long period of time. English teachers are trained to teach, focusing on

their knowledge of English. After reviewing and applying some SLA theories in this

paper, we realize that applying SLA theories to our foreign language teaching and

learning will be of great significance to teachers in gaining a good understanding of

the nature of languages and in grasping the rules of language teaching and learning.

Interlanguage factors and errors are natural and inevitable in the process of

learning a foreign or second language, so rather than just criticizing learners or

blaming themselves, teachers should make good use of these errors by analyzing them

to identify what difficulties students usually experience when they learn a language

according to EA and CA.

To collect data, teachers can take steps in EA research as suggested by Corder

(1974) to collect their own data when teaching their own students. This would involve

first compiling a representative sample of compositions, subject to research ethics,

particularly with regards to consent and privacy. During the process of identifying

errors, teachers could interview students to eliminate mere slips, leaving in only errors,

though this could be a quite difficult and subtle task. Having identified what

difficulties students usually have by using EA, language teachers can explain

beforehand these common errors to students with lower proficiency levels of the

language, so that the students can avoid these errors. After describing and classifying

the errors identified in students‘ compositions, teachers could conduct contrastive

studies based on CA, referring to the classification of the errors, to see if they were

influenced by the students‘ native language, and to explain them if that were the case;

so besides knowledge of the target languages, language teachers should also pay

attention to the equivalent knowledge of their native languages so as to do

224

comparative and contrastive studies of the two languages. Equipped with this body of

knowledge, teachers could alert their students to the main troubling differences to

help them overcome potential negative influences. When teaching English grammar

in the classroom, teachers could also bring in relevant Chinese grammar and specify

the difference between English and Chinese to make the grammar teaching more

effective. Teachers can guide students to use CA and EA too, so students could bring

out positive transfer and get rid of negative transfer all by themselves. Peer

assessment could be tried out in this process to make students more aware of the

errors and reflect more on their own production.

Language teachers have golden opportunities to do longitudinal studies on

language development of the same students at different points in time. Studying their

own students, they can provide detailed background information of these students

who serve as subjects; teachers‘ analysis would then be made more precise by

interviewing their subjects at critically appropriate times during this period of

language learning.

6.4 Suggestions for Future Research

This study was done on two groups of subjects with two different proficiency levels in

a high school in Harbin, China. For prospective researchers who are interested in this

topic, three groups of subjects with three levels of proficiency are suggested, that is,

future research could include another group of subjects in Middle School to assist in a

more terraced comparison of the data.

Further still, data was collected from the first year and senior students‘

compositions randomly, and we were not teaching them ourselves when we analyzed

their compositions, so we are naturally unable to provide very detailed background

information, such as psychological influence on their writing, and the development or

otherwise of individual subjects over a period of time in the learning process. So data

collected from the same population at different points in time, i.e., a longitudinal

study, is suggested for future research.

225

Notes

1. According to Yip & Rimmington (2004), there are some action verbs which may

require plural subjects, although generally most action verbs are compatible with a

subject of any number. For example:

我们共事了两年。

Wǒmēn gòngshì lē liǎngnián.

We worked together PERF two years.

共事 gòngshì ‗work together‘requires the involvement of more than one party, so the

subject must be a plural one.

2. Manner adverbials realized by adverb phrases with a derived adverb in –ly as head

may also immediately precede the lexical verb if they do not receive the information

focus. For instance: She calmly put down her book and quietly left the room. (Jan A.

van Ek & Nico J. Robat,1984).

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Errors listed in the following six tables are made by first year students in Harbin.

229

Table 1

Sample sentences Lack of agreement

1 He is my good friends.

Lack of agreement

in number of nouns

2 We are friend forever.

3 We are best friend.

4 I think this job give me a exercises.

5 I invited a lot of good friend of me

6 I and she was four years‘ friend.

7 She had a big eyes.

8 He has two big hand.

9 He has a big ears.

10 We are only friend.

11 Use your eyes one or two hour after.

12 All the student are truly grateful to teach(er) and parents for them

help.

13 He often teach me. Lack of

morphological

agreement of verbs

with subjects

14 I think this job give me a exercises.

15 I and she was four years‘ friend.

16 Father very love she.

17 Every present are all very nice.

Table 2

Sample sentences Error

1 He has a big ears, ∧very beautiful.

Subject omission

2 He works very hard, ∧make money for me.

3 ∧use your eyes one or two hour after, ∧should rest.

4 ∧shouldn‘t go to the bed with look book.

5 ∧shouldn‘t by bus or under the sun look book.

6 ∧should use cool boiled water to wash.

7 If ∧can‘t to help, ∧should to see doctor.

8 He takes an active part in PE, and ∧has a good body.

9 He has a clearly destination in studying, ∧has a good habit in

studying.


help, and V gave greeting card to teacher.

Table 3


1 His home∧ not poor.

Predicate omission 2 My brother∧ as the same as me.

3 He ∧not only cool but also care about his friends

4 She ∧only 162cm.

230

5 If something ∧into your eyes.

Table 4


1 We were get together.

Extraneous verb ‗to

be‘

2 They were very love me

3 They are said: ―this is a little present‖.

4 Sixteen years old birthday was means I was grow up.

5 I must be know parents‘ heart than before.

6 She was study hard at night.

7 We were very like song.

8 We are song many songs.

9 They are will give a good price.

10 Sometime we are play football.

11 We are study together.

12 My friends and my parents are all bought present for me.

13 I‘m very like her eyes.

14 I‘m very like heard her song.

15 I am very love her.

16 I‘m very thank for him.

17 She is very very love me.

18 I‘m very very like my mother.

19 I‘m very miss she.

20 I‘m learn her English and Chinese.

21 She is understand me.

22 We are hold a 18 grown-up ceremony in our school on yesterday.

23 At last, we are make demonstration programme.

Table 5


1 I meet he at the junior middle school.

Wrong personal

pronoun cases

2 I love she forever.


4 I‘m very favorite she.

5 I don‘t catch up with he.

6 I admired he.


8 I don‘t forget she

9 She name is Xiao Feng.

Wrong possessive

determiners

10 She‘s name is Guan Lifeng.


help.

231

12 We friendly is forever.

13 I invited a lot of good friend of me. Wrong possessive

pronoun

Table 6

Sample sentences adverbials

1 They were very love me.

Wrong placement

of adverbs

Tiger every day must eat meat.

2 You have to hard study for us

3 I‘m very like her eye.

4 We were very like song.

5 I‘m very like heard her song.

6 I‘m very love her.

7 I‘m very thank for him.

8 She is very very love me.

9 I‘m very very like my mother.



12 Father and mother are very love their son.

13 I‘m very favorite she.

14 Yesterday I was very happy and with a smile fall asleep.

Wrong placement

of prepositional

phrases

15 Shouldn‘t by bus or under the sun look book.

16 I with my friends went shopping.

17 We are by bus back to home.

18 We at home play games.

19 We are by bus go home.

20 We at the my home watching TV.

21 I with meat go bed.

22 We are in my home to play computer games.

23 I by bus go to home at 7:00 pm.

Appendix 2

Errors made by senior students in Harbin

Table 1

Sample sentences Lack of agreement

1 More than two million people lost their lifes. Lack of agreement

in number of nouns 2 Many building were flowed away.

3 Every classes give them money.

232

4 More (than) 200,000 people lose their life.

5 The buildings was damaged by the tsunami.

Lack of

morphological

agreement of verbs

with subjects

6 The buildings was broken down.

7 More than 200,000 people is killed by the accident.

8 Many people is dying.

9 Every classes give them money.

10 Hope every class dovate (donate) money and necessities.

11 If everyone give a hand to the people who need help, the world will be

more and more beautiful.

Table 2


1 A terrible tsunami attact (attack) the ocean area. ∧Lead to destruction

of many countries. Subject omission

2 ∧Hope every classes dovate (donate) money and necessisities

Table 3


1 You can also take out your old clothes and which ∧small for you.

Predicate omission

2 If we everyone make a contribution to help the people who ∧in

trouble.

3 The hungry∧ around them.

4 That ∧to say the people who ∧healthy will be died.

5 When we ∧in our classroom that filled with sunshine, a lot of

children have no food to eaten, no place to sleep.

6 They∧ hungry, angry and illed.

Table 4

Sample sentence Error

1 They are lack of medicine and food. Extraneous verb ‗to

be‘

Table 5


1 I hope all the students can carry (give) out yours necessities or money

for them

Wrong possessive

determiner.

Table 6


1 Many people in the street live days and nights. Adverbial

233

Appendix 3

Similar errors made by Hong Kong students and Harbin students

Errors made by HK students made by Harbin students

Placement

of adverbs

I very like my eyes because it is bit.

I very love to play computer games.

I very like you.

I‘m very like her eye.

I‘m very like heard her song.

Father very love she.

Placement

of

prepositional

phrase

We in my home playing TV games.

I with friend eat lunch.

I am at half past seven by bus go to

school.

I with my friend, king and Eric to

restaurant for lunch.

I am by MTR go to school.

I by bus to go to school every morning.

Every morning, at about seven o‘clock, I

go to school by LRT.

I with my friend go to swimming pool

swimming.

I with my friends to to playground play

badminton.

I am at half past three by bus go home.

At lunch, I with friends eat lunch

Yesterday I was very happy and with

a smile fall asleep.

Shouldn‘t by bus or under the sun

look book.

Many people in the street live days

and nights.

I with my friends went shopping.

We at home play games.

We are by bus go home.

We at the my home watching TV.

I with meat go bed.

We are in my home to play computer

games.

I by bus go to home at 7:00pm.

Agreement My favourite lessons are Chinese and

English, because it is funny, not

boring.

My favourite colour are red and black.

My favourite sport are playing badminton

and swimming.

She always read comic books.

I and she was four years‘ friend.

Every present are all very nice.

The buildings was broken down.

Every classes give them money.

Many people is dying.

He often teach me.

Extraneous

verb ‗to be‘

I am walk to school at 7:30 p.m.

I am go lunch with Jenny.

I was buy a model car yesterday.

We are study together.

I‘m very love her.

She was study hard at night.

234

Children’s achievement in two second languages: The roles of gender,

language use domains and beliefs.

Harshita Aini Haroon, PhD

Universiti Utara, Malaysia

Azlina Murad Sani, PhD

Universiti Utara, Malaysia

Bio data:

Harshita Aini Haroon is a senior lecturer at Universiti Utara Malaysia. She holds a PhD

from the University of Leeds. She trains TESL teachers at the university College of

Arts and Sciences. Her major research interests are trilingualism and content-based

instruction.

Azlina Murad Sani is an associate professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia. She holds a

PhD from Reading University. She trains TESL teachers at the university College of

Arts and Sciences. Her major research interests are applied linguistics and second

language reading.

Abstract

The study investigated associations between young children‘s gender, language use

and language learning beliefs, with their achievement in two second languages.

Contextualised within a learning situation where 9-11 year olds attend school and

learn two second languages, one of which is also the school medium of instruction,

data were gathered by means of a questionnaire, and from school records.

Achievements in all the three languages were found to positively correlate with each

other. Gender findings support previous findings on girls‘ dominance in languages,

and significant differences were noted in the children‘s language achievements based

on the languages they use at home and at school. Significant associations with English

achievement were also observed in particular language learning beliefs and

communication strategies.

Keywords: Trilingual, two second languages, home language, school language,

second language achievement

235

1. Introduction

In 1999, a Malaysian English national newspaper reported that ―an increasing number

of non-Chinese parents are enrolling their children in Chinese schools because of the

high standard of science and mathematics‖ (―Non-Chinese in Chinese Schools‖,

1999). Statistics show that there are more than 600,000 students in 1,209 Chinese

medium schools in Malaysia. 10% of these are non-Chinese. As reported in The New

Straits Times (1999, p.6), ―it was now a normal thing‖ for Malay students to attend

Chinese schools.

The participation of Malay students in Chinese-medium schools has resulted in a

phenomenon where the children learn three languages at school, two of which are

second languages. This is almost similar to what Hoffman (2001) terms as

‗trilingualism through schooling‘, though she specifically used it to mean the learning

of the third language through schooling. In settling for ‗correct‘ terminology to

address the linguistic situation we have at hand, we tend to agree with Hoffman (2001,

p.5) that ―trilinguals vary from one another in many different ways, and that the word

―trilingual‖ can only be used as a blanket term‖. One indication of this variation is the

increasingly used term of plurilingual, especially in European contexts, where a

plurilingual person has ―a repertoire of language and language varieties‖ and

―competences of different kinds and levels within the repertoire‖ (Language Policy

Division, Council of Europe, 2006, p.5). In the particular context under study, Malay,

which is the children‘s mother tongue, and English, are both learnt as a subject, while

Mandarin is learnt as a subject and also serves as the school medium of instruction.

With multilingualism becoming more and more the norm in the increasingly

globalised world, there is pressing need to investigate simultaneous acquisition of

more than one second language (L2, from here on) in the school setting. To date, none

as yet has been forthcoming on Malay children learning three languages at school.

Acquiring two second languages is not uncommon in Malaysian schools, such as the

case in point. In the absence of such research, schools, parents and policy makers can

only refer to existing studies to guide them in their decision-making. The studies,

however, may not be apt given that the contexts in which they have been conducted

236

may not necessarily be similar to the linguistic and educational situations present in

the Malaysian context. In order for parents and teachers to make informed choices and

decisions regarding the education of budding trilinguals in Malaysia, studies have to

be conducted to address relevant issues in the Malaysian linguistic environment.

2. First language and development of subsequent language(s)

The learner‘s first or native language (L1, from here on) and her L2 have been

consistently found to be in a complementary relationship, rather than mutually

exclusive (Cummins, 1979). Language skills are transferred from one language to

another, and the relationship is one that is reciprocal, giving support to a common

underlying proficiency (Cummins, 1984) and is expressed in the interdependence

hypothesis, which states that

To the extent that instruction in Lx is effective in promoting

proficiency in Lx, transfer of this proficiency to Ly will occur provided

there is adequate exposure to Ly (either in school or environment) and

adequate motivation to learn Ly (Cummins, 1984, p.41).

Cummins‘ (1984) hypothesis received extensive support in the form of empirical

works. Research on the links between L1 and L2 development are numerous,

conducted across the globe in various second and foreign language learning contexts,

emphasizing both on general language development as well as specific language skills.

Collier (1989), for example, found that developing bilinguals‘ cognitive foundation in

their L1 will assist with the learner‘s L2 academic skills. She also contended that

transfer from the L1 to the L2 involves aspects such as academic skills, literacy

development, concept formation, subject knowledge, and learning strategies (Collier,

1995), and that as students expand their skills in the L2, they increasingly demonstrate

knowledge base developed in their L1. Hakuta (1987) found a pattern of increasing

correlation between Spanish and English vocabulary scores in a longitudinal study of

Puerto Rican children in bilingual education programs. Similar findings surfaced in

237

Snow (1987), who, based on a cross-sectional study, reported high levels of

cross-language correlations in proficiency measures of two languages in bilinguals.

Cummins et al. (1984), in their study of Japanese students reading proficiency, found

that there was significant correlation between proficiencies in the students‘ mother

tongue and English reading. In a much later study, Ramirez (1992), investigating the

second language (English) development of Latino elementary school children in

America, found that the efficacy of the students‘ L1 development had a role to play in

the development of English (L2). In view of such close relationship between L1 and

L2, a question that begs to be asked at this point, however, is ―where does another

second language fit in, in this reciprocal language learning process?‖.

The answer to the above question may be guided by numerous factors, one of

which may be ‗gender‘. Studies have reported on the role of gender in successful

language learning and achievement (Bailey, Onwuegbuzie & Daly, 2000;

Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991; Medina, 1993; Chambers, 1995; Tannen, 1991). On

the whole, females have been in the advantaged position, usually doing a lot better, be

it in general language achievement (Bailey, Onwuegbuzie & Daly, 2000), or in the

achievement of specific language skills (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991; Medina,

1993). Verbal abilities for boys and girls have been reported to be similar from

pre-school to early adolescence (Bjorklund & Frankel, as cited in Medina, 1993), but

where there are differences, girls are favoured. The authors also maintained that girls‘

verbal superiority emerges by age 11, and continues to increase through high school.

From the socialization perspective, the superiority has been attributed to females‘

stronger motivation and desire to conform to social structures and norms through

language; and that females are more sensitive in their language use (Chambers, 1995;

Tannen, 1991).

Another factor which may help explain the relationships between L1, L2 and

another second language or a third language is the learning domain/context. Several

studies have investigated trilinguals‘ language use at home and at school (Dagenais &

Day, 1998, 1999; Barron-Hauwaert, 2003; Hufeisen, 2000). In the home front, it was

found that the use of L1 is promoted at home for children who are in school L3

238

immersion program (Dagenais & Day, 1999). In cases where situations required the

necessity for trilingualism (such as social demands), language choice was determined

by particular situations, and that language mixing seemed to be common

(Barron-Hauwaert, 2003). As for the school context, Dagenais and Day (1998) found

that trilinguals were aware of the benefits being trilingual brought to them. Each

language, like in the home situation, had specific purposes and is used with specific

‗audiences‘. Third language learners in tertiary level education have also been found

to be more competent and confident due to their wealth of experience, and this

afforded them with the ability to anticipate and recognize difficulties, which in turn,

assists them to become better language learners (Hufeisen, 2000).

A further factor worth investigating is learner beliefs, which have been shown to

play a significant role in language learning (Horwitz, 1985, 1988; Mantle-Bromley,

1995; Peacock, 1998; Breen, 2001). The power of language learning belief is summed

rather neatly by Horwitz (1990), who maintained that students who enroll in language

classes usually have preconceived beliefs that will affect their performance in the

classes. In addition, their perceptions of how easy it is to learn foreign languages seem

to be important indicators of their predisposition to experience language learning

difficulties. Learner beliefs have also been shown to be context-specific, through

findings in studies conducted by Cotterall (1995), Sakui and Gaeis (1999), Chawhan

and Oliver (2000) and Kim-Yoon (2000).

While studies are numerous in the areas of gender, language use domains and

learner beliefs (as discussed earlier), and their roles in language achievement, more

work is needed on these factors in contexts where two second languages are learnt in

an immersion school setting.

3. Aims

Focusing on children who learn three languages at the same time, one of which is

their mother tongue, while the other two as school subjects, inclusive of one also

being the school medium of instruction, specific aims of the study were to:

239

1) identify the relationship between trilinguals‘ achievement in all three languages

(Malay, Mandarin & English),

2) investigate if there are significant differences in trilinguals‘ English (L2a)1 and

Mandarin (L2b) achievement based on gender, languages used at home, languages

used at school, and language learning beliefs.

The findings of this study will contribute to an understanding of the association

between the variables investigated and young trilinguals‘ achievement in two second

languages. More importantly, it may provide clues to both parents and teachers in

making choices and decisions regarding the education of trilinguals of this nature in

Malaysia.

4. Operational definitions

‗Trilinguals‘ in this study refers to Malay children who attend Chinese primary

schools and take Malay, Mandarin and English as school subjects. While Malay is

their mother tongue (L1), both English (L2a) and Mandarin (L2b) hold second

language status to these children. While exposure to these languages outside of school

does not serve as a problem, especially with wide television coverage of programmes

in both languages, use is rather limited as the children come from homes where Malay

is largely used (as data will show later). In cases where Malay children do speak

Mandarin at home, observation shows that it is usually because one of the parents

speaks the language at home. ‗Language achievement‘ refers to the trilinguals‘ results

in the school mid-semester 2005 Malay, English and Mandarin examination papers. In

all these examinations, skills tested were reading, writing and grammar. ‗Language

learning beliefs‘ are represented by items (adapted from Horwitz, 1985) under the

areas of foreign language aptitude, difficulty of language learning, and learning and

communicative strategies.

5. Participants

Two hundred and six Malay children between Years 3 and 5 (aged 9-11) from thirteen

(13) urban schools in Kedah were chosen as sample for the study. The study was

240

confined to urban areas only. The ‗urban‘ status was determined by reference to

categorization by the State Education Department. A caveat is put forward here that

the categorization describes the geographical location of the school. It does not alter

the fact that from the socio-economic perspective, Kedah is a rural state by

comparison to more upward ones, such as Selangor or Penang. In addition, even in an

urban school, one can still find children from rural households, as is the case of many

of the children in this study (as measured by household income, data for which are not

presented due to lack of direct relevance to the main objective of study).

6. Methodology

Data for this study were obtained from a survey incorporating all of the items above,

as well as demographic information. Upon identification of the respondents and

schools, a letter was sent out to each school, requesting for consent to conduct the

research in the school and informing them of the impending visit. In the letter, the

researchers also requested for the school to prepare a place for the survey. Together

with the letter was also a form in which the school was required to enter particular

details, which were: the identified students‘ marks in their mid-semester Malay,

Mandarin and English paper, their respective parents‘ occupation and education level,

and their parents‘ income(s). The details were requested from the school directly as

it was felt that more accurate information would be obtained in this way (from school

records), in comparison to eliciting the information from the students themselves.

Data collection was done by the researchers‘ colleagues and a research assistant.

Permission was sought from each school to place the students together in a room

separate from their mainstream (original) classes for the purpose of answering the

questionnaire, in order to avoid distracting other students and them being distracted

by other students. To ensure students‘ full participation, questions were phrased both

in Malay and Mandarin. The students were briefed about the purpose of the study, and

the researchers provided the option for a teacher from the school to be present while

the survey took place. It was stressed to the students that the survey was not a test or

an exam and that they can answer whatever they wished to in the questionnaire. They

241

were also informed of the confidentiality of their responses. The survey took about 40

minutes to administer. Responses to the survey were then examined, coded, and

keyed-in for further analysis.

The questions for this study came from two parts of a bigger study: Part A

contained student background information and Part B comprised items regarding

students‘ language learning beliefs. In Part A, there were eight questions, four of

which required the respondents to fill in the blanks with appropriate answers. The

questions asked for their age, gender, year of schooling and the name of their school.

These function as ‗warm-up‘ questions for the children, to ease them into the task.

The last four questions required the respondent to nominate the answer that best fits

their situation in terms of language use i.e., which language they speak most and the

least both at home and at school. Language learning beliefs, in Part B, contained

nineteen questions within three sub-scales: foreign language aptitude, difficulty of

language learning, and learning and communication strategies. These scales were

adapted from the original The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)

by Horwitz (1987). The reliability of the BALLI tested by previous studies (Yang,

1992; Truitt, 1995; Kuntz, 1996) reported Cronbach‘s alpha coefficients ranging

from .61 to .69. The original BALLI covered assessment of student beliefs in five

major components: foreign language aptitude, difficulty of language learning,

motivations and expectations, the nature of language learning, and learning and

communication strategies. The three sub-scales used in this study are defined as the

following: (1) foreign language aptitude: ―the general existence of specialized abilities

for language learning and beliefs about the characteristics of more or less successful

language learners‖ (Horwitz, 1987, p.122) (6 items); (2) difficulty of language

learning: the difficulty of learning a language, in general and specifically, English and

Mandarin (5 items), and (3) learning and communication strategies: ―the process of

learning a language and the practice of spontaneous communication‖ (Horwitz, 1987,

p.124) (8 items). The decision not to include items from the BALLI component of

motivations and expectations was driven by the fact that the students attended a

Chinese-medium school out of choice, i.e., either they decided by themselves, or their

242

parents chose to send them there. This led the authors to assume that some level of

motivation, whether instrumental or integrative, was present. As for the exclusion of

items on the nature of language learning, the questions were thought not to be very

relevant in the fact that they focused on cultural issues (which were addressed by the

immersion setting) and learning strategies (which would be addressed in classroom

learning).

A 4-point scale was used with the following options: extremely disagree -

disagree - agree - extremely agree. The decision on the number of options was made

in consideration of the fact that the participants were children and that study has found

that four response items were optimal with children as respondents (Borgers, Hox &

Sikkel, 2004). The respondents were asked to circle the answer they felt most

comfortable with. Sample item for each sub-scale is shown below:

Foreign language aptitude (Item 9):

Some people have a special ability for learning foreign languages.

Difficulty of language learning (Item 16):

English is an easy language.

Learning and communication strategies (Item 26):

I enjoy practising Mandarin with people who can speak it well.

As the BALLI was designed to capture the beliefs of language learners about their

own language learning, a single composite score is not derived from the BALLI, as

individual items yield descriptions of discrete student conceptions of language

learning (Horwitz, 1988).

Back-translation was necessary to ensure that the questions posed to the students

are easily understood, without deviating from the original intended meaning.

Back-translation procedures suggested by Brislin (1970, 1980) were used. The

English version of the instrument was initially translated to Malay by the lead

243

researcher. The Malay translation was then checked by the other researcher, who is

bilingual and well-versed on the constructs. Translation to Mandarin was undertaken

by an expert whose mother tongue is a Chinese-dialect, which was then checked by

another Mandarin-proficient colleague. Discrepancies arising during the

back-translation process were addressed. It was found that in order to ensure that

original intended meanings were unchanged, structural modifications were required in

places to meet the requirements of both Malay and Mandarin.

7. Data analysis

Once the data were captured, frequency counts and percentages were calculated. In

addition, Pearson Correlation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) procedures were

carried out to establish significant statistical differences. Descriptive analysis of the

participants is presented in Table 1. There were slightly more female students than

male, and while the number of students in Years 3 and 4 are almost the same, fewer

numbers of students participated from the Year 5 group.

Table 1

Respondents‘ profile

Variable n %

Gender Male

Female

98

108

47.6

52.4

School Year Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

79

74

53

38.3

36.4

25.2

Most spoken home

language

Malay

Mandarin

189

10

91.7

4.9

244

English 7 3.4

Least spoken home language Malay

Mandarin

English

6

98

102

2.9

47.6

49.5

Most spoken school language Malay

Mandarin

English

8

195

3

3.9

94.7

1.5

Least spoken school language Malay

Mandarin

English

65

3

138

31.6

1.5

67.0

It appears that in the home domain, the language the respondents most spoke,

unsurprisingly, was Malay, given that it is their L1. The least spoken home language

was English, which indicates that Mandarin, although not widely spoken, was in place

in some of the participants‘ home repertoire. The language, in the school front, was

the most widely spoken, while English, again, is the least used.

Figures in Table 2 reveal that the children are generally better achievers in their

L1, followed by their L2a (English), which is learnt as a school subject, which in turn

is trailed by their L2b (Mandarin), which is a school subject and the school medium of

instruction. The Pearson correlation test was used to identify if significant

relationships exist between the achievements in the three languages. Positive

significant relationships were found in the achievement in all the three languages, as

shown in Table 3. Stronger correlation was found between English and Malay

achievement (.812), than between both English and Mandarin (.684), and Mandarin

and Malay (.624). Separate tests were also run to investigate differences in

245

achievement based on gender, school year, and languages spoken at home and at

school.

Table 2

Respondents‘ Language Achievement

Language achievement N Mean SD

Malay 206 65.47 22.74

Mandarin 206 31.16 23.78

English 206 56.74 19.87

Table 3

Correlations between language achievements

Language achievement (1) (2) (3)

(1) Malay 1.00

(2) Mandarin .624** 1.00

(3) English .812** .684** 1.00

**p<0.01

7.1 Gender and language achievement in two second languages

Testing for gender differences, significant statistical differences were found in both

female and male students‘ Mandarin and English achievement, as shown in Table 4.

A comparison of means reveal that for Mandarin, the means for female students were

higher than for the males (M= 38.55 vs. 23.01; SD=21.37 vs. 14.24; t = -6.07, p<0.01).

246

A similar pattern was also evident with English achievement, i.e., females

outperforming males: (M= 63.43 vs. 49.37; SD=20.88 vs. 24.69; t = -4.42, p<0.01).

Table 4

Differences in achievement by gender

N mean SD t p

Mandarin M

F

98

108

23.01

38.55

14.24

21.37

-6.07 .00**

English M 98 49.37 24.69 -4.42 .00**

F 108 63.43 20.88

**p<0.01

7.2 Home and school languages, and language achievement in two second languages

To identify languages used at home and at school, the survey required the trilinguals

to indicate which of the three languages i.e., Malay, Mandarin and English, they used

most and the least in the two social domains. Descriptive data and remarks on this

have been made earlier, and presented in Table 1. The ANOVA test was run to check

if languages spoken at home and at school contributed towards significant differences

in the participants‘ language achievement. Table 5 shows that there is significant

difference in Mandarin achievement, based on the trilingual home language use

(p= .011, significant at 0.05 level).

Table 5

Differences in achievement by language most spoken at home

Achievement Language most

spoken at home

N mean SD df F p

247

Mandarin Malay

Mandarin

English

189

10

7

29.95

42.02

48.21

18.81

31.22

19.08

2,203 4.572 .011*

English Malay

Mandarin

English

189

10

7

55.72

63.50

74.71

23.50

27.93

18.87

2,203 2.617 .075

*p<0.05

To establish which particular language most spoken impacted on the difference in

Mandarin achievement, a post-hoc test was run. Significant differences were found in

the Mandarin achievement of those who spoke Malay most at home and those who

spoke Mandarin most at home (p=.042, significant at .05 level). There were no

significant differences in English achievement however, based on language most used

at home. In addition, significant differences in the achievement of both languages

were not found based on the language(s) least spoken at home, as seen in Table 6.

Table 6

Differences in achievement by language least spoken at home

Achievement Language least

spoken at home

N mean SD df F p

Mandarin Malay

Mandarin

English

6

98

102

38.00

32.34

29.61

24.23

20.15

19.39

2,203 .837 .435

English Malay 6 61.66 25.85 2,203 1.71 .813

248

Mandarin

English

98

102

59.63

53.67

23.42

23.85

Significant differences in achievement also prevailed, based on language most spoken

at school. Significant difference in Mandarin achievement was found, based on the

language the trilinguals used most at school (p= .027, significant at 0.05 level) (Table

7).

Table 7

Differences in achievement by language most spoken at school

Achievement Language most

spoken at school

N mean SD df F p

Mandarin Malay

Mandarin

English

8

195

3

14.87

32.03

17.66

8.72

20.00

3.88

2,203 4.572 .027*

English Malay

Mandarin

English

8

195

3

41.50

57.59

42.33

25.93

23.63

12.50

2,203 2.617 .098

*p<0.05

To establish which particular language most spoken had an impact on the difference

in Mandarin achievement, a post-hoc test was run. Significant differences were found

in the Mandarin achievement of those who spoke Malay most at school and those who

spoke Mandarin most at school (p=.043, significant at .05 level). Significant

249

differences in English achievement, again did not prevail, based on language most

used at school. In addition, as with the language(s) least spoken at home, significant

differences in the achievement of both languages were not found, based on the

language(s) least spoken at school (Table 8).

Table 8

Differences in achievement by language least spoken at school

Achievement Language least

spoken at school

N mean SD df F p

Mandarin Malay

Mandarin

English

65

3

138

31.57

16.00

31.29

19.03

6.76

20.39

2,203 .889 .413

English Malay

Mandarin

English

65

3

138

56.62

33.00

57.31

22.85

13.07

24.23

2,203 1.544 .216

Comparing data in Tables 5 and 6, it appears that if a child spoke Mandarin most at

home, she would achieve better in that language than if she were to use it the least

compared to the other languages in that particular social domain. Similar observation

can be seen for English achievement, with regard to English use at home. While a

similar pattern is captured in Mandarin achievement in relation to languages used at

school, the results are rather confusing with English achievement. Data seem to

suggest that if a child spoke English the least at school, she would have a better

chance to achieve in the language, compared to if she were to use it more at school.

Generally, there seems to be an indication (albeit weak due to lack of statistical

250

significance) that the use of a particular language in either domains may have some

links with achievement in that language.

7.3 Relationship between students‟ language learning beliefs, and their Mandarin and

English achievement

Nineteen items were used in the survey to elicit responses from the participants on

their language learning beliefs, specifically pertaining to the areas of foreign language

aptitude, difficulty in language learning, and learning and communication strategies.

While a four-point Likert scale was utilized in the survey instrument, the analysis

collapsed the results into ‗agree‘ and ‗disagree‘. For all the three areas investigated,

the results do not seem to be controversial.

For foreign language aptitude, generally, it seems that the trilinguals were positive

in their beliefs (Table 9). A majority of the 206 students felt that some people have a

special ability for learning foreign languages (81.1%, 167), and that it is easier for

someone who already speaks a foreign language to learn another one (82.5%, 170).

84% (173) also thought that they possess a special ability to learn foreign languages.

It was interesting to note that although a majority of 87.4% (180) disagreed that

people who are good at mathematics or science are not good at learning foreign

languages, a majority of 75.2% (155) also felt that the ability to speak multiple

languages was linked to one‘s intelligence.

Table 9

Language learning beliefs of trilinguals

Item disagree agree

Foreign language aptitude

Some people have a special ability for

learning foreign languages.

39

(18.9%)

167

(81.1%)

251

It is easier for someone who already speaks a foreign language

to learn another one.

36

(17.5%)

170

(82.5%)

People who are good at mathematics or science are not good at

learning foreign languages.

180

(87.4%)

26

(12.6%)

I have a special ability for learning foreign languages. 33

(16.0%)

173

(84.0%)

People who speak more than one language are very intelligent. 51

(24.8%)

155

(75.2%)

Difficulty in language learning

Everyone can learn to speak a foreign language. 39

(18.9%)

167

(81.1%)

Some languages are easier to learn than others. 52

(25.2%)

154

(74.8%)

English is an easy language. 55

(26.7%)

151

(73.3%)

Mandarin is an easy language. 95

(46.1%)

111

(53.9%)

I believe that I will learn to speak English very well. 17

(8.3%)

189

(91.7%)

I believe that I will learn to speak Mandarin very well. 31

(15.0%)

175

(85.0%)

Learning & communication strategies

252

It‘s Ok to guess if you don‘t know a word in the language you are

learning.

157

(76.2%)

49

(23.8%)

It‘s important to repeat and practice a lot. 16

(7.8%)

190

(92.2%)

I feel timid speaking Mandarin with other people. 182

(88.3%)

24

(11.7%)

I feel timid speaking English with other people. 175

(85.0%)

31

(15.0%)

You shouldn‘t say anything in Mandarin until you can say it

correctly.

148

(71.8%)

58

(28.2%)

You shouldn‘t say anything in English until you can say it

correctly.

146

(70.9%)

60

(29.1%)

I enjoy practicing Mandarin with the people who can speak it well. 14

(6.8%)

192

(93.2%)

In the area of difficulty in language learning, the trilinguals‘ beliefs were rather mixed.

Although a majority of 81.1% (167) believed that everyone can learn to speak a

foreign language, a lesser percentage of 74.8% (154) actually felt that some languages

are easier to learn than others. It is also interesting to note that the trilinguals‘

perception on language difficulty did not seem to match their own confidence in using

the language. For English, while only 73.3% (151) thought that it is an easy language,

a lot more than that, of 91.7% (189) felt that they will learn to speak the language

very well. As for Mandarin, while only 53.9% (111) thought that it is an easy

language, a lot more than that of 85.0% (175) felt that they will learn to speak it very

well.

253

In learning and communication strategies, a majority of 76.2% (157) of the trilinguals

felt that guessing the meanings of words is not acceptable in their learning process.

However, a majority felt that they were timid speaking in Mandarin (88.3%, 182) and

English (85%, 175) with other people, and that a person should not say anything in

Mandarin and English until they can say it correctly (71.8%, 148 and 70.9%, 146

respectively). Nevertheless, the majority of the trilinguals cited enjoying practicing

Mandarin (93.2%, 192) and English (90.8%, 187), and agree that repetition and

practice are important elements in their learning process (92.2%, 190).

Associations between the trilinguals‘ beliefs about language learning and their

achievement in their two second languages were checked using statistical measures. A

one-way analysis of variance was used to scrutinize the links with achievement in the

two second languages i.e., English and Mandarin. Significance levels were set at

p<0.05, non-directional. Significant associations were found between four (4)

language learning beliefs items pertaining to English, and achievement in English, as

shown in Table 10.

Table 10

―English is an easy language.‖

Achievement Response N mean SD df F p

English Agree

Disagree

151

55

59.61

48.87

22.32

26.02

1,204 8.524 .004**

Mandarin Agree

Disagree

151

55

31.63

28.95

20.47

18.23

1,204 .321 .572

**p<0.05

254

The statement that ―English is an easy language‖ yielded significant differences in the

scores for English (p<0.05). Generally, there were more respondents who agreed than

disagreed for both languages. For English, respondents who believed that English is

an easy language obtained higher scores than those who did not. However, statistical

significance was confined to English scores. This belief did not seem to be

significantly associated with Mandarin scores, although those who believed English to

be an easy language also scored higher in their Mandarin scores.

Respondents generally believed that they will learn to speak English very well.

There was significant difference in the English scores between those who believed in

this, and those who did not (p<0.05). However, the same cannot be said about the

Mandarin scores of the respondents, where although the scores of those in agreement

were higher in those who agreed than those who disagreed, significant difference was

not recorded (Table 11).

Table 11

―I believe that I will learn to speak English very well.‖


English Agree

Disagree

189

17

58.24

40.02

23.64

18.80

1,204 9.531 .002**

Mandarin Agree

Disagree

189

17

32.10

20.67

20.26

10.46

1,204 5.264 .023

**p<0.05

Significant difference in English scores were also noted between those who agreed

that they felt timid speaking English and those who disagreed (p<0.05) (Table 12).

255

Table 12

―I feel timid speaking English with other people.‖


English Agree

Disagree

31

175

43.06

59.16

25.96

22.50

1,204 12.762 .000**

Mandarin Agree

Disagree

31

175

24.60

32.32

18.92

19.86

1,204 4.030 .046

**p<0.05

Table 13

―You shouldn‘t say anything in English until you can say it correctly.‖


English Agree

Disagree

60

146

49.99

59.51

24.72

22.90

1,204 7.013 .009**

Mandarin Agree

Disagree

60

146

28.41

32.28

18.33

20.42

1,204 1.619 .205

**p<0.05

Those who reported not feeling timid actually obtained higher scores in English, than

those who reported in the affirmative. Again, a similar pattern is observable in the

Mandarin scores. However, the difference in Mandarin lacked statistical significance.

Significant difference was also noted in the English scores of respondents, in response

to the statement ―You shouldn‘t say anything in English until you can say it correctly‖

(Table 13). Statistical significance did not prevail for Mandarin achievement,

256

although those who disagreed with the statement, as in all the other three cases

mentioned above, showed the same performance pattern as with English.

8. Discussion

8.1 Language use

While Malay was reported as the language used most at home, it is interesting to note

that the majority of students used Mandarin most at school, while very small minority

used either Malay or English the most. Most of the students also reported English as

the language used the least at school and at home. A small minority admitted to using

Mandarin the least at school. That the majority of participants used Malay the most at

home, and Mandarin most at school is hardly surprising, as these two languages are

dominantly used in the respective social domains. The finding indicates that the

trilinguals used particular language as and when is required by the context in which

they are currently operating. The findings support earlier general findings that

trilinguals‘ language choice is determined by particular situations (Barron-Hauwaert,

2003), and that the ability to switch from one language to another suggests their level

of language competency and confidence (Hufeisen, 2000).

It is possible for one to argue that the children‘s use of Mandarin in school has

resulted out of ‗having to‘ and not because they ‗wanted to‘ use the language. While

this may be plausible in some cases, the fact that there are children who chose to

speak Malay most at school (albeit a small number) perhaps indicate that force, if it

exists, does not seem forceful enough to push them to use Mandarin. Explanations

are also offered here for English being used the least at home and at school. A viable

argument is that English has relatively low mileage for the children, and that it does

not hold any meaningful function in both social domains. In other words, to get by, in

most home and school situations, Malay and Mandarin would do the job fine for the

trilinguals.

257

8.2 Language achievement

Generally, the children‘s achievement in their L1 was better than the two L2s. In

comparing their performance in the two L2s, they did relatively better in English than

in the other second language, Mandarin. This is indeed a surprising finding, given that

the former is the least used in either social domains. Perhaps there is some value of

English exposure on the children‘s language achievement. For these students, it is

possible that they are receptively bilingual. According to McLaughlin (1995)

receptive bilingualism refers to children who have has high exposure to a second

language but have had little opportunity to use the language. However, children who

have developed receptive bilingualism, according to McLaughlin (1995) are likely to

make progress in the language little used because their comprehension skills have

been developed. Although the children did not use the language extensively, their

existing knowledge and skills have enabled them to perform better than in the

language they virtually used all the time at school. In addition, it is possible that

transfer from the trilinguals‘ L1 to English is easier as the two languages share similar

orthographies (Genessee, 1979), and to a certain extent, structures. In other words, the

children‘s relatively better achievement in their English may have resulted from their

perception of similarities that exist between the language and their L1 (Ridley &

Singleton, 1995).

In spite of differing achievement levels, the children, in fact, did not do

exceptionally well in all the three languages, with average scores ranging from 31

(Mandarin) to 65 (Malay) percent. Does this then suggest that the trilinguals‘ low

performance scores in the two second languages is linked to weak foundation in their

L1? This may well be the case, if the students‘ L1 average to low scores is anything to

go by. The students‘ low achievement in Mandarin and English may also be an

indication that they experience cognitive difficulties in learning these two languages,

a possibility if the students have not reached a certain threshold in their L1 and

literacy (Collier, 1987; Cummins, 1991). On the other hand, their apparently limited

proficiency, as indicated by their achievement scores, is not uncommon, given that

they are undergoing the process of second language acquisition (McLaughlin, 1995),

258

which in this case, there are two L2s. While previous research pointed to this

limitation with just one second language being acquired (McLaughlin, 1995), this

study shows that similar findings are gained when two second languages are learnt.

Nevertheless, positive significant relationships prevailed between achievement in all

the three languages, with a stronger correlation noted between English and Malay,

than between English and Mandarin, and Mandarin and Malay. The stronger links

between the L1 and English again may be explained by children‘s perception of

similarities between the two languages, as discussed above. The findings also echo

numerous previous findings on the facilitative role of the L1 in the acquisition of the

L2, and vice versa (Collier, 1989, 1995; Snow, 1987, Ramirez, 1992). It also provides

yet another support to Cummins‘ interdependence hypothesis (1979, 1984), and

suggests that the hypothesis can equally explain the acquisition of more than one

second language.

Significant difference was found in Mandarin achievement, based on the

trilinguals‘ home and school language use. The difference, in particular, was between

the achievement of those who spoke Malay most at home and at school, and those

who spoke Mandarin most at home, and at school. Those who used Mandarin most at

home and school achieved better. In other words, Mandarin achievement is found to

be facilitated by both home and school language use. While lacking statistical

significance, data also suggest that the use of a particular language in either domain

may have some links with achievement in that language. These findings confirm the

roles of input and interaction in language development (Collier, 1995) and Swain‘s

(1995) argument that comprehensible output, i.e., language use, serves as an adjunct

to comprehensible input in helping students to develop language competence.

8.3 Gender role

Female superiority in language learning, as has been numerously documented

(Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991; Medina, 1993, Bailey, Onwuegbuzie and Daly,

2000), again prevails in this study. Findings showed that there were significant

statistical differences between female and male students‘ performance in both

259

Mandarin and English. In both languages, the females significantly outperformed the

male students. Various explanations have been forwarded for female superiority in

language skills, such as their stronger motivation and desire to conform to social

structures and norms, and the argument that females are more sensitive in their

language use (Chambers, 1995; Tannen, 1991). In the case of the students in this

study, perhaps it was the girls‘ desire to be accepted among the masses i.e., other

students who predominantly spoke Mandarin, that had provided them with the push

factor to learn and use the language, thus contributing towards them getting better

grades in Mandarin than the boys. As for English, a possible explanation is their

relatively better awareness or sensitivity towards the importance of English, which

may have motivated them to do well in the language.

8.4 Language learning beliefs

Three aspects of language learning beliefs were addressed in the survey. It appears

that generally the trilinguals have positive dispositions about their foreign language

aptitude. They also seemed to be positive about their ability to manage their learning,

though it has to be pointed out that there was slight difference between those who felt

that Mandarin is an easy language, and those who did not. In terms of learning and

communication strategies, it has to be noted that although the respondents seemed to

utilize strategies that would assist in their language learning, a majority did not feel

that guessing meanings was acceptable. There was some indication of some strive for

accuracy, signaled by the importance placed on repetition and practice, though this

contradicted with responses on ‗not saying anything in the language until they can say

it correctly‘. Some language learning beliefs do affect trilinguals‘ achievement in the

language learnt. Out of the 19 items used to measure the respondents‘ language

learning beliefs, only four yielded significant associations with language achievement;

and all were related to English language achievement. Significant differences were

found between the scores of respondents who agreed and those who disagreed on the

statements below. Those who agreed obtained higher scores than those who disagreed

for the statements ―English is an easy language‖ and ―I believe that I will earn to

260

speak English very well‖; whilst those who disagreed scored higher than those who

agreed for ―I feel timid speaking English with other people‖ and ―You shouldn‘t say

anything in English until you can say it correctly‖. The findings point to the

importance of beliefs to one‘s language achievement, and serve as an indication that

with ‗correct‘ beliefs, students may benefit in their language development. The

findings also provide further support to Sparks and Ganschow (1991), and Horwitz

(1990) who suggest that students‘ perception on the ease of language learning and

preconceived beliefs will affect their language performance.

9. Conclusion

Findings from this study provide some direction for instructional and institutional

practices, as well as being relevant to what happens at home for trilinguals learning

two second languages at school. Generally, the study found that all the variables

investigated i.e., gender, home and school language use, language learning beliefs,

have some significant associations to achievement in the two second languages. In

particular, the study revealed sophistication of language use amongst the young

trilinguals, where language choice was made based on the context of use. However,

that English is used relatively less than either Mandarin or Malay alerts schools and/or

parents to the necessity of finding a meaningful reason for the children to use English.

This facilitative role may assist the children in their use of the language. Whilst it is

not a problem that in so far as English is concerned, the children have possibly

developed receptive bilingualism, it would be an added bonus if they are provided

platforms on which to use the language in meaningful ways. In effect, this is based on

the roles of input and interaction in language development (Collier, 1995) and

Swain‘s (1995) argument that comprehensible output, i.e., language use, serves as an

adjunct to comprehensible input in helping students to develop language competence.

Low overall achievement in the three languages has to be checked by schools.

Although not uncommon in second language learners, on the basis that they are still

developing (McLaughlin, 1995), the low achievement may also be an indication that

the children experience cognitive difficulties in learning two second languages, a

261

possibility if the students have not reached a certain threshold in their L1 and literacy

(Collier, 1987; Cummins, 1991). Considerations should be made on the need for

school provision of L1 support. This is especially important as children who enroll in

Chinese schools in Malaysia almost always do so at the first formal entry level, which

is when the child is at the age of 7, a time at which the child‘s L1 may not have

reached the necessary threshold. On the other hand, teachers and parents need to

recognize the temporary phase in the children‘s language development. The

deprivation-like state would be more aptly described as ―language imbalance‖

(McLaughlin, 1995), rather than deficient.

Female superiority in language learning prompts us to the need to perhaps look

into what is it that makes them such successful learners? Whilst their superiority has

been explained from the socialization perspective, it is perhaps timely to look into

what is it exactly, from the learning point of view, that makes them very different

from boys. Different use of strategies may provide some answers, though this has

yet to be confirmed in the kind of linguistic and educational setting as in this study.

Until such time, teachers and parents may wish to gather informal clues about girls

learning, and teach the boys to do the same, in the hope that similar results will

prevail.

While beliefs suggest long-term development of one‘s perception of what

language learning entails, we cannot ignore the powerful effect they have on one‘s

language achievement. Findings indicate that students‘ language development may

benefit from having the ‗correct‘ beliefs. Teachers should attempt to understand their

students‘ beliefs and check how these influence the way the students approach their

language learning. Research has shown that when language classes do not meet the

students‘ expectations and beliefs, they may lose interest, a fact which limits their

achievement (Horwitz, 1987).

This study has a few limitations. Firstly, the study does not take into account the

extent to which the students are exposed to either second language outside the school

setting. This might have a role to play in determining the students‘ achievement in the

languages. In addition, responses to BALLI and items on language use at home and

262

school are self-reported, which are therefore subjected to a number of criticisms, such

as the impact of response bias. This is also related to the fact that the respondents are

children, and may face certain challenges in their attempts at the questionnaire. Note,

however, the questionnaire used a 4-point scale, which previous studies argue would

be optimum for children‘s consumption. In addition, as the respondent sample came

from one state in Malaysia, it is argued that aspects of the learning and home situation

may be different from that of other states in Malaysia. For example, the rural status of

the state of Kedah itself has been explicitly mentioned in an earlier part of this study,

in comparison to more upward states. Caution therefore, should be exercised in

generalizing the current findings to other wider populations. The present study,

nevertheless, provides some direction in the way of the learning of two L2s in

institutional setting. Further research using qualitative procedures could explore

affective factors such as levels of motivation in learning two L2s in an immersion

setting such as the one in this study, as this study made certain assumptions about the

involvement of this factor. In addition, investigations could be conducted on the

existence of any ‗competition‘ in the learning of multiple L2s, in order to respond to

the various types of multilingualism mushrooming in the light of the global economy.

Notes

1. The use of L2a and L2b does not indicate in any way the sequence in which learning or

acquisition of either second language takes place. The use of ‗a‘ and ‗b‘ is merely for

labeling purposes.

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267

Input Processing Instruction and Traditional Output Practice

Instruction: Effects on the Acquisition of Arabic Morphology

Adel Abu Radwan,

Department of English, Sultan Qaboos University

Bio Data:

Dr. Radwan received his Doctorate in applied linguistics from Georgetown University

in Washington, DC. He worked as an adjunct professor at George Mason University

in Virginia, USA. He is currently an assistant professor at Sultan Qaboos University

in Oman, where he teaches courses in psycholinguistics, language acquisition, and

theoretical linguistics. Dr Radwan‘s chief interest is focus-on-form instruction and its

effects on second language acquisition.

Abstract

This study seeks to test the claim put forward by Van Patten (1996, 2004a) in the

Input Processing approach that focusing learners‘ attention on interpreting the

meaning of various language forms is superior to other types of formal instruction. In

particular, the study compares the effects of meaning-based input processing

instruction and traditional output-based instruction on the acquisition of several

formal features necessary for the interpretation of sentences containing psychological

verbs in Arabic. Three intact classes of second-semester Arabic students (n = 35) at

Georgetown University in Washington, DC participated in the study. The first group

received input processing instruction; the second group was exposed to traditional

output-based instruction, and the third group received no special treatment. Several

interpretation and production measures were used in a pretest, treatment, and posttest

experimental design. Results of the study reveal a complex picture. Though there was

no clear advantage for processing instruction over traditional instruction, the study

shows that processing instruction seems to affect certain areas of interlanguage (IL)

grammar such as clitics and theme-verbs in Arabic in a manner incomparable to the

effects of traditional output practice.

Keywords: second language acquisition, input processing, form-focused instruction,

traditional output practice

268

1. Introduction

Research in both first and second language acquisition (SLA) has shown that

language acquisition is mediated by a number of processing strategies, of which word

order is the most dominant strategy (Fathman & LoCoco, 1982; Stevens, 1984). The

effect of this strategy is that learners quite often erroneously interpret the first noun

phrase (NP) in an input string as the agent, and the second noun phrase as the

patient/theme even in the presence of morphological and syntactic cues which show

the contrary. In this regard, languages with a highly flexible word order, such as

Arabic, are predicted to be difficult to acquire, since the thematic role of agent is not

necessarily mapped onto the first NP in a sentence. VanPatten (1990) maintains that

the repercussions of this strategy in the acquisition of a second language are

detrimental since many of the formal features necessary for interlanguage grammar

development are generally overlooked in the input by second language learners. An

argument is, thus, made for formal instruction as a potential aid for the proper

processing of the input.

A major source of controversy in SLA, however, pertains to the type of formal

instruction which is more effective in helping learners acquire the formal components

of the target language. The present study compares the effects of two types of formal

instruction, namely Input Processing Instruction (IPI) and Traditional Output Practice

Instruction (TOP), on the acquisition of the formal features necessary for the

interpretation of sentences containing psychological verbs in Arabic, which is a highly

flexible language.

2. Formal Instruction and Language Acquisition

2.1. Focus on form instruction

The role of formal instruction in second language acquisition has often triggered

heated debate among second language researchers (Doughty, 1993; Ellis, 1990, 2001;

Gass, 1985; Krashen, 1985, 1987; Long, 1990, 1991; VanPatten, 1989, 1990, 2002,

2004a, 2004b) to name just a few). Since Long (1983) concluded that, compared to

naturalistic linguistic exposure, formal instruction positively affects L2 acquisition,

269

the question in SLA is no longer one of justifying the facilitative role of formal

instruction in second language acquisition, but one of deciding which type of formal

instruction is more effective in developing the learner‘s linguistic system.

In an attempt to address this question, second language acquisition research has

investigated the effectiveness of various types of instructional interventions including

implicit vs. explicit instruction (Alanen, 1991; de Graaf, 1997; Robinson, 1997;

Doughty, 1991), consciousness raising instruction (Fotos, 1993; Swain, 1998 Swain

and Lapkin, 1998), negative feedback instruction (Ellis and Sheen, 2006; Iwashita,

2003; Lyster, 1998; Mackey & Philp, 1998; see Ellis, Loewen & Erlam, 2006, for a

review of studies done in this area), and meaning-based input processing vs.

traditional output practice instruction (Cadierno, 1995; VanPatten & Cadierno, 1993;

VanPatten & Sanz, 1995). In general, these studies suggest that meaning-focused

instruction by itself may not be sufficient to assist learners in acquiring the formal

components of the target language. Alternatively, they emphasize that form-focused

instruction has positive effects on both learners‘ accuracy as well as their ultimate

attainment in the second language.

2.2. Input processing Instruction

One type of formal instruction that is most relevant to the present study and which has

received considerable attention over the last few years is Input Processing Instruction

(IPI) (Benati, 2005; Cheng, 2002; Morgan-Short & Bowden, 2006; Rosomondo, 2007;

VanPatten, 1990, 2002, 2004a, 2004b; VanPatten & Cadierno, 1993; VanPatten &

Sanz, 1995). According to VanPatten (2004a, p. 6) the input processing model

―attempts to capture under what conditions learners may or may not make connections

between a form and its meaning and the processes they initially bring to the task of

acquisition.‖ VanPatten‘s model rests on a tripartite distinction of the type of

processes involved in SLA: (1) processes that convert input into intake, (2) processes

that promote the accommodation and restructuring of intake into the developing

system, and (3) processes that are involved in language production, see figure (1)

below.

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I II III

Input intake developing system output

Figure 1. A sketch of basic processes in acquisition. From VanPatten and Cadierno (1993: 226).

VanPatten (1996) argues that formal instruction has been basically concerned with the

third type of processes, totally overlooking those processes that convert input into

intake. VanPatten (2004b) asserts that while output practice might facilitate the

process of language acquisition, he rejects outright any direct association between

output practice and language acquisition. VanPatten‘s position stands in sharp

contrast with Swain‘s Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1998, 2005; Swain & Lapkin,

1995) which, despite giving input an essential role in language acquisition,

emphasizes that output practice triggers certain mental processes that play a

facilitative role in language acquisition. Output practice, according to researchers

working from this perspective, has three major functions which are essential to

language acquisition: (1) a hypothesis-testing function, (2) a metalinguistic function,

and (3) a noticing function (Morgan-Short & Bowden, 2006, p. 38). Several studies

which attempted to compare the effects of these two types of instruction on language

acquisition (e.g., Allen, 2000; Erlam, 2003; Izummi, 2002; Bowden and

Morgan-Short) have suggested a positive role for output practice on language

development, especially when it is utilized in conjunction with the appropriate input.

Van Patten‘s input processing model is informed by his work on learners‘ input

processing strategies. Van Patten (1996) argues that much of the grammatical

knowledge necessary for interlanguage development is filtered out by a number of

processing strategies. Of these strategies, Van Patten identifies word order strategy,

giving further evidence for the claim made in SLA about the operation of this strategy

271

in language acquisition (Fathman & LoCoco, 1982; Stevens, 1984). As a result of this

strategy, much of the morphological make-up of languages necessary for the

interpretation of the propositional content of the input is overlooked by learners. The

role of formal instruction, therefore, is to circumvent any inappropriate use of such

strategies through instructing learners to rely more on the formal components of the

input to derive meaning. This function is further emphasized by Wong (2004, p. 35)

who contends that processing instruction ―pushes learners to abandon their inefficient

processing strategies for more optimal ones so that better form-meaning connections

are made.‖

Van Patten & Cadierno (1993) found that attracting learners‘ attention (see

Schmdit, 1990 on the role of attention in language acquisition) to the formal features

of language while they are engaged in meaning-based activities helps establish the

right form-meaning connection. Results of the study showed that in interpretation

measures, the input processing instruction group significantly outperformed both the

control group and the traditional group, which was engaged in mechanical output

practice activities. The processing group, however, did not have any advantage over

the traditional instruction group in production measures. VanPatten and Cadierno

concluded that focusing learners‘ attention on a particular form while engaged in

meaning-based activities was responsible for their performance in the comprehension

measures. On the other hand, traditional output practice which constituted of output

manipulation exercises did not help the learners process the input, and accordingly, no

intake was provided for the developing system, resulting in no acquisition.

In a later study, VanPatten and Sanz (1995) developed a more elaborate

experimental design to test the effects of input processing instruction. Two groups,

experimental and control were asked to perform three tasks: structured interview,

sentence completion, and video narration. The results of the study showed that the

input processing group significantly outperformed the control group on the

comprehension task. However, unlike VanPatten & Cadierno‘s (1993) study, which

showed no significant gains for the input processing group in production, this study

272

showed that the input processing group outperformed the control group in both

sentence completion and narration tasks.

Comparing the effects of input processing instruction and traditional instruction

on the acquisition of the Spanish copula (ser and estar), Cheng (2002) did not

replicate VanPatten and Cadierno‘s (1993) results. The study showed that the

processing instruction group, while outperforming the control group, failed to

distinguish itself from the traditional instruction group on any posttest measure.

Despite this result, Cheng makes a very controversial claim by concluding that

processing instruction ―appears more effective in helping students make correct

form-meaning mapping and in restructuring their mental representation of target

forms‖ (p. 317). Considering that there were no significant statistical differences

between the two instructional groups on all testing measures, any claims that one type

of instruction was superior to the other does not seem to be supported.

In another study, Farely (2001) compared the effects of processing instruction and

meaning-output instruction on the acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive.

Performance of the two groups on a number of interpretation and production tasks did

not reveal any differences between them, since both types of instruction led to

significant improvement on all tasks. Thus, Farley‘s results stand in a sharp contrast

with the previous studies which revealed an edge for processing instruction over other

types of instruction. To explain this finding, Farley suggests that meaning-output

instruction utilized in his study differs from the mechanical activities used in

traditional instruction. Moreover, he argues that meaning-output instruction is not

entirely input free as learners‘ responses during a follow-up phase for each activity

served as incidental input for the other students. This ―incidentally focused input

made the subjunctive more salient than it would be with raw, unfocused input (Farley

2001, p. 76). Such findings led VanPatten (2002) to modify his position with regard to

the role of output in language acquisition asserting that ―output may play a number of

important roles in language development‖ (p. 762). For VanPatten (2004a) the role of

output results from ―the effect it has on the task demands. Interaction may make input

more manageable by creating shorter sentences for learners to process by repeating

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information so that the demands to get meaning are lessened, by moving elements into

more salient positions, and so on‖ (p. 26)

Overall, research in this area did not yield any conclusive evidence to support the

superiority of processing instruction over other forms of instruction such as traditional

and output-based instruction. On the one hand, a set of results (VanPatten and

Cadierno, 1993; VanPatten and Sanz, 1995) lend support to VanPatten‘s main

premise that processing instruction is superior to traditional instruction. On the other

hand, Benati (2001) showed that the traditional treatment used in his study had a

positive impact on the learners‘ performance in an interpretation task. Moreover, in

another study, Benati (2005) showed that while the processing group outperformed

the traditional and meaning-based output group in the interpretation task, the three

groups made equal gains in the production task. Similarly, Farley (2001) showed that

meaning-based output instruction had effects similar to processing instruction on both

interpretation and production tasks.

However, any comparison between VanPatten and colleagues‘ work and that of

other researchers may not be strongly warranted due to several methodological

differences. For instance, the treatment in many of these studies (see, e.g., Allen, 2002;

Benati, 2001; DeKeyser & Sokalski, 1996; Erlam 2003; Nagata, 1998) differed in

terms of the linguistic features under investigation, the learners‘ proficiency level, and

the assessment tasks (Morgan-Short and Bowden, 2006). The contradictory results

obtained by various researchers suggest a strong need for further research to test

VanPatten‘s claims that assisting learners in making form-meaning connections while

processing input is more facilitative of language acquisition that other forms of

instruction.

3. The Study

The present study attempts to investigate whether meaning-based input processing

instruction will lead to linguistic development as measured by learners‘ performance

on a variety of production and interpretation tasks. It examines whether attracting

learner‘s attention to specific linguistic features while engaged in meaning-based

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activities will affect their acquisition of these features. Moreover, the study compares

the effects of input processing instruction on learners‘ linguistic development to the

effects of the traditional output practice instruction. Contrary to other studies, the

present study follows a pretest, treatment, and immediate posttest design to measure

the effects of these two types of treatment on the acquisition of several Arabic

morphological features including clitics, gender, case marking, and theme-first

psychological verbs.

3.1 Research questions

The study seeks to answer the following research questions:

1. Are there any differences between IPI and TOP in their performance on a

variety of interpretation and production tasks?

2. Are there any differences between IPI and TOP in their performance on all

tasks as a function of the linguistic feature explored?

3. What are the relative effects of IPI and TOP, as measured by gain scores, on

the learners‘ processing of inanimate theme-first psychological verbs in

Arabic?

3.2 Study design

Given that this study investigates the effects of two types of formal instruction,

traditional output practice vs. input processing on the acquisition of certain linguistic

features (clitics, case marking, gender, and theme-first psychological verbs) two

groups were compared. A third group was added as a control group.

3.2.1 Participants

The study was carried out on intact classes. A total of 35 students participated in the

study. The traditional and the input processing groups consisted of 12 students each,

and the control group consisted of 11 students. All subjects were beginning learners in

their second semester of Arabic as a foreign language at Georgetown University in

Washington, DC. While some of them were taking Arabic as a graduation

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requirement for other departments, the other students were taking it as a course of

study. The focus of the course they were undertaking was Modern Standard Arabic.

The course met five days per week for 50 minutes each meeting. Grammar instruction

was the basis for everyday activities, and the textbook used by the students followed

the traditional grammar-translation method. Any meaning-focused instruction or

communicative-based learning was basically nonexistent.

3.2.2 Target of instruction

Arabic has a morphologically rich agreement and case system for marking the

grammatical functions within the sentence. The richness of the morphological features

is partly responsible for the flexibility of word order. The most common word orders

are VSO, SVO, OVS, and VOS, of which VSO is the least marked word order. Other

word order patterns are used for certain pragmatic functions such as focus. A

corollary to the richness of the Arabic morphological system is that any variation in

word order always triggers different morphological reflexes on the verb. For example,

in verb-first sentences, the verb agrees with the subject only in gender. Consider the

examples below:

1. yakrahu al-rajul-u/al-rijaal-u al-khubz-a/al-jaar-a

mas hate the man NOM/ the bread ACC/

the men NOM t the neighbor ACC

2. takrahu al-bint-u/al-banat-u al-khubz-a/al-jaara-a

fem hate the girl NOM/ the bread ACC/

the girls NOM the neighbor/ACC

In (1), the prefix ya indicates that the subject is masculine, while the prefix ta in (2)

indicates that the subject is feminine. No coding of the number feature is made. In

subject-first structures, however, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and

number as in (3) and (4) below:

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3. al-rijaal-u ya-krah-uun al-khubza/al-jaar-a

the men NOM mas hate pl the bread ACC/

the neighbor ACC

4. al-banat-u yakrah-na al-khubz-a/al-jaar-a

the girls NOM hate pl-fem the bread ACC/

the neighbor ACC

As can be noted, the subject in each of the above sentences preserves the nominative

case even in the preverbal position. The processing of these sentences is relatively

easy because the grammatical functions are faithfully preserved through case marking.

Accordingly, there is no ambiguity in the interpretation of ‗who hates what/whom‘ in

(3) and (4). While case is preserved in SVO word order, it is not in OVS. In

object-first structures, both the subject and the object get the nominative case. The

following sentences, an OVS versions of (1) above, illustrate this point:

5. Al-jar-u ya-krah-uhu al-rajulu

the neighbor NOM mas hate him the man NOM

The neighbor the man hates.

6. al-khubz-u ya-krah-uhu al-rajul-u

the bread NOM mas hate him the man NOM

Bread, the man hates

In (5) above, both the subject and object are inflected with the nominative case.

Unless the learner pays attention to the clitic uhu on the verb, she/he will be misled to

interpret the sentence as ‗the neighbor hates the man‘, not the other way round.

Likewise, in (6), unless the learner notices the clitic on the verb and suspends his/her

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word order strategy, the sentence will be uninterpretable, since in the real world

‗bread‟ does not have volitional control to hate people. Therefore, the trigger to the

correct interpretation of such sentences seems to be the clitic added to the verb.

Should this trigger fail, we might as well rely on another trigger. In Arabic, the verb is

sensitive to the gender of the following NP and not the preceding one. Consider the

following example:

7. al-jarat-u ya-krah-u-ha al-rajul-u

the neighbor fem NOM mas hate her the man NOM

The neighbor (fem) the man hates.

Thus, both the rules of agreement and clitics on the verb may lead the learner to

suspend the word order strategy.

So far the discussion is limited to one type of psychological verbs, namely

experiencer-first verbs. What about theme-first verbs? This type of verbs presents

major problems for learners of Arabic as some teachers of Arabic point out. They not

only exhibit characteristics of (7) above, i.e. loss of accusative case and acquisition of

a misleading nominative case, but they map the thematic hierarchy in an unusual

manner 1. Consider the following sentences:

8. yu-‗jibu al-khubz-u al-rajul-a

mas please the bread NOM the man ACC

9. al-khubz-u yu-‗jibu al-rajul-a

the bread NOM mas please the man ACC

10. al-rajul-u yu-‗jib-uhu al-khubz-u

the man NOM mas please him the bread

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Of the sentences above, students seem to prefer (10), but as they tend to ignore the

clitic on the verb, they treat al-rajul-u as subject and not as object. Note that loss of

the clitic should trigger the objective case on the grammatical subject along the lines

of other transitive verbs, i.e., the learners treat yu‟jibu as an experiencer-first verb

similar to like as in (the man likes the bread). If this is indeed true, one would

expect learners to judge (9) as an incomprehensible sentence because there are an

external argument as theme and an internal argument as experiencer yielding

structures such as: the bread likes the man. Sentence (9) is problematic because the

theme is indeed the subject. The learners have, therefore, to suspend the processing

strategies invoked for (7), since there is no clitic on the verb that would restructure the

thematic relations.

The observations made above about the repercussions of the word order strategy

in the acquisition of Arabic morphology highlight the need for formal intervention to

overcome such problematic linguistic areas.

3.2.3 Instrument and procedure

The materials used in this study consisted of a pre-test, a post-test, and two

instructional packages prepared for the two instructional groups. The two packages

were organized so that only one linguistic feature was introduced at a time. For both

experimental groups, the treatment materials started with a section on clitics, followed

by case, gender, and finally theme-first psychological verbs.

With respect to TOP, the treatment focused on pattern practice and was loaded

with meta-linguistic explanations. Each section opened with grammatical description

of the linguistic feature under consideration followed by examples illustrating that

feature. Students then practiced producing sentences containing that feature. Various

drills, focusing on practicing and producing the targeted items, were used in the

traditional group instructional treatment. Some of the activities required the students

to choose a suitable word to fill in a blank while other exercises focused on

underlining the subject, or in other cases, the object of sentences; a third set of

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exercises required them to substitute a pronoun for a noun (See appendix A for a

sample of the instructional treatment given to TOP).

While the main emphasis in traditional instruction was on producing the target

linguistic feature, the focus in the input processing treatment was on the right

interpretation of different structures. Students were taught to interpret sentences

through reliance on certain morphological cues rather than the word order strategy.

Among the techniques used to draw their attention to the targeted items were

highlighting, circling, and bolding (see White, 2001, for studies on the effectiveness

of these techniques). Students were only required to interpret and comprehend

sentences, and at no time in the treatment were they asked to produce the targeted

items. The instructional package prepared for this group comprised various activities.

In one exercise, the students had to listen to their instructor and then choose the right

interpretation for a given sentence out of three alternatives. In another set of activities,

they were required to read a sentence then choose the right interpretation from a group

of alternatives. In a third set of exercises, they had to read a letter and then answer a

few question on its content. All these questions required only the right interpretation

of sentences in the text (See appendix B for a sample of the instructions given to IPI).

In preparing the two packages, special care was given to having the same amount

of practice for the two groups. Additionally, similar and familiar vocabulary items

were used in both treatments to ensure that vocabulary would not be a problem that

could obscure learning of the targeted items. Moreover, the two groups received the

same amount of treatment; they received a total of two and a half hours of instruction

over three consecutive meetings. For both groups, the regular classroom teachers

served as the instructors and facilitators. To ensure that they implemented the

materials prepared in the instructional packages, they received training on how to

implement the instructional treatments, and two packages of materials were prepared

for them, delineating to them what they were supposed to do at each stage.

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3.2.4 The pretest and posttest

A pretest/posttest design was adopted to assess the impact of the two types of formal

instruction on the learners‘ interlanguage system. The same test was used as a pre-

and posttest. The purpose of the pretest was to characterize the learners‘ state of

knowledge of the structures used in the study. The test comprised both interpretation

and written production tasks. The comprehension–based tasks consisted of four

sections (A, B, C, and E), which used pictures as the basis for interpretation, in

addition to one production task, section D. The following is a detailed description of

the test.

Section A contained nine multiple choice test items which required the learners to

choose one description out of three that best described a given picture. The targeted

linguistic feature in this section was clitics. If the word order strategy is operative in

second language acquisition, it is expected that the learners would overlook the

suffixed clitic on the verb and would wrongly interpret the OVS structures as

agent-verb-patient. The targeted feature in section B, which consisted of 8 test items,

was case. Again if the word order strategy is operative in second language acquisition,

it is expected that learners would treat the first postverbal noun phrase in the VOS

order as the agent although case explicitly indicates that it is the patient. Section C,

which targeted gender, consisted of 9 items. Gender agreement on the verb is crucial

for the interpretation of VOS structure. Should the word order strategy be operative in

L2, the learners are expected to treat the postverbal NP as the agent of the sentence

although gender morphology on the verb indicates that the second NP in the sentence

is the agent. Section E is very important because it tests both theme-first and

experiencer-first psychological verbs. It is predicted that inanimate theme-first

psychological verbs would create special problems for language learners, and

therefore the study sought to investigate how learners overgeneralize the predicate

structure of experiencer-first to the structure of inanimate theme-first psychological

verbs in SVO word order (See Appendix C for examples of the test items in the

different sections).

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Section D, the written production task, aimed at testing the learners‘ ability to

correctly produce psychological verbs. It was extremely difficult to test inanimate

theme-first psychological verbs because their manipulation in a sentence-to-picture or

picture-to-sentence matching activity could be overridden by pragmatic

considerations. The advantage of production tests such as the one in section D is that

it forces the learner to begin the sentence with inanimate theme-first psychological

verbs, and therefore may shed light on their state of knowledge. In this task the

learners were given a table including the likes and dislikes of someone. They were

required to report the likes and dislikes using the two verbs yu‟jibu (please) and

yakrahu (dislike). In some of the sentences, the learners had to use the clitics and in

the others they did not have to.

3.2.5 Coding scheme

The scoring procedure used in the comprehension tasks was straightforward since the

test was designed in such a way that only one option was possible. Correct matching

of a sentence and a picture received a score of one point whereas an incorrect

matching received a score of zero. Following Felix (1981) and Lightbown (1983) who

believe that formal instruction may have detrimental effects on language acquisition,

no cut off score was set for the elimination of any subjects.

The scoring procedure for the production task was slightly more complex. The

task included ten sentences targeting the correct use of two verbs: yu‟jib-u (please)

and yakrah (dislike). The task required the correct suppliance of the clitic on the verb

yakrah producing yakrah-uhu. The subjects were scored according to the criteria

presented in Table (1) below:

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Table 1: Scoring Scheme for the Production Task

Pretest Posttest

Score No Verb No Clitic Cl. W/V Overge

n

Target

No Verb 0.0 0.0 5.0 7.5 7.5 10.0

No Clitic 5.0 ---- 5.0 7.5 7.5 10.0

*Cl.W/V 7.5 ---- ---- 7.5 7.5 10.0

*Overgen 7.5 ---- ---- 7.5 7.5 10.0

Target 10.0 ---- ---- ---- ---- 10.0

*Cl W/V = clitic on the wrong verb; overgen = overgeneralization

This coding scheme was developed after close investigation of the subjects‘

performance. It aimed to capture both the learners‘ accurate production of the target

structure (100%) and the different changes their interlanguage underwent.

Raw scores were calculated for each learner according to the coding scheme

outlined above. After computing the raw score for each learner in each section, the

total score was divided by the number of items in each section in order to get the ratio.

The rationale for using ratio is that different sections contained a different number of

test items. Gain scores, on the other hand, were computed by subtracting the pretest

from the posttest ratio.

4. Results and Discussion

This section is structured as follows: firstly, the students‘ pretest scores will be

compared to determine whether they started off at the same level of proficiency with

regard to their knowledge of the targeted features; secondly, the gain scores will be

compared to determine whether there are any significant differences among the three

groups. Since the experiment was conducted on intact classes, the Kruskal-Wallis one

way analysis of variance, which is a non-parametric measure of variance equivalent to

ANOVA, was performed on the raw scores and the gain scores. Where the results of

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the test showed significant differences among the three groups, the Ryan procedure

was used to locate where the differences were. The results of the test for each section

will be presented separately, followed by an overall summary of the results.

4.1. Raw scores

The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed on the pretest scores, and the results revealed

no significant differences among the three groups (df = 2, H = 1.168, p = .56 for the

total score; H = 709, p =.70 for the comprehension tasks, and H = 2.560, p = .28 for

the production task). The same test was performed on each section of the

comprehension task and no significant difference was revealed (H = .313, p = .86 for

clitics; H = .637, p = .73 for case; H = 1.156, p = .56 for grammatical gender, and H =

1.538, p = .46 for inanimate-first theme subjects). The results are displayed in table (2)

below:

Table 2: Summary of the Kruskal-Willis One-Way Analysis of Variance on the pretest

Task H (2 df) Probability

Clitics .313 .86

Case .637 .73

Gender 1.156 .56

Th.V* 1.538 .46

Compo. T* .709 .70

Prod.* 2.560 .28

Total 1.168 .70

Key: Th. V.=inanimate theme-first subject; Comp.T. =Comprehension total;

Prod.= production

Since the results did not reveal any significant differences among the three groups

prior to the treatment, it could be safely assumed that any changes in students‘

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performance between the pre- and posttest would be a direct result of the treatment

given to each group and not due to any prior knowledge.

The Kruskal-Willis test was conducted on the pre- and posttest for each group.

Results for TOP showed no significant improvement in comprehension (H = 1.463, p

= .226). A significant difference, however, was found in production (H= 11.895, p

= .001). The IPI, on the other hand, manifested the opposite tendency: a significant

improvement in comprehension (H = 9.613, p= .002) and no significant progress in

production (H = 2.292, p= .130). The CG exhibited no significant improvement in

either production or comprehension.

4.2 Gain scores

The Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted on the gain scores for each task. The test

showed a significant difference among the three groups in production (H = 5.934, p

= .05). The results also showed that there was a significant difference among the

groups in clitics (H = 6.862, p = .03), in the total comprehension gain (H = 9.505, p

= .009), and in the overall performance (H = 8,486, p= .01). See table (3) below:

Table 3. Comparison of gain scores among the three groups

Task H (2 df) Probability

Clitics 6.862 .03

Case 3.512 .173

Gender 2.739 .25

Th.V* 5.240 .05

Comp. T* 9.505 .07

Prod.* 5.934 .01

Total 8.486 .009

Th.V= inanimate theme-first subjects, Comp T= comprehension total, prod=

production

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Where a significant difference was obtained, a post-hoc Ryan test was performed to

determine the source of the difference. Accordingly, a significant difference was

found between IPI and CG in the use of clitics (z = 3.55, p = .05). No significant

difference, however, was found between CG and TOP, or between TOP and IPI.

While both TOP and IPI distinguished themselves from CG in production, there was

no significant difference between them. As for inanimate theme-first subjects and the

total scores, only IPI managed to distinguish itself from CG; there were no significant

differences between TOP and CG, neither between TOP and IPI (See table 4 below)

Table 4. The results of the Ryan test on the gain scores of the three groups

Task Df Instruction Z-value

Clitics 1

1

2

TOP & IPI

TOP & CG

IPI & CG

-2.0

-1.2

-3.55*

Production

1

1

2

TOP & CG

TOP & IPI

IPI & CG

-3.32*

-1.17

-2.18*

Th.V. 2

1

1

IPI & CG

TOP & IPI

TOP & CG

-3.47*

-1.39

-2.0

Total 2

1

1

IPI & CG

TOP & CG

TOP & IPI

-3.55*

-1.66

-1.96

* P<.05

5. Discussion

The results reported above reveal a very complex picture. With regard to the first

research question, the results indicate that input processing instruction does not bring

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about any significant changes in the learners‘ interlanguage system that would make it

more effective than the traditional output practice. Thus, the results appear in sharp

contrast with the research findings of Cadierno (1993) and Benati (2005) which had

previously shown that the input processing instruction was superior to traditional

output practice. There are four possible explanations for this. First, familiarity with

the type of formal instruction provided in the treatment may have affected the results;

while traditional methods are typically employed in teaching Arabic, input processing

or any type of meaning-focused instruction, for that matter, is almost nonexistent.

Second, the input processing treatment was devoid of any metalinguistic explanations

of the targeted structures. The treatment utilized highlighting, circling, and

underlining to make the target structures salient. While these techniques are explicit

(Rutherford and Sharwood Smith, 1988), they might not have been explicit enough to

be noticed by the learners (see Schmidt, 1990 for the role of noticing in language

acquisition), and subsequently accommodated as input. Even if they have been

noticed, noticing by itself is insufficient to induce changes in their interlanguage. In

this regard, Alanen (1995) and Robinson (1997) emphasized that awareness at the

level of understanding is the process necessary for the perception and eventual

acquisition of various linguistic features. Third, the processing of written input is a

highly complex psycholinguistic skill which involves automatization of many

subskills, and Arabic being a language with a graphological system distinct from the

Roman alphabet used in English may have affected the learners‘ ability to process

Arabic. Finally, the learners might have been overwhelmed by the intensive treatment

they received, four targeted linguistic items in three consecutive 50-minute sessions.

With regard to the second research question about the order of emergence of the

trigger in the interlanguage system as measured by relative gains for each feature, the

results show no superiority for IPI over TOP. The results, however, reveal that the

input processing group significantly outperformed CG on clitics, theme-verbs, and

production while TOP outperformed CG only in production. In this regard, input

processing instruction seems to affect areas of interlanguage grammar such as clitics

and theme-verbs in a manner incomparable to the effects caused by traditional

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instruction. Clitics and theme-subject verbs seem to be the most salient features to the

learners. This conclusion was supported by improvement as manifested in the

comparisons between the pre and posttests and in the comparison among the groups.

IPI made significant progress on these two linguistic features, and this is taken to be

the result of their salience in the input. While IPI failed to make any significant

progress on case, it managed to achieve significant progress between the pretest and

posttest on gender, but it failed to distinguish itself from the other groups.

There are two explanations for the emergence of clitics and theme-first verbs prior

to other features. First, it is quite possible that the decoding strategies used in L1

might have mediated the perception of the verb-final clitic in Arabic. Input processing

instruction might have helped learners reactivate this strategy in L2 input processing.

This account is further supported by lack of improvement on gender. Recall that

gender morphology is marked preverbally in Arabic. Its interpretation might require a

totally novel processing strategy. Second, the clitic, unlike gender agreement, has

both a syntactic and a semantic function. It fulfills the subcategorization frame and the

thematic requirement of the verb in addition to carrying information about the gender

and number of the argument to which it is bound.

While IPI outperformed CG on clitics, it did not significantly outperform TOP.

One plausible explanation for this is the fact that the students in the IPI group, who

did not receive any metalinguistic explanation at all, were erroneously segmenting the

sequence verb+clitic as verb+third person marker. This reality is explained by Koda

(1988, p. 133), who points out that ―L1-L2 cognitive transfer does take place in L2

reading and orthographic structure exerts a significant influence on cognitive

processes in reading.‖ In other words, some of the learners assigned a morphological

rather than a syntactic value to the morphological ending. This conclusion is

supported by the fact that many learners who did not have clitics in their

interlanguage in the pretest used them in the posttest but across the board for all verbs.

With regard to the third question, IPI made a significant progress on theme-first

psychological verbs. The progress was only significant to distinguish it from CG but

not from TOP. The performance of the TOP on clitics, however, was not significant

288

enough to distinguish it from CG. Thus, input processing instruction was more

effective because it included preemptive exercises (Rutherford, 1987), which

explicitly provided negative evidence about the non-availability of structures like

al-rajul-u yu‟jib-u al-khubz-u (the man pleases the bread). These structures were

preempted by presenting the appropriate target structure. TOP and CG, on the other

hand, did not receive any negative evidence about the non-availability of such

structures; subsequently, no significant difference was found between them. This can

be taken as evidence for the superiority of input processing instruction that comprises

preemptive activities.

The lack of any significant difference between TOP and IPI can be explained by

the fact that the interlanguage grammar had to accommodate two contradictory facts.

On the one hand, learners had to pay attention to the existence of clitics to interpret

the first NP in the input as theme, as in the case of experiencer-first psychological

verbs. On the other hand, in other cases, they had to suspend the identification of

theme as a function of the presence of clitics, as in the case of theme-first

psychological verbs. This would lead to restructuring of the whole grammar

(McLaughlin, 1991) since the absence of the clitic is considered an indicator of an

agent subject. Therefore, input processing instruction could have been more effective

had theme-first verbs been introduced at a later stage.

6. Conclusion

In this study, two types of formal instruction were compared. The results of the

current study do not replicate the results obtained by VanPatten and Cadierno‘s

(1993), and other researchers (see, e.g., Benati, 2001, 2005; Cheng, 2002; Farley,

2001) which emphasized the superiority of input processing instruction over

traditional output practice instruction. The study reveals no significant difference

between the two types of instruction. Input processing instruction was, however,

found to be superior to no instruction on clitics, theme-first psychological verbs and

production. The emergence of clitics and theme-first verbs in the interlanguage of IPI

students points to the need for a cogent understanding of the way natural language

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systems are organized and of the way learners go about learning these systems. It is

argued that the introduction of theme-first and experiencer-first verbs might have led

to contradictory claims about the organization of the interlanguage system. Timing of

instruction, therefore, seems to be a very critical requirement for language acquisition

to take place (Pienemann, 1989).

It is noteworthy to mention that in this study and in almost all work on input

processing instruction, researchers focused their investigation on the effects of formal

instruction on the acquisition of isolable and discrete structures. This might have

negatively affected learners‘ overall performance. Therefore, future research should

attempt to examine the effects of various types of instruction within a communicative

and meaningful approach that combines both input-based practices and output-based

practices.

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Appendix A

A sample of the instructions given to TOP:

1. VSO/VOS Word order and case Marking:

Arabic has a flexible word order. The following are the criteria for recognizing the subject and

object within these orders:

The subject is marked by the diacritic ― ُ ― which indicates nominative case. In the

following example, for instance, the underlined noun in the subject because it has a

nominative diacritic in the last letter:

e.g. Yuhibu al-shab-u al-bint-a

like the boy NOM the girl ACC

The object is marked by the diacritic ― َ ‖ which indicates accusative case:

e.g. Yuhibu al-bint-u al-shab-a

like the girl NOM the boy ACC

Exercises:

A. Directions: Choose the correct answer:

1. Yukhif-u __________ al-muatinin-a

frightens the citizens

a. Al-lis-u b. al-lis-a c. al-lis-i

the thief Nom the thief ACC the thief GEN

B. Directions: Underline the subject in the following sentences:

1. Yuijibu alshair-a aljumhur-u

pleases the poet ACC the audience NOM

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Appendix B

A sample of the instruction given to IPI:

1. The following is a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. Please pay specific attention to the

unerlined and bolded elements in the letter:

…ibni Muhammad tujibuhu shabatun madaniyah, wa lifarhati

My son Muhammad likes girl from the city, and for my delight

Mariam tujibuha hathihi al-fatah

Mariam likes this girl

Exercises:

Which of the statements applies to the text:

A)

1. Mariam loves the country boy

2. The country boy loves Mariam.

3. The country boy loves his brother

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Appendix C

Pretest/Posttest Materials:

Section A:

Look at each picture carefully and select the sentence which best describe it.

1. Khalidun yuzijuhu Salimum

Khalid-Nom bother-him Salim-Nom

2. Salimun yuzijuhu Khalidun

3. Al-Khubzu yakuluhu Salimun

Section B:

Look at each picture carefully and select the sentence which best describes it.

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1. Yukhifu al-tabib-a al-maridh-u

frighten the doctor ACC the patient NOM

2. Yukhifu al-maridh-a al-tabib-u

3. Yukhifu al-wlad-a al-kit-u

Notes

1. In terms of thematic hierarchy, theme is the least expected role to be mapped onto

subject position. In other words, a role low on the hierarchy appears in high position at

the surface structure.

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Use of Refusal Strategies by Turkish EFL Learners and Native

Speakers of English in Urban and Rural Areas

Dr. Zubeyde Sinem Genc

Uludag University, Turkey

Ozlem Tekyildiz

Kocaeli University, Turkey

Bio Data:

Dr. Zubeyde Sinem GENC is currently an assistant professor in the ELT Department

at Uludag University, Turkey. She received her Ph. D. from Indiana University of

Pennsylvania (IUP). She taught EAP at IUP and graduate courses in MATESL at

Southern Illinois University. Her research interests are second language teacher

education, second language acquisition, and TESOL theory and methods.

Ozlem TEKYILDIZ is a teacher at a state school and teaches EFL courses at Kocaeli

University. She received her MA in English Language Teaching from Uludag

University, Turkey. Her major teaching and research interests include ELT

methodology and sociolinguistics.

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to put forward the ways in which Turkish learners of

English use the speech act of refusal and to reveal whether or not regional variety

affects the kind of refusal strategies used. Data were collected through a discourse

completion questionnaire in order to investigate the similarities and differences

between the use of refusal strategies by Turkish learners of English in urban areas,

Turkish learners of English in rural areas, native speakers of English in urban areas

and native speakers of English in rural areas. 101 Turkish EFL learners and 50 native

speakers of English participated in the present study. Analysis of the data showed that

subjects in all groups used the refusal strategies in a manner similar to one another.

All the subjects seem to have similar notions of directness and indirectness in their

actions with people of varied social status. In addition, the status of interlocutor was

observed to be an important factor in strategy choice for all respondent groups.

Keywords: Speech act of refusal, Turkish EFL learners, urban and rural areas,

interlanguage pragmatics

Introduction

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EFL learners who are at the advanced level of grammar and vocabulary of a second

language may lack pragmatic competence. In order to be able to use a target language

appropriately in terms of pragmatic competence, foreign language learners should

employ a variety of speech acts such as apologies, requests, complaints and refusals.

However, it is not enough merely to use speech acts appropriately in a communication

context. It is also necessary to possess indirect speech acts where a speaker means

more than or something other than what he or she says. For instance, a speaker may

utter the sentence ―It is too hot here‖ and mean it not only as a statement but also as a

request to open the window.

Speech acts vary considerably across cultures and languages. Each culture

requires various kinds of speech act behaviour. As Blum-Kulka et al. (1989, p.30)

points out, ―Culturally coloured interactional styles create culturally determined

expectations and interpretative strategies, and can lead to breakdowns in intercultural

and interethnic communication‖. In other words, when people from different cultures

interact, breakdowns in communication may occur due to signalling different speech

act strategies that reflect the culture‘s distinctive interactional style.

Since a language cannot separate from its culture, nor can speakers depart from

their native cultural values, speech styles, inferences and interpretations, it is

inevitable for second language learners to have difficulties using their second

language (L2) in linguistically and socially appropriate ways. Due to this challenge,

L2 learners tend to transfer speech act strategies of their first language (L1) to L2

situations in communication. The transfer of modes of speech acts of one speech

community to another community causes pragmatic failure. As Nelson, Carson, Batal

and Bakary (2002, p.171) state, ―While native speakers often forgive the phonological,

syntactic and lexical errors made by L2 speakers, they are less likely to forgive

pragmatic errors.‖ Thus, pragmatic failure results in speakers being regarded as rude,

tackless, arrogant and impatient.

English and Turkish are languages of two different cultural backgrounds. It is

most likely for Turkish EFL learners to use socially and culturally inappropriate

English. One way to decrease pragmatic errors is for teachers to be aware of the

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pragmalinguistic aspects of the target language. EFL teachers should teach

pragmalinguistic information to the L2 learners to enable them to perform speech acts,

in a linguistically, socially and culturally appropriate manner.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the performance of the speech act of

refusals by Turkish learners of English (TLE) and native speakers of English (NSE)

and to increase the pragmatic awareness of EFL educators and learners. The study

was conducted to find out whether native language and regional variety influence

speakers‘ use of speech acts of refusal in terms of their status in a society. For that

reason, it focuses on the similarities and differences between the use of refusal

strategies by TLE in urban areas, TLE in rural areas, NSE in urban areas and NSE in

rural areas.

Crystal (1987, p.24) points out that the most widely recognised features of

linguistic identity are those related to geographical origins of the speakers, i.e. , the

features of regional dialects. He draws our attention to the differences observed

among speakers in different regions in the following statements: ―Languages, as well

as dialects, can convey geographical information about their speakers.‖ He continues,

―All languages are analysed into a range of dialects which reflect the regional and

social background of their speakers … everyone speaks a dialect - whether urban or

rural, standard or non-standard, upper-class or lower-class‖ (p.24). Crystal‘s

statements emphasize that rural-urban difference is an important regional dialect in

languages. Studies by Tabouret-Keller (1968), Gal (1979), Timm (1980), and Dorian

(1981) found out that urbanization was one of the most frequently cited causes for

language shift.

Based on the facts mentioned above, it was assumed that urban-rural distinction

might cause significant differences in the refusal strategies used by people living in

these areas. The present study proceeds from the assumption that because of

pragmatic transfer, TLE may transfer their regional dilaects into the target language.

For that reason, the study aimed to inform EFL learners and teachers about the

diversity in the use of refusal strategies in different regional dialects of English and

Turkish.

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If there are considerable differences or similarities between the TLE in urban and

rural areas in terms of using the refusal strategies, it can be put forward that learners

reflect their own social preferences to the pragmatic preferences in a target language,

which suggests implementation of important innovations in English language teaching

programmes in Turkey. For instance, it might be necessary to reinforce the pragmatic

preferences of the learners who use similar refusal strategies with the NSE. However,

the learners whose preference of refusal strategies differentiates from that of the NSE

should be aware of those pragmatic preferences of the NSE through special teaching

programmes focusing on the use of speech acts.

The Significance of the Study

Conducting research on the use of refusal strategies by TLE in both urban and rural

areas is important for several reasons. First, the speech act of refusal has not been of

interest to researchers sufficiently as much as other speech acts such as requests,

apologies. Nevertheless, a few studies on refusal strategies (Bebee, Takahashi &

Uliss-Weltz, 1990; Chen, 1995; Murphy & Neu, 1996; Olshtain and Weinbach, 1993)

have appeared in literature. However, none of these previous studies focused on the

effects of urban-rural regional varieties of NSE and TLE on the use of refusal

strategies.

Second, although there have been a number of studies conducted on speech act

refusals in different countries, there are fewer studies (Ercetin, 1995; Kamisli, 1997)

carried out in the Turkish context. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct similar studies

on refusal strategies used by TLE in order to contribute to the literature.

Third, in most of the studies on speech acts, there is a comparison of second

language user‘s pragmatic competence with that of the native speakers of the target

language. However, Wierzbicka (1985, p.154) points out ―cultural norms reflected in

speech acts differ not only from one language to another, but also from one regional

and social variety to another‖. Thus, the present study does not only compare L2 users

with native speakers of the target language but also NSE in rural areas with NSE in

urban areas and TLE in urban areas with TLE in rural areas in terms of their

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preference of refusal strategies.

Fourth, a considerable number of researchers have often taken L2 users‘ failure

for granted to become native speakers. However, as Cook (1999, p.195) points out,

―comparing the characteristics of native speakers and of L2 is like comparing

tomatoes and apples, useful only at a gross level.‖ The aim of the present study is not

to point out pragmatic failure of TLE by comparing with NSE. Rather, it attempts to

investigate the ways in which TLE and NSE in different regions use refusals.

Finally, the present study sheds light on the use of refusal strategies used by

native speakers of English from different regions which helps TLE to be aware of

sociolinguistic aspects of English and thus to improve their pragmatic competence.

For EFL theory, the findings of this study would be important because the

possible similarities and differences explored in refusal strategies of TLE and NSE in

urban and rural areas might imply similarities and differences in the use of other

speech acts such as requests, apologies. These findings may have crucial implications

for EFL practice as well since it would be necessary to design new language teaching

programmes and activities that emphasize those similarities and differences.

Review of Literature

In the 1970s, interlanguage studies were mainly concerned with second language

learners‘ phonological, morphological and syntactic knowledge (Hymes, 1972). The

field of second language teaching felt the need to deal with the area that comprises

learners‘ pragmatic and discourse knowledge. This area is termed as ―interlanguage

pragmatics‖.

Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) is the area that studies the development and use

of strategies for performing linguistic action by non-native speakers. As Kasper (1992,

p.220) points out, ―interlanguage pragmatics emerged from the problems of

miscommunication between people coming from different cultures, not necessarily

that they speak different languages‖. The area of Interlanguage Pragmatics has

revealed the point that non-native speakers from different linguistic and cultural

backgrounds show a different range of skills in terms of pragmatic competence.

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Kasper (1992) considered interlanguage pragmatics to cover the topics as acts of

pragmatic comprehension, differences in pragmatic structure of different speech acts,

different strategies used in different cultures and pragmatic transfer.

Because of the phenomenon of pragmatic transfer, learners, even the advanced

level ones, may not use the target language appropriately. Foreign language learners

tend to use the communication styles, expectations and interpretations of their native

culture in the process of communicating in a second language, which leads to the

phenomenon of pragmatic transfer resulting in pragmatic failure and the judgement

that the speaker is rude, arrogant, disrespectful, and so forth. In order to use a target

language effectively, second language learners should use speech act strategies

appropriately.

Since the main aim of this study is to compare the use of refusals by Turkish

learners of English to the native speakers of English, it is necessary to explain the

term ―speech act‖. Cohen (1996) has defined the term ‗speech act‘ as a minimal unit

of discourse. Searle (1969) defined it as a basic and a functional unit of

communication. In a broad sense, it is an act performed by a speaker in the course of

making an utterance. Speech acts are realized when we give compliments, ask

questions, apologize, complain, invite, refuse, and so on. As Bach and Harnish (1979,

p.65) state, ―people do not speak merely to exercise their vocal cords‖. People say

something to communicate with others. Whether the communication succeeds or not

depends on the hearer‘s recognizing the intention of the speaker behind the words

uttered. The hearer cannot fully understand the intention of the speaker based on what

he hears. Speakers may mean more than what they say.

Refusals are considered ―a major cross-cultural sticking point for many native

speakers‖ (Beebe, Takahashi &, Uliss-Weltz, 1990), since they are face-threatening

acts. Brown and Levinson (1987, p.402) define ‗face‘ as ―the public self-image that

every member wants to claim for himself‖. Refusals can be face threatening as they

threaten the listener, requestor‘s or inviter‘s face. Refusing an invitation, offer,

request or suggestion may threaten the self-image of the speaker. In order to defend

his/her own self-image, the speaker develops some strategies that minimize or

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eliminate the threats which occured in refusing. Refusals are realized by means of

both direct and mostly indirect strategies the use of which depends on some other

sociolinguistic variables such as status of the interlocutor (e.g. high, equal or low

status) and the form and the content of the refusals (e.g. refusing invitation, request,

offer or suggestion).

In their study of refusals used by Turkish EFL learners, Sadler, Eröz, and

Chanhming (2002) state that in Turkish, the commonly used refusal formulas are

statements of regret, excuses, explanations and reasons. They, furthermore, pointed

out that Turkish speakers hardly ever used some refusal patterns. The less commonly

used refusal strategies by Turkish speakers include the direct/performative refusal (i.e.

„No‟), statement of philosophy (i.e.,„One can‟t be too careful‟), threat or negative

statement of negative consequence to the requestor (i. e. ,„I won‟t be any fun

tonight‟ to refuse an invitation),and unspecific or indefinite reply (i.e. „maybe‟ or „we

will see‟).

Some other studies examined the realization strategies of speech acts. For

example, Beebe, Takahashi and Uliss-Weltz (1990) compared Japanese and American

refusal strategies. They hypothesized that even highly proficient Japanese learners of

English often used the Japanese tones when performing refusals in English.

In another study, Chen (1995) wanted 42 undergraduate native speakers of

English to analyse the pragmatic appropriateness of refusals used by 26 native

speakers and non-native speakers (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and European). She

found out that native speakers of English had high consistency of agreement in the

identification of which refusals were pragmatically appropriate. The judgements of

native speakers of English about the pragmatic appropriateness of refusals produced

by both native speakers and non-native speakers remained stable over time.

A recent study by Al-Eryani (2007) on refusal strategies of Yemeni EFL learners

has shown that cross-cultural variation was evident in the frequency and content of

semantic formulas although a similar range of refusal strategies were available to the

language groups investigated. Yemeni learners of English displayed pragmatic

competence; however, they sometimes fell back on the norms of their native culture in

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their formulation of refusals in the second language.

The studies mentioned above suggest that non-native speakers do not easily

accomplish appropriate performance of speech acts in an L2, as they could not

perform the strategies used by native speakers. Refusals are complex tasks for second

language learners because refusals are culture-specific, and sensitive to other

sociolinguistic variables such as status and gender. They also require long sequences

of negotiations. Then, it is the job of language authorities and language teachers to

provide students with the knowledge of speech acts, and to teach them how to use the

speech acts in an appropriate manner by taking into consideration the setting, the

context, and the status and gender of the interlocutor. Language use displays variety

in different regions such as urban and rural. Crystal (1987) explains the concept of

regional dialects and uses the terms ―urban dialects‖ and ―rural forms of speech‖.

LePage and Tabouret-Keller (1985) indicate that speakers attempt to project who they

are relative to the community and other participants when they engage in speech acts.

Thus, speakers of a regional dialect might use speech acts appropriate for the

community they belong to. Urbanization is one of the common causes of language

shift (Dorian, 1981; Timm, 1980). Based on these propositions, we expect native

speakers of a language to perform speech act strategies appropriate for the region they

belong to. However, previous studies in the EFL field have not specifically explored

the speech act performances of native speakers of English in urban and rural regions.

This study aims to investigate one of the speech acts, i.e. the refusal strategies, used

by native English speakers and EFL learners in urban and rural areas. The paper

reports on a study looking into this under-examined issue.

The Present Study

Research Questions

The aim of the present study is to put forward the ways in which the speech act of

refusal is used by TLE and to reveal whether or not regional variety of TLE affects

the kind of refusal strategies they use. The study also aims to find out to what extent

the effect of regional variety of TLE on the use of refusal strategies is similar to that

307

of NSE.

This study addressed the following research questions:

1. Does the preference of refusal strategies by Turkish EFL learners in urban

areas vary in a way similar to the preference of those by Turkish EFL learners in

rural areas?

2. Do Turkish learners of English in urban areas use refusal strategies in various

situations in a way similar to the native speakers of English in urban areas?

3. Do Turkish learners of English in rural areas use refusal strategies in various

situations in a way similar to the native speakers of English in rural areas?

4. Does the preference of refusal strategies by the native speakers of English in

urban areas vary in a way similar to the preference of those by the native speakers of

English in rural areas?

Participants

Before the actual administration of the questionnaire, subjects were asked about their

geographical origins. The participants for this study were chosen from among those

who were born and have lived in urban/rural areas until the time of data collection.

Four groups comprising 151 participants were composed.

1. Turkish learners of English in urban areas: There were 50 subjects in this group.

The participants were randomly chosen from among the freshman students studying

ELT at Kocaeli University in Izmit. They were upper-intermediate level learners of

English.

2. Turkish learners of English in rural areas: The second group consisted of 51

subjects living in rural areas. They were chosen from among upper-intermediate level

learners of English at Anatolian Training High School in Gonen, Isparta.

3. Native speakers of English in urban areas: 25 subjects participated in this group.

They were native speakers of English from urban areas in USA. Eight subjects were

from New York, 6 subjects from Los Angeles, 3 subjects from Chicago, 3 subjects

from Boston, 2 subjects from San Francisco, 1 subject from Jacksonville, 1 subject

http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0108603

308

from Philadelphia and 1 subject from Cleveland .

4. Native speakers of English in rural areas: There were 25 subjects in this group.

They were native speakers of English from rural areas in USA. Seven subjects were

from Brookings, 5 subjects from Rexburg, 4 subjects from Evanston, 3 subjects from

Aberdeen, 3 subjects from Kalispell, 2 subjects from Greenbelt and 1 subject from

Beckley.

The population of each city and town mentioned above is given in Appendix B.

Instrument

The instrument used to elicit the data was a questionnaire presenting a set of situations

that simulated natural contexts (see Appendix A). There are nine socially

differentiated situations that are categorized into three stimulus types eliciting a

refusal: three requests, three offers, three invitations. Each group of situations requires

a refusal to a person of higher status, lower and equal status. All of the situations

include a description of a situation, specifying the social distance between the

interlocutors and their status relative to each other.

The questionnaire was prepared based on Blum-Kulka and Olshtain‘s (1984)

discourse completion questionnaire. This study used the modified version of discourse

completion questionnaire (DCQ) previously developed by Bebee et al. (1990). The

reason for using DCQ in this study is that it includes situations consisting of

interlocutors from different status (higher, lower, and equal). Furthermore, the

situations include all three possible stimuli, namely requests, offers, and invitations. It

is easier to indicate the importance of stimulus type in refusals by using the DCQ. In

this study, refusal strategies used by subjects in urban and rural areas in Turkey and

America are compared in order to find out whether they use refusal strategies in

various situations in a way similar to each other or not. Therefore, it is necessary to

explain the concepts of urban and rural area.



309

The Concepts of Urban and Rural Areas

An urban area is a unit of settlement where there is an increased density of field and

―human-created structures‖ in comparison to the settlements around it. There is an

intensive divison and organization of labor in the urban area, the mainstay of which

generally depends on industry and commerce. A rural area is a term used to define a

settled place that is away from the influence of large cities and towns. A majority of

rural areas have an agricultural character whereas there are many rural areas, the

economy of which is based on logging, mining, petroleum and natural gas exploration

or tourism.

In the United States, an urban area is defined as ―core census block groups or

blocks that have a population density of at least 1, 000 people per square mile and

surrounding census blocks that have

an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile‖ (Federal Register, 2001). In

Turkey, the Turkish Population and Health Survey defines an urban area as an enclave

with a population of 10,000 or more. A place with a population of less than 10,000 is

regarded as a rural area.

Data Collection Procedure

Data for the study was collected through a discourse completion questionnaire. The

copies of the questionnaire, which includes nine situations in random order, were

given to TLE in urban areas and TLE in rural areas in the fall term of the 2006 -2007

academic year. Meanwhile, the copies of the questionnaire were sent to NSE in urban

and rural areas via e-mail.

Before distributing and sending out the questionnaires, the subjects were

informed about the purpose of the study. After the distribution of the questionnaires,

the subjects were instructed to imagine that the situations were real and to write down

what they would say for each situation given.

The process of data collection from NSE was assisted by a teacher of English in

the U.S.A, an administrator of a website called Dave‘s ESL café, and by native

speakers of English who teach in Turkey. The subjects were randomly selected in the

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determined areas (see Appendix B). A teacher of English in Isparta helped to collect

data from TLE. The subjects were selected randomly in the senior classes. No time

limit was imposed on groups.

All four groups of subjects voluntarily participated in the study. Therefore, no

payment of any kind was made to them for being involved in the study. The Turkish

version of the questionnaire was not used for Turkish EFL learners. They were

encouraged to answer in English because the main aim of the present research is to

compare the production of refusal strategies in English by TLE to the refusals used by

NSE.

Data Analysis

The subjects of this study were composed of four groups: native speakers of English

in urban areas, native speakers of English in rural areas, Turkish learners of English in

urban areas and Turkish learners of English in rural areas.

For data analysis, Chi-Square, Pearson Correlation and Mann-Whitney U tests

were applied. 0.05 expressiveness level was applied. SPSS 11 and Microsoft Excel

packet programmes were used in the analysis and presentation of data derived from

the study.

In the present study, the subjects are presented nine situatons which may require a

refusal : three invitations, three requests and three offers, and for each of these three

groups of situations, the subjects were in interaction with one higher, one equal and

one lower status interlocutor. The refusal strategies used by subjects in all groups

were categorized in six types: an expression of regret, a direct refusal, an excuse, wish,

and an offer of an alternative and unspecific or indefinite reply (see Appendix C).

Results

Refusals are realized by means of both direct and mostly indirect strategies, the use of

which depends on some other sociolinguistic variables such as status of the

interlocutor (e.g. high, equal or low status) and the form and the content of the

refusals (e. g. refusing invitation, request, offer or suggestion).

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In the following part, some examples of each strategy from the collected data are

provided:

Strategy-1: An expression of regret (e.g. 'I am sorry,' 'Unfortunately')

Strategy-2: A direct refusal (e.g. 'No,' 'I won't')

Strategy-3: An excuse (e.g. 'I am very busy now,' 'I have an important exam')

Strategy-4: Wish (e.g,‟I would love to but...' ' It sounds a good idea but...')

Strategy-5: An offer of an alternative (e.g. ' You could ask someone else')

Strategy-6: Unspecific or indefinite reply (e.g. ' I don't know,' 'I am not sure')

The results are presented in terms of a response to each research question asked

in this study.

Research question 1: A comparison of the use of refusals by TLE in urban areas and

TLE in rural areas

Below is an analysis of data to test whether there are differecences or similarities

among the refusal strategies used by TLE in urban areas and TLE in rural areas.

Table- 1: The distribution of the strategies used by TLE in urban and rural areas

Strategy-1 Strategy-2 Strategy-3 Strategy-4 Strategy-5 Strategy-6 P

n % n % N % N % N % n %

QUESTION 1 Rural 15 30, 0% 20 40, 0% 2 4, 0% 3 6, 0% 7 14, 0% 3 6, 0% 0, 000

Urban 15 29, 4% 18 35, 3% 2 3, 9% 4 7, 8% 6 11, 8% 6 11, 8% 0, 000

QUESTION 2 Rural 16 32, 0% 13 26, 0% 15 30, 0% 1 2, 0% 3 6, 0% 2 4, 0% 0, 000

Urban 15 29, 4% 12 23, 5% 10 19, 6% 5 9, 8% 6 11, 8% 3 5, 9% 0, 030

QUESTION 3 Rural 3 6, 0% 3 6, 0% 14 28, 0% 15 30, 0% 3 6, 0% 12 24, 0% 0, 001

Urban 3 5, 9% 1 2, 0% 16 31, 4% 15 29, 4% 4 7, 8% 12 23, 5% 0, 000

QUESTION 4 Rural 12 24, 0% 2 4, 0% 2 4, 0% 19 38, 0% 2 4, 0% 13 26, 0% 0, 000

Urban 11 21, 6% 3 5, 9% 3 5, 9% 19 37, 3% 3 5, 9% 12 23, 5% 0, 000

QUESTION 5 Rural 3 6, 0% 4 8, 0% 8 16, 0% 11 22, 0% 15 30, 0% 9 18, 0% 0, 036

Urban 2 3, 9% 2 3, 9% 8 15, 7% 7 13, 7% 21 41, 2% 11 21, 6% 0, 000

QUESTION 6 Rural 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 16 32, 0% 14 28, 0% 0, 006

Urban 3 5, 9% 13 25, 5% 5 9, 8% 4 7, 8% 19 37, 3% 7 13, 7% 0, 000

QUESTION 7 Rural 6 12, 0% 6 12, 0% 8 16, 0% 12 24, 0% 11 22, 0% 7 14, 0% 0, 549

Urban 10 19, 6% 8 15, 7% 7 13, 7% 9 17, 6% 11 21, 6% 6 11, 8% 0, 841

QUESTION 8 Rural 12 24, 0% 17 34, 0% 2 4, 0% 7 14, 0% 8 16, 0% 4 8, 0% 0, 003

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Urban 15 29, 4% 19 37, 3% 2 3, 9% 5 9, 8% 7 13, 7% 3 5, 9% 0, 000

QUESTION 9 Rural 2 4, 0% 4 8, 0% 15 30, 0% 5 10, 0% 20 40, 0% 4 8, 0% 0, 000

Urban 5 9, 8% 5 9, 8% 13 25, 5% 3 5, 9% 20 39, 2% 5 9, 8% 0, 000

Turkish people normally do not prefer direct strategies while refusing in their native

language. However, the results indicate that in the target language, TLE in both urban

and rural areas used strategy-2 (a direct refusal) with high percentages (40% in rural

areas, 35.3 % in urban areas) in the first situation while refusing a request of a

lower-status-interlocutor.

While refusing a request of an equal-status-interlocutor, subjects in two groups

used the strategies with similar percentages. Subjects in both groups used strategy-1

(an expression of regret), strategy-2 (a direct refusal), strategy-3 (an excuse) more

than the other strategies, which seems meaningful in terms of statistical analysis.

In the third situation, the majority of subjects in both urban and rural areas

preferred using strategy-3 (an excuse), strategy-4 (wish), and strategy-6 (unspecific or

indefinite reply). Similar to the results of other situations, subjects in rural areas used

less direct strategy than those living in urban areas. Moreover, strategy-2 (a direct

refusal) was the least used strategy by subjects in rural areas.

Although TLE did not usually prefer strategy-4 (wish) while refusing in most of

the situations in this study, in the fourth situation where they refused an invitation of a

high-status-interlocutor, strategy-4 has become the most preferred strategy, which

may result from the stimulus type (invitation) and the status of an interlocutor (high).

In the fifth situation, all the strategies were used with similar percentages in urban

and rural areas. While refusing an offer of a lower-status-interlocutor (the sixth

situation), the majority of subjects in both groups preferred using strategy-5 (an offer

of an alternative), which is one of the most preferred strategies by subjects in all four

groups in the present study.

In the seventh situation, all strategies were used with similar rates.In the eighth

situation, strategy-2 (a direct refusal) was the most frequently used one in both urban

and rural areas in Turkey. It may result from the fact that the use of direct strategy is

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regarded as the easiest strategy used in English.

While refusing a request of a high-status-interlocutor, the majority of subjects in

both urban and rural areas preferred using strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative). The

differences show that subjects in both groups attached importance to the stimulus type

as much as to the status of an interlocutor. While refusing an offer of a

high-status-interlocutor, most of the subjects in both groups used strategy-2 (a direct

refusal). On the other hand, while refusing a request of a high-status-interlocutor, the

majority of subjects preferred using strategy-5 rather than strategy-2.

In conclusion, there are no significant differences (p > 0.05) between TLE in

urban areas and TLE in rural areas in terms of choosing refusal strategies.

Research question 2: A comparison of the use of refusals by TLE in urban areas and

NSE in urban areas

Table- 2: The distribution of the strategies used by TLE in urban areas and

NSE in urban areas

Strategy-1 Strategy-2 Strategy-3 Strategy-4 Strategy-5 Strategy-6

p

n % n % n % n % n % n %

Situation 1

NSE 8 32, 0% 7 28, 0% 3 12, 0% 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,137

TLE 15 30, 0% 20 40, 0% 2 4, 0% 3 6, 0% 7 14, 0% 3 6, 0% 0,000

Situation 2

NSE 10 40, 0% 4 16, 0% 6 24, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,018

TLE 16 32, 0% 13 26, 0% 15 30, 0% 1 2, 0% 3 6, 0% 2 4, 0% 0,000

Situation 3

NSE 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 3 12, 0% 5 20, 0 0,614

TLE 3 6, 0% 3 6, 0% 14 28, 0% 15 30, 0% 3 6, 0% 12 24, 0 0,001

Situation 4

NSE 5 20, 0% 2 8, 0% 9 36, 0% 2 8, 0% 7 28,0% 0,107

TLE 12 24, 0% 2 4, 0% 2 4, 0% 19 38, 0% 2 4, 0% 13 26,0% 0,000

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Situation 5

NSE - - - - 6 24, 0% 5 20, 0% 8 32, 0% 6 24,0% 0,859

TLE 3 6, 0% 4 8, 0% 8 16, 0% 11 22, 0% 15 30, 0% 9 18,0% 0,036

Situation 6

NSE 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 3 12, 0% 3 12, 0% 8 32, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,137

TLE 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 16 32, 0% 14 28,0% 0,006

Situation 7

NSE 4 16, 0% 4 16, 0% 5 20, 0% 4 16, 0% 5 20, 0% 3 12,0% 0,984

TLE 6 12, 0% 6 12, 0% 8 16, 0% 12 24, 0% 11 22, 0% 7 14,0% 0,549

Situation 8

NSE 9 36, 0% 9 36, 0% 2 8, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,004

TLE 12 24, 0% 17 34, 0% 2 4, 0% 7 14, 0% 8 16, 0% 4 8, 0% 0,003

Situation 9

NSE 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 8 32, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 1 4, 0% 0,004

TLE 2 4, 0% 4 8, 0% 15 30, 0% 5 10, 0% 20 40, 0% 4 8, 0% 0,000

A direct refusal was used by most of TLE in urban areas while refusing a request of a

lower-status-interlocutor. However, in their native language Turkish EFL learners do

not generally prefer direct refusal strategies such as ―No‖, ―I can‘t‖. While refusing a

request of an equal-status-interlocutor, most of the NSE preferred using strategy-1 (an

expression of regret), while a majority of TLE preferred strategy-3 (an excuse). They

used the strategies with similar frequencies.

In situation-3, TLE and NSE used the strategies with similar percentages while

refusing an invitation of a lower-status-interlocutor. Strategies used with similar rates

may result from the type of stimulus (invitation). When an invitation was in question,

subjects did not use precise strategies. Instead they tended to use different strategies in

order to be mitigate the face-threatening force of the refusing an invitation.

While refusing an invitation of a high-status-interlocutor, strategy-2 (a direct

refusal) was never used by NSE while it was used by TLE with 8%. Most of the

subjects in both groups preferred using strategy-4 (wish), which may result from both

the stimulus type (invitation) and status of an interlocutor (high). It may be concluded

that in order to be more polite, subjects in all groups preferred refusing with

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expressions such as ―I wish I could‖.

While refusing an invitation of an equal-status-interlocutor, none of NSE used

strategy-1 (an expression of regret) and strategy-2 (a direct refusal). Both groups

intensified on strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative). Another interesting result is that

TLE did not usually prefer strategy-6 (unspecific or indefinite reply), which may

result from its having a more difficult structure than the other sentence types.

However, in situation-6, TLE used strategy-6 more frequently than NSE. In fact, it

was one of the most preferred strategies used by TLE in this situation.

In situation-7, TLE and NSE used all strategies with very close rates while

refusing an offer of an equal-status-interlocutor. In situation-8, while refusing an offer

of a high-status-interlocutor, a direct refusal was the most preferred strategy by both

TLE and NSE. The reason why strategy-2 (a direct refusal) was preferred more than

the other strategies may result from the stimulus type (offer) rather than the status of

an interlocutor (high). In situation 9, both TLE and NSE preferred using strategy-3

(an excuse) and strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative) while refusing a request of a

high-status interlocutor.

TLE and NSE used the strategies with similar rates in most of the situations.

Therefore, it can be concluded that TLE and NSE attached importance to the stimulus

types and status of interlocutors in the same way.

Research question 3: A comparison of the use of refusals by TLE in rural areas and

NSE in rural areas

Table- 3: The distribution of the strategies used by TLE in rural areas and

NSE in rural areas

Strategy-1 Strategy-2 Strategy-3 Strategy-4 Strategy-5 Strategy-6

p n % n % n % n % n % n %

Situation 1 NSE 9 36, 0% 9 36, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 004

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TLE 15 29, 4% 18 35, 3% 2 3, 9% 4 7, 8% 6 11, 8% 6 11, 8% 0, 000

Situation 2

NSE 9 36, 0% 5 20, 0% 6 24, 0% 1 4, 0% 1 4, 0% 3 12, 0% 0, 039

TLE 15 29, 4% 12 23, 5% 10 19, 6% 5 9, 8% 6 11, 8% 3 5, 9% 0, 030

Situation 3

NSE 2 8, 0% 4 16, 0% 9 36, 0% 4 16, 0% 1 4, 0% 5 20, 0% 0, 097

TLE 3 5, 9% 1 2, 0% 16 31, 4% 15 29, 4% 4 7, 8% 12 23, 5% 0, 000

Situation 4

NSE 8 32, 0% 1 4, 0% 1 4, 0% 7 28, 0% 1 4, 0% 7 28, 0% 0, 012

TLE 11 21, 6% 3 5, 9% 3 5, 9% 19 37, 3% 3 5, 9% 12 23, 5% 0, 000

Situation 5

NSE 3 12, 0% 4 16, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 0, 809

TLE 2 3, 9% 2 3, 9% 8 15, 7% 7 13, 7% 21 41, 2% 11 21, 6% 0, 000

Situation 6

NSE 3 12, 0% 8 32, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 1 4, 0% 0, 003

TLE 3 5, 9% 13 25, 5% 5 9, 8% 4 7, 8% 19 37, 3% 7 13, 7% 0, 000

Situation 7

NSE 7 28, 0% 5 20, 0% 1 4, 0% 5 20, 0% 3 12, 0% 4 16, 0% 0, 416

TLE 10 19, 6% 8 15, 7% 7 13, 7% 9 17, 6% 11 21, 6% 6 11, 8% 0, 841

Situation 8

NSE 9 36, 0% 6 24, 0% 4 16, 0% 1 4, 0% 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 068

TLE 15 29, 4% 19 37, 3% 2 3, 9% 5 9, 8% 7 13, 7% 3 5, 9% 0, 000

Situation 9

NSE 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 012

TLE 5 9, 8% 5 9, 8% 13 25, 5% 3 5, 9% 20 39, 2% 5 9, 8% 0, 000

While refusing a request of a lower-status-interlocutor, both TLE and NSE preferred

using strategy-1 (an expression of regret) and strategy-2 (a direct refusal). They used

direct and indirect refusal strategies with similar rates. In situation-2, while refusing a

request of an equal-status-interlocutor, strategy-1 was regarded as the most popular

strategy.

Strategy-3 (an excuse) was preferred by most of the subjects in two groups. While

refusing an invitation of a high-status-interlocutor, a majority of TLE preferred

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strategy-4 (wish), which was not generally preferred by TLE in other situations. They

might tend to be more attentive because of the stimulus type (invitation) and status of

an interlocutor (high).

While refusing an invitation of an equal-status-interlocutor, none of the NSE

preferred a direct refusal while TLE preferred it with a high percentage. The most

preferred strategy by subjects in both groups was strategy-5 (an offer of an

alternative).

In refusing an offer of an equal-status-interlocutor, strategy-1 (an expression of

regret) was the most preferred one by subjects in rural areas in America whereas it

was strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative) that was mostly used by subjects in rural

areas in Turkey while refusing an offer of an equal-status-interlocutor. Strategy-2 (a

direct refusal) was highly used by TLE although the status of an interlocutor was high.

Strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative) was the most preferred strategy by subjects in

both groups, which is not interesting, since subjects in all groups preferred strategy-5

with high percentages.

Research question 4: A comparison of the use of refusals by NSE in urban areas and

NSE in rural areas

Table- 4: The distribution of the strategies used by NSE in urban and rural areas

Strategy-1 Strategy-2 Strategy-3 Strategy-4 Strategy-5 Strategy-6 p

n % n % N % n % n % n %

Question- 1 Rural 8 32, 0% 7 28, 0% 3 12, 0% 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 137

Urban 9 36, 0% 9 36, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 004

Question- 2 Rural 10 40, 0% 4 16, 0% 6 24, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 018

Urban 9 36, 0% 5 20, 0% 6 24, 0% 1 4, 0% 1 4, 0% 3 12, 0% 0, 039

Question- 3 Rural 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 3 12, 0% 5 20, 0% 0, 614

Urban 2 8, 0% 4 16, 0% 9 36, 0% 4 16, 0% 1 4, 0% 5 20, 0% 0, 097

Question- 4 Rural 5 20, 0% 2 8, 0% 9 36, 0% 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 0, 107

Urban 8 32, 0% 1 4, 0% 1 4, 0% 7 28, 0% 1 4, 0% 7 28, 0% 0, 012

Question- 5 Rural 6 24, 0% 5 20, 0% 8 32, 0% 6 24, 0% 0, 859

Urban 3 12, 0% 4 16, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 0, 809

Question- 6 Rural 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 3 12, 0% 3 12, 0% 8 32, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 137

Urban 3 12, 0% 8 32, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 1 4, 0% 0, 003

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Question- 7 Rural 4 16, 0% 4 16, 0% 5 20, 0% 4 16, 0% 5 20, 0% 3 12, 0% 0, 984

Urban 7 28, 0% 5 20, 0% 1 4, 0% 5 20, 0% 3 12, 0% 4 16, 0% 0, 416

Question- 8 Rural 9 36, 0% 9 36, 0% 2 8, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 004

Urban 9 36, 0% 6 24, 0% 4 16, 0% 1 4, 0% 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 068

Question- 9 Rural 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 8 32, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 1 4, 0% 0, 004

Urban 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 012

In the first situation, subjects in urban and rural areas used the strategies with similar

frequencies. However, it is prominent that strategy-1 (an expression of regret) and

strategy-2 (a direct refusal) were used more than the other strategies.

In the second situation, subjects in two groups mostly preferred strategy-1 (an

expression of regret) with the percentages of 40% in rural areas and 36% in urban

areas while refusing a request of an equal-status-interlocutor. The least used strategy

was strategy-4 (wish). In fact, an expression of regret and wish are not in different

lanes in terms of the expressions that are used in these strategies. Therefore, it is

interesting that while strategy-1 was the most preferred strategy, strategy-4 has

become the least preferred one.

It is interesting that subjects in rural areas never used strategy-2 (a direct refusal)

while refusing an invitation of a high- status-interlocutor. Subjects in urban areas used

it with a low percentage (4%). In this situation, most of the subjects in urban areas

used strategy-1 (an expression of regret) while those in rural areas mostly used

strategy-4 (wish).

While refusing an invitation of an equal-status-interlocutor, none of the subjects in

rural areas preferred strategy-1 (an expression of regret) while it was preferred by

subjects in urban areas with a percentage of 12%. Furthermore, none of the subjects in

both groups preferred the direct strategy while refusing an invitation of an

equal-status-interlocutor, which may result from the fact that it would be too rude to

use the direct strategy with expressions like ―no‖, ―I don‘t want‖ because of the type

of stimulus (invitation).

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Although NSE generally used strategy-6 (unspecific or indefinite reply) with high

percentages, subjects in both groups did not tend to use this strategy in situation-6

while refusing an offer of a lower-status-interlocutor.

In the seventh situation, in refusing an offer of an equal-status-interlocutor,

strategy-3 (an excuse) was one of the most frequently used strategies by subjects in

rural areas while it was one of the least frequently used strategies by subjects in urban

areas. However, the other strategies were used with similar percentages. Like the

seventh situation, subjects in both urban and rural areas used the strategies with

similar percentages. In situations seven and eight, the stimulus types and the status of

interlocutors were of equal importance. The strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative) was

the strategy mostly used by subjects in all four groups in this study. Therefore, it is

not interesting to observe that the majority of NSE in urban and rural areas preferred

using strategy-5 while refusing a request of a high-status interlocutor.

Discussion

Subjects in all four groups displayed similar attitudes towards refusing the offers.

Strategy-1 and strategy-2 are the most preferred strategies to refuse the offers of the

lower-status-interlocutors. Strategy-1 is mostly used in refusing the offers of the

equal-status-interlocutors, while strategy-5 is the one that is generally used to refuse

the offers of the higher-status-interlocutors.

Similarly, subjects in all four groups generally used strategy-3 and strategy-4 to

refuse the invitation of the lower-status-interlocutors while they preferred to use

strategy-4 and strategy-5 to refuse that of the equal-status-interlocutors. Furthermore,

while refusing the invitations of the higher-status-interlocutors, subjects in urban

areas in Turkey and in the USA preferred to use strategy-4, subjects in rural areas in

Turkey used strategy-4 and those in rural areas in the USA mostly used strategy-1.

In the case of refusing the offers of the lower-status-interlocutors, subjects in

urban and rural areas in Turkey and in the USA similarly focused on strategy-5. In a

dissimilar manner, subjects in urban areas in Turkey and in the USA used strategy-4

and Strategy-5 while refusing the offers of the equal-status-interlocutors. While

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strategy-5 is mostly preferred by TLE in rural areas in the case of refusing the offers

of the equal-status-interlocutors, strategy-1 is the one that is used by most of the NSE

in rural areas. While refusing the offers of the higher-status-interlocutors, subjects in

both urban and rural areas in Turkey and in the USA intensified in strategy-1 and

strategy-2.

A general overview of the graphs displays some similarities. In all respondent

graphs, direct strategies were elicited in refusals to equal and lower status

interlocutors more than in refusals to lower or higher status interlocutors. This finding

can be regarded as an indicator for their having similar notions of directness and

indirectness in their actions with people from varied social status.

The results showed that strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative) was by far the most

frequently used type while strategy-6 (unspecific or indefinite reply) was the least

frequently used type across all four groups. Furthermore, the similarity among the

members of four subject groups with regard to the frequency of use of strategy-3 (an

excuse) and strategy-5 (an offer of an alternative) can be seen as an indicator of the

fact that all respondents use refusal strategies in various situations in a way similar to

each other. Although there was a similarity in the use of refusal strategies in given

situations, some differences were observed across all four subjects.

In spite of a relatively rare use of strategy-2 ( a direct refusal) across all NSE in

urban and rural areas, TLE in urban and rural areas frequently used it in situations 1, 2,

6, 7 and 8 while especially refusing lower and equal status interlocutors. In Turkey,

subjects in urban areas used more strategy-2 than the others did in rural areas.

However, it does not indicate a meaningful difference.

Strategy-6 was preferred more by NSE in urban and rural areas than TLE in urban

and rural areas. This finding confirms the existence of pragmatic transfer in the target

language production of TLE. What made us think that there is a phenomenon of

pragmatic transfer in the less preference of strategy-6 by Turkish learners despite the

high preference of it by NSE is the fact that while NSE prefer to use unspecific or

indefinite reply strategy in their natural environment, TLE hardly ever use this refusal

pattern in their native language. Similarly, Sadler, Eroz, and Chanhming (2002)

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confirmed this in their study, "I refuse you: An examination of English refusals by

native speakers of English, Lao, and Turkish‖.

Another striking result was that TLE tended to use direct refusal (i.e. ―No‖, ―I

have to turn down the offer‖) in the production of the target language more frequently

than they use that strategy in the production of their native language. As Sadler, Eroz,

and Chanhming (2002) point out, Turkish speakers hardly ever used the refusal

pattern of the direct, performative refusal. However, subjects in both urban and rural

areas in Turkey used this strategy in all situations more than they use that strategy in

their interaction in Turkish. The reason for such an inconsistency in the use of direct

refusal may result from the fact that TLE find it easier to use direct refusal patterns

while speaking the target language rather than the others such as an offer of

alternative, an excuse, etc., which are relatively more difficult to produce in a foreign

language.

Overall, findings suggest that the interlocutor‘s status plays a role in the choice of

refusal strategies by subjects in all four groups. It is clear that the status of interlocutor

is an important factor in the need for face saving in refusals for Turkish and English

subjects in both urban and rural areas. Similarly, all respondents in four groups tried

to minimize the potential face-threat by employing indirect strategies, which are the

most frequently used face-saving acts. The use of more polite strategies can be seen as

an indicator of the fact that the subjects in four groups tried to be respectful and polite

towards the requestee by choosing mostly indirect strategies.

Conclusion

The present study was concerned with the performance of the speech act of refusals

byTLE and NSE. It focuses on the similarities and differences between the use of

refusal strategies by TLE in urban areas, TLE in rural areas, NSE in urban areas and

NSE in rural areas. The study investigated whether native language and social

contexts influence speakers‘ comprehension and use of speech acts, in particular

refusals, in terms of their status in a society.

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Overall, the results suggest that subjects in all four groups used the refusal

strategies in a manner similar to one another. All subjects seem to have similar

notions of the necessity of using some kind of refusal patterns in a face threatening

refusal situation in order to have a mitigating effect. Most of the subjects in four

groups elicited direct strategies in refusals to equal and lower status interlocutors than

in refusals to lower or higher status interlocutors. This finding suggests that

interlocutor‘s status plays a role in the choice of refusal strategies by subjects in all

four groups. It is also interesting that while NSE prefer using unspecific or indefinite

reply strategy in their natural environment, TLE hardly ever used this refusal pattern

in their native language. The use of strategy-6 reflects this case in the present study

because stategy-6 was the least used strategy by TLE whereas NSE frequently used it,

which might be a signal of the phenomenon of pragmatic transfer.

Turkish learners of English hardly ever use direct refusal in their interactions in

Turkish, and on the basis of the findings stated above, it can be expected that TLE

may use this strategy rarely in their interactions in English as well. On the contrary,

they used this strategy more than NSE, the reason for which may result from the fact

that the producion of refusal patterns such as ―no‖, ― I cannot‖ may seem to be easier

than the other patterns such as stating an excuse or an expression of regret.

In conclusion, the results suggested that subjects in all four groups have similar

notions of directness and indirectness in their actions with people from varied social

status. The status of interlocutor and the stimulus type appear to be important factors

in the need for face saving in refusals by Turkish and English subjects in both urban

and rural areas.

Implications for English Language Teaching

Within the same set of social constraints, members of one culture tend to use refusal

strategies differently from the members of another culture. Individuals even within the

same society might differ in their refusal patterns depending on personal variables

such as social status, level of education or the environment they live in. TLE should

be aware of the priorities and goals in choosing the refusal strategy in given contexts.

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The design of an effective English language-teaching syllabus should be based on

the assumption that learners of English need to know how to refuse in various

situations in the target language. Making students aware of various refusal strategies

in the target language may help them become better users of the target language.

Although this study suggested that TLE were able to use refusal strategies in a

way similar to the native speakers of English, it was also observed that some learners

were not aware of cross-cultural differences between the two speech communities.

Therefore, those cross-cultural differences should be incorparated into English

language teaching programs in order to lead TLE towards using the target language

more appropriately.

Textbooks should incorporate tasks that focus on pragmatic aspects such as speech

acts. As TLE do not have direct access to the target language in a natural environment,

multi-media classes that include lessons with authentic audio-lingual and audio-visual

materials such as video, computer, etc. should be included in the syllabus. This may

help learners to be aware of how native speakers react in a native environment, and

how they produce speech acts in various situations appropriately.

Finally, the English language teaching curriculum in both private and state schools

in Turkey focuses on accuracy much more than appropriacy. Students are taught how

to make sentences with words. They are not taught ‗how to do things with words‘

(Austin, 1962), which is central to communication in the target language. The present

study attempts to contribute to the field by making ELT professionals become aware

of the importance of pragmatic competence as well as of linguistic competence.

Limitations of the Study

This study has some limitations concerning several phases of the research. The first

limitation is that a Discourse Completion Questionnaire (DCQ) was used as a data

collection instrument. The subjects were asked to write how they would refuse in a

given situation. The limitation about this written elicitation technique is that the

subjects may not write exactly what they would say in real life. Thus, the results of

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the questionnaire cannot claim to represent the exact forms of refusals used by native

and non-native speakers of English.

The second limitation comes from the fact that refusals may require several

utterances and turns, and ―often more than one discrete speech act is necessary for a

speaker to develop the overarching communicative purpose – or illocutionary force –

desired.‖(Tanck, 2004, p.14) Therefore, in the case of a refusal, a speaker may first

express his/her regret, and then may state his/her excuse followed by an offer of

alternative (Tanck, 2004). However, the DCQ used in this study does not give any

chance to the subjects to have several turns while realizing a face-threatening speech

act of refusal. The third limitation is about the number of the subjects. One hundred

and fifty-one subjects participated in this study, the number of which makes it

difficult to generalize the data gathered.

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Appendix A: Discourse completion test

A comparative study on the use of refusals by Turkish EFL learners and native English

speakers in urban and rural areas

Age: Location: Area: rural urban

Please read the following situations. After you read the description for each situation, you

are required to refuse requests, invitations and offers as you would in actual conversation.

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1- You are the owner of a popular shop. One of the workers wants to leave early. However,

the shop is full of customers, so you refuse this request by saying:

2- Your roommate wants to borrow your new shirt/blouse. As s/he has a serious personal

hygiene problem, you do not like the idea, so you say:

3- You are the president of an oil company. A sales manager in your company invites you to

his son‘s wedding reception. You have lots of work to do. You say:

4-You are a competent teacher in a private college. The Principal of your school and his/her

spouse invites you to their house for a dinner. You refuse this kind invitation by saying:

5- While walking around the street, you meet your friend. S/he invites you to his/her house,

which is nearby to have a drink. As you would prefer to stay outside, you say to your friend:

6- You are an office manager. You have been looking for your programme CD that is of

paramount importance. At that time, a cleaner comes rushing up to you and says that s/he has

thrown it out by mistake. S/he offers to order a new one from abroad. You refuse this offer

by saying:

7- You are a vegetarian. A colleague invites you for a meal at his/her house, and offers you

roast beef. How do you react?

8- You are a professor at a university. One of your students asks you to extend the deadline

to complete the project. You refuse this requirement and say:

9- You are a secretary in a company. A manager of your company asks you to enter some

documents into a computer, but it is time to leave work. You say:

Appendix B

Population of the cities in Turkey*

Isparta- Gönen: 9,454 (rural area)

Kocaeli-İzmit : 1,203,335 (urban area)

Population of the cities in the USA**

Urban area (7/1/2005 population estimate)

New York : 8,143,197

Los Angelas : 3,844,829

Chicago : 2,842,518

Jacksonville : 782,623

San Francisco : 739,426

Boston : 559,034

Philadelphia : 1,463,281

Cleveland : 452,208

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Rural area (7/1/2005 population estimate)

Hobbs : 28,311

Evanston : 11,375

Carlsbad : 25,303

Kalispell : 16,391

Greenbelt : 22,096

Rexburg : 21,862

College Park : 25,329

*Source: State Institute of Statistics of Turkey

**Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Web: www.census.gov.

Appendix C: Refusal strategies

Strategy-1 : An expression of regret

Strategy-2 : A direct refusal

Strategy-3 : An excuse

Strategy-4 : Wish

Strategy-5 : An offer of an alternative

Strategy-6 : Unspecific or indefinite reply

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"Teaching Aids: Effective in Iranian Students’ Lexical Acquisition?"

Seyed Vahid Aryadoust

Hoda Lashkary

Bio data:

Seyed Vahid Aryadoust is currently a PhD candidate in applied linguistics in Nanyang

Technological University, Singapore. His areas of interest are listening

comprehension, assessment, and validation. He has published books and papers in

these areas.

Hoda Lashkary is an English teacher in Iran. She has taught general English to young

and adult learners. Her area of interest is vocabulary acquisition and teaching

techniques.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, and

Dr. Acar for supervising the review process of the article.

Abstract

This study is a quantitative exploration of the effects of employing teaching aids on

lexical acquisition. Two groups of advanced adult EFL learners were assigned to the

treatment and control group. The treatment included the use of videos, flash cards,

and dictionaries over a four-month period of time to observe whether vocabulary

acquisition is completed better. We took cognizance not to let the participants know

they were in an experiment. But the instructor was not kept oblivious of the study to

enhance the internal validity of the results. After the treatment, all participants were

given a vocabulary test. Analysis of the results showed that the vocabulary taught was

mastered better by the participants receiving the treatment. It is recommended that

teachers allocate some time to use teaching aids in EFL classes.

Key Words: lexical acquisition; teaching aids; video; flash cards; dictionaries

Introduction

Having a rich vocabulary treasure can play a very significant role in our personal and

social life. The vaster and more exact our vocabulary knowledge is, the more able we

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are to increase our capability in different vocations and to express our emotions to

others. There are different perspectives regarding the size of a vocabulary repertoire a

learner needs. Zechmeister, Chronis, Cull, D'Anna, and Healy (1995) indicated that a

college-educated native English speaker has a lexical storage vast as 17,000 word

families. This figure is around 40% more than a fresher, who knows about 12,000 word

families. It may indicate the growth of vocabulary as individuals progress in their

academic life. In the same vein, Nation and Waring (1997) estimated that the receptive

vocabulary repertoire of a university-educated native English speaker reaches 20,000

words. In a more recent study, Cervatiuc (2007) measured the amount of receptive

vocabulary among highly proficient university-educated non-native English speakers.

The study concludes that this figure ―ranges between 13,500 and 20,000 base words‖,

which can be comparable to that of university-educated English native speakers. Milton

and Meara (1995) also found adult English learners could learn 2650 base words

annually. Recent findings also indicate that vocabulary knowledge is vital to reading

comprehension and proficiency, to which it is closely linked (Tozcu & Coady, 2004).

These studies are invaluable descriptive investigations of vocabulary repertoire in EFL

learners, but there remain concerns about teaching vocabulary effectively.

To have a good grasp of vocabulary is so important that it may guarantee second

language (L2) or foreign language (FL) learners‘ language acquisition as well as

academic achievement. Useful techniques and teaching aids to acquire vocabulary can

ease the process of learning vocabulary. The current article focuses on a presentation

of different technological aids that trigger improved vocabulary acquisition.

Purpose of the Study

Vocabulary as a major component of language learning has been the subject of

numerous studies. Finding the best way of learning words profoundly and extensively

has been the purpose of several hitherto-conducted studies on lexical acquisition. The

present study intends to investigate the effect of language educational aids on

advanced students‘ vocabulary learning.

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Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is due to two major reasons. First, the results will help

instructors have a better view on using a variety of instruments or educational aids.

This way, they can utilize this appropriate technique to improve students‘ linguistic

abilities. This study may also reject some Iranian instructors‘ stereotypes regarding

the impracticality of the application of innovative techniques at Iranian universities

and language schools. As English teachers in Iran, we have observed that some

teachers incline to stick with traditional methods of teaching vocabulary, e.g., ‗listen

and repeat‘, and take issue with new teaching methods.

Research Question

The present study investigates the following question:

Do those advanced EFL learners who benefit from more educational aids (books,

flash cards, and video films) have better achievement in vocabulary acquisition as

shown by vocabulary knowledge tests?

Hypotheses

In this regard, the following hypotheses were developed to answer the

above-mentioned question.

H0: Advanced EFL learners who benefit from more educational aids (books, flash

cards, videos, and films) have the same achievement in vocabulary knowledge as

those who do not use educational aids.

H1: Using teaching aids has positive effects on vocabulary achievement of advanced

EFL learners.

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Background

Learning and Teaching Vocabulary

Richards and Renandya (2002, pp. 255-256) stressed the importance of teaching and

learning vocabulary in EFL/ESL in the following paragraph:

Vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency and provides much

of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write. Without an

extensive vocabulary and strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, learners

often achieve less than their potential and may be discouraged from making

use of language learning opportunities around them such as listening to radio,

listening to native speakers, using the language in different contexts, reading,

or watching television…. .Vocabulary instruction should be integrated into

the listening, speaking, reading, and writing components of a language

program.

In learning vocabulary, there are several problems that a learner may encounter.

Students may encounter such problems as forgetting the word, confusing some words

with other words, and misusing the word in a context. ―However, vocabulary teaching

has not always been very responsive to such problems, and teachers have not fully

recognized the tremendous communicative advantage in developing an extensive

vocabulary‖ (Thornbury, 2002, p. 13).

What we can find in literature and the history of language teaching is the amount

of attention paid to vocabulary learning in different eras and methods. The Direct

Method and Audiolingualism kept the number of vocabulary low in each course to

avoid the distraction and memory overload of students. However, the Communicative

Approach capitalized on teaching more core vocabulary (Thornbury, 2002). Among

the first methods that exploited teaching aids to expose learners to vocabulary is the

Silent Method where the ―materials consist mainly of a set of color rods, color-coded

pronunciation and vocabulary wall charts, a pointer...‖ (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, P.

87). Later, some eclectic methods underscored using teaching aids and fruitful devices

to teach vocabulary.

Recent investigations into vocabulary acquisition and use shed light on different

aspects of lexical acquisition. Nassaji (2004) explored the relationship between three

key factors in lexical acquisition, namely, the ESL learners‘ vocabulary depth, lexical

inferencing strategies, and success in arriving at word meaning through contextual

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clues. Inferencing has also been studied by Nassaji (2002, 2003), Frantzen, (2003),

Paribakht & Wesche, (1999), and others.

Vocabulary that a learner picks up has depth and breadth. According to Nation

(2001), the breadth of vocabulary refers to the quantity of vocabulary learners know at a

particular level of language proficiency. Depth of vocabulary knowledge, on the other

hand, concerns the quality of vocabulary knowledge, i.e., how well the student knows a

word meaning and use (Meara, 1996; Read, 1993, 2000). In an attempt to measure the

vocabulary depth of the learners, Nassaji (2004) employed qualitative methods, i.e.,

introspective think-alouds, to learn about the inferencing techniques that 21 adult ESL

learners from different nationality backgrounds used. The study showed that there is a

correlation between the vocabulary depth and strategy uses and sorts. The study also

concluded that:

(a) those who had stronger depth of vocabulary knowledge used certain

strategies more frequently than those who had weaker depth of vocabulary

knowledge;

(b) the stronger students made more effective use of certain types of lexical

inferencing strategies than their weaker counterparts; and

(c) depth of vocabulary knowledge made a significant contribution to inferential

success over and above the contribution made by the learner‘s degree of strategy

use. (p. 107)

Lexical knowledge has been further studied from different viewpoints. Thornbury

(2002), for example, pointed out that form and meaning are two principal components

knowing a word involves. In his view, even if somebody manages to guess the

meaning of a word from the context, they ―may still feel uncomfortable about

working the word into a letter or dropping it into a conversation‖ (p. 15). Components

of a word to be learned are also mentioned by others such as Cook (1999) who

believed the light (spell), sound, and the usage (including meaning) are indispensible

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parts of each word. Cook added each word has meaning components that help the

leaner understand it.

Research into the nature of vocabulary and acquisition has helped developing

approaches and techniques to teach and learn vocabulary. Richards and Rodgers

(2001) stated three approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary:

1. Incidental leaning: vocabulary is learned via other skills such as reading

comprehension and listening.

2. Explicit instruction: the teacher must identify necessary vocabulary for the

learners with particular attention to their future needs. For instance, there is a

list of academic vocabulary for the collage students who intend to study a

course in a university where the medium of instruction is English.

3. Independent strategy development: learners are taught strategies that help

them guess the meaning from the context and also retain the word meaning

easily.

Moreover, Ellis (1995) has identified a similar categorization for an

explicit-implicit vocabulary learning continuum as follows:

1. Strong implicit-learning hypothesis: the learner can acquire words only

through unconscious processes. This hypothesis has been supported by

Krashen (1988, 1989).

2. Weak implicit-learning hypothesis: consciousness is considered important as

well as noticing the word to acquire. According to this hypothesis, words are

learned when they are noticed consciously. Schmidt‘s (1990) study is

supportive of this hypothesis.

3. Weak explicit-learning hypothesis: Learners learn through the active use of

their strategies. Context also helps whenever they are learning new words. So,

the learner is considered an active processor in vocabulary learning. Hulstijn

(1992) has advocated this hypothesis.

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4. Strong explicit-learning hypothesis: metacognitive strategies are used by

learners. The greater the processing depth, the more retainable the words.

Craik and Lockhart (1972) worked on the processing level and cognitive depth

to support this hypothesis.

Some studies particularly focused on the approach to teach vocabulary. Among

them, Gold and Horn (1982) focused on the effect of literacy instruction on

vocabulary and reported an improvement in reading vocabulary after their treatment.

However, they stated oral vocabulary did not exhibit any drastic enhancement. More

recently, Block and Mangieri (2006) proposed a method called Powerful Vocabulary

for Reading Success (PVRS) which, as they claimed, influenced vocabulary learning

dramatically. The software program they used can accomplish the following tasks:

(a) teaches high utility words; (b) provides students with a range of

instructional experiences including reading, writing, speaking, and listening;

(c) has a detailed teaching plan for each lesson… (d) uses metacognitive

strategies to aid students… and, (e) measures a student‘s mastery of a lesson‘s

objective, which includes vocabulary word meanings, vocabulary building

strategies, and word learning principles. (p. 6)

Merging teaching aids and appropriate teaching and learning techniques is also

useful in vocabulary learning. Al-Jarf (2006) conducted an experimental study and

reported that an intensive program of vocabulary learning, including ―categorization,

association, and visualization skills‖ and regular quizzes, is effective in improving

EFL students‘ lexical acquisition. It is evident the students in the study had been put

under pressure in different ways through an intensive vocabulary learning program.

The results establish the usefulness of such an approach. Mixed approaches to

vocabulary learning have been supported in such studies as Laufer and Hill (2000)

and Johnson and Steel (1996).

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Educational Aids

With regard to teaching aids, the first and most important educational aid in EFL/ESL

vocabulary learning is book. Nowadays, because of technology development, many

different kinds of supplementary materials are also available for students such as

different educational CDs and video films for EFL learners. Teachers may utilize

these aids to help facilitate the learning process of their students. Other common

materials recommended by teachers and researchers are videos, dictionaries, language

laboratories, and flash cards. We present a brief description of different educational

aids below.

Dictionary

It is imperative for an EFL learner to have access to a good dictionary to enhance her

vocabulary (Yorkey, 1998; Hulstijn, 1993; Woodard, 1998). EFL lexicography in fact

has a long history and has helped learners leaning new languages. More recently,

sophisticated CD-ROMs and other computer-based tools accompany dictionaries.

Dictionaries with CD-ROMs facilitate learning and make the learning process fun and

appealing to the learner (Carter, 2001; Carter & Nunan, 2001). There are different

types of dictionaries such as bi/monolingual, picture, thesaurus, and

antonym/synonym dictionaries. According to Cook (1999), the inevitable question of

selecting ―which type of dictionary to use‖ is always a challenge that EFL teachers

and learners may encounter. Another challenge is how to use the selected dictionary

effectively. Gonzalez (1999) found that dictionary work was time consuming but

crucial, and that ESL college students need to be taught the correct use of dictionary.

The advantage of using a dictionary in learning a new language is that it may

provide the learner with different definitions, examples of use, phonemic

representation, parts of speech, word origin, and phrases under the entry. Perry (1998)

encouraged the use of electronic dictionaries as they can provide a rich set of

exercises and help learners pick up the vocabulary more efficiently. Since paper-based

dictionaries do not usually include such a facility, some teachers encourage their

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students to use electronic dictionaries. A bilingual dictionary has another advantage

over monolingual dictionaries, i.e., exposing meanings in both the mother tongue and

the foreign language. For example, Laufer and Hill (2000) proposed sing the bilingual

dictionaries which provide the learners with options in both first and second

languages. Such dictionaries facilitate the look-up process of a new word.

It is stated that dictionaries can help the learner if the contextual clues cannot be

fruitful for the learners to guess the words‘ meaning (Scholfield, 1997). However,

Hunt and Beglar (2005) pointed out ―there is a large gap between understanding

dictionary definitions and using the lexis in context‖ and that ―memorizing definitions

does not involve students in the construction of knowledge‖ (p.44). They recommend

the use of dictionary as one of the ―three most crucial explicit lexical instruction and

learning strategies‖ along with extensive reading as a rich source of providing learners

with vocabulary (p. 23). It follows that teachers must introduce effective ways to

students to use dictionaries appropriately and recommend suitable dictionaries to their

students as supplementary materials to learn a foreign language. Hulstijn, Hollander,

and Greidanus (1996), Kilgarriff (1997), Baxter (1980), and Knight (1994) provide

more information on the use and practicality of dictionaries.

Video Films

An important feature of video films is their ability to present complete communicative

situations. The combination of sound and vision is dynamic, immediate, and

accessible. This means that communication can be contextualized, and many factors

in communication can be perceived easily by viewers and language learners (Allen,

1983). Further advantages of video films as articulated by Harmer (2001, p. 282)

include viewing language-in-use, cultural awareness and motivation. Harmer also

mentioned five common teaching techniques in using videos in classrooms: fast

forward, silent viewing, silent viewing (for music), freeze frame (where the teachers

pause the tape or the CD to ask the students what the participants did), and partial

viewing (where one can provoke the learners‘ curiosity by playing one section of the

film and asking learners to guess the rest of the story).

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Another benefit of video films is that the speakers can be seen and heard and other

participants in the situation and their actions can also be observed. The language

learner can readily see the ages of the participants, their sex, perhaps their

relationships, their dress, social status, their actions and movements; and perhaps their

mood or feelings. Further, paralinguistic information, such as facial expressions or

hand gestures, is available to accompany aural clues and intonation (Lonergan, 1983).

Similarly, the setting of the communication is clear: the language learner can see on

the screen where the action is taking place. This information may help to clarify

whether the situation is formal or informal (Lonergan, 1983).

Vocabulary annotation is another way to help learners associate words with the

outer world and learn them effectively. In this method, as shown by Chun and Plass

(1993, 1996), Plass, Chun, Mayer, and Leutner (1998), Kost, Foss and Lexini (1999),

Yoshii (2001), and Al-Seghayer (2001), the presence of visual aids especially videos

(in addition to still pictures) helps learners learn the new words better as compared

with teaching the same words in absence of such teaching aids. In the studies

conducted by Chun and Plass, participants preferred the use of aids such as videos and

this engendered a type of motivation for them to learn the words effectively. The rate

of lexical acquisition in the motivated group was also higher than the other groups

who did not have access to the aids. Constantinescu (2007 p. 3) stressed the role of

vocabulary cartoons as another effective teaching aid which are based on the

―mnemonic principle of association.‖ Vocabulary Cartoons associate the word rhyme

and its visual presentation in humorous cartoons. ―For example, the new word

FATHOM is associated (linked with) the rhyming word FAT THUMB, which in turn

is then presented visually as a humorous cartoon. The more outrageous and bizarre the

cartoon, the easier it is to remember‖ (p. 3).

In summary, video films in language teaching have advantages which spring from

the power of television as a medium. At their best, video presentations will be

intrinsically interesting to language learners. The learner will want to watch, even if

comprehension is limited. However, for the language learners, we need to pay

attention to some points. The material should be sufficiently motivating and the

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learner should want to see more, to ask questions, and to follow up ideas and

suggestions. If the materials, e.g., books, employed in language schools seem to be

interesting to the learners, finding videos relevant to the content of the lesson is of

paramount importance. This will keep students more motivated and by motivating

students video films can create a climate for successful learning. In any case, the

teachers involved in teaching via video should bear in mind that learners must get

involved in active viewing and comprehension. The power of television as a medium

is acknowledged by all, even though its benefits and disadvantages have been a matter

for controversy in some cases.

Language Laboratories

Another teaching aid is language laboratories where students can practice their

language both individually and in groups. Rivers (1993) mentioned the following

approaches that language teachers should follow when using laboratories as effective

teaching aids:

1. The laboratory does not teach. New learning takes place in the classroom in a

personal interaction between students and teacher….

2. The laboratory program is distinct from the textbook material and the class

work….

3. The laboratory is solely used for activities other than grammatical

practices…

4. The laboratory is regarded as a resource center like the library. (p. 401-402)

Exposing students to lengthy films or audio materials may therefore become

boring for students. This will distract students especially those who have shorter

attention spans. Involving students in discussions and asking them comprehension

questions in language laboratories will encourage them to follow and focus their

attention on the film.

340

CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning)

A widely recognized aid in teaching and learning vocabulary is computer. According

to Richards and Schmidt (2002), CALL may take the form of

a. Activities which parallel learning through other media but which use the

facilities of the computer….

b. Activities which are the extensions or adaptations of print-based or

classrooms activities....

c. Activities which are unique to CALL. (p. 101)

An important feature of computer is its interactive characteristics. There are many

software packages to help improving vocabulary of EFL/ESL learners. Some studies

have asserted the effect of CALL on vocabulary (and reading) achievement of the

students of English (AlKahtani, 1999; Busch, 2003; McGlinn & Parrish, 2002).

Palmberg (1988) reported the design and results of an experiment which tested the

effects of playing with computer games on the learning of English vocabulary by

young, elementary-level, Swedish-speaking children. The researcher observed the

effective role of computer games as teaching aids in the foreign-language classroom.

Computer assisted learning of vocabulary has been shown to be one of the most

prevailing methods to teach and learn vocabulary by Jitendra, Edwards, Sacks, and

Jacobson (2004) in a review article. In an interesting study, Groot (2000) investigated

the effect of computer-aided teaching on vocabulary learning. He found ―It is

therefore necessary at the intermediate and advanced stages of language acquisition to

learn a large vocabulary in a short period of time‖ (p. 60). He stated that incidental

acquisition and contextual deduction cannot be good solutions for this purpose as they

are too limited and time consuming. Additionally, although bilingual word lists seem to

be fruitful, their retention may not be effective since the technique decontextualizes the

word totally. As a solution, he introduced ―a computer assisted word acquisition

program‖, CANOVA, which is better to be used in conjunction with other techniques.

This program was developed based on the theories ―on how words are learned, stored in,

341

and retrieved from the internal lexicon‖ (p. 64). More precisely, the program has been

designed based on the stages of vocabulary learning as follows:

(a) Notice of the various properties of the new word: morphological and

phonological, syntactic, semantic, stylistic, collocational, and so forth.

(b) Storage in the internal lexicon in networks of relationships that correspond to

the properties described in (1).

(c) Consolidation of the storage described in (2) by means of further exposure to

the word in a variety of contexts which illustrate its various properties. This

results in a firmer embedding in the memory needed for long term retention. (p.

64)

A problem with CANOVA is to expose learners to sentences where the word has been

used wrongly. The users must then decide whether the sentence exhibits a correct or an

incorrect use of the new word.

Flash Cards

Flash cards are known for their ease of use. They bear information about the

vocabulary to learn, e.g., meaning, pronunciation, examples of use, and spell (see

Curtis (2007), Olle (1994), and Blachowicz & Fisher (2002) for a review of different

types of flash cards and their use). There are different techniques to make flash cards.

Pre-fabricated flash cards are also available.

Flash cards can be designed to help students learn new vocabulary through some

fun activities. Sometimes, audio materials accompany the cards along with the tests

which are reproducible and provoke learners to do their best to acquire new

vocabulary. Like other teaching aid devices, teachers should teach their students how

to use flash cards effectively.

342

Cuisenaire Rods

These colored blocks are interesting teaching aids, and are especially useful for

certain lexical areas. Key examples include prepositions of place (e.g., on, under,

between, among) and comparison of adjectives (bigger than, the smallest, twice as big

as). Blocks can also represent items in a narrative to act as a visual aid to

comprehension.

Methodology

We carried out a short pilot study to see if the study would be feasible. The short-run

experiment with the EFL learners who were learning new vocabulary words by the

assistance of teaching aids showed a great command of the new words by learners and

the learners whose exposure to such aids was at a minimum level did not generally

show a good performance on the vocabulary achievement test at the end of the course

time as did the main group. Following this brief study, we carried out the main study.

Experimental Group and the Treatment

After the participants were invited to the study, we randomly assigned them to group

A (treatment group; N = 27) and group B (control group; N = 25). The participants

were chosen among intermediate adult EFL learners (aged 18 to 24). They were

taught the New Interchange series and by the time of the study, they had received

approximately 600 hours of formal instruction on average.

In order to eliminate the effect of extraneous variables, we selected an

experienced teacher to teach in both classes. He was told of the teaching aids and their

usage. We required that he employ the teaching aids in his treatment class effectively.

After teaching the materials assigned (i.e., the book), he played the video films which

were relevant to the lesson content. The film was used according to the teachers‘

manual guidelines. We selected the following activities from the teachers‘ manual of

the video to follow in class:

343

1. The new words in each lesson are associated with the film content by asking

questions that provoke participants to use the words they learned in the

textbook.

2. Then, the teacher asks students some questions about the content of the film to

be played. They are encouraged to guess the story of the film before watching

it.

3. The teacher plays the film once and the students are asked to follow the story

and try to answer the questions given to them in handouts about the film. This

activity also helps students check their guesses about the film content.

4. The teacher asks participants to read out their answers and after checking the

comprehension questions, he asks them to watch the film again. This time, he

asks them to focus their attention on the use of the words they already learned.

The participants put down the words as they hear them. To help them, the

teacher, may pause the film when the words are uttered and the subjects write

the word in conjunction with the summary of the message the actors

conveyed.

5. Finally, the participants are asked to reproduce the film story orally. The

teacher at this stage re-stresses the usage of the new words.

Apart from this activity as a major teaching aid, the teacher asked students to look up

the new words in their monolingual dictionaries at home and make sentences similar

to the examples in the dictionaries. The dictionaries used by the students were:

American Word Power, Oxford Advanced Learners‘, and Longman. The assigned

homework was then corrected by the teacher as a feedback and returned to them.

In another step, the teacher asked participants to make flash cards. On the face of

the card, the participants were to write the word and on the back the definition,

pronunciation, and one or two examples. Following Yorkey‘s (1998)

recommendations, the teacher asked students to read and practice the words when

they had some free time. For example, they were required to read them on the bus, in

lines, etc.

344

Mention should be made of the approach to teaching the vocabulary to the

participant subjects. An approach that looks at successful vocabulary instruction as an

intensive task has been recommended by many experts—―that is, new word meanings

are introduced, learners are provided with multiple opportunities to actively process

and extend those meanings, and precise and sophisticated use of the word meanings is

encouraged (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002; Curtis & Longo, 2001; Stahl &

Fairbanks, 1986)‖ (Curtis, 2007, p.14). Thus, the approach to teach vocabulary in both

experimental and control group was intensive instruction of new words and helping

students in both groups get involved in actively using the words. However, the control

group did not have access to the teaching aids which were used as a part of the

intensive instruction of new words. According to the institutional policies in the

experiment venue, using teaching aids and showing films are not required in EFL

classes, but they are recommended.

Control Group

A control group of 25 participants were invited to the study. In addition to having the

same learning activities as the experiment group had (except for the use of teaching

aids), the teacher had them make sentences with the words they had learned. The

papers were collected in every session by the teacher and were corrected to be given

back to them. These activities and assignments were based on the requirements of the

language institute and were carried out for both groups.

Materials

We used a series of teaching aids in the present study. Films were displayed via a TV

set. It is good to notice that if we had had access to a well-equipped language

laboratory, we might have attained better results. This may be considered as a

limitation of the study. The number of private institutes equipped with such a luxury

is not considerable. Flash cards and monolingual dictionaries were other teaching aids.

At the end of the study, which lasted approximately four months, both groups were

given a vocabulary test based on their book content.

345

Data Analysis

Descriptive Statistics

As mentioned above, a treatment group of 27 and a control group of 25 students

participated in the current study. After the experience, a test was given to the students

which assessed their command of the new vocabulary words. The mean and

standard deviation of the results are displayed in Table 1.

Table 1

Descriptive Statistics of the Sample

Note. SD: standard deviation.

As Table 1 illustrates, the mean values for group1 and group2 are 86.14 and 69.84,

respectively. This denotes that the experimental group attained higher scores on

average on the test. The standard deviation indexes (SD) are 9.15 for group1 and

15.11 for group 2.

Answering the Research Question

To test the null hypothesis, a two-sample (independent) t-test was performed on SPSS

package version 11.5. In keeping with our hypothesis, using teaching aids, such as

flash cards, films, and dictionaries in a controlled manner improved participants‘

grasp of vocabulary better (M = 86.14) than when participants did not use these

techniques (M = 69.84), t(50) = 4.74, p < 0.001. In this condition, the effect size is

0.55, which is a medium effect size value (Cohen, 1992). Therefore, we have

Group N Mean SD

Experimental 27 86.14 9.15

Control

25

69.84

15.11

346

evidence to reject the null hypothesis at the 0.001 level and to state the treatment

employed in the study made a significant difference between the performance of the

experimental group and the control group on the test and therefore their lexical

acquisition.

Conclusion and Pedagogical Implications

This study set out to investigate the effect of teaching aids on learning vocabulary.

Generally, we observed the participants who benefitted from educational aids

received higher scores in the test administered as compared with those who did not

use teaching aids. Therefore, it can be said that using educational aids is one of the

effective factors which can contribute significantly to the improvement of vocabulary

knowledge. The study results are also in agreement with the previous research on

vocabulary acquisition. For example, Al-Jarf (2006) also found a significant

difference between the experimental group and the control group in her study

focusing on the effect of specific techniques and teaching aids along with regular

quizzes.

Iranian EFL learners seem to be exposed to books as the principal materials in

class more than they are to teaching aids. Owing to the financial problems that some

language schools may encounter and the time limits the teachers face, using teaching

aids as equipped laboratories and as part of the class time appears to be difficult.

However, this study indicated that, if utilized appropriately, even simple teaching aids

can come to the assistance of both teachers and students in vocabulary teaching and

learning. The most important effect that these materials and techniques have is giving

a chance to the learner to practice the vocabulary s/he is to learn in a different way.

Video films help learners contextualize the words by focusing on the actions, gestures,

and facial expressions of the actors. This is like a real-life situation where the learner

can see the speaker and internalize the word meanings. Flash cards are helpful in at

least two ways. First, they help students use efficiently the time they will have to be

awaiting something, e.g., when they are on a bus or subway train. Second, they help

learners quickly review the new words they have learned. Finally, dictionaries provide

347

definitions and pronunciation. They also help contextualizing the word minimally by

providing examples.

Turning to the pedagogical overtones of the study, two implications can be drawn

from this study. To allot some part of the instruction time in EFL classes to using the

media and other teaching aids is necessary if EFL teachers and learners wish to have

better results. Secondly, one way to make students interested in learning new words is

the usage of aids. This may give them a sense of achievement when they observe their

progress and also joy and fun when they see they are not wasting their time in places

they have to wait for a long time (using their flash cards). This would indicate that

learning is a whole-life process and they should not limit themselves to their class

time.

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353

Cultural Globalization and Language Education

B. Kumaravadivelu. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. Pp. xiii + 272.

Reviewed by Gregory P. Glasgow

Teachers College, Columbia University

Tokyo, Japan

Today, language educators and policymakers struggle to ensure that language

education programs are truly reflective of an increasingly globalized world. This

proves to be no easy feat as institutional and personal presuppositions about culture

and language education may preclude an objective, balanced treatment of this topic.

In Cultural globalization and language education, Kumaravadivelu, reaching an wide

audience of academics and laypersons alike, skillfully provides the reader with a

broad overview of language and culture education and encourages broader cultural

awareness in the language classroom.

In chapter 1, ―The Lay of the Land,‖ Kumaravadivelu describes his bicultural

background, as he experienced cultural variety ―sometimes with ease and sometimes

with unease‖ (p. 5). The next chapter, ―Culture and its Complexities,‖ contends that

―even scholarly representations of culture often reflect overgeneralized, stereotyped,

and otherized representations‖ (p. 18) which adversely affect language educational

quality. In the following chapter, ―Cultural Globalization and its Processes,‖

Kumaravadivelu explores globalization, acknowledging its status as a ―hotly debated,

multidimensional concept‖ (p. 31). At this stage, Kumaravadivelu spans

globalization‘s history and asserts that few language programs ―develop a global

cultural consciousness in the learner‖ (p. 46). This pivotal statement in chapter 3 sets

the tone for Kumaravadivelu‘s discussions in later chapters about culture as well as

pedagogic approaches towards culture and language

354

In chapters 4 through 7, ―Cultural Stereotype and its Perils,‖ ―Cultural

Assimilation and its Demands,‖ ―Cultural Pluralism and its Deceptions,‖ and

―Cultural Hybridity and its Discontents,‖ several dimensions of culture are explored.

In chapter 4, Kumaravadivelu discusses the tendencies of stereotyping the Asian

learner, stressing that these views have ―a stubborn quality to persist‖ (p. 53). He

mentions tendencies in cultural assimilation in chapter 5 to reflect a ―melting pot‖

concept; however, he concedes that ethnic affiliation prevails. Chapter 6 contends that

cultures can co-exist in a pluralist fashion. According to Kumaravadivelu, various

studies of EFL and ESL contexts state that learners seek richer, multinational

materials and that educators must be wary of tendencies to essentialize culture.

Finally, chapter 7 deals with the cultural hybridity concept about how a culture can

promote dynamism and multiple identities, a phenomenon common in global cities

such as New York and London where cosmopolitanism is prevalent. However,

Kumaravadivelu laments that ―very few studies have explored how discursive

hybridity can actually transform and enhance teaching-learning interactions in

classrooms‖ (p. 138).

In chapter 8, ―Cultural Realism and its Demands,‖ Kumaravadivelu stresses that

we must ―give the individual the agency toward cultural transformation‖ (p. 166). The

pedagogical principles and instructional strategies then mentioned in chapters 9 and

10 assert that culture in language education transcends that of the target language

community and thus focus on a cluster of communities. Through this, the learner will

engage with the target cultures to create associations and linkages (p. 177) and,

through specific instructional activities, achieve the target global consciousness

desired. Chapter 11 compares traditional approaches to intercultural education and

poststructural approaches, calling for a new framework that connects intercultural

communication and cultural globalization. Finally, Kumaradvaivelu powerfully

concludes that the ―map is not the territory‖ (p. 222); drawing from the analogy of the

controversy over the Eurocentric Mercator map, language education needs to truly

reflect culture as it is in the world and take culture in language education a step

further, promoting a willingness to learn from cultures.

355

Despite the book‘s rich content, Kumaradivelu‘s proposal that culture in language

education should focus on a ―cluster of cultural communities‖ (p. 174) does not

necessarily discuss from a policy perspective the top-down support needed in certain

countries which tend to resort to economically and politically influenced decisions on

how language and culture is dealt with in the classroom. He does, however, make a

valid point that ―language teachers face distinct challenges and opportunities to help

learners construct their cultural identity‖ (p. 175); for, as Canagarajah (2005) reports

and Dogancay-Aktuna (2007) supports ―true global cultural consciousness will be

perpetuated by culturally informed and progressive teaching practices, suggesting that

teachers take the initiative to incorporate a more ground-up approach that is ―relevant

to the local community‖ (Canagarajah, 2005, p. xxvii). Yet, teachers will need to

critically appraise their social roles and responsibilities, hopefully encouraging

socioculturally and politically contextualized pedagogical decisions

(Dogancay-Aktuna, 2007), to take responsibility for developing a deeper cultural

consciousness in their learners.

This consideration notwithstanding, the book is well worth reading in that it

welcomes a globally conscious element in language education in a thoughtful and

reasoned tone. As Kumarvadivelu eloquently states, it is ―learning from other

cultures that will lead to cultural liberty‖ (p. 237).

References

Canagarajah, A. (2005). Introduction. In A. Canagarajah (Ed). Reclaiming the local in

language policy and practice (pp. xiii-xxx). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates.

Dogancay-Aktuna, S. (2007). Expanding the socio-cultural knowledge base of

TESOL teacher education. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19, 278-295.

356

The Experience of Language Teaching

Rose M. Senior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xiii + 301.

Reviewed by Ben Shearon

Centre for the Advancement of Higher Education, Tohoku University

Sendai, Japan

Aimed at ―teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and to anyone interested in finding

out what it is like to be a language teacher‖ (back cover), The Experience of Language

Teaching provides a comprehensive overview of what it means to be a language

teacher, from training to working conditions to motivation and classroom practice.

The book is divided into an introduction and twelve chapters: In chapter 1 Senior

starts off by describing the framework for the book, then progresses through teacher

training in chapter 2, becoming a committed language teacher in chapter 3, the

practicalities of classroom teaching in chapters 4-9, frustrations and rewards in

chapter 10, and what drives language teachers in chapter 11. Chapter 12 is then given

over to the author‘s socio-pedagogic theory of classroom practice.

A smooth narrative filled with both liberal sprinklings of quotes from both

working teachers and academic works which give the work a refreshing depth and

authenticity and references from relevant academic works readers can use as jumping

off points to further reading, the book is an enjoyable read. The clear headings and

sections and summary at the end of each chapter also make this book student-friendly,

and the practice of boxing off theoretical explanatory passages makes it very easy to

mine it for theory. The diagrams Senior uses to illustrate processes and relationships

throughout are both clear and helpful.

There are only two criticisms of The Experience of Language Teaching. The first

is that the scope of this book, as acknowledged by the author, is restricted to

communicative language teaching in Australia and the UK. Moreover, all the

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teachers who participated in the research the book is based on were native English

speakers who were either CELTA or DELTA trained. Because of this, the vast

majority of English language teachers who are non-native speakers teaching in EFL

environments in public schools with little knowledge of the Cambridge ESOL style of

teaching are overlooked.

The second criticism, and this is perhaps unfair, is that while readers may find

themselves happily nodding along as they recognize familiar situations and

experiences, they may feel ultimately unsatisfied. Senior presents an exhaustive

description, but the lack of prescriptions mean that The Experience of Language

Teaching seems to lack purpose. The reader may find themselves wondering who the

intended audience for this book really is: teachers, teacher trainers, and others seems

rather broad, and while teachers in training may find it enlightening, practicing

teachers may not find much that is new to them here.

Ultimately though, Senior accomplishes what she set out to do. She, within the

specific context of UK and Australia based CELTA-trained teachers, provides us with

a broad yet detailed look, warts and all, at who language teachers are, what they do,

and why they do it. For those with an interest in the topic, The Experience of

Language Teaching is an authoritative is an accessible and timely resource.

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Language Teacher Supervision: A Case-Based Approach

Kathleen M. Bailey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xvi + 384.

Reviewed by Servet Celik

Indiana University

Bloomington, Idiana

U.S.A.

Blending personal experience with an emerging body of research and practice on

supervision from a wide range of fields in an attempt to shed light on a rarely

explored topic in language teaching, Bailey‘s Language Teacher Supervision: A

Case-Based Approach, through the use of case studies, serves as an admirable resource

for ―people who might become language teacher supervisors, as well as for those who

already have supervisory responsibilities‖ (p. 1).

This text spans 15 chapters devoted to issues such as supervision as a profession,

teachers‘ awareness and attitudes, professional autonomy and authority, and teacher

evaluation, and in doing so, explores the purpose and application of language teacher

supervision. It also offers pragmatic information on teacher observation, analysis, and

feedback.

The first chapter, as it provides insight into the status of supervision as a professional

endeavor, investigates how the proficiencies of supervisors have been defined in other

fields and reflects upon the specific expertise needed by language teacher supervisors.

It then lays out the rationale behind the case approach and discusses how it elucidates

the issues underlying supervision. The next two chapters draw from theory to ease the

understanding of supervision. Chapter 2, through the lens of Sociocultural Theory,

explores awareness and attitude, both of which are essential in building a sound

relationship between supervisors and teachers to cultivate the type of professional

conscientiousness needed for personal development. Chapter 3, using several key

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concepts from second language acquisition research, attempts to discover the

multifaceted, and somewhat problematic, interaction between supervisor‘s authority

and teachers‘ autonomy. Bailey refers to the types of power in supervision and

highlights the fine line between acceptable control that can help empower language

teachers and unwarranted control that can be detrimental to the supervision process.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 discuss issues related to classroom observations of teachers.

Chapter 4 talks about the pros and cons of observing teachers and recording data during

observations and makes specific reference to observer‘s paradox. With the need for

proper evaluation methods in mind, chapters 5 and 6 review several manual and

electronic data collection techniques, and outline the advantages and disadvantages of

each. Chapters 7 and 8 look at post-observation conferences with teachers, which

Bailey considers to be one of the most delicate aspects of supervision, mainly due to

disparate power relationships between supervisors and teachers. Chapter 7 reviews the

literature on how supervisory conferences should be conducted and what factors affect

their discourse. Chapter 8 recaps research on verbal mitigation devices in supervisors‘

speech, as well as on nonverbal behavior, and explores how supervisors can utilize such

tools to minimize power gaps and to maximize the effectiveness of feedback. Chapters

9 and 10 examine teacher evaluation and the necessity of properly carrying out such

evaluations and emphasize the differences between evaluative supervision and

developmental supervisory functions. Chapter 9 scrutinizes the primary purposes and

principles of language teacher evaluation and accentuates the different sources of

information for assessing teachers. Chapter 10 addresses the criteria for language

teacher evaluation including individual opinions, group consensus, teaching methods,

competencies and performance standards as it draws from previous research on teacher

effectiveness.

The next four chapters focus on a number of different supervisory contexts in

language education. Chapter 11 delves into issues related to supervision of pre-service

teachers, as it reviews two case studies on the relationship between student teachers and

cooperating teachers, and reflects upon one supervisor‘s experience. It also offers

insight into the differences between the work of cooperating teachers and university

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supervisors and evaluates the situational leadership model. Chapter 12 discusses the

difficulties and incentives associated with supervising teaching assistants and considers

strategies to successfully work with this population. Chapter 13 is dedicated to issues

pertaining to the supervision of in-service language teachers as it uncovers various

attitudinal factors such as decision making, reluctance and resistance, job satisfaction,

and burnout. Chapter 14 embarks upon the challenges of supervising non-native

speaking language teachers, while it tackles the problem of defining the non-native

speaker and answering what varieties of language should be taught. Finally, chapter 15

synthesizes the ideas discussed in earlier chapters to create a comprehensive depiction

of desired supervision. This final chapter takes on the concept of professionalism and

calls for a contemporary language teacher supervision that goes hand in hand with

current trends and reflective teaching practices.

With assorted chapters on supervision, each consisting of case studies for analysis

and discussion, concluding comments, and questions and tasks to allow readers to

review and reinforce their understanding, this insightful read will serve as an

indispensable resource for its audience. Although the link between supervision and

substantial professional development occasionally gets fuzzy, overall this text offers

an equilibrium between a personal and scientific look at language teacher supervision,

effectively linking opinion, theory and research which helps readers to gain

knowledge and develop skills as a professional language teacher supervisor in ways

that are ―more purposeful and straightforward than the largely haphazard endeavor it

has been for many people‖ (xiv).

361

Teaching Speaking in the Language Classroom

Christine Goh. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 2007. Pp. ii + 48.

Reviewed by Zeng Yajun

National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

Teaching Speaking in the Language Classroom by Christine Goh, part of the RELC

Portfolio Series, presents an informed and principled approach to teaching speaking in

the second language classroom. Allowing both teachers and students to work

optimally in the classroom context with varied carefully prepared teaching activities

and speaking tasks, the booklet, though only 48 pages, provides a valuable resource

for teachers, teacher trainers, students in TESOL programs, and other language

professionals who are keen to know more about how to teach speaking effectively in

ESL/EFL classrooms in Asia.

Goh argues in the introduction that ―although speaking is now an essential part of

many language curricula, it is probably true to say that while it frequently occurs in

class, speaking is less frequently taught‖ (p. ii), and thus she provides five chapters to

explain how teachers can provide structured and guided learning experiences for

language learners to develop their speaking competence, each of which contains

reflection tasks to encourage readers‘ critical thinking, figures to explain the construct

of speaking and present current research findings, and illustrated teaching activities

and models.

The first chapter offers essential theoretical perspectives in considering speaking as

process, skill, and product. Chapter 2 focuses on fluency-oriented tasks for developing

a range of speaking skills. In chapter 3, Goh introduces an informed pedagogical

model. The model consists of a lesson sequence that includes the use of

communicative tasks, language-focused activities, and further practice tasks that all

362

work together to develop fluency, accuracy, and complexity in speaking performance.

Goh contends the model serves as a proper way of sequencing speaking lessons and

materials which are systematically based on cognitive principles of learning. To better

inform classroom teaching practice, the author, in chapter 4, highlights recent research

findings on spoken English and speaking performance by explaining the pedagogical

relevance of spoken grammar, pre-task planning, and task repetition. The booklet ends

by exploring useful ideas on how to improve language competence and thinking in

small group discussions (chapter 5). Goh strongly believes discussion tasks can

provide learners with an opportunity to communicate with one another on authentic

issues while at the same time practice their speaking skills.

Written in an accessible and friendly style, practical and technique-oriented, and

focused on both principles and procedures (p. i), this small but comprehensive booklet

provides a very useful walk-through guide for readers who want to teach speaking

more effectively and successfully in second language classroom.

.

363

Publisher

Paul Robertson

Time Taylor International College

Chief Editor

Dr. Roger Nunn

The Petroleum Institute

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Associate Editors

Dr. Eva Bernat

Macquarie University

Australia

Dr. Esmat Babaii

University for Teacher Education

Iran

Dr. John Adamson

Nigata Prefectural University

Japan

Dr. Kourosh Lachini

Qatar University

Qatar

Dr. Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam

The Petroleum Institute

U.A.E.

Jeremy Cross

University of Melbourne

Australia

364

Dr. Ahmet Acar

Dokuz Eylül University

Turkey

Dr. Aly Anwar Amer

Sultan Qaboos University

Sultanate of Oman

Neil Heffernan

Ehime University

Japan

Dr. Xiuping Li

Newcastle University

UK

Dr. Mike Cribb

Oxford Brookes University

UK

Dr. John A. Unger

Truman State University

USA

365

Editorial Group

Dr. Mingsheng Li

Massey University

New Zealand

Dr. Kota Ohata

International Christian University

Japan

Professor Chen Yong

Chongqing University

China

Dr. Ming Cheung

City University of Hong

Kong

Hong Kong

Naoki Fujimoto-Adamson

Tokyo University of Science

Japan

Dr Jia Li

Ontario Institute for Studies in

Education

University of Toronto

Canada

Dr. Yu Ling Chen

National Hualien University

of Education

Taiwan

Dr. Yu Ling Cheun

National University of

Education

Taiwan

Dr. Radha M.K. Nambair

Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia

Dr. Deepti Gupta

Panjab University

India

Annie Hong Qin Zhao

University of Bath

UK

Dr. Toshiyuki Takagaki

Onomichi University

Japan

Dr Aysha Viswamohan

Indian Institute of Technology

Madras

Dr. Budsaba Kanoksilapatham

Silpakorn University

Thailand

Dr Jane Mok Fung Yee

Hong Kong Polytechnic

University

Hong Kong

Dr. Tan Bee Tin

University of Auckland

New Zealand

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Dr. Michael Thomas

Nagoya University of Commerce and

Business

Japan

Dr Nooreiny Maarof

Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia

Dr. Benedict Lin

Nanyang Technological

University

Singapore

Dr. Arda Arikan

Hacettepe University

Turkey

Dr Ya-Ling Wu

National Chin-Yi University of

Technology

Taiwan

Chieko Aoyama

Shinshu Honan College

Japan

Dr. Mohammad Ali

Salmani-Nodoushan

University of Zanjan

Iran

Mr. David Brown

The University of the Thai

Chamber of Commerce

Thailand

Dr. Ahmed Shakir El-Kilabi

Nizwa College of Education

Oman

Mr. Roger Cohen

Defense Language Institute

USA

Mr. David Litz

United Arab Emirates

University

UAE

Mr. Tim Thompson

KAIST

South Korea

Dr. Ying-Ying Kimberly Chuang

Cheng Shiu University

Taiwan

Vander Viana

Catholic University of

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

Dr. Toshinobu Nagamine

Prefectural University of

Kumamoto

Japan

David Hall

Macquarie University

Australia

Dr. Mohamed El-Okda

Sultan Qaboos University

Sultanate of Oman

J. E. King

Kansai Gaidai University

Japan

Alison Smith

United Arab Emirates

University

UAE

Marcus Otlowski

Kochi University

Japan

http://www.ukm.my/malay/

367

S. Mohammad Reza Hashemi

Teacher Training University

Iran

Dr Bilal Kirkici

Başkent University

Turkey

Sean Sutherland

King's College

London

UK

Stuart D. Warrington

Asia University

Japan

Dr. Shamala Paramasivam

Universiti Putra Malaysia

Huli Wang

Dalian University of Technology

China

Peter Burden (Ed.D)

Okayama Shoka University

Japan

Veronica Wynne

Boulder Valley Schools

Boulder, CO,

USA

368

Editorial Group

Nat Carney

Kwansei Gakuin University

Japan

Scott Menking

Shimane University

Japan

Will Baker

Southampton University

UK

Dr. Elke Stracke

University of Canberra

Australia

Dr Suganthi John

University of Birmingham

U.K.

Dr. Peter Petrucci

Massey University

New Zealand

Dr. Karin Zotzmann

University of Queretaro

Mexico

Damien Rivers

Kanda University

of International Studies

Japan

Lei lei

Huazhong University of Science &

Technology

China

Dr. Ruth MH Wong

Hong Kong Institute of Education

Hong Kong

Dr. Joan Cutting

The University of Edinburgh

UK

Dr. Keiko Sakui

Kobe Shoin Women

University

Japan

Farhad Mazlum Zavarag

Tarbiat Moallem University

Iran

Dr. Margaret Hearnden

University of York

U.K.

Dr. Afefa Banu

King Khalid Women‘s

University

Saudi Arabia

Stan Pederson

Kumamoto University

Japan

369

Dr. Patrisius Istiarto Djiwandono

Ma Chung University

Indonesia

Dr. Lawrence Jun Zhang

Nanyang Technological

University

Singapore

Dr. Neil Cowie

Okayama University

Japan

Dr. Wen-chi Vivian Wu

Chienkuo Technology

University

Taiwan

Susana Gómez Martínez

University of Valladolid

Spain

Dr Huahui Zhao

PhD Bristol, UK.

China

Dr Zahariah Pilus

International Islamic

University

Malaysia

Dr Sheena Gardner

University of Birmingham

Dr. Pin-hsiang Natalie Wu

Chien-kuo Technology University

Taiwan

Stefanie Shamila Pillai

University of Malaya

Nolan Weil

Utah State University

Dr. Malcolm Benson

Hiroshima Shudo University

Japan

Book Review Editor

John Baker

Chung Hwa College of

Medical Technology

Taiwan

Conference News Editor

Peter Ilic

Asia University

Japan

Journal Production Editor

Dana Lingley

Kansai University of Foreign

Languages

Japan

http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/conf_ant_editorial.php

370

Distinguished Advisors

Professor Rod Ellis

University of Auckland, N.Z.

Dr. Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew

Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

Dr. Reima Sado Al-Jarf

College of Languages and Translation

King Saud University,

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Professor David Nunan

Director & Chair of

Applied Linguistics

The University of Hong Kong

Professor Dr. Z.N. Patil

The English and Foreign Languages University

Hyderabad, India

Senior Advisors

Professor Claire Kramsch

University of California

Berkeley

U.S.A.

Dr. Amy Tsui

Faculty of Education University

of Hong Kong

Dr. James P. Lantolf

Centre for Language Acquisition

Pennsylvania State University

U.S.A.

371

Dr. Francis Mangubhai

University of Southern Queensland

Australia

Professor Robert Phillipson

Faculty of Languages,

Communication

and Cultural Studies

Copenhagen Business School

Denmark

Dr. Alan Tonkyn

The University of Reading

Applied Linguistics Dept

UK

Professor Terry Shortall

Birmingham University

Birmingham

UK

Marc Helgesen

Miyagi Gakuin Women's

University

Japan

Dr. Robert David Carless

Hong Kong Institute of Education

Hong Kong

Dr. Jeong-Bae Son

University of Southern Queensland

Australia

Dr. Robert J. Dickey

Gyeongju University

Korea

Dr. Yasuko Kanno

Asst' Professor English

University of Washington

U.S.A.

Dr. Luke Prodromou

Leeds University

UK

372

Guidelines for Submissions

Submissions for the Quarterly Issue

Submissions guidelines

The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly is a fully peer-reviewed section of the journal,

reviewed by a team of experts in EFL from all over the world. The Asian EFL Journal

welcomes submissions written in different varieties of world Englishes. The reviewers

and Associate Editors come from a wide variety of cultural and academic

backgrounds and no distinction is made between native and non-native authors. As a

basic principle, the Asian EFL Journal does not define competence in terms of native

ability, but we are a strictly reviewed journal and all our reviewers expect a high level

of academic and written competence in whatever variety of English is used by the

author. Every effort will be made to accept different rhetorical styles of writing. The

Asian EFL Journal also makes every effort to support authors who are submitting to

an international journal for the first time. While major revisions may be requested,

every effort is made to explain to authors how to make the necessary revisions.

Each submission is initially screened by the Senior Associate Editor, before being

sent to an Associate Editor who supervises the review. There is no word minimum or

maximum.

There are two basic categories of paper:

Full research papers, which report interesting and relevant research. Try to ensure that

you point out in your discussion section how your findings have broad relevance

internationally and contribute something new to our knowledge of EFL.

373

* Non-research papers, providing detailed, contextualized reports of aspects of EFL

such as curriculum planning. Very well documented discussions that make an original

contribution to the profession will also be accepted for review. We cannot accept

literature reviews as papers, unless these are "state of the art" papers that are both

comprehensive and expertly drafted by an experienced specialist.

When submitting please specify if your paper is a full research paper or a

non-research paper. In the latter case, please write a paragraph explaining the

relevance of your paper to our Asian EFL Journal readership.

Authors are encouraged to conform with international standards of drafting, but every

effort will be made to respect original personal and cultural voices and different

rhetorical styles. Papers should still be fully-referenced and should use the APA (5th

edition) format. Do not include references that are not referred to in the manuscript.

Some pieces submitted to the quarterly issue may be reclassified during the initial

screening process. Authors who wish to submit directly to the Teaching Articles

section should read the separate guidelines and make this clear in the submission

e-mail.

Referencing: Please refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological

Association (5th

ed.) – Contributors are also invited to view the sample PDF guide

available on our website and to refer to referencing samples from articles published

from 2006. Due to the increasing number of submissions to the Asian EFL Journal,

authors not conforming to APA system will have their manuscripts sent back

immediately for revision. This delays publication and taxes our editorial process.

Format for all submissions (Please read this before submitting your work)

All submissions should be submitted to: [email protected]

http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/submission_guide.php

mailto:[email protected]

374

i) The document must be in MS Word format.

ii) Font must be Times New Roman size 12.

Section Headings: Times New Roman (Size 12, bold font).

Spacing: 1.5 between lines.

iii) 'Smart tags' should be removed.

iv) Footnotes must not 'pop up' in the document. They must appear at the end of the

article. Use the superscript font option when inserting a note rather than the

automatic footnote or endnote option.

iv) Citations - APA style. (See our website PDF guide)

Use the APA format as found in the Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association (APA), 5th Edition, for headings, citations, reference lists

and in text referencing. Extra care should be taken for citing the Internet and must

include the date the site was accessed.

About APA Style/format: http://www.apastyle.org/aboutstyle.html

APA Citation Style: http://www.liu.edu/cwis/CWP/library/workshop/citapa.htm

APA Style Workshop:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/apa/index.html

v) Keywords: All articles must include Keywords at the beginning of the article. List

4-6 keywords to facilitate locating the article through keyword searches in the future.

vi) Graphs and Charts - either in the body of the document or at the end. In certain

cases, a graphic may not appear in the text of the web version of the Asian EFL

Journal but a link to the graphic will be provided.

vii) Paragraphs. Double space between paragraphs. Indent the beginning of each

paragraph with three strikes of the space bar except those immediately following a

heading, quotation, example, figure, chart or table. Do not use the tab key.

viii) Keep text formatting (e.g., italics, bold, etc.) to the absolute minimum

necessary. Use full justification. All lines to be against Left Hand Side Margin

(except quotes - to be indented per APA style).

ix) Abstract

http://www.apastyle.org/aboutstyle.html

http://www.liu.edu/cwis/CWP/library/workshop/citapa.htm

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/apa/index.html

375

The abstract should contain an informative summary of the main points of the article,

including, where relevant, the article‘s purpose, theoretical framework,

methodology, types of data analysed, subject information, main findings, and

conclusions. The abstract should reflect the focus of the article.

x) Graphs – to fit within A4 size margins (not wider)

Thank you for your cooperation.

[email protected]

Please include the following with your submission:

Name

School affiliation

Address

E-mail

Phone number

Brief Bio Data noting history of professional expertise

Qualifications

An undertaking the work has not been published elsewhere

Abstract

Any questions regarding submission guidelines, or more detailed inquiries about less

common citation styles, may be addressed to the Editorial Board or our Journal

Production Editor (Dana Lingley) at: [email protected]

Book Reviews:

The Asian EFL Journal currently encourages two kinds of submissions, unsolicited

and solicited. Unsolicited reviewers select their own materials to review. Both

teachers and graduate students are encouraged to submit reviews. Solicited reviewers

are contacted and asked to review materials from its current list of availability. If you

376

would like to be considered as a solicited reviewer, please forward your CV with a list

of publications to the Book Review Editor at:

[email protected].

All reviewers, unsolicited and solicited, are encouraged to provide submissions about

materials that they would like to suggest to colleagues in the field by choosing

materials that they feel have more positive features than negative ones.

Length and Format:

1. Reviews should be prepared using MS Word and the format should conform to 12

pica New Times Roman font, 1.5 spacing between lines, and 1 inch margins.

2. The reviewer(s)' full names including middle initial(s), title, school affiliation,

school address, phone number, and e-mail address should be included at the top of the

first page.

3. The complete title of the text, edition number, complete name(s) of author(s),

publisher, publisher's address (city & state), and date of publication should be

included after the reviewer(s)' identifying information.

4. Reviews should be between 500-700 words.

5. A brief biography of the author(s) should be included after the review.

6. A statement that the submission has not been previously published or is not being

considered for publication elsewhere should be included at the bottom of the page.

Organization:

Reviewers are encouraged to peruse reviews recently published in the quarterly PDF

version of the Journal for content and style before writing their own. While creativity

and a variety of writing styles are encouraged, reviews, like other types of articles,

should be concisely written and contain certain information that follows a predictable

order: a statement about the work's intended audience, a non-evaluative description of

mailto:[email protected]

377

the material's contents, an academically worded evaluative summary which includes a

discussion of its positive features and one or two shortcomings if applicable (no

materials are perfect), and a comment about the material's significance to the field.

Style:

1. All reviews should conform to the Journal's APA guideline requirements and

references should be used sparingly.

2. Authors should use plural nouns rather than gendered pronouns such as he/she,

his/her him/her and adhere to the APA's Guidelines for Non-Sexist Use of Language,

which can be found at:

http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/publications/texts/nonsexist.html.

http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/publications/texts/nonsexist.html

Documents

September 2009