The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly

September 2009
Volume 11, Issue 3

Senior Editors:
Paul Robertson and Roger Nunn
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

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©Asian EFL Journal Press 2009

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Publisher: Dr. Paul Robertson

Chief Editor: Dr. Roger Nunn
Journal Production Editor: Dana Lingley

ISSN: 1738-1460

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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

6
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.

8
 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 &

10
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

11
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

13
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

15
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

16
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***

17
 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 Pretest Posttest

t

Method 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

18
(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.

19
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

TI MTI
CSEPT

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

Reading

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

20
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

21
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

22
(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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26
 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

27
Appendix 3
 Mecca
 美加是大人與小孩都想去的地方。

Appendix 4
Frenzy 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

28
 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

29
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

30
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)

31
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

32
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.

33
 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?

34
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

35
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.

36
 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,

37
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

38
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
Rotation Initial Variance
Factors Variables
loadings eigenvalue explained %
I am diligent in English
V8 .754
learning.
I am perseverant in English
V 24 .709
learning.
V 19 I invest much in rote learning. .596
Factor1 I have specific goals in all
V9 .574 3.682 21.659
Effort phases of English learning.
I memorize English words as
V 33 many as possible to enlarge my .544
vocabulary.
I have enough time and energy
V7 .501
in English learning.
V 39 I love my English teacher. .779
Factor2 I feel close to my English
V 16 .751 1.929 11.347
Teacher teacher.
V 15 English class is interesting. .744
English learning is not hard for
V 49 .791
me.
Word memorizing is rather easy
V 14 .505
for me.
Factor3
I have good foundations in 1.775 10.442
Confidence V 35 .500
English learning.
I do not lose heart when meeting
V 43 with difficulties in English .415
learning.
V 38 I try to think in English. .659
I sometimes talk with others in
Factor4 V 37 .573
English.
Practical 1.429 8.404
V 22 I memorize words in contexts. .359
use
I read articles in English outside
V 21 .318
the course-book.

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

39
 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
Rotation Initial Variance
Factors Variables
loadings eigenvalue Explained %
V 49 English learning is hard for me. .726
V 28 I am not talented in English learning. .693
I am not confident enough in English
V 27 .615
learning.
I have not good enough foundations
Factor1 V 35 .583
in English learning.
Lack of 3.900 20.524
Word memorizing is rather hard for
confidence V 14 .469
me.
I have no good learning approaches
V 25 .463
in English learning.
I lose heart when meeting with
V 43 .451
difficulties in English learning.
V8 I am not diligent in English learning. .774
Factor 2
I am not perseverant in English
Lack of V 24 .706 2.319 12.204
learning.
effort
V 19 I invest little in rote learning. .679
My oral English is poor, so I cannot
V 12 .869
learn English well.
Factor 3 My English listening comprehension
Test-oriented V 11 is poor, so I cannot learn English .766 1.843 9.700
learning well.
I learn English only for the written
V 10 .466
exercises, not for practical use.
V 37 I seldom talk with others in English. .901
Factor 4 V 38 I seldom try to think in English. .672
Lack of I am not brave enough to express 1.640 8.630
practical use V 36 myself in English, for I am afraid of .553
making mistakes.
I receive no help from my teachers
Factor 5 V 47 .711
or friends in English learning.
Lack of 1.287 6.774
I receive no help from my family in
external help V 48 .586
English learning.

40
 Parents or the school do not attach
V 46 enough importance to English .501
learning.

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 X2/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

41
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.

.958
Effort English
.283* .937

achievement
.286* .282*
Teacher

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

42
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.

.873
Lack of

.196*
Lack of confidenc
.325*

.174* English
practical use e .948

achievement .368*
.152*
.370*

Test-orientation

.929

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

43
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

44
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

45
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

46
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

47
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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51
 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.

52
 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

53
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).

54
 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.

55
 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:

56
 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.

57
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

58
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)……..

59
 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…..

60
 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.

61
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%)

80

70
69

64
60

50
Frequency

40

30

20 22

16
10 12
10

0
Move 1 (Establishing a territory) Move 2 (Establishing a niche) Move 3 (Occupying a niche)

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

62
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

63
Table 4
Mean ranks comparison of non-native and native speakers‘ abstracts

Move Abstract origin N Mean Rank

Non-native 30 35.50
Move 3_Step 1B
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,

64
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.

65
 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.

66
 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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67
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Appendix

The bibliographic list of the research article abstracts used in analysis.

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Azabdaftari, B. (2002). On the Significance of Production Learning Activities in L2
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Flowerdew, J. & Dudley-Evans, T. (2002). Genre Analysis of Editorial Letters to
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Acknowledgement texts in English and Italian Research Articles. Applied
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74
 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

84
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

86
 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

87
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.

89
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.

90
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

92
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.

93
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

94
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

96
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.

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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

100
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

105
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.)

106
Appendix B.Sampling of student comments (verbatim) on Section 2 of SA score sheet

Student October November December

(final comments)

I sometimes use Japanese so I When I confuse how should I say It was very hard for me to say my

will try not to use Japanese from in English, I sometimes use own opinions in English, but it is

now on. I think my grammar is Japanese. I will do my best even easier to say my ideas than
Mari -->

often wrong, and I sometimes if I don’t know English from now before. I sometimes still confused

confuse how should I say in on. to say, but I did my best. I

English. So I want to speak enjoyed to communicate with

English more well. classmates in English.

I don’t like English. But this I speaked Japanese…so I want to So, I wanted to talk many students

English class is enjoy and like. So only English speech with and get many opinion. So I try,
Haruka-->

I want to English well and like everyone. And I like English a try, try!!

English!! My aim is A! little. Until now, I negative

English.

I want to build my vocabulary (Compared with last month) I I realized that the important thing

more, to speak what I want to ask think I have been used to is my attitude of speaking English
Miho-->

smoothly. I will try hard not to speaking about me and and listening other student’s

use Japanese more and more. communicating with class story. I tried to speak a lot, I tried

members in English. I would like to listen carefully and ask many

to communication even more questions

actively.

107
 I try to communicate in English Recently, I think communicate in Yesterday, some foreign

every time but I often don’t know English is fun, but I can’t talk customers came to my part-time

English words and I can’t explain enough because I know little job. I could explain in English. I

my thoughts. I think I should English words so I think I should thought my communication skills
Yoshie-->

study English words. study English words. are up by this class and I am

happy about being an active

student.

I checked my cell phone during I enjoy class. Gradually I can ask I think that I can speak and ask

class. I want to stay focused on questions to the partner’s in questions more than before. Now

English more and join actively. I English more. I want to speak I enjoy talking to friends in
Ayako-->

speak English in this class and I only English in this class. English. I also can say my

can speak fluently in the future. Moreover, I’d like to speak opinions in English easily, so I

actively more. want to develop my English skill

more.

I think I can speak and say my I can speak my opinion and listen I think I can speak English better

opinion in English a little better to my friends opinions more than in September. Before when I

than I was former term. But I evenly than last time I wrote this speak English I need many time
Miyuki-->

can’t still command English very paper. Before I was often to think what I am speaking. But

well. I try to be able to speak embarrassed, so I try to do my little by little I can make this time

English!! I do my best!! best on and on!! shorter. This is my big

development from Sept. to Dec.

108
Appendix C. Self–Assessment survey (without Japanese translation)

109
 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

110
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

111
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

114
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

116
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

119
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.

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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

123
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 1 1.7

3.50 1 1.7

4.50 2 3.3

5.00 15 25.0

5.50 13 21.7

6.00 18 30.0

6.50 5 8.3

7.00 3 5.0

7.50 1 1.7

9.00 1 1.7

Total 60 100.0

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

125
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.

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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.

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Table 4.3 Independent t-test between Sex and Attitude (Group Statistics)

Group Statistics

Std. Error

SEX N Mean Std. Deviation Mean

ATTITUDE female 31 201.0645 17.56120 3.15408

male 29 201.0690 14.76466 2.74173

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test
for Equality of
t-test for Equality of Means
Variances
95% Confidence
Sig. Mean Std. Error Interval of the
ATTITUDE F Sig. t df (2-tailed) Difference Difference Difference

Lower Upper

Equal
variances .101 .752 -.001 58 .999 -.0044 4.20356 -8.41879 8.40989
assumed
Equal
variances
-.001 57.370 .999 -.0044 4.17915 -8.37189 8.36299
not
assumed

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.

129
Table 4.4 Independent t-test between Age and Attitude
(Group Statistics)

Group Statistics

St d. Error
AGE N Mean St d. Dev iation Mean
ATTITUTE 20-30 44 202.7045 14.11346 2.12768
Abov e 30 16 196.5625 20.57172 5.14293

Independent Samples Test

Levene's
Test for
Equality of
t-test for Equality of Means
Variances
95% Confidence
ATTITUDE Sig. Mean Std. Error Interval of the
F Sig. t df (2-tailed) Difference Difference Difference

Lower Upper

Equal
variances 4.898 .031 1.312 58 .195 6.1420 4.68122 -3.22844 15.51253
assumed
Equal
variances
1.104 20.366 .283 6.1420 5.56568 -5.45440 17.73849
not
assumed

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.

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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 40 203.4500 14.00357 2.21416

MA & PhD 20 196.3000 19.23018 4.30000

Independent Samples Test

Levene's
Test for
Equality of
t-test for Equality of Means
Variances
95% Confidence
Sig. Mean Std. Error Interval of the
ATTITUDE F Sig. t df (2-tailed) Difference Difference Difference

Lower Upper

Equal
variances 2.363 .130 -1.641 58 .106 -7.1500 4.35605 -15.86957 1.56957
assumed
Equal
variances
-1.478 29.404 .150 -7.1500 4.83658 -17.03601 2.73601
not
assumed

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

131
 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 &
F P F P F P
Sig.

% % %

1. Familiarity with the place of IELTS test helped me to perform better. Chi-Square: 41.83
3 5 10 17.7 47 78.3
Sig: .000

2. The time of IELTS test administration affected my performance. Chi-Square: 24.13

1 1.7 12 20 47 78.3
Sig: .000

3. The physical conditions of the test such as, temperature, lighting and Chi-Square: 39.33
3 5 4 6.7 53 88.3
Sig: .000
chairs affected my performance.

4. The announcement of the remaining time in the reading and writing Chi-Square: 27.83
26 43.3 4 6.7 30 50
Sig: .000
sections by the invigilators was distractive.

5. Fear of the test affected my performance. Chi-Square: 37.16

14 23.3 10 16.7 36 60
Sig: .00

6. Familiarity with the format of the test and test rubric helped me to Chi-Square: 42.00
3 5 2 3.3 54 91.6
Sig: .000
perform better.

7. I prefer IELTS to other English proficiency tests. Chi-Square: 19.83

8 13.3 14 23.3 38 63.4
Sig: .001

8. I have a positive attitude towards IELTS. Chi-Square: 23.06

10 16.7 4 6.7 46 76.7
Sig: .000

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9. IELTS is a proficiency test and does not evaluate other Chi-Square: 20.16
11 18.3 15 25 34 56.7
Sig: .000
competencies.

•"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 &
F P F P F P Sig.
% % %

Chi-Square: 27.83
10. Listening is the most difficult section of IELTS. 30 50 5 8.3 25 41.7
Sig: .000

11. Lack of familiarity with British or Australian accent Chi-Square: 22.50

14 23.4 12 20 34 56.7
Sig: .000
influenced my comprehension ability adversely.

Chi-Square: 44.33
12. They speak very fast in this section. 13 21.7 11 18.3 36 60
Sig: .000
Chi-Square: 36.33
13. Wearing headphone helped me to listen better. 8 13.4 12 20 40 66.7
Sig: .000

14. The quality of the voice in the listening section influenced my Chi-Square: 41.66
11 18.4 5 8.3 44 73.4
Sig: .000
performance.

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15. The reason why I missed some of the questions was that I had Chi-Square: 26.50
14 23.3 6 10 40 66.6
Sig: .000
to answer while listening to the tape.

Chi-Square: 13.83
16. My performance improved as the test moved forward. 19 31.6 16 26.7 25 41.7
Sig: .008
Chi-Square: 28.16
17. Listening became harder section by section. 8 13.3 9 15 43 71.7
Sig: .000
*Chi-Square: 8.83
*18. Having to answer a variety of the questions distracted me. 23 38.3 10 16.7 27 45
Sig: .065

19. 10 minutes was not sufficient time for the answers to be Chi-Square: 27.33
12 20 7 11.7 41 68.3
Sig: .000
transferred to the answer sheet from the question booklet.

20. The listening section tended to evaluate my knowledge of Chi-Square: 15.83

15 25 13 21.7 32 53.3
Sig: .003
vocabulary and my speed of writing rather than my listening

comprehension.

*21. My familiarity with American accent disabled me to *Chi-Square: 7.33

18 30 19 31.7 23 38.3
Sig: .062
understand well.

22. Listening to English programs (e.g., BBC) had a great Chi-Square: 21.73
2 3.3 18 30 40 66.7
Sig: .000
influence on my listening ability.

23. Listening to English programs (e.g., BBC) made me perform Chi-Square: 33.33
6 10 23 38.3 31 51.7
Sig: .000
better on this section.

24. Command of vocabulary items did not help me to perform Chi-Square: 31.66
13 21.7 9 15 38 63.3
Sig: .000
better.

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

Questionnaire Items Disagree Undecided Agree

Chi-Square &
F P F P F P Sig.
% % %

Chi-Square: 23.33
25. Reading is the most difficult section of IELTS. 22 36.6 4 6.7 34 56.7
Sig: .000

26. The fact that I had to answer the reading questions Chi-Square: 29.16
25 41.7 18 30 17 28.3
Sig: .000
immediately after the listening section had influenced my

performance adversely.

27. The variety of question types in the reading section Chi-Square: 19.83
25 41.6 10 16.7 25 41.7
Sig: .000
distracted me.

Chi-Square: 43.16
28. Lengthy texts made me locate the answers more easily. 46 56.7 8 13.3 6 10
Sig: .000

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 Chi-Square: 42.16
29. Lengthy texts made me exhausted. 11 18.3 4 6.7 45 75
Sig: .000

30. One hour is sufficient to answer all the reading Chi-Square: 25.83
36 60 2 3.3 22 36.7
Sig: .000
questions.

*31. Texts became more difficult towards the end of the *Chi-Square: 4.53
12 20 12 20 36 60
Sig: .209
reading section.

32. Good command of vocabulary items and grammatical Chi-Square: 22.80

0 0 4 6.7 56 93.4
Sig: .000
structures helped me perform better.

33. Good command of grammatical structures helped me to Chi-Square: 33.66

8 13.4 11 18.3 41 68.4
Sig: .065
answer the questions better.

Chi-Square: 24.00
34. The reading section does not evaluate the candidates‘ 17 28. 9 15 34 56.7
Sig: .000

lexical or grammatical competence. 4

35. The General Training Module and the Academic Chi-Square: 43.16
5 8.3 30 50 25 41.7
Sig: .000
Module are different in terms of the difficulty level.

36. Reading a lot of English texts before the exam helped Chi-Square: 47.33
4 6.7 3 5 53 88.3
Sig: .000
me approach this section better.

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

136
 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

Chi-Square &
Questionnaire Items Disagree Undecided Agree
Sig.
P F P F P
F
% % %
Chi-Square: 51.83
37. Writing is the most difficult section of IELTS. 43 71.7 8 13.3 9 15
Sig: .000

38. I was tired because of my performance on the last two Chi-Square: 12.13
15 25 9 25 36 60
Sig: .007
sections.

Chi-Square: 23.16
39. One hour is sufficient to fulfill two tasks. 25 41.7 9 15 26 43.3
Sig: .000
Chi-Square: 18.83
40. Lengthy topics distracted me. 19 31.7 11 18.3 30 50
Sig: .000

41. Knowledge of vocabulary and grammar helped me in this Chi-Square: 30.83

11 18.3 4 6.7 45 75
Sig: .000
section.

42. Not having enough information on the given topic was my Chi-Square: 10.26
25 41.7 13 21.7 22 36.6
Sig: .016
main problem.

43. Having practiced a lot before the actual test helped me to write Chi-Square: 25.73
2 3.3 9 15 49 87.7
Sig: .000
better and faster.

44. One task to fulfill makes me have a full concentration and Chi-Square: 8.93
10 16.7 9 15 41 68.3
Sig: .030
write better.

Chi-Square: 25.16
45. Knowledge of essay writing helped me write better. 14 23.3 4 6.7 42 70
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

Questionnaire Items Disagree Undecided Agree

Chi-Square &
F P F P F P
Sig.

% % %

Chi-Square: 41.66
46. Speaking is the most difficult section of IELTS. 36 60 13 21.7 11 18.4
Sig: .000
Chi-Square: 21.16
47. Sitting in front of an Iranian IELTS examiner was relaxing. 10 16.7 20 33.3 30 50
Sig: .000
Chi-Square: 20.50
48. The examiner‘s gender affected my performance. 13 21.7 18 30 29 48.4
Sig: .000

49. The interview tests one‘s listening ability more than speaking Chi-Square: 40.16
31 51.7 18 30 11 18.3
Sig: .000
ability.

50. The examiner‘s accent did not have any effect on my Chi-Square: 24.16
23 55 11 18.3 16 26.6
Sig: .000
performance.

Chi-Square: 25.50
51. Stress was my main problem in this section. 13 21.7 7 11.7 40 66.7
Sig: .000

*52. Being asked too many questions in rather a short time made *Chi-Square: 6.33
20 33.3 13 21.7 27 45
Sig: .176
me disable to answer the questions well.

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 Chi-Square: 17.83
53. I had self-confidence when faced with the interviewer. 31 51.7 8 13.3 21 35
Sig: .001

54. The fact that the interviewer was good-tempered helped me Chi-Square: 51.83
5 8.3 4 6.7 51 85
Sig: .000
perform better.

55. 15 minutes was a fair criterion based on which my level of Chi-Square: 11.83
29 48.4 17 28.3 14 23.3
Sig: .019
speaking ability be assessed.

Chi-Square: 28.16
56. Practicing similar questions before the actual test helped me. 5 8.4 19 31.7 36 60
Sig: .000
*Chi-Square: 6.00
*57. I had stress because my voice was being recorded. 19 31.7 18 30 23 38.4
Sig: .112

58. Living in Iran and having little opportunity to use the language Chi-Square: 20.40
5 8.3 8 13.3 47 78.3
Sig: .000
affected my performance.

*Chi-Square: 8.66
*59. The questions were not related at all. 18 30 18 30 24 40
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

139
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

140
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

141
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.

142
 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

143
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

144
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

145
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

146
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 …

153
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:

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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.

155
 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

157
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

159
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

160
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

161
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

162
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

163
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 – Physical Environment (items 1-8) .87

Instructional Environment (items 9-25) .91
Existence
Social Environment (items 26-34) .90
General Environment (items 1-34) .96

Learning Environment – Physical Environment (items 1-8) .87

Instructional Environment (items 9-25) .94
Importance
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 The researcher described the data collection and analysis

collection and analysis methods used in the study.

The researcher bracketed her personal experiences and

2. Clarifying researcher bias from
prejudices before beginning the development of the
the outset
instruments and again before analyzing the data.

The researcher re-contacted participants to have them

3. Follow-up data collection clarify, or expand upon the data collected previously when

needed.

Participants read the transcripts of their own interviews,

4. Member checks
providing comments as to their correctness.

The transcripts were read, comments upon by a colleague

6. Peer debriefing
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

Learning

Environment
Existence
Research
1. Physical
Factors
2. Social
Importance
3.Instructional

Statistics ANOVA t -Test

Figure 1. Research Model for Research Questions 1, 2, and 3.

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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

Learning Environment – Physical Environment (items 1-8) 2.83 .67

Instructional Arrangements (items 9-25) 2.96 .62
Existence

Social Interaction (items 26-34) 2.84 .71

General Environment (items 1-34) 2.90 .60

Learning Environment – Physical Environment (items 1-8) 3.48 .64

Instructional Arrangements (items 9-25) 3.48 .65
Importance
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

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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

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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.

185
 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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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

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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,

192
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

194
 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.

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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

196
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.

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 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 Speaker only Speaker and hearer
person 我
我们 咱们
wǒ
wǒmen zánmen
‗I; me‘
‗we; us‘ ‗we; us‘
Second Normal Polite
person 你们
你 您
nǐmen
nǐ nín
‗you‘
‗you‘ ‗you‘
Third Masculine feminine neute Masculine feminine neuter
person r

他 她 它 他们 她们 它们
tā tā tā tāmen tāmen tāmen
‗he; him‘ ‗she; ‗it‘ ‗they;them‘ ‗they;them‘ ‗they;them‘
her‘

Table 3.2 Personal Pronouns in English

Person
singular plural
Number
Case first second third first second third
nominative I you She, he, it we you they

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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:

209
(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

210
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

211
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.
IP

I‘
NP
VP
I
[pres] V‘

V‘
N‘ AdvP
V NP

Adv‘
N N‘

Adv Pron

Father very love she

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Diagram 5.2 c-structure of corresponding Mandarin sentence of Father very love she.

IP

NP I‘
VP
I
V‘
[pres]
N‘
AdvP V‘

V NP
Adv‘
N
Adv N‘

Pron

她
爸爸 非常 爱

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

NP I‘
VP
I
[pres]
V‘
N‘
V‘ AdvP

V NP

N
N‘

Pron Adv

213
 Father loves her Very much

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‘

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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.

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Diagram 5.7 c-structure of the sample sentence

IP

I‘
NP
VP
Ø I V‘
AdvP
PP
V‘
P‘
P‘ P‘
conj
Adv‘
P NP P NP
V NP
N‘ D N‘
Adv
N
N

should not by bus or under the sun look book

Diagram 5.8 c-structure of the corresponding Mandarin sentence

IP
I‘
NP
I‘
Ø AdvP VP
I V‘

PP
Adv‘ V‘

P‘
Adv V NP
conj

P‘ P‘

不 应该 在公交车上 或 在太阳底下 看 书

216
 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

IP
I‘
NP
VP
I
V‘
N’ AdvP
V‘
PP
Pron
Adv‘
V NP P‘ conj P‘

Adv

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

217
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.

218
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‘

219
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?

220
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.

221
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 1.15 0.05

placement
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.

222
 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

223
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.

224
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.

228
Table 1
Sample sentences Lack of agreement
1 He is my good friends.
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.
Lack of agreement
7 She had a big eyes.
in number of nouns
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.
All the student are truly grateful to teach(er) and parents for them
12
help.
13 He often teach me.
Lack of
14 I think this job give me a exercises.
morphological
15 I and she was four years‘ friend.
agreement of verbs
16 Father very love she.
with subjects
17 Every present are all very nice.

Table 2
Sample sentences Error
1 He has a big ears, ∧very beautiful.
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.
Subject omission
7 If ∧can‘t to help, ∧should to see doctor.
8 He takes an active part in PE, and ∧has a good body.
He has a clearly destination in studying, ∧has a good habit in
9
studying.
All the student are truly grateful to teach(er) and parents for them
10
help, and V gave greeting card to teacher.

Table 3
Sample sentences Error
1 His home∧ not poor.
2 My brother∧ as the same as me.
Predicate omission
3 He ∧not only cool but also care about his friends
4 She ∧only 162cm.

229
5 If something ∧into your eyes.

Table 4
Sample sentences Error
1 We were get together.
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.
Extraneous verb ‗to
12 My friends and my parents are all bought present for me.
be‘
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
Sample sentences Error
1 I meet he at the junior middle school.
2 I love she forever.
3 I‘m very miss she.
4 I‘m very favorite she. Wrong personal
5 I don‘t catch up with he. pronoun cases
6 I admired he.
7 Father very love she.
8 I don‘t forget she
9 She name is Xiao Feng.
10 She‘s name is Guan Lifeng. Wrong possessive
All the student are truly grateful to teach(er) and parents for them determiners
11
help.

230
12 We friendly is forever.
Wrong possessive
13 I invited a lot of good friend of me.
pronoun

Table 6
Sample sentences adverbials
1 They were very love me.
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. Wrong placement
7 I‘m very thank for him. of adverbs
8 She is very very love me.
9 I‘m very very like my mother.
10 Father very love she.
11 I‘m very miss she.
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.
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.
Wrong placement
18 We at home play games.
of prepositional
19 We are by bus go home.
phrases
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
2 Many building were flowed away.
in number of nouns
3 Every classes give them money.

231
4 More (than) 200,000 people lose their life.
5 The buildings was damaged by the tsunami.
6 The buildings was broken down.
7 More than 200,000 people is killed by the accident. Lack of
8 Many people is dying. morphological
9 Every classes give them money. agreement of verbs
10 Hope every class dovate (donate) money and necessities. with subjects
If everyone give a hand to the people who need help, the world will be
11
more and more beautiful.

Table 2
Sample sentences Error
A terrible tsunami attact (attack) the ocean area. ∧Lead to destruction
1
of many countries. Subject omission
2 ∧Hope every classes dovate (donate) money and necessisities

Table 3
Sample sentences Error
1 You can also take out your old clothes and which ∧small for you.
If we everyone make a contribution to help the people who ∧in
2
trouble.
3 The hungry∧ around them.
Predicate omission
4 That ∧to say the people who ∧healthy will be died.
When we ∧in our classroom that filled with sunshine, a lot of
5
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
Sample sentences Error
I hope all the students can carry (give) out yours necessities or money Wrong possessive
1
for them determiner.

Table 6
Sample sentences Error
1 Many people in the street live days and nights. Adverbial

232
Appendix 3
Similar errors made by Hong Kong students and Harbin students
Errors made by HK students
Placement I very like my eyes because it is bit.
of adverbs I very love to play computer games.
I very like you.
Placement We in my home playing TV games.
of I with friend eat lunch.
prepositional I am at half past seven by bus go to
phrase 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
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.
Extraneous I am walk to school at 7:30 p.m.
verb ‗to be‘ I am go lunch with Jenny.
I was buy a model car yesterday.
made by Harbin students
I‘m very like her eye.
I‘m very like heard her song.
Father very love she.
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.
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.
We are study together.
I‘m very love her.
She was study hard at night.
233
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

234
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

235
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

236
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

237
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:

238
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

239
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

240
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

241
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

242
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 98 47.6

Female 108 52.4

School Year Year 3 79 38.3

Year 4 74 36.4

Year 5 53 25.2

Most spoken home Malay 189 91.7

language Mandarin 10 4.9

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 English 7 3.4

Least spoken home language Malay 6 2.9

Mandarin 98 47.6

English 102 49.5

Most spoken school language Malay 8 3.9

Mandarin 195 94.7

English 3 1.5

Least spoken school language Malay 65 31.6

Mandarin 3 1.5

English 138 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

244
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).

245
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 98 23.01 14.24 -6.07 .00**

F 108 38.55 21.37

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 N mean SD df F p

spoken at home

246
Mandarin Malay 189 29.95 18.81 2,203 4.572 .011*

Mandarin 10 42.02 31.22

English 7 48.21 19.08

English Malay 189 55.72 23.50 2,203 2.617 .075

Mandarin 10 63.50 27.93

English 7 74.71 18.87

*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 N mean SD df F p

spoken at home

Mandarin Malay 6 38.00 24.23 2,203 .837 .435

Mandarin 98 32.34 20.15

English 102 29.61 19.39

English Malay 6 61.66 25.85 2,203 1.71 .813

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 Mandarin 98 59.63 23.42

English 102 53.67 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 N mean SD df F p

spoken at school

Mandarin Malay 8 14.87 8.72 2,203 4.572 .027*

Mandarin 195 32.03 20.00

English 3 17.66 3.88

English Malay 8 41.50 25.93 2,203 2.617 .098

Mandarin 195 57.59 23.63

English 3 42.33 12.50

*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

248
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 N mean SD df F p

spoken at school

Mandarin Malay 65 31.57 19.03 2,203 .889 .413

Mandarin 3 16.00 6.76

English 138 31.29 20.39

English Malay 65 56.62 22.85 2,203 1.544 .216

Mandarin 3 33.00 13.07

English 138 57.31 24.23

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

249
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 39 167

learning foreign languages. (18.9%) (81.1%)

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It is easier for someone who already speaks a foreign language 36 170

to learn another one. (17.5%) (82.5%)

People who are good at mathematics or science are not good at 180 26

learning foreign languages. (87.4%) (12.6%)

I have a special ability for learning foreign languages. 33 173

(16.0%) (84.0%)

People who speak more than one language are very intelligent. 51 155

(24.8%) (75.2%)

Difficulty in language learning

Everyone can learn to speak a foreign language. 39 167

(18.9%) (81.1%)

Some languages are easier to learn than others. 52 154

(25.2%) (74.8%)

English is an easy language. 55 151

(26.7%) (73.3%)

Mandarin is an easy language. 95 111

(46.1%) (53.9%)

I believe that I will learn to speak English very well. 17 189

(8.3%) (91.7%)

I believe that I will learn to speak Mandarin very well. 31 175

(15.0%) (85.0%)

Learning & communication strategies

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It‘s Ok to guess if you don‘t know a word in the language you are 157 49

learning. (76.2%) (23.8%)

It‘s important to repeat and practice a lot. 16 190

(7.8%) (92.2%)

I feel timid speaking Mandarin with other people. 182 24

(88.3%) (11.7%)

I feel timid speaking English with other people. 175 31

(85.0%) (15.0%)

You shouldn‘t say anything in Mandarin until you can say it 148 58

correctly. (71.8%) (28.2%)

You shouldn‘t say anything in English until you can say it 146 60

correctly. (70.9%) (29.1%)

I enjoy practicing Mandarin with the people who can speak it well. 14 192

(6.8%) (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.

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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 151 59.61 22.32 1,204 8.524 .004**

Disagree 55 48.87 26.02

Mandarin Agree 151 31.63 20.47 1,204 .321 .572

Disagree 55 28.95 18.23

**p<0.05

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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.‖

Achievement Response N mean SD df F p

English Agree 189 58.24 23.64 1,204 9.531 .002**

Disagree 17 40.02 18.80

Mandarin Agree 189 32.10 20.26 1,204 5.264 .023

Disagree 17 20.67 10.46

**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).

254
Table 12

―I feel timid speaking English with other people.‖

Achievement Response N mean SD df F p

English Agree 31 43.06 25.96 1,204 12.762 .000**

Disagree 175 59.16 22.50

Mandarin Agree 31 24.60 18.92 1,204 4.030 .046

Disagree 175 32.32 19.86

**p<0.05

Table 13

―You shouldn‘t say anything in English until you can say it correctly.‖

Achievement Response N mean SD df F p

English Agree 60 49.99 24.72 1,204 7.013 .009**

Disagree 146 59.51 22.90

Mandarin Agree 60 28.41 18.33 1,204 1.619 .205

Disagree 146 32.28 20.42

**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,

255
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.

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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),

257
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

258
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

259
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

260
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

261
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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 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

267
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,

268
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

270
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

271
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

272
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

276
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

278
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).

280
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 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

282
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‘

283
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 TOP & IPI -2.0

1 TOP & CG -1.2

2 IPI & CG -3.55*

Production 1 TOP & CG -3.32*

1 TOP & IPI -1.17

2 IPI & CG -2.18*

Th.V. 2 IPI & CG -3.47*

1 TOP & IPI -1.39

1 TOP & CG -2.0

Total 2 IPI & CG -3.55*

1 TOP & CG -1.66

1 TOP & IPI -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

285
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

286
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

287
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

288
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

302
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

304
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

305
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

306
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

307
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.

308
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

309
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 %

NSE 8 32, 0% 7 28, 0% 3 12, 0% 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,137

Situation 1
TLE 15 30, 0% 20 40, 0% 2 4, 0% 3 6, 0% 7 14, 0% 3 6, 0% 0,000

NSE 10 40, 0% 4 16, 0% 6 24, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,018

Situation 2
TLE 16 32, 0% 13 26, 0% 15 30, 0% 1 2, 0% 3 6, 0% 2 4, 0% 0,000

NSE 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 3 12, 0% 5 20, 0 0,614

Situation 3
TLE 3 6, 0% 3 6, 0% 14 28, 0% 15 30, 0% 3 6, 0% 12 24, 0 0,001

NSE 5 20, 0% 2 8, 0% 9 36, 0% 2 8, 0% 7 28,0% 0,107

Situation 4
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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 NSE - - - - 6 24, 0% 5 20, 0% 8 32, 0% 6 24,0% 0,859
Situation 5
TLE 3 6, 0% 4 8, 0% 8 16, 0% 11 22, 0% 15 30, 0% 9 18,0% 0,036

NSE 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 3 12, 0% 3 12, 0% 8 32, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,137

Situation 6
TLE 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 5 10, 0% 16 32, 0% 14 28,0% 0,006

NSE 4 16, 0% 4 16, 0% 5 20, 0% 4 16, 0% 5 20, 0% 3 12,0% 0,984

Situation 7
TLE 6 12, 0% 6 12, 0% 8 16, 0% 12 24, 0% 11 22, 0% 7 14,0% 0,549

NSE 9 36, 0% 9 36, 0% 2 8, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 0,004

Situation 8
TLE 12 24, 0% 17 34, 0% 2 4, 0% 7 14, 0% 8 16, 0% 4 8, 0% 0,003

NSE 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 8 32, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 1 4, 0% 0,004

Situation 9
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

n % n % n % n % n % n % p

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

NSE 9 36, 0% 5 20, 0% 6 24, 0% 1 4, 0% 1 4, 0% 3 12, 0% 0, 039

Situation 2
TLE 15 29, 4% 12 23, 5% 10 19, 6% 5 9, 8% 6 11, 8% 3 5, 9% 0, 030

NSE 2 8, 0% 4 16, 0% 9 36, 0% 4 16, 0% 1 4, 0% 5 20, 0% 0, 097

Situation 3
TLE 3 5, 9% 1 2, 0% 16 31, 4% 15 29, 4% 4 7, 8% 12 23, 5% 0, 000

NSE 8 32, 0% 1 4, 0% 1 4, 0% 7 28, 0% 1 4, 0% 7 28, 0% 0, 012

Situation 4
TLE 11 21, 6% 3 5, 9% 3 5, 9% 19 37, 3% 3 5, 9% 12 23, 5% 0, 000

NSE 3 12, 0% 4 16, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 6 24, 0% 0, 809

Situation 5
TLE 2 3, 9% 2 3, 9% 8 15, 7% 7 13, 7% 21 41, 2% 11 21, 6% 0, 000

NSE 3 12, 0% 8 32, 0% 1 4, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 1 4, 0% 0, 003

Situation 6
TLE 3 5, 9% 13 25, 5% 5 9, 8% 4 7, 8% 19 37, 3% 7 13, 7% 0, 000

NSE 7 28, 0% 5 20, 0% 1 4, 0% 5 20, 0% 3 12, 0% 4 16, 0% 0, 416

Situation 7
TLE 10 19, 6% 8 15, 7% 7 13, 7% 9 17, 6% 11 21, 6% 6 11, 8% 0, 841

NSE 9 36, 0% 6 24, 0% 4 16, 0% 1 4, 0% 3 12, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 068

Situation 8
TLE 15 29, 4% 19 37, 3% 2 3, 9% 5 9, 8% 7 13, 7% 3 5, 9% 0, 000

NSE 2 8, 0% 2 8, 0% 7 28, 0% 2 8, 0% 10 40, 0% 2 8, 0% 0, 012

Situation 9
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

319
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)

320
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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Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Request
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pragmatics strategy use in Egyptian Arabic and American English refusals.
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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

333
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

336
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).

337
 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

338
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.

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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,

340
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.

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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:

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 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.

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 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.

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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

Group N Mean SD

Experimental 27 86.14 9.15

Control 25 69.84 15.11

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

345
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

346
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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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

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 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.

354
 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.

355
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

356
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).

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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

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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.

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 Publisher

Paul Robertson

Time Taylor International College

Chief Editor

Dr. Roger Nunn

The Petroleum Institute

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Associate Editors

Dr. Eva Bernat Dr. Esmat Babaii Dr. John Adamson

Macquarie University University for Teacher Education Nigata Prefectural University

Australia Iran Japan

Dr. Kourosh Lachini Dr. Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam Jeremy Cross

Qatar University The Petroleum Institute University of Melbourne

Qatar U.A.E. Australia

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 Dr. Ahmet Acar Dr. Aly Anwar Amer Neil Heffernan

Dokuz Eylül University Sultan Qaboos University Ehime University

Turkey Sultanate of Oman Japan

Dr. Xiuping Li Dr. Mike Cribb Dr. John A. Unger

Newcastle University Oxford Brookes University Truman State University

UK UK USA

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 Editorial Group

Dr. Mingsheng Li Dr. Kota Ohata Professor Chen Yong Dr. Ming Cheung

Massey University International Christian University Chongqing University City University of Hong

New Zealand Japan China Kong

Hong Kong

Naoki Fujimoto-Adamson Dr Jia Li Dr. Yu Ling Chen Dr. Yu Ling Cheun

Tokyo University of Science Ontario Institute for Studies in National Hualien University National University of

Japan Education of Education Education

University of Toronto Taiwan Taiwan

Canada

Dr. Radha M.K. Nambair Dr. Deepti Gupta Annie Hong Qin Zhao Dr. Toshiyuki Takagaki

Universiti Kebangsaan Panjab University University of Bath Onomichi University

Malaysia India UK Japan

Dr Aysha Viswamohan Dr. Budsaba Kanoksilapatham Dr Jane Mok Fung Yee Dr. Tan Bee Tin

Indian Institute of Technology Silpakorn University Hong Kong Polytechnic University of Auckland

Madras Thailand University New Zealand

Hong Kong

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 Dr. Michael Thomas Dr Nooreiny Maarof Dr. Benedict Lin Dr. Arda Arikan

Nagoya University of Commerce and Universiti Kebangsaan Nanyang Technological Hacettepe University

Business Malaysia University Turkey

Japan Singapore

Dr Ya-Ling Wu Chieko Aoyama Dr. Mohammad Ali Mr. David Brown

National Chin-Yi University of Shinshu Honan College Salmani-Nodoushan The University of the Thai

Technology Japan University of Zanjan Chamber of Commerce

Taiwan Iran Thailand

Dr. Ahmed Shakir El-Kilabi Mr. Roger Cohen Mr. David Litz Mr. Tim Thompson

Nizwa College of Education Defense Language Institute United Arab Emirates KAIST

Oman USA University South Korea

UAE

Dr. Ying-Ying Kimberly Chuang Vander Viana Dr. Toshinobu Nagamine David Hall

Cheng Shiu University Catholic University of Prefectural University of Macquarie University

Taiwan Rio de Janeiro Kumamoto Australia

Brazil Japan

Dr. Mohamed El-Okda J. E. King Alison Smith Marcus Otlowski

Sultan Qaboos University Kansai Gaidai University United Arab Emirates Kochi University

Sultanate of Oman Japan University Japan

UAE

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S. Mohammad Reza Hashemi Dr Bilal Kirkici Sean Sutherland Stuart D. Warrington

Teacher Training University Başkent University King's College Asia University

Iran Turkey London Japan

UK

Dr. Shamala Paramasivam Huli Wang Peter Burden (Ed.D) Veronica Wynne

Universiti Putra Malaysia Dalian University of Technology Okayama Shoka University Boulder Valley Schools

China Japan Boulder, CO,

USA

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 Editorial Group

Nat Carney Scott Menking Will Baker Dr. Elke Stracke

Kwansei Gakuin University Shimane University Southampton University University of Canberra

Japan Japan UK Australia

Dr Suganthi John Dr. Peter Petrucci Dr. Karin Zotzmann Damien Rivers

University of Birmingham Massey University University of Queretaro Kanda University

U.K. New Zealand Mexico of International Studies

Japan

Lei lei Dr. Ruth MH Wong Dr. Joan Cutting Dr. Keiko Sakui

Huazhong University of Science & Hong Kong Institute of Education The University of Edinburgh Kobe Shoin Women

Technology Hong Kong UK University

China Japan

Farhad Mazlum Zavarag Dr. Margaret Hearnden Dr. Afefa Banu Stan Pederson

Tarbiat Moallem University University of York King Khalid Women‘s Kumamoto University

Iran U.K. University Japan

Saudi Arabia

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Dr. Patrisius Istiarto Djiwandono Dr. Lawrence Jun Zhang Dr. Neil Cowie Dr. Wen-chi Vivian Wu

Ma Chung University Nanyang Technological Okayama University Chienkuo Technology

Indonesia University Japan University

Singapore Taiwan

Susana Gómez Martínez Dr Huahui Zhao Dr Zahariah Pilus Dr Sheena Gardner

University of Valladolid PhD Bristol, UK. International Islamic University of Birmingham

Spain China University

Malaysia

Dr. Pin-hsiang Natalie Wu Stefanie Shamila Pillai Nolan Weil Dr. Malcolm Benson

Chien-kuo Technology University University of Malaya Utah State University Hiroshima Shudo University

Taiwan Japan

Book Review Editor Conference News Editor Journal Production Editor

John Baker Peter Ilic Dana Lingley

Chung Hwa College of Asia University Kansai University of Foreign

Medical Technology Japan Languages

Taiwan Japan

369
 Distinguished Advisors

Professor Rod Ellis

University of Auckland, N.Z.

Professor David Nunan

Dr. Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew
Director & Chair of
Nanyang Technological University
Applied Linguistics
Singapore
The University of Hong Kong

Dr. Reima Sado Al-Jarf

Professor Dr. Z.N. Patil
College of Languages and Translation
The English and Foreign Languages University
King Saud University,
Hyderabad, India
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Senior Advisors

Professor Claire Kramsch Dr. James P. Lantolf

Dr. Amy Tsui

University of California Centre for Language Acquisition

Faculty of Education University

Berkeley Pennsylvania State University

of Hong Kong

U.S.A. U.S.A.

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 Professor Robert Phillipson

Faculty of Languages, Dr. Alan Tonkyn

Dr. Francis Mangubhai
Communication The University of Reading
University of Southern Queensland
and Cultural Studies Applied Linguistics Dept
Australia
Copenhagen Business School UK

Denmark

Professor Terry Shortall Marc Helgesen Dr. Robert David Carless

Birmingham University Miyagi Gakuin Women's Hong Kong Institute of Education

Birmingham University Hong Kong

UK Japan

Dr. Yasuko Kanno

Dr. Jeong-Bae Son
University of Southern Queensland
Australia
Dr. Robert J. Dickey
Asst' Professor English
Gyeongju University
University of Washington
Korea
U.S.A.

Dr. Luke Prodromou

Leeds University

UK

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 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.

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* 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: asian_efl_journal@yahoo.com

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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

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 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.

asian_efl_journal@yahoo.com

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: dlingley@kansaigaidai.ac.jp

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

375
would like to be considered as a solicited reviewer, please forward your CV with a list
of publications to the Book Review Editor at:

asianefljournalbookreviews@yahoo.com.

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

376
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.

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