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Appendix B
Survey for Chinese Graduate Students
My name is Yun Zhang, and I am a second year graduate student in TESOL program at USD.
You are invited to participate in a research study that I am conducting to explore what factors
affect Chinese graduate students oral participation in multicultural and multilingual
classrooms in the United States. I would be happy to share the results of this study with you
once the study has been completed. Thank you so much for your time! Your feedback is
important.
Your participation in this survey will take a total of 20 minutes.
Please check/ highlight the following box to indicate your consent after reading the attached
information related to your participation in this study.
I consent to completing this survey after reading consent agreement.

Survey for Chinese Graduate Students at USD

1. Gender:
2. Age:
3. Major:
4. Education Background:
B.A/ B.S in China
5. English Proficiency Level:
TOEFL > 100
90-100
IELTS
>7
6-6.5

B.A/ B.S in the U.S.

80-90
<6

6. How long have you been in the U.S.?

Less than one year
1 year
2 years

< 80

3 year and above

7. Have you ever attended any English training in the U.S. before?
Yes
No
8. Are most of your courses seminar type?
Yes
No
9. Please complete the following questionnaire:
This questionnaire is to explore Your Own True Feelings and Experience about the
following situations that relate to your oral participation experience in class. Please think
about your own feelings and experience, which are not what you think other students may
experience.

The intensity level is through 1 to 4.

1. Disagree
2. Somewhat disagree
3. Somewhat agree
4. Agree
Check the box to confirm your choice.
You only can choose ONE box out of four.
All the situations are about your Graduate Study experiences here at USD.
Oral participation refers to the moments, in which you talk, participate in discussion,
answer or ask questions using English in classes.
I also provide Chinese version of the questions for your information. Hope it will help you
understand the questions better.
No. Question
1
2
3
4
Ex. I will motivate myself to orally participate in class
X
even though oral participation is not a mandatory
requirement for the class.

No. Question
1
2
3
4
1.
I will motivate myself to orally participate in class
even though oral participation is not a mandatory
requirement for the class.

2.
I feel that I am the type of person who will speak up
as long as I have ideas to share with the class.

3.
I feel that I am a talkative person and I like to share
my ideas with others in English.

4.
I feel that I keep the Chinese cultural value that
being quiet in the class is the way that I show my
respect to the professors.

5.
I feel that this cultural value (being quiet is the way
that I show respect to professors) orientates my
behavior in oral participation.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

I feel that whether or not to speak up in the class

does not relate to my cultural values.

Rather than the influence of cultural value, I feel

that in the class, if the professors and other
domestic students bring up many terminologies,
abbreviations, examples, and stories that are related
to American social background/ experience that I
do not know, that will be a barrier to my oral
participation.

I feel that if they do not explain these terminologies,

abbreviations, and the background of the examples
and stories, it will be hard for me to participate in
the discussions.

I feel that even if they do not explain these

terminologies, abbreviations, examples and stories,
I will still find a way to understand these as soon as
possible and then jump into the discussions.

I feel that I am confident with my English language

ability.

I feel that I can understand 80-90% or more of the

course content and conversations in the class.
80-90%

I feel that I am able to express and explain my ideas

very well in English.

I feel that my English language ability is still a

matter that makes me nervous to speak up in the

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

class.

I feel that during the class and discussions, I have

what I want to say in Chinese in my mind but if I
want to speak up, I will need more time to translate
my ideas into English.

I feel that the speed of the conversation in class

sometimes is too fast for me to follow and jump
into the discussions.

I feel that I just need more time to process and

digest the information in the conversation, and then
jump into the discussions.

I feel that I am comfortable with talking in small

group discussions.

I feel that I am comfortable speaking in whole class

discussions.

I feel that my professors support and promote

students oral participation in the class.

I feel that besides small group and whole class

discussions, other collaborative activities that the
professors use also help promote my oral
participation.

I feel that the ways that my professors design the

class influence my oral participation.

I feel that if my professors do not create an

environment to promote my oral participation or
call on me to answer questions, I rarely actively
speak up.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

I feel that I will speak up as long as I have

something to share no matter whether my
professors support and promote my oral
participation or not.

I feel that the class duration sometimes is too long

(3 hours) for me to concentrate and keep orally
participating in the discussions.
3

I feel that the class duration is not a matter that

influences my oral participation.

I feel that if I am the only Chinese student in my

class, I may not be comfortable enough with
speaking up in class discussions.

I feel that if I have more than one Chinese student

in my class, I will be more comfortable with
speaking up in class.

I feel that the presence or absence of other Chinese

students in the class does not affect my comfort
level with speaking up to share my ideas.

I feel that when I get positive feedback about my

responses from my professors and classmates, I will
be more confident to speak up.

I feel that in general, I am encouraged by professors

and classmates to speak up in the class, and they
value my oral participation.

I feel that I will still speak up when I want to share

my ideas no matter whether I am encouraged or

valued by professors or classmates or not.

Thank you for your participation in this survey.

If you have any questions about this study, please do not hesitate to contact me.
yunzhang@sandiego.edu