Language Barriers of Chinese Students: A Lived Experience

A Quantitative Research Presented to the Faculty of Mountain View College

Academy Valencia City, Bukidnon

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course English 10

By:
Vinzcent Dait
Vance Angel Dionzon
Justin Faith Ramos
John Llyod Naciongayo
 Chapter 1
Introduction:
Language is the principal method of human communication, consisting of words
used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or
gesture. It is a system of communication used by a particular country. Asia has
around 2,300 languages that can be grouped in language families. (BY SHANON
MAGLENTE AND MINHAE SHIM ROTH MAY 1, 2022)
The Philippines uses the English language as an international language for
communication and because the majority of the population has a degree of
fluency. (Cabigon, 2015)
But not most people from other countries know that English learners from the
Philippines are also facing difficulties in learning to speak English. Some Filipinos
cannot speak or write English at all.
China has 129 dialects with Mandarin as the standard and Chaoshan as the
major dialect of the Chaoshan region in Guangdong. (Zhang, D., Jiang, Z., Xie,
Y. et al.. 22, 376 2022) .
Many students from China have revealed their difficulties in using English in both
communicative and academic contexts. Their difficulties have been a concern in
the fields of academic practices and research studies. Chinese international
students are quiet in classroom, not active in group discussion or group work,
and passive in tutorials etc. Such problems not only cause misunderstandings
between Chinese international students and their teachers but also have
negative influence on their learning outcome.
Study show that Chinese international students have difficulty in pronunciation.
The Mandarin is a continuous flow of speech, so Chinese students trying to learn
English may sound a bit choppy and robotic to wording sounding of highs and
lows. They have difficulty as well in pronouncing ending consonant and
consonant clusters. They tend to stress the last sounds of a word and produce
an extra syllable. (https://www.ieltspodcast.com)

Language barriers is an ever growing challenge for our foreign students here in
MVCA. The issue of language barriers is particularly critical during classes where
most teachers teach in English or Bisaya. Foreign students may struggle to
communicate what they don’t understand during the classes or even get
necessary information regarding school activities. Through a qualitative study,
based on a grounded theory approach, this study will identify the issues that
concerns our Chinese students in school encounters.
Statement of problem
The purpose of this study is to investigate the language barriers face by Chinese
students in MVCA when interacting with Filipino students. The study aims to
identify the extent of the problem and its impact on the social integration and
academic performance of Chinese students in MVCA.

1. What factors contribute to the language barriers between Chinese and Filipino
students in MVCA?

2. What are the potential consequences of language barriers on the overall

academic experiences of Chinese students in MVCA?

3. How do language barriers affect Chinese students’ academics performance?

Hypothesis
Chinese students do not experience language barriers at Mountain View College
Academy.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1332755.pdf

https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1175&context=gradconf_hospitality

https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-022-07744-6

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
309984478_Communication_with_Chinese_International_Students_Understanding_Chi
nese_International_Students'_learning_difficulties_and_communication_barriers

https://www.ieltspodcast.com/common-problems-chinese-speakers/#:~:text=Difficulty
%20in%20Pronunciation&text=Word%20and%20sentence%20stress
%20%E2%80%93%20This,sounding%20of%20highs%20and%20lows.