UUM COLLEGE OF ARTS

AND SCIENCES
EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
SGDB5013 FUNDAMENTALS OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING
UNDERSTANDING SUCCESFUL
AND UNSUCCESSFUL EFL
STUDENTS IN CHINESE
UNIVERSITIES
ZHENGDONG GAN
GILLIAN HUMPHREYS
LIZ HAMP-LYONS
The Modern Language Journal, 88, ii, (2004)
Presented on 17.07.2010 by :
Norlela @ Norlaila Ali (804818)
Success in learning a second or foreign language
is considerably more variable. Recently, second
language acquisition researchers have called for
more integrative research on individual difference
factors. With this goal in mind, this study followed
a larger, quantitative study of the links between
self-directedness for language learning and
English language learning attainment among
university students on the Chinese mainland and
in Hong Kong.
Based on the findings of study by(Gan, 2003)
this 1-semester study looked closely at 2 small
groups of tertiary-level English as a foreign
language (EFL) learners in China in order to
document how they carried out their out-of-
class (self-directed) English learning, as well as
to elaborate issues that may be critical to
understanding the variability that had already
been observed in their English learning
outcomes.
The data were gathered through interviews,
diaries, and follow-up email correspondence with
9 successful and 9 unsuccessful second-year EFL
students at 2 Chinese mainland universities.
Using grounded theory methodology (Strauss &
Corbin, 1994, 1998), 6 categories of qualitative
data were constructed: conceptualizing English
language learning; perceptions of the College
English Course; learning and practicing
strategies; self-management; internal drive; and
English proficiency tests.
 INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE DIFFERENCES

Differences between successful and

unsuccessful learners in the field of second
and foreign language learning attracted
attention with the studies of Rubin(1975),
Stern (1975), and Naiman, Fröhlich, Stern,
and Todesco (1978), which aimed to
establish what good language learning
strategies might be and to share them with
unsuccessful learners.
The general findings from these studies
are that successful students demonstrate a
greater use of learning strategies or more
appropriate application of strategies to the
learning task, whereas less successful or
unsuccessful students use a limited or
inappropriately applied repertoire of
language learning strategies.
Previous studies on differences between
successful and unsuccessful language
learners have, however, focused mainly
on learning strategies. The combined
effects of the use of strategies with other
learner factors (e.g., attitudes and
motivation), which may play an
important role in the variance of
language learning outcomes, have not
received due consideration.
 The scarcity of adequate empirical research
on learner difference factors in language
learning within the Asian English as a foreign
language (EFL) context, a research project
comprising both a quantitative survey and
qualitative study was started in China and in
Hong Kong in 2000 in an attempt to map out
a picture of key learner variables that might
lead to different language learning outcomes
among tertiary level Chinese EFL students.
 ATTITUDE, MOTIVATION, AND STRATEGY USE
• Ames (1986) suggested that the effectiveness of the learner
must be examined in relation to those beliefs and
perceptions that enable learners to become involved,
independent, and confident in their own learning.
• Similarly, McCombs (1990)suggested that attitudes and
beliefs about the self and the learning environment can
influence a student’s tendency to approach, expend effort
in, and persist in learning tasks on a continuing, self-
directed basis. Such a rationale thus places language
learners’ attitudes at the centre of their language learning
process because it assumes that attitudes to language
learning condition language learning behaviour.
• An attitude is usually assumed to consist of three
components—cognitive, affective, and behavioural
(Mantle-Bromley, 1995; Wenden, 1998; Zimbardo
& Leippe, 1991).
• The cognitive component comprises what a person
knows or believes about the object of the attitude.
• The affective component is the degree of like or
dislike, approval or disapproval associated with the
attitudinal object, such as the teacher and the class.
• The behavioural component consists of attitudes
that predispose people to act in a certain way.
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Are there any typical attitudinal
differences between successful and
unsuccessful tertiary-level Chinese
EFL students?
2. What strategies do they report using in
their English learning?
3. How are they typically motivated into
carrying out their English learning?
 METHODOLOGY

The students are supposed to apply to take the CET Band

4 (CET4) at the end of semester 1 of year 2. The CET is a
“large-scale standardized test” (Yang, 2000),
administered by the National College English Testing
Committee on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of
Education, “with a view to :
1) promoting the implementation of the National
College English Teaching Syllabus, and
2) measuring objectively and accurately the real
English ability of college students in China”
(Yang, 2000, p. 197).
Participants
• The participants for this qualitative study
were from two universities in Hefei:2 the
University of Science and Technology of
China and Anhui University.
• At the time of this qualitative study, the
students had just completed their CEC and
taken CET4.
Five teachers were given criteria for distinguishing the two
types of students were (a) for successful students, CET4
scores should be above 80% on a 100% scale; for
unsuccessful students, CET4 scores should be below 60%
on a 100% scale; (b) successful students should not merely
be good test takers, their performance in the regular
English classes should put them among the top 5% of the
class based on their teacher’s perception; the unsuccessful
students should not merely be poor test takers, their
performance in the regular English classes should put
them among the bottom 5% of the class based on their
teacher’s perception. The five teachers recommended
altogether 18 students (9 successful and 9 unsuccessful)
from the two universities.
 Data Types

• The present study used multiple data types, for example,

interviews, diaries, and follow-up emails as a triangulation
strategy to provide “a rich and complex picture of some
social phenomenon beingstudied” (Mathison, 1988, p. 13).
• According to Denzin (1989), triangulation can often be
achieved via three basic approaches: (a) using multiple
methods, (b) using multiple sources, and (c) using more
than one investigator in the research process. In this study,
all the data analyses were carried out through cooperation
among the three researchers in order to accommodate the
third type of triangulation.
 RESULTS
Six themes emerged from the analysis of the data: (a)
conceptualizing English language learning; (b)
perceptions of the College English Course; (c) learning
and practicing strategies; (d) self-management; (e)
internal drive; and (f) English proficiency tests.
Comparisons between the 9 successful and the 9
unsuccessful students are reported based on each theme
for the sake of clarity, although there is some overlap
among responses between categories.The six themes
according to a framework of three dimensions:
attitudinal characteristics, strategies reported, and
motivational experiences.
 Attitudinal Characteristics

Conceptualizing English Language Learning.

• A broad range of language learning
conceptions emerged among the successful
students. Most notably, all the successful
students referred to English vocabulary
learning as a very important part of their
language learning. “Words are the bricks a
building is made up of. Without bricks,
where will the building be?”
 The unsuccessful students seemed to recognize
that English learning in a sense means a mastery
of basic linguistic knowledge as well. Most
commonly expressed among these unsuccessful
students was their emphasis on both vocabulary
and grammar. Their view of language as
knowledge was clearly reflected in a response like
“the main problem with my English is that I’m
very weak in the basics of English, the basic
grammatical knowledge and the basic vocabulary.
I need to work hard at both”
Perceptions of the College English Course

• The majority of the successful students, however,

felt that the College English Course was too rigid
or too traditional.
• All the unsuccessful students indicated that the
source of boredom in the College English Course
was the teaching style. A feeling that was
expressed by about half of the unsuccessful
students was that their university English
teachers were not particularly supportive or
approachable.
 Strategies Reported

Learning and Practicing Strategies.

• As a whole, the successful students reported a
wider range of English learning activities than the
unsuccessful students, already indicated in the
previous section. In order to look at the
differences in the use of specific learning and
practicing strategies, the researchers examined
how the two groups of students went about two
common learning activities: vocabulary learning
and lesson previewing.
 Self-Management
• The successful students seemed to be able to
set particular objectives for themselves,
such as enhancement of specific language
skills or expansion of vocabulary. They
appeared to have a clear idea of what
learning materials should be used, what
possible phases they might undergo, and
how the learning activities should be carried
out.
• The unsuccessful students made no
reference to setting their own language
learning objectives. They generally
appeared to lack the initiative to improve
their English by their own efforts; in other
words, they lacked the kind of global
strategies (Wenden, 1985) through which
they themselves could create learning and
practice goals or opportunities.
 Motivational Experiences

Internal Drive.
In the case of these Chinese students, it seems that the question
of what makes them decide to choose English does not apply
because English is a compulsory subject from secondary school to
university. The more relevant question we pursued here is: What
makes these students persist and maintain English learning
activity on their own? What researchers found from the tertiary-
level Chinese EFL students may shed some light on the argument
that it is not known whether it is, in fact, high motivation that
makes some people choose to study the language or the study of
the language that creates motivation (Inbar, Donitsa-Schmidt, &
Shohamy, 2001).
 English Proficiency Tests
By the time of this research project, all the successful
students had taken the CET4; their scores ranged
from 82% to 97% (on a 100% scale). All of them had
set the new personal goal of taking the CET6; a
majority of them volunteered to take the CET Spoken
English Test, and half of them mentioned they would
take the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) or the International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) in the near future for the
purpose of doing graduate study inthe United States
or the United Kingdom.
 The unsuccessful students.
• At the time of this study, these students were
preparing for the CET4 for the second time.
The majority of them indicated that a CET4
certificate would suffice for them (i.e., they did
not have any intention of taking CET6 and the
CET Spoken English Test, let alone TOEFL,
IELTS, and GRE). Overall, the unsuccessful
students expressed anxiety, panic, indifference,
or hatred towards the CET.
 DISCUSSION

• the present qualitative research focused on

potential patterns and processes among two
types of EFL learners in a Chinese context.
This focus is consistent with assumptions of
grounded methods used to infer a
substantive theory that “evolves from the
study of phenomenon situated in one
particular situational context” (Strauss &
Corbin, 1990, p. 174).
• This study showed both similarities and
differences between the successful and
unsuccessful students in terms of how they
may be conceptualizing the process of
language learning.
• Learning a language means learning its
culture; language learning means
developing and maintaining language sense;
language learning entails learning the
language through using it.
• Implicit in this finding is that the whole
socio emotional and cognitive system of
classroom interaction may stimulate
progressive development among
successful students but regressive
coping efforts among unsuccessful
students. The unsuccessful students
displayed an overall negative attitude.
 FUTURE DIRECTIONS

• Mainstream Second Language Acquisition

research has been largely anchored within a
cognitive framework (Larsen-Freeman, 2001).
• The past decade, however, has seen an
appreciation of the role of contextual factors
in learners’ second/foreign language learning
(Gardner, Masgoret, & Tremblay, 1999;
Lantolf & Appel 1994; Norton & Toohey,
2001; Siegel, 2003).
• The findings from the present study lead us to
agree with researchers who argue that interaction
of learner difference factors and contextual
factors contribute to differential success as
language learners (Clément & Gardner, 2001;
Sinclair, McGrath, & Lamb, 2000).
• How foreign language aptitude may be implicated
in learning achievement at different learning
stages, in different socio cultural contexts, of both,
should be a very promising avenue to be explored.
THANK YOU