Identifying the Conditions that Lead to

DENNIS WOODSON
ABSTRACT
The English listening ability of Taiwanese university students is receiving increasing attention these days, as it is the most important skill they will use in taking the TOEFL test. The bilingual survey included five parameters: 1.) the percentage of class time their English teacher spoke to them in English; 2.) the percentage of their English lesson time they listened to English on audio tape, radio, , or videotape; 3.) how often they listened to English on television, radio, or movies outside of school; 4.) how often they were tested on their English listening ability while in high school; and 5.) what their greatest current motivation is for improving their English ability. Results suggest why the listening ability of so many Taiwanese high school graduates is poor. The sample size was quite large (515), so the results should be fairly representative of freshmen students at the university the surveyed students attend.During my first year of teaching English at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei I was much challenged by what I perceived to be the low listening ability of many students in my classes of non-English majors. This experience prompted me to search the literature and investigate the backgrounds of these students to see if I could find out why many of them couldn't understand me or the oral instructional material I was using. Another very obvious problem I continue to encounter with my classes is the unwillingness and/or inability of non-English major students to express themselves orally in class. This problem may be at least partially due to the intimidation they feel by being in a large class (usually 60-64 students). I rarely talk to these students in English in a one-on-one or small group situation, so I don't know how well they can express themselves orally in a less-threatening environment. Anyway, the more basic problem seems to be the low listening ability of these students; if they can't understand oral instruction or questions, they certainly won't be able to answer questions relating to the instruction they've received.
This is my second year as an instructor of language lab classes at the Chinese Culture University. During both years I've had classes of both freshman and sophomore non-English major students, and my impression has been that the freshmen students are generally weaker in both listening and speaking than sophomores. I decided to conduct a survey of the high school English experience of the freshmen students, as they only finished high school the year before; thus they should still remember their three-year high school experience quite clearly.
Investigations
The written survey I designed included five parameters:
The percentage of class time their English teacher spoke to them in English.
The percentage of lesson time they listened to English on cassette, radio, television, or video;
How often they listened to English on television, radio, or films outside of school;
How often their English listening skill was tested in high school; and
Their greatest motivation for improving their English ability.
To maximize student understanding of the survey questions and the answer choices, I had the survey translated into Chinese. This seemed to work quite well, as students generally completed their survey paper in less than 10 minutes and had few questions about it. To gain some outside objectivity, I asked some Taipei high school students, and some high-performing sophomore English majors in one of my classes this year, to examine the results of the 2001-2003 school year surveys and compare them with their own experiences of learning English in high school. I wanted to get their input on the results I'd come up with.
Literature Review
In my search of published material relating to the importance of listening and the factors essential to improving one's listening comprehension, I looked both in books and international journals, and in articles specific to the learning of English in Taiwan. Several sources emphasized the importance of listening to becoming communicative in English. Morley (1991) pointed out that, of the four language skills, listening is used far more than the others in normal daily life. Oral communication necessarily involves both listening and speaking, so understanding spoken communication is essential to success in this endeavor. Krashen (1988) emphasized the importance of listening situations involving "optimal input" to the acquisition of a second language. Doff (1988) pointed out that the development of speaking skills is dependent on the development of listening skills. Being able to understand oral English also increases the enjoyment of learners in listening to spoken media, understanding foreign visitors, etc., and thus motivates them to improve even more. Additionally, listening to spoken English is an excellent way to naturally acquire grammar structures and vocabulary, as the learner "picks these up" while listening to a teacher, movie, or radio/television program. As a final note on the importance of focusing on listening instruction, Finocchiaro (1989) stated that, of the three major components of, the skills involving the use of the sound system are most difficult to acquire.
What happens when emphasis is not placed on listening competence? Most students in Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Japan have formal English instruction throughout middle and high school. However, Welker (1996) pointed out that Japanese students ready to enter university still couldn't speak English. In their study of representative freshmen students in the university where I teach, Shiue and Roebl (2002) found that they had poor listening skills and could not verbalize their own ideas. This was in spite of having had six to seven years of English instruction in school and apparently passing tests on this instruction. Similarly, in their paper on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) presented at the 2001 ETA conference in Taipei, Chang & Huang related that, "Although some students [in Taiwan high schools] are able to perform well on discrete-point tests, they often react incompetently when required to incorporate their linguistic knowledge in real communication."
Survey
The 2001-2002 academic year survey was done with 208 freshmen students in four classes, all different majors, and one of these consisted of English majors. The 2002-2003 survey was done with 307 freshmen students in six classes. Two of these classes were English majors, but the remaining four classes were different majors. Thus, the combined results of both years represent the answers of 515 freshmen students in 10 classes. Classes of students in majors such as martial arts and Chinese opera were not surveyed because their educational background generally differs significantly from that of students in other majors.
Survey Question 1: When you studied English in High School, what percentage of the time did your English teacher speak to you in English?
Per Year Figures (Total)
0%
10%
20%
50%
75%
100%
Year 2001-2002 (N = 208)
14%
32%
32%
17%
4%
1%
Year 2002-2003 (N = 307)
12%
28%
25%
24%
9%
2%
Years Combined (N = 515)
13%
30%
28%
21%
7%
2%
For the two years surveyed, the 50 percent and 20 percent categories both differ by seven percent, but the results of the other percentage categories only differ by five percent or less. If one looks at the percentage of students reporting that their English teachers used English in the classroom 50 percent or more of the time, we see that the amount is 22 percent in the first year, but 35 percent in the second. I'm not sure what would explain this 13 percent difference. Does this show a trend of Taiwan high school English teachers using more English in their classes? What is significant to look at in this data, however, is that in the composite result of both years' survey, some 70 percent of students surveyed reported that their teachers spoke English to them in class 20 percent or less of the time. 43 percent reported that the teacher spoke English 10 percent or less of the time.
Survey Question 2: What percentage of your English lesson time did you listen to English on audio tape, radio, television, DVD, or video cassette?
Per Year Figures (Total)
0%
10%
20%
50%
75%
100%
Year 2001-2002 (N = 208)
10%
37%
34%
14%
4%
0%
Year 2002-2003 (N = 307)
5%
23%
38%
26%
6%
2%
Years Combined (N = 515)
7%
29%
37%
21%
5%
1%
The percentages for this question were predictably more on the low side than for Question 1 because one wouldn't expect more class time to be taken up by English presentations from electronic devices than from the teacher's own voice. The 100 percent reports for this question are doubtful. It seems, however, that most classes were getting at least some listening practice from electronic production devices because the number of students reporting 0 percent for this were clearly lower than the numbers reporting 0 percent for Question 1. As with Question 1, the majority (between 70-80 percent) of the students reported that they heard English, from electronic devices in this case, during 20 percent or less of their class time.
Survey Question 3: During high school, how often did you listen to English on television, radio, or movies outside of school?
Per Year Figures (Total)
Often
Sometimes
Seldom
Never
Year 2001-2002 (N = 208)
12 %
39 %
42%
7%
Year 2002-2003 (N = 307)
16%
43%
36%
5%
Years Combined (N = 515)
14%
42%
38%
6%
Because 3 of the 10 classes surveyed consisted of English majors, I would expect that many of them often, or at least sometimes, listened to English outside of class during high school because of a greater motivation to improve their English. The second year of students surveyed included two of these three English major classes, which might account for the higher percentage of "often" and "sometimes" in that year's results for this question. Even with this factor, however, it is significant that over 40 percent of the 515 students surveyed reported that they seldom or never listened to English when they weren't required to in school.
Survey Question 4: How often in high school was your English listening ability tested?
Per Year Figures (Total)
Often
Sometimes
Seldom
Never
Year 2001-2002 (N = 208)
8%
28%
52%
12%
Year 2002-2003 (N = 307)
19%
36%
40%
5%
Years Combined (N = 515)
14%
32%
45%
8%
The percentages for the second year in this question are clearly higher than for the first year. This would not seem to be due to the students' motivation, as their English teachers did the testing. Might this reflect a trend for English teachers in Taiwan to be conducting more listening tests as part of their instruction? At any rate, however, the amount of testing done on students' listening ability was apparently seldom or never for more than half of the students surveyed.
Survey Question 5: What is your GREATEST motivation for improving your English?
Answer Categories:
A1. To do well on tests in school
A2. I want to be able to travel & be able to communicate in English with foreigners.
A3. To make using the Internet easier and more effective for me.
A4. To be more competitive - in finding a job, doing well at a job, etc.
A5. To be able to understand English books, newspapers, movies, television, etc.
A6. Other (Unspecified)
Per Year Figures (Total)
A 1
A 2
A 3
A 4
A 5
A 6
Year 2001-2002 (N = 208)
7%
31%
4%
38%
17%
3%
Year 2002-2003 (N = 307)
9%
44%
3%
31%
11%
2%
Years Combined (N = 515)
8%
39%
3%
33%
14%
3%
This last question was presented more out of curiosity than because of an obvious connection to the other four questions. Evidently I presented the main motivations in the first four answer options (A1-A4), because 97 percent of respondents indicated that their greatest motivation for improving their English ability was one of these. It is significant to note that in this question I used the word is, rather than was, implying that I was interested in their current motivation, not what their main motivation was during their three years of high school. This could be decidedly different, as the students now may be considering their career and future much more than they were in high school. It is clear from the results that motivations A2 and A4 are comparable and much more important than the other three. Motivation A5 was important to about 15 percent of the students, but one needs to note that this function does not involve personal verbal interaction in English with other people. Reason A2 necessarily does, and Reason A4 could involve both verbal interaction and reading/writing. It seems then, that, as far as their future is concerned, over 70 percent of the freshmen surveyed sense a real need to improve their English listening and speaking ability.
Discussion
Question 1
Much has been written on the issue of teachers who are non-native speakers using more English in class. In writing about his experience as an assistant language teacher with the JET Program in Japan, Welker (1996) made some strong statements about this matter:
"The best textbooks, teaching materials, syllabi, and even regular visits from a native speaker will ultimately fail, however, if the ordinary classroom English teachers do not model and use English communicatively in their classrooms. As the primary exposure students have to living English, the regular English teachers are the most important people in the English education of their students...Like many other ALTs, I have realized that the best thing I can do to help my students is to help their teachers teach English more communicatively."
Welker found that students' failure to use classroom English "was a result of the teachers' failure to follow through and reinforce the use of classroom English." Students are not likely to use English simply because they are asked to do so. As Welker warned:
If you don't insist that students speak English in class, don't be surprised when they don't." He concluded that, "Only by using English communicatively with their teacher and classmates will students develop the ability to speak English ... your students won't attempt to communicate in English if you are unwilling to do so yourself. You aren't just teaching spelling, vocabulary, and grammar in class, you are indirectly teaching your students the value of communicating in English. If you don't show your students by using English that you think it's important, they won't think it is. If students are taught primarily in their native language, they may learn how to read English, they may learn how to write English, they may learn how to translate English, but they aren't very likely to learn how to speak English.
Regarding Welker's statement about learning how to speak English, I will refer back to Doff's (1988) article that pointed out that the development of speaking skills is dependent on the development of listening skills. Similarly, Saricoban (1999) wrote, "For a student of a foreign language, accurate and intelligent listening is a necessity, and the teacher is responsible to help ... learners to acquire this skill which provides the very foundation for learning and functioning in a language." Commenting on the nature of oral communication, Tchudi & Mitchell (1989) wrote, "Oral language involves a complex interaction of speaker and listener, of voice, tone, style, intonation, nonverbal expression... the spoken language cannot truly be 'taught.' People learn to speak and listen by doing it successfully...Learning the skills of oral English is closely related to using them, and we believe the teacher should focus attention on making the classroom a place where the use of spoken language is strongly supported" (270).
In his paper on Chinese English teachers and university students in the People's Republic of China, Zhou Jie (1999) reported:
By the time they have entered college, Chinese students have already had six years' experience of studying English. However, they have been studying hard preparing for university entrance exams. So most of them, being accustomed to memorizing new words and expressions and paying attention to grammar points and language structures, find it hard to express themselves in oral English. These problems emerge because Chinese teachers of English have been accustomed to teaching English by telling students the uses of new words, expressions and grammar points, and by asking students to recite or memorize something, so oral English, which cannot be "taught" at all, becomes a difficult course for them to handle.
With regards to the situation in Taiwan, the Ministry of Education has mandated the use of the "communicative approach" in the nation's English-language classrooms and textbooks (Cahill, 2003). However, Chang and Huang (2001) reported that, in spite of agreeing with the principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Taiwan high school English teachers "still prefer to use teacher-centered activities and lecture-type teaching methods." This has resulted in students being incompetent in using what they've learned in real oral communication.
Question 2
As seen in the report for the results of this question, the majority (between 70-80 percent) of the students reported that they heard English from electronic devices during 20 percent or less of their class time. If we combine this result with that of Question 1, we might estimate that the majority of students surveyed reported that they had heard English (from any source) only 40 percent or less of the time in their high school English classes. Taiwan is not an environment where learners often hear English spoken around them, as they would if they lived in foreign English-speaking countries. So, as Doff (1988) stated in his book written to train English teachers, such learners need to be given as many opportunities to listen to spoken English as possible. If most high school students are hearing mostly Chinese in their English classes, one might ask if they're making their own opportunities to listen to English in their after-school time. Question 3 was included to investigate this issue.
Question 3
This question addresses the matter of how much high school students are making time to listen to English on their own. The results of this question are significant because Taiwan (like most Asian countries) is not an English environment. It is therefore very important that students get plenty of exposure to oral English in school or in after-school programs or activities. To compensate for not hearing English during a majority of time in their school English classes, high school students should be getting motivated to listen to it often during after school time. That only 15 percent or so of those surveyed reported that they often listened to English outside of school indicates that the great majority of high school students in Taiwan are not actively making their own opportunities to do so.
Question 4
I was especially interested in the results of this question. A girl in senior high school here in Taipei told me in an interview that I should have worded it to clearly mean only tests that counted toward a student's grade in class. She said this because, from her experience, she and her classmates are frequently asked questions in English as part of their class instruction, but these "tests" do not count in their overall grade for the subject. So, many of the students I surveyed may have been thinking of these kinds of "tests" when they marked the questionnaire. Even accounting for this, over half of the students surveyed reported seldom or never having listening tests in English class, so most were probably not too concerned about being assessed on their listening competence. Chang & Huang (2001) reported that traditional English education, as taught in Taiwan, is the familiar teacher-centered way, and mainly focuses on reading and writing skills. They stated that teachers here mainly teach English in accordance with the way it is tested, which means little emphasis on assessment of oral communication, i.e. listening and speaking.. What can this communicate to students but that oral communication - real-life use of the language they're learning in school - isn't a big priority.
Question 5
In my interviews with students currently in high school here, and with several high-performing sophomore English majors in my university, I was given the impression that the greatest motivation for studying English for most high school students in Taiwan is option A - to do well on tests in school. So, it was quite significant that I used the word is in my question instead of was. Evidently the students I surveyed interpreted my question as referring to their motivation as college freshmen to study English, which, for the most part, seemed to be for a higher purpose than simply to pass tests in school. As the results of this question indicate, over 70 percent of the freshmen surveyed indicated that they are now motivated to study English so they can improve their listening and speaking ability in this language. They hope that improving their English communicative competence will enhance their opportunities to travel and be able to communicate with foreigners, or to be more competitive in the field of employment they are currently preparing for.
Conclusions and Implications for Teaching
The information gleaned from my survey is very important to me as a university English teacher. It indicates to me that I need to do all I can to improve the listening and speaking abilities of my students (who are mostly freshmen and sophomores). Chang & Huang (2001) reported that the high school English teachers they surveyed said that large class sizes were the main obstacle in these teachers' application of Communicative Language Teaching. I can identify with their frustration, as my classes are quite large, and the students are generally reluctant to speak in a setting they seem to find very intimidating. I realize I am thus limited in how much I can improve the oral output of my students, so I focus mainly on two areas: improving their listening comprehension, and helping them remember and understand much of the vocabulary they've been exposed to in high school. I construct my mid-term and final exams so that at least 40 percent of these assessments consist of listening comprehension.
At the start of the academic year, I make this clear to each class and remind them frequently during the semester that they can expect to be tested on their listening ability when they have exams. The curriculum I use for non-English majors is based on a video story most of my students find very interesting. The language used in the story is authentic American conversational English. During any single class session, the students spend about a quarter of the time actually listening to the video episode. The rest of the time they are doing follow-up exercises in their workbooks, listening to my instruction (in English), or replying (in English) to my questions.
In my instruction, even though I'm not a native-speaker of Chinese by any means, I often use my students' native language when giving instructions and introducing a vocabulary term or expression. This, according to Finochhiaro (1989), is quite a good idea in that it can be a quick, convenient way to clarify instructions, make sure students understand a concept, or it may be the best way to enable them to grasp a complex topic. However, as this author points out, superior classroom teachers characteristically use the native language of their students sparingly. Doff (1988) wrote of the dangers of mainly using the students' own language in class: "When the teacher translates everything into the students' own language, the students are harmed because this class is given no feeling that English is a language that can be used to communicate, and given no chance to hear or use English naturally." If, as Finocchiaro (1989) states, "The heart of any successful learning program is the classroom teacher," emphasis needs to be placed on modifying the curriculum and testing methodology as currently practiced by most English teachers in Taiwan.
Works Cited
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Tchudi, S. & D. Mitchell. Explorations in the Teaching of English. New York: Harper Collins, 1989.
Welker, J.R. 1996. "Easy English Communication at the Secondary Level: Easy Ways Teachers Who are Non-Native Speakers Can Use More English in Class." jwelker@gol.com. Mie Prefectural Board of Education. The Internet TESL Journal 2.7 (1996). http://iteslj.org/Articles/Welker-Communication.html.
Zhou Jie. "How Can a Chinese Teacher of English Succeed in Oral English Classes?" The Internet TESL Journal 5.7 (1999). http://iteslj.org/Articles/Zhou-SuccessulTeacher.html.