A Pilot Study of Some ROCMA Cadets Difficulties in English Speaking

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1 WHAMPOA - An Interdisciplinary Journal 57(2009) A Pilot Study of Some ROCMA Cadets Difficulties in English Speaking Wain-Chin Dana Chen 1 1 Department of Foreign Languages, ROC Military Academy Abstract This article presents a pilot study regarding some ROCMA students difficulties in speaking English. 5 open-ended questions were used to investigate the research questions. These 5 questions concerned students difficulties in speaking English, the causes of those English-speaking difficulties, how often they practiced English and in what ways they practiced, how to improve their English speaking ability on their own, as well as any comments they would like to add. The results showed that not confident enough and afraid of making mistakes while speaking, fluency, and lacking sufficient vocabulary appeared to be the most difficult aspect of speaking English for the students. The reasons for these difficulties were mostly the environmental factor, not practicing enough, and laziness. Cadets felt that more authentic English input and listen more, read more and read aloud more would be most helpful. It is hoped that this study will provide a general perspective on some cadets difficulties in English learning and some implications for teachers and students will be presented. Keywords: Difficulties in English speaking, ROC military academy cadets І.Introduction For many years, the understanding of foreign language learning difficulties has been a crucial point of interest among foreign language (FL) educators. Great attention has been paid to teaching EFL students the literacy skills they will need to succeed in tertiary institutions abroad (Ferris and Tagg 1996: 479). Though these studies (Ferris, 1998) have been very helpful to EFL teachers, few have looked beyond reading and writing skills (Ferris and Tagg 1996; Iwashita et al. 2008; Kim 2006). It is noted that listening and speaking skills are most problematic for EFL students while they study in English-speaking countries (Ostler 1980). Moreover, East Asian English learners are typically perceived as reticent in class (Kim 2006: 482; Cheng 2000; Liu and Littlewood 1997). Therefore, in order to gain a general idea of students difficulties in English speaking, it is valuable to look at the perceptions of students in their original English class back home. This paper will provide a pilot study to present a general picture of some ROCMA cadets difficulties with speaking English. The focus of 119

2 120 investigation will simply be a general English language perspective, which does not concern any particular disciplines or content-areas..literature Review EFL college/university students are often intimidated by speaking tasks in English, including both formal presentation and participation in large- or small-group class discussions while they study abroad. Reasons for this hesitation appear to stem from insecurity about linguistic competence and insufficient listening/speaking proficiency to be able to communicate effectively (Ferris and Tagg 1996; Kim 2006; Ostler 1980). Those of speaking insufficiency may cover grammatical accuracy and complexity, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency (Iwashita et al. 2008: 24). The following parts will cover the research method, data collection and analysis..method In order to elicit cadets opinions regarding their English speaking difficulties, five open-ended written response questions were provided in order to give cadets an opportunity to elaborate on their experiences..subjects The subjects in this research came from ROC Military Academy and all enrolled in the sophomore English course (class year 2011), which is a compulsory course. The sophomore English course is 3 hours per week. In this study, there were 16 subjects in total participating. Although the number of subjects was quite small, this pilot study intends to provide an initial perspective. More data input will be needed for further studies..design of the study This study aimed to find out the difficulties those military cadets encountered while speaking English. The main instrument of this study was the five open-ended questions. These five open-ended questions were written in Chinese. They covered the most difficult part of English speaking on their own, the reasons for those difficulties, how often did they practice English speaking and in what ways, how they sought to enhance their English speaking ability and any comments they would like to add..data Collection and Analysis The main instrument of this study was the 5 open-ended questions. The questionnaire covers freshmen cadets background information and there were 5 open-ended questions (please see the appendix). In this study, cadets background information will not be discussed, only answers to the 5 questions will be investigated. The questions were filled in during English class time and by the subjects themselves. The students English teacher was present at the administration (also the writer herself). She offered 120

3 Wain-Chin Dana Chen:A Pilot Study of Some ROCMA Cadets Difficulties in English Speaking 121 explanation and assistance if students had any enquiry about the questions. It took students about 10 minutes to finish their answers..results and Discussion The responses by 16 subjects toward these 5 open-ended questions are examined in search of salient and recurring themes related to the English- speaking difficulties of cadets. There were 7 topics illustrated from these 5 open-ended questions. The following table 1 shows the arrangements: Question Topic 1 The most difficult part of English speaking you encounter 2 Reasons caused for those difficulties 3 Do you practice English speaking? 3 How often do you practice English speaking? 3 How do you practice English speaking? 4 How do you think to enhance your ability of English speaking? 5 Comments from cadets Table 1: Topics listed from the open-ended questions Most of the subjects found difficulties in English speaking. Regarding question 1, the most difficult parts of their English speaking are: afraid of opening the mouth to speak English, afraid of not expressing his ideas well while speaking English and not knowing how to express his ideas in English, afraid of making mistakes while speaking English, lacking sufficient vocabulary to communicate in English, not knowing how to pronounce English words or having wrong pronunciation, the fluency and less confidence holding while speaking English. The answers concur with the study of Iwashita et al (2008) that in their study, particular features of vocabulary and fluency had the strongest impact. To question 2, the reasons given by the subjects for those difficulties are: not having enough exposure to English (environmental factor), infrequent English speaking practice in daily life (they could use the mother tongue to communicate, instead of using English), feeling shy (not bold and confident enough) while speaking English, not learning English well in the past, not knowing how to pronounce, bad grammar, and laziness to learn English. In this part, the environmental factor was the crucial one, which also agrees with the studies of Tse (1987) and Chen (2003). In Taiwan, English is treated as the first priority foreign language taught and also as a compulsory subject in junior high and senior high schools. Johnson and Johnson (1998: 132) indicate that An ESL situation is one where English is widely used in commerce, administration and education. It is a foreign language (EFL) in a country where English plays no such role. Therefore, it can be hard to find opportunities to use the English language outside the classroom in Taiwan (Tse 1987, Tsao 1999). Furthermore, students need to overcome shyness and to learn to ask and answer questions effectively, and to communicate more with native speakers of English (Ferris and Tagg 1996: 308). The responses from question 2 121

4 122 corresponded with those of question 3 when students were asked how often they practiced English. Most of their answers were not at all, seldom, once per week on the English day ( English Day, in which students were required to communicate in English all day, was normally on Tuesdays.), once per two weeks, no determination to practice, no persistence to continuing learning and practicing, and no interests to learn. From here, we can see that opportunities to converse in the English language are limited and the schools emphasis may play a vital role on this deficiency. From Chen s study (2008), it is clearly noted that because cadets would like to have more direct contact with native speakers, hiring more native teachers would be beneficial. In addition, providing opportunities to visit English-speaking countries might also have a good effect. Concerning the topic of question 3: How do you practice English speaking, students reactions were in English class, listen to ICRT or music sometimes, self-studying, watching English movies or Disney cartoons, self-studying, talking to himself or talking to classmates in English, find an English article and read it aloud, and read English textbooks. Regarding topic of question 4: How do you think to enhance your ability of English speaking, cadets provided various suggestions, covering keep high interest in learning English, more practicing, read more articles related to one s own interests, listen more, read more, and read aloud more, have native friends or immigration, sing English songs, talk to myself in English, think in English, read aloud while reading English articles, not afraid of making mistakes, try to express one s own ideas in English as much as possible, and memorize more vocabulary, phrases, and contents of articles. Those responses are truly regarded as the references for teachers or the students themselves should do to improve cadets not only oral skills but other language skills. Not one of the 16 subjects commented on question 5..Conclusion On the whole, the findings of this study display a general framework of those 16 sophomore cadets difficulties in English speaking. The results from Ferris and Tagg (1996: 311) suggest that teachers would better prepare their students by impressing upon them the importance of communication skills in general, by teaching them to ask and respond to questions effectively, by giving them practice speaking, and by encouraging class participation. It is also strongly commented that students should have more opportunities and encouragement to interact with native speakers or the native environment (Chen 2008; Ferris and Tagg 1996: 311). For example, it is suggested that hiring more native English speaking teachers to somehow create an English environmental network. Moreover, providing cadets with some travel opportunities to English-speaking countries might be beneficial, too. Besides, Ferris and Tagg (1996: 311) also suggest that teachers should develop students communication strategies with different types of authentic activities. 122

5 Wain-Chin Dana Chen:A Pilot Study of Some ROCMA Cadets Difficulties in English Speaking 123 Students could possibly react if later they encounter various kinds of situations. Finally, it is useful to put more emphasis on students autonomy in learning and place more responsibility on students to self-study. Therefore, developing training programs for communication strategies might be urgently needed (Ferris and Tagg 1996: 311). The limit of this research is that this is a pilot study and the number of subjects is rather small. It is conducted at a military academy in southern Taiwan; therefore, the findings will not be applicable to other students in Taiwan in regard to English speaking. However, this study provides a general perspective towards some cadets difficulties in English speaking, causes of those difficulties and reactions when facing difficulties, and their thoughts of improving the situation. The results could be for the reference of teachers and faculty. Furthermore, In order to enhance teaching and better understanding of students English-speaking difficulties, it is suggested that more research could be done, involving a detailed investigation of a greater number of subjects or cadets with different levels of English proficiency. For an in-depth discussion, further interviews with cadets or even with teachers toward specific aspects of students English learning and use of speaking strategies will be recommended. References [1] Chen, W. (2003) Learning and Writing in a New Academic Culture: An Investigation of A Group of Taiwanese Postgraduates at the University of Leicester. Unpublished Ed.D. University of Leicester, UK. [2] Chen, W. (2008) A Study of ROCMA Freshmen Cadets Motivation on English Learning. Whampoo Interdisciplinary Journal Vol. 54, (ISSN ) [3]Cheng, X. (2000) Asian Students Reticence Revisited. System 28: [4] Ferris, D. (1998) Students Views of Academic aural/oral skills: a Comparative Needs Analysis. TESOL Quarterly (32): [5] Ferris, D. & Tagg, T. (1996a) Academic Listening/Speaking Tasks for ESL Students: Problems, Suggestions, and Implications. TESOL Quarterly 30(2): [6] Ferris, D. & Tagg, T. (1996b) Academic Oral Communication Needs for EAP Learners: What Subject-Matter Instructors Actually Require. TESOL Quarterly 30(1): [7]Iwashita, N., Brown, A., McNamara, T. & O Hagan S. (2008) Assessed Levels of Second Language Speaking Proficiency: How Distinct? Applied Linguistics 29/1: [8] Johnson, K. and Johnson, H. (eds.) (1998) Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc. [9]Kim, S. (2006) Academic Oral Communication Needs of East Asian International Graduate Students in Non-Science and Non-engineering Fields. English for Specific Purposes 25: [10] Liu, N.F., & Littlewood, W. (1997) 123

6 124 Why do Many Students Appear Reluctant to Participate in Classroom Learning Discourse? System 25: [11] Ostler, S. E. (1980) A Survey of Academic Needs for Advanced ESL. TESOL Quarterly 14(4): [12]Tsao, Feng-Fu. (1999) The Language Planning Situation in Taiwan Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 20(4-5): [13]Tse, K.P. (1987) Language Planning and English as a Foreign Language in Middle School Education in the Republic of China. Taipei: Crane. Appendix: Five open-ended questions: 1. What is your most difficult part of English speaking? 2. What are the reasons caused for those difficulties? 3. Do you practice English speaking? How often do you practice English speaking? In what ways? 4. How do you think to enhance your English speaking ability? 5. Any comments you d like to add? 124

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