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Abstract: The present paper discusses the English language teaching problems encountered recently in the colleges, especially in the less developed areas of China, and offers a solution on the basis of one college’s exploration in this respect. That is, to set up an English-Japanese bilingual business chamber to create a personal foreign language learning environment (PFLLE). As the feedback and comments from learners shows us, PFLLE can effectively facilitate individualized and autonomous learning of the target language. It offers a possibility in solving the pressing problem faced particularly in the relatively poor areas of China where student enrolment is growing enormously and teacher resources are scarce.
Key words: PFLLE, FL learning, individualization, autonomy
［CLC number］G424
［Document code］A
［Article ID］1006-2831(2006)11-0031-4
1. ELT in the Chinese tertiary context in less developed areas of China
Since the end of last century, enrolment in higher education across China has been drastically expanding each year. In 1999, there was an increase of 227,000 to a total enrolment of 1.53 million, a 42% increase over the previous year’s 1.08 million. Enrolment in higher education further increased annually at the rate of 10% till 2005, and in the year of 2006, the State Commission and the Ministry of Education declared a 5% increase of freshman enrolment＊. Statistics of the last 5 years of students from our Foreign Languages Department in Pingxiang college—a medium-sized three-year college in the west of Jiangxi Province—can help to understand the enrolment growth rate in recent years:
As the figures in the table show us, the recruitment boom in higher education, and in foreign language departments in particular, has plunged foreign language teaching into a series of difficulties and problems, including an increasingly severe shortage of teachers, increased class sizes and a widening gap in the proficiency levels of English students. The current ratio of teachers to students is more than 1:50, and it has been clearly indicated that student numbers will continue to increase in the foreseeable future. The consequence brought about is the decline in teaching quality as teachers have so much pressure and such little time in preparing their lessons and improving themselves. A question teachers must ask themselves is whether or not, or how, they can enhance teaching quality in such circumstances.
As an inland three-year college whose facilities, teachers and students are far from satisfying compared with their counterparts in coastal areas, we have tried many ways such as graded English language teaching, listening to campus radio, and we have such college practices as English corner, English club etc. Despite many methods being taken into consideration and implemented, no satisfactory teaching quality is ensured. As no ideal way has been found to meet the varied learning demands of students at different levels, more frustrated English learners are being produced, so frustrated that some of them completely give up learning English. What’s worse is that this failure even puts the college authority in doubt about whether it is necessary to maintain four hours of English instruction per week for four semesters since two semesters or four semesters of English teaching makes little difference in developing their English skills.
However, the problematic situation set us to thinking, learning and investigating. And in the process of exploration, we found that research on learner autonomy and informal learning being carried out in western countries could shed some light on our college English teaching reform. In light of these theories, we worked out the idea of establishing an EFL informal autonomous learning center. Successful trials suggested that it would be welcomed by learners and could help solve the problem of fitting more effective learning into fewer class hours.
2. Exploration of PFLLE
To better implement the program, we invested some money to build what we call the 褽nglish-Japanese Bilingual Commerce Chamber”with a view to creating a personal FL learning environment (PFLLE).
2.1 Rationale
As mentioned previously, our scheme is contrived on the basis of the following theories concerning informal learning and learner autonomy research:
2.1.1 Informal learning:
Formal learning takes place in classrooms; and informal learning happens, in Jay Cross’s term, in learnscapes. A learnscape is a learning ecology: learning without borders. Throughout our lives, only 10%-20% of learning is formal, and 80% of our learning takes place outside of formal settings (J. Cross, 2006). In order to make a distinction between formal learning and informal reading, Jay interprets them metaphorically:
Informal learning is the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way most people learn to do their jobs. Informal learning is like riding a bicycle: the rider chooses the destination and the route. The cyclist can take a detour at a moment’s notice to admire the scenery or help a fellow rider. Formal learning is like riding a bus: the driver decides where the bus is going; the passengers are along for the ride. People new to the territory often ride the bus before hopping on the bike.
For the college students who have more than six years of English learning experience, it is the right time to be encouraged to try to ride a bicycle, therefore, providing them with an EFL informal learning center would be a worthwhile attempt.
2.1.2 Learner autonomy
Autonomy was defined as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”(Holec, 1981:3). The idea of autonomy first came into language teaching in the late 1960s through the adult education movement in Europe and North America, and for many years it continued to be associated with adult learners who had left formal education (Nunan, 2004:291). In the 1980s, the emphasis began to shift from adults to younger and older learners whose learning was mainly focused on the classroom.
Over the last 20 years, autonomy in language learning has been a topic of widespread discussion in the Western countries. In China, relevant research has just begun. Gao Jili (高吉利, 2005) summed up the features of domestic research on learner autonomy based on a survey of relevant research articles published in 18 FL journals from 1990 to 2005. In all research home and abroad, great importance has been attached to autonomous learning. Scholars share one notion that students as individuals are capable of making decisions for themselves in the learning process; that the focus is on learning and learners, not teaching; that teachers have to step aside, create an environment to let learners make their own decisions and let learning happen.
2.2 Source design
As learners differ in their interest, learning styles, needs etc., the PFLLE should include and bring together all types of learning, including informal learning, workplace learning, learning from home, learning driven by problem solving and learning motivated by personal interest as well as learning through engagement in formal educational programs so that learners can organize their own learning. Learning materials that can be provided are as below:
Paper and electronic copies of TL newspapers, magazines and books
Audio-video materials like songs, movies, games, cartoons etc.
2.3 Facilities
The PFLLE is equipped with a range of facilities including computers with access to the Internet, Hi-fi systems, TV sets, VCDs, projectors and audio cassette players, and language learning materials.
2.4 Management of PFLLE
The objectives of PFLLE are described as follows and posted on the overhead wall at the door:
● To provide students opportunities for natural and sensitive use of target languages through participation in fun and meaningful activities;
● To share perspectives and experiences, and learn from one another;
● To increase students”confidence and autonomy in TL learning;
● To improve students”TL proficiency.
There are also clear lines of responsibility and rules in the chamber. A student manager is appointed and a work team is organized who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the center. A training program is implemented for staff before they begin to work there. Regulations are drafted by the work team with reference to the teachers and professional cafe-runners. The one-hour working sessions are held several times a week and times of sessions are posted on the notice board.
The chamber is open to anyone who possesses a membership card and follows the rule of “speaking the target language only”whenever he enters the room. In order to assist students in complying with the rules of the chamber, a warning system is in effect. If students do not comply with the rules they will receive a written reminder. If students continue not to comply with the rules, they will receive written warnings and three warnings in succession will result in the permanent loss of his membership and deprivation of his right to get into the chamber. Conversely, students who are recorded to enter the room more than 15 times each month of the term can be presented with a medal and have it registered in their portfolios.
2.5 Features of PFLLE
One feature worth mentioning is that we make the environment like a coffee-bar; a cozy room where learners can either have drinks, or study, or chat, or play, or have a party on weekends, on the condition that the only language permissible is the target language they are learning at college.
Another is that we offer lots of recreational materials in the TL such as songs, movies, electronic games, chess, cards, bridge etc. As we may know, today’s college students spend more time playing games than reading books for pleasure, so we hope they can acquire the target language by immersing themselves in the games and activities.
There is a corner with self-study materials which include: 1) papers, articles, translations, DVD, cartoons etc. collated by the students themselves; 2) books donated to the following “contributing to the Bilingual Commerce Chamber by donating one of your favorite TL books” 3) local travelogues, adverts, company pamphlets etc. collected throughout the city where the college is located; 4) books and other resources developed by both foreign teachers and Chinese teachers of English.
One more function of the PFLLE is the real or simulated vocational training of the TL used in diverse contexts. Learners can preside a conference, release news, give lectures, have business negotiations, interpret, debate, or whatever, so long as they speak the TL.
3. Feedback and comments from learners
As one of our initial attempts is to assess how beneficial the PFLLE is to the learners”TL learning, we made a questionnaire and handed it out to 110 students in order to collect feedback and comments from them. The questionnaire focused on three areas: the usefulness of PFLLE and its materials and activities; the effectiveness of learning in PFLLE compared with classroom teaching; improvement of learning in terms of language skills, knowledge, learning strategies, interest, autonomy and confidence.
The results suggest that students find PFLLE, its materials and activities as a whole to be useful (88% found them “useful”or “very useful”. What is surprising is the high percentage of learners who felt the self-study materials and game playing to be most useful. (45% and 47% respectively). In contrast, the “finishing assignment”was generally found to be only “a little useful”(25%). Subjects also often have contradictory opinions on what is most useful and this exactly supports our initial attempt to cater for different learners by providing a variety of materials and tasks and approaches.
Our findings from the second part of the questionnaire where the subjects were asked the effectiveness of learning in PFLLE compared with classroom teaching show that more than 86% felt it to be much more effective. It suggests that students are tired of the monotonous formal classroom teaching mode, while an informal individualized learning style can highly motivate students and rekindle their long-lost learning enthusiasm.
In the third part of the questionnaire, students were asked to rank how much they improved to do with certain learner factors and language skills. To our surprise, more than 78% ranked attitude, interest, and confidence as most improved. They said that they were more aware of what they needed to learn and could take initiative in learning. This is highly valuable “something that can serve as a driving force or intrinsic motivation for their future learning. In terms of language skills, there were inconsistent answers in listening, speaking, reading and writing, but a majority of them (more than 70%) agreed that interpreting and translating, which may be very practical in their future career, were the least improved.
In the final section of the questionnaire, students were encouraged to offer some comments. A number of interesting comments were made which will impact on future improvement. Here we sort out three constructive suggestions.
It was suggested that there should be more high quality activities in which outstanding personnel in business circles or FL students in other colleges and universities should be invited as presenters or guests. We are searching for people who can do the job, while promoting our bilingual commerce chamber in order for people outside our college to become familiar with it.
The second suggestion was that there should be more materials, especially video games and self-study materials. This is not too high an investment, plus we can make many required materials by ourselves. Our focus in the building of the PFLLE will be on this point.
The third suggestion is concerned about infrastructure such as more seats and space, more computers and other equipment, quicker access to the Internet, etc. We are considering the possibility of extending space and better facilities, however, owing to the deficit in our college, it’s hardly doable at the moment.
4. Conclusion
The Bilingual Commerce Chamber aims to create a personal FL learning environment, which is reflected in the choice of materials, activities, physical design and infrastructure. It is intended that this diversity also motivates learners by encouraging them to experiment in their free selection of learning content, activities and the way in which they learn. Any kind of learning is voluntarily undertaken by the learner himself rather than being imposed upon him by teachers or other external forces, therefore, an autonomous decision on what to learn and how to learn is made by learners themselves rather than the teachers. Our attempt has turned out to be a small success and worth introducing to other colleges, especially to those in less developed areas where students are poorly motivated in the classroom and teachers are quite scarce. As the chamber has not been built long and is still in experimental stage, we haven’t collected enough data to precisely evaluate the students’TL learning route and learning effectiveness. In the next semester, we’ll offer the students a pre-test and about one year later, a post-test with a view to making a comparison of their achievement in order to test whether the students”comments on the PFLLE are accurate or not.
References
China Education News Archive: Higher Education. http://www.hku.hk/chinaed/chinaed_news/chinaednews_index_highered.htm
Holec, H. Autonomy in Foreign Language Teaching[M]. Oxford: Pergamon, 1981.
Jay Cross, informal learning blog, May 20, 2006 http://internettime.com/wordpress2/?p=551
Larsen Freeman, D. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching[M]. Oxford University Press (printed in China), 2003.
Nunan, D. Practical English Language Teaching[M]. 高等教育出版社(Higher Education Press in China), 2004.
高吉利. 国内学习者自主研究述评[J]. 外语界，2005（6）：55-60.
王惠昭. 人为目的语环境与英语学习成效[J]. 中国外语，2005（3）.
Key words: PFLLE, FL learning, individualization, autonomy
［CLC number］G424
［Document code］A
［Article ID］1006-2831(2006)11-0031-4
1. ELT in the Chinese tertiary context in less developed areas of China
Since the end of last century, enrolment in higher education across China has been drastically expanding each year. In 1999, there was an increase of 227,000 to a total enrolment of 1.53 million, a 42% increase over the previous year’s 1.08 million. Enrolment in higher education further increased annually at the rate of 10% till 2005, and in the year of 2006, the State Commission and the Ministry of Education declared a 5% increase of freshman enrolment＊. Statistics of the last 5 years of students from our Foreign Languages Department in Pingxiang college—a medium-sized three-year college in the west of Jiangxi Province—can help to understand the enrolment growth rate in recent years:
As the figures in the table show us, the recruitment boom in higher education, and in foreign language departments in particular, has plunged foreign language teaching into a series of difficulties and problems, including an increasingly severe shortage of teachers, increased class sizes and a widening gap in the proficiency levels of English students. The current ratio of teachers to students is more than 1:50, and it has been clearly indicated that student numbers will continue to increase in the foreseeable future. The consequence brought about is the decline in teaching quality as teachers have so much pressure and such little time in preparing their lessons and improving themselves. A question teachers must ask themselves is whether or not, or how, they can enhance teaching quality in such circumstances.
As an inland three-year college whose facilities, teachers and students are far from satisfying compared with their counterparts in coastal areas, we have tried many ways such as graded English language teaching, listening to campus radio, and we have such college practices as English corner, English club etc. Despite many methods being taken into consideration and implemented, no satisfactory teaching quality is ensured. As no ideal way has been found to meet the varied learning demands of students at different levels, more frustrated English learners are being produced, so frustrated that some of them completely give up learning English. What’s worse is that this failure even puts the college authority in doubt about whether it is necessary to maintain four hours of English instruction per week for four semesters since two semesters or four semesters of English teaching makes little difference in developing their English skills.
However, the problematic situation set us to thinking, learning and investigating. And in the process of exploration, we found that research on learner autonomy and informal learning being carried out in western countries could shed some light on our college English teaching reform. In light of these theories, we worked out the idea of establishing an EFL informal autonomous learning center. Successful trials suggested that it would be welcomed by learners and could help solve the problem of fitting more effective learning into fewer class hours.
2. Exploration of PFLLE
To better implement the program, we invested some money to build what we call the 褽nglish-Japanese Bilingual Commerce Chamber”with a view to creating a personal FL learning environment (PFLLE).
2.1 Rationale
As mentioned previously, our scheme is contrived on the basis of the following theories concerning informal learning and learner autonomy research:
2.1.1 Informal learning:
Formal learning takes place in classrooms; and informal learning happens, in Jay Cross’s term, in learnscapes. A learnscape is a learning ecology: learning without borders. Throughout our lives, only 10%-20% of learning is formal, and 80% of our learning takes place outside of formal settings (J. Cross, 2006). In order to make a distinction between formal learning and informal reading, Jay interprets them metaphorically:
Informal learning is the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way most people learn to do their jobs. Informal learning is like riding a bicycle: the rider chooses the destination and the route. The cyclist can take a detour at a moment’s notice to admire the scenery or help a fellow rider. Formal learning is like riding a bus: the driver decides where the bus is going; the passengers are along for the ride. People new to the territory often ride the bus before hopping on the bike.
For the college students who have more than six years of English learning experience, it is the right time to be encouraged to try to ride a bicycle, therefore, providing them with an EFL informal learning center would be a worthwhile attempt.
2.1.2 Learner autonomy
Autonomy was defined as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”(Holec, 1981:3). The idea of autonomy first came into language teaching in the late 1960s through the adult education movement in Europe and North America, and for many years it continued to be associated with adult learners who had left formal education (Nunan, 2004:291). In the 1980s, the emphasis began to shift from adults to younger and older learners whose learning was mainly focused on the classroom.
Over the last 20 years, autonomy in language learning has been a topic of widespread discussion in the Western countries. In China, relevant research has just begun. Gao Jili (高吉利, 2005) summed up the features of domestic research on learner autonomy based on a survey of relevant research articles published in 18 FL journals from 1990 to 2005. In all research home and abroad, great importance has been attached to autonomous learning. Scholars share one notion that students as individuals are capable of making decisions for themselves in the learning process; that the focus is on learning and learners, not teaching; that teachers have to step aside, create an environment to let learners make their own decisions and let learning happen.
2.2 Source design
As learners differ in their interest, learning styles, needs etc., the PFLLE should include and bring together all types of learning, including informal learning, workplace learning, learning from home, learning driven by problem solving and learning motivated by personal interest as well as learning through engagement in formal educational programs so that learners can organize their own learning. Learning materials that can be provided are as below:
Paper and electronic copies of TL newspapers, magazines and books
Audio-video materials like songs, movies, games, cartoons etc.
2.3 Facilities
The PFLLE is equipped with a range of facilities including computers with access to the Internet, Hi-fi systems, TV sets, VCDs, projectors and audio cassette players, and language learning materials.
2.4 Management of PFLLE
The objectives of PFLLE are described as follows and posted on the overhead wall at the door:
● To provide students opportunities for natural and sensitive use of target languages through participation in fun and meaningful activities;
● To share perspectives and experiences, and learn from one another;
● To increase students”confidence and autonomy in TL learning;
● To improve students”TL proficiency.
There are also clear lines of responsibility and rules in the chamber. A student manager is appointed and a work team is organized who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the center. A training program is implemented for staff before they begin to work there. Regulations are drafted by the work team with reference to the teachers and professional cafe-runners. The one-hour working sessions are held several times a week and times of sessions are posted on the notice board.
The chamber is open to anyone who possesses a membership card and follows the rule of “speaking the target language only”whenever he enters the room. In order to assist students in complying with the rules of the chamber, a warning system is in effect. If students do not comply with the rules they will receive a written reminder. If students continue not to comply with the rules, they will receive written warnings and three warnings in succession will result in the permanent loss of his membership and deprivation of his right to get into the chamber. Conversely, students who are recorded to enter the room more than 15 times each month of the term can be presented with a medal and have it registered in their portfolios.
2.5 Features of PFLLE
One feature worth mentioning is that we make the environment like a coffee-bar; a cozy room where learners can either have drinks, or study, or chat, or play, or have a party on weekends, on the condition that the only language permissible is the target language they are learning at college.
Another is that we offer lots of recreational materials in the TL such as songs, movies, electronic games, chess, cards, bridge etc. As we may know, today’s college students spend more time playing games than reading books for pleasure, so we hope they can acquire the target language by immersing themselves in the games and activities.
There is a corner with self-study materials which include: 1) papers, articles, translations, DVD, cartoons etc. collated by the students themselves; 2) books donated to the following “contributing to the Bilingual Commerce Chamber by donating one of your favorite TL books” 3) local travelogues, adverts, company pamphlets etc. collected throughout the city where the college is located; 4) books and other resources developed by both foreign teachers and Chinese teachers of English.
One more function of the PFLLE is the real or simulated vocational training of the TL used in diverse contexts. Learners can preside a conference, release news, give lectures, have business negotiations, interpret, debate, or whatever, so long as they speak the TL.
3. Feedback and comments from learners
As one of our initial attempts is to assess how beneficial the PFLLE is to the learners”TL learning, we made a questionnaire and handed it out to 110 students in order to collect feedback and comments from them. The questionnaire focused on three areas: the usefulness of PFLLE and its materials and activities; the effectiveness of learning in PFLLE compared with classroom teaching; improvement of learning in terms of language skills, knowledge, learning strategies, interest, autonomy and confidence.
The results suggest that students find PFLLE, its materials and activities as a whole to be useful (88% found them “useful”or “very useful”. What is surprising is the high percentage of learners who felt the self-study materials and game playing to be most useful. (45% and 47% respectively). In contrast, the “finishing assignment”was generally found to be only “a little useful”(25%). Subjects also often have contradictory opinions on what is most useful and this exactly supports our initial attempt to cater for different learners by providing a variety of materials and tasks and approaches.
Our findings from the second part of the questionnaire where the subjects were asked the effectiveness of learning in PFLLE compared with classroom teaching show that more than 86% felt it to be much more effective. It suggests that students are tired of the monotonous formal classroom teaching mode, while an informal individualized learning style can highly motivate students and rekindle their long-lost learning enthusiasm.
In the third part of the questionnaire, students were asked to rank how much they improved to do with certain learner factors and language skills. To our surprise, more than 78% ranked attitude, interest, and confidence as most improved. They said that they were more aware of what they needed to learn and could take initiative in learning. This is highly valuable “something that can serve as a driving force or intrinsic motivation for their future learning. In terms of language skills, there were inconsistent answers in listening, speaking, reading and writing, but a majority of them (more than 70%) agreed that interpreting and translating, which may be very practical in their future career, were the least improved.
In the final section of the questionnaire, students were encouraged to offer some comments. A number of interesting comments were made which will impact on future improvement. Here we sort out three constructive suggestions.
It was suggested that there should be more high quality activities in which outstanding personnel in business circles or FL students in other colleges and universities should be invited as presenters or guests. We are searching for people who can do the job, while promoting our bilingual commerce chamber in order for people outside our college to become familiar with it.
The second suggestion was that there should be more materials, especially video games and self-study materials. This is not too high an investment, plus we can make many required materials by ourselves. Our focus in the building of the PFLLE will be on this point.
The third suggestion is concerned about infrastructure such as more seats and space, more computers and other equipment, quicker access to the Internet, etc. We are considering the possibility of extending space and better facilities, however, owing to the deficit in our college, it’s hardly doable at the moment.
4. Conclusion
The Bilingual Commerce Chamber aims to create a personal FL learning environment, which is reflected in the choice of materials, activities, physical design and infrastructure. It is intended that this diversity also motivates learners by encouraging them to experiment in their free selection of learning content, activities and the way in which they learn. Any kind of learning is voluntarily undertaken by the learner himself rather than being imposed upon him by teachers or other external forces, therefore, an autonomous decision on what to learn and how to learn is made by learners themselves rather than the teachers. Our attempt has turned out to be a small success and worth introducing to other colleges, especially to those in less developed areas where students are poorly motivated in the classroom and teachers are quite scarce. As the chamber has not been built long and is still in experimental stage, we haven’t collected enough data to precisely evaluate the students’TL learning route and learning effectiveness. In the next semester, we’ll offer the students a pre-test and about one year later, a post-test with a view to making a comparison of their achievement in order to test whether the students”comments on the PFLLE are accurate or not.
References
China Education News Archive: Higher Education. http://www.hku.hk/chinaed/chinaed_news/chinaednews_index_highered.htm
Holec, H. Autonomy in Foreign Language Teaching[M]. Oxford: Pergamon, 1981.
Jay Cross, informal learning blog, May 20, 2006 http://internettime.com/wordpress2/?p=551
Larsen Freeman, D. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching[M]. Oxford University Press (printed in China), 2003.
Nunan, D. Practical English Language Teaching[M]. 高等教育出版社(Higher Education Press in China), 2004.
高吉利. 国内学习者自主研究述评[J]. 外语界，2005（6）：55-60.
王惠昭. 人为目的语环境与英语学习成效[J]. 中国外语，2005（3）.