The first stage of this research involved identifying the 'good' and 'poor' language learners respectively from my classes. To identify these students some clarification of what is meant by the terms 'good' and 'poor' is necessary. The existing research has defined the terms in this way: The good language learner is a willing and accurate guesser, has a strong drive to communicate or learn from communication, is often not inhibited, is constantly looking for patterns in the language, practices, monitors his own speech and speech of others and attends to meaning where she realizes that in order to understand the message it is not sufficient to pay attention to the grammar of the language or to the surface form of speech. (Rubin, 1975 in Rosna & Sharifah, 1994). On the other hand, the 'poor' language learner would not display all of these characteristics, or at least not to a strong degree.
Using these definitions I observed my classes during the normal teaching timetable in order to identify the two types of learners. I teach two distinct types of student, trainee secretaries and trainee engineers. All of the classes are studying at post form five level for a two year Diploma. Since the institution's intake is made up from form five graduates who make up the lower end of academic achievement (entry requirements stipulate a grade E in the Hong Kong School Certificate for English (HKCE), it can be argued that to some extent, all of the students I teach are not particularly successful language learners, certainly in terms of examination results.
However, the chosen students differ in the way that they seem to apply themselves to language learning during class time. The identified 'good' language learner, Anna, is a secretarial student who achieved grade D in the HKCE for English. I chose her as a subject for the research as she is extremely active both in and out of the classroom in her language learning. During class she frequently interacts with me, inhibited by the use of her second language rather than any of the affective factors mentioned above. Outside the classroom, she makes opportunities to practice using her English, clarifying homework questions, requesting help and seeking to start conversations with native English speakers.
By contrast, the identified 'poor' language learner, is extremely quiet both within and outside of the classroom situation. He achieved grade E in the HKCE and is now studying Electrical Engineering at the Technical Institute. He sometimes has difficulty in completing his English classwork despite great concentration and effort and relies on his friends to help him communicate with me when necessary. I chose this student, Wong Man, because he contrasts completely with Anna, and his background is also quite interesting in that he migrated three years ago from China, having learnt English in mainland Chinese schools.
The second stage of the data collection involved interviewing the students to find out their background variables and collate a more detailed profile than can be gained from observation and questionnaires alone.
The interview questions, shown in Appendix One, were informed by the research done by Abraham and Vann (1987) in their case studies of two language learners. The questions were adapted to suit the learning experiences of Hong Kong students. The questions covered the following areas: family background, including access to literature; abilities of the family members in using English; primary school experiences, including the interviewees perception of their ability; secondary school experiences, including the access to English speaking situations and finally current learning experience, including opinions, opportunities to practice, motivation to learn, strategies used and learning styles.
Both students were asked the same questions in a 30 minute interview which was recorded. To facilitate discussion and allow the students to feel more at ease, they were interviewed with a friend, to whom I asked the same questions, however for this assignment the focus is only on two of the participants. For the 'poor' language learner's interview, my colleague acted as a translator from English into Cantonese where necessary.
At the end of the interview the students were asked to complete a questionnaire, and they were encouraged to ask for clarification if needed, since the questionnaire was written in English, the target language. The questionnaire was modeled on the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) version 7.0, as developed by Oxford (1990).
The SILL version 7.0 was designed for speakers of ESL/EFL, and the questions are designed to report the frequency of use of language learning strategies. Therefore it is an appropriate tool for investigation here. Since the English level of my students is comparatively low, some of the original questions were simplified in order to make the meaning clearer, and some of the questions inappropriate for Hong Kong, were deleted from my questionnaire. Before administering this questionnaire to the students, I checked the content with a Chinese-speaking colleague to gauge the likelihood of the students being able to understand. Minor revisions were suggested and accommodated in to the final version. (See Appendix Two).
The questionnaire is split into six sections, each section corresponding to a strategy area as follows:- Part A - remembering more effectively; Part B - using all mental processes; Part C - compensating for missing knowledge; Part D - organizing and evaluating; Part E - managing emotions and Part F - Learning with others.
It also uses a likert scale ranging from 'never' or 'almost never true of me', to 'always' or 'almost always true of me'. Through the use of these three tools of investigation: observation, interview and questionnaire, a detailed profile of the identified 'good' and 'poor' language learners could be developed. We can now move on to look at section three which displays the findings.
Source : Adapted from a report by Aileen Shaw