Mainland Chinese Undergraduates’ English- learning Experiences in Hong Kong: A Case Study focusing on Learning Strategy Use GAO, Xuesong (Andy) English.

Mainland Chinese Undergraduates’ English-learning Experiences in Hong Kong: A Case Study focusing on Learning Strategy Use

GAO, Xuesong (Andy)English Centre/ Faculty of [email protected]. 8th, 2006, HKU Constituent Theme, “Languages, media and Communication: Language in Education and Assessment” Seminar

Purpose

A case study on one mainland Chinese undergraduate’s language learning experiences in Hong Kong:

limited in generalization Researcher’s background, position, and subjectivity Drawing on a larger interpretative, ethnographic and

longitudinal inquiry A sociocultural perspective on learning and learning

strategy

Background: Constructivist Learning

‘Learning […] through cooperative social activity, discourse, and debate in the communities of practice’ (Fosnot, 2005, p. ix)

‘The classroom […] seen as a mini-society, a community of learners engaged in activity, discourse, interpretation, justification, and reflection (ibid, p. ix)

The role of language: medium vs. means (Glaserfeld, 1998; Scheinder, 2006)

a shared repertoire of ‘stories, artifacts, tools, actions, historical events, discourses, and concepts, and styles’ to ‘negotiate meaning without the constant need to compare notes’ (Wenger, 1998, p. 84)

Background: Constructivist Learning

Language problems related to constructivist learning in Hong Kong (e.g. Jackson, 2002; Liu & Littlewood, 1997)

Causes of students’ apparent reticence (Liu & Littlewood, 1997):

Lack of experience in speaking English Hong Kong as ‘input-poor’ learning environment The dominance of Cantonese The arrival of mainland Chinese students

Background: Language Learning Strategy

Social turn in language learning research Learning is ‘both a kind of action and a form of

belonging’ (Wenger, 1998, p. 4) Learners are ‘able to reflect upon’ and ‘seek to

alter or reinforce, the fitness of the social arrangements[…] for the realization of their own interests.’ (Sealey & Carter, 2004, p. 11)

Background: Language Learning Strategy

Learning strategy: Learners’ contributions to their own language learning (Chamot, 2001)

Learning strategy: open up access within power structures and seek cultural alternatives (Oxford, 2003, p.79)

Background: Language Learning Strategy

Accounts of strategy use reveal the interplay of structure and agency

Structure: anterior and enduring (Layder, 1991, 1993) Structural constraints/facilitation (Norton, 2000; Norton &

Toohey, 2001; Palfreyman, 2003, 2006): discursive resources, material resources, and social agents

The role of agency (Tseng et al, 2006; Wenden, 1998, 2002)

Agency: revealed in the use of power, the will and capacity (Giddens, 1984)

Background: A Realist Perspective

Agent

Structure

Structure

Strategic behaviors

Constraints/facilitation

AutonomyDependence

AutonomyDependence

Structural power: Constraints/facilitation

Strategic behaviorsIndividual Power: the will and capacity)

Individual Power: the will and capacity)

Emergent Structures

Background: Mainland Undergraduates

Cultural tradition: a pragmatic approach Hierarchical worldview Acquire academic and literacy skills, upward

social mobility, and personal development (Thogersen, 2002)

Learning for earning or learning (Cheng, 1996)

Background: Mainland Undergraduates

Contextual reality on the Chinese mainland Overcrowded and competitive educational context Search for better educational opportunities The increasing importance of English Motives for coming to Hong Kong for tertiary

studies: quality education, English and better opportunities for social advance

Background: Mainland Undergraduates

Mainland undergraduates in Hong Kong: social and cultural vulnerability

Huge investment, uncertain results Linguistic problems: Cantonese vs. Putonghua Differences between mainlanders and Hong

Kongers may be diminishing but still ongoing and enduring (Li, et al, 1995; Ho, Chau, Chiu & Peng, 2003)

Background: Mainland Undergraduates

English is widely spoken by the foreign community and in business circles, but not every Chinese person will necessarily understand English, as many are new immigrants from mainland China’ (The University of Hong Kong, 2005, p. 39).

本地大学大量招收内地学生。不得不承认，内地生成绩优秀，但少见参与活动，他们大都埋头苦读，对自身社会以及文化认识不深，也可以说是无文化内容，对于两地学生互相交流文化有用吗？ (HKU Post, 2006, p. 4)

Background: Mainland Undergraduates

Background: Mainland Undergraduates

The Study

It has three stages 1) Interviewed twenty-two mainland

undergraduates in 2004 2) follow-up ethnographic inquiry into 6

volunteer participants’ learning experiences (2004-2006)

3) Interviewed 15 out of the original 22 in 2006

The Case Study Participant:Jo

Born in a ‘middle-class’ professional family Parents closely involved in her previous language learning

experiences Use of rote memory strategies on the Chinese mainland Studying in a faculty where there is a constant need for

defending her designs in English Most of her time spent in a studio, working in groups A desire to continue studying and working in Hong Kong

to acquire her professional qualification

The Case Study Participant

Highly motivated Positive perceptions of learning environment Some disappointment with learning progress Strategy use (from a questionnaire in the 3rd stage)

Memory Cognitive Metacognitive Affective Social

Jo 3.2500 3.3077 3.0000 3.1667 2.8333

N=15 3.2000 3.4231 3.1333 2.6778 2.8889

Experiential Narrative: Learning Cantonese

I try to communicate with my classmates in Cantonese because local students, after all, like to use Cantonese. If I use Putonghua or English, it will cause barriers in our exchanges. They will not be too willing to talk to me. If I use Putonghua, Putonghua will be too difficult for them (Sept. 28th, 2004).

If I keep speaking Putonghua, maybe they (local students) do not want to speak to me. (Because) They have a lot of chances to speak to other students in Cantonese. So I will have less chance to communicate with others. […] I speak Putonghua to myself. And I speak Cantonese to my classmates in order to be part of them (Nov. 20th, 2004).

Experiential Narrative: Learning Cantonese

I do not feel good about it. (Interviewer: Why?) It was just like this. If I do not speak, they cannot tell me that I am not one of them. They cannot tell that I am actually not from Hong Kong. The sudden change in their ways of talking to me always reminds me of the fact that I am not from Hong Kong. It is an act to differentiate my identity from theirs. I feel annoyed for there is always someone who wants to separate me out from them (May 30th, 2006).

[…] their lifestyle is a bit different from mine. They like to sing KARAOKE. Sometimes they spent too much time on doing something meaningless. I think that they are wasting time (Nov. 20th, 2004).

Interpreting Narratives

The need for learning Cantonese: partially generated by constructivist learning on

the campus a cultural fear of being isolated and marginalized

Experiential Narrative: Struggle for English

In fact, English matters more to me than Cantonese (Sept. 28th, 2004).

I watch TV in English. When I watch TV, I just want to improve my English (Dec. 12th, 2004).

I watch TV, most of the time, English TV, on CCTV, ATV world. I watch David Late Show. […] CCTV 9 is much easier for me to understand. Maybe because of its accent and the key words they chose. For the other English channels, I have difficulty in understanding them. […] (March, 3rd, 2005).

Experiential Narrative: Struggle for English

Speaking English with teammates: I cannot express myself in Cantonese efficiently. So I use English and

Cantonese at the same time (Nov. 20th, 2004). I still made some progress in English, […] in spoken English. When

we (my partner and I) were designing the model, I kept talking English (Dec. 18th, 2004).

Memorization: I really need words helping me to understand other people’s English

[…] I just have one book on vocabulary and tried to remember words. Everyday twenty words or so. Just go through it. Most of them, I have already been familiar with. I just take out those difficult ones. […] I also tried to memorize words from architecture textbooks (Nov. 6th, 2004).

Interpreting Narratives

The struggle for learning English: English medium of instruction the critical importance of English

Strategy use: Contextual facilitation: rich resources, availability of

English speakers (limited) Contextual constraints: learning without belonging An intriguing question: to what extent watching TV

programs has benefited her learning English?

Experiential Narrative: GRE

One of my classmates (mainland Chinese student) who is from Beijing went to New Oriental School because she wanted to take GRE or TOEFL. She wanted to go abroad after her undergraduate study. I have not decided whether to go or not. But I need to take it as well. […] I plan to take the course in Beijing in August. I just want to push myself to learn more English. […] Everybody else is doing the same thing. If I do not do it, I feel that I am losing something. […] They say that the school is very good at this thing, guessing exam questions. […] a lot of people have decided to take the course even they have not decided whether to go abroad or not. They just said that they wanted to improve their English (April 16th, 2005).

Experiential Narrative: GRE

I spent about ten days trying to memorize all the GRE words. […] I used the Red book and memorized most of them. […] Ten days, I just memorized these words. And I did nothing else. […] Our teacher told us that we did not need to remember the words’ pronunciation. Because we only used them in the exam and we did not have to read them. I just read all the sample sentences for three new wordlists for the day. For other lists that I should review for the day, I just read Chinese and English. I did not have time to read all the sample sentences if I had to memorize twenty four lists on one day (Sept. 17th, 2005).

Interpreting Narratives

GRE effort: Exercise of learner agency Anxiety over uncertain outcomes of educational

investment

Conclusion

Learning is both doing and belonging Language learning success lies at what levels learners

participated in particular communities of practice in the target language (s) (at least partially)

Individual learners responsible for deploying strategic efforts to create such communities and/or enhance their participation in such communities

What about language teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and…?

Questions and Answers

References

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