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i
A Qualitative Study of the Impact of
Counselling Psychology in Adult Education
in Motivating to Promote the Speaking Skills
of Non-Native Adult Speakers of English
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ii
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iii
A Qualitative Study of the Impact of
Counselling Psychology in Adult
Education in Motivating to Promote the
Speaking Skills of Non-Native Adult
Speakers of English
A Doctoral Research Study
By
Dr. Siva Mahendran
EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)
www.educreation.in
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Final Thesis
Presented to
The Academic Department
Of the School of Social and Human Studies
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Doctor of Education
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vi
Acknowledgement ________________________________________________________________________
Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisors Dr. Gabriel
Alejandro Lopardo, Dr Jack Rozenzweig, my tutors Dr Monica Serrano, Dr Cyndy
Dominguez, academic counselor Ms Vaishali Nariani and the Student Services staff for
giving me the confidence to enroll in the program and continuously guiding and
supporting me throughout my Doctorate in Education studies and research.
I wish to also thank the Academic Board of Atlantic International University and my
advisors and tutors who had faith in me and my achievements throughout the course of
my studies and nominated me the cum laude honor in Doctorate in Education degree.
Lastly, I would like to thank my wife and son, who put up with my impatience to
finish my assignments and thesis throughout the time of my studies.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Siva Mahendran
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vii
Content List
S. No. Content Page
Acknowledgements vi
Preface ix
1. Introduction 1
2. An overview of counseling therapy 3-7
Goals of counseling 3
Qualities of a good counselor 4
Roles of a counselor 4
Therapeutic Process 4
Rationale for counseling learning 5
Basic counseling approaches that could be used to teach
NNASE 5
Background of NNASE 6
Successes and difficulties in training adults in a traditional
classroom 7
3. An Overview of Workplace Literacy Adult Learning in
Singapore 8-19
Task-Based Learning 8
Teaching or Training ? 9
Adult learner characteristics 9
Study sample (the choice of the research study participant) 10
Typical Workplace Literacy Lesson Characteristics (all
levels) 11
Trainer development programs 12
Terms and learning strategies 12
Functional principles, strategies and topics for different
WPL levels 13
Use of Counseling Therapy approaches to Teach – Some 17
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viii
Words of Caution
Classroom dynamics vs methodology of teaching and
learning 18
Brief notes on the counseling learning approaches used in
the research study 18
4. A social media survey – Diagrams 1-2 20-29
Survey results of 3 Intermediate level classes – Diagram 3 23
Sample End of Course Training Evaluation Report –
Diagram 4 23
Speaking difficulty survey questionnaire (student in research
study) Diagram 5 Student Satisfaction Survey (student in
research study) – Diagram 6
24
Speaking Difficulty and post-test expectations questionnaire
(all 3 classes in study) – Diagram 7 25
General demographics of the 3 classes in the survey research
– Diagram 8 26
Meta-analysis of the speaking difficulty and post-test
expectation Questionnaire 27
Comparison of Pre-test and Post –test results by
achievement levels - Diagram 9 28
Speaking Confidence Survey – Diagram 10 28
5. Limitations of the Research 30
6. Conclusion 31
7. Appendices 32
8. Background 38
9. Bibliography 132
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ix
Preface ________________________________________________________________________
English is the lingua franca of most of the countries of the world. It is probably the most
spoken language in the world besides Chinese and Spanish. It is the language used in the
United Nations predominately and either an official or one of the official languages of
more than 60 sovereign nations around the world. It is no wonder than that most students
from all parts of Asia and other parts of the world want o learn English so that they can
enter the business world, migrate to English speaking countries which are mostly well
endowed socio-economically like the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand
or Britain, get involved in social media like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc and to stay
abreast of developments in the scientific, political, social, or other spheres of life.
There are three circles of English speaking countries (Kachru, 1985): the inner circle
(consisting of native speakers like the people of Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand,
United States of America, etc.), the outer circle (consisting mainly former colonies of
Britain like most of South and South East Asia, parts of China (like Hongkong),
Philippines, the Caribbean islands, etc and the expanding circle (consisting of countries
like China, Russia, Brazil, etc.).
In the inner circle English is spoken as a native language though there are variations
of it like Received Pronunciation (RP) of mainly Southern England (the English spoken
by educated people), the American and the British versions and others from the inner
circle countries which have variations in pronunciation, inflexions (modifications in,
morphemes and phonemes) , etc.
The English spoken by the outer circle countries, Singapore being one too, mainly
have a mixture of acrolectal (highest, almost standard), mesolectal and basilectal (lowest
level) English forms; the last of which is a creolized English spoken by speakers of other
languages like Chinese, Malays or Indians, created over time (at least over a century and
a half, since the mid- 1800s, during the British colony years) into newer versions unique
to the countries, diluting, truncating and modifying spoken English to suit the users‘
convenience; like Singlish (Singapore English) or Manglish (Malaysian English).
There are many learning approaches and methods to teach English in educational
institutions around the world. Some learning approaches and methods are quite traditional
(the typical classroom-based talk and chalk method), while others are more collaborative
(incorporating group or paired work) and involve blended learning where the internet and
various learning resources like video clips, recording devices, social media platforms etc,
are added to spice up the learning processes for the students in language learning. Often,
one method seems superior to others but learning and teaching strategies have all to be
tailored to fit the students for best practices to be achieved.
The different modalities of language learning (speaking, reading, listening and
writing) are all needed to get students to master a language over time but if one were to
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x
do a survey and ask students which is the hardest way to learn and which the easiest, then
as mentioned in a survey done in an adult language learning situation in Appendix 30,
almost all the students would mention that speaking would probably be the easiest way to
learn a language as they practice most using that mode of practice rather than the others
in communication. However, speaking is accompanied by listening too and so by learning
to speak more English, one naturally has to listen to English spoken by others. In this
way, as a saying goes, we ―kill two birds with one stone‖ and make English, and for that
matter, any language learning more tolerable and probably fun too if we know how to
make language learning interesting using a variety of teaching and learning approaches
and methods.
In a recent speech, on 20/9/2017, the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) of Singapore,
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, spoke at length of the importance of being ―innovative‖
and ―collaborative‖ in order to keep on learning and ―keep modifying — teaching
methods‖ (Appendix 31). This research study which is exploratory and qualitative does
just that – modifying the learning of speaking skills by NNASE using counseling therapy
approaches. In this regards, 6 counseling therapy approaches have been chosen for their
ease of use and the opportunities they give for the clients in a counseling setting to speak
with the counselor; the client being the trainee or adult student (NNASE) and the
counselor (being the teacher/trainer who doubles up as the authority figure for the
trainees to vent their problems of issues they had at their workplaces; as the lessons
incorporate workplace-based use of English. The DPM further asserted ―Reducing the
academic load to provide more space for that free play of the mind. Developing our
potential throughout life‖ and also ―Singapore’s education system must keep
experimenting and having a ―sense of dare‖ to prepare for the future‖ (Appendix 31).
All these statements further provide this qualitative exploratory research study with a
sense of ―dare” to experiment using counseling therapy approaches for NNASE to learn
to speak English better so that they can stay current and relevant in order to not be made
redundant at work.
Keywords
Counseling, approaches, gestalt, cognitive behavioral, reality/choice, person-
centered, narrative, PADI (Problem definition, Attempted solutions, Desired changes,
Intervention plan), NNASE (Non-Native Adult Speakers of English)
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SIVARAJASINGAM MAHENDRAN
UD: 43303HED52131
Atlantic International University
1
Introduction ________________________________________________________________________
This very small scale (due to limited time and resources) exploratory and almost wholly
qualitative research (Qual–quan) study seeks to examine how non-native adult speakers
of English (NNASE) can be motivated to speak English as a foreign language (EFL)
more and better via the utilization of counseling psychology rather than through
traditional teaching methods over a 3 month period of English language lessons in a
classroom environment. It is just one more drop in the ocean of knowledge in adult
education all over the world.
―Teachers do not have a corpus of learner work which they could evaluate and give
feedback on. As a result, problems that learners face when doing speaking activities often
go unnoticed or uncorrected‖ (Goh, C.C.M., 2007).
The Comprehensible Output Hypothesis theory (Swain, 1995) proposes that when
learners have to speak in the target language (English), they will potentially need to pay
attention to its structure (i.e. grammar and pronunciation). It is then essential to have as
objective an assessment of speech by NNASE as possible to gauge their proficiency over
time attending classroom task-based language learning. However, since this research
study being an exploratory one, can only gauge on a small scale and subjectively at most,
the influence of counseling psychology over traditional methods in motivating and
improving NNASE‘s spoken English levels over a short (about 3 months) time and is
only meant to be a precursor of more in-depth study in future.
The approach taken in this study resembles the Oral Approach and Situational
Language Teaching (Hornby,A.S.,1950) but it is more than those traditional methods
used in the 1950s through the 1960s in British and Australian schools, and involves a
combination of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach, (Brumfit, C.J. &
Johnson, K., 1979) widely used in from mid-1970s to the 1980s period, Task-based
Language Teaching (TBLT) approach (Foster,P. & Skehan,P., 1996) and counseling
learning techniques (Curran, C.A., 1976) ; the last of which has still not been explored
much (there is not much literature on this approach or technique presently) and there is a
lot of scope for further development in that area of teaching and learning viz a viz
NNASE the world over.
More and more teachers the world over, and in particular in Singapore, are being
trained in counseling students in and out of the classroom and counseling has become a mainstay in almost all schools where teaching and learning have become more and more
challenging with the influence of technology (hardware like computers and the internet,
cell-phones, audio-visual aids and software applications) that are flooding the learning
environment and need to be learnt in order to teach more effectively and efficiently. This
learning process takes much time and teachers and NNASE have to be trained to access
in the classrooms where blended learning is becoming more and more popular and in
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SIVARAJASINGAM MAHENDRAN
UD: 43303HED52131
Atlantic International University
2
vogue in Singapore. The teaching faculty has taken blended learning and traditional
forms of teaching and learning as the norm all this while and scarcely touch ion
counseling approaches to teach students at all ages, but NNASE are more amenable to its
use as they can align with the teacher or facilitator as they are now more known as they
tackle their lessons in learning a language.
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SIVARAJASINGAM MAHENDRAN
UD: 43303HED52131
Atlantic International University
3
An Overview of Counselling Therapy ________________________________________________________________________
Definition of Counselling
Counselling is a process in which people, with difficult personal problems that affect
their normal functioning in life, are guided by professional helpers who may be
counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists or even social workers, to find back their footing
again in their lives, to lead their lives normally and in a more fulfilling way. People
without proper guidance or moral support in personal crisis situations often tend to
behave irrationally when faced with their problems since they are unable to exercise
proper control of their daily affairs. Facing much uncertainty in life, they could, and often
would, seek, on their own or with some help from friends or relatives, any form
(economic, social or moral) support to get immediate solutions to their problems. In most
cases, people see counselors (or even the other helping professionals) as a last resort to
resolve their serious personal issues after having utilized and exhausted other sources of
help.
Counselling helps clients to get a better understanding of their inner self so that they
are empowered and are able to use their strengths themselves to a find way out of their
difficult position in life.
Goals of Counselling
Most clients seek quick solutions to their problems as any delay in solving their issues
could lead to further complications in their lives. Due to these reasons, clients may
become psychologically affected and lose their steady footing in their daily lives and
living in tandem with others around them.
In the early stages, counselors need to find out from their clients their reasons for
seeking guidance for their unresolved issues. Through a proper working relationship,
clients are helped to locate their root or contributory causes to their problems. Despite the
hard work put in by all parties in the therapeutic relationship, some issues could remain
unsolved due to the client‘s unwillingness to change a personal behavior (attitude) or way
of doing things (attribute). At the end of the day, counseling is done for the clients own
interests and make their own informed decisions to change their lifestyles to improve
their physical or psychological health. Clients cannot and should not be compelled by the
counselor to change their behavior or their irrational beliefs, according to the sample Code of Counseling Ethics (Appendix 17); though the changed behavior that clients get
as a result of counseling over a few sessions may be helpful to create for them an
improved mindset to handle present and future presenting issues in their lives. Both
counselor and client need to work in congruence though their schemes of values
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SIVARAJASINGAM MAHENDRAN
UD: 43303HED52131
Atlantic International University
4
(instrumental or terminal) may differ for any reason; viz a viz either parties‘ socio-
economic- cultural status.
Instrumental values are known as specific methods of behavior. They are not an end
to a goal, but rather provide the means by which an end goal is accomplished. Character
and personality traits, like being imaginative and independent, make up most of the
instrumental values. Instrumental Values refer to preferable modes of behavior and
include values like honesty, sincerity, ambition, independence, obedience,
imaginativeness, courageousness, competitiveness, and also some negative traits too.
Terminal values are the goals that we work towards and view as most desirable.
They are the goals that we would like to achieve during our lifetime and are the preferred
methods of behavior which can be thought of as a means to an end. Some examples of
such values include and are not limited to: happiness, peace, equality, wisdom, etc.
Qualities of a Good Counsellor
In their genuine efforts to help their clients to solve their problems, counselors should
strictly adhere to ethical principles and the code of conduct as enunciated by the local
psychological, social work and counseling fraternity and ensure that they work towards
the best interests of their clients. It is thus imperative that a therapeutic alliance is forged
between the counselor and the client to ensure successful completion of cases.
Counselors should have patience in listening to their clients so that they are able to
clearly understand the problems faced by them. They should empathize with the client in
what he/she is going through in life so that they get the trust that is important in working
through the client‘s complicated problems or issues. Counselors also need to be objective
to keep personal values and reactions masked from their prospective clients.
They should also not be personally involved through transference of their own problems
to their clients at all times; which could complicate their relationship and bring disrepute
to the counseling profession.
Roles of a Counselor
Clients face problems in life due to their inability to find alternative solutions to deal with
them. The role of the counselor is ideally to help clients modify their lifestyle so that they
may find solutions to their problems themselves. They help clients to work on their
strengths and challenge them to take positive steps to bring about significant changes in
their life. Through a warm and supportive relationship, clients are helped to lead an
improved lifestyle in future.
Therapeutic Process
Each client‘s case is unique and as such different techniques need to be used for different
cases. Counselors need to make a proper assessment of a case based on the client‘s past
and present functioning before a treatment plan can be worked out with the client. It is imperative to find out how the problems developed in a client‘s life to find out the
various causes that had contributed to disruptions in the person‘s current behavior. There
may be several contributory factors leading to a person‘s problems but a single element
could prove to be the root cause of the disruptive lifestyle of a client. After a complete
assessment of a client‘s lifestyle, the treatment plan can be tailored according to the needs
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