the chinese efl journal

Chinese EFL Journal. Vol. 1 Issue 1. January 2008

Chinese EFL Journal 1

The Chinese EFL Journal

January 2008

Volume 1, Issue 1

Editor: Paul Robertson



The Chinese EFL Journal January 2008 Volume 1, Number 1 Editor: Paul Robertson The Chinese EFL Journal: Volume1, Number 1 Published by the Asian EFL Journal Press Asian EFJ Journal Press A Division of Time Taylor International Ltd TTI College Episode Building 68-2 Daen Dong Pusan Korea http://www.chinese-efl-journal.com © Asian EFL Journal Press 2007 This E-book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of the Asian Journal Press. No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Asian EFL Journal. This edition thanks to the Asian EFL Journal Editor: Dr. Paul Robertson Senior Production Editor: Shin Young ISSN (to be issued)



Index.

Foreword: - Dr. Paul Robertson

1. Hong Wang and Liying Cheng. The Impact of Curriculum 5-30 Innovation on the Cultures of Teaching 2. Xiuqin Zhang. Raising Awareness of Cultural Differences in 31-40 Language Classrooms 3. Yang Xueqian. The Influence of Discourse Organizational Patterns 41-61 on Chinese EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension 4. Li Hua. Reflection can change EFL Teachers beliefs and 62-77 teaching practice 5. Liu Han and Hu Xiaoqiong. An Investigation into Listening 78-98 Comprehension Difficulties of More Skilled and Less Skilled Listeners and the Concordant Strategies 6. Wenhua Hsu. An Integrated Approach to Teaching English 99-130

Trade Letters 7. Guidelines for Submissions 131-134

8. Editorial Group 135



Foreword: - Dr. Paul Robertson

Welcome to the winter 2008 edition of the Chinese EFL Journal. This Journal is the sister Journal to the long established Asian EFL Journal, Linguistics Journal and Asian ESP Journal. The journal has begun to deal with an area that has been overlooked for too long, and a very important area, namely the development of the English language across China. The journals above receive a vast amount of submissions from China which reflects the growing importance that English learning and the teaching of English is having across the PRC. Being a new journal we invite anyone interested in assisting the CEJ establish itself. There is of course a great deal of work which requires a large team of Editors, proof readers, web helpers and so on to get every edition on line. We look forward to hearing from you if you would like to join this new venture.

We introduce 7 articles in our first edition. The first article by Hong Wang and

Liying Cheng describes the Rolling Project conducted in the College English Department at a major provincial university in China from 1998 to 2000. The purpose is to explore the change process, the subsequent challenges presented to the main stakeholders in the university, and the impact that this English language curriculum innovation has brought about to the then prevalent cultures of teaching. The next article by Chanmei Yan discusses problems that may occur in English teaching in China and explores strategies to deal with them. The third paper by Xiuqin Zhang raises concerns about cultural differences between the East and West that often result in misunderstandings between Chinese students and Western teachers. The next paper by Yang Xueqian reports on an experiment designed to test whether Chinese EFL learners are affected by discourse organizations when listening in English.

The fifth paper by Li Hua is a case study conducted with 24 EFL teachers

from 6 different high schools in Guangdong to explore their beliefs and practices in their work place, and how their reflection changed their beliefs and their practice in a Chinese context. discourse organizations when listening in English. In a study by Liu Han and Hu Xiaoqiong, it is shown both in quantitative and qualitative study that more skilled listeners have less cognitive difficulties than less skilled listeners in terms of perception, parsing and utilization and use more strategies than less skilled listeners in listening comprehension. The final paper by Wenhua Hsu offers a conceptualized framework with content-based instruction, genre awareness, group work in continuous simulation and a courseware approach embedded, outlining the pedagogical procedures on which the framework is based

Paul Robertson

Asian EFL Journal



Title

The Impact of Curriculum Innovation on the Cultures of Teaching

Authors

Hong Wang and Liying Cheng

Bios

Hong Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in curriculum studies of second/foreign language

education at Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Canada. She has been a

language teacher and language teacher educator for about 20 years at a university in

China. Her research interests are teaching English as a second or foreign language,

teacher education and professional development, curriculum implementation and

evaluation. She holds an M.A. in English Language and Literature at Xi'an Foreign

Languages University, China, and an M.A. in Linguistics and Applied Language

Studies at Carleton University, Canada.

Liying Cheng (Ph.D.) is an assistant professor in teaching English as a second/foreign

language at Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Canada. Her primary research

interests are second/foreign language testing and assessment in relation to classroom

teaching and learning. She holds an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

from the University of Reading in England and a Ph.D. in second/foreign language

testing from the University of Hong Kong. Before joining Queen's University in 2000,

she was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow (1998-2000) within the Center for Research in

Applied Measurement and Evaluation (CRAME) and the TESL program at the

University of Alberta, Canada.

Key words: curriculum innovation and sustainability, cultures of teaching, teachers as

decision-makers, implementation



Abstract

This paper describes the Rolling Project conducted in the College English Department

at a major provincial university in China from 1998 to 2000. The purpose is to explore

the change process, the subsequent challenges presented to the main stakeholders in

the university, and the impact that this English language curriculum innovation has

brought about to the then prevalent cultures of teaching. It is argued that the failure to

sustain the project is the consequence of the top-down approach to curriculum

innovation during which the majority of the teachers, despite being the main

stakeholders, were excluded from full involvement in the decision-making process.

Critical reflections about the project point to the importance of understanding the

complexity of educational change and the key role that teachers play in the process

within the educational context. It is further suggested that the significant role teachers

should play in curriculum reform must not be overlooked if successful

implementation and sustainability are to be achieved.

Introduction

Educational change for improvement occurs frequently in any institutionalized

context, and more often than not this change process is full of “problems” (Fullan,

1982, 1992, 1993; Fullan & Stiegelbauer, 1991). Some of the educational changes

produce desired results whereas others cause frustrations among the main

stakeholders. Teachers and students, especially, get discouraged because of

unpredictable and insurmountable hurdles that they perceive difficult to overcome.

The Rolling Project described in this paper regards English language teaching at the

tertiary level. This paper describes such a curriculum innovation1 undertaken in the

College English Department2 at a major provincial university, located in Xi’an, a

medium-sized city in China. The innovation was designed from April to June in 1998.

It was officially implemented in September of the same year, but was aborted in June

2000. The purpose of the project was to solve the problems that the previous teaching

model had caused to teachers and students such as lack of cooperation among teachers

and students of uneven language proficiency being put in the same class. It was

anticipated that this curriculum innovation would encourage cooperation and

collaboration among teachers through team teaching. Teachers could benefit from



their peers’ respective expertise in subject content knowledge, classroom

management, and pedagogy.

Based on the theoretical framework of educational change and cultures of teaching

(Fullan, 1982; Fullan & Stiegelbauer, 1991; A. Hargreaves, 1992, 1993; D.

Hargreaves, 1980), this paper reveals the need for global curriculum reform in general

education and particularly in the context of teaching English as a foreign language

(EFL) in China. A literature review on cultures of teaching and teachers’ roles

provides a point of entry to the curriculum innovation. The next section presents the

national college English curriculum in contrast to the previous college English

teaching model, identifying the main difficulties encountered during reform and

implementation. This is followed by a detailed description of the Rolling Project

framework, its intended benefits, and the implementation reality. Reflections about

the discontinued project offer valuable information to administrators and others in

leadership roles. The final sections consider the implications of this study for

curriculum innovation in other settings and address limitations.

Cultures of Teaching and Teachers’ Roles in Curriculum Reform

The knowledge of teacher cultures can be traced back to the early 20th century, when

Waller (1932, cited in A. Hargreaves, 1992) first pointed out the segmented and

isolated nature of teachers’ work in a classroom setting. Much later, research on

teacher isolation (Flinders, 1988; A. Hargreaves, 1989; Sarason, 1982) increased

significantly in scope. However, some important questions in the analysis of teacher

cultures, which A. Hargreaves (1992) raised, still remain unresolved. As he put it, the

key question was “whether there is a single entity called the culture of teaching that

characterizes the occupation as a whole; whether there is a multiplicity of separate

and perhaps even competing teacher cultures; or whether the two somehow coexist

side by side” (p. 218, original italics). Moreover, some researchers (D. Hargreaves,

1980; Sarason, 1982) contended that a prevailing cult of individualism exists among

teachers. This is so pervasive that it could be considered a unique characteristic of the

entire teaching profession.

The factors that make teacher cultures diverse are discussed by Feiman-Nemser and

Floden (1986) in their extensive review of North American literature on the cultures



of teaching. They described the differences in age, experience, gender, teaching

philosophy, subject matter, and grade level among teachers, arguing that the

assumption of a uniform teaching culture is untenable. However, they seemed to

overemphasize cultural and subcultural factors, thus neglecting some “generic

features” (A. Hargreaves, 1992, p. 218) always present in the teaching environment.

A. Hargreaves (1992) acknowledged the presence of those diverse cultures but the

absence of overall clarification and configuration of teacher cultures throughout the

profession. He deemed individualism and collaborative culture as the most common

forms of teacher culture, believing that they were the basis of understanding some of

the limits and possibilities of educational change.

Within any culture of teaching, the role of teachers as the main stakeholders in

educational reform has been the focus of ongoing interest to curriculum researchers

and discussed extensively in the literature both conceptually and empirically. To

probe what is occurring in the implementation phase of any curriculum reform,

Connelly and Clandinin (1988) used Schwab’s (1973) concept of “commonplaces” –

subject matter, milieu, learner, and teachers – to explore curriculum problems. They

claimed that the most influential factor among the commonplaces is the teacher per se

as in Stenhouse’s (1980) firm belief that curriculum development is ultimately about

teacher development. While examining the teacher in relation to curriculum,

Clandinin and Connelly (1992) envisioned that “the teacher is an integral part of the

curriculum constructed and enacted in classrooms” (p. 363). Munn (1995) emphasized

the significance of teachers’ involvement in curriculum development and decision-

making in curriculum reform in Scotland. He suggested that neglecting teachers and

denying their participation in feasibility studies was the main reason national testing

failed to be satisfactorily implemented in the classroom.

Teachers’ involvement as well as change in teachers are both indispensable to the

success of curriculum reform. A. Hargreaves (1989) believed that “change in the

curriculum is not effected without some concomitant change in the teacher,” because

it is the teacher who is responsible for delivering the curriculum at the classroom

level. “What the teacher thinks, what the teacher believes, what the teacher assumes –

all these things have powerful implications for the change process, for the ways in

which curriculum policy is translated into curriculum practice” (p. 54). Richardson



and Placier (2001) specifically claimed that teacher change is not entirely an

individually determined phenomenon. Rather, it is shaped by the social context in

which they work.

Carless (1998) pointed out the need for teachers to have a thorough understanding

of the principles and practices of proposed changes in order to achieve successful

implementation. He emphasized that teachers need to understand and value the

theoretical underpinnings of the innovation. More importantly, teachers must realize

how the innovation can be applied within their classrooms. In an exploration of how a

communicative teaching syllabus was introduced and adopted in Greek public

secondary schools, Karavas-Doukas (1995) discovered that teachers failed to gain a

complete understanding of the EFL innovation there. Their misconceptions resulted in

negative perceptions of the curriculum innovation.

Implementation of any curriculum innovation is closely connected with “cultures of

teaching” as defined by A. Hargreaves (1992). Within any teaching culture, it is

always the teachers who play a deciding role in shaping the nature and extent of

implementation. The success of curriculum reform and its implementation depends on

whether teachers willingly participate in and are valued and acknowledged in the

process. Teachers’ understanding of the innovation is also indispensable in

contributing to or impeding long-term success.

The Rolling Project

The following section critically discusses the implementation of the Rolling Project

using the above theoretical framework of educational change, cultures of teaching,

and in particular, teachers’ role in curriculum reform. We first provide a description

of the national college English curriculum in China and also introduce the context.

We then examine the previous teaching model as administered at a major provincial

university from 1986 to 1998, identifying difficulties encountered under this teaching

model. The framework of the Rolling Project is then discussed, including intended

benefits and the implementation problems. Reflections about the discontinued project

are linked to concepts and issues raised in the literature review.



The need for the Rolling Project was initially proposed in April, 1998 by the

department heads at the College English Teaching and Administration Committee

meeting. It was discussed by the seven key departmental committee members (see

Han, 2000; Zhu et al., 1998). The committee was comprised of the head of the

department, two associate heads, two directors from the College English Teaching

and Research Group 1 and 2, one director from Group 3, and one from the computer-

assisted teaching group. This project was introduced and documented in the

department meeting minutes and finally obtained official approval from the

University administration in June 1998.

The national college English curriculum

College English in China refers to the English instruction for non-English majors who

constitute the largest proportion of students studying at the tertiary levels. The

national college English curriculum (NCEC) came into existence in 1986 and aimed

to “develop in students a relatively high level of competence in reading, an

intermediate level of competence in listening, and a basic competence in writing and

speaking” (College English Syllabus Revision Team, 1986, p. 1). Each year,

approximately 2.3 million students are enrolled in English instruction for non-English

majors in colleges and universities after sitting in the competitive unified National

University Entrance Examinations (Yang & Weir, 1999). These students pursue

undergraduate degrees in a variety of disciplines such as arts, sciences, engineering,

management, law, medical science, and so on.

For all university non-English majors, a study of college English for two years is

mandatory. Students take a total of 280 teaching hours of English – about 70 hours

each term (5 to 6 hours each week) – in order to meet the basic requirements. To

examine the implementation of the curriculum and to evaluate classroom teaching and

learning, after the first two years of English study, students are assessed using a

nationwide, standardized English proficiency test called the College English Test

Band 4 (CET-4). For those who pass the CET-4, the College English Test Band 6

(CET-6) can be taken after three years of study. The mandated CET-4 focuses on

testing students’ language proficiency in listening, reading, and writing. Most of the

test items are multiple-choice format.



The context

Founded in 1902 and situated in Xi’an city, the major provincial university where the

curriculum innovation took place is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in

China. It is a medium-sized provincial university with a student population of 18,000.

The national college English curriculum was initiated at the university in 1986 and

implemented for 12 years. In 1998, when the innovation started, there were 48 faculty

members and 9 administration staff in the College English Department. The

department had three Teaching and Research Groups with Group 1 and 2 each having

20 teachers engaged in instructing undergraduate students’ EFL learning. Group 3

with 5 teachers had the task to instruct graduate students of non-English majors in

their EFL learning.

The most experienced teachers in the department were in their 40’s or 50’s and were

usually “recycled” teachers of Russian. Most had minimal English proficiency,

particularly in listening and speaking skills (Cowen et al., 1979). The young and less

experienced teachers were those who graduated from foreign language institutes or

foreign language departments of a local comprehensive university majoring in English

language and literature located in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. This group

of teachers had good training in linguistic knowledge and knowledge of English

language and culture, but less experience in terms of pedagogical knowledge and

research skills. Teachers tended to teach rather independently, with minimal

communication and collaboration among colleagues. This was especially the case in

the College English Department at that time.

The vast majority of students at the university (95%) came from Shaanxi Province.

Each year approximately 2,000 students entered English classes. Every EFL teacher

was typically assigned 10 to 12 hours per week of college English teaching. They

taught two classes comprising 45 to 55 students each. The number of students in each

class was pre-determined by administrators at departmental and university levels

before the National University Entrance Examinations (NUEE) were administered.

NUEE was held once a year in June and all senior high school students were tested.

As fewer than 5% could be accepted for post-secondary education in China, good

performance on the NUEE was very important (Hu, 2002).



Following the guidelines of the national college English curriculum, English

language teaching in the College English Department was conducted in five major

prescribed skill areas, which include:

1. Intensive Reading (IR)3: 2 hours a week with a focus on grammar, vocabulary,

reading, and writing, and taught through a written text;

2. Grammar and Exercises (G/E): 20 to 30 minutes practice a week included in

IR;

3. Extensive Reading (ER)4: 2 hours a week with a focus on different reading

skills and strategies;

4. Fast Reading (FR): 20 minutes practice a week included in ER with a focus on

reading speed and testing strategies;

5. Focus Listening (FL): 2 hours a week with a focus on listening skills and

testing strategies.

In the College English Department from September 1986 up until June 1998, under

the “one-teacher-package-class” model (Han, 2000), every single English teacher was

responsible for teaching the five skill areas. The university was one of the many

schools adopting this teaching model. This model had the most obvious advantage in

that teachers’ sense of accountability was strong. Teachers worked diligently so that

their students could, hopefully, achieve good results when assessed with the College

English Test Band 4 (CET-4). Monetary reward was part of the teaching model;

teachers whose students failed to meet the passing rate requirements of 50% to 60%

as set by the College English Teaching and Administration Committee in the

department could even be fined a certain amount. Although nobody was fined, due to

successful passing rates, teachers felt a great deal of pressure. The majority (85%)

received symbolic monetary rewards in the amount of 300 to 500 RMB for successful

student performance on the CET-4 (College English Teaching and Administration

Committee, 1992-98). However, the positive achievements were sometimes

overshadowed by the difficulties encountered during the instruction, which will be

explained next.

Problems identified with the “one-teacher-package-class” model



During the operation of this teaching model, both teachers and students voiced their

dissatisfaction and complaints. Particularly, two groups of students demonstrated their

discontent. One group was made up of advanced students with higher language

proficiency. As discussed above, upon entering the university all students started their

English language learning from college English band 1 regardless of their language

proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In classes of students at

different levels in English, teachers had to adjust their teaching methodology and

conducted classroom activities to meet the needs of the majority of the students.

Consequently, students with higher English proficiency often commented that the

class was too slow and not challenging, and that they found doing exercises dull and

mechanical. This resulted in irregular class attendance by top students. In contrast, the

other group was students with poor language proficiency. They complained that the

class was still too tough for them, and that they were unable to follow what the

teacher was lecturing about nor could they participate in any classroom activities such

as discussions, presentations, group work, or pair work. Gradually, they lost their

motivation to learn English.

Teachers also expressed their concerns. The teaching culture of “one-teacher-

package-class” made it more obvious that teachers taught alone and received little

peer feedback on their teaching. Practically, this teaching model prevented EFL

teachers from communicating and exchanging ideas on subject content knowledge,

classroom management, and pedagogy with their colleagues, and further prevented

them from building cooperative and collaborative relationships with their peers in the

teaching environment. Even worse, teachers tended to be self-content after many

years of this isolated teaching experience without acknowledging how their

colleagues taught, let alone learning from them. As time passed teachers started

avoiding long-term planning and collaboration with their colleagues, making it

impossible to create an environment where teachers could learn from each other.

Thus, year by year, their teaching styles were fossilized and they lost motivation to

change.

The reformed framework: The Rolling Project



The Rolling Project was implemented in the fall of 1998 after two months of

discussions. The main purpose of the Project was to solve the problems caused by the

previous “one-teacher-package-class” which enabled teachers to teach a certain class

for two years with a fixed teaching style. The rationale behind the reform was the

advocacy of transforming the cultures of teaching in A. Hargreaves’ (1992)

identification of individualism to a collaborative culture. It was expected that the

reformed teaching model would enhance teaching and learning and that the project

would be welcomed and sustained in the department.

Under the new model, all entering students were required to take a placement test

designed by the testing committee of a top university in Shanghai, China and already

in use by many universities throughout China. The test paper included multiple-choice

items in listening, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, as well as a writing

section including a written composition of 100 words. At the University, students

were allowed to take this placement test only once and no make-up test was provided.

In general, those students scoring in the top 15% of the entering group entered Level

A, the bottom 15% entered Level C, and the rest placed into Level B. So the majority

(70%) were in Level B. Besides placement test scores, each student’s English score

on the National University Entrance Examinations was considered when making final

placement decisions.

An assessment was given at the end of each term. Students at each level were thus

capable of “moving” up (except Level A) or down between the levels. The use of the

term “rolling” in the project name refers to this “movement” between the three levels.

In September 1998, of 1,800 new students, 260 students were placed into Level A

(highest proficiency), 240 to Level C (lowest proficiency), and the majority

(approximately 1,300 students) into Level B. The following figure provides an

illustration:



Figure 1: The Reformed Framework of the Rolling Project

Level A (Class 1) Level A (Class 2) Level A (Class 3)

Placement Test Level B(Class 1) Level B (Class 2) Level B (Class 3)

Level C (Class 1) Level C (Class 2) Level C (Class 3)

To foster teacher collaboration, two to four teachers were grouped into a team. Take

a team of 3 teachers teaching Level B for example. Teacher A may teach Intensive

Reading to class 1, Extensive Reading to class 2, and Focus Listening to class 3.

Teacher B may teach Intensive Reading to class 2, Extensive Reading to class 3, and

Focus Listening to class 1, and so on. Based on past performance as evaluated by

students (using an anonymous evaluation form filled out each year) and English

proficiency as judged by their performance during teaching competitions (to award

teaching excellence) held in the department and the university, the Teaching and

Administration Committee of the department decided the levels at which teachers

were to teach. In addition to their years of teaching, teachers with more fluent spoken

English were assigned to teach Level A. It was stipulated that teachers in a team

should work closely by preparing lessons together every other week, sharing teaching

plans, observing each other’s class, and organizing extra-curricular activities.

The intended benefits

The Rolling Project emerged to meet the requirements of the social and economic

development in the contemporary Chinese society, where students with high language

proficiency were and still are in great demand in the job market. The innovation,

designed to manifest the revised national college English curriculum, was based on

the teaching guidelines “differentiating requirements, differentiating supervision, and

differentiating instruction” (College English Syllabus Revision Team, 1999, p. 10). In

so doing, the change was geared towards conducting the EFL class according to

students’ different language proficiency coupled with respective language

requirements. In addition, this reformed model introduced the competition mechanism



into the teaching and learning environment and further enhanced the learning

experience of students (Zhu et al., 1998). This challenge not only was beneficial to

teachers’ progress but also strengthened students’ sense of competition skills (Cui et

al., 1999). The fundamental difference in this reformed teaching model from the

previous one resided with the strong belief that both students and teachers could

benefit from the innovation. Students had the chance to get more input of the target

language by attending three different teachers’ classes of Intensive Reading,

Extensive Reading, and Focus Listening. The reformed model encouraged team

teaching when teachers had the opportunity to collaborate and to learn more about

teaching methodology, classroom management, and pedagogy from each other.

Ideally, through team teaching, all novice and veteran teachers teaching at different

levels would have had the opportunity to discuss and consult with each other on issues

about their teaching. Han (2000) gave an example of this collaboration in which a

teacher in one of the B-level groups initiated a drama project to apply the

communicative language teaching approach in her classroom teaching practice. She

cooperated with three novice teachers in her team and conducted the project in their

ten classes. They helped their students in writing up the script, in rehearsing the play,

and finally in performing the plays on campus. This collaboration made other teachers

in the team easily approachable and supportive. More importantly, team teaching

restructured the former “one-teacher-package” with each teacher team teaching

different classes. In this way, students benefited from three teachers with their unique

teaching styles and expertise in subject content knowledge. What is most significant is

the promotion of A. Hargreaves’ collaborative culture (1992), which eventually aims

to shape the culture of teaching in the department.

Problems emerged after implementation

The implementation stage of a curriculum is considered a critical phase in educational

reform (Fullan, 1992). Without knowing what is happening during the implementation

phase, it is impossible to probe the underlying reasons why so many educational

innovations and reforms fail. Also, implementation can be viewed as problematic in

that the main stakeholders in the process may be confronted with unpredicted

challenges (Fullan, 1982; Fullan & Stiegelbauer, 1991). The same was true with the



Rolling Project. Collectively, teachers as implementers of this curriculum innovation

faced immense pressure and competition.

First, the reformed teaching model placed all the teachers into a “public” role in

regard to their teaching. Previously, teachers with different language proficiency and

experiences usually conducted their classes behind closed doors, and colleagues rarely

had the chance to observe their performance. As a result, teachers tended to feel

secure with whatever teaching method they preferred to employ in their own

classroom. However, team teaching in the reformed model broke this practice and

each teacher in the team was expected to demonstrate his or her teaching capacity in

front of the same students as the other two team colleagues. Students compared,

contrasted, and evaluated teachers’ work in terms of diligence, subject content

knowledge, classroom management, and teaching methods. This competition for best

performance put teachers, especially those with low language proficiency, under great

pressure. As mentioned above, some middle-aged or senior instructors who received

their language education during the 1950s or 1960s were less proficient in English,

especially in communication skills, compared with those young teachers who had

more recent comprehensive English language training. Most of the middle-aged or

senior teachers used the grammar-translation approach, which did not necessarily

require them to speak much English in the classroom.

Second, both novice and veteran teachers considered the new curriculum reform to

be demanding and challenging. With the expansion of student enrolments each year,

teachers had to bear more and more responsibility for instructing more students in a

big class. In an Extensive Reading class, sometimes the class size was as big as 70 to

80 students. When the innovation came about, teachers felt exhausted with all the

preparation, marking, and research. Besides, they received little or no in-service

professional training after many years of teaching at the tertiary level and their

English proficiency actually decreased. Therefore, the revised curriculum was simply

beyond their linguistic and professional capacity.

Teachers who taught the A-level felt quite satisfied academically as they instructed

the best students at the university. These students were highly motivated to learn and

quite active in class activities. And the excellent results from the national College



English Test of their students further strengthened their pride with over 90% of their

students passing the CET-4 in the third term and nearly 50% passing the CET-6 in the

fourth term (Li, 2002). But their pride was overshadowed by teachers from B and C

levels. Teachers from the B-level had an uneasy feeling about the placement. Since all

the top students were placed into Level A, it was much harder for them to meet the

required passing rate set by the department. Li (2002), a teacher instructing the A-

level students, commented,

… some teachers in B and C-levels threw their hatred to the A-level teachers, who were chosen and assigned by the head of the department, as if it was these teachers who dwarfed them. A-level teachers therefore were under siege of gossip and jealousy, and were isolated from the rest of the teaching staff (p. 104).

This antagonism within the teacher group made A-level teachers feel discouraged as

teaching A-level became a heavy burden physically and psychologically for them.

They were involved in considerable extra work organizing extra-curricular activities

for their students such as speech contest, or language clubs. They were worried about

not becoming the target of jealousy. In addition, teachers who taught Level C felt

embarrassed “since it is a kind of indication that they are not quite competent” (Han,

2000, p. 12). Moreover, these teachers were not motivated to teach C-level class

because students would most of the time sit quietly in the classroom and wait for the

teacher to talk. There were hardly any communicative activities such as discussions or

presentations conducted in the classroom.

Third, the complaints and resistance to the innovation were also heard from students

at Level C, which is the lowest level about the placement. After the placement test,

240 students who entered in 1998 were grouped into Level C and two teachers were

assigned to co-teach this group. Although the planned curriculum redesigned the

classroom teaching to meet the needs of C-level students so that they could have

perceived the teaching materials and pace of instruction to be comprehensible and

accessible, it turned out to pose new frustrations to many students. What was most

intriguing was the following dilemma. Since they had comparatively low language

proficiency and were known to be in the C-level class, most of them felt “they lost

face” in front of their peers who were at A or B levels. Even though they had the

chance to move up to the upper level, the placement itself made them feel



embarrassed. Many of them came from rural areas where language education was not

as good as in cities. These students had low language proficiency and struggled in

their language learning. As well, when meeting their classmates who happened to be

in the same dormitory and in the same courses every day, some C-level students felt

humiliated and others felt ashamed by the grouping. As a result, in the third term, the

C-level groups were cancelled and all the students were “promoted” to the B-level;

Level A continued till they completed two years of study. At this point, the Rolling

Project actually came to an end and the implementation of this curriculum innovation

discontinued.

Discussion

The Rolling Project with its intention to meet students’ needs and encourage

collaboration among teachers caused much more chaos than the previous “one-

teacher-package-class” teaching model. In reflection, we have come to realize the

important role that teachers play in the whole change process and the implementation

context where the cultures of teaching impact its success and sustainability.

Teachers’ role in curriculum innovation

It has been attested in a considerable number of studies in both general education and

in second or foreign language education that the key factor to guarantee success of

any educational reform resides with the teacher (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992; Fullan

& Stiegelbauer, 1991; A. Hargreaves, 1989; Karavas-Doukas, 1995; Markee, 1997;

Munn, 1995). No matter what the reform intends to achieve, if the cultures of teaching

fail to provide the desirable context for teachers, eventually it is no surprise to expect

discontinuation or failure in the implementation phase.

The exclusion of a majority of teachers in the extensive discussion about the

feasibility of the Rolling Project before its implementation resulted in the sad fact that

most teachers simply did not “buy in.” This was seen from the operation of the project

prior to the reform. Right from the designing phase, the majority of the teachers in

both Teaching and Research Groups were excluded from participating in the

discussions. They were neither invited to attend the committee meetings nor were

they officially informed why such a change was considered necessary. As a result,

many teachers did not comprehend the necessity nor share the feasibility of the



curriculum change. The resistance from some teachers teaching at B and C levels

during the implementation phase was seen as a case in point. The resistance to the

changes in fact signaled teachers’ frustration and dissatisfaction, and it also implied

the importance of teachers’ involvement in curriculum innovation discussed in the

previous studies in the literature (Munn, 1995). Therefore, it is not surprising that the

Rolling Project failed to gain support from the teachers.

The failure of teachers’ thorough understanding of the Rolling Project was another

reason, the same as was seen in Karavas-Doukas’ study (1995). Teachers had no idea

about what the new teaching model would be nor shared understanding as to how and

why it should be implemented. The policymakers, namely, the committee members

failed to recognize that teachers not only should have been involved in the process of

curriculum innovation but also should have been required to take the initiative in

carrying out the innovation in order to make the project succeed. The outcome was

that the project was very unlikely to be successfully enacted and further sustained. In

relation to all this, teachers should have been provided with adequate professional

development sessions and emotional support in understanding what the curriculum

innovation aimed to achieve (Brindley & Hood, 1990; Curtis & Cheng, 2001) prior to

and during the implementation. Unfortunately, the Rolling Project did not provide

such kind of support to the teachers concerned. The fact that most teachers were

unable to gain a thorough understanding of the curriculum innovation or receive

prompt teacher in-service training resulted in the unsuccessful implementation of the

Project. This resonated with what Karavas-Doukas (1995) and Carless (1998)

discovered in their empirical studies in EFL settings in Greece and Hong Kong

respectively.

Isolation as the generic culture of teaching

The implementation context of the Rolling Project indicated another important factor

of what has been discussed in the literature about the cultures of teaching (A.

Hargreaves, 1992, 1993; Hargreaves et al., 1992). Although Hargreaves et al.’s (1992)

delineation of the common forms of teacher culture such as individualism and

collaborative culture is based on the Western ESL context, the same can be applied to

the Chinese EFL setting as well. Teacher isolation and individualism as the universal

nature in the teaching occupation that Sarason (1982), Flinders (1988), and A.



Hargreaves (1989) have mentioned exist among teachers in different settings, and

China is no exception. It is so unique that it is present in the entire teaching profession

everywhere (A. Hargreaves, 1992). In addition, as pointed out by White (1988), a

detailed analysis of existing systems already in place, especially the culture of

organizations should be conducted and the innovation context should also be taken

into consideration prior to implementation of an innovation.

Studies have shown that in the research on the culture of individualism, the most

pervasive characteristic of teaching is that of classroom isolation. Teachers are

separated into a series of egg crate-like compartments, isolated and insulated from one

another’s work (Lortie, 1975). This is typical of primary and secondary teacher

cultures but perhaps more so in the tertiary education context where there is less

curriculum control over students and teachers. The Rolling Project administered in the

aforementioned Chinese university is one such scenario. Ever since the establishment

of the foreign language department, all teachers developed the habit of working alone

with their own students in their respective classrooms under the “one-teacher-

package.” It was rare to see colleagues exchange ideas about subject content

knowledge, material development, and pedagogy, and neither did they sit in each

other’s classrooms and observe. More often the heads of the department would

observe teachers’ classroom teaching for external evaluation purposes. Consequently,

teachers had no understanding of what and how their peers conducted their language

classes. One reason might be that after 1986, the national standardized syllabus and

textbooks were introduced, and teachers’ guidebooks were provided. With all these

supplementary materials to assist teachers in their lesson preparations, teachers

assumed that they did not need collaboration. However, to enhance teaching and

learning, teachers do need to have professional development opportunities to

exchange instruction ideas and to learn from each other (Cheng & Wang, 2004).

In addition to the physical classroom isolation, teacher isolation also prevails in the

teaching profession. This isolation not only restricts opportunities for professional

growth but also represents a potential barrier to the implementation of reform

initiatives (Flinders, 1988). As well, regarding the phenomenon of individualism as a

generic heresy of educational change, A. Hargreaves (1993) echoed the same position,

claiming,



Teacher individualism, teacher isolation, teacher privatism – the qualities and characteristics that fall under these closely associated labels have come to be widely perceived as significant threats or barriers to professional development, the implementation of change, and the development of shared educational goals (p. 53).

From individualism to collaboration

On the continuum of the teacher cultures, from individualism to collaborative culture,

it seems that some forms might co-exist side-by-side, even in one educational setting.

Research suggests that the culture of collaboration is a paucity, and that this culture

has been “difficult to create and even more difficult to sustain” (A. Hargreaves, 1992,

p. 227). The reason behind this might be that from novice to veteran teachers alike,

there lies the sensitivity to or fear of being observed while teaching. A. Hargreaves

(1993) stated, “They [teachers] do not like being observed, still less being evaluated,

because they suffer competence anxiety and are fearful of the criticism that may

accompany evaluation” (p. 54). D. Hargreaves (1980) made a similar point by saying,

“The heart of the matter, … is the teacher’s fear of being judged and criticized. Any

observation will be evaluative of the teacher’s competence, and the threat therein

becomes the greater because such judgment may remain implicit and unspoken, and

therefore incontrovertible” (p. 141). In the case of the Rolling Project, especially

those teachers who entered the teaching profession in 1970s without adequate English

language training in subject matter knowledge and methodology often felt threatened

by working in a team (Han, 2000). They had more teaching experience, yet they were

not equipped to meet the new challenges in the revised curriculum. Such sensitivity to

public performance and exposure is a major barrier to many innovations in teaching in

China. Especially team teaching makes some teachers’ language inadequacies more

noticeable in front of both students and their colleagues.

Indeed, it is very difficult to achieve collaboration among teachers. However, it is

important to bear in mind that the ultimate goal of curriculum innovation and further

school improvement should be targeted at collaboration and collegiality, simply

because “… schools cannot improve without people working together” (Liebeman,

1986, p. 6). Although there were some cooperation and collaboration endeavors

among teachers in the Rolling Project such as the effort of some B-level instructors, it

was still not a widely adopted practice in the teaching culture of the department



during the whole implementation phase. Although team teaching was strongly

encouraged at all three levels, teachers seldom observed each other’s teaching, nor did

they discuss issues on teaching and pedagogy. In this respect, teachers preferred to

retain the former status quo.

Reflections and suggestions on the discontinued Rolling Project

The short execution of the Rolling Project has left much to be contemplated,

particularly for administrators and those in leadership roles in the context of higher

learning institutions. First of all, the absence of teachers’ ownership of the innovation

evaded teachers, the key stakeholder in any curriculum innovation, from being

interested and involved in the departmental curricular endeavor. The underpinning

behind this “not buying into the innovation” attitude suggests the hierarchical

administration characteristics in the unique Chinese cultural context. Within such a

highly centralized educational system in China, any policy or innovation tends to be

disseminated in a top-down instead of bottom-up manner. Whereas policymakers

extol the virtue of making certain innovations in accordance with institutional

development, teachers fail to see benefits related with their own professional

development. Such a top-down policy tended not to be implemented in the way

intended by the administration. In such a context, teachers seemed to acknowledge the

innovation without actually playing an active role in implementing it (Morris, 1988).

To remedy such a mismatch in bringing about any curriculum innovation,

policymakers need to bear in mind that top-down policy should incorporate shared

understanding about the potential benefits of any innovation among teachers

themselves and their students.

Another important emergent point is the urgency of enhancing in-service language

teacher training at the Chinese tertiary level. As revealed from the Rolling Project,

many experienced senior teachers felt threatened by teaching the same students as

their young colleagues who had better communicative proficiency. The sharp contrast

“dwarfed” the senior teachers to a certain extent, which in fact put them in a

disadvantaged position regarding classroom teaching. The innovation was beyond

their linguistic capacity and further made their language inadequacies stand out in

front of their students and peers. The fear of inadequacy and losing face put these

veteran teachers back to the previous model of “one-teacher-package.” For this



reason, upgrading the target language proficiency levels (Cheng, Ren, & Wang, 2003;

Phillips, 1991), particularly for this group of foreign language teachers is paramount

before the curriculum innovation is put into effect. The administration also needs to

recognize that teachers need to feel “safe” before they can be fully involved in any

innovation.

Collaboration is a universal concern in terms of enhancement of teaching and

learning in the school setting. As discussed in the literature, it is difficult to achieve

collaboration, but it does not necessarily mean that cooperation is impossible. It is

true that the teaching and learning culture in China is highly competitive, where

teachers compete for excellence and promotion. The competition can terrify teachers

and put them under immense pressure. In addition, the teaching culture in China does

not fully recognize individuality, i.e., individual teachers’ strength in different aspects

of teaching. Therefore, efforts should be made by institutional administrators to

promote and nurture an environment where it is safe and unthreatening for teachers to

observe each other without losing face or confidence. For example, teachers can be

recommended to observe each other’s classroom teaching and then to write a

reflection report on the observations and draft plans for their individual personal

growth. Following up activities can be arranged by putting teachers into smaller teams

of five or six where they feel more comfortable to express their views about teaching.

They work together in preparing lesson plans, in discussing strategies in dealing with

unpredicted classroom incidents, in sharing instructional tips, and in helping each

other in research projects based on their own strength. Gradually, a climate of

collaboration is expected to form within a teaching environment in which every

teacher benefits.

Conclusions

Curriculum innovation is a complex social phenomenon because of the social,

economical, political, and cultural factors embedded in the teaching and learning

process (see Richard, 2001 for a situational analysis of curriculum development). The

cultural factors particularly can be seen in the cultures of teaching. The mismatch

between the anticipated teacher cultures described in the studies of both Little (1982)

and Williams et al. (2001) and the context where teachers work often creates

problems that hinder successful implementation of the changes. As well, success is



pre-conditioned by whether the educational decision-makers have the main

stakeholders engaged in the reform or not. This means that the involvement of all the

stakeholders in curriculum reforms is important. Teachers’ active participation in and

their collaborative work with colleagues turn out to be a deciding factor to ensure the

success of the effort. The discontinuation of the Rolling Project lies partly in the

assumptions of the policymakers who designed the project. Johnson (1989) pointed

out that any curriculum development would involve a tension about what is desirable

and what is acceptable and possible (p. 18). It proved to be problematic to believe that

good intention to improve both teaching and learning will result in desirable results,

and that teachers’ commitment to change is unquestionable as long as they perceive

the benefits.

Unfortunately, teachers as “change agentry” (Fullan, 1982, 1993, 1999) are often

excluded in the decision-making process of the reform. Their place in curriculum

innovation and the context of their workplace cultures are usually overlooked by

policymakers. To remedy this, policymakers first of all should consider the

complexity of the process of any curriculum reform before implementation. They also

need to bear in mind that the cultures of teaching will determine whether a desired

result can be realized in the working context, where individualism gives place to

collaboration and collegiality. Finally, it can be observed that to attain this goal is no

easy job, because it requires the joint efforts of all who participate.

This paper provides an in-depth discussion and understanding of a curriculum

innovation endeavor in the Chinese EFL setting. Based on the researchers’ experience

and observations, the reflection on the project points to the essential role that teachers

actually play in implementing a given innovation, which adds to the existing change

literature in English language teaching. We recognize that this scenario entails

implications for other centralized educational systems in some Asian countries where

teachers are bound under rigid curriculum requirements and have less autonomy in

classroom teaching. We have chosen to focus our discussions on the role that teachers

play in this curriculum innovation in this paper although a successful implementation

must involve students as well. We also recognize that more extensive interviews with

policymakers, teaching staff, and even students together with in-depth classroom

observations will generate more insights on this innovative endeavor and will provide



a much richer and more valuable source of data for further analysis on the impact of

curriculum innovation on the cultures of teaching.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Hugh Munby at the Faculty of Education,

Queen’s University for his constructive feedback on the earlier version of this paper.

Endnotes

1. In this paper, the term “innovation” is used interchangeably with the terms

“reform” and “change.”

2. This refers to a department which is involved in teaching English to non-English

major students from a variety of disciplines such as arts, sciences, humanities,

engineering, social sciences, law, and medicine. It is called College English

Department in China to distinguish from English Department, which teaches English

to those who specialize in English language and literature studies.

3. Intensive Reading (IR) in the college English curriculum is actually not “a reading

course, but the core course in EFL in which everything that the teacher wants to teach

(grammar, vocabulary, reading aloud, etc.) is taught through a written text” (Li, 1984,

p. 13). Susser and Robb (1990) refer to IR as “close study of short passages, including

syntactic, semantic, and lexical analyses and translation into the L1 to study meaning”

(p. 161). In the Chinese EFL tertiary setting, IR integrates all language skills, for

example, the reading, use of words, knowledge of grammar and structure, writing

skills, and translation practice. All these skills are taught through a reading unit that

includes two or three pages of a written text and several pages of exercises on

linguistic and grammatical points and on writing topics (Wang & Han, 2002).

4. Extensive Reading (ER) in the college English curriculum refers to a reading class.

However, students are required to read texts, out of class, from the ER textbooks

including materials of different genres such as autobiographies, short stories, and

popular science articles prior to the class. What EFL teachers do in such a class is to

check students’ homework by asking comprehension questions, having students

discuss what they have read, and doing corresponding exercises. The purpose of ER

class in the college English curriculum is for general understanding of the texts, but

not for pleasure reading with students choosing their own books, as discussed by



Susser and Robb (1990). There are different viewpoints about what extensive reading

is and how to teach this course (Field, 1985; Robb & Susser, 1989). However, the

authors would not focus on this issue since it is outside the scope of this paper.

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Title

Raising Awareness of Cultural Differences in Language Classrooms

Author

Xiuqin Zhang

College of Foreign Studies, Yanshan University

Bio

Zhang Xiuqin, professor of English, now teaches EFL at Yanshan University in

P.R. China. Her current research interests include English language teaching

and inter-cultural communication. She has published several textbooks and

articles.

Abstract:

This paper raises concerns about cultural differences between the East and West that

often result in misunderstandings between Chinese students and Western teachers.

Cultural differences frequently create obstacles and difficulties in both the teaching

process for the English language instructors and learning process for Chinese students.

Relevant Chinese and Western teaching methods are compared, along with the

Chinese culture of learning, views of communication, and the importance of face-

saving. Approaches to raising awareness of the cultural differences in the classroom

are provided at the end of the paper.

Introduction

At the present time, many Western teachers are coming to China to work as

English teachers in colleges and universities. Chinese students aiming to improve

their speaking skills feel very fortunate to receive language instruction form Western



teachers. Many Western teachers strive to improve the Chinese students’ speaking

skills by implementing a series of classroom activities such as group discussions, oral

presentations, role plays, etc. Such activities focus on classroom interaction and

student participation as formidable methods to learning and developing speaking

skills. Therefore, it seems that students are likely to succeed if they can make full use

of these opportunities.

However, research findings from the interviews suggest that neither Chinese

students nor Western teachers have experienced much success. Many students

learning English from Western teachers feel disappointed, stating that their speaking

skills have not improved as much as they had expected, and they consider classroom

activities a waste of their class time. Whereas, Western teachers report that Chinese

students are too quiet in the classrooms, and thus less actively involved in the

activities. Their reticence and passivity appear to frustrate the Western teachers.

In fact, the way Chinese students learn language is quite different from the way

they are being taught by Western teachers. As a result, this causes many

misunderstandings between the students and teachers. The limited awareness of the

cultural differences regarding learning and teaching may give rise to frustrations and a

sense of failure on both sides. Different cultures use different approaches to language

learning, and without understanding these differences, both the students and teachers

may be unsuccessful in their efforts in language acquisition as well as language

facilitation in the classroom.

Findings From the interviews

1. What is the most positive aspect of being taught by Western teachers of English?

2. What is the most negative aspect of being taught by Western teachers of English?

3. What is the most positive aspect in learning English for Chinese students?

4. What is the most negative aspect in learning English for Chinese students?

The first two questions were posed to 23 Chinese science-major students. These

students had the experience of learning oral English from native speakers for at least

one year. The findings indicated that the subjects actually liked the native English

speakers as summarized in the following statements: ‘They are very patient’; ‘I can get

the correct use of English and correct pronunciation’; and ‘They know how to use

English correctly in speaking, reading and writing’.



With regard to the negative aspects of receiving instructions from Western

teachers, the subjects’ statements were noted as follows: ‘They seldom correct you

when you are speaking’; ‘Always feel nervous because of many oral activities’ and

‘Too many discussions in the classroom for the students’. It appears that discussion

activities are less popular in Chinese language classrooms.

The last two interview questions were provided to five Western English teachers

(two from the U.S.A. and three from the U.K.). They stated that Chinese students are

very diligent workers, good at grammar and remembering grammatical rules.

However, they are generally very quiet in the classroom, lack originality in ideas, and

tend to follow others in discussion activities. Findings from the teachers’ interviews

suggest that their sense of ineffectiveness in the English language classrooms may be

the result of different approaches to learning, and the lack of awareness of each other’s

cultural differences.

Comparison of Chinese and Western teaching methods

A striking contrast appears to exist between the traditional Chinese teaching

methods and those introduced from the West (specifically the U.K. and U.S.A.). The

differences in expectations are likely to negatively influence Chinese students’

comfortableness, thus becoming a source of anxiety for them.

In China, teaching is mostly teacher-oriented. Teachers are considered

authorities, models, experts, and 'parents'. Maley (1986, p.103) reported on his

experience of teaching English in China after having lived there for a year and a half.

He described the importance and usefulness of books in teaching and learning

English. Chinese students and teachers regard books ‘as an embodiment of

knowledge, wisdom and truth’. Hence, books are treated with high reverence and

value. According to most Chinese, knowledge derived from books ‘…can be taken

out and put inside the students’ heads’ (Maley, 1986, p.103). Given this

understanding, it is common for many Chinese students to undertake great effort in

memorizing the contents of their books.

Importance is also attached to intensive reading, which is carried out at all stages

of English learning from middle school to the university level. “It consists in taking

students through a text on a word by word, phrase by phrase basis, explaining points

of vocabulary, syntax, style and content along the way” (Maley, 1986, p.103-104).

Students are expected to memorize new words and recite the texts they have learned.



Speaking is mainly in the form of reading texts and practicing pattern drills. Language

is viewed as a subject to be understood rather than as a tool to be used. As a result of

this type of educational practice, students are good at reading and grammar, but poor

at speaking and writing. In other words, they appear to do well absorbing information

but poor at developing skills related to language usage.

On the other hand, Western education focuses more on individual student

creativity. Western education encourages the teacher to be a facilitator and the

students to take on some responsibility for their own learning (Richards & Lockhart,

1996). Books are regarded differently from the Chinese view. They are regarded as

tools for learning. They contain facts, opinions and ideas that are open to

interpretation, to dispute and discussion (Maley, 1986). Western teachers generally

approach teaching in a more intimate and friendly manner with more attention paid to

the learning contexts, the students’ needs, and to creative, appropriate expression.

Classroom environments are influenced by learner-centered methodology focused on

task achievement and problem-solving approaches for both linguistic and cultural

learning (Jin and Cortazzi, 1998).

Chinese students often regard the less directive teaching methods of the foreign

teacher as a waste of time. They consider group discussion, which is positively valued

by Western teachers, to be ‘fruitless’, and they believe they risk picking up errors

from their classmates. They think the teacher should present knowledge and practice

with the students. Group language practice should be carried out after class in order to

make full use of class time (Zhang, 2006).

Clearly, Chinese students and Western teachers have different views regarding

the nature of the teaching process as well as different criteria for adequate instruction.

What Western teachers consider important is viewed differently by Chinese students.

The key differences appear to be unique conceptions of knowledge, language, and

teaching. Western teachers stress skills and language use while Chinese teachers

stress knowledge. As a result, these differences may increase the feelings of

uncomfortableness and anxiousness in the classroom because the students are

expected to learn in a different way, and readily change their learning habits that were

previously formed in childhood.

Chinese culture of learning



Cortazzi and Jin (1996) relate Chinese students’ method of learning to the

influence of early childhood education. They assert that Chinese children are

socialized into a particular long-standing culture of learning when they start to read

and write Chinese in kindergarten and primary school. Learning in these early years

gives strong emphasis to memory, imitation, and repetitive practice. The early

experience of learning their first language seems to share remarkable continuity with

key aspects of how Chinese students will approach learning a foreign language at a

later stage.

One of the features Jin and Cortazzi (1998, p.13) summarized as a Chinese

culture of learning is the idea that “learning is apprenticeship”. It involves “following

a ‘master’ in word and deed”. This may explain why Chinese students are unwilling

to be distracted by group work – they consider talking with their peers to be a waste

of time that could be spent learning from the 'master'. The apparent passivity of the

students in the classroom is not a lack of involvement in the lesson, but respect for the

teacher’s greater knowledge and wisdom. The Chinese culture of learning involves

“… the need to listen, to think and reflect, to respect and obey the teacher and,

probably not to volunteer comments unless asked, in order not to interrupt the

teacher” (Cortazzi and Jin, 1997, p.86). However, this passivity of students can be a

major obstacle to improving speaking skills in the language classroom.

Chinese views of communication

Jin and Cortazzi (1998) summarized eight key features of the Chinese culture of

communication that Chinese students bring to the classroom. Without recognizing

these features, Western teachers may not fully understand many of the Chinese

students’ behaviors in the classroom.

KEY FEATURES OF CHINESE CULTURE OF COMMUNICATION

KEY FEATURE COMMENT

Communication

produces harmony

The chief aim of communication is to bring harmonious relationships rather than mainly to share information functionally.

Communication

depends on authority

Communication follows tradition and authority rather than originality or spontaneity. Speakers defer to experts, including the teacher.

Communication

depends on the

known

Speakers say what is known rather than regarding saying as a way of knowing.

Communication Often inductive patterns are used – background



is inductive first, main point later or reason then result, rather than vice versa.

Communication

is holistic

Opposites may be part of a large truth, so there is a tendency to think ‘both – and’ rather than ‘either – or’ as in binary thinking.

Communication

is reciprocal

Both participants have responsibility for understanding. Not everything needs to be explicit – hearers/readers can work out implications.

Communication

works by analogy

Proof can come from analogy, examples or indications rather than by explicit sequential links.

Silence is

communication

Silence can be acceptable on ambiguous or sensitive topics. Silence can show solidarity and avoid embarrassment.

(Jin and Cortazzi, 1998, p.114)

Communication among Chinese students centers on hierarchical relations,

agreement, harmony, ‘face’ and respect. They tend to look at their academic life in a

collective way in which they care about their relationships, seek harmony in their

learning and in their communication with others. They are tolerant of different ideas

held by their classmates and avoid situations that may cause anyone (both themselves

and others) to lose ‘face’ (Jin and Cortazzi, 1998). This is one of the reasons they are

passive in classroom group discussions because they wish to show respect to others

by avoiding arguments.

These differences may cause misunderstandings between Western teachers and

Chinese students. A person who avoids challenging others in group discussion is

viewed positively by Chinese students, while Western teachers may view it as

showing a lack of independent thinking and personal opinion.

Face-saving

Chinese culture attaches great importance to ‘face’, which is defined by

Cupach and Metts (1994, p.3) as “the conception of self that each person

displays in particular interactions with others”. ‘Face’ threats occur when a

person’s desired identity or public self-image is challenged in a particular

interaction.

The teaching methods employed by Western teachers focus on the development

of communicative competence. In other words, the use of English language may

actually be a threat to loss of ‘face’ for many Chinese students. Ren yao lian; shu yao

pi (a person needs face like a tree needs bark) is an expression commonly used in



Chinese discourse. Most Chinese People will not do anything that threatens their own

‘face’, and if they have to, they will try to minimize the threat.

In English classrooms, any act of oral communication is a threat to ‘face’,

because of the high risk of making a mistake and appearing foolish.

“Communicative acts may be arrayed on a scale from lesser to

greater risk of loss of face. Some acts are scarcely a risk and may be done

with little further consideration. Others are so grave that they may not be

undertaken at all” (Scollon & Scollon, 1981, p.172).

Chinese students who feel they lack sufficient knowledge of English to enhance

their ‘face’ might react by trying to speak as little as possible, or to avoid speaking at

all. This fear of losing ‘face’ and of being negatively evaluated by others may lead to

their reticence and passivity. As a result, their opportunities to practice speaking the

target language are significantly reduced thus resulting in their slower progress.

Brown (2004, p.17) points out that “few people of any background would be

completely oblivious to the impressions they are making on other people”. But to

students within the Chinese culture who attach great importance to ‘face’, this can

become a particularly noticeable impediment to obtaining the necessary language

practice in order to improve their speaking skills.

Approaches to raising awareness of cultural differences

We have observed that the barriers to learning and teaching result from

different cultural orientations to language learning, and different expectations

about the roles of teachers and students. Raising awareness of cultural

differences is essential for both students and teachers. Awareness of these

differences can be addressed in the following ways:

1. Integrating both target language culture and Chinese culture in the textbook.

Most textbook writers and compilers of foreign language teaching and

learning pay special attention to the target language culture. The target

language culture is mainly on the social values, customs and important Western

festivals with little attention being paid to culture in academic field such as

teaching methodologies employed by western teachers and how Western

students learn in the school. Integrating culture in academic field will help

Chinese students to understand the Western teachers’ teaching and learning

style at the very beginning and avoid the feeling of uneasiness and frustration.



On the other hand, Chinese culture may help Western teachers learn Chinese

students better and the roots of their behaviors. Furthermore, Chinese students

themselves may also develop the ability to express their own culture in English

and are willing to talk about it in class.

2. Make use of visual aids

Both teachers and students should have access to English and Chinese

visual aids such as films and videotapes on weekends in their spare time and

talk about them in class as a cultural awareness raising experience. Most people

will exclude Chinese films and videotapes in English learning. However,

language learning should not only develop students’ four skills but also the

intercultural communication skills. Equipped with Chinese culture, both

Chinese students and Western teachers can better communicate and discuss

relevant differences in the classroom setting.

3. Discussion activity

This process will enable them to better understand each other’s culture and

improve their rapport with each other. It is proposed that the discussion can

follow these steps:

Step 1: The teacher asks the students to discuss in groups what differences they

have noticed in Western and Chinese methods of teaching or/and

learning and list their ideas on a sheet of paper.

Step 2: The teacher then asks each group to present to the class the results of

their discussion. While one member of the group is talking, the other

members can join in.

Step 3: The teacher then talks about his/her understanding of the differences in

teaching and learning between the East and West.

Step 4: The students are asked to share about their own culture with the teacher,

and the teacher can then share about his/her own culture with the

students.

The rationale of the approaches mentioned above is based on Hall (1990, p.212)

who claims that “self-awareness and cultural awareness are inseparable, which means

that transcending unconscious culture can not be accomplished without some degree

of self-awareness…” The process of understanding, sharing, discussing and

exchanging ideas about each other’s culture can help both the teacher and the students

to better understand the expectations that each has of one another and to adopt



appropriate behaviours in the classroom. As a result, both the teacher and students can

make some movement towards mutual congruence. Both can be encouraged to

express their own ideas and gain a better understanding of each other’s culture.

Harmer (2001, p.65) asserts that “the success with which learners adapt to

a new cultural milieu will affect their language acquisition success, and vice

versa, in some possibly significant way”. Thus, this awareness raising is an

essential component in the syllabus content. It will help the students overcome

their passivity and reticence in the classroom and feel more comfortable in

asking questions, volunteering comments, and responding better to the teacher.

However, this change will be gradual and the expectation of immediate change

is not realistic.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cultural differences can accentuate Chinese students’ anxiousness

and uncomfortableness in the classroom thus resulting in passiveness and reticent

behaviors. The key to developing students’ English speaking skills, with the help of

Western teachers, is to raise both the Chinese students and Western teachers’

awareness of cultural differences. Cultural awareness enables the students to know

what they are expected to do in the classroom and respond accordingly. As a result,

students may take each opportunity to practice the language in the classroom and

benefit fully from the Western teachers’ teaching methods. Additionally, Western

teachers may better understand the behaviors of Chinese students in the classroom

with the ability to respond more effectively to the needs of their students.

Consequently, both the students and teachers will increasingly enjoy the learning and

teaching experience and achieve the desired outcomes of the language coursework.

References

Brown, R. A. (2004). Learning Consequences of Fear of Negative Evaluation and

Modesty for Japanese EFL Students. The Language Teacher. 28(1): 15-17.

Cortazzi, M. and Jin Lixian. (1996). Cultures of Learning: Language Classrooms in

China. In Coleman, H. (Ed.). Society and the Language Classroom.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cortazzi, M. and Jin Lixian. (1997). Communication for Learning across Cultures In



McNamara, D. and Harris, R. (Eds.). Overseas students in Higher Education.

London: Routledge.

Cupach, W. R. and Metts, S. (1994). Facework. London: Sage.

Hall, E.T. (1990). Understanding cultural differences. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural

Press.

Harmer, J. (2001), The Practice of English Language Teaching (Third Edition).

Essex: Longman.

Jin Lixian and Cortazzi, M. (1998). The Culture the Learner Brings: a Bridge or a

Barrier? In Byram, M. & Fleming, M. (Eds.). Language Learning in

Intercultural Perspective: Approaches through Drama and Ethnography.


Maley, A. (1986). XANADU-“ a miracle of rare device”: the teaching of English in

China In Valdes, J. M. (Ed.). Culture Bound. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Richards, J. C. and Lockhart, C. (1996). Reflective teaching in second language

classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Scollon, R. and Scollon, S. B. K. (1981). Narrative, Literacy and Face in Interethnic

Communication Norwood, New Jersey: ABLEX Publish Corporation.

Zhang, X. (2006). Speaking Skills and Anxiety. Teaching English in China. 1:34-39.



Title The Influence of Discourse Organizational Patterns on Chinese EFL Learners’

Listening Comprehension

Author Yang Xueqian

Hainan Normal University, China

Bio Yang Xueqian, M.A., is a lecturer at Hainan Normal University; Research fields: Applied

linguistics and CALL;

Abstract: This experiment is designed to test whether Chinese EFL learners are

affected by discourse organizations when listening in English. Two listening texts,

revised to be identical in all aspects except discourse organizations, are used as

instruments on two parallel groups of subjects. Results do not directly show that

Chinese learners comprehend more information when they listen to a Chinese-style

English text. But observations into the position of some Information Units reveal that

Chinese learners tend to perform significantly better on comprehending Information

Units which locate at the end of a paragraph than those at the beginning.

Key words: discourse organization listening comprehension Information Units

1. Background

Since Kaplan (1966) first hypothesized that people with different linguistic and

cultural backgrounds organize discourse differently, many researchers (e.g., Mohan &

Lo, 1985; Wong, 1992; Yu, 1996; Kirkpatrick, 1993) have tried to verify whether or

not there are structural or rhetorical differences between English and Chinese, and

whether or not such differences affect English-as-foreign-language learning.

Controversial suggestions have been made in literatures. Scollon (1991), following

upon Kaplan, claimed that modern Chinese in Taiwan were still following the



traditional Ba Gu Wen**1structure of Chinese. When writing in English, they also

exposited in a recursive way. On the contrary, Mohan and Lo (1985) argued that both

English and Chinese people are equally concerned with directness and conciseness of

expression. There is no basis for claims of rhetorical differences.

Nevertheless, many researchers (Scollon and Scollon, 1994, 1995; Young, 1994;

Kirkpatrick, 1997a) held that Chinese writers or speakers tend to place the “main

point” (topic) at the end of an expository discourse, which makes the text inductive

rather than deductive. In his research, Kirkpatrick (1993) found that modifying-

modified sequence, rather than topic-comment, is a fundamental unit of sequencing in

modern Chinese.

2. Problem

This study looks into whether the possible difference in discourse patterns

between English and Chinese affects Chinese EFL learners’ listening comprehension

in English.

According to Kirkpatrick (1993), Chinese speakers attach to a “because-

therefore” sequence in extended expository spoken discourses. Contrary to the topic-

comment pattern of English, Chinese prefer to place the topic at the end of a text. His

claim was also echoed in many other researches (e.g. Tai, 1975; Chen, 1986). If this is

the case, we can assume that Chinese are accustomed to processing expository texts in

such a way, and that they may consequently perform better in listening

comprehension when information is organized in a “because-therefore” sequence. In

listening comprehension, they used to pay more attention to the ending remarks.

Hence, in this study, two hypotheses can be put forward:

Hypothesis One: When a listening text in English-style discourse pattern is

revised into Chinese-style, Chinese students perform better in listening

comprehension.

Hypothesis Two: When a piece of information is moved from elsewhere to the

end of a text, Chinese students perform better in comprehending it.

** Ba Gu Wen: A discourse structure required in imperial examinations of Ming & Qing

Dynasty in Old China. It follows the four parts of Kaiduan (beginning) —Fazhan (development)

— Gaochao (climax) — Jieju (conclusion).



Chinese discourse pattern and English discourse pattern may differ in many ways.

In this study, we focus on the “because-therefore” sequence principle. There are two

reasons for that. First, as mentioned above, it is deemed to be the crucial difference

between English and Chinese discourse patterns. Second, the process of listening

comprehension is complex. Some others elements, such as discourse markers, can

also influence listening comprehension. If such elements are also left uncontrolled,

the study might not be effective.

The objective of probing into this problem is to find out whether or not the

difference of discourse patterns between English and Chinese influences Chinese EFL

learners’ listening comprehension. Theoretically, this is an attempt to contribute to the

field of cognitive science, because modes of information processing reflected in

different discourse patterns are also ways of thinking. Practically, the result of this

study can directly contribute to the area of EFL teaching/learning methodology. If the

difference of discourse patterns is proved to be one of the elements that influence EFL

listening comprehension, knowledge of discourse patterns should be introduced in

listening training.

Since both discourse patterns and the process of listening comprehension is

complex, we can not expect all the concerning questions to be answered in one study.

As mentioned, what the current study will do is to answer the question of whether or

not listening comprehension is influenced. Other questions, such as how it is

influenced and how such influences change due to learners’ language proficiency,

would be left to further researches.

3. Literature Review

Different languages bear different discourse organization patterns. When a

person who is accustomed to the discourse organization pattern of his L1 learns a

different L2, it is understandable that he might have some difficulties in processing

the discourse structure of L2. Previous researches (see Chaudron & Richards, 1986;

Tudor & Tuffs, 1991; Flowerdew & Miller, 1992) have indicated that L2 listeners

often have difficulties in following the structure of a text for a gist comprehension,

even though sometimes they have no lexical obstacles at all. Using an engineering

lecture as instrument, Olsen and Huckin (1990) conducted a study with 14

postgraduate ESL students. After analyzing the subjects’ summary notes of the lecture,



Olsen and Huckin concluded that some of the subjects could understand all the words

but still have difficulties in gist comprehension. In explaining this phenomenon, they

claimed that it was due to subjects’ familiarity of “disciplinary culture”. That is,

students are accustomed to certain structural models of science lectures. Once the

lecturer alters the way of exposition, some students may get lost in comprehension.

Science lectures are all bound to solve problems with given conditions. In general, the

structural models of such lectures can be no other than “problem-solution” or more

complicated, “problems-solutions”. Science students might not have much difficulty

in following the lecture structural models. In their study, what caused comprehension

problems might be on a micro level, rather than the macro level of lecture structural

models. As we know, science lecturers seldom stray away from the conventions of

“problem-solution” model. But the way they organize their exposition of a problem or

comment would be unavoidably determined by their ways of thinking and/or

conventions of discourse organization. This might be the reason for comprehension

difficulties, which is what we are concerned about in this study.

Intuitively, we assume that difference of discourse patterns between learner’s

native language and target language causes problems in his target language learning,

but this depends on how different the two languages are. Some languages are in the

same family and similar to each other, but some languages are distant. According to

Kaplan (1966), as we can see in Figure 1, Romance languages and Russian are similar

to each other; Chinese and Korean share the same discourse organization pattern;

while English is

FIGURE 1

Major Discourse Patterns with Different Languages

totally different from East-Asian languages. Scholars holding similar views include

Rutherford (1983), who took Chinese as topic-prominent and English as subject-

prominent. In his study, Kirkpatrick (1993) concluded that the “because-therefore”



sequence operates as an important sequencing principle in modern standard Chinese.

For example, when justifying a claim, Chinese people generally deploy conditions

and reasons before they come to a conclusion at the end of the discourse. This is

totally different from English speakers’ convention of “topic-comment”, which

declares its topic at the very beginning, followed by supporting arguments on

different levels.

The difference of discourse organizational patterns between English and Chinese

has been shown to be influencing Chinese EFL learners’ writing in English. González,

Chen and Sanchez (2001) conducted a case study on how cultural thinking and

discourse organizational patterns influence writing skills of a Chinese EFL learner.

Two essays written by the Chinese EFL learner were assessed by American pre-

service teachers and a Taiwanese EFL instructor. In addition, the authors analyzed the

Chinese cultural thinking patterns reflected in the discourse organization through a

psycholinguistic coding of the essays. Comparison and analysis revealed that

linguistic developmental problems presented by the Chinese EFL learner have

connections with underlying cultural thinking and discourse organizational patterns.

González, Chen and Sanchez (2001)’s study might have less relation with this

one, since writing is an output skill, while listening is an input one. Sharp’s (2002)

research from the input perspective may shed more light. He conducted an experiment

on reading comprehension affected by rhetorical patterns. In his experiment, four

rhetorically different texts (comparison contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution and

collection of description) with identical subject matter were read by 490 Hong Kong

Chinese school children. Comprehension was measured and compared. Results

showed a significant difference in comprehension between the texts. With a close

reading of his instruments, we can find that the description text and the problem-

solution one are similar to the two instruments used in this study: the description text

follows a structure similar to “because-therefore”, while the problem-solution text is

“topic-comment”.

In contrast to the researches on writing and reading, few studies have been

conducted to investigate the influence of discourse organization patterns upon

Chinese EFL listening comprehension. But for some other languages, there are some

researchers who tried to approach this topic through investigating discourse markers

(e.g. Chaudron and Richards, 1986; Dunkel and Davis, 1994; Flowerdew and Tauroza,



1995; Jung, 2003). Among them, Jung’s (2003) study might throw some light on the

current study, since the Korean subjects used in his study, as mentioned above, are

similar to Chinese in thinking patterns. Jung’s study examined the effects of discourse

signaling cues on L2 listening comprehension. 80 Korean EFL learners took part in

the study. One half listened to the lecture with signaling cues, another half listened to

the lecture without. The findings showed that signaled group performed significantly

better than non-signaled group in both macro information and micro information

comprehension. As we know, discourse markers serve as signposts in a text, helping

listeners follow the structure of the discourse. Macro-markers (Chaudron and

Richards, 1986) are naturally elements that affect L2 listening comprehension. In this

study, in order to focus on discourse patterns, the variable of discourse marker is

cautiously kept under control.

4. Data Collection

To explore the influence of discourse organizational patterns on Chinese EFL

learners’ listening comprehension, this study used two spoken texts as instruments on

two parallel groups of subjects. One text followed Chinese discourse pattern and the

other followed English discourse pattern. Subjects were required to take notes of what

they had heard. All their notes were collected as data, on which comparison and

analysis would be made.

4.1 Instruments

Two listening texts were made to be as identical as possible in every respect

except for discourse organization. The Chinese-style text was cited from a speech of

the principal of Beijing University at press conference in 1990, in which a journalist

asked him about military training of college freshmen students. The principal

answered in Chinese and was immediately interpreted by a bilingual expert into

English (see Appendix 1). This text was taken as carrying typical features of Chinese

discourse organization style: “because-therefore” information sequence (Kirkpatrick,

1993). The English-style text was technically revised from the Chinese one. The

“because-therefore” sequence was rearranged into the “topic-comment” sequence. All

the other variables that might affect parallelity, such as text length, sentence length,

lexis, and grammar etc. were kept under a strict control. Audio variables, such as



accent, reading speed and pauses, were also kept under control, by having the two

texts read by the same speaker and at the same speed.

A pre-test was held to ensure that two instrument texts were indeed

representative of Chinese and English discourse organization styles. Transcripts of the

two texts were given to 23 Chinese university English teachers (proficient in both

Chinese and English) to read. 21 of them could differentiate the texts and explain the

difference of information sequence (“because-therefore” and “topic-supporting”)

between Chinese-style and English-style texts.

4.2 Subjects

60 Subjects were chosen from the author’s English-major second-year students

in Hainan Normal University. They had been studying English for at least 8 years (5-

hour per week in their middle school and full-time in university), and were deemed to

be intermediate in English proficiency. As to listening comprehension, they were

accustomed to listening to longer texts, but had never been taught the knowledge of

contrastive discourse organizations. Hence, they should be equally unaware of the

difference between Chinese and English discourse styles. After the experiment, a

post-test questionnaire was also given to investigate their knowledge of that.

4.3 Procedure

Subjects were divided randomly into two parallel groups according to the scores

of their listening comprehension exams in the past 3 semesters. Group one listened to

the Chinese-style text and group two listened to the English-style one. Before

listening, subjects were all allowed to read about the context in which the listening

text was produced. Then they listened to the instrument text—the principle’s response.

While listening, subjects were assured to take the role of the questioner and take notes

of what was heard. To avoid the situation that some subjects might have heard and

understood but could not spell a word/phrase in English, they were allowed to taking

notes in Chinese.

After collecting subjects’ notes, a post-test questionnaire was held to investigate

their knowledge of contrastive discourse patterns. Subjects were given transcripts of

both texts and a simple questionnaire sheet. They were required to identify which text

was organized in Chinese/English style and explain the reason of their choice. Guess

was discouraged, and they were allowed to quit if they couldn’t explain the difference



of discourse patterns. Among the 60 subjects, 53 quitted, 7 answered the

questionnaire but only 3 could identify the right texts. And only 1 among the 3 could

correctly explain that the two styles were different in the sequence of “topic” and

“supporting”. This result testified subjects’ ignorance of contrastive discourse styles,

as expected.

To assess subjects’ listening comprehension, instrument texts were segmented

into basic Information Units. An Information Unit (IU) is a basic meaningful unit,

usually carried in a clause. For example, the following sentence is constituted by 2

IUs:

“The enrollment for this year, (IU1)1990, will be 1600 students, (IU2)double

that of last year’s.”

As mentioned above, the instrument texts carried the same meaning, so they

carried the same number of IUs (see Appendix 2). Subjects were assessed on the

number of IU they had taken down in their notes (see Appendix 3 & 4).

5. Method of analysis

The major method of analysis used in this study was comparison. Firstly, two

groups’ comprehension results—the numbers of IUs, were compared by a paired

sample t-test. As mentioned, only discourse organization was left as an independent

variable. Comparison of two groups’ comprehension results would reveal whether or

not discourse organization patterns influenced subjects’ listening comprehension. The

assumption was that Chinese students were accustomed to the Chinese discourse

pattern and therefore could be affected by it while listening to an English text. If the

first hypothesis is true, Subjects should feel more comfortable listening to the

Chinese-style text. Then Group 1 should score comparatively higher then Group 2.

Secondly, based on the above comparisons, observation was made on certain IUs,

especially on those which changed places when discourse style changed. This was to

find out the possible correlation between placement of an IU and listeners’

comprehension of it. If subjects score significantly higher on an IU when it locates in

one place than in another (e.g. the starting-point and the ending-point of a discourse),

the reason might be due to the influence of discourse patterns. As we know, English

native speakers used to put the topic at the beginning of an expository discourse,



while Chinese prefer the topic at the end (Kirkpatrick, 1993). We have reason to

assume that English native speakers tend to pay special attention to the starting-point

of a discourse when they are listening. Due to the same reason, Chinese listeners

might pay more attention to the ending-point.

In observation, identity of IUs and their “values” in the discourse had been taken

into consideration. Some IUs were of detail information (e.g. a number, a name, etc.),

some were of gist information (e.g. a conclusion, a reason, a comment, etc.).

Comprehension of a Detail-IU depends less on discourse context, hence, its location

change may leave less influence on listening comprehension. E.g. numbers can be

easily heard, no matter where they locate. Some IUs were of less important status in

the discourse, and their existences per se did not catch much notice, therefore their

position changes would not influence listening comprehension either. Picked off those

“low-value” IUs, this study observed IU1, IU4, IU5, IU6, IU7, IU10 and IU11 (see

Appendix 2).

6. Findings and Discussion

As mentioned, subjects’ listening comprehension was assessed through the

Information Units taken down in their notes (see Appendix 4). The amount of IUs

taken down by a group of subjects reflects the group’s listening comprehension

performance. The following findings respond to the two hypotheses.

Hypothesis One: When a listening text in English-style discourse pattern is

revised into Chinese-style, Chinese students perform better in listening

comprehension.

Hypothesis One is not supported by this finding. Group 1 listened to the Chinese

style text and took down altogether 108 IUs in their notes, while Group 2 scored 116

IUs with the English style text. Paired sample t-test reveals that there is no significant

difference between the two groups’ listening comprehension results: t(29)=.859,

p=.397 (M=.267 with SD=1.701 ａ=.05). (Table 1)



TABLE 1

Comparison of Two Groups’ Comprehension Results

Paired Differences

Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

95% Confidence Interval

of the Difference t df Sig. (2-tailed)

Lower Upper

Pair 1 group1 -

group2 -.267 1.701 .310 -.902 .368 -.859 29 .397

But caution should be taken here not to jump to the conclusion that discourse

organization does not affect listening comprehension at all. The non-significant

difference might be due to the following three factors:

The first factor is that subjects’ language proficiency might be too low (or

instrument’s difficulty is too high) to reveal possible influences from discourse

patterns. As shown in Appendix 4, subjects’ performance in listening comprehension

was generally poor. Nearly 1/3 of the subjects scored less than 4 IUs from the total of

11. It would be argued that subjects who could only catch one or two IUs would have

not been able to pay attention to discourse level problems. If those subjects had taken

the instrument text as a collective of isolated information units rather than a coherent

discourse, changes of discourse organization patterns would be meaningless to them.

Taking them into account might not reveal the possible influences. In this study, even

though the author had cautiously chosen the subjects and the instrument, the fact that

their listening ability was relatively poorer than their reading and writing might have

caused a misjudgment on their proficiency and the corresponding instrument

difficulty.

The second factor might come from the procedure of the experiment. Subjects

were required to take notes while they were listening. This might have distracted

some subjects from seeing the listening text “as a forest” to seeing “one tree after

another”. While they were listening, some subjects might have just jotted down notes

of whatever they heard, word by word or clause by clause, without paying attention to

the general organization of the discourse. Moreover, due to time pressure, some

subjects might have omitted some information, especially those which had appeared



in the background (given before listening) and which they thought unnecessary to

report.

The last factor is about the criteria of comprehension assessment. As mentioned,

the instruments were segmented into Information Units in order to determine subjects’

listening comprehension. This method of assessing comprehension might not be the

best, because it still has a limitation: judging subjects’ comprehension by the number

of IUs does not taken into consideration the value of Information Units. As mentioned,

IUs are not always of the same importance in a discourse. For example, in the

instrument texts, IU11 is the conclusion of a holistic paragraph, while IU5 is

accessorial information added up to IU4. IU11 is more important than IU5 in listening

comprehension, but they equal to each other in number. Hence, to some extent, the

number of IUs does not fully reflect listening comprehension. In this case, the

quantified data might not have fully revealed the possible influence of discourse

patterns on listening comprehension.

Due to the factors discussed above, we cautiously conclude that Chinese EFL

learners in the same situations as the subjects of this study are generally not

influenced by discourse patterns when listening to an English text at the difficulty

level of the instrument. Nevertheless, we still have reasons to believe that the first

hypothesis is not fully rejected.

Hypothesis Two: When a piece of information is moved from elsewhere to the

end of a text, Chinese students perform better in comprehending it.

Hypothesis Two is supported by the following observations. As shown in the

following chart, subjects performed differently on some key-point Information Units

when their positions were changed. E.g., Only 2 subjects took down IU1 in their notes

when it was placed at the starting point of a paragraph, but when placed at the ending

position, 7 subjects included it in their notes. (see Table 2)



TABLE 2

Scores Yielded* by Certain IUs

IU Placement** Scores yielded IU

No.

IU

Content

IU

Features Text 1 Text 2 Text 1 Text 2

IU 1 (enrolment number) in

accordance with the

furtherance of

educational reform

Starting Ending 2 7

IU 4 1990 (enrolment) will

be 1600 students

Responding

to 1st

question.

Topic sentence of

1st para, text 2

Middle Starting 13 16

IU 5 (enrolment) double

that of last year

Ending Middle 16 8

IU 6 complete their

(military) courses and

return (to university)

Starting Middle 13 14

IU 7 four years of academic

work

Responding

to 2nd

question.

Middle Middle 17 18

IU 10 (students) can go to

any job they want

without any probation

Middle Ending 15 21

IU 11 the time they take is

the same as for the

other students

Topic sentence of

2nd para, text 2

Ending Starting 13 4

Notes: *“Scores yielded” refers to the number of subjects who has taken down notes

of the respective IU..

**“IU placement” refers to the placement of an IU in a paragraph

Observations of comprehension scores yielded by certain IUs in different

positions can lead us to the following two conclusions:

(1), Chinese students performed better in listening comprehension of Information

Units when they are placed at the ending position of a paragraph. Chi-Square Tests

show that subjects performed significantly better on IU1, IU5 and IU11 when they

were placed at the ending position. On IU1: x²(1,n=30)=12.5, p＜.05; on IU5:

x²(1,n=30)=4, p＜.05; on IU11: x²(1,n=30)=6.23, p＜.05. Only one exception is IU10,

which did not yield significant higher score when placed at the end: x²(1,n=30)=2.4,



p＞.05. But this might be due to the reason that IU10’s place in text 1 was also in the

ending part, next to the ending IU11.

This result may be due to the impact of Chinese discourse pattern. As mentioned,

the conclusion point (topic sentence) is usually put at the end of a paragraph/text in a

Chinese discourse. Students who are used to the Chinese discourse organization

would lay more attention stress on the ending point of a paragraph/text.

It might be counter-argued that Information Units at the end of a paragraph/text

are comparatively easier to be memorized, since the next pause allows more time for

the listener to process. No scientific researches have been done by far to support that.

On the contrary, some key-point IUs can yield a high comprehension score even when

placed in the middle of a paragraph, e.g. IU6 in text 2. This is obviously not due to

“process pause”, but to subjects’ attention stress.

(2), Chinese students do not perform better on Information Units when they are

placed at the starting point of a paragraph. Compared with the ending position, IU1

and IU11 yielded significantly lower comprehension scores when placed at the

starting point. IU6 yielded even less scores when placed at the starting point than in

the middle; IU4 yielded a higher comprehension score when placed at the starting

point, but the difference is not statistically significant: x²(1,n=30)=.69, p＞.05.

This shows that Chinese students generally do not pay special attention to

Information Units at the starting point. Just like the ending position, which has a

pause time for listeners to process, the starting point still has its superiority: listeners

have the previous time to prepare. We have reasons to expect that students perform

better on starting IUs, but experiment results did not support that. Hence, processing

time (or prepare time) might not be the cause of comprehension results in this case. It

would be more reasonable to suppose that subjects are not aware of the topic-

supporting feature of English expositions. They don’t know it as critical to catch the

topic at the beginning of a paragraph/text in order to understand the gist of a discourse.

7. Conclusion

This study aims to find out whether Chinese EFL learners are affected by

discourse organizations when listening in English. Two listening texts identical in all

aspects except discourse organizations were used as instruments on two parallel

groups of subjects. Results do not support the hypothesis that Chinese learners



comprehend more information when they listen to a Chinese style English text. But

observations into the position of some Information Units reveal that Chinese learners

tend to perform significantly better on comprehending Information Units which locate

at the end of a paragraph than those at the beginning. Combining the two findings,

and with the consideration of the fact that Chinese-style text tends to have the “topic

sentence” placed at the end of a paragraph/text, we can cautiously conclude that

Chinese learners comprehend better with a Chinese-style text. That is, Chinese

discourse organization affects Chinese EFL learners’ listening comprehension of an

English text.

This result should not be too much out of expectation. Since Chinese learners are

influenced by Chinese discourse organization when writing in English (González,

Chen and Sanchez, 2001), it is unreasonable to expect them to cast off such influences

when listening. Compared to writing, listening comprehension involves instant

information processing. Listeners have less time to ponder about discourse problems.

Implication can be drawn from the findings to Chinese EFL teaching: when

students are proficient enough to look at a text on discourse level, they should be

taught the discourse organization of English texts as well as the differences between

Chinese and English discourse organizations. The topic-comment feature of English

expository texts is of critical importance, since Chinese discourse organization does

the opposite. Students should be told why and be trained on how to stress and utilize

the starting point (topic sentence) in listening comprehension.

Implication can also be drawn to communications with non-native English

speakers. People from the Outer Circle (Kachru, 1986) countries speak English with

features of their own cultures. The knowledge of their discourse organizations is

sometimes necessary for a better understanding, even though communication is

through English.

As mentioned in the discussion section, future research on this topic is advised to

be cautious on subjects and instrument choosing, in order to avoid the possible impact

from subjects’ proficiency level. The way of subjects’ reporting and criteria of

comprehension assessment can also be improved. E.g., retrospective recall can be

used instead of taking notes. If possible, native speakers can be used as subjects, so as

to find out whether they significantly score more on the English-style text and/or



perform better on the starting Information Units. Moreover, research can also be done

with a comparison of subjects’ performance before and after the introduction of

discourse organizations.

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Appendix 1: Instruments (listening texts) Background (shown to subjects before listening)

After 1989, many university students in China have to take military training at

the beginning of their college lives. Beijing University students have to take one-

year’s military courses before they come back to campus. At a conference in early

1990 (the 1989-enroled students were still in Military Academy and the 1990

recruitment was under planning), a Japanese journalist asked the president of Beijing

University a question:

“I understand that the number of the recruitments … of the Beijing University

is much reduced which is about one third of the normal figure, I want to ask whether

in 1990 you will still cut down the number of recruitment of the students, and if this

figure is resumed to the normal level which is about 2000 students, will all those 2000

students be brought down to the Military Academy for military training, and when the

1989 students return to Beijing University, are they going to complete their studies in

Beijing University in 3 years or in another 4 years?”

Transcripts of two listening texts

Text 1 In accordance with the furtherance of educational reform at Beijing University,

/ the enrolled number of students / will meet the number that the Military Academy can accept, / therefore the numbers we enrolled last year / were a little down. / This year, / the enrollment for 1990 / will be 1600 students, / double that of last year. /

So, after this year’s group of freshmen complete their courses / and return to Beijing University, / they will have to undertake / four years of academic work. / They will therefore graduate / one year after those last year students / who went to university at the same time they did. / But, after those other students graduate / they have to do a year’s probation, / after this group of Beijing University freshmen graduate, / they can go to any job they want / without any probation. / Therefore the time they take is the same as for the other students. (143 words; Reading: 71 seconds; 21 pauses)

Text 2

The enrollment for this year, / 1990, / will be 1600 students, / double that of last year’s. / The number we enrolled last year / were a little down, / because the enroll number should meet that / which the Military Academy can accept. / This is in accordance with the furtherance of educational reform at Beijing University. / The time taken for the 1989 group of Beijing University freshmen to get employment / is the same as that for other students. / This group of freshmen will have to return to Beijing University, / after completing their military courses, / to undertake four years of academic work. / They will therefore graduate a year later / than their peers / who went to university at the same time they did. / However, unlike other students, / after they graduate / they will not need to complete the required probationary period of one year / when they start employment. (140 words; Reading: 72 seconds; 20 pauses)

(Note: Both texts are read by the same speaker; “/”indicates a pause in reading)



Appendix 2: Criteria for evaluating subjects’ Listening

Comprehension Two listening texts are segmented into basic Information Units (Key points that

compose the main idea, underlined in the following. Mainly functional clauses, or

major circumstances, but those already appeared in the Background not included).

Since the two texts carry the same meaning, they carry the same IUs. Subjects are

then assessed by the amount of IU they have taken notes.

Text 1

(IU1)In accordance with the furtherance of educational reform at Beijing

University, the enrolled number of students will (IU2)meet the number that the

Military Academy can accept, therefore (IU3)the numbers we enrolled last year were

a little down, this year, the enrollment for (IU4)1990 will be 1600 students,

(IU5)double that of last year.

So, after this year’s group of freshmen (IU6)complete their courses and return

to Beijing University, they will have to undertake (IU7)four years of academic work.

They will therefore (IU8)graduate one year after those last year students who went to

university at the same time they did. But, after (IU9)those other students graduate they have to do a year’s probation, after this group of Beijing University freshmen

graduate, (IU10)they can go to any job they want without any probation, therefore

(IU11)the time they take is the same as for the other students.

Text 2

The enrollment for this year, (IU4)1990, will be 1600 students, (IU5)double

that of last year’s. (IU3)The number we enrolled last year were a little down, because

the enroll number should (IU2)meet that which the Military Academy can accept.

This is (IU1)in accordance with the furtherance of educational reform at Beijing

University.

(IU11)The time taken for the 1989 group of Beijing University freshmen to get employment is the same as that for other students. This group of freshmen will have

to (IU6)return to Beijing University after completing their military courses to

undertake (IU7)four years of academic work. They will therefore (IU8)graduate a

year later than their peers who went to university at the same time they did. However,

(IU9)unlike other students, after they graduate they will (IU10)not need to complete

the required probationary period of one year when they start employment.



Appendix 3: Samples of subjects’ notes Group 1, No. 8

Group 2, No. 1



Appendix 4: Comprehension results Group 1 (listen to Text 1, Chinese discourse style)

No.No.No.No. GradeGradeGradeGrade**** IU1 IU2 IU3 IU4 IU5 IU6 IU7 IU8 IU9 IU10 IU11 Total

1 85 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7

2 83 √ √ √ √ √ 5

3 83 √ √ √ √ √ 5

4 83 √ √ √ √ 4

5 82 √ √ √ √ √ √ 6 6 79 √ √ √ 3

7 79 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7 8 78 √ √ √ 3 9 76 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7 10 73 √ √ √ 3 11 70 √ √ 2

12 70 √ √ 2

13 70 √ √ √ 3

14 70 √ √ 2 15 60 √ √ √ 3 16 69 √ √ √ √ 4

17 69 √ √ √ √ 4 18 69 √ √ √ √ √ √ 6 19 68 √ √ √ √ √ √ 6

20 68 √ √ √ 3

21 67 √ √ √ 3

22 67 √ √ 2

23 66 √ √ √ √ √ 5 24 64 √ 1

25 60 √ √ √ 3

26 58 √ 1

27 57 √ √ √ √ 4

28 53 √ √ 2

29 42 √ 1

30 40 √ 1

2 3 5 13 16 13 17 8 3 15 13 108

Note: *“Grade” refers to the mean of participant’s Listening Comprehension Exam

scores in their past 3 semesters.

* “√”indicates that the subject has taken down notes of the IU.



Group 2 (listen to Text 2, English discourse style)

No.No.No.No. GradeGradeGradeGrade IU1 IU2 IU3 IU4 IU5 IU6 IU7 IU8 IU9 IU10 IU11 Total

1 85 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7

2 83 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7

3 83 √ √ √ 3

4 83 √ √ √ √ √ √ 6 5 80 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 8

6 79 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 8

7 78 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7

8 78 √ √ √ √ 4 9 76 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7

10 74 √ √ √ √ √ 5

11 70 √ √ 2

12 70 √ √ √ √ 4

13 70 √ √ 2 14 70 √ √ √ 3

15 69 √ √ √ √ 4

16 69 √ √ √ 3

17 69 √ √ √ 3

18 69 √ √ √ √ √ 5 19 68 √ √ √ 3

20 68 √ √ √ 3

21 67 √ √ 2

22 67 √ √ √ √ 4

23 66 √ √ √ √ 4

24 64 √ √ √ √ 4

25 60 √ 1

26 59 √ 1

27 57 √ √ √ 3

28 54 √ 1

29 42 √ 1

30 41 √ 1

7 2 8 16 8 14 18 7 11 21 4 116



Title Reflection can change EFL Teachers beliefs and teaching practice

Author Li Hua

Abstract: This is a case study conducted with 24 EFL teachers from 6 different high

schools in Guangdong to explore their beliefs and practices in their work place, and

how their reflection changed their beliefs and their practice in a Chinese context. The

findings of this study revealed that reflection brought changes to the teachers and the

teacher’s professional development was reflected in changes in their beliefs and

teaching practice.

Key words: reflection; beliefs; practice; change; EFL; teacher development

1 Introduction

To understand the professional development of teachers in an EFL context, one

needs to realize what factors can influence the teaching practice. There are many

factors which influence a teachers’ professional development such as society,

education and individuality etc. These factors play different roles in influencing

teachers’ professional development. Generally speaking, social factors mainly include

economical treatment, occupational prestige, teacher support organizations and

qualification certificates etc. The educational factors mainly include knowledge

integration, clinical practice and professional empowerment etc. Individual factors

mainly include reflecting experiences and lifelong learning opportunities etc.

Darling-Hammond, and McLaughlin (1995) contend, ‘Teachers learn by doing,

reading, and reflecting; by collaborating with other teachers; by looking closely at

students and their work; and sharing what they see’ (p. 598)The Chinese government

in 2001 introduced a New Curriculum Standard which suggested communication-



oriented and task-based language teaching. However, traditional methods of teaching

still prevail in many classrooms.

What affects teaching practice? English teaching in a classroom is influenced by

many factors, among which the most direct factor is teachers’ beliefs (Tsui, 2003).

Beliefs about teaching affect a teachers’ practice. Only by frequent reflection such as

looking back on classroom events, recognizing their own weakness in teaching, and

being ready to change their action, can teachers improve their English teaching. Much

research has been done on teachers’ attitudes towards teaching, their pedagogical

content knowledge, and their teaching skills，teaching methods, and the materials

they use etc. However, the relationship between teachers’ beliefs, practice, and

reflection has seldom been studied. According to Freeman, (1991) language teacher

education has begun to recognize that teachers, apart from the methods and materials

they may use, are central to improving English language teaching. In order to become

a mature educational professional, one needs continual learning, reflective thinking,

and involvement in research.

Therefore, this study aims to explore how reflection can change EFL teachers'

beliefs and their teaching practice in Chinese high schools. The hypothesis of this

research is that teaching teachers how to reflect can change and improve their beliefs

and teaching practice.

Although the analysis of the data is on going, the research is motivated by the

following questions:

1). What is the relationship between EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices as they teach

in Chinese high schools?

2). How does the EFL teachers’ reflection change their beliefs and their practice?

2 Literature review

This paper reviews how teachers acquire their beliefs, and relationship between

those beliefs and teaching practices, and in turn how reflection can change teachers’

beliefs and practices

A belief is a proposition consciously or unconsciously held as true by individuals.

The term, ‘teachers’ beliefs’ refers to their teaching beliefs.

A teacher’s practice is the external presentation of teachers’ personal qualities and

the teacher’s level of professional development. Freeman and Johnson (1998) argued



that the core of language teacher education must centre on the activity of the teaching

itself, the teacher who does it, the context in which it is done, and the pedagogy by

which it is done. Actually the relationship between beliefs and actions is interactive.

The connection between beliefs and practices with school cultures remains largely

unexamined. ‘Teachers are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with theoretical and

pedagogical skills; they are individuals who enter teacher education programs with

prior experience, personal values, and beliefs that inform their knowledge about

teaching and shape what they do in their classrooms.’ (Freeman and Johnson, 1998, p.

401). In other words, a teachers' classroom practice is especially influenced by their

beliefs

Pajares (1992) stated that teachers’ beliefs had a greater influence than teachers’

knowledge on the way they planned their lessons, on the decisions they made and on

their general classroom practices. ‘Beliefs are also found to be far more influential

than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and

problems, and how teachers behave in the classroom.’ (Hu, 2004, p. 104)

Widespread evidence indicates that the teacher’s classroom practice and the

teacher’s decision making in the classroom are highly affected by their beliefs.

According to Zheng (2004), teachers’ beliefs define a teacher’s implicit view of

language and view of language learning, and help them decide what kind of teaching

will be most effective.

Richardson, Anders, Tidwell, and Lloyd (1991) found that changes in beliefs

preceded change in practices, while Guskey (1986), concluded that after examining

some teachers who participated in teacher development programs, change in teachers’

beliefs is likely to take place only after changes in student learning outcomes. No

matter whether change in beliefs comes before change in practice or the other way

around, I think that beliefs and practice are connected and ongoing.

Teachers’ beliefs in language teaching influence or shape what teachers do in EFL

classroom. Richardson (1996) described the relationship between beliefs and actions

‘Beliefs are thought to drive actions, however, experiences and reflection on action

may lead to changes in and/or additions to beliefs.’ (p. 104) Pajares (1992 )also claims

that ‘beliefs cannot be directly observed or measured but must be inferred from what

people say, intend, and do—fundamental prerequisites that educational researchers

have seldom followed.’ (p. 314) Beliefs are difficult to observe and evaluate, but we



can infer them from classroom observations. They are usually formed early in life and

not easy to change unless they benefit the person.

However, experiences and reflection on action may lead to changes in beliefs and

Teachers’ beliefs and teaching practice depend on how well teachers reflect.

Cruickshank and Applegate define reflective teaching as ‘the teacher’s thinking

about what happens in classroom lessons, and thinking about alternative means of

achieving goals or aims.’ (1981, 4, as cited in Bartlett, 2004, 202) Schon (1983)

suggested that a professionals’ “core of practice” is reflection-in-practice in terms of

holding a reflective conversation with the situation.

Richards and Lockhart (1994) suggested that reflective teaching could be carried

out by individuals working alone. In reflective teaching ‘teachers and student teachers

collect data about teaching, examine their attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, and teaching

practices, and use the information obtained as a basis for critical reflection about

teaching.（Richards and Lockhart，1998, cited in Zhu, 2004. p. 30）This version of

reflective teaching could be practiced in isolation as it focuses on teachers’ action and

thoughts before, during or after class.

From the observation of teaching behavior in a classroom, we can understand the

strength and weakness of a teacher’s teaching practice and encourage them to reflect

on their teaching practice so as to improve their teaching.

3 Methods

3.1 Subjects

The subjects in the study are 24 EFL teachers from 6 different high schools in 6

different regions. The 6 regions are classified according to their economic status:

developed and developing regions.

The 24 participants of this study are full-time high school teachers of English with

different teaching experiences and different professional titles in EFL teaching. They

are classified according to their professional titles such as novice teachers, who begin

to teach after graduation from the university; junior teachers who have taught English

at least for 3 years with a good record of teaching; sub-senior teachers who are

promoted from junior teacher after at least five years of teaching with a good teaching

record, and senior teachers who are promoted from sub-senior teacher after at least

five years of teaching with a good record of teaching and essays.



Appendix 1 details some background information of the 24 teachers.

Code: TA1=teacher; A=school A; TA1= a teacher from school A; G1= grade 1

3.2 Procedures

This study is part of a three year longitudinal research project employing multiple

data sources using classroom observations, and interviews to examine high school

teacher’ beliefs, practices and reflection in Chinese high schools. There were 24

participants who participated in 4 qualitative interviews, (one interview each half a

semester) which were conducted after classroom observation, were tape-recorded, and

transcribed for analysis. Field notes documented the settings, and acts of the

community members. Audio tapes of the classroom supplemented field notes.

Inductive approaches were used to analyze the qualitative data from interviews,

observations and documents. Data collection began during the Chinese school year’s

first semester. (September of 2005)

4 Results and discussion

The results reported here are summarized according to the 2 research questions

asked in this survey study—the relationship between EFL teachers’ beliefs and

practices, and how their reflection change their beliefs and practice.

4.1 Their beliefs about language, language learning and language teaching

Field notes of a classroom were gathered and the teachers were interviewed the

same day based on the lesson they taught in order to further explore their beliefs on

views of language, views of language learning and language teaching. The reason for

conducting both interviews and observation is that teachers’ beliefs usually have to be

measured from both what teachers say and how they behave in the classroom (Agyris

and Schon 1974)

The result (see appendix 2) showed that 9 out of 24 teachers held strong view that

language was a set of skills, which required some listening, speaking, reading and

writing. It also showed that 12 out of 24 teachers thought that Language was a

linguistic system made up of various subsystems, such as vocabulary, and grammar,

which indicated that most teachers believed that language consisted of language

knowledge and skills. Therefore 9 out of 24 teachers thought they should teach

language knowledge and skills, while 12 out of 24 thought they should only teach



language knowledge in class. Based on this view of language teaching, these 21

teachers mostly explained new words and grammar, and asked students to memorize

them since EFL learning only takes place in the classroom. They also needed to do

some exercises and practiced in writing to consolidate what they have learned. Few

activities were designed to provide students opportunities to experience, participate,

explore, cooperate, discover and construct language as these things were regarded as

waste of time.

In the interviews, nearly 80% of teachers showed the main reason for the focusing

on language knowledge teaching was to prepare the students to pass examinations.

The examinations, which have already greatly changed in China now, focus on

comprehensive use of English. Some teachers still hold stronger beliefs on traditional

ways of teaching because the traditional way of teaching is not as challenging as the

new curriculum requires. The effectiveness of the English Curriculum Standard’s

execution depends to some extent on the improvement of the qualities of a teacher of

English. So, teachers’ qualifications and development should be a top priority, as

education and teaching reforms go on.

A few teachers had more advanced beliefs about in EFL teaching. They believed

teachers should help students not only lay foundation of linguistic knowledge but also

gain the ability to use English appropriately in any context.

When they were asked where their ideas came from and how they learned to teach,

they said they got ideas mostly from their own learning or teaching experience, from

other teachers, reading about teaching, and visiting other classrooms.

The results indicated that there was no relationship between age of teachers and

different teaching methods and practice.

It was found that among the 24 teachers in the survey (see appendix 2) and the

interview data revealed that the teachers seemed to rely mainly on their English

learning experiences, their own teaching experience and other teachers’ teaching

experiences. Interestingly, their beliefs remained constant throughout a year

regardless of age or number of years teaching experiences. However, since it is three

year longitudinal study, it is expected that with three years of reflection training, they

may change in their teaching as long as they reflect and take action.



4.2 Teachers’ practice

The teachers’ practice was evaluated through classroom observation. (see field

notes in appendix 3) Twenty four teachers’ lessons were observed and the teaching

practices were classified according to the field notes of the classroom observer.

Interviews followed after the classroom observation.

The result indicated that a high percentage of the teachers’ purpose of teaching

English was to build up language knowledge. The second purpose was to stimulate

their interest of learning, and only about one fifth of the teachers had an objective to

help students become independent learners and use English appropriately. Nearly half

the teachers focused mostly on language knowledge, less on language skills and the

least amount on understanding, discourse, and culture. A high percentage of the

teachers followed the procedure of giving language input, then getting feedback from

students usually through questions and answers, explanations of language forms.

Structures were then done by teachers and finally, students were assigned written

exercises to consolidate what they had learned. As for the teachers’ role, most

teachers dominated the classroom as explainers, only small part of percentage of

teachers played the role of helper or participant etc and created student-centered

classroom learning atmosphere. With respect to resources they used, 60% of them

used slide shows, videos, and computers to give presentations in class but very few

teachers looked for related materials on the internet to increase students’ language

input.

The result indicated that there were all three kinds of teachers that Scrivener

observed (2002): First, explainers who know their subject matter very well, but has

limited knowledge of teaching methodology. They rely mainly on explaining or

lecturing as a way of conveying information to their students. Second, involvers know

both the subject matter and teaching methodology. They can use appropriate teaching

techniques to help their students learn subject matter and actively involve students in

designing activities but still retain clear control over what happens in the classroom.

Third, enablers not only know subject matter and teaching methodology but also have

an awareness of how individuals and groups within their classes are thinking and

feeling. They actively practice this teaching plan in building effective working

relationships and setting a good classroom atmosphere.



4.3 Reflection

Three main sources of data which focus on reflection-on-action were used in the

study, interviews after classroom observation, workshops and reflective journals. (see

appendix 4) Individual interviews were conducted with each of the participants after

the classroom observation. The teachers reflected immediately after, which usually

lasted about half an hour and focused on general reflection on the field experience and

the reflective report they submitted. Workshops were usually held on the day before

classroom observation. The teachers talked about their problems in their teaching and

how they solved some problems and why they could not solve some problems. Then

the teachers and university teachers worked together and had discussion on them in

the workshops, where the teachers reflected, had dialogues and cooperated with each

other. Triangulation data was used to examine the participants’ reflective thinking,

which indicated that changes in their reflective thinking can change their teaching.

For the content of reflection, participants were usually required to focus on the

purpose of their teaching; and the procedure of their teaching, that is what they did

and how they did it, and why they did it to achieve a goal. They were also asked

whether they succeeded in achieving their goal, or why they did not achieve it and

how they could improve it.

The criteria to assess the depth of reflective thinking was measured in three levels,

at the first level, ‘Recall level (R1), one describes what they experienced, interprets

the situation based on recalling their experiences without looking for alternative

explanations, and attempts to imitate ways that they have observed or were taught. At

the second level, rationalization Level (R2), one looks for relationships between

pieces of their experiences, interprets the situation with rationale, searches for “why it

was,” and generalizes their experiences or comes up with guiding principles. At the

third level, reflection level (R3), one approaches their experiences with the intention

of changing/improving in the future, analyzes their experiences from various

perspectives, and is able to see the influence of their cooperating teachers on their

students’ values, behavior or achievement’ (Lee, 2005. p. 703)

It indicated (see appendix 4) that not many teachers joined the workshop to reflect

on their teaching and write reflective reports after finishing teaching each unit. Most

teachers complained that they were busy preparing lessons and had a lot of meetings

at schools. They were under a lot of pressure because of examinations evaluated by

the school or government. Based on the data sources of their reflection, it is possible



to discuss the content they usually covered and how deeply they reflected on their

teaching.

In the part of the 3-year longitudinal program, we found out that teachers’ level of

reflective thinking did not depend on years of teaching experiences. Instead, whether

teachers reflect and take action determines whether there will be a change in their

beliefs and practices. Those who kept thinking and reflecting improved to a greater

extent than those who did not. The level of their reflective thinking in their reflective

journals reached higher level than that in the workshop or interview. Some teachers

reached level R2 and some of them even extended to level R3, which greatly

improved their teaching by the time of the next classroom observation.

4.4 Changes in beliefs and practice as result of reflective thinking

In the part of the program “An empirical study on sustainable professional

development of senior English teachers in Guangdong province”, as mentioned above,

those who continually look back over their teaching, find problems and carry out

analysis, and take action in the classroom, to some extent, improve a lot in their

beliefs and practice. It details two cases of changes (see appendix 5).

It shows that TC4 has changed a lot through reflection as what she says “I benefit

a lot from reflection.” She reflects and takes action. However, Tom almost remains

the same although he has made some changes in his beliefs. What makes such a big

difference between the two teachers? I think there are two main factors:

First, awareness of reflection is important. TC4 is aware of the importance of

reflection and she keeps reflecting in workshops, interviews and writing reflective

journals, in which she tries to recall, find the problems in teaching and explain with

rationale, and take some changes in classroom.

However, unlike TC4, TE4 is not so informative in developing area. For example,

only a few top teachers in his district can get the opportunity for teacher education in

universities, while most teachers just get lifelong learning from the top teachers in the

area or from reading books. The professional development of the teachers in

developing areas is strongly affected by the surroundings and teaching context.

Second, constant cooperation may increase the amount of interaction among

teachers. By interacting with colleagues, teachers can learn a lot by working together.

TC4’s school has good atmosphere to cooperate each other.



However, TE4 is not working in an atmosphere of cooperation and teachers do not

tend to cooperate. Although they share lesson plans together the main purpose for

doing this is to lighten the work load, as a teacher does not have to prepare each

lesson. So they share without any changes for their different students.

Working together usually occurs before, during and after lessons. Before a lesson,

teachers can work together to plan the lesson. ‘Such planning can entail the macro

levels of an entire curriculum or the syllabus for a course, or it can be the preparation

for a specific lesson plan.’ (Bailey, K. M., Curtis, A & Nunan, D., 2004, 181) That is

the pre-active decision making. Likewise, during a lesson, teachers make decision by

reflecting on what they will discuss after the lesson; teachers can have a lot of

discussion on the effectiveness of lesson plan after class, which can provide good

opportunities for them to learn from each other, even for veteran teachers. Therefore,

‘team teaching really consists of three phases: (1) pre-instructional planning, (2)

instructional in-class teamwork, and (3) post-instructional follow-up work...’ ((Bailey,

K. M., Curtis, A & Nunan, D., 2004, 181)

Third, it is teachers’ beliefs that affect teachers’ reflective thinking. TE4 does not

think reflection is useful for improving teaching. He holds strong belief that teaching

is to pass examinations in China, “because our teaching is assessed according to the

result of examinations which relates to a teacher’s income and promotion.” (TE4 in

interview after class) Therefore, he has to take every chance to focus on language

points in teaching and practice to meet the needs of examinations without being aware

whether students all involved and challenged. He sometimes wonders whether it is

good way to teach English.

However, TC4 holds strong belief that teaching is for the development of students.

Therefore, she considers the curriculum, teaching materials, methods, learning

strategies etc according to the needs and development of students. She is confident in

sharing control with students. In many cases, she takes her lead from her students;

seeing herself as someone whose job is to create the conditions that enable the student

to learn for themselves. ‘Her own personality and attitude are active encouragement to

learn.’ (Scrivener, 2002. p. 6)

5 Implication and conclusion

This study has explored the teachers’ beliefs, practice and reflection through

observing what they said and did. The analysis of the data reveals a relationship



among beliefs, practice, and reflection. The relationship is beliefs drive actions and

reflection can change beliefs and action. Teachers’ beliefs and practice are closely

related to each other. Teachers’ different beliefs will affect teachers practice and

decision making in class both consciously and subconsciously.

In examining what influenced teachers’ beliefs about language teaching, it was

found that generally EFL teachers seemed to rely on their own foreign language

learning and teaching experiences. It was of great interest that their beliefs remained

constant regardless of age or number of years teaching experience.

The study showed that beliefs could be changed through reflection although it is

slow, process. There are several factors which could help promote the change such as

reform of top-down curriculum, the use of new teaching materials, reform of

examinations, expectation of school leaders and parents, and cooperation with other

teachers etc.

An awareness and understanding of a teacher’s background and teaching context

is very important in order to help them to reflect, as Holt-Reynolds, (1992) states that

‘Having knowledge about student teachers will help teacher educators in developing

effective tasks and activities aimed at cultivating reflective teachers.’ (p. 311). In

China, EFL teachers should be responsible for their personal or professional

development, especially the teachers in developing regions, who lack opportunities to

attend in-service teacher education in universities. Learning to critically reflect is a

necessary condition for their on-going growth and life-long development. They need

to think about what, why, and how to teach. They need to understand what a teacher

role is before they go into the teaching field. Constant review and analysis can lead

them to be more reflective and reflection can change their beliefs and practice so as to

be better teachers.

Besides, teachers need to set themselves free to communicate with their

colleagues, students, and so on. Dialogue and cooperation can help the teachers get

over their troubles, discover their problems, gain access to effective solutions.

Professional development is a never-ending process. Any teacher, who can be a

classroom researcher and regard his own classroom as a research site, can be an

excellent practitioner. Teacher learning can occur anytime and anywhere. They should

be life-long learners

It is good beginning for a teacher to begin to reflect. The next step is to take action

to improve their teaching.



This study revealed the importance of examining the relationship between EFL

teachers’ beliefs and practices, how reflection changes teachers’ beliefs and their

teaching practice. The research could provide us with a wealth of information about

how EFL teachers’ reflections change their beliefs and their teaching, as well as

increase our understanding and awareness of EFL teacher development, which is

associated with the teachers’ reflection and possible change of the teachers’ beliefs

and teaching practice.

As to the application of this study, this study will help EFL teachers to understand

how to put the theory into application so as to improve teachers’ teaching ability. In

practice this study will give an enlightening inspiration to EFL teachers and for EFL

teacher development in China.

References

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Richards, & D. Nunan (Eds.), Second language teacher education (pp. 202-

214). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

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messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62 (3), 307-332.

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Sikula (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education, (2nd ed.) (pp. 102-

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Appendix:

Appendix 1: background of teachers

Name

Sex

age

Years teaching

Teaching grade

School location

Lifelong learning status Professional title

TA1

M 41 12 Senior G 1

Developed

occasional lectures in local area

Sub-senior

TA2

F 33 8 Senior G 2

Developed


Sub-senior

TA3

F 29 5 Senior G 1

Developed


Sub-senior

TA4

F 46 16 Senior G 2

Developed

1 year courses in Beijing

Senior

TB1 M 23 1 Senior G 1

Developed

Lectures in local area novice

TB2 F 26 4 Senior G 2

Developed

Take MA degree study now

junior




Developed

Take MA degree study in 2002

Sub-senior


Developed

3-month courses in Canada

Senior

TC1 F 24 1 Senior G 1

Developed

Lectures in Guangzhou novice


Developed

Lectures in Guangzhou junior

TC3 M 31 8 Senior G 2

Developed

Lectures in Guangzhou Sub-senior


Developed

3-month courses in UK Senior

TD1

F 23 1 Senior G 1

developing


TD2

F 27 5 Senior G 2

developing

Lectures in local area junior

TD3

F 35 11 Senior G 3

developing

Lectures in local area Sub-senior

TD4

F 37 15 Senior G 3

developing

Lectures in local area Senior

TE1 F 26 3 Senior G 2

developing

Lectures in local areas novice


developing

Lectures in local areas junior


developing

Lectures in local areas Sub-senior

TE4 M 39 15 Senior G 1

developing

Lectures in local areas Senior

TF1 F 23 1 Senior G 1

developing


TF2 F 28 5 Senior G 2

developing

Lectures in local area junior

TF3 M 32 9 Senior G 1

developing

Lectures in local area Sub-senior

TF4 M 44 22 Senior G 3

developing

Lectures in local area Senior

All the teachers’ names are pseudonyms. Appendix 2: Field notes on views of language, language learning and teaching

description No of participants

Language is a set of skills, needs amount of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

(9 teachers) TA2, TA4,TB1, TB3, TC1, TC2, TD3, TE1, TE4

Language is a linguistic system made up of various subsystems, such as vocabulary, grammar.

(12 teachers) TA1, TA3, TB4, TC3, TD1, TD4, TE2, TE3, TF1, TF2, TF3, TF4

Language is a linguistic system but also as a means for doing things.

(2 teachers) TB2, TD2, TC4

Views of language

Language is a communicative tool, whose main use is to build up and maintain

NONE



social relations between people. Teachers’ explanation, recitation and exercises

(11 teachers)TA1, TC3, TC1, TC4, TD1, TD4, TE2, TE3, TF2, TF3, TF4

Teachers explain language points and students practice on language points.

(10 teachers) TA2, TB4, TB1, TC3, TD3, TE1, TE4, TF1, TA3, TA4 ,

Views on language learning

Participate, experience, explore, cooperate, discover and construct language knowledge

(3) TC4, TB2, TD2

Language knowledge (9) TC3, TC4, TD1, TD4, TE2, TE3, TF2, TF3, TF4

Language knowledge and skills (12 teachers)TA1,TA2, TA3, TA4,TB4, TB1, TC1,TC3, TD3, TE1, TE4, TF1,

Views on language teaching

Language knowledge, skills and non-linguistic knowledge such as affective attitudes, learning strategies and culture awareness.

(3 teachers) TC4, TB2, TD2

Appendix 3: field notes on teachers’ practice

field notes of teachers’ practice

A To foster students language knowledge such as voc, pronunciation, structure

46.7%

B To develop students learning ability and arouse students interest

32.7%

Purpose

C To stimulate students interests and help students become independent learners and use English appropriately.

20.6%

A Vocabulary and grammar 36.3% B Language points ; 4 skills practice; 50.4%

Content

C Textual; discourse; culture 13.3% A Reading/ listening, comprehension, explaining

language points, do exercises 33.3%

B Language input, question and answer, language points, written exercises

50.3%

procedure

C Vocabulary learning, input, textual analysis, language practice, discussion

16.4%

A T-centered, authority, explainer 33.5% B Organizer, controller, 46.7%

Teacher’s role

C SS-centered, organizer, helper, participant 19.8% A Text books, chalk / B Text books, chalk, Slide show, 40%

Resources

C Text books, chalk, Slide show, video, computer 60% Appendix 4: Status of participate in and evaluation of teachers’ reflective

thinking

Participants in reflective program

Reflective program Teachers’ participation Evaluation Workshop (before lesson)

12 teachers in 3 schools (TB1-4; TE1-4; TF1-4)

Most of them are at level R1 ; A few are at level R2

Interview (immediately after

22 teachers Most of them are at level R1 ; A few are at



class) level R2

Reflective report (later after class)

TE1(6p); TE2,TE3,TC4,TF1 (5p); TC1,TC2, TC3,TF2(3p); TB1,TB2,TB3,TB4,TF4(1p)

TC4,TB2 are occasionally at level R3. most of them are at level R1; A few are at level R2

P=pieces of reflective report Appendix 5: Changes in beliefs and action name Problems of

reflection Changes in beliefs (data from reflection )

Changes in action （data from classroom observation）

TC4 ·Weak in theory; ·effective assessment

·I read some books in theory to improve my teaching. ·Students like ‘good, excellent’ but they like more specific comments or assessment from their peers or their teacher. Students are very happy about such assessment, which strengthen the good relationship between students and the teacher.

·decision making in her class is shared and negotiated. She is a guider, helper and partner in class. ·Why do you think he has made a good speech?(elicit answer from students) Because he speaks fluently. He gives us good examples. His speech is informative.

TE4 ·discussion activities; ·How to deal with students’ exercise; ·grammar

·It is important to provide chances for students to speak through activities. ·It is useless to just check the answers in dealing with students’ exercises. ·We should most focus on language points in class because of examinations.

·Teacher-centered classroom, the teacher does a lot of explanation. ·Still check the answers with students about their exercises. · In most of class, the teacher does a lot of explanation in language points then some practice on them.



Title An Investigation into Listening Comprehension Difficulties of More Skilled and Less

Skilled Listeners and the Concordant Strategies

Authors:

Liu Han and Hu Xiaoqiong

Address: Foreign Languages College, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei, China, 443002.

Bios.

Liu Han is a second-year postgraduate student majoring in Linguistics and English

teaching at the Foreign Languages College, China Three Gorges University.

Hu Xiaoqiong is a professor at the Foreign Languages College, China Three Gorges

University. She completed her M.A in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Guangzhou

Foreign Language Institute, China. Her main research interests are applied linguistics,

second Language acquisition and cross-cultural communication.

Abstract: There are differences in listening comprehension difficulties between more

skilled listeners and less skilled listeners. Different listening groups also adopt

different cognitive, metacognitive and social affective strategies to overcome these

difficulties. To uncover these differences, both a quantitative and a qualitative study

are conducted. Thinking aloud method is also adopted alongside.

46 students majored in Computer Science took part in the quantitative study. They

were required to listen to two short passages. The first passage is the authentic

material, after which, the students should finish the multiple choices of 10 questions

and then write down all the difficulties they have met in the listening. The second



passage is dictation, and students are also needed to write down their difficulties. This

time spelling mistakes are not included since the aim is to test their listening ability.

Results are accounted. Combined with their CET4 (College English Test 4, a national

English test for all the college students), all the participants are divided into two

groups i.e. more skilled group and less skilled group. Difficulties as well as strategies

are analyzed according to Anderson’s three-phase model, perception, parsing and

utilization. Afterwards, two students are selected from each group to think aloud

while listening to the third short passage. Difficulties and strategies they adopt are

transcribed by the author.

It is shown in the study, both in quantitative and qualitative study that more skilled

listeners have less cognitive difficulties than less skilled listeners in terms of

perception, parsing and utilization and use more strategies than less skilled listeners in

listening comprehension. Another finding of the study is that more skilled listeners

tend to try harder than less skilled listeners in listening.

Keywords: listening difficulties; strategies; more skilled; less skilled;

Abstract: There are differences in listening comprehension difficulties between more

skilled listeners and less skilled listeners. Different listening groups also adopt

different cognitive, metacognitive and social affective strategies to overcome these

difficulties. To uncover these differences, both a quantitative and a qualitative study

are conducted. Thinking aloud method is also adopted alongside. 46 students majored

in Computer Science took part in the quantitative study. They were required to listen

to two short passages. The first passage is the authentic material, after which, the

students should finish the multiple choices of 10 questions and then write down all the

difficulties they have met in the listening. The second passage is dictation, and

students are also needed to write down their difficulties. This time spelling mistakes

are not included since the aim is to test their listening ability. Results are accounted,

combined with their CET4 (College English Test 4, a national English test for all the

college students), all the participants are divided into two groups i.e. more skilled

group and less skilled group. Difficulties as well as strategies are analyzed according

to Anderson’s three-phase model, perception, parsing and utilization. Afterwards, two

students are selected from each group to think aloud while listening to the third short

passage. Difficulties and strategies they adopt are transcribed by the author. It is



shown in the study that more skilled listeners have less cognitive difficulties than less

skilled listeners in terms of perception, parsing and utilization and use more strategies

than less skilled listeners in listening comprehension. Another finding of the study is

that more skilled listeners tend to try harder than less skilled listeners in listening.

Keywords: listening difficulties; strategies; more skilled; less skilled;

1. Introduction

Listening comprehension is one of the five basic skills (i.e. listening, speaking,

reading, writing and translating) that a L2 learner should acquire, and it is also the

most important one. It is an active process in which people construct meaning from

listening materials according to their personal experience. It involves listeners’

receiving of sound, processing information in brain, and the prior knowledge. For L2

learners, listening is especially paramount. Everything they meet links tightly to

listening, since it is the main channel through which L2 learners distill linguistic

nutrition from their L2 (Robert, 1987). Most information they acquire is obtained

through listening. According to Krashen’s i+1 principle, L2 learners learn L2 through

comprehensible input (Ellis, 1999).

Listening comprehension is different form the other basic skills of language

learning, e.g. reading compression in many aspects, and has its own characteristics.

Unlike reading comprehension in which readers can go back and forward to check the

information they are not clear, listeners cannot do alike since they have little control

over the speed of speakers. What they can only do is to try their best to catch up with

the speakers. Different accent of speakers is another factor that affects listening

comprehension. Listeners’ cognitive and metacognitive strategies and affective

factors also greatly influence listening comprehension. Moreover, the familiarity of

the topic is one aspect that cannot be neglected in order to have a good

comprehension of the passage. Vocabulary is important, too. All these factors

contribute to the difficulties of listening comprehension.

Although so many difficulties exist in listening comprehension, not every

listener has the same listening problem. Some may have more prior knowledge than



the others; some may have larger vocabulary, and the others have better psychological

state in listening. To explore the differences between less skilled listeners and more

skilled listeners’ listening difficulties, and the strategies they adopt in dealing with

these difficulties, both quantitative study and qualitative study are conducted. For the

qualitative study, think-aloud method is used. In the end, results of the two

experiments are related to each other. Literature review will be first introduced in the

paper. After that, details of the two studies will be elaborated. Finally come out the

results of the experiments.

2. Literature Review

Because of the importance of listening comprehension, there are an increasingly

growing number of linguists showing their interests in the area. The 1970s witnesses

the turning point of listening comprehension. Before that, listening was taken as a

passive process in which listeners only receive the information provided by aural

materials. Listeners were like tape recorders that memorized everything they had

heard mechanically. After the advent of Swiss psycholinguist Jean Piaget’s (Elliot,

1981) cognitive constructivism theory, listening is considered as an active

constructive process in which listeners combine their prior knowledge with listening

materials, and construct the meaning. Brown (1990) explains,

“Listeners are not simply passive processors who undertake automatic signal

recognition exercise when acoustic signals are fed into them and so construct

meaning.” “When listening, the listeners are active searchers for meaning. The active

listeners will use all relevant background knowledge---knowledge of the physical

context of the utterance (the immediate surroundings, the place, the time, etc.),

knowledge of speaker (gender, age, opinions), and knowledge of topic.”

Asher (1982) invents the “Total-body-response” teaching method to teach

language through listening, effective for both L1 and L2. The theory highlights the

natural and relaxed listening environment. Penny Ur (1984:7-20) focuses on teaching

listening comprehension. He lists out all the possible difficulties that listeners’

encounter during real-life listening, such as redundancy, noise, intonation, stress,



fatigue of the listeners etc. After that, some effective teaching methods have been put

forward. Tomatis (Asher, 1982:101) summarizes that “Listening can be affected by

several factors”, and categorizes all factors into three groups, i.e. prenatal life,

physical factors and psychological factors.

Listening is a complicated cognitive process and listeners are the processors of

the input information. Nevertheless, it is difficult to perceive what is really going on

inside the human brains when listening is going on. The clues that indicate they have

not understood the listening materials are their blank facial expressions, shaking heads

or anxiety. And the opposite is also true. Listeners can also show their understanding

of the materials by showing their body language and facial expressions. Listeners are

like puppets dancing according to what speakers are speaking (Kelly, 1991). Kelly is

the vanguard in research into the importance of vocabulary in listening

comprehension.

To have a clear understanding of the information processing, a mass of research

has been carried out in cognitive and metacognitive area. In an attempt to find what

listeners actually do while listening to aural materials, O’ Malley and Chamot (1990)

investigate cognitive strategies, metacognitive and social affective strategies adopted

by more skilled and less skilled EFL listeners. C. M. Goh (1997; 1998; 2001) has

done a series of research on different cognitive strategies of more skilled and less

skilled listeners, using retrospective method. She finds the different cognitive

strategies of two groups in the three phase’s model that is perception, parsing and

utilization. Vanderdrift (2003) reports on an investigation into listening strategy

applications by French learners. In the study, she examines the types of strategies

used and the differences in strategy use by more skilled and less skilled listeners when

they are exposed to authentic texts in French. It is easy to see that, listening

comprehension is highlighted in the past few years, especially from the cognitive

point of view.

3. Study

3.1 Theoretical Background



Listening comprehension has become the foundation of a number of theories of

second language acquisition that focus on the beginning levels of second language

proficiency (O’ Malley and Chamot, 1990:129). The primary assumption underlying

these theories is that language acquisition is an implicit process in which linguistic

rules are internalized by extensive exposure to authentic texts (ibid), which means that

only through listening comprehension that input becomes intake.

According to Richards (1983, ibid), there are several reasons for doing research into

listening comprehension:

The significance of listening skills in a number of instructional approaches;

There has been little research that clarifies what listeners actually do while listening to

oral texts;

Weinstein and Mayer (1986:315, in ibid: 17) hold that, learning strategies refer to

“behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning what are intended

to influence the learner’s encoding process.” Many researchers hold that, these

strategies can be learned though practice. Generally, learning strategies can be

categorized into three groups, metacognitive, cognitive, and social affective (ibid: 45).

Main content of each strategy will be mentioned in the following parts.

Anderson (1985, in ibid: 34) differentiates listening comprehension into three

interrelated cognitive processes: perceptual processing, parsing, and utilization. There

may be some overlapping between the adjacent two. Because human brain consists of

short-term memory and long-term memory, information is stored in two distinctive

ways, either in shot-term memory, the active memory that holds modest amounts of

information only for a brief period, or long-term memory, the sustained storage of

information, which may be represented as isolated element or more likely as

interconnected networks (ibid:17).

Of the three cognitive models, in perceptual processing, attention has been drawn

to the aural text. The acoustic signals are retained in the short-term memory. Since in

listening comprehension the speed of speakers is beyond the control of the listeners,

there is continuous stream of speech flowing into the listeners’ ears. The new



information will replace the old one, because short-term memory has limited capacity

and cannot accommodate all information. As a result, words or phrases with specific

order will be prevented from flowing into listeners’ ears. In listening, due to so much

unimportant information or redundancy, listeners are likely to select important

information that can help them memorize the content. In this first stage of listening,

information is encoded according to sounds of words.

In parsing, words and phrases are used to constructed meaningful representations

of the aural text (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990:34). Listeners first decode the

individual word or phrase by matching the aural and visual mental representation in

the long-term memory (Gagne, 1985; in ibid: 34). At this stage, segmentation takes

place, i.e., a meaning unit made up of by a few words is formed. This can be also

called “chunk”. These mental representation of words and expressions are different

from the original sequences of words, rather, they are abstraction of those

representation. They can be used to re-create the intended meaning of the original

according to the grammatical rules, e.g. the tense and voice. The following example

will illustrate it clearly. The original sentence is “Over the past few years, many

unhappy things have happened to her.” Once the sentence enters the listeners’ ears, it

will be stored in the short-term memory. However, after a while, having received too

much new information, the listener will decode the sentence as “She has experienced

sufferings in recent years.”

In utilizing, the intended meaning of the whole text will be summarized. The

process can activate nodes in long-term memory to have meaningful connection with

the ongoing new information. “Utilization is the key to comprehension and the basic

determinant that facilitates it” (ibid). In almost any message, there is the interplay

between the information we have already known and the information entirely new

(ibid: 35). There rises another question, how does the interplay begin? There are two

kinds of necessary knowledge, the world knowledge (the personal experience and

prior knowledge on the topic) and linguistic knowledge (sound, vocabulary,

grammatical rules and discourse pattern) (ibid: 36). Processing new information from

world knowledge is called top-down process, while starting from linguistic

knowledge is called bottom-up process (Howard, 1985; in ibid: 36). In listening



comprehension, according to Howard (ibid), “the effective processing of text requires

the use of both top-down and bottom-up processing.”

The three cognitive models of listening compression provide information on how

aural texts are processed and comprehended in human brains. When listeners have

difficulties in these aspects, concordant cognitive strategies will be adopted. The main

cognitive strategies can be seen from the following Table 1 (ibid: 46).

Table 1. Main content of cognitive strategies

Rehearsal Repeating the names of items or objects to be remembered

Organization Grouping and classifying words, terminology, or concepts according to their semantic or syntactic attributes

Inferencing Using information in text to guess meanings of new linguistic items, predict outcomes, or complete missing parts

Summarizing Intermittently synthesizing what one has heard to ensure the information has been retained

Deducing Applying rules to the understanding of language

Imagery Using visual images (either generated or actual) to understand and remember new information

Transfer Using known linguistic information to facilitate a new learning task

Elaboration Linking ideas contained in new information, or integrating new ideas with known information

Metacognitive is “thinking about thinking”, or “cognition about cognition”. It

means a conscious control of one’s own cognitive strategies. Metacognitive strategies

involve planning, selective attention, monitoring and evaluation (Anderson, 1985;

ibid: 45). According to Anderson, planning is for the organization of the aural text;

the listener can choose either top-down or bottom-up process in order to understand

the passage.

Table 2 will show the main content of the metacognitive strategies (ibid: 46).

Table 2. Main content of Metacognitive strategies

Planning Planning for the organization of either written or spoken discourse

Selective attention

Focus on special aspects of learning tasks, as in planning to listen for key words or phrases

Monitoring Reviewing attention to a task, comprehension of information that should be remembered, or production while it is occurring

Evaluation Checking comprehension after completion of a receptive language activity, or evaluating language production after it has taken place



Social affective strategies are also important in listening comprehension; those who

are armed with these strategies have less listening problems than those who do not

have. Table 3 will show the main information on this (ibid: 46).

Table 3. Main Content of social affective strategies

Cooperation Working with peers to solve a problem, pool information, check notes, or get feedback on a learning activity

Questions for clarification

Eliciting from a teacher or peer additional explanation, rephrasing, or examples

Self-talk Using mental redirection of thinking to assure oneself that a learning activity will be succeed or to reduce anxiety about a task

3.2 Research Questions

After introduction of all those strategies, the next thing to do is to apply them to

check what is really going on inside different listeners. What are the differences

between listening difficulties of more skilled and less skilled listeners? Are there any

differences in using the strategies to overcome these difficulties?

3.2 Methodology

In the present study, two methodologies are involving, the quantitative one and the

qualitative one. The quantitative study is made up of two tests, a pretest and a post test.

The pretest includes two parts: the first part is a short passage. The second passage is

dictation. The post text is for qualitative study. Listeners are asked to transcribe every

word they have heard. The qualitative study is think-aloud method, by recording

words of both the more skilled and the less skilled listener first. After that, the words

are transcribed. Differences of the difficulties are categorized, and different strategies

in terms of cognitive and metacognitive ones are categorized, too.

3.3 Participants

46 students in Three Gorges University have participated in the quantitative

study. 42 test papers are available for data analysis. Their ages range from 20 to 22



years old and they are the third year students, majoring computer science. Their

English levels are different.

3.4 Procedure

3.4.1 Quantitative Study

1) Pretext

The pretext was conducted first. Participants were required to write their names,

sex, age and English levels on the test paper, for the convenience of data analysis.

Before the pretext, they were instructed that the results had nothing to do with their

final evaluation, so they could concentrate themselves on the listening task and would

not feel nervous when listening.

There were two short passages taken out of Intermediate Listening Comprehension

(He et al, 2002). The first one was an authentic material on visiting dentist. See

Appendix 1. After the passage, in order to check the extent to which was

comprehended by listeners, there were four multiple choices as well as six true or

false questions to be finished. That is to say, ten questions together for the first

passage. Total points were ten, and one point for each question. The tape would be

played three times.

2) After finishing the first passage, there were two questions for all the participants.

One was about the difficulties they had met in real time listening. Students should list

them out in Chinese. The other was the strategies they had adopted to overcome these

difficulties. Both difficulties and strategies were categorized from cognitive and

metacognitive perspective.

3) Participants would listen to the second short passage. This time, the aural material

was not authentic and it was dictation. Students were asked to transcribe every word

they had heard.



4) After listening the second short passage for three times, a period of time was given

to them to write down the words. Another 10 minutes were given to them to write

down the difficulties as well as strategies.

5) All these papers were collected and judged. The results of the first passage are

demonstrated as Table 4.

Table 4. Results of the first passage

The result of dictation was really bad. Nobody could write the full text down,

therefore only those who wrote down the main ideas were counted. Misspelling was

neglected, since the test was for listening comprehension. It shows that those who got

higher marks of listening comprehension could also do much better in dictation.

6) The participants were divided into two groups: those who had passed CET-4 and

simultaneously got higher marks in the first two passages were taken as the more

skilled group, while those who had not passed CET-4 and got lower marks were taken

as the less skilled group.

3.4.2 Qualitative study

7) The qualitative study was carried out three days later. Two participants were

selected from each group and think-aloud method was used to read their minds when

they were listening. A new passage was chosen and it was from the model test of

CET-41 paper (Wang, 2006). The topic was totally new to both of them, making sure

that both of the two do not have the relevant prior knowledge. There were 172 words

for the passage and it lasts for one minute. Both two participants were girls.

Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Number of students

1 1 5 13 5 10 4 2 1 0

Percentage 2.38% 2.38% 11.90% 30.95% 11.90% 23.80% 9.52% 4.76% 2.38% 0%



Think-aloud method was used here to uncover what was really going on when

listeners were processing information.

“When researchers are attentive to the potential problems caused by the

procedure and take steps to control and account for them, think-aloud protocol

collection and analysis can be a remarkably illuminating research methodology, and

often it is used on information-processing.” (Hyland, 2005:185).

The whole think-aloud method last 10 minutes. Two recorders were used: one

was for playing the tape and the other was for recording the think-aloud words. After

each sentence, the tape would be stopped, and each participant would speak aloud

what they had heard. Even if they heard nothing, they still needed to speak out their

feelings and their difficulties. In case they did not know what they say, some words

would give them hints, such as “What have you heard just now?” “Can you describe

what happened in your brain when you heard the sentence?” After the think-aloud

was finished, every word was transcribed.

The following transcriptions of think protocols illustrate the different approaches

used by Wu (a less skilled listener) and Yuan (a more skilled listener). It can provide

some insights into the difference of information processing between more skilled and

less skilled listeners. The two were listening to a short passage on English education

in the USA.

Today, students who want to learn English in the US have a wide choice of courses

and institutions to choose from.

Wu: Today… It should be most students want to learn English in the US (in Chinese).

And, is to…., I don’t know.

Yuan: Today, students studying English in the US. Have a variety of …what to

choose or tuitions? I can’t hear the words between the two parts.

For the first part of the sentence, Wu only hears one English world “today” and

translates it into Chinese. She almost misses the latter part. Yuan hears the first part of

the sentence and can repeat clearly! She uses bottom-up process, trying to listen to

every word.



And, because the US is such a big country they also have a huge variety of locations

in which to study.

Wu: …is to and the US What? Country? The main idea is that many people are

concerning their English study.

Yuan: Because, because US is a …country. The adjective before country I haven’t

heard clearly. They also have a…more or less. The words in the middle of the

sentences I have remembered just now, but now forget.

Can you speak out the main idea?

Yuan: There are many places to study, because the word “locations” I have heard.

Wu totally misunderstands the sentence. Yuan, using top-down process, can hear the

main frame of the sentence and neglects the unclear word, but still she knows that the

missing word is an adjective. When required to speak the main idea of the sentence,

she can retell it according to the key word of “locations”. It is the bottom-up process.

That is to say, Yuan can do better than Wu at the parsing stage, where she can

alternate flexibly between top-down and bottom-up process. She can also plan in

listening, though she knows that she misses the adjective word, she can grasp the

structure of the sentence.

The US has a long tradition of teaching English because, throughout its history, the

country has welcomed immigrants from all over the world.

Wu: This is the sentence she (refers to Yuan) has just mentioned. It means that more

opportunists are needed to learn English. I can hear the sentence clearly, and know the

meaning but cannot repeat. It is too long, and I can’t memorize it.

Yuan: I am not sure of the first few words, but I hear the word “tradition”, and

throughout out history, the country has welcomed a lot of foreign students because

there is the phrase of “all over the world”.

Wu continues to misunderstand the words. Her attention stops at the previous

sentence and speaks its meaning. That means the new information has not flowed into

her brain yet, and her short-term memory is stilled occupied by the old information.

Yuan can almost understand the sentence by hearing some key words and have better

perception and parson ability. She can link the key word to the main idea of the

sentence, so her utilization is also good. Moreover, though she cannot listen to every



word clearly, she can selectively listen to some important words, such as “all over the

world”.

Most of whom have needed to learn English.

Wu: Most of them have to learn English.

Yuan: Most of who have needed to learn English.

Wu does not understand the sentence totally. From the linguistic elements, she only

guesses the meaning; unfortunately it is not absolutely right. Yuan can repeat the

sentence and form meaning units or “chunks”, thus have more cognitive capacity to

processing other information.

Today, the US’s English language teaching sector is well-developed and its

teachers are highly qualified and experienced.

Wu: Today…education, I can’t remember.

Can you guess?

Wu: Sorry, I can’t. The latter part says the teachers should have rich experience.

What about you?

Yuan: It is supposed that the education develops fast, because I hear the word “Well-

developed” (in Chinese). And the teachers should have rich experience.

Wu misses the first part of the sentence. When asked to guess the meaning, she does

not know where she can start from. Yuan understands the meaning of the whole

sentence. And the first part of the sentence is through bottom-up process. Also, she

adopts metacognitive strategy of selective listening.

American universities and colleges welcome many thousands of overseas students

each year.

Wu: A lot of foreign students are enrolled in America (in Chinese).

Yuan: American universities and colleges welcome many thousands of overseas

students each year.

Wu only translates the original sentence word by word, while Yuan can repeat the

whole sentence. Even for the easiest sentence, Wu cannot retell any word of the

sentence, and just infer the main idea according to what she heard, using bottom-up

process, while Yuan can hear the whole sentence and then repeat it. This shows that

the more skilled listener has a better control of her cognitive capacity than the less

skilled one; therefore she can first listen to it and then repeat it.



…who enroll on degree or post-graduate courses.

Wu: I have only heard two words “program courses”.

Yuan: This sentence should be an attributive clause modifying the previous sentence,

and it refers to those who want to learn English on campuses.

Wu only hears two words with one of them wrong, and pays too much attention to the

grammatical elements. Yuan, on the contrary, can organize the sentence according to

its structure by recognizing that it is an attributive sentence. Also, Yuan uses

cognitive strategy i.e. elaboration (linking the new information to the old one), and

deducing i.e. using the grammatical rules to the understanding of the language.

Most of these institutions provide preparation courses for students who need to

improve their English before they study English.

Wu: I can’t hear what it is, but there is the phrase “prove English”, and before…their

English

Yuan: I can’t hear it clearly either, but the phrase is “improve their English”, and

before they start their English study.

Wu misunderstands the meaning again, “prove English” seems to mean nothing in the

context. Yuan, though has not understood the whole sentence, anyway, by inferencing,

i.e. using information in text to guess meanings of new linguistic items to complete

missing parts, gets the right meaning of “improve their English”.

These courses are called Intensive English Programs and …

Wu: Intensive …English… I am not sure. (In Chinese)

Yuan: There is a phrase, maybe Intensive English Programs, yeah, it is Intensive

English Programs.

Wu dose not using any cognitive strategy at all, while Yuan uses monitoring to check

the information; also, she rehearses, repeating the names of items or objects to be

remembered. Moreover, she adopts social affective strategies, by self-talking.

…they are the most common type of courses taken by overseas students…

Wu: I cannot hear it clearly by what…”by students”.

Yuan: and there are common …taken by overseas students (repeating), which means

that those are chosen by overseas students (in Chinese).



Wu knows fewer words than Yuan. For Yuan, though she does not know every word

in the sentence, she can ignore it and selectively listen to the other important

information, using top-down method.

In addition to language tuition …

Wu: I get no idea.

Yuan: Language dictation, right? I don’t know the last word.

This time, only the phrases, but neither the two listeners gets the meaning. It means

that, both of them have not prepared for listening, and they are waiting for the next

sentence or phrase, so both of them select their attention. The difference is that Yuan

tries her best to listen to the text though she fails.

Intensive Language Programs give students the chance to know their school and the

American academic environment.

Wu: It seems that students are given what sort of chance. The rest escapes from me

(in Chinese).

Yuan: Intensive language programs gives students chance to learn school (in English),

no, “gives” should be “give”, since programs is the plural form. It means to let those

students get to know their life in America. “Be familiar to” is “shouxi” in Chinese.

Wu hears some important words “students” and “chance”. Yuan first monitors herself

by correcting “gives”; then uses social affective strategies to have self-talk, i.e. using

mental redirection to assure herself that she gets the right meaning.

3.4.3 Discussion

From the results of the quantitative study, all the participants are divided into two

groups. Those who got higher points and also passed CET-4 belong to more skilled

group and those who were less than six points and had not passed CET-4 formed the

less skilled group. There are sharp a difference between their listening difficulties.

Table 5 shows them.



Table 5. Difference of listening difficulties of more skilled and less skilled

listeners

From Table 5, it is easy to see that there are some cognitive differences and some

similarities between the less skilled listeners and the more skilled listeners. At first

stage, for perception, there are many similarities of both groups. The first four items

are the same. At the parson stage, more skilled listeners have fewer problems than the

less skilled group. The capacity of short-term memory of the less skilled listeners is

smaller than that of the more skilled listeners, who have learned many words but

forget them. At the third stage, the striking difference between the two groups is that

the less skilled group cannot get the main idea of the whole passage while the more

skilled group can, only with some detail information unclear.

By analyzing the passage sentence by sentence in think-aloud method, the

differences of adopting strategies by the less skilled listener and more skilled listener

are also striking. Table 6 shows the differences.

Table 6. Comparison of strategies adopted by different listeners

Group Strategies

Less skilled listener More skilled listener

Group Difficulties

Less skilled Group

More skilled Group

Perception 1.Cannot hear clearly; 2.Too many new words; 3.Different from the previous

aural materials; 4.It is too fast; 5.Cannot be costumed to the intonation;

6.Do not know the meaning of some phrases;

1.Cannot hear clearly; 2.Too many new words; 3.Different from the previous aural materials; 4. It is too fast; 5. Cannot recognize the Linking sound of words;

Parsing 1.Hear the words clearly, but do not know the meaning; 2.Too long and easily to forget; 3.Cannot connect new information with the old one;

Some words that have been already learnt, but the meaning with the sounds cannot be linked;

Utilization Cannot get the gist; Can get the gist, but not every detail



Cognitive Only bottom-up method; Inferencing; Translate;

Both bottom-up and top-down methods; Inferencing; Rehearsal; Organization; Elaboration;

Metacognitive Planning; Selective listening;

Planning; Selective listening; Monitoring;

Social affective

None Using self-talk to assure herself to get the right meaning;

There are two another differences between the two listeners. The less skilled one

does not want to try hard to listen to the passage, and she gives up easily; the more

skilled one can try her best to listen to the passage though she cannot understand it

totally. The second difference is that more skilled listener can alternatively change

between top-down and bottom-up method. From Table 5, it is easy to see that the

more skilled listener uses far more strategies than the less skilled one.

4. Conclusion

There are huge cognitive differences of difficulties in listening comprehension

between less skilled listeners and more skilled listeners. There are also different

strategies adopted by different listeners. These strategies include cognitive,

metacognitive and social affective strategies. A quantitative and a qualitative study

were carried out to uncover these differences, and think-aloud method was adopted in

the study. The results show that more skilled listeners use more strategies in listening

comprehension than less skilled listeners; in the process of listening comprehension,

more skilled listeners try harder than less skilled listeners.

5. References

Asher, J. J. (1982). Learning another language through actions. Sky oaks productions

Ink.

Blair, R.W. (1987). New methodology for foreign language teaching. (Translated by

Xuyi). Beijing: Beijing Linguistics College Press.

Brown, G. (1990). Listening to Spoken English (2nd Ed.). Landon: Longman.

Elliot, A.J. (1981). Child Language. Cambridge University Press. Ellis, R. (1999). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Shanghai: Shanghai



Foreign Language Education Press.

Goh, C.M. (1997). Metacognitive awareness and second language listeners. ELT Journal 51, 361-369.

Goh, C.M. (1998b). How ESL learners with different listening abilities use

comprehension strategies and tactics. Language Teaching Research 2, 124-147.

Goh, C.M. 1999. A cognitive perspective on language learners’ listening

comprehension problems. System, 28, pp.55-75.

Goh, C.M. (2000). A cognitive perspective on language learners’ listening

comprehension problems. System 28, 55-75.

He, Qixin at al. (2002). Intermediate Listening Comprehension. Beijing: Foreign

Language Teaching and Research Press.

Hyland, K. (2005). Teaching and Researching Writing. Beijing: Foreign Language

and Research Press.

Kelly, P. (1995). The importance of listening---a personally illustrated view.

Zielspraele English, 12, 12-19.

O’Malley, J.M. & Chamot, A.U. (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language

Acquisition. Cambridge University Press.

Ur, P. (1984). Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge University Press.

Vandergrift, L. (2003). Orchestrating Strategy Use: Toward a Model of the Skilled

Language Listener. Language Learning, 53(3), pp. 463-496.

Vandergrift, L. (2004). Listening to learn or learning to listen? Annual Review of

Applied Linguistics, 24(4), pp. 3-25.

Vandergrift, L. (2006). Second Language Listening: Listening Ability or Language

Proficiency? The Modern Language Journal, 90(6), pp. 6-18.

Wang, Changxi. (2006). Model Tests of Forecast for 2006 CET-4. Beijing: Xueyuan

press.

Note 1

CET is the short form for College English Test which is promoted by the Chinese Education Department. It contains CET-4 and CET-6 which are both held twice a year, and CET-6 has a higher requirement of the participants than CET-4.

Appendix: Pretest: Name Age Sex English level Tel:

This is a very simple listening test for you. The results are not important, and they

are only for me to finish my paper. I will keep all the personal information about



you, so please do not worry about anything you have written on the paper. Thank

you for your cooperation! ^_^

1. Listening comprehension

A) Choose the best answer (A, B or C) for each of the following questions.

1).Why does the dentist asks the man to open his mouth wide?

A). To give him a general check-up.

B). To give him an injection

C). To pull out one of his teeth.

2).Why doesn’t the patient open his mouth?

A). He hates to have injections.

B). His tooth aches.

C). He is afraid of the dentist.

3). Why does the dentist want to give the patient an injection?

A). To make him be quiet.

B). To make the patient relax.

C). To reduce the pain while the tooth is being pulled out.

4). What does the dentist finally do?

A). He gives him an injection.

B). He pulls the tooth out.

C).He gives him same painkillers.

B).True or False Questions. Write a T in front of a statement if it is true

according to the recording and write an F if it is false.

1). ( ) The patient has come to see the dentist because his tooth has been aching

for a week.

2). ( ) The injection will only freeze the area around the tooth rather than let the

patient go to sleep.

3). ( ) The patient doesn’t want to watch in the mirror in front of him because he‘ll

faint.

4). ( ) According to the dentist, the patient will make up the blood that he will lose

in a night.

5). ( ) The dentist is angry with the patient because he is wasting her precious time.

6). ( ) The patient will probably have his tooth pulled out next week.

What difficulties do you have when you listen to the passage?



How have you dealt with them?

2. Dictation. Please write what you have heard just now.

Your difficulties in listening:

Your strategies:



Title

An Integrated Approach to Teaching English Trade Letters

Author

Wenhua Hsu

Bio

Wenhua Hsu is an associate professor of the Center for General Education in the I-

Shou University, Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan. She obtained her MBA degree in

Kansas State University, U.S.A. and a Ph.D. degree in the field of ESP in the

University of Essex, U.K. Over the past thirteen years, she has taught English courses

for Business Purposes. Her current research interest is students’ vocabulary size and

the selection of English textbooks with specific reference to readability calculation.

Abstract

The present study results from a reflection on the researcher’s teaching

procedure in her Trade Letter Writing course for undergraduate English majors

in an EFL context. The paper offers a conceptualized framework with content-

based instruction, genre awareness, group work in continuous simulation and a

courseware approach embedded, outlining the pedagogical procedures on which

the framework is based. The researcher sought to reply to the genre theory set

out in the literature to support a genre awareness, which aims to make learners

recognize the communicative purpose, structure and linguistic features of a

trade letter. Content knowledge and language components were phased into the

course syllabus to progress in a systematic order. Group work was organized

and assigned in a number of principled ways. In addition, a quasi-natural

environment in the classroom was created, by modelling business



correspondence through continuous simulation. From this premise, the

researcher used a campus web-based learning platform to build up her teaching

materials, which is called an e-course. Consequently another important goal of

this study was to evaluate the proposed teaching framework and students’

attitude about the course. Open-ended questionnaires concerning the trade letter

writing course were given at the end of the semester. The results provided some

evidence of the effectiveness of genre structure knowledge in organizing and

developing content. The courseware reduced students’ class tension and

consolidated genre knowledge introduced in class. The questionnaire findings

reflected the need of most students for business writing skills as well as

knowledge of commercial documents and trade terms.

Key words: genre awareness, content-based instruction, continuous simulation,

1. Introduction

English for business purposes (EBP) is one of the subdivisions of English for

specific purposes (ESP). It is generally accepted that the development of ESP

originated in the 1960s because of the growth of science and technology, the role of

English and the various market demands for English language. Pickett (1989) found

that EBP teaching in fact long predated English for general purposes (EGP) teaching.

More specifically the earliest English language teaching was for commercial purposes

with specific reference to trade.

In the 1960s and 1970s, EBP course materials were mainly concerned with

written language (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). In the 1970s EBP was oriented

toward English used in international trade. The commercial correspondence courses

taught model letter writing mainly relating to import and export trades such as

inquires and replies. Meanwhile specialist vocabulary was emphasized. Ellis and

Johnson (1994) reported that in this period the approach underlying the earlier

business English course books was to present business-related terminology, a few

comprehension questions on the text and exercises of randomly selected structures.

Furthermore, business course books did not take the subject matter knowledge into

account either. Business English was therefore largely a matter of knowing and using

business-related words on the assumption that the students already knew the

transactions. There was no consideration of how the learner might apply content area

knowledge in language use and no development of the skills of interaction. In the late



1970s and 1980s the growth of EBP coincided with the growth in the economies of

countries in South East Asia and the Pacific Rim. Since the early 1980s, the study of

English for business purposes has attracted growing interest.

From the 1990s to date, within ESP more and more EBP course books have

been published, because the BE market has been seen as a growth area since the

1990s (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). According to St John’s (1996) dichotomy,

business English (BE) itself is an umbrella term encompassing English for general

business purposes (EGBP) and English for specific business purposes (ESBP). In

addition to this dichotomy, there is a further proliferation of terms with BE as in all

ESP: BE for MBA executives, BE for international trade and business management

English and BE for secretaries, etc. These terms not only show that EBP practitioners

brand their offerings by developing niches through a proliferation of terms, and target

different contexts for use of BE, but also reveal that various EBP programs are

designed to meet learners’ needs.

1.1 EBP Teaching in Taiwan

A glance at EBP teaching in Taiwan reveals that EBP programs differ widely. In

the context of academic study, BE learners remain in their own subject while

language teachers are attached to, or integrated into the learner’s subject department.

In the context of occupational area, language classes may even be arranged within the

company or in a learner’s spare time. McDonough (1984) has defined this as “on-site

learning” (p. 104), in contrast with instruction in a language department or a language

school. Open universities and night schools also offer EBP courses. Most of their

students are people currently employed. Various EBP programs at tertiary level in

Taiwan may be summarized into two formats: (1.) content-based instruction (CBI)

with more content focus and (2.) English for business purposes with more language

focus. The EBP courses with the former format are mainly provided for English

majors, running from one term to three years. The latter format is designed for non-

English majors in school and in work, running from just a few days to several years.

1.2 The Course Background

The school researched is one of the leading colleges of foreign languages

in southern Taiwan. The EBP program in this school is split into several

dominant domains such as Introduction to Business Systems, International



Trade, Principles of Marketing, Finance and so on. Differing from St. John’s

(1996) dichotomy for EBP (i.e. English for general business purposes (EGBP)

and English for specific business purposes (ESBP)), the BE curricula can more

strictly be called content-based instruction (CBI) programs for business

purposes. They are loosely equivalent to EGBP in terms of the context of

language students. It can be seen as an amalgam of English for general

purposes (EGP) and deep EBP. Consequently the nature of the EBP courses in

the current context is different from that of a ‘classic’ EBP class. For example,

the emphasis on what items of language for specific purposes are to be learnt in

an EBP class turns out to be a focus on what specialized content is to be learnt

in such a ‘semi”-EBP class. The ‘semi’-EBP is characterized by the redirection

of attention from ‘content in favor of language’ to ‘language in favor of

content’. In other words, specialized content is taken into account more in

syllabus design. The instructional format is a discipline-based model in the

field of CBI. The organizing principle of the discipline-based model is a major

theme with related topics, for example, an international trade theme with topics

of price quotation and documentary credit cycle, etc.

The English majors in this school take elective EBP courses mainly for

two purposes: (1.) preparation for future study in business for their MA degree,

especially in English-speaking countries, and (2.) job-oriented preparation.

These language students regard elective EBP courses as a launch pad for their

career plan.

In the present study, the course, entitled “English Trade Letter Writing” was

a 2-credit hour elective subject at the undergraduate level for the 2nd year

students. The participants were a class of 48 students at the intermediate level

of proficiency. Two textbooks were used: Longman Commercial

Communication (Stanton & Wood, 2005) and Company to Company

(Littlejohn, 2005). The former contains a systematic coverage of the main types

of business letter as well as information about the modern world of

international commerce. The latter adopts an interactive task-and discussion-

based approach, and provides opportunities for students to practice writing

letters to each other (as the book title suggested, company to company).

The class lectures and activities were given mainly in a networked

classroom. The overall instructional objectives were threefold:



1. To equip the students with sufficient export/ import documentation

knowledge to deal effectively with commercial correspondence in the field

of international trade.

2. To familiarize the students with style and structure requirements in the

major types of trade letter.

3. To enable the students to write complete and good trade-related business

letters.

2 The Pedagogical Framework for English Trade Letter Writing

Due to lack of specificity of EBP methodology, the teaching methodology

in the present EBP context has thus been developed by the teacher-researcher

herself. This paper offers an integrated framework for English Trade Letters

teaching and outlines four approaches on which the framework is based. The

four teaching approaches are phased into the course one at a time: content-

based instruction�genre awareness of routine correspondence�group work

and continuous simulation�writing with the aide of e-course outside of the

class.

Meanwhile two aspects of knowledge are imparted: specialist knowledge

with a content focus and specialized knowledge with a language orientation.

From this premise, the researcher sought to rely on the theories set out in the

literature to support the present integrated framework and found that each

approach itself can stand alone to account for its pedagogical rationale. The

rationale of each approach and its application to the class are as follows.

2.1 Content-based Instruction

In the literature, the various content-based instruction (CBI) program types

are characterized by the balance of language and content instruction. Spanos

(1989) distinguished three fundamental types of integrated language and

content instruction: (1.) content-based language instruction, (2.) language-

sensitive content instruction and (3.) articulated language and content

instruction. The three distinctions respectively refer to cases (1) where topical

content is used in the language classroom; (2.) where language instruction is

conducted in the content classroom; (3.) where attempts are made to coordinate



both content and second/ foreign language curricula.

At the tertiary level, Brinton, Snow and Wesche (1989) identified three

models for content-based instruction: theme-based, sheltered and adjunct

formats according to their relative focus on language and content. Crandall

(1993) also classified the notion of integrating language and content instruction

into three types: (1.) content-based language instruction, (2.) sheltered subject

matter teaching and (3.) language across the curriculum. She defined the first

type of CBI as a general approach, in which “ESL or EFL teachers use

academic texts, tasks and techniques as a vehicle for developing language,

content type and thinking/ study skills” (p.14). The second type refers to an

approach in which content area teachers adapt the language of their texts to

make their instruction accessible to students with lower proficiency levels. The

third type means an effort to integrate language instruction into all other

curricula—an approach where language and content teachers are teamed

together and language teachers derive their materials from the content course.

The language teacher emphasizes language skills while the content teacher

focuses on academic concepts. These three models can be put on a continuum.

At one end of the continuum is the content-driven model (i.e. the sheltered

CBI) and at the other end is the language-driven format (i.e. theme-based CBI).

Extended from the content-driven model to the extreme is discipline-based

language instruction (Krueger & Ryan, 1993). The content is normally

disciplinary materials. This embraces instruction in non-language courses that

makes extensive use of informational resources in a foreign language or in

content courses taught in a foreign language. In line with discipline-based

model, the sustained notion advocated by Pally et al (2000) is an important

addition to the existing CBI models. She used the term ‘sustained content-

based instruction’ (SCBI) to emphasize that not all content-based curricula

feature sustained content. She defined SCBI as studying one content area over

time and proposed sustaining a particular content instruction over a semester to

lead to deeper engagement with content sources, meaningful content learning

and improved language abilities.

In sum, there are several features which distinguished the aforementioned

models from each other (Brinton et al., 1989; Pally et al., 2000; Snow &

Brinton, 1997; Wesche, 1993).



1. Learning focus:

In the theme-based model, the focus is EFL/ESL learning; in sheltered

courses, it is mastery of content materials; in adjunct model, both language

and content learning are given prominence. In the sustained model, a single

content are is emphasized in depth. In discipline-based courses, academic

disciplines are the content organizing principle.

2. Responsibility assumed by instructors:

In theme-based and sustained courses, language teachers also teach content

material; in sheltered and discipline-based courses, subject teachers are

responsible for presenting material in the target language in a way that will

support language learning; in adjunct courses, each teacher is responsible

for his/her subject domain as well as coordination with the other.

3. Proficiency levels required:

Theme-based, sheltered and adjunct courses can be offered at all

proficiency levels whereas discipline-based and sustained courses require

that students have from intermediate to advanced listening and reading

skills.

4. Focus of evaluation:

More attention to language objectives might be paid in theme-based

courses; more focus on subject matter learning in sheltered and discipline-

based, and more concentration on both content and language in adjunct

programs.

The 1980s were dynamic years for those interested in content-based

instruction. The literature review concerning CBI types has two purposes:

(1.) To characterize CBI as a methodology with many facets, this review

tries to capture the great variety of CBI formats and the contexts in

which CBI is used.

(2.) A reference to previous CBI models would clarify which part of CBI

the present pedagogical framework fits conceptually.

As aforementioned, the discipline-based model has been used in the school

studied. The rationale of adopting CBI in this English Trading Letter Writing

class is that these language students perceived that their primary task was not

only the display of content in their writing with precision, conciseness and

clarity, but also the acquisition of content. They saw the need for conveying



their business knowledge and L/C concepts in trade-related correspondence.

Incorporating content-based instruction in an EBP curriculum was a natural

result of considering such a need. Appendix 1 illustrates a part of class lectures,

through which indispensable background knowledge dealing with export and

import is delivered.

2.2 Genre awareness of routine correspondence

Swales established genre as an independent concept in applied linguistics,

especially in ESP. Awareness and knowledge of genre structure play an

important role in formal writing. According to Swales (1990.), a genre can be

briefly defined as a class of texts characterized by a sequence of segments or

‘moves’ with each move accomplishing some part of the overall communicative

purpose of the text, which tends to produce distinctive structural patterns.

Genre analysis is the study of the structural and linguistic regularities of

particular text-types and the role they play within a discourse community.

Nwogu (1991) further specified the definition of “move” as “a text segment

made up of a bundle of linguistic features (e.g. lexical meanings and

illocutionary forces, etc.), which [gives] the segment a uniform orientation and

signals the content of discourse in it” (114). Each move is taken to embody a

number of ‘constituent elements’ which combine to constitute information in

the move. For example, Bhatia (1993) used a genre approach to analyze sales

promotion letters and job application letters, and found that both have similar

communicative purposes in the ‘moves’ within the written texts. Genre-based

pedagogies have particularly emphasized raising the awareness of non-expert

members of a genre community of conventional structures. Swales (Ibid.)

proposed that by identifying recurring discourse structures such as moves and

steps and discourse markers in genre-specific texts, such a language analysis

enables students to raise their genre awareness and “facilitates their

participation in their disciplinary discourse communities” (213).

It has been claimed that genre awareness has several advantages such as

enhancing learners’ performance in discourse communication skills, benefiting

learners in their professional roles, and promoting a higher level of intellectual

quality in lines of logical thinking (e.g. Hyland, 2000; Mustafa, 1995; Johns,

2001). Considering the importance of the concept of genre, the question of how



genre awareness can be realized in classroom activities follows.

From the genre-awareness premise, the students were firstly directed to

keep uppermost in their mind the 7 Cs’ principles: completeness, clearness,

correctness, concreteness, conciseness, courtesy and consideration. The 7 Cs’

can be applied to all genres of business letter to ensure the effective exchange

of information (i.e. the economy of language and writing to the point) and the

successful establishment or maintenance of social relationship.

As mentioned, the second aim of the course was to raise the students’

awareness of the generic and structural features of routine correspondence and

to empower them with the strategies necessary to replicate these features in

their own production. To accomplish this, they were given several sample

letters for each type of business letter based on a variety of textbooks. The

teacher-researcher found that regular and formal correspondence derived from

textbooks often follows a standard format and hence easier for EBP learners to

imitate. The 48 students were then asked to identify some of the structural

characteristics, by working on the mini-corpus of sample letters in small group.

In line with Swales, sample letters in the corpus were analyzed into moves,

corresponding to the development of messages in the body of the letter.

Although the moves may be variously labelled, students eventually managed to

identify twelve types of trade-related business letter, which normally embody

the following constituent elements.

Table 1: The moves in trade-related business letters

Sales letter Inquiries/ Requests Replies to inquiries

1. Begin with a strong opening statement that attracts the readers’ attention.

2. Identify your product’s features in a positive way. (a.) Explain (b.) Itemize the benefits.

3. End confidently and encourage the reader to respond.

1. State where you learned about the company/ product.

2. Give general information about your business.

3. State your interest. 4. Request action. 5. Close the letter and

the appropriate ending.

1. Acknowledge the letter of inquiry.

2. State what action you are taking.

3. (Focus attention on important information.)

4. Answer any specific questions the enquirer asked.

5. Suggest ways in which you could help the enquirer to make a decision (to buy).

6. Invite the enquirer to



ask for further information.

Order letter Replies to orders Refusing order

1. Acknowledge the previous correspondence.

2. (State your reactions to the prices, discounts, etc.)

3. Place the order (a.) Give the detailed

info. (b.) Indicate

how the product must be shipped.

4. Confirm terms of payment.

5. Set deadline for delivery.

1. Acknowledge receipt of the order.

2. Confirm the supply. 3. Say what you have

done about the order. 4. Say what you are

going to do next about the order.

5. Assure the delivery. 6. Close the letter and

the appropriate ending.

1. Thank the customer for the order.

2. Say that you cannot meet the order.

3. Say why you cannot meet the order.

4. Suggest an alternative.

Shipping advice Collection letter Re-application for

payment

1. Refer to the order. 2. Give shipping details.

E.g. arrival date, vessel name, shipping documents: B/L, invoice, packing list, etc.

3. Thank you for the patronage and look forward to the safe arrival of the goods.

1. Refer to the product for which payment is due.

2. State the current status of the overdue account.

3. Ask for a payment to be sent.

4. Conclude by indicating your faith in the customer’s continued business.

1. Review earlier efforts to collect payment.

2. Give a final opportunity to pay by fixing a deadline.

3. State that you wish to be fair and reasonable.

4. State what action you will take if this request is ignored.

5. Regret the necessity for the letter.

Complaint/ Claim Positive adjustment Rejecting a complaint

1. Refer to the order. 2. State reason for

complaint. 3. Suggest possible

causes of the problem. 4. State action(s) you

require the other company to take (Recommend the action that will best solve the problem.)

5. state action taken by your company.

1. Acknowledge the letter of complaint.

2. Explain the cause of the problem.

3. State action taken to prevent the problem happening again (Prevention action).

4. Reassure the customer.

5. State action taken to solve the immediate problem (remedy action).

6. Thank the reader for writing and express your regret about the problem.

7. Explain the transaction from your viewpoint. (State the reason for the refusal tactfully. / Politely explain why the complaint is unjustified.)

8. Sympathize with the reader and show another expression of thanks.



It was stressed in the class that the above moves were simply to provide

students with an easy way into writing business letters. As some routine

business correspondence is a highly conventionalized genre, learners have to be

familiarized with the conventions governing message structuring and

appropriate use of this particular genre in order to master it (Jordan, 1997).

Following the notion of genre awareness, the students were guided to pay

attention to collocations. The rationale of raising students’ consciousness of

collocations is that collocations are somewhat formulaic in nature (Bolinger,

1976). Collocations are often produced as formulaic units that are stored like

other lexical expressions and can be retrieved efficiently as chunks. Lewis

(2000) proposed the teaching of collocations is crucial in the following ways:

1. Collocations, which make up nearly seventy percent of every day

language, are fundamental to language use.

2. The predictability of collocations will make learning easier.

3. The more collocations learners are exposed to, the better they will use

them.

4. Collocations enhance fluency and speed up communication.

5. Recognizing formulaic chunks is crucial for acquisition.

The following is an excerpt from the class handouts, which were complied

based on the BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations (Benson et al.,

1997).

The definition of collocations involves several characteristics:

1. Collocations are combinations of words which are closely adjacent and

which more or less frequently co-occur.

2. Collocations are combinations of words whose meanings can be

understood based on the literal meanings of their components.

3. Collocations are combinations of words which tend to be more or less

lexically fixed permitting substitution in at least one of their

components.

4. Collocations are combinations of words which are grammatically

structured and which are more or less grammatically fixed in forms

allowing changes in their part of speech or word order.



Collocations are of two types: lexical collocations and grammatical

collocations.

Lexical collocations mainly include word-associations where one

component recurrently co-occurs with one or more other components as

the only or one of the few possible lexical choices. Examples include

“quantity discount”, “volume discount”, “bulk order”, “reserve the right”

and “make payment”, etc.

Grammatical collocations refer to words identified by their grammatical

categories rather than lexical meaning association. They consist of a

content word and a function word or certain structural pattern (e.g. a that-

clause, to + infinitive or gerund). For example, “it is essential that + noun

clause”, “look forward to + v-ing” and “would like to + infinitive” are all

grammatical collocations.

Table 2: Lexical Collocations:

Pattern Example Pattern Example Pattern Example

Verb

+

noun

meet deadline meet requirement make payment make concession reserve the right issue/ open a L/C arrange shipment make arrangement place an order receive shipment take a legal action maintain supplies

Adjective

+

noun

immediate dispatch competitive price repeated purchase safe arrival regular supplies great appreciation most favorable terms mutual advantage no commercial value perfect condition firm order unavoidable occurrence

Noun

1 +

Noun

2

volume discount bulk order quantity discount trade discount trade terms worth $ a trial order discount concession market penetration invoice price shipping advice product specifications

Table 3: Grammatical Collocations:

Pattern Examples Pattern Examples

Preposition

+

in one’s favor at one’s expense/ risk

Noun

+

delivery by date deadline of date



noun

combinations

be of interest subject to change without notice up to sample/ expectations of good/ superior quality at ~ days sight with effect from below the standard in good order out of stock in strict rotation under considerable pressure

preposition the letter of date the demand for a discount of ~ % an order for a breach of replacement for apology for lack of inconvenience caused by attention to/ a focus on interest in/inquiry about a shortage of a range of

~ that noun

clause

Please note that We trust that It is essential that I can only assume that We regret that We expect that You can be assured that Please ensure that We suggest that ~should ~ It is very likely that

Verb

+

infinitive

offer to wish to would like to feel free to do not hesitate to be glad to be pleased to There seems to There seems to have been It appears to

Verb/

phrasal verb

+

preposition

+ gerund or

noun

look forward to + v-ing inform sb. of + n. specialize in + v-ing/ n. Thank you for + v-ing/ n. apologize for + v-ing/ n. have pleasure in + v-ing appreciate + v-ing/ n.

Content

word +

prep.

combinations

payable at ~ days sight acceptable on the condition~ meet with one’s approval signed with effect from date~ renewable from date~

In the next step, the students were asked to check whether they could

identify any lexical expressions, which seem to correlate with the generic

structures of a certain type of business letters listed in Table 1. They succeeded

in detecting a number of formulaic chunks which most frequently occur in

some moves of a business letter. Here are some formulaic units found by the

students:

We would appreciate it if…/Could you please send us…/We thank you



for…/We have pleasure in…/ We are pleased to…/We look forward to…/~

will be highly appreciated./We regret to inform you that…/We would be

grateful if…/We have seen your advertisement…/For the attention of

…/We are writing to…/Delivery by…is essential., etc.

2.3 The classroom application of group work

Due to most often a large class of 45 students or more, group work

(usually 4 students in a group, as per the classroom convention) was common

in the school studied. The groups of four for the present EBP class were formed

based on the students’ choice. At the beginning of the first semester, the

students were told to find their own group members and the four members in

the same group were required to sit close together for one academic year.

To ensure students’ active participation in teamwork, the researcher offered

a quasi-natural business environment in the classroom by modeling the process

of doing business through the notion of continuous simulation (Tarnopolsky,

2000). In the business field, case studies or a seminar usually take the form of

simulation, which can bring the realities of the business world into the

classroom through the active involvement of the students in practice-oriented

learning activities. However, traditional simulations are usually disconnected

episodes in the teaching/ learning process. The driving principle was hence to

connect all the simulations throughout the whole year by a single plot with the

same companies (created by each group) being involved from situation to

situation.

In the continuous simulations, students were placed in various business

situations in relation to foreign trade (such as complaint, adjustment, inquiry

and replies, etc.), where each group represented its own company. Students

themselves invented the companies (including logo and trademark, etc.),

decided what their business would be, and assigned the positions/ jobs, etc. In

the second meeting, students were required to present their company about

their business, as well as what materials or machine parts they consider buying

to manufacture their goods or to enhance their service, and to show the design

of the company’s letterhead. When each group’s firm was thus organized, its

day-to-day functioning started throughout the whole academic year (i.e. doing

business with one another on an on-going basis). In this way, students were



encouraged to plan their company’s letters for each business communication

situation. Each company could either be a buyer/ importer for raw material

purchase or a seller/ exporter for its end product. Table 4 is a list of the

companies invented by the students.

Table 4: Twelve companies created and simulated by twelve groups of four

students in a continuous way throughout the whole academic year

Group Company Name Place Group Company Name Place

1 Kuso Office Supplies

Amsterdam, Holland

7 Momo LV Ladies California, U.S.

2 Dreamer PC Home

Taipei, Taiwan

8 The One Textiles Pattaya, Thailand

3 Rain Electronics Seoul, Korea

9 Miracle Kitchen Liverpool, U.K.

4 TBG Computers Singapore 10 A-go-go Drink Machines

Toulouse, France

5 F4 Gentlemen’s Outfitters

Yokohama, Japan

11 Rainbow Food Processor

Murcia, Spain

6 La New Shoes Hong Kong 12 Even Ovens Ltd. Satellite Dishes

Melbourne, Australia

The main aim of such a design was to provide students with a purpose and

context for writing. When the students finished writing, they had to deliver the

letter to the ‘appropriate’ company (depending on being a buyer or a seller).

Each letter that one group (i.e. one company) sent to another would be read for

the message it contained. Meanwhile they would also receive a letter from one

of the other groups, and they would have to take it into account when they

wrote their next letter. When this was completed, they again delivered it to the

appropriate group before moving on to the next trade-related letter. As the

activity progressed, the students had to think not only about the correctness of

the language they used but also of what had happened and what might happen

as a result of their letters.

The feedback stage took place in a separate lesson from the writing activity

itself. Each group of students was required to look through the letter they

received from the other group and to mark on the letters any problems they had

in understanding, any mistakes they noticed in grammar, expression or any

comment they might have on the tone of the letter. Next the students were told



to pass each letter back to the group that wrote it. Each group then checked

through its own letter and tried to correct any errors. The feedback session was

a vital part of the activity in the sense that students were generally much slower

in recognizing their own mistakes than in seeing others’ errors. After peer

feedback, the teacher-researcher collected the revised letters for correction and

marking.

By this stage, this pedagogical framework comprised group work and

continuous simulations, meanwhile content-bases instruction and genre

awareness were phased into the course syllabus to progress in a systematic

order. As a result, this teaching procedure leads to a multi-cycle subject to the

letter types. For instance, if twelve types of business letter are predetermined to

be covered for the whole academic year, the multi-cycles means that there will

be twelve cycles progressing as follows: content-based instruction�genre

awareness�group continuous simulations in letter-writing�feedback session.

The cycle of the teaching procedure is displayed graphically in Appendix 2.

2.4 The e-course platform

Parallel to classroom activities, the teacher-researcher also used a campus

web-based learning platform to build up her teaching materials for students to

study outside of the class in their free time. The e-course platform was set up in

2002 and was originally designed as a course management system for distant

learning courses. It allowed teachers to enhance and expand their curriculum

within and beyond the physical classroom. With the aid of software such as

PowerPoint, Photo Impact and Power Director, etc. (Lin & Lee, 2003), teachers

could put their lecturing materials and students’ work in multimedia formats

into the e-course. Such technology with formulated templates provided teachers

with a teaching material authoring system that was easier than establishing a

websites.

In addition, the e-course contained a hyperlink system in which all

teachers had to do was to type a web page address, which they would like their

students to navigate through. Namely, hyperlinks in the e-course allowed

teachers to incorporate numerous websites, which provided ample information

resources and served as the information hub for the course. Useful websites in



relation to Business Writing provided in the e-course are, for instance:

http://www.business-english-training.com/corres.htm;

http://www.4hb.com/letters/;

http://eleaston.com/biz/bizhome.html;

http://www.better-english.com/exerciselist.html;

http://www.linguarama.com/ps/polite.htm;

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery;

http://www.geocities.com/athens/sparta/9487/;

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000140.htm

As each web address above has hinted, these sites offer letter templates for

application, a complete guide to letter writing and a splendid collection of

model business letters. Other relevant websites for students’ reference are

business glossaries and jargons, which were also put in the e-course platform.

Although nowadays Google, the most powerful search engine, can find more

than 200,000 hits for ‘business English’, the problem for the learners is to

know where to start. As a consequence, a user-friendly courseware system not

only reduces the burden of teachers in preparing extra-curricular materials but

also affords students increased opportunities for autonomous learning.

3. Research methodology

The approaches associated with the teaching procedure used in the

researcher’s EBP context require no radical new approach but rather the

integration of existing approaches in an order where they complement each

other. The main purpose of this research thus sought to have a better

understanding of how a BE teacher can help students to undertake writing on an

easy systematic basis. The specific questions under investigation were:

1. What are the EBP novice learners’ general attitudes toward an integrated

approach to learning English for commercial correspondence purposes?

2. Do content-based instruction, a genre-awareness approach, group continuous

simulation, and e-course application help students to improve their business

letter writing?

3. What problematic areas do EBP novice learners encounter while writing a

business letter and how are they solved?

To obtain the students’ reaction about the course and to evaluate their



writing performance, two methods were adopted to collect the data: a

questionnaire and the students’ written work, trade letters.

An anonymous questionnaire of thirteen open-ended questions (see

Appendix 3) about the students’ perception toward an integrated teaching

approach to business letter writing (i.e. content-based instruction, genre

awareness, group simulation and e-course) was distributed at the end of the

academic year. The responses were classified into several categories based on

the gist of their statements together with any given number referring to the

accurate count. Meanwhile a quantitative analysis of the data focused on the

effectiveness of the genre approach. The researcher speculated that there would

be a genre–awareness effect on better writing performance due to the

instruction of moves and collocations. To find out how the students benefit

from the learning of business genre, repeated measures t tests on pre- and post-

treatments across the first three types of business letter were used (i.e. sales,

inquiries and replies). The measure for writing performance was

operationalized as the number of errors. The better writing performance in this

research was associated with fewer linguistic errors in a letter. Since some

lexical collocations and grammatical collocations in a business letter are

predicable and formulaic in nature as specified in Section 2.2, a student with

this genre and collocation knowledge was expected to make fewer errors as a

whole in a letter of trade type. The total errors were tallied and rechecked by a

colleague of the researcher’s, who also taught Business English. The target of

the coding reliability checks was set at 80% (0.80). This colleague read the

students’ written work independently. The percentage of agreement between

the two ratters was calculated as the formula below to establish the coding

reliability.

% agreement= total number of agreements on the errors * 100 % / (total

agreements + total disagreements)

The comparison was therefore straightforward. The treatment involved

letter writing before (without) and after (with) genre and collocation

instruction, and in total consisted of 12 groups of 4 for each letter. The

prediction is addressed as in the hypothesis.



Hypothesis: There would be fewer errors in letter writing after the instruction

of genre than before the instruction of genre.

Finally, the analyses were meant to check whether on some points there

was convergence of results from the quantitative and qualitative data.

4. Data results and discussion

Two raters agreement coefficients for the number of language errors in a

trade letter met the target level of 80% (96%>80%). Table 5 summarizes the

statistical results concerning the genre-awareness approach.

Table 5: Repeated measures t tests with a genre approach across three types of

letter

Letter type Pre-treatment Mean

Post-treatment Mean

t p (sig.)

Sales letter 12 8 -2.304 0.034*

Inquiry letter 9 6 -2.1 0.048*

Reply letter 11 6 -2.382 0.02* Measure: the number of errors in a letter. The determination of the significance level was set at p<.05. “*”=statistically significant difference.

The statistics reveal that the genre approach demonstrated a beneficial

effect on the writing performance across three letter types (as an average of

fewer errors produced in the post-treatment across three types of letter has

shown, 8<12, 6<9, 6<11). All p-values <.05 indicate a significant difference

between before and after the instruction of moves and collocations in the mean

value of errors. Although the expectation of the impact of genre and collocation

knowledge on fewer errors in letter writing was supported, the results should be

interpreted with caution. It was possible that other factors like sample size and

the difficulty of letter types, and other grammatical errors could explain a

writing discrepancy. As a result, to confirm and pursue the helpfulness of the

genre approach, the questionnaires were analyzed based on the gist of the

students’ statements.

Students’ perception toward a genre-awareness approach

Positive Response Count Negative Response Count

Useful formulaic units and collocations

19 Little time spent on sentence structure

3



The structure of each type of trade letter is clearly listed and easily followed.

32 Insufficient explanation why some wording and tone was impolite

9

Prefer move/sub-move activities in view of a systematic thinking process

27

For fear of point deduction, I wrote a letter well, containing its required structure and complete messages

13

The structure lecture for each type of trade letter is more boring, though it is helpful.

16

Note: The class size = 48. The total counts are not equal to the class size because the students’ responses to each question were classified into several categories based on the gist of their statements.

Mention was made repeatedly of the formulaic phase and collocation section,

which quite a few students (19 out of 48) felt to be the most helpful component.

Among the skills and language features emphasized in the class, twenty-seven

students liked the moves and sub-move lecture and activities because, as they found,

the steps involved in a letter were organized and easily followed (32+27 mentions).

One-third of the students indicated that awareness and knowledge of genre structure,

despite being more boring than other activities at first impression, has helped them to

enhance writing abilities. They admitted that genre knowledge achieved an immediate

effect in light of the thinking process. To some extent, there was an analogy with

driving, as several students pointed out on the questionnaire.

“Genre function, especially ‘move’ recognition, is like signposts. It will be easier for a

driver to follow directions and judge distances when a road is well signposted.”

Furthermore, it was very encouraging for the teacher-researcher to see that quite a few

students (13) mentioned their needs for the teacher’s push from behind. Their

responses often resembled these:

“I remember Ms. Hsu’s lecture about the moves/sub-moves in a letter. The move

structures are deeply rooted in my head. For fear of point deduction, I think I wrote

each type of letter well, containing complete messages.”

Negative comments about this section implied “insufficient syntax

explanation”. They (3) thought that too little time had been spent on grammar.

Additionally, nine students remarked that in some cases it would have been

more concrete to be told why some wording and tone was considered offensive



or inappropriate. Perhaps the teacher-researcher should take the blame because

of her failure to acknowledge the students’ specific needs for the explanation of

sentence structure and some grammatical points. This also reveals that how the

syllabus in this regard may be modified for the next course.

Students’ perception toward content-based instruction

When the students were asked which approach they liked most, genre

structure or content-based instruction, the bulk of students’ preferences (40 out

of 48) tended to center around business content instruction. They gave reasons

for their preferences:

-“Business content knowledge acquired has made me feel that I am a

double major: English major and business minor.”

-“Learning a new content area makes me feel a sense of achievement.”

-“Business concepts are easily kept in mind once understood. I have a

short memory. I dislike form-function exercises.”

The value of CBI was highlighted by students’ conception that they were

more knowledgeable being a double major than being a language single major.

Their needs for knowledge of another content area became prominent when

chances were given. Such content knowledge needs might have dictated their

preferences for CBI. This can be partly ascribed to the fact that the members of

the target group researched were language majors in an EFL context. The EBP

class provided them with the opportunities of learning something new and

different from the language courses.

The content learning needs also helped to explain why the content of the

class lecture remained in their mind beyond one semester. Question 2 in the

questionnaire, “What did you like or dislike about the course content?” did not

directly address the issue of the effects of the different teaching approaches.

However, very surprisingly most students were impressed with the content

lecture delivered at the beginning of this course in the first semester. The topics

taught were completely new to them so that CBI seemed more effective in

terms of memory than genre-awareness exercises. Though collocation exercises

have achieved an immediate effect on writing performance, the CBI effect on

content learning stays longer. The following is a selection of their responses.



-“I remember Ms. Hsu’s content lecture was price quotation concerning

shipping terms at the beginning of the last semester. The concepts are

deeply rooted in my head.”

-“We acquired some basic export/ import concepts, which are helpful in

job-oriented settings.”

Ten students who intended to pursue an export/ import career have

expressed enthusiasm and excitement about the direct usefulness of trade

knowledge learnt in this course.

Students’ perception toward group continuous simulation

Most students felt that group work has reduced their class tension and

panic. They fully understood that their attention span was short. Nevertheless,

they were aware that team spirit (the feeling of being in the same boat)

promoted their thinking skills and mastery of content through collaborative

learning.

-“Continuously role playing for the same company enabled us to learn how

to function in a firm and learn to resolve any conflicts and accomplish

group goals.”

The continuous simulation of an invented company created an atmosphere

of bringing the office to the classroom, such as competing with global

competitors and sustaining growth in a corporation. Their comments often

resembled these:

-“I felt I was a boss.”

-“I enjoyed owing a company running on an ever-lasting basis.”

-“Good game-very realistic and fun.”

One student even changed his confidence in his ability to accomplish more

by working alone than with others. He indicated that such teamwork experience

was different from that in other courses. He enjoyed working with “partners” in

their partnership, and would welcome this kind of “two-heads-are-better-than-

one” participation in the future.



-“We imagined we would make money by quoting a price with a big

profit margin and getting as many orders as we could. We avoided

losing money by making adjustment of a customer complaint at a

minimum expenses and negotiating a favorable compensation.”

Another even mentioned her pride in being able to see her problem-solving

ideas, which were put in the adjustment letter, came to fruition. The overall

students’ impression of group continuous simulation is summarized as below:

Positive Response Count

Playful learning in company simulation 43

Due to sense of competition of ‘doing business’, there were fewer chances to go off task to engage in small talk which is not closely related to the writing theme.

31

More intensive collaboration than usual 28

Sense of achievement-speaking like a boss 5

Negative Response Count

Novelty effects of continuous company simulation wore off in the second semester

1

Students’ perception toward peer feedback

Overwhelmingly positive comments count

A less embarrassing atmosphere to encourage writing peer feedback freely

32

The peer feedback helped me to know my letter writing and thus to produce fewer errors in the 2nd draft to be submitted to Ms. Hsu

40

The peer feedback session received considerable support (32). Some

bluntly showed their happiness in finding fault with others’ letters. They were

excited to see that other groups ended up with rewriting due to many errors

spotted. No one complained about embarrassing peer correcting. They did not

feel that they were not qualified to comment on the peer letters. The socio-

cultural factor of saving face was eased out by group writing. Despite this,

none of the students mentioned that they should have been alert to language

processing and keen on language accuracy during the write-up phase. Such

results were not consonant with some students’ belief about the helpfulness of

formulaic collocations in enhancing writing ability.



Students’ perception toward e-course application

Eight students highlighted the ease of the e-course with which they could

find information from a variety of sources. A few students felt that the e-course

gave them the opportunity to digest and learn class materials at their own pace

and hence reduced class tension and panic. It is worth noticing that those

students who kept high online learning records stated their needs in finding

more sample business letters. Sales letters and negative adjustment letters were

the genres they referred to most frequently.

Among many types of business letters, several students (8) mentioned that

negative adjustment letters were most challenging in terms of maintenance of

social relationship. Somewhat surprisingly, they voiced their concern that

although many letters might focus on routine matters that could be efficiently

handled by copying a model letter, they still needed to learn more (like social

skills and job experience) for non-routine situations as well.

One concern alluded to in the students’ responses could not be ignored in

spite of only two responses. These two students pointed to the importance of

good peer work as a model on the e-course. They gave their reason that due to

equal proficiency level, the peer writings were easier for them to emulate.

Online materials were not really appreciated. Because of part-time jobs,

campus clubs and other reasons, two thirds of the students expressed little wish

to have studied more on the e-course after class. Despite this, the whole class

strongly agreed that the glossary and related business writing websites were

useful. They pointed out that if they needed to look it up, they would surf Ms.

Hsu’s e-course, as relevant websites have been selected and put together in the

e-course. Nine students added that the computer should only ever play a

supplementary role. When asked whether they would welcome the integration

of the e-course into class activities as opposed to out-of-class activities, all of

the students suggested that computers should be used at home for consolidating

language and knowledge areas introduced in class, or for ironing out individual

weaknesses. Those students who voted for computer-free classes explained that

they preferred the collaborative atmosphere of learning in a group.



“I would rather do genre-related exercises in class with Ms. Hsu’s presence than

the expanding drills on the e-course website. They are simply the same drills in

high tech format, which simply look fancy.”

“I prefer practicing with classmates under the guidance of Ms. Hsu to working

on the e-course alone.”

“I like Ms. Hsu’s lecture. Exploring genre on the e-course websites on my

own makes me lose a sense of direction.”

Answers to research questions

In their responses, most students apparently liked the course. Forty

students expressed general appreciation of the recycled teaching method of

each writing theme, which was predictable to them. Before the course, some

students thought that business letters were becoming obsolete because of

advances in communication technology such as e-mail, skype, MSN and voice

mail. Later they found that subject-matter expertise, reader sensibility in the

light of 7 Cs’ principles and language control should be given in equal

prominence, although the lectures of business background knowledge were a

popular session (40/48), with some (17) recommending that even more be

included.

The 48 students’ overwhelmingly positive comments on the course led the

researcher to answer Research Question 1, “What are the EBP novice learners’

general attitudes toward an integrated approach to learning English for

Commercial Correspondence?” and to conclude that generally speaking, the

pedagogical framework appeared to be acceptable to the students. While an

ESP course is highly expected to address learners’ particular needs and to

individualize the learning process, the researcher wishes to contend that

intrinsic interest should neither be ignored nor be sacrificed at the requirement

of specific needs. A simple answer “like or dislike” may suffice. As is evident

from these students’ responses, when the content instruction was a new

experience to them and matched what they believed they would need in the

near future, their curiosity was aroused, and thus led to interest. The issue of

whether their interest could be sustained over time is worth investigating but

beyond the current research aim.

The questionnaire results gave an affirmative answer to Research Question



2, “Do a genre-awareness approach, group continuous simulation, content-

based instruction and e-course application help students to improve their

business letter writing?” The whole class was very sure that when it came to

assessing whether they had actually learnt anything new, one hundred per cent

thought they had. As some students indicated, business background knowledge

and the move-structure awareness of each letter genre helped them to fill the

space with content, while formulaic phrases and collocations made them ready

to shift from the ideas to smooth expression in writing. They admitted that

genre-structure knowledge achieved an immediate effect in the light of the

thinking and composing process. Different from other English writing courses,

students felt that business letter writing seems to be much easier and more

straightforward in terms of literal rather than implied purposes. This reaction

may be interpreted as “the genre awareness effect has been acknowledged by

the students”. It echoes one of the class lectures about business genre---The

guiding principles for commercial correspondence, 7 Cs (completeness,

clearness/ clarity, correctness, concreteness, conciseness, courtesy and

consideration) contribute to make fluent sentences that crystallize the writing

purpose by speaking directly to the letter reader.

Concerning students’ perception toward problem areas in writing a

business letter (i.e. Research Question 3), their reactions included: (1.) word

choice, (2.) modals, and (3.) voice. Based on the teacher-researcher’s

observation of students’ letter writing (see Appendix 4), the most frequently-

occurring problems were: (1.) some lexico-grammatical problems due to the

influence of the native language, namely Mandarin Chinese, including the use

of articles, subject-verb agreement, and tense, etc.; (2.) lengthy run-on

sentences, (3.) occasionally ‘translationese’ in the letter writing, in which

thoughts were formulated in the native language and then translated into

English. This implies that the conceptualization behind their letter composing

involves common linguistic knowledge outside the boundaries of genre

knowledge as well as specialist content knowledge. In other words, content

domain writing (business writing) is not necessarily full of specialist terms and

jargon. The rule-governed aspect of language (e.g. syntax and grammar) should

not be ignored. Otherwise, students might make the same linguistic errors

thousands of times while practicing. Poor linguistic ability may impede content



from being conveyed properly. Likewise, without content area knowledge or

genre knowledge, students might have written more irrelevantly, and less

concisely and precisely. Further research could perhaps investigate whether the

provision of grammar, specialist content knowledge and genre awareness would

benefit students most.

5. Conclusion and pedagogical implications

Though this research focus is not on EBP teacher education concerning

specialist knowledge, the present pedagogical framework implies that mastery

of the business concepts is indispensable if trade-related letters are to be

effectively written. The questionnaire findings reflected a need of most

English-majoring students for knowledge of commercial documents.

Today teachers do not seem to have many choices under the pressure of

large class size and limited instruction hours. They have to compete for and

win students’ attention, especially when the attention span of most students in a

class is short. Teachers may benefit from group work and peer feedback, which

can partially erase repetitive linguistic errors.

The current research failed to study the individual learning profile of the

students, although the teaching framework has addressed the common goal on a

whole class basis. Perhaps the best solution will be self-and peer- assessment of

class participation. The self- and peer- evaluation sheets in the same group put

together would show who did the most jobs in a group, who was capable but

lazy and who played what role, etc. (Note: The researcher-teacher gave the

students self-and peer-evaluation sheets at the end of each semester to assess

each student’s participation. The issues of group dynamics are worthwhile to

explore but they are beyond this research focus.)

Last but not least, the proposed framework in which each phase progresses

in a systematic order is certainly not a panacea. It may offer an alternative way

to teaching English for commercial correspondence for non-business EFL

students as opposed to business professionals, as well as a concrete illustration

of how to help students to compose a business letter in an easier way. The class

in this research was kept intact and was not run in experimental controlled

conditions. The results of the data obtained from a real EFL classroom may

provide a more accurate picture in illustrating the role of specialist content



knowledge, genre knowledge and group continuous simulation in enhancing

participation and writing performance under normal classroom conditions.

Certainly students’ feedback is essential to the ongoing reflections on, in and

for the practice of this course.

References Benson, M., Benson, E., & Ilson, R. (1997). The BBI dictionary of English

word combinations. Amsterdam: John Benjamin. Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings.

London: Longman. Bolinger, D. (1976). Meaning and memory. Forum Linguistics, 1 (1), 1-14. Brinton, D. M., Snow, M. A., & Wesche, M. B. (1989). Content-based second

language instruction. New York: Newbury House. Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific

purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary discourse: Social interaction in academic writing.

London: Longman. Johns, A. M. (2001). Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives. Mahwah, N.J.:

Lawrence Erlbaum. Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for

teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Krueger, M., & Ryan, F. (Eds.). (1993). Language and content: Discipline- and

content-based approaches to language study. Lexington, Mass: D. C. Health.

Lewis, M. (2000). Teaching collocation: Further developments in the lexical

approach. London: Language Teaching Publications. Lin, H., & Lee, Z. (2003). Practical instructional technology development for

teachers. In Selected papers from the twelfth international symposium on

English teaching (pp.459-466). Taipei, Taiwan: English Teachers’ Association.

Littlejohn, A. (2005). Company to company. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press. McDonough, J. (1984). ESP in perspective: A practical guide. London: Collins

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Mustafa, Z. (1995). The effect of genre awareness on linguistic transfer. English for

Specific Purposes, 14(3), 247-256. Nwogu, K. N. (1991). Structure of science popularizations: A genre-analysis

approach to the schema of popularized medical texts. English for Specific

Purposes, 10 (2), 111-123. Pally, M., Bailey, N., Camhi, P. J., Bernard, R. W., & Carson, J. G. (Eds.).

(2000). Sustained content teaching in academic ESL/ EFL: A practical

approach. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Pickett, D. (1989). The sleeping giant: Investigations in business English.

Language International, 1, 5-11. Snow, M.A., & Brinton, D.M. (1997). The content-based classroom:

Perspectives on integrating language and content. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman.

Spanos, G. (1989). On the integration of language and content instruction.

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 227-240. St. John, M. J. (1996). Business is booming: Business English in the 1990s.

English for Specific Purposes, 15 (1), 3-18. Stanton, A.J. & Wood, L.R. (2005). Longman commercial communication.

Essex, England: Longman. Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wesche, M. B. (1993). Disciplined-based approaches to language study:

Research issues and outcomes. In M. Krueger & F. Ryan (Eds.), Language

and content: Discipline-and content-based approaches to language study

(pp.57-82). Lexington, M.A.: D.C. Heath. Tarnopolsky, O. (2000). Business English teaching: Imaginative continuous

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the Business English Special Interest Group, 2, 12-14.



Appendices Appendix 1: How a Documentary Credit works

1. The importer and the exporter must negotiate and agree a sales contract. 2. The importer begins the Documentary Credit process by asking his bank to

open a Documentary Credit in favor of the exporter. The importer supplies his bank with details of the transaction on an application form. By agreeing to open the credit, the importer’s bank guarantees to pay the exporter if the importer cannot or will not pay.

3. The importer’s bank (the issuing bank) sends details of the Documentary Credit to the exporter’s bank (or to its agent bank in the exporter’s country). At this stage, the exporter’s bank may either simply pass on the details of the Document Credit to the exporter, in which case it is an advising bank, or add its own guarantee to the credit, in which case it is a confirming bank.

4. The advising bank then informs the exporter of the Documentary Credit. 5. When the exporter receives the Documentary Credit from his bank, he

checks them very carefully. These details tell him which documents he must prepare before he can be paid, for example, Bill of Lading, Bill of Exchange, Commercial Invoice, Certificate of Insurance, Packing List and Export Permit, etc. Then the exporter dispatches the goods. The B/L is signed by the captain to confirm the goods are on board ship.

6. After this, the exporter takes the documents to his bank, which checks them. If they are in order, the confirming bank pays the exporter or accepts a Bill of Exchange. At this point, the exporter has his money or a Bill of Exchange, the goods are on board ship, and the confirming bank has the documents.

7. The confirming bank then sends the documents to the importer’s bank, the issuing bank, which checks them and send the money to the confirming bank. (If the exporter’s bank has not confirmed the Documentary Credit, but only advised him of it, the exporter will not be paid until the issuing bank has checked the documents and transferred the money, or accepted a Bill of Exchange.)

8. The next stage is for the importer’s bank to debit the importer’s account.



The importer must pay his bank in order to get the documents. Without the documents, and in particular without the Bill of Lading, the importer cannot collect the goods.

9. At this point, the importer’s bank has been paid, the importer has the documents and the goods are on board ship.

10. The final stage is for the importer to use the documents, which prove his ownership of the goods, to collect the goods when they arrive in port.

(Stanton & Wood, 2005, pp. 67-69).

Appendix 2: Sequence in the pedagogical framework for English for commercial correspondence

Appendix 3: Post-course anonymous open-ended questionnaire 1. What stage/ part did you like or dislike about the teaching methods?

(business content knowledge instruction, group simulation/ writing, genre-awareness language function exercises, writing feedback session or e-course extra-curricular materials)

2. What did you like or dislike about the course content? 3. Could you tell me more about your feeling or reaction about the course? (Is

there something else that you would like me to me know about, now that we have finished the course?)

4. Did something unusual or interesting happen while in the group discussion? Could you describe it? Could you make some comments on it?

5. How did your group complete a business letter? (E.g. Did someone take the decision? Or did someone disagree? Or did you have conflicts in composing the message?)

6. What did you feel about the quality of your group writing? Why? 7. In business writing, what knowledge or skills do you think you need? 8. What part of a business letter did you find was harder in writing? 9. What type of business letter did you find was harder in writing? 10. What perception of business writing did you hold before this course?



11. How did you view your participation in doing business in English through continuous simulation?

12. Do you agree this course has helped you to enhance your business writing ability?

13. Would you like your teacher to continue teaching this way? Why? Or why not?

Appendix 4: Transcript of students’ business letter Dear Mr. Deely Your order No. 33421 for scanners December 4th

We thank you for your letter of December 4th , in which you informed us that case number 9 contained the wrong goods. We have looked into this matter and discovered that there appears to have been some confusion in the numbering of two different orders which were collected by our forwarding agent for dispatch to Canada. We have reviewed our coding system and can assure you that similar mistakes will not happen again. We have already dispatched replacements for the contents of case number 9 and have arranged for the collection of the wrongly-delivered goods. Finally, we would like to apologize to you for the inconvenience you were caused and to thank you for your patience in this matter. We look forward to hearing of the safe arrival of case number 9 and to doing further business with you. Yours sincerely Peggy Huang Sales Manager



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Publisher Paul Robertson

Korea

International Business Management

Mr. Scott Grigas

Youngsan University Korea

Senior Advisors

Dr. Roger Nunn

The Petroleum Institute Abu Dhabi

UAE

Dr. John Adamson

Shinshu Honan College Japan

Professor Dr. Z.N. Patil

Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages

Hyderabad, India

Dr. Ahmet Acar Dokuz Eylül University

Turkey

Mr. Darren Lingley Kochi University

Japan

Dr. Mingsheng Li

Massey University

New Zealand

the chinese efl journal

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