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TOLd You So!

Volume 2, Issue 3 [December, 2006]
 

A summary of findings of a survey administered to 14 older learners

Kim Bradford-Watts

Shiga University, Kyoto University

During the summer of 2005, a survey was administered to 14 older learners of English in two classes at a culture center and one private class in Kyoto. The survey contained both open and closed-end questions. The survey was administered on a voluntary basis and although all participants completed the survey, not all participants answered every question. However, the responses still yield a number of findings and point to a number of important implications. This paper will provide a summary of the results obtained by this survey. Areas of investigation included learning histories, purposes for studying English, study strategies and habits, and classroom activities.

The Learner

Most learners (92%) had studied English from junior high school until their graduation from college. 28% had continued their study through various pathways of adult education. 28% had lived or studied abroad. Furthermore, the learners indicated a large range of motivations for learning English, with the most popular being "to communicate with foreigners," "to understand cultures," and "because English is an international language". Reflecting the trend for workers to remain in employment longer, four of the respondents were also learning for professional purposes, either for paid or unpaid work. These learners are very busy taking other classes (8 respondents) and pursuing hobbies (11 respondents).

Study Strategies and Habits

Most of the respondents spend 1-3 hours a week studying English outside class. Half of these learners listen to English programmes on the radio, four watch TV programmes in English, and one reports watching movies in English. Thus, listening practice was the most common form of outside study. About one third of respondents reported reading books, magazines or newspapers, or scientific papers in order to study. What is notable in learner responses here is the reliance on older technologies. The reasons that learners in this age group do not avail themselves of Internet-based resources need to be investigated further.

Consistent with learner motivation to learn English for communication as described in the section, The Learners, above, ten learners thought that speaking was an important focus area for studying English. Moreover, eight learners listed listening, while seven cited vocabulary as important. Learners offered a number of suggestions for studying each skill area. However, notably, they listed only two for speaking: speaking as often as possible and trying not to be shy. They also indicated that they did not pursue some of their suggestions due to lack of time or other reasons. The reason given for not practicing speaking was the scarcity of native speakers with whom to practice. Clearly, although these learners have developed a number of learning strategies, a specific focus on alternatives in each skill area would benefit learners, especially with respect to the use of newer technologies for language learning.

Classroom activities

All responses to the question asking learners to describe classroom activities that were useful for their learning referred to speaking and listening activities, again reflecting the interest in communication mentioned as a motivator by these learners. There was a wide range of suggestions offered by the learners as to other kinds of activities they would like to have introduced into the classroom to increase their English learning efficiency. The suggestions made included activities, all of which focused on increasing the amount of communication or focusing on pronunciation as a sub-skill of speaking, as well as classroom procedures, such as using a textbook to structure learning and using video to introduce a topic for discussion. In this area also, these learners would like to pursue their interest in communication. However, some would appreciate the opportunity to practice by using textbook exercises or by being given the chance to understand and experiment with pronunciation.

Some findings in this study are in contrast to those reported by Ishida (2005), Itoi (2005), and Skier (2005). Variations may be due in part to regional differences, variations in proficiency levels of learners involved in the studies, or individual differences of learners. More research will need to be done with a large number of learners in order to more fully understand these. This study was small in scale, but perhaps that is unavoidable in research relating to learners of this age group who tend to attend classes either privately, in "circles," or at cultural centers (Ohsako, 1999). This points to the necessity for co-ordination between researchers to conduct and report on larger-scale studies, as well as the need for detailed case studies of individual learners to identify significant factors influencing such differences. Action research may point to ways of increasing learner strategies for self-study. More research is necessary on a wide range of issues. There is still much to learn about older language learners.

References

N.B. The full report of this study has been submitted for publication elsewhere. Those seeking more information about the study should contact the author.