View of UNDERSTANDING FOREIGN CHINESE STUDENTS’ LEARNING NEEDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS IN MALAYSIA

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UNDERSTANDING FOREIGN CHINESE STUDENTS’

LEARNING NEEDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS IN MALAYSIA

Ma Lan^1* and Vijayaratnam, P. A.²

1 2 Center of Liberal Arts and Languages, INTI International University, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, MALAYSIA

*Corresponding author: lan.ma@newinti.edu.my Accepted: 7 January 2020 | Published: 19 February 2020

Abstract: The paper investigates foreign Chinese students’ learning experiences in the English language classroom. The research is based a focus group study on foreign Chinese students’

learning experiences in various institutions in Malaysia. Ten students from the pre-sessional English program across Malaysian institutions were randomly selected to find out their thoughts and feelings on a set of questions related to their perceptions and expectations of L2 learning. The focus group were conducted in Mandarin Chinese to ensure students were able to express their opinions in a more accurate way. One finding is the differences in expectations and perceptions of L2 teaching and learning style between English teachers and foreign Chinese students. The findings suggest that foreign Chinese students are not entirely culturally incompatible with the interactive teaching methods adopted by English teachers. Suggestions for practical ways forward to achieve the effective teaching will be shared.

Keywords: Learning, teaching, Chinese, English, teachers, students

1. Introduction

Curiosity about foreign Chinese students and their learning experiences at Malaysia higher education institutions is a topic of interest for educators in Malaysia. The number of foreign students has increased dramatically over the years and this trend will continue with Malaysia aiming to become a global education destination by 2050 with a target of 200,000 foreign students (Chin, 2019). According to the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (2007), Chinese students were the second largest group studying in Malaysia after Bangladesh. They are enormously beneficial to Malaysia and bring diversity to the classroom, and create and promote a long-term relationship between Malaysia and China. However, research has indicated that foreign Chinese students tend to demonstrate lower English proficiency than other foreign students and this negatively influences their learning motivation and academic performances (Xing, Bolden, &

Hogenkamp, 2019).

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Most foreign students come to universities in Malaysia with a belief that there is a great opportunity for them to improve their English skills since English is the medium of instruction in these institutions. Yet, many of them do not have adequate English language skills to be enrolled in their degree programmes. Hence the need of a bridging course for students to meet the required English qualifications. Some educators have raised concerns that English proficiency is the major academic obstacle to most foreign students, especially to foreign Chinese students (Meng, Zhu, & Cao, 2018;

Petrovitz & Pierson, 2018). There is a clear mismatch in teaching approaches in the language. For instance, in China, traditional English teaching via rote learning concentrate on writing and reading skills with very little emphasis paid to communication skills (Ye, 2013). This creates passivity in students compounded by the fact that they rarely use English outside of the classroom and therefore naturally lack the ability to use the language in real life. As a result, many students have problems with ‘real world’ communication (Dipolog-Ubanan, 2016). Moreover, when they study overseas in an English-medium education system, not only do they need to adjust to the various accents and teaching styles of teachers, but they also need to understand the appropriateness of their response (God & Zhang, 2018). As a result, these students usually have difficulty understanding the lecturers and taking part in class communicative activities (Kuo, 2011).

It is necessary for us to understand the complexities of foreign Chinese students’ English learning experience so as to help conceptualize meaningful teaching and learning plans. And it is important to understand the characteristics of students from China in order to help them to achieve their learning goals. However, little research has focused on foreign Chinese students’ English learning experience in the Malaysian context. Thus, this study aims to help both teachers and students to gain intercultural understanding so as to ensure effective teaching and learning outcomes in Malaysian universities.

1.1 Theoretical Framework

Various studies have discussed meeting students’ English learning experience and learning needs which have led instructors to reconsider the use of particular pedagogical tools in the classroom.

An important driver for change in teaching methods is the difference in Chinese learning styles and the adaptation to address the needs of foreign Chinese students. As mentioned earlier, the mismatch in Malaysian and Chinese teaching styles has created challenges to some teachers’

handling Chinese learners. This is especially in the areas of pedagogy that is in findings ways to increase student experience via participation and enquiry. Past research by Araújo, Cardoso, &

Fidalgo (2016) and Kiemer, Gröschner, Pehmer, & Seidel (2015) have addressed that teacher- student interactions may increase student interest, learning motivation, and academic achievement.

Through qualitative methods such as classroom observations and interviews, scholars have also argued that what teachers say and do may support young students’ self-regulated learning, such as planning, monitoring, problem-solving, and evaluating, during complex reading and writing tasks.

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According to Ruzek et al. (2016) the quality of the interactions between a teacher and students in a classroom plays a crucial role in student learning and development. To understand the teacher- student interactions in classrooms, most studies have utilized the method of classroom observation (Perry, VandeKamp, Mercer, & Nordby, 2002). Further processing the qualitative data from observations i.e. videotaping the discourses or interactions between instructors and learners, by quantitative content analysis and lag sequential analysis could generate the behavioral patterns in the interactions (Cheng & Tsai, 2016; Kucuk & Sisman, 2017). Kucuk and Sisman (2017) further argued that revealing behavioral patterns enables thorough understandings of teacher-student interactions and provides more insights into instructional development in the curriculum. It is possible that students are unable to obtain a competent level of English language proficiency due to a mismatch between course objectives and learning needs. For instance, Nallaya (2012) indicated that that students’ learning needs indirectly influenced their English language proficiency test scores on the third occasion. It also found that learning needs of study will impact teachers’

teaching strategies, and in turn influence students' achievement (Alam & Suhendra, 2019). A considerable portion of the debate about Chinese students on the issue of rote memorization, silent learning and passive learning are prominent features in the Western perception of Chinese which have given rise to the paradox that the teacher-student interaction is restricted in class with Chinese students. However, Sit (2013) stated that Chinese students participate in teaching and learning activities and expect teachers to structure knowledge step by step so that they can learn knowledge in a systematic consolidated manner. Therefore, Chinese students are more complicated than what they have been described by western teachers. And, a critical review of Chinese learners may help instructors address these issues and help Western teachers to reflect upon their teaching practices;

to help bridge strategies which can help them to adjust their teaching styles to the needs of their Chinese students.

2. Methodology

The study was based on the findings of a focus group with ten randomly selected foreign Chinese students at various Malaysian universities. Focus Group were used to find out their thoughts and feelings on a set of questions related to their perceptions and expectations of L2 learning. The focus group was conducted in Mandarin Chinese to ensure students are able to express their opinions in a more accurate way.

The research questions designed to address several perspectives of the Chinese students’ learning needs related to ELT, are: What do you expect to learn from the English class? What are your criteria of good teachers and learners? And what kind of teaching method do you welcome?

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3. Discussion and Results

According to past studies, students from China are usually described as modest and diligent learners (Park, 2000). They respect their teachers and value their education (Sit, 2013). However, many of studies portrayed Chinese learners as passive and silent learners and lacking in critical thinking skills. Therefore, many researchers questioned that communicative learning activities may be less effective in classrooms with Chinese learners.

However, the results showed that most of the participants were willing to participate in communicative learning activities in class and they saw the value in participating. However, some of them argued that the activities employed by teachers in class were inadequate for their English learning needs. They claimed the learning activities in class usually were not structured in a way to evoke their willingness to participate. They argued that they would be more motivated if the learning outcomes were introduced at the beginning of each learning activity. Yet, they still see their teachers as an active role in the learning activities.

It is also known that Chinese students rely on memorization and rote learning to learn the target language in classroom (McInerney, 2005; Sit, 2013; Watkins & Biggs, 2001). However, the result suggested that most foreign Chinese students were worried about how to use the language functionally as opposed to relying on memorization. They wanted to communicate in English in daily life due to them having more opportunities to listen and speak English in Malaysia. Foreign Chinese students want the language support and the opportunity to be provided in class to use the target language before using it outside of the class. It is very clear that there is a tendency that Chinese students favor learning for immediate use. They argued that they wanted to have more opportunities in class to communicate in English, which they believe should be the primary goal of the class. That resonates with all the characteristics of a communicative teaching approach. A sample feedback from respondent and reproduced verbatim:

“My main obstacle still lies in speaking. It is very frustrating… I think it would be great if we could have more foreigners in the class. In such environment, I have to speak in English and it forces me to practice my speaking. I want to learn something that can prepare for my degree studies in Malaysia. We have been learning grammatical rules for so long and I just want to improve my speaking and listening. That’s all.”

‘More practical activities would be nice; more interactive homework than just sample repetitive writing exercise.”

“I want to learn speaking and listening more. I want to be more prepared for my degree studies later. I want to learn local English accent as well. Every time when I talk to locals, I don’t understand their English, they have a strong accent.”

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Foreign Chinese students most of the time emphasize on learning English to prepare for their later studies in Malaysia, therefore, how to understand different English dialects and how to communicate with other classmates in English have become two of their primary concerns. They hoped classroom teaching would be fun and interactive. Another response reproduced verbatim:

“We always stay in the same group (with my Chinese friends) all the time. I find it is so weird to speak English with my friends (Chinese). But activities we had last week, I want to talk in English, however, there is no chance me to practice. I think teachers should know how to help us.”

“All the activities we have is only among LEP students. We want to know more foreigners and we want to talk to them.”

“I hope that teachers will help us to find an opportunity to speak to foreigners. I don’t think we would speak English in the class when all of us are Chinese. We want an international environment to study in.”

This also further proved that foreign Chinese students value the opportunity to use the language in class. However, they prefer not to use the target language with their friends from the same country.

They want to obtain English language skills from real life experiences with the interactions with students from other countries. A sample response reproduced verbatim:

“Some activities in the class. We just do what we have been told to. However, I have no idea why we are doing this? And what can we learn from this activity?”

“Usually after the class, I still have no idea what I have learnt. What is the objective of this lesson?”

“I will have a very structured class with clear objectives. I would divide my class into two parts, the first part would be teaching part and then follow by activities. Then at the end of the class, I would tell my students the objectives/outcomes of my activities and I want to make sure they know that they can learn from the activities. We had a lot of fun in the class, but after the class, I was always wondering what the purpose of doing that activity in the class was. I did not learn anything from that.”

In short, what the purpose of the classroom activities was and what the conclusion to the activities was appear to be very confusing for foreign Chinese students. They prefer their teachers to provide the reason and result to their group activities. Which means when there is an activity in class, they expect to have clear learning outcomes for every communicative classroom activity. This coincided with the previous study done by Sit (2013) that teachers are expected by Chinses students to structure classroom activities step by step so that students would be able to build knowledge in a consolidated manner. Hence, to motivate students to participate more in language learning activities, we as teachers may have to introduce the learning outcomes before conducting the activities.

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It also should be noted that the teacher plays a critical role in their learning process. The results showed that Chinese students relied largely on their teachers and they expected their teachers to not only deliver fun lessons and put their learning needs in centre, but also push them to learn and speak English in the class as per the response below:

“I want teachers to push me to learn, to speak. I want him to assign me to different groups each time when there is a group discussion. I don’t want to be with my friends all the time.”

“I feel that a fun class would help me largely in improving English. We can have fun and learn at the same time.”

To foreign Chinese students, communicative activities and encouragement are two of the critical components in their English learning process. Chinese students believe that good teachers should be helpful, kind but at the same time strict and willing to push them to learn.

A sample response reproduced verbatim:

“I want my teachers to be strict and always encourage us to learn in the class. I think if a teacher who is too relaxed in the class, I may not have the motivation to learn then.”

“Teachers should give pressure to us and monitor our learning progress.”

“We are human, we always feel lazy to learn something new. We need our teacher to encourage us.”

“I remember there is a teacher in my primary school, she is very kind and nice to me. She was always able to attract our attention. The class used to be noisy but her presence makes the class dear and lovely. Her speech is very clear and powerful. She encouraged me in learning English to the extend I need.”

Despite their previous educational and cultural background, the overall results have shown a significant shifting in preferences of learning styles, from a traditional passive learning to an active learning (Shi, 2008). This positively affected the students’ learning needs. However, in most pre- sessional classes in Malaysia, the majority of the students are from China. Worryingly though, they want more communicative approach from their teachers, they still found it too difficult and strange to speak and practice English with other Chinese peers. This is probably one of the reasons of the high failure rate in their English exams. As stated, the diversity in class may largely change the class dynamic and boost foreign Chinese students’ willingness to use the target language.

4. Limitations of the Study

Due to the constraints of time, the study only investigated a small group of foreign Chinese students who studied in universities in Malaysia. The results obtained may only reflect the needs of those who studied in Malaysia less than a year. And the results night be affected by the specific teachers involved.

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