English learners' attitudes toward English!
When I teach freshman English Reading class at universities, I do find out students' attitudes are quite negative toward English. I remembered the previous year when I taught lower level students at a university. I asked students how much they enjoyed learning English. The students' answers were quite disappointing. Students told me that they hated English a lot.
Like usual, I had a big class around 65 students. Many students attended the class simply because it was compulsory. Few students really liked or were motivated to learn English reading. In order to know their attitudes toward English, I asked them on my very first class to tell me how much they hate or like English. I would draw a graph from 0 to 100, every ten is an interval, to see if they like or dislike English. O means they like English very much; 100 means they hate English the most.
The survey results showed that almost 2/5 of my students hate English a lot. 1/3 of the students say they don't like it very much or hate it very much. They are somewhere in between. Nearly 1/5 or students are the extremists, they either like English a lot or hated it to their guts. Few students didn't even raise their hands. After the survey, I asked them the reasons they hate English. Some students told me because they didn't do well on the exam. Some students said they hate their teachers. A lot of students mentioned that they had problems understanding grammar or they had limited vocabulary. Some even admitted that because they didn't understand what the teacher was teaching so they gave up and it turned out that it made no difference if they studied or not because they wouldn't improve anyway. That was the reason why they chose to wondering around in thoughts and not paying attention to the teacher.
As an English teacher, I always think there must be a way to improve their attitudes toward English, at least to let them enjoy English a bit. Therefore, I asked them to give me some suggestions how I could help them to study English. It was surprising that they didn't really give me any suggestions to help them learn. They just wanted me to let them pass or let them go home earlier. Well, I responded to them if they wanted to pass, they had to study. And if they wanted to go home earlier they had to prove to me that they learned what they had to learn in class and then I might let them leave a little bit earlier, 5 minutes earlier.
Well, after that first class. I told my students to ask me questions if they had problems and I would let them have pair work or team work. Even though I did something like this, but still I had to remind two or three students not to fall asleep in class. That was quite discouraging. But I did find some students were learning step by step.
There are some reasons why these college students couldn't concentrate on class. The students who fall asleep in class are those who don't sleep at all at night or who stay up late playing games going out. However, there are only less than five students who did that out of 65 students, so maybe I should pay more attention to those who are trying to overcome their fear toward English.
Like usual, I had a big class around 65 students. Many students attended the class simply because it was compulsory. Few students really liked or were motivated to learn English reading. In order to know their attitudes toward English, I asked them on my very first class to tell me how much they hate or like English. I would draw a graph from 0 to 100, every ten is an interval, to see if they like or dislike English. O means they like English very much; 100 means they hate English the most.
The survey results showed that almost 2/5 of my students hate English a lot. 1/3 of the students say they don't like it very much or hate it very much. They are somewhere in between. Nearly 1/5 or students are the extremists, they either like English a lot or hated it to their guts. Few students didn't even raise their hands. After the survey, I asked them the reasons they hate English. Some students told me because they didn't do well on the exam. Some students said they hate their teachers. A lot of students mentioned that they had problems understanding grammar or they had limited vocabulary. Some even admitted that because they didn't understand what the teacher was teaching so they gave up and it turned out that it made no difference if they studied or not because they wouldn't improve anyway. That was the reason why they chose to wondering around in thoughts and not paying attention to the teacher.
As an English teacher, I always think there must be a way to improve their attitudes toward English, at least to let them enjoy English a bit. Therefore, I asked them to give me some suggestions how I could help them to study English. It was surprising that they didn't really give me any suggestions to help them learn. They just wanted me to let them pass or let them go home earlier. Well, I responded to them if they wanted to pass, they had to study. And if they wanted to go home earlier they had to prove to me that they learned what they had to learn in class and then I might let them leave a little bit earlier, 5 minutes earlier.
Well, after that first class. I told my students to ask me questions if they had problems and I would let them have pair work or team work. Even though I did something like this, but still I had to remind two or three students not to fall asleep in class. That was quite discouraging. But I did find some students were learning step by step.
There are some reasons why these college students couldn't concentrate on class. The students who fall asleep in class are those who don't sleep at all at night or who stay up late playing games going out. However, there are only less than five students who did that out of 65 students, so maybe I should pay more attention to those who are trying to overcome their fear toward English.
留言
What you have done is just wonderful. Let's hope the reluctant learners soon appreciate your noble attempt to understand how they feel about learning English. After teaching English for 14 years, at least I realize one thing - when I concentrate on developing the potentials of learners who want to succeed, others who start off a little careless will witness success and become influenced and more motivated to try. Our learners are all special in their own way, and they may like and hate different things. Hmmm...wishing you all the best.
Cheers,
Zue, Malaysia