Influence of the FTAs’ Presence on Students’ English Listening Performance 66

Motivation and listening anxiety are viewed as two important variables that correlates with SL/FL acquisition (Dörnyei, 1994; Khodadady & Khajavy, 2013; Yan,

& Horwitz, 2008). Much research has supported that a high motivation and a low listening anxiety toward learning the language would be a good predictor of academic success and sustained L2 learning (Elkhafaifi, 2005); Masgoret & Gardner, 2003;

Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002; Chou, 2017). According to the students’ motivation scale and listening anxiety scale in this study, students’ motivation slightly dropped while listening anxiety decreased after one-year FTA-led co-teaching program;

therefore, to understand the real impact of the FTAs’ presence on students’ listening abilities, this study also investigated students’ listening performance.

The participants in this study were required to take the first listening test in October 2015 and the second listening test in May 2016. Statistical results revealed significant improvement in the second listening test and their scores reached significant differences from the initial one. Table 9 shows that in the listening tests, students made a huge progress and gained 8 out of a maximum total score of 90 points in their mean scores (t (82)= -6.480, p<.000). It could be assumed that the students Table 9

Learners’ Scores on the First and the Second Listening Test

Component First (n=83) Second (n=83) t p-value

M1 SD M2 SD

Listening test 62.801 20.343 70.801 17.279 -6.480 .000***

Note. ***p < .001; The maximum score of the listening test is 90 points.

have more exposure to the target language with the presence of FTAs so that students made progress in listening performance after one-year.

Although there was no control group to further confirm whether FTAs’ teaching resulted in students’ significant progress in listening ability, the students’ improved listening scores and FTAs’ contribution could still be supported by examples found in student interviews. In students’ interviews, many students mentioned that they felt that their listening ability made the most progress and that they were able to comprehend more in FTA’s classes. For example, Cathy, one of relatively shy interviewees from the quit group, said that she did not have learning experience with native-speaking teachers before. With the presence of the FTA in the class, she paid much more attention to listening to FTA’s English-medium instruction and felt that her listening ability slightly improved with the constant exposure to English (June, 22, 2016) (Her listening performance actually progressed in the second listening test).

4.4 Summary of Chapter Four

This chapter has presented and discussed the major findings of the present study.

In section 4.1, students’ English learning motivation with the presence of FTAs was discussed. Comparing the first and the second motivation scale, students’ overall slightly decreased scores was found which indicates that the students felt slightly less motivated with the presence of FTAs for a year. The students had a statistically

increased perception on talking to foreigners in English. The enhanced result might be associated from more opportunities for students to communicate in English with FTAs after the whole year. When further analyzing the statistically decreased scores found in questionnaire items, the findings showed that the pressure of the final exam, the classroom seating arrangement, gradually getting used to FTAs’ teaching methods, the inappropriate level of challenge, FTAs speaking too fast, not being acquainted with foreigners well enough, cultural difference in teaching styles, and encountering much more intricate aspects of culture learning were the possible reasons for the students’

lower learning motivation. Moreover, when comparing the gender differences on the number of statements which showed improvement in the second questionnaire, it was found that boys’ were more than girls’. This might suggest that the presence of FTAs in class could be a way of enhancing male students’ English learning motivation.

In section 4.2, the influence of the FTAs’ presence on students’ listening anxiety was examined. The students reported decreased listening anxiety with the presence of FTAs from the beginning to end of the school year. Based on classroom observations and student interviews, more exposure to spoken English through English medium instruction might result in the decreased listening anxiety about comprehension of English spoken language. FTAs also contribute to creating a meaningful

communication environment as well as using visualization in instruction. Moreover, the qualitative data set has suggested that FTAs’ specific vocabulary instruction

methods might help alleviate students’ listening anxiety resulted from limited vocabulary.

In section 4.3, the effect of FTAs on students’ listening performance was dealt with. Students’ listening scores at the first and the second listening tests were compared. Results showed a significant improvements at the end of the school year.

Although lacking of control group to verify whether FTAs’ teaching resulted in the students’ improved listening ability, according to students’ reports in interviews, it could be assumed that the students have the constant exposure to the target language with the presence of FTAs so that students made progress in listening performance after one-year.

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

This chapter comprises three sections. The first section is a summary of the major findings of the present study. The second section provides the implications based on the results. The last section presents limitations of this study and suggestions for future study.

5.1 Summary of the Findings

The present study aimed to examine the impact of FTAs’ presence on learners’

motivation towards English learning, listening anxiety, and listening performance. In the study, data were collected through a questionnaire, a listening test, classroom observations, interviews as well as informal conversations. The learners’ perceptions of English learning motivation and listening anxiety as well as their listening

performance were analyzed quantitatively. To further examine how FTAs influenced the three factors (i.e., learners’ motivation, listening anxiety, and listening

performance), qualitative analyses were conducted to supplement the questionnaire data analyses.

5.1.1 English Learning Motivation

To answer the first research question about students’ motivation toward English learning with the presence of FTAs, the researcher examined students’ learning motivation at two different time periods. In general, compared to the initial

motivation, students’ learning motivation slightly decreased at the end of the school year. Further analyses of individual statements that reached the significant level showed that students generally had an increased motivation towards interacting with the FTAs but decreased motivation towards English language, foreign teachers’ class, and foreign culture.

From the questionnaires, students particularly believed that they were more confident about speaking with foreigners in English. The improvement might be attributed to FTAs’ presence and effort. As mentioned above, due to various

communicating tasks in class, increased chances to interact with FTAs in English also helped provide students with opportunities to speak English and to interact with FTAs in English. From the classroom observation, it was found that students were not afraid to chat with a new FTA at the end of the school year. These efforts made by the FTAs could account for students’ more positive perception and learning motivation.

As for the attitude toward English, the students believed the importance of learning English after having much more practical opportunities to use English in the presence of FTAs. While a possible reason of the pressure from final exams might demotivate the students not to work hard learning English at the end of the school year, the students generally reported positive attitudes towards English learning. In addition, the indirect effect of parental encouragement on English learning seemed to have strengthened learners’ motivation to learn English. While this study did not measure the degree of impact of parents’ view on the importance of English, the result of the questionnaires indicated that students felt that their parents were positive in their English learning journey. The results corresponded to the early work of Gardner (1985) and Gottfried et al. (1994), which pointed out the significant effects of parental encouragement on the learners’ motivation.

Positive attitude towards foreign class was also found. After a year of getting along with the FTAs, students still liked the learning environment created by the FTAs. The relaxing classroom atmosphere and the FTAs’ enthusiasm made students more engaged in the class. Multiple activities were utilized for students to practice English. Although students generally enjoyed FTAs’ classes, there was a slight reduced attention and perception of FTAs’ classes in the second questionnaire. The

slight decrease in students’ interest and attention level could be explained by the possible phenomena that students had gotten a bit more used to the FTAs’ classroom routine, encountered the inappropriate difficulty of activities, and frequently adjusted sitting posture. These findings, while preliminary, suggest that FTAs might need to change classroom activities regularly, set right level of tasks, and utilize different styles of classroom seating arrangement according to their teaching styles and needs for instruction.

Another significant finding from the motivation scale was that in general, students had a more negative perception of foreign culture possibly due to not being enough acquainted with foreigners, not being used to cultural differences in teaching styles, and much more intricate aspects of cultural learning. Perhaps the students need to take time to rethink and adapt to new cultural stimuli provided by the FTAs and then restore their interests in culture learning. Lastly, the comparison of gender

differences in learning motivation with the presence of FTAs, results showed that girls generally had a more positive motivation toward English learning than boys.

Although boys did have relatively lower motivation towards learning English, with the presence of FTAs, their motivation greatly increased, which could be attributed to the increased interaction between the FTAs and the students.

5.1.2 English Listening Anxiety

Another important finding of the present study is in agreement with Vogly’s (1998) suggestion that the presence of a native speaker in the class might help

alleviate FL learners’ listening anxiety. In the present study, the Taiwanese junior high school students reported decreased listening anxiety with the presence of FTAs from the beginning to end of the school year. After interacting with FTAs for a year, the students’ declined listening anxiety suggested that FTAs might positively lessen learners’ listening anxiety. Qualitative data further showed instances in which FTAs

helped reduce the learners’ anxiety about comprehension of English spoken language through creating a meaningful communication environment and aiding the students’

listening comprehension with vivid visualization. Another important theme emerging from the qualitative data was that vocabulary is a source of reduced listening anxiety, although the related statement in the questionnaire did not reach a statistical

significant level. FTAs taught words through a bottom-up approach (e.g.,

pronunciation, spelling, and meaning), giving example sentences, and occasionally explained the vocabulary in Chinese to assist students’ comprehension of the listening content, which might help relieve the students’ listening anxiety resulted from limited vocabulary.

5.1.3 English Listening Performance

To determine the influence of the FTAs’ presence on students’ listening

performance, students’ listening scores at the beginning and the end of the school year were compared. Results showed a significant improvement in students’ listening scores after the presence of FTAs for one year. However, the lack of a control group in this study might limit such a conclusion; yet, the finding may well have a bearing on the positive effect of FTAs’ presence and the constant exposure to English on Taiwanese junior high school students’ listening development.

5.2 Implications of the Study

5.2.1 Theoretical Implications

This study examined how the presence of FTAs influence three factors (i.e., learning motivation, listening anxiety, and listening performance), which in past literature has not been extensively examined. Scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) have indicated that teachers play an essential role in L2 learners’ learning process and focused on the role of individual differences such as learning motivation, listening anxiety, and language proficiency in second language development.

Moreover, many existing research has supported the proposed influences of

motivation or listening anxiety on language achievement respectively. Gardner et al (1997) makes clear that delving into the combined influences of many variables is important given that “a number of variables related to L2 achievement and the variables do not operate independently of one another” (p.347). However, few have explored all these variables simultaneously and taken account of the role of teachers.

For example, previous research in Taiwan examining the role of FTAs in learners’

learning mostly focused on the motivation aspect with little attention to other factors.

To address this issue, the present study investigated how FTAs affected students’

learning motivation, listening anxiety, and listening performance over the course of one year. Since language learning process is dynamic, and language classrooms are diverse, this study could contribute to the proposed connections by examining all these aspects. Specifically, the findings of this study provide insights into the multifaceted influences of FTAs on learners’ language learning, which has not been extensively addressed.

5.2.2 Pedagogical Implications

Taken together, the findings of the present study suggest a significant role of FTAs in affecting EFL students’ overall language learning and provide several pedagogical implications to native-speaking English teachers (including FTAs), EFL teachers (including LETs), educators in Taiwan, and the co-teaching programs.

Based on students’ responses to the motivation scale, the finding showed that learners felt more confident in talking with foreigners in English after interacting with FTAs for a whole year. The interaction with FTAs might contributed to learners’

enhanced motivation about learning English. Hence, it is recommended to provide learners with more opportunities to interact with FTAs inside and outside the classroom. The more extended period of time learners spend with FTAs, the more

opportunities learners can practically use the language which serves as an important tool for global communication and access to knowledge.

The observation of FTAs’ classroom instruction demonstrated ways teachers could use to create a classroom climate that engages and motivates students. In this study, FTAs were observed using different teaching approaches such as the use of more authentic materials and dynamic classroom activities, to engage and arouse learners’ interests in learning. For instance, group activities allow students to learn in a friendly and highly interactive classroom environment. Also, FTAs’ projection of enthusiasm and energy, a sense of humor, and an overall positive orientation might contribute to students’ positive perceptions of English learning. Another interesting observation is the importance of teachers to set appropriate level of tasks and vary classroom activities over time in ways that maximize student participation while keeping the factor of motivation in mind.

Over the course of one year, the students in the present study showed a

significant improvement in English listening and decrease in listening anxiety, which suggests the potential positive effect of FTAs’ presence. Students have more exposure to spoken English with FTAs’ presence; and FTAs’ use of comprehension-enhancing techniques in instruction could help alleviate students’ listening anxiety. For example, the students loved the idiom of the week taught by the FTA and they were seen

practically using it in class. FTAs provided the students with contextual cues so that students could learn the new language through natural communication instead of memorization. Also, FTAs frequently provided visual aids to assist students’

comprehension. Aronld (2000) suggests that anxiety-reducing techniques are needed to support students in language learning. Given that a negative correlation between students’ listening anxiety and listening performance was identified in previous studies (Wang, 2010; Yang, 2012), FTAs are suggested to find ways to reduce

students’ listening anxiety in their English-medium instruction; and language teachers are advised to make their language input comprehensible through verbal modification, with the help of contextual information, and by meaning negotiation (Ellis, 1993;

Long & Porter, 1985). Comprehensible input is critical to help lessen learners’

listening anxiety level.

Last but not least, starting from 2014, a listening comprehension test has been incorporated into the Comprehensive Assessment Program (CAP) for junior high schools students in Taiwan. High-school students might have a stronger instrumental motivation to enhance their listening ability. However, listening skills are considered to be the most difficult skills to teach and learn (Vandergrift, 2004; Walker, 2014).

This study showed that the presence of FTAs in class can be a way to help junior high learners’ listening performance and pointed to a potential benefit of the

implementation of FTA programs in Taiwanese junior high school level.

5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Study

The current study has three limitations future studies may need to address.

Firstly, this study employed a listening anxiety scale and qualitative approaches to examine the participants’ level of listening anxiety with the supplemented

information from classroom observation and student interviews. Although the present study has shown a positive result in decreasing listening anxiety with the presence of FTAs, the exact source of influence that affected the participants’ varying levels of listening anxiety still remains unknown. Further investigation into assessable anxiety-related behaviors is recommended. For example, studies can measure whether

students display physiological reactions associated with anxiety, such as sweating, muscle contraction and accelerated heartbeat, while they are doing some classroom listening activities. The findings might further verify whether students have a

decreased listening anxiety with the presence of FTAs and pinpoint possible factors or

types of listening tasks associated with students’ varying levels of listening anxiety.

The second limitation of this study is the time constraint. Although the length of this study lasted for an entire school year, the actual available times to observe the FTA classes in one of the schools were only 10 meetings. Due to the limited number of class observations, the conclusions and generalizability of the findings are subject to certain limitations. A systematic and longitudinal observation is needed to

document and track students’ language learning and development in the FTA

classroom instruction. In addition, the average length of formal and informal student interviews is about half an hour because students’ schedules were tight. Further more in-depth interviews will help complement, precise and enrich the discussion of the motivation and anxiety questionnaire data and might explain possible reasons for students’ overall decreased learning motivation found in the study. Therefore, it is recommend that future studies add more in-depth interviews to obtain more insight into the impact of FTAs on EFL students’ learning of a second language.

Finally, the present study administered the first and the second listening test to the participants and found that the students’ listening performance was improved in the second one. Whether or not the result could be applied to participants taught by FTAs or non-FTAs still remains unknown. Although the students may have listening comprehension gain without the presence of FTAs, having an FTA in the school is the current possible factor in the progression of listening performance because most of the students in the participating schools were schools which considered to be remote where learning resources were quite limited. Hence, it is recommended that future researchers probe into EFL students’ listening attainment with and without the presence of FTA in class or school.

Nevertheless, the findings of the current study suggest the significant presence of FTAs in affecting EFL students’ overall language learning and contribute to several