This chapter contains the findings of the study and discussion of their implications. It is divided into six parts, respectively covering vocabulary learning strategies, English learning habits, performance on the K. K. knowledge tests, performance on pronunciation, the effect of remedial instruction in K. K. phonetic symbols, and other aspects of the findings regarding remedial instruction.
Vocabulary Learning Strategies
This section presents findings on Research Question 1: What kind of L2 vocabulary learning strategies do high school underachievers often use?
When asked about their favored memorization strategies, each of the four participants gave the highest score to the option of ―keeping eyeing‖ the word to be
learned, that is, reviewing it visually several times;second place went to the option of writing the word repeatedly,and using K. K. phonetic symbols to help spell the word was their third favorite option (see Table 1). The least-used three strategies, to the researcher’s surprise, were looking the word up in the dictionary, making a mental image of the word, and listening to the sound recording of the word. From the above results, we can see that underachieving students tend to preferentially use the simplest method of memorizing vocabulary, namely to ―keep eyeing‖ the word to be learned. If
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they could not remember the new word on that basis, then they would take the second step of copying the word out repeatedly. However, these two strategies only helped them keep new words in their short-term memory long enough to cope with a quiz or an exam. Afterward, the researcher had seen in classes that they would totally forget what they had learned before, which was the main reason that these underachieving students, compared with other students, could not get even an average score on English tests.
Further, it is hard to imagine learning English without being able to look new words up in the dictionary. Nevertheless,both on the questionnaire and in the
interviews, the four participants claimed that they did not or only seldom used dictionaries to learn English. More promisingly, the third most frequently used strategy was using K. K. phonetic symbols, which the participants found aided their English learning in at least three ways—spelling a word, pronouncing it, and looking new words up in the dictionary.
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Table 1
Ranking of Vocabulary Learning Strategies
Strategies from Most to Least Frequently Used Means
1. Keep eyeing the word to be learned 4.75 points
2. Write the word repeatedly 2.5 points
3. Use K. K. phonetic symbols to help spell the word 2.25 points
4. Say the word aloud several times 2 points
5. Memorize bilingual lists 1.75 points
6. Do vocabulary exercises 1.75 points
7. Remember the affixes and roots of new words 1.75 points
8. Visualize the word mentally 1.5 points
9. Connect the word to its synonyms or antonyms 1.5 points 10. Place the word in a sentence, paragraph, or conversation 1.5 points
11. Make up rhymes to link words 1.5 points
12. Draw pictures to illustrate the meaning of new words 1.25 points 13. Listen to sound recordings of the words 1 points
14. Make a mental image of new words 1 points
15. Look the word up in the dictionary 1 points
Habits of English Learning
In order to better understand the English learning background of these four students, a questionnaire was administered to them. The data show that these students had three things in common. First, they had all been learning English for more than six years. Second, none of them generally spent extra time studying or reviewing English after school. Third, they had all learned K. K. phonetic symbols in either elementary school or junior high school.
When asked about their familiarity with K. K., two of the participants said that they were familiar with none of the symbols, while the third said that he knew only a
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few of them and the last said that he was familiar with most of them. However, the first three students said that they were unable to use K. K. phonetic symbols to read or spell; only the fourth said that sometimes he could. That is, the students are basically not capable of using K. K. to study English or memorize vocabulary, even though, as mentioned, this is one of their most frequently used strategies. In order to bridge the gap, the researcher gave remedial instruction in K. K. to the students.
Based on the answers these underachieving students gave before their remedial instruction, it seemsthat only one of them thought their previous K. K.
learning experience was helpful for their English ability, while the other three were not sure. Further, only two of them thought it would be a problem for them if they could not recognize the K. K. symbols printed in their textbooks and other materials.
When encountering a new word, three of them would choose to ignore the word, and only one would ask his classmates or friends. Here we can see that asking the English teacher is not really part of their inventory of options; the English teacher is the last one they will turn to. Additionally,it is true that none of these four students has asked any questions of the researcher, who has been their English teacher for almost a year.
Test Performance on Knowledge of Phonetic Symbols
In this section, the researcher will present the results of the first three parts of the pre-test; results for the last part, the pronunciation pre-test, are placed in the next
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section. The reason for this arrangement is that the first three parts are related to the aural input that is represented by K. K. phonetic symbols, while the pronunciation part is connected to the verbal output that is based on them. The results for the first three parts are shown in the following table (see Table 2).
Table 2
Scores on the First Three Parts of the Pre-Test (Percentage) Part A
From the above results, it is obvious that the students are not familiar with the sounds of individual K. K. symbols. They cannot tell vowels from consonants because they failed in answering Part A when they heard a single vowel or a consonant. Also interesting is that these underachieving students, though they had learned K. K.
phonetic symbols when they were in elementary school or junior high school, had not memorized the sounds to which they corresponded. This is analogous to a person who wants to learn Chinese characters without memorizing the Chinese phonetic alphabet first. There is no doubt that it would be very difficult for these students to study English under these circumstances, explaining why they fail at all kinds of English tests and show no interest in English learning.
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However, when two similar words are read together by the instructor, it is much easier for the students to choose from the options. That is why they gained better grades on the second part of the pre-test. Nevertheless, when it comes to filling in the blanks, their accuracy goes down; one of the students even got a score of zero on the third part.
Test Performance on Pronunciation
This section proved to be the most frustrating part for both the participants and the researcher. In order to make the pronunciation test easy to understand, and with
consideration to the fact that the students are underachievers, the researcher chose 45 items from the ―Basic 1,000 Words for Elementary and Junior High School Students.‖
Even so, the students failed to give answers for some of the 45 words in the pre-test (see Table 3), telling the researcher that they did not know how to pronounce the word;
even some of the words they did attempt were mispronounced. Concerned that the students would fail to correctly pronounce most of the words, the researcher then divided this part of the pre-test into twophases, and in the second phase asked the students to repeat the words after her. The students performed better when she spoke the words immediately before them, which was a relief, since all they had to do was mimic her.
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Table 3
Pronunciation Scores on the Pre-Test (Based on 45 Words)
Correct Incorrect Pass (Ignore)
Student 1 2/45 7/45 36/45
Student 2 5/45 5/45 35/45
Student 3 10/45 17/45 18/45
Student 4 9/45 26/45 10/45
From the above table, we can see that the third student pronounced the words more correctly than the others did. Indeed, he is the one who claimedto be familiar with most of the K. K. phonetic symbols in the previous questionnaire. In addition, the fourth student also showed perseverance on this test. Although he made a lot of mistakes compared with the previous test, he tried not to ignore too many words.
The researcher found that these students demonstrated three qualities in
common when facing the pronunciation test. They had little confidence in themselves, tended to give up quickly, and would pronounce words so quickly and in such a clipped manner that there was no difference between long and short vowels. The following extracts give some examples of the difficulties faced by these
underachieving students.
Extract 1. S1’s Pronunciation Pre-Test
T: … [O]kay, …how would you pronounce word number 13(of)?
S1: … mm…[]?
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S1: …[sɪ]! (Answered with a confident voice, yet missed the /t/ consonant.) .
T: Would you start reading the words out loud?
S2: … (thinking)… I don’t know this word … I’m sorry ….
T: It’s okay … how about the next word?
S2: … (Shaking his head) … I don’t know.
T: How about word number 3 (say)?
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T: How do you pronounce word number 26 (thing)?
S3: [sɪn].
T: How about number 27 (they)?
S3: [le].
Extract 4. S4’s Pronunciation Pre-Test
T: How do you pronounce word number 32 (cheap)?
S4: … [ʧ] …? (ignores the last consonant, /p/)
T: How about number 33?
S4: … I am not sure … is it []? (still ignoring the last consonant, in this
case /k/)
After analyzing the pronunciation test results, the most common mistakes these underachievers made were identified, as follows:
1. They could nottell the difference between // and //, // and //, // and //, // or // and //.
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2. They liked to drop ending consonants, such as /t/, /d/, and /p/.
3. They all mispronounce the word of [] as [].
4. They all become confused between the word he and hi. All of them pronounced both these words as [].
5. They are not good at placing the stress in a multisyllabic word.
The Effect of Remedial Instruction in K.K. Phonetic Symbols
In this section, the researcher would like to present the results of the post-test (see Tables 4 and 5) in order, first, to consider Research Question 2: Do
underachievers who have received remedial instruction in K.K. phonetic symbols perform significantly better in vocabulary retention? Then, this section takes up RQ 3, below.
With regard to the post-test results, an upward arrow means the student did better than on the pre-test, while a downward arrow means that they did worse. No arrow indicates no change. We can see that after receiving remedial instruction in K.
K., as shown in Table 4, three of the students made progress in identifying vowels and consonants, and two of them performed better in listening and checking vocabulary.
However, the fill-in-the-blanks task is still difficult for most of the underachieving students, which will be a continuing issue in their future English classes. The researcher hopes that these students will become familiar with English letter–sound
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correspondences and become able to memorize new words more quickly and smoothly.
Table 4
Scores on the First Three Parts of the Post-Test (Percentage) Part A
Next, we consider the third research question: Do the underachievers perform significantly better in word pronunciation after remedial instruction?
On the pronunciation post-test, the researcher found that the participants could pronounce more words correctly than on the pre-test; in other words, their accuracy rate increased (see Table 5). It was also interesting to see that the four students behaved more confidently during the post-test than during the pre-test. Across the 12 remedial class sessions, in fact, most of the time the students cooperated well with the researcher. Sometimes their concentration on the lessons would flag and they would start chatting to one another; in the end, however, the researcher knew these
underachieving students better and saw their confidence improve as they came to know more about K. K. phonetic symbols.
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Table 5
Pronunciation Scores on the Post-Test (Based on 45 Words)
Correct Incorrect Pass (Ignore)
Student 1 6/45 9/45 30/45
Student 2 6/45 7/45 32/45
Student 3 20/45 10/45 15/45
Student 4 15/45 20/45 10/45
The Findings Regarding Remedial Instruction in K. K.
After the completion of the 12 classes of remedial instruction in K. K.
phonetic symbols, the researcher interviewed each of the four underachieving students in order to understand their feelings about the course and get some feedback. The interviews were transcribed, and the findings are presented below.
Extract 5. Interview with Student 1
T: Now I am going to ask you some questions and interview you. Are you ready?
S1: Yes.
T: Okay, here we go. Question number 1: ―Do you think remedial instruction
in K. K. phonetic symbols has been helpful for you in your English study?
S1: Yes, I do. I guess it is helpful when I try to memorize new words.
T: And in what aspect of English learning do you think it is helpful?
S1: Hmm … I think I can memorize the new words in a faster way.
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T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for you to understand the rules of pronunciation?
S1: Of course it is helpful. I think I know the rules better now, compared with before.
T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for you to spell
words?
S1: I guess so … is memorizing new words the same as spelling words?
T: Okay … spelling words could be part of memorizing new words. For
example, when you are asked to spell the word book, you would say
―b-o-o-k.‖
S1: Oh, I see. Then I think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for me to spell words.
T: Good, let’s move on to question number 5. Do you think learning K. K.
phonetic symbols is helpful for you in pronunciation?
S1: Yes, I used to mispronounce new words, but I think I am doing better now.
T: Good to know. And do you think learning K. K. symbols is helpful for you to look up new words in a dictionary?
S1: I don't think so.
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T: Why? Would you give a reason?
S1: Because I’ve never used a dictionary … (laughs).
T: Oh, really? I’d like to add one more question here. Do you think you’lltry
to look up new words in a dictionary in the future?
S1: Hmm … maybe.
T: Okay, then. Let's move on to question 7. Do you think learning K. K.
phonetic symbols is helpful for you to memorize vocabulary words?
S1: Yes, just like I said before. I think it is helpful.
T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols has madeyou feel more confident, and why?
S1: Yes, I think I am more confident now … hmm … I think it’s because I
know how to spell and learn faster.
T: Will you keep using K. K. to help you study English, and why?
S1: Definitely. It’s for my future.
T: What do you mean, it’s for your future?
S1: I want to get better grades and improve my English. You know, I am Catholic, and there is a program for young people who are over 18 to go to other countries to do missionary work. I think I will apply to it in the future.
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T: That’s great! I am happy for you. And I believe that you will realize your dream in the future. Now let’s move on to the last question. How do you
feel after receiving the remedial instruction in K. K.?
S1: I feel less scared of English learning. To be honest, I did not like English at all. But now I think I can live with it.
Extract 6. Interview with Student 2
T: Now I am going to interview you, and all you have to do is answer the following questions. Are you ready?
S2: Yes.
T: Good. Do you think remedial instruction in K. K. phonetic symbols has been helpful for you in your English study?
S2: Yes, a little bit.
T: Okay. In what aspect of English learning do you think it has been helpful?
S2: Well … I think pronunciation. I was not able to pronounce new words
correctly, but I think I am doing better now.
T: Do you think learning K. K. is helpful for you to understand the rules of pronunciation?
S2: Yes. Like I just said. It is helpful.
T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for you to spell
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words?
S2: Yes, I believe so. I used to lose some letters in a word. I guess I know how to spell better now … (smiles confidently).
T: Glad to hear that. Now, do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is
helpful for you in pronunciation?
S2: The answer is a ―yes,‖ I guess.
T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for you to look up
new words in a dictionary?
S2: Dictionary? I don’t think so. I've never used a dictionary to look up new
words.
T: Really? Why?
S2: There is no need. I can’t even handle the words in the textbook, so I
would not spend extra time looking up new words in a dictionary.
T: I see. Let’s move on to question number 7. Do you think learning K. K.
phonetic symbols is helpful for you to memorize vocabulary words?
S2: Yes, of course.
T: Do you think learning K. K. has made you feel more confident, and why?
S2: A little bit, I guess. It’s because I am able to figure out how to pronounce a new word, and I feel happy about it.
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T: Good to know. So will you keep using K. K. to help you study English, and why?
S2: I will. I think it is useful when I find some words hard to pronounce; I can make sure of the pronunciation by using K. K. phonetic symbols.
T: How do you feel after receiving remedial instruction in K. K.?
S2: I feel that I will make progress in English in the future. I also feel more confident about English learning.
Extract 7. Interview with Student 3
T: Now I will ask you some questions and interview you. Are you ready?
S3:Yes, I am ready.
T: Okay, here we go. Question number 1: ―Do you think remedial instruction in K. K. phonetic symbols has been helpful for you in your English study?‖
S3: Yes. I think it is helpful in many ways.
T: In what aspect of English learning do you think it has been helpful?
S3: I would say it is helpful in pronunciation.
T: Do you think learning K. K. is helpful for you to understand the rules of pronunciation?
S3: Rules? Hmm … yes, I think it is helpful. I did not fully understand the
rules of pronunciation until I took the remedial class.
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T: Do you think learning K. K. is helpful for you to spell words?
S3: Yes. I think I can spell better now.
T: Do you think learning K. K. is helpful for you in pronunciation?
S3: Sure.
T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for you to look up
new words in a dictionary?
S3: I don’t have the habit of looking up new words in a dictionary. So I am not
sure if it is helpful or not.
T: Do you think learning K. K. phonetic symbols is helpful for you to memorize vocabulary words?
S3: Well … I don’t think it helps a lot in memorizing vocabulary words. I
mean, I still forget the new words a lot.
T: Okay. Do you think learning K. K. has made you feel more confident, and why?
S3: Yes. It’s because I can pronounce the word, which I could not do well in
the past.
T: Will you keep using K. K. to help you study English, and why?
S3: Yes, I will. The reason why I will keep using them is that it is a lot easier to learn this way. I used to have to write new words down a thousand times
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to make sure I kept them in my memory. Now, with K. K., I know more rules about spelling. There's no doubt I will keep using them.
T: How do you feel after receiving remedial instruction in K. K.?
S3: It feels wonderful to finally figure out the whole picture of K. K. phonetic symbols. I don't know why I never paid any attention to them before.
S3: It feels wonderful to finally figure out the whole picture of K. K. phonetic symbols. I don't know why I never paid any attention to them before.