Discussion of Students’ Preferences for the Topics

The first open-ended question allowed the teacher-researcher to know the students’ overall feelings and their preferences toward the four topics. In the second and the third open-ended questions, the students also offered their reasons why they liked or disliked the topics they chose to be their favorite or least favorite. From the first three open-ended questions, some interesting findings were worth further discussing. The results showed that 22 out of 46 students favored Topic 1, Life and Death, and 17 students considered Topic 4, Hello School, as their favorite. That is, among the 46 students participating in the culture learning program, 39 (85%) students preferred either Topic 1 or Topic 4. On the other hand, the quantitative data revealed that 20 out of 46 students chose Topic 3, The Human Library, to be their least favorite. And 18 students thought of Topic 2, Happy Lucky Year, as their least favorite one. That is, up to 38 (83%) students viewed either Topic 2 or Topic 3 as their least favorite topic. There might be some characteristics shared by Topic 1 and Topic 4 that made them the students’ favorite topics in the learning program. Similarly, Topic 2 and Topic 3 might also share some common characteristics that made them the least favorite topics to most of the students in the current study.

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Based on these speculations, the teacher-researcher then divided the four topics into two groups, Topic 1 plus 4 to be one group and Topic 2 plus 3 to be the other group. To find the possible explanations, the students responses in their open-ended questions in the post-questionnaires were examined. Also, other qualitative data collected from the students’ learning journals as well as the semi-structured interviews were investigated by the teacher-researcher thoroughly.

Generally speaking, the four topics in the culture learning program followed the teaching procedures proposed by Dai (2011), topic-oriented warm-up, main teaching with authentic materials, and research-based learning. Following these general teaching procedures, the teacher made some minor teaching adjustments when he guided the students to learn each topic. Based on the students’ responses, the teacher-researcher found that the students’ preferences for the topics had a lot to do with the way how the lessons for each topic were implemented in class as well as the students’

preferred learning styles, which was defined as a student’s “habitual and preferred ways” when processing and learning a second language (Peacock, 2001).

In Topic 1, Life and Death, the teacher guided the students with a film, Coco, and used some clips from the movie to teach the traditions to the students in the main teaching. Then the teacher prepared some open-ended questions for the students to talk freely on a group basis and to share in front of the class. Similarly, in Topic 4, Hello School, an American movie was used as the teaching material for the students to have a clear picture about the school lives in the US. The teacher also guided the students to compare the differences between the school lives in the US and in Taiwan.

In both Topic 1 and 4, movies were utilized as materials for the students to learn. This echoed Chen’s (1999) study on Taiwanese students’ learning styles. In Chen’s study, 187 junior high school students in central Taiwan was examined and the researcher found that more than 51% of the students in his study preferred visual modalities,

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compared with auditory or haptic (kinesthetic and tactile) modalities. Wu & Alrabah’s (2009) researcher also reached the same conclusion that visual learning styles were dominant among Taiwanese students. The students’ qualitative feedback in the present study seemed to be in line with the above-mentioned studies. Many of the students choosing either Topic 1 or 4 as their favorite mentioned that they really liked the learning with films in class.

“In Topic 1, I learned much about Mexican culture from the film. I really liked this way of learning. It was not only clear but also straightforward.” (S42, Chang)

“The movie was really fun in Topic 4, and I learned some major differences between Taiwanese and American school lives from that movie. It helped me a lot to learn with films, and I liked to learn with films more than with articles.” (S30, Yang)

In addition to favoring visual learning styles, Taiwanese students seemed to prefer passive types of learning to active types of learning. According to Chu &

Nakamura’s (2010) study, students under Chinese culture preferred “clear and step-by-step guidance” from teachers. And teachers normally have the authority to make teaching plans for students and evaluate their learning process. In the current study, the students’ responses and feedback revealed similar tendency.

Among the 46 students in the present study, 38 (83%) students considered either Topic 2 or Topic 3 as their least favorite topic. The activity types in these two topics might be the major reason for the results. In Topic 2, Happy Lucky Year, the students were guided by the teacher to learn about the differences of the New Year customs around the globe. After the warm-up, the teachers offered a list with twelve traditional customs in different countries to the students. And each group was assigned one of

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these customs. The students needed to work together as a group to look up the

information, photos, or even video clips on the Internet and then did a presentation in front of the class. Similarly, in Topic 3, The Human Library, the teacher invited two guest speakers from two foreign countries to share their life experiences. To help the students get some prior knowledge of the two target countries before the speakers showed up, the teacher thus required the students to do some research as well as a brief presentation on a group basis. In these two topics, the students spent a large amount of time doing some research and presentations in front of the whole class.

Nevertheless, compared with the student-initiated, or active way of learning, the students showed preferences for more traditional, or passive way of learning in their own reflections.

“It (Topic 2) wasn’t fun because we needed to do a presentation in front of the whole class, and it took some time to look up information on the Internet.” (S39, Lu)

“Though it was a good way to help us have a clear picture of the two speakers’

countries by doing some research beforehand, I still didn’t like it that much because it did take us a lot of time and efforts.” (S15, Lin)

“I preferred sitting on my seat and listening to the teacher’s lecture.” (S34, Li)

These responses from the students revealed their preferences for passiveness in learning, which was in line with Chu & Nakamura’s (2010) study.

The teacher-researcher also found that the students’ language proficiency might be related to the reason why they disfavored Topic 2 and Topic 3. In these two topics, the students had chances to do presentations and to listen to their peers’ or the guest

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speakers’ presentations in English. Chou (2015) mentioned that English textbooks in Taiwan had always put emphasis on reading and writing rather than on speaking and listening. Speaking and listening skills were thus often neglected by language teachers in class. As a result, the insufficient amount of speaking and listening exposure might also help explain some feedback from the students in the present study.

“I did not learn much in this topic because the speakers spoke English so fast that I barely understood what they talked.” (S21, Lin)

“Some peers did not get well-prepared, so it was not so easy for me to fully understand what they talked in their oral presentations.” (S14, Li)

Based on the students’ qualitative feedback, the teacher-researcher speculated that the students’ language proficiency might help explain the reasons why many students in the present study did not like Topic 2 and Topic 3.

Although most students participating in the culture learning program considered either Topic 2 or Topic 3 as their least favorite, there were still a few students who liked these two topics. Their comments were also worth discussing. One of the

students mentioned his preference for visual modalities in learning a foreign language, which echoed Chen’s (2009) study.

“The topic was quite interesting. And it was good to learn these New Year customs with short clips.” (S28, Chuang)

Besides the preferences for visual modalities, some other positive feedback was mentioned by the students. These genuine reflections quoted below helped prove that

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the lessons in this culture learning program did benefit the students. The teacher-researcher also obtained valuable insights from the students’ responses.

“It was useful for us to learn these customs because more and more foreigners came to Taiwan for work these years. If we want to get along well with foreigners, it is necessary that we learn more about their cultures.” (S18, Chen)

“I really liked this topic (Topic 3) because in my real life, I rarely had chances to meet foreigners or to interact with them. And I hope that I’ll have more chances to interact with foreign friends in the future.”(S36, Chiu)

Interestingly, although most students showed preferences for Topic 1 and Topic 4, there were still a few students expressing their perspectives in a more negative way.

And their points of view were worth discussing. Based on these students’ feedback, the teacher-researcher discovered that some students in Taiwan showed a lack of global awareness, which had been proved to have a positive and strong relationship with the effectiveness of language teaching and learning in Jing’s (2013) research.

“I am not interested in Mexican culture because I don’t have any friends or relatives from Mexico. I don’t know why I need to learn their culture.” (S23, Li)

“Frankly speaking, I didn’t see the connections between Mexican culture and our own culture.” (S24, Hsu)

“To be honest, I am not interested in the school lives of other countries because I am now studying in Taiwan.” (S2, Wu)

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From these students’ feedback, the teacher-researcher found that some students in Taiwan cared more about their own personal lives, the places where they lived, and the things that had direct connections with them. The students showed less interests and concerns for other cultures and this might have negative influence on learning.