Research English
Research English
Research English
recognize that second language reading is a new and different literacy. As such it is a
complex social and psycholinguistic process that cannot be separated into reading
language reading is in part dependent of first language literacy and other language
operations.
Chan and Wu (5) talk about the three perspectives from which research studies
on anxiety are conducted. These are trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific
exams. This anxiety can be provoked in the confrontation of the perceived threat
(MacIntyre & Gardner 157 – 158). However, it is temporary and altered in time. In order
perspective to the study of anxiety. This perspective focuses on the situations in which
respondents to attribute their anxiety to particular sources. Specific situations can offer
2009). However, it is generally agreed in my own teaching context that English should
be the sole medium of instruction except in the lowest level classes, in order to
maximize the intake of students’ English learning. Often the Direct Method is employed
1998). Students learn English communicatively with a focus on integrated skills, and
with the aim of preparing them for content subjects. These Japanese-base students at
the university are required to take content subjects in English even when they do not
possess the linguistic ability to successfully pass the courses, a point criticized by
Tollefson (2000). In support of these needs and the reality, the policy to use “English at
all times” in the classroom, both for instructors and students, is also prescribed in the
syllabi.
The idea that English should be taught in English seems to be a national trend,
which is pushing the high school teachers to conduct classes in English, even though
the Grammar and Translation Method is still the mainstream in Japanese high schools.
An English only policy is a “pervasive belief” in ESL instruction (Auerbach, 2001, p.293),
and according to Cutri (2000), teachers’ decisions on classroom language policy are
made by their own unexamined beliefs and assumptions, rather than as formal policy.
Cutri (2000, p.174) asserts, “Teachers’ classroom language policies and practices
moral deliberations.” Cases in other Asian nations such as South Korea, Indonesia and
Vietnam are reported widely in recent years (Johnstone, 2010, Kim and Petraki, 2009,
Lin and Morrison, 2010, Ling and Braine, 2007). For instance in South Korea, teaching
government is promoting TEE and is training teachers (Lee, 2010). However, there are
not many studies conducted on TEE in Japan. A few cases reported recently include
Takagaki and Tanabe (2007) in which researchers conducted questionnaires over three
years at a high school home economics class taught in a non-native variety of English.
for students to learn in English, but this institution is an English-medium university, and
the findings focus on the participants’ perceived difficulties in language skill areas.
Based from Local Literature Foreign Students, Bordbar and Shariati (2016)
Reading Proficiency (RP) and Text Feature Awareness (TFA). The study surveyed and
analyzed 74 students from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. The results indicated
relationship between RP and TFA and negative significant relationship between TFA
and RA. Also results revealed that there is no significant difference between foreign
language reading anxiety, reading proficiency and text feature awareness scores of
male and female students, as a result; there is no relationship between gender and
classroom. The aim was to focus on the relationship between anxiety and second
language learning and the ways to cope with anxiety among university students. 120
students were asked to write down the things that led them to feel anxious in the
classroom and then the researcher held interviews with these students as to what
caused anxiety in the department. The main sources of anxiety were identified as: (a)
Presenting before the class, (b) Making mistakes, (c) Losing face, (d) Inability to
express oneself, (e) Fear of failure, (f) Teachers, and (g) Fear of living up to the
standards. It is concluded that teachers should consider the possibility that anxiety is
responsible for the student behaviors before attributing poor student performance to
Zhao (x) explored the subject on the foreign language reading anxiety among
learners of Chinese in colleges in the United States. A total of 125 learners of Chinese
in a large public research university in the U.S. took part in this survey study. The
primary data source came from the two anxiety instruments, namely, Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale and also a
Based on Local Studies, Go, Lucas, and Miraflores (2016) conducted a study
the Philippines. Findings suggest that these type of learners used vocabulary strategy to
efficiently learn the English language and to cope with their English class anxiety. Two
hundred fifty foreign students were the respondents of this study. The target participants
were foreign college students taking any course in these institutions provided that they
are enrolled in any English course during the time of the administration of the
questionnaires. It has been found that the employment of this strategy enables the
learners to take charge of their own learning as this serves as their basic aid to learn
Del Villar (159) identified beginning student’s attributions about their oral
communication anxieties. A total of 250 students were included in the study. Results
revealed an eight factor model explaining 69.11% of the total variance in the data. The
factors are expectation, training and experience, audience, self-worth, rejection, verbal
Cao (73) compared the two models of foreign language classroom anxiety scale
(FLCAS). FLCAS was constructed where items reflect the characteristics of foreign
language anxiety. There showed two models of FLCAS which are three factor model
and four factor model. The three factor model has three domains which are
communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation. The four factor
model has four domains which are communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of
negative evaluation, and fear of English classes. The FLCAS was administered to a
sample (N=300) and the factors were confirmed using Confirmative Factor analysis
(CFA). The results showed that the three factor model of FLCAS has the better fit.
analysis of writing anxiety revealed that there is a positive correlation between essay
Balili (1) studied level of language anxiety and its effect on oral performance in
descriptive correlational method, with the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
and Clark’s Four Scale System, it was found out that there was no significant
relationship between the two variables since Bouchard’s Picture Talk their language
anxiety. The result suggested that a similar study be conducted but using evaluation
tools that would clearly gauge that language anxiety and the oral performance of the
students.
Fuller and Unwin (2002) focus on how people learn from and teach others about
work tasks. They argue that the act of learning to do one’s job in the workplace is
worthy of close attention, and that much of this learning takes place through explicit
pockets of activity which make use of a range of pedagogical methods. It also argues
that pedagogical skills can be found in all types of workplaces, at all levels in an
organization, and that they are not restricted by age. The paper thus challenges the
traditional conceptions of, novice and expert generally associated with models of skills
formation, and in particular, apprenticeship. The paper focuses deliberately on the term
pedagogies to counter both the experiential learning tradition which sees workplace
learning as almost entirely informal, and the HRD tradition which is concerned mostly
with improving the effectiveness of off the job training, often through the use of new
technology. Both these traditions play down the role of pedagogy, which, research
drawn on in this paper shows, continues to be a salient part of working life. This study
too, therefore, highlights the significance for effective formal and informal learning, of
Knowles (1996), Alexander (2004), and Swan (2006) also challenge simplistic
argues that the learning process can entail challenge and disagreement as well as
consensus. Swan‟s view suggests that challenge and disagreement are in some sense
essential to the most effective learning situations. This works only if classroom culture
has moved beyond the one sided transmission relationship between teacher and
learner. If it hasn’t, then dialogic and challenging teaching may intimidate and inhibit
some learners. Knowles’ theory of andragogy implies a shift from teacher assessment
focussed relationships between learners and between the teacher and the learners, that
learning will not flourish if the teacher focuses primarily on controlling the student, and
relationships, and argues that learning will not flourish if the primary focus of the teacher
legislation mandating an official language policy is hardly a new issue, but one that has
been debated throughout the history of this country. Crawford (1992) in his book,
Language Loyalties, summarizes the opposing views on this topic, as follows: "For
supporters, the case is obvious: English has always been our common language, a
means of resolving conflicts in a nation of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious groups.
immigrants, encouraging them to join in rather than remain apart, and to government,
languages. The amendment poses a threat to civil rights, educational opportunities and
free speech, even in the private sector. It is an insult to the heritage of cultural
minorities, including groups whose roots in this country go deeper than English
speakers--Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and American Indians. Worst of all, the
English-Only movement serves to justify racist and nativist biases under the cover of
opportunity to use their mother tongue affects the educational and cognitive
minority children go to school with many well-developed skills in their first language
(L1). These children are also able to use their L1 for culturally appropriate activities in
various contexts with different participants and topics. These skills constitute the bridge
which connects L1 with the learning of English (Ollia & Mayfield, 1992). Edelsky (1986)
maintains that once a firm base has been founded in language minority children's native
languages, they are willing to explore and find out how a new language works. These
children can also apply their background knowledge in their L1 to make sense of the
unfamiliar, to create their own English written text, and to read English materials written
by others. Even when the written form of the L1 and English - such as the Chinese
characters and the English alphabet - are distinctly different, the children are still able to
apply the visual, linguistic, and cognitive strategies used in their L1 to reading and
writing in English (Freeman & Freeman, 1992). These essential resources are made
unavailable, however, when children are thrown into an English-Only situation where
they are expected to learn unfamiliar content in an unfamiliar language. Without the
bridge provided by their L1, their chances of achieving academic success may be
severely reduced.
inhibit the academic advancement of many language minority children, but also
deprives these children of the many social advantages resulting from using their mother
tongue. Researchers (Wong-Fillmore, 1991b; Gibson, 1998) have maintained that the
consequences of losing a mother tongue for language minority children are often
extensive and severe. Wong-Fillmore explains that in homes where parents do not
communicate with children in the mother tongue, family communication may deteriorate.
Where parents and children do not share a common language, communication is often
limited to the basic necessities, preventing parents from transmitting to their children the
complex set of values, beliefs, wisdom, and understanding which provide the foundation
Wong-Fillmore also noted a quick shift in language use in home and at school
among language minority children, especially the younger ones, in the United States.
She argues that children lose their mother tongue at a far higher rate than they learn
their second language (Wong-Fillmore, 1998); this phenomenon, she further explains, is
one in which "learning a second language means losing the first one" (Wong-Fillmore,
1991b). In an immersion program, where English is the only instructional language, the
children are at a greater risk of losing their mother tongue before they have fully
mastered their second language. As education in the United States has traditionally
been verbocentric (Leland & Harste, 1994), with language as the dominant way of
learning and teaching, the limited language skills these children possess, either in their
debates, such as that over Proposition 227 in California, have highlighted the issue of
equality in education. Equal education, which pertains to the provision of the same
educational opportunities for all children regardless of their backgrounds, would make
English the sole instructional language for every child. Proponents of an equal
children. While the federal government has never imposed legislation mandating an
official language, many states have adopted various forms of Official English legislation
mandated that English be the only instructional language used in public schools.
Ironically, this type of instruction not only makes it difficult for language minority children
to receive meaningful education, but may also be detrimental to their familial and social
integration. Consequently, in the 1974 case of Lau v. Nichols, the Supreme Court ruled
that: "there is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same
facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand
English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education" (U.S. Supreme Court,
414 U.S. 563). Although state-imposed standards have never been declared
unconstitutional, since the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling, public school systems
been a topic of much interest in English language teaching. Although there is strong
support in the literature for limited, strategic L1 use as a valuable resource for second
language learning (e.g., Butzkamm & Caldwell, 2009; Macaro, 2005; Rivers, 2011a;
Storch & Wigglesworth, 2003; Turnbull & Daily-O’Cain, 2009), students’ language use
purpose is to help learners develop their language skills through extensive exposure to
the target language. It is no secret that in many IEPs, teachers and administrators
enforce policies, rules, and guidelines in regard to student language use, both in class
and outside the classroom. While some IEPs simply encourage students to maximize
their L2 use, others enforce policies that restrict the use of students’ L1, including
English-only policies that prohibit the use of the learners’ L1 at any time within the
confines of the language school (McMillan & Rivers, 2011; Rivers, 2011a). In programs
students do not use their L1” (Auerbach, 1993, p. 16; also see Rivers, 2014).
Unfortunately, in many cases, such restrictive policies seem to be rather ineffective and
even harmful (e.g., Grant, 1999; McMillan & Rivers, 2011; Rivers, 2011a; Rivers, 2014;
Shvidko, Evans, & Hartshorn, 2015). For example, Rivers (2014) suggested such
English-only policies are often guided toward a dark emotional pathway of shame (in not
being good enough to participate), guilt (in breaking the contract of obligation to their
classmates, the teacher and the institution) and ultimately fear (of the impending
Research Methodology
This chapter presents the research method and procedure that was used in the
study. This includes research design, setting and subject of the study, sources of data,
Research Design
The researchers used the descriptive method of research to describe the present
condition of the students in terms of the Effects of English Only Policy to the Academic
Performance. According to Marshall and Rossman (2010) a researcher can adopt three
research. The researchers in this case should adopt the descriptive research method.
Ritchie et al (2013) opined that by using the descriptive method the researcher
will be able to observe a large mass of target of population and make required
conclusions about the variables. The researcher by using descriptive research can
effectively design a pre-structured questionnaire with both open ended and close ended
question. The use of descriptive design enables the researcher to measure the results
Information collected from the responses are can be statistically presented in this
type of research method for the easy interpretation of the report users. Since the
researcher is trying to analyze the customer opinion, attitude, behavior and satisfaction
level in relation to services and products hence the researcher should effectively use
This study utilized descriptive method for the reason that the study aimed to
determine the Effects of English Only Policy to the Academic Performance of Grade 7
The result was tabulated in a table to aid the readers in understanding the data
distribution with corresponding interpretation. The design served as guide for the
and test.
(QUESTIONNAIRE CHECKLIST)
Name:
Direction: Please answer the following by putting check (√) which best describes you.
( ) Lower Class
II. Checklist
Direction: Please answer the following by putting check (√) which best describes the
5 - Strongly Agree
4 – Agree
3 – Moderately Agree
2 – Disagree
1 – Strongly Disagree
A. Self 5 4 3 2 1
speak in public
room only
B Teacher 5 4 3 2 1
language
the class
the campus