The Influence of English Learning at an Earlier Age on English Scores of the College Entrance Examination

Abstract

In recent years, some researchers in Taiwan have engaged in examining the influence of starting English learning early. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether college students at a technological university had significant differences in their English scores of the college entrance examination with or without earlier English learning experience. Subjects sampled in this study were from nine randomly selected non-English-major Freshman English classes at a technological university. Their English levels ranged from beginning to low-intermediate. A questionnaire with four sections was designed by the researchers. The SPSS analyzed the collected data, and descriptive, Chi-square, t-test, Bonferroni multiple comparisons and One-way ANOVA statistics were employed to generate results. The major finding indicated that earlier learners showed more confidence in and positive attitudes towards English learning than later learners. In addition, persistent learners gained higher English scores on the entrance examination than intermittent learners. However, there was no connection between starting age and English ability before they entered the university. It is suggested that four skills of the language should be emphasized in elementary schools and more studies on the belief of ＂the earlier the better＂ should be done nationwide.