Self-rated English Proficiency Research Articles

Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Motivational Scale of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire for English Learning Among Chinese Secondary Students

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Motivational scale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire in a sample of 656 Chinese secondary students in an English learning context. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis results suggested that a five-factor motivational structure fit the data better as opposed to the original six-factor motivational model reported by Pintrich and his colleagues. Reliability coefficients of these five motivational subscales (i.e., intrinsic value, extrinsic goal orientation, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance , and test anxiety) were in the adequate to good range. All motivational subscales except test anxiety were positively correlated with metacognitive regulation and/or students’ self-rated English proficiency. The second-order CFA further provided empirical evidence to consider a common and broad motivational factor that can be inferred from the five subscales.

Exploring police legitimacy and other factors in predicting cooperation with police in the Atlanta Korean American community

PurposeLimited research exists on the perceptions of police within specific ethnic minority groups. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of Korean and Korean American residents in the Metro Atlanta area regarding their perceptions of cooperation with the police, particularly in relation to hate crimes, along with their perceptions of police legitimacy and other relevant factors. By focusing on this specific population, the study aims to shed light on their unique perspectives and contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics between ethnic minorities and law enforcement.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ sample comprised 128 Korean residents who were asked about their demographics, victimization experiences, self-rated English proficiency and police legitimacy. Multiple linear regression analyses were employed to investigate the impact of police legitimacy, victimization experiences and English-speaking skills on the participants' level of cooperation with the police.FindingsPolice legitimacy and self-rated levels of English proficiency emerged as the most significant factors in predicting the level of cooperation among residents with the police. Furthermore, individuals who have experienced crime victimization in the past were more willing to cooperate with the police compared to those who have not. Additionally, men showed a higher tendency to cooperate with the police compared to women participants.Originality/valueThe findings of this study suggest important implications for the policies and strategies aimed at enhancing the relationship between the Korean American community and the police. These implications include the need for improved language support for non-English speaking community members and the importance of building trust and fostering mutual understanding to cultivate positive police-community relations. By implementing measures based on these findings, it is recommended to promote a more inclusive and effective approach to policing within the Korean American population.

Academic language-related challenges, self-reported proficiency, and academic success at an EMI university in Brunei

ABSTRACT This article reports an empirical study that investigates academic language challenges faced by university students in an Outer Circle context with almost four decades of English-medium instruction (EMI) education . The study also examines the relationship between students’ reported language challenges and their perceived academic success in EMI courses, as well as their self-rated proficiency in English. Quantitative analyses on questionnaire data collected from 198 undergraduate students indicate that Bruneian students did not generally experience major language-related challenges in their EMI courses, although academic writing and speaking were at times problematic. Furthermore, language challenges were found to be significant predictors of students’ perceived academic success in EMI but their self-rated English proficiency was not, suggesting that students’ beliefs about their language abilities and competence were not applied to the academic context. Finally, some implications in relation to early exposure to EMI education, and enhancing the provision of language support through English for academic purposes courses, are discussed.

Multiculturalism and multilingualism in higher education: intercultural activity participation and opportunities for language learning

ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of internationalisation and growing attention to intercultural experiences in tertiary education, this mixed-methods study examined, in part I, language learning benefits reaped by active participants in intercultural activities. As English is widely used for communication among multilinguals, part II of the study focused specifically on English. We set out to investigate the relationship between individuals’ language background (actual and self-perceived English proficiency) and intercultural participation, as well as their views of the formal English language education they received prior to entering universities. The participants (n = 518) recruited from two universities in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire and 11 of them also attended individual semi-structured interviews. Overall, five categories of benefits emerged from the interview findings, namely psychological benefits, proficiency enhancement, identification of problems, communicative strategies for accommodation, and communicative strategies for expression. A weak positive correlation was found between self-rated English speaking proficiency and participation. The interviewees also commented on the formal English education they received from curricular and environmental perspectives.

Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs about English Language Learning

Objectives The language teachers’ beliefs about language have an impact on their practices and are likely influence their students’ belief about language learning. This study investigated English language learning beliefs of pre-service teachers of English. The study also examined whether any significant differences exist in pre-service English teachers’ beliefs by gender, different academic years and self-rated English proficiency levels.
 Methods For this purpose, 91 undergraduate students enrolled in English education department at A university participated in this study. The participants were asked to answer the questionnaire of Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory(BALLI). Data were obtained by distributing the questionnaire through online during the weeks 5 and 6 in the spring of 2022. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, Chi-test, t-test and ANOVA were used.
 Results The participants showed strong beliefs about the effect on age and the importance of target culture in English language learning. The participants did not agree the importance role of grammar and translation. However, the pre-service English teachers in this study tended to view traditional activities as more useful than communicative activities. The participants believed that English language learning involves a lot of memorization and repetitions. Some of beliefs held by pre-service teachers constitute an impediment to successful English language learning and teaching, such as beliefs about pronunciation, error correction, and vocabulary learning. There was a significant difference for the role of grammar by gender, different academic years and English proficiency levels. Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the importance of vocabulary, expectation of language, willingness to communicate and motivations were significant based on the participants’ English proficiency levels.
 Conclusions Pre-service teachers in this study hold a variety of beliefs about English learning. Some of beliefs were consist with the communicative language teaching approach whereas some didn’t reflect the 2015 Revised National English Curriculum and the current language teaching trends. The findings from this study showed that considerable efforts should be made to eliminate any unrealistic beliefs pre-service teachers may hold before they start teaching.

'Corona is coming': COVID-19 vaccination perspectives and experiences amongst Culturally and Linguistically Diverse West Australians.

Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) groups within high-income countries are at risk of being left behind by the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. They face both access and attitudinal barriers, including low trust in government and health authorities. To explore perceptions and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination, as well as facilitators, barriersand strategies to promote uptake among CALD residents of Western Australia (WA), where there were almost no COVID-19 cases for 2 years. Perth, WA's capital, was chosen as the state's study site because most of the state's CALD population lives there. Eleven semistructured in-depth interviews and three focus groups (with 37 participants) were conducted with CALD residents between August and October 2021. Thematic analysis was conducted, informed by the 'Capability', 'Opportunity', 'Motivation', 'Behaviour' model. CALD participants faced barriers including a lack of knowledge about COVID-19 and the vaccines, low self-rated English proficiency and education levels, misinformation, passive government communication strategiesand limited access to vaccine clinics/providers. They were, however, motivated to vaccinate by the imminent opening of state and international borders, trust in government and healthcare authorities, travel intentionsand the desire to protect themselves and others. Despite high levels of trust and significant desire for vaccines among CALD communities in Perth, current strategies were not meeting their needs and the community remains at risk from COVID-19. Tailored intervention strategies are required to provide knowledge, address misinformationand facilitate access to ensure uptake of COVID-19 vaccines-including for additional doses-amongst CALD communities. Governments should work with trusted CALD community members to disseminate tailored COVID-19 vaccine information and adequately translated resources. The Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Community Reference Group at Telethon Kids Institute consulted on this project in September 2020; Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Services consulted on and facilitated the focus groups.

An Exploratory Study of Beliefs about Foreign Language Learning Among Self-Learners of English in Saudi Arabia

This mixed-method exploratory study was conducted to investigate the types of beliefs that Saudi self-learners of English as a foreign language bring to the learning process. It also examined the possible links between those beliefs and self-rated English proficiency and explored whether individual factors, such as age and gender, played a role in shaping the learners’ beliefs. Data were collected from 243 participants, using three instruments, two quantitative and one qualitative. The first was the Background Information Questionnaire, which was designed specifically for this study and consisted of two parts. The first part collected demographic data about the learners, and the second part elicited the participants’ self-rated English proficiency in the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The second questionnaire was a modified version of Horwitz’s (1985) Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) and consisted of 27 items. The qualitative data were collected using one-on-one retrospective interviews, mainly to support and interpret the questionnaire results. The findings revealed that the beliefs of the participants were mostly realistic. Further, a significant positive correlation at the .01 level was found between the learners’ belief that they had foreign language aptitude and their self-rated English proficiency. The results of independent samples t-tests revealed two significant differences in learner beliefs according to gender and four significant ones according to age. The study concluded by offering recommendations and suggestions for further research in the field.
 
 Received: 3 December 2020 / Accepted: 27 January 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

READING STRATEGIES USED BY STUDENTS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ENGLISH READING PROFICIENCY

Reading plays a vital role in academic development, particularly when learners have to work over a huge amount of foreign language materials for their own specialist subjects (McDonough & Shaw, 2013). Strengthening English reading ability is necessary for students to promote individual ability in university education. This study was conducted to explore if there were any differences in the use of reading strategies among university students of different levels of self-rated English reading proficiency. 957 students from 6 universities in the North of Vietnam participated in the study. The results of the study through the questionnaire adapted from Oxford’s (2013) Self-Strategic Regulation model (S2R) show that there were significant differences in the use of reading strategies among students of different self-rated levels of English reading proficiency, especially between students of good and poor proficiency. The highest frequencies in the use of each strategy category were in the group of self-rated good readers and the students of the poor group reported the lowest frequencies. The study also reveals individual strategies used the most and the least by each group of students.

Sexual health information seeking behaviour of adolescents and their satisfaction with the information outcome: An application of the theory of motivated information management

This study investigates how the Theory of Motivated Information Management influences adolescents' sexual information-seeking behaviour and their satisfaction with the information they find. A cross-sectional investigation that purposively selected and surveyed 128 adolescents in the Matara District of Sri Lanka using a semi-structured questionnaire was designed. The variables such as high-risk sexual behaviour, having a partner or not, sexual curiosity, computer self-rated proficiency, sex of the adolescents, self-rated English proficiency, Uncertainty Discrepancy anxiety and self-efficacy were used to inquire about the contributing effects on adolescents' sexual health information seeking behaviour. The findings reveal that the most important sexual health information for adolescents is the information related to “high-risk sexual behaviour” and “sexual curiosity”. Boys are more likely to engage with sexual health information in a positive way than girls. The results further validate the TMIM framework. The orientation of associations between model variables has been consistent with past studies, particularly the negative relationship between anxiety and efficacy. Adolescents expressed difficulties in obtaining health information, including difficulty determining the quality of information and the lack of appropriate health information, highlighting the need for effective measures in this area. To overcome these barriers, the Ministries of Health and Education, the National Library, the Academic Library System and particularly medical/health libraries in universities, and the National Youth Services Council should plan easily accessible, outcome measurable, and appropriate opportunities and training through their official centres and institutions.

Are learners ready for Englishes in the EFL classroom? A large-scale survey of learners’ views of non-standard accents and teachers’ accents

The adherence to Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA) as standard models in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) education has been challenged in recent decades. Scholars have advocated (1) using a wider variety of accents as input for EFL listening and (2) intelligibility over nativelikeness in EFL pronunciation. However, learners’ views of these advocacies and their views of whether EFL teachers need or need not speak with RP/GA have remained under-researched. This large-scale survey explored Hong Kong secondary-level learners’ views (n = 1300) of non-standard accents in EFL education and EFL teachers’ accents. Participants’ self-rated English proficiency and prior exposure to different accents were also included in the analyses. The results show that, surprisingly, the participants were only slightly favourable towards teachers with RP/GA and they were slightly against the notion that those without RP/GA are inappropriate EFL teachers. With regard to incorporating non-RP/GA accents in EFL listening, they were neutral towards including other L1 accents and slightly negative towards L2 accents. Differences in views were found when the participants were categorized into groups of different proficiency and prior exposure. This article ends with a discussion of these findings and their implications.

Association of Acculturation With Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.

To evaluate the relationship between acculturation and adverse pregnancy outcomes, and whether these relationships differ across racial or ethnic groups. This is a planned secondary analysis of the nuMoM2b study (Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be), a prospective observational cohort study of 10,038 pregnant women at eight academic health care centers in the United States. Nulliparous pregnant women with singleton gestations were recruited between 6 0/7 and 13 6/7 weeks of gestation from October 2010-September 2013. Acculturation was defined by birthplace (United States vs non-United States), language used during study visits (English or Spanish), and self-rated English proficiency. The adverse pregnancy outcomes of interest were preterm birth (less than 37 weeks of gestation, both iatrogenic and spontaneous), preeclampsia or eclampsia, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, stillbirth, small for gestational age, and large for gestational age. Multivariable regression modeling was performed, as was an interaction analysis focusing on the relationship between acculturation and adverse pregnancy outcomes by maternal race or ethnicity. Of the 10,006 women eligible for this analysis, 8,100 (80.9%) were classified as more acculturated (eg, born in the United States with high English proficiency), and 1,906 (19.1%) were classified as having less acculturation (eg, born or not born in the United States with low proficiency in English or use of Spanish as the preferred language during study visits). In multivariable logistic regression modeling, more acculturation was significantly associated with higher frequency of preterm birth (odds ratio [OR] 1.46, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.50, 95% CI 1.16-1.95); spontaneous preterm birth (OR 1.54, aOR 1.62, 95% CI 1.14-2.24); preeclampsia or eclampsia (OR 1.39, aOR 1.31, 95% CI 1.03-1.67); preeclampsia without severe features (OR 1.44, aOR 1.43, 95% CI 1.03-2.01); and gestational hypertension (OR 1.68, aOR 1.48, 95% CI 1.22-1.79). These associations did not differ by self-described race or ethnicity. In a large cohort of nulliparous women, more acculturation, regardless of self-described race or ethnicity, was associated with increased odds of several adverse pregnancy outcomes. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01322529.

Speech Recognition in Noise in Adults and Children Who Speak English or Chinese as Their First Language.

Speech recognition of individuals who are listening to a nonnative language is significantly degraded in the presence of background noise and may be influenced by proficiency, age of acquisition, language experience, and daily use of the nonnative language. The purpose of this study is to examine and compare speech recognition in noise performance across test conditions with varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) as well as the presence of vocal and spatial cues in listeners who speak American English as a native language or Mandarin Chinese as a native language. Self-rated English proficiency and experience were collected for native Mandarin Chinese speakers to determine its relationship to performance on the test measures. A cross-sectional repeated measures design was used for the study. Four groups of participants were included in the study. The adult groups consisted of 25 adults who speak native English and 25 adults who speak native Mandarin Chinese with English as an additional language. The pediatric groups consisted of 16 children who speak native English and 16 children who speak native Mandarin Chinese with English as an additional language. Percent correct speech recognition in noise was assessed at three SNRs (-3, 0, +3 dB) using the adult or pediatric versions of the AzBio sentence test. The Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentence (LiSN-S) test was used to determine the effect of providing spatial and vocal cues on the speech recognition in noise performance of the groups of participants. The data for each age group and test measure were analyzed with a repeated measures analysis of variance. Correlation analyses were performed to examine relationships between English proficiency and experience on performance across the speech recognition test conditions. Analysis of the data from the adult or pediatric AzBio sentence test identified a significant effect of native language for adults but no significant effect for children. The higher SNRs yielded better performance for all listeners. On the LiSN-S test, results for the adult and pediatric groups were similar and showed significantly better performance for the native English speakers in every test condition. The demographic and language characteristics that most affected speech recognition performance across the test measures included the length of time the person lived in the United States, the age of English acquisition, the number of minutes per day English was spoken by the participant, and the self-rated English proficiency. The findings in this study highlight the importance and benefit of higher SNRs as well as the provision of vocal and spatial cues for improving speech recognition performance in noise of adult and pediatric listeners who speak Mandarin Chinese as a native language.

Individual Learner Differences and Language Learning Strategies

This study aimed to investigate what language learning strategies were frequently used by English as a foreign languageundergraduates at a public university in Bangkok, Thailand and the significant differences in the use of language learningstrategies based on individual differences, including gender and self-rated English proficiency. The research was conductedwith 392 Thai undergraduates through administering a quantitative method. Instruments for the study included ademographic questionnaire and Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning. The findings revealed that researchparticipants reported a low-to-medium use of language learning strategy. The strategies most used by learners werecompensation strategies while the least were cognitive strategies. Regarding gender differences, female participants usedthe all six strategy categories more than did the male counterparts. The results also demonstrated that participants withdifferent English proficiency employed learning strategies at different levels with a statistical significance at .05 in almost sixstrategies, except affective strategies. Research participants who were good at English most used metacognitive while socialstrategies were most used by participants with less English proficiency. Keywords: Individual learner differences, language learning strategies.

Strategic English Learning and Proficiency among Vietnamese Tertiary Learners: Beyond Passive Stereotypes

Practitioners and researchers worldwide have enthusiastically undertaken research on language learning strategies (LLS) since the early 1970s. They have since established solid evidence on LLS as an influential factor in determining success in second/foreign language learning. However, in the context of Vietnam, there is a dearth of evidence regarding LLS and successful second/foreign language learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency and pattern of LLS use among Vietnamese students undertaking English as a foreign language (EFL) at the tertiary (university) level. Secondly, it sought to investigate the relationship between LLS use and self-rated English proficiency. Quantitative data were collected from 564 students through a researcher-generated questionnaire, the English Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (ELLSQ), which had been pretested to ensure validity and reliability. Findings revealed that the students were moderate users of learning strategies, and frequency of strategy use was positively correlated with self-reported English proficiency.

Investigating Metacognitive Awareness and Reading Strategy Use of EFL Korean University Students

The metacognitive awareness and reading strategy use by Korean university students in Korea was investigated. The relationships between reading strategy use, self-rated English proficiency, and self-rated reading proficiency were examined. Differences in reading strategy use were also explored by gender and academic classification. Problem-solving strategies were the Korean students’ most preferred strategies. The relationship between strategy use and reading proficiency was linear, while a curvilinear relationship between strategy use and English proficiency was found. While no significant difference in strategy use between females and males was found, senior and junior level students reported higher use of strategies.

The link between Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity and Self-rated English proficiency among Chinese learners

Previous research has suggested that high levels of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) have a negative effect on foreign language learning (Horwitz, 2001; Lu & Liu, 2011) while moderate levels of Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity (SLTA) are believed to boost foreign language learning (Ely, 1995). There is prima facie evidence that both dimensions are inversely related as Foreign Language Learning contexts are full of ambiguities which may contribute to anxiety. However, the relationship between FLCA and SLTA has been under-researched. The present study is an attempt to fill this gap by investigating the link between SLTA and FLCA in English of 73 secondary school students in Hong Kong. They filled out an online questionnaire consisting of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) and the Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (Ely, 1995). Statistical analyses revealed that FLCA, SLTA and Self-rated English proficiency predict half of the variance in each other; in other words, students who were more tolerant of second language ambiguity were less anxious in their EFL classes and they also felt more proficient.

Effect of language proficiency and executive control on verbal fluency performance in bilinguals

We use a time-course analysis to examine the roles of vocabulary size and executive control in bilinguals’ verbal fluency performance. Two groups of bilinguals and a group of monolingual adults were tested in English with verbal fluency subtests from the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System. The two bilingual groups were equivalent in their self-rated English proficiency but differed in levels of receptive and expressive vocabulary. We hypothesized that the difference between the two bilingual groups in vocabulary and between the monolingual and bilingual groups in executive control would lead to differences in performance on the category and letter fluency tests and dissociate the roles of vocabulary knowledge and executive control in verbal production. Bilinguals and monolinguals performed equivalently in category fluency, but the high-vocabulary bilingual group outperformed both monolinguals and low-vocabulary bilinguals in letter fluency. An analysis of the retrieval time-course functions in letter fluency showed dissociable effects of resources available at the initiation of the trial, considered to reflect vocabulary size, and ability to monitor and retrieve new items using a novel phonemic-based word searching strategy, considered to reflect executive control. The difference in slope of the best-fitting curves reflected enhanced executive control for both bilingual groups compared to monolinguals, whereas the difference in the starting point of the logarithmic functions reflected higher levels of vocabulary for high-vocabulary bilinguals and monolinguals compared to low-vocabulary bilinguals. The results are discussed in terms of the contributions of linguistic resources and executive control to verbal performance.

Interview Language: A Proxy Measure for Acculturation Among Asian Americans in a Population-Based Survey

We examined health status and access to care among Asian Americans by the following acculturation indicators: nativity, percent lifetime in the US, self-rated English proficiency, and interview language, to assess whether any measure better distinguishes acculturation. Data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey were used to study the sample of 4,170 US-born and foreign-born Asians by acculturation indicators. We performed t-tests to compare differences in demographics, health status and behaviors, and access to care between the foreign-born and US-born Asians, and between various classifications within foreign-born and the US-born Asian group. Our results showed that foreign-born Asians who interviewed in English more closely resembled US-born Asians than foreign-born Asians who interviewed in languages other than English. Compared to interview language, dichotomizing the sample by other acculturation indicators showed smaller differences between the divided groups. Interview language may serve as a better measure for acculturation especially among foreign-born populations with a high proportion of limited English proficiency. In immigrant public health research studies, interview language may be used as an important covariate for health disparities.

A Causal Model of Spanish Immigrant Adaptation in Canada

This study was conducted to investigate the role of several sociocultural variables involved in the acculturation process and their relation to second language learning and well-being. Previous studies have supported several of the proposed relationships between these variables; however, there is a need for integrative research assessing the relationships among all of them simultaneously. The sample consisted of 248 Spanish immigrants who completed questionnaires assessing Language Ability, Attitudes, Contact, Modes of Acculturation, Self-Ratings of English Proficiency, and Well-Being. A causal modelling analysis indicated that an Assimilation mode of acculturation was positively related to self-rated English proficiency and preference for responding to the questionnaire in English. Furthermore, Integration and Assimilation were found to be positively related to Well-Being whereas Rejection was negatively related to both Well-Being and preference for the English questionnaire. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for research on acculturation, second language acquisition, and the general well-being of immigrants.

The impact of English-language proficiency on international graduate students' perceived academic difficulty

This study presents an empirical test of the impact of English proficiency as indicated by student self-ratings and TOEFL scores, and selected nonlinguistic variables on the level of academic difficulties perceived by international graduate students. A simple random sample of 450 international graduate students from three large universities in upstate New York were contacted by mail in the fall of 1988. With two mailings, 245 completed the Survey of International Students' Academic Language Needs. It was found that Self-rated English Proficiency was the most significant predictor of the perceived level of academic difficulty. In addition, Length of Prior English Training and Age were also significant predictors. TOEFL score was found to be a nonsignificant predictor of students' academic difficulty. Implications of the research for English-language educators, ESL program and curriculum design, and U.S. university recruitment policy on international students were discussed.