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A Case Study of Communication Difficulties
between a Chinese Advanced Learner and Native
Speakers
Xiaoling Jin
Beijing Normal University Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC), Zhuhai, China
AbstractThe paper focuses on the communication difficulties between a Chinese advanced learner and native
speakers. The research is carried out through a case study approach and is grounded on the data collected
from recording conversations between a Chinese participant and two native speakers. The recorded
conversations are spontaneous, covering general topics encountered in real life. Three linguistic findings are:
first, grammar does not usually affect advanced learners in speaking whereas the lack of appropriate
vocabulary may be a bigger challenge; second, advanced learners could learn contents words and expressions
without instruction but through a rich target language input; third, incorrect pronunciation can be corrected
through consistent physical practice and corrective feedback. Also, the research shows that foreign language
anxiety, cultural differences and L1 influence play important roles in communication with native speakers. As
to the study strategy, this research emphasizes the importance of continuous language exposure for adva nced
learners. This case study could be applied by students and teachers in EFL classrooms and will also contribute
to the study of Chinese English.
Index Termscase study, immersion environment, Chinese L2 learners, Chinese English, communication
difficulties
I. INTRODUCTION
Motivation of the study
Molly, a Chinese student, whose English is at advanced level, is studying for an MA in TESOL at a university in the
U.K. She is having a home-stay experience with a native British family. She had a great opportunity to get closer to the
English language as well as British culture with this target language immersion environment. Researchers have been
studying the importance of immersion-styled teaching and engagement strategies in the U.S. since the late 1960s (Kim,
Hutchison & Winsler, 2015)
effectiveness in language learning abroad (Kang & Ghanem, 2016). This research will certainly contribute the
understanding of immersion in the respect of individual language development abroad. During Molly
gradually noticed herself having some difficulties in communication with the native speakers and she was anxious to
assimilate into the foreign community. In order to have a clearer picture of her own weakness, she determined to
conduct a thorough research on her own communicative performance, aiming at discovering both linguistic difficulties
and also understanding underlying psychological difficulties.
The research questions
1. What linguistic and psychological difficulties will Chinese advanced learners have when speaking with a native
speaker?
2. Why do these difficulties occur in speaking between Chinese advanced learners and native speakers?
3. What study strategies can be adopted to reduce the difficulties in speaking?
This research focuses vertically on the communication difficulties Molly encountered rather than spreading
horizontally across the difficulties that may confront an L2 learner. Molly, as a Chinese advanced learner, surrounded by
native speakers, is going to confront her linguistic difficulties in respect of lexis, grammar and pronunciation, as well as
revealed any psychological difficulties that may occur. It should also be borne in mind that the research has been
unfolded in the communication between the participants so that the real life situations will have impact on the actual
outcome of the data. Hopefully, this research can make contributions to the field of teaching English as a second
language and enrich the understanding of Chinese English.
II. METHODOLOGY
Participants
Maley (2009) discovers that advanced English language learners are those who have come a long way in the
language and, although having a degree of self-sufficiency, they are typically acutely aware of a margin for further
improvement. Similarly, if an advanced learner is strongly motivated to reach a higher-level of English proficiency, s/he
ISSN 1798-4769
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 114-125, January 2019
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1001.13
© 2019 ACADEMY PUBLICATION
might persist in making the effort to aim for native-like linguistic competence, especially those whose occupation
requires a professional command of English. However, with respect to communication and interaction with others in
every-l as being revealed through other
proud of their linguistic achievement, whilst respecting the uniqueness of their own origins.
Sykes (2015) carried out a case study by interviewing a successful language learner to understand the study
approaches th is learner adopted effectively. Sykes focused on a particular participant and it has provided concrete
details to show key characteristics of what a good language learner could be. Cohen, Manion, & Morrison (2007) point
out the uniqueness of case study which provides vivid examples of real people in real life which is far more interesting
than listing abstract theories or principles. This research has carried out also using a case study approach, involving a
Chinese advanced learner and two British native speakers. The researcher, referring to as Molly, is the Chin ese
advanced learner, actively participating in the study throughout. Molly is 26 years old, with a BA in business English
and currently pursuing her MA in TESOL for a year in the UK. Her English language is at advanced level and she is
capable of using English flexibly and effectively for social and academic purposes. Molly met Max and Pauline over
Christmas, 2014 and she has had a home-stay experience with them for almost a year. During her stay, she has
experienced a rich English language and cultural exposure in most aspects of family and social life from interactions
with native speakers.
The native British couple, Max and Pauline, are the L1 informants and keen to contribute to the study. They are
originally from Liverpool, UK, however, they do not have a scouse accent, the lack of which Molly found more
intelligible. Max graduated in architecture at Liverpool College of Building in 1962. He has been working as a church
completed her English language and English literature O levels in 1965. She was a director of a shipping agent in the
UK for 42 years and her life-long interests include English history and literature.
Methods and procedures
In this research, Molly represents the Chinese advanced learner and she remains in this English immersion
environment for the duration of the study. From June 23rd 2015 to June 27th 2015, some of her general conversations
with Max and Pauline have been recorded as the first group of data for the research. After about four weeks, further
conversations have been recorded from July 26th to July 30th as the second group of data. During the four weeks
between recording, Molly has made efforts, such as listening to BBC radio, watching English language films on TV,
conversing widely with native speakers, and writing essays, all with the object of improving her level of competence in
the use of the second language. Therefore, there should be some differences between the two sets of data with the
second group expecting to give some indication of improved capability.
All the conversations recorded are authentically derived from normal discourse, covering a relatively wide range of
topics encountered in everyday life. All the voice data collected has been transcribed into written notes verbatim and
then sampled for specific analysis. All transcriptions of this research have been completed by Molly and she endeavored
to identify as many linguistic mistakes as possible in her own language performance. Then Max and Pauline, as the
native speakers, reviewed the voice data and the transcripts for confirmation and double-checking for errors and
difficulties. In the process of recording, Molly kept a close track of the psychological difficulties she had during the
communication and wrote them down promptly for a record, and these data would support the study from another
perspective other than language.
The actual linguistic difficulties in speaking during the research have been identified with evidence from the voice
data and written transcripts, while the psychological difficulties were recorded by Molly according to her immediate gut
feeling at that time. Obviously, the psychological data would be subjective, but it was as perceived directly by the
participant herself. Molly has been centered throughout the study, in all aspects of grammar,
lexis and pronunciation. Possible reasons for any communication difficulties were analyzed in specific detail in the
subsequent discussion section and relevant study strategies have been suggested accordingly. Although there is a
potential risk of compromising the study from having the researcher as a participant, Max and Pauline have been asked
to verify the authenticity of all difficulties encountered in the communication. However, to improve the validit y of
future study, a procedure of peer examination of the data could be undertaken, perhaps involving a second L2
participant.
III. DISCUSSION WITH RELEVANT STUDIES
All the representative samples of the recorded conversation cove most of Moll y Molly has
first read through the transcriptions, and has identified as many errors and difficulties as she could in her own language
performance. Subsequently, Max and Pauline have double-checked the transcriptions to identify any further matters that
they feel Molly should address. From mistakes collected from the data, it seems that Mollys in her
communication with native speakers are lexis and grammar, as well as several pronunciation difficulties. It is worth
noting that the process of finding these challenges is based on a standard accuracy of native speaker norms. However, it
appears that their communication normally went smoothly and misunderstanding only occurred few times during the
whole recording time. See Chart 1 below:
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Chart 1:
It is worth noticing that Molly could find herself almost all of the pronunciation mistakes she has made but she could
only distinguish about one fifth of her lexical errors and one third of her grammatical mistakes. This process could
certainly help Molly to notice the gap between herself and a native speaker; as a consequence she could be more aware
of her spoken weakness. See Chart 2 below:
Chart 2:
Harley (2010) says there is little room for errors in speaking. In order to ensure successful communication, speakers
not only need to make themselves clear but also must respond quickly without much time to think. Despite the linguistic
difficulties in speaking that this research mainly focus on, the nature of communication could not be overlooked and the
features of Molly have been analyzed. Cook (2008, p112) pays considerable attention to
all back on to
make themselves understood. Bygate (1987) divides communication strategies into two categories: Achievement
strategies and Reduction strategies. Achievement strategies contain guessing, paraphrase and cooperation with the
others. Reduction strategy could also be labeled Avoidance strategy so as to avoid some tricky structures or difficulties
in expressing an idea through lack of vocabulary.
It is apparent that Molly is inclined to make use of different communication strategies in her communication. When
she is not sure whether it is correct to use a word, she always paraphrases it or employs an alternative word. For
Sometimes it might contribute to her learning process if she would take the risk and use the word that first came to mind.
Besides, she makes considerable use of guessing and gesture to help her communication with native speakers. It may be
effective but the disadvantage is that she might be losing some good opportunities of negotiating for meaning which
would otherwise facilitate her linguistic competence. Also, she frequently applies repetition in her speech, although
appropriate repetition could emphasize the key point in the conversation and promote understanding. In addition to the
achievement strategies in communication, Molly relies on the strategy of avoidance to keep herself out of trouble. For
example, when Max wanted to talk to Molly about the differences between the Chinese and British educational systems,
Molly narrowed the topic down to the differences of teaching English, with which she was more familiar.
Lexical difficulties in communication
Data presentation and analysis
With regards to lexical difficulty, Mollys biggest challenge is her application of noun, collocation and determiner. In
everyday conversation, new vocabulary seems to occur only occasionally implying that Molly has a good command of
English vocabulary. See details in Chart 3 below:
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Chart 3:
*Note: The numbers refer to the amount of lexical mistakes collected from Mo lly
Nouns
According to the data, Molly sometimes struggled to find the appropriate lexical noun in a certain context. For
example, she wanted to tell Pauline that her friend Ny has got a full-time job in a pub, but she was hesitant to use the
-time job in that bar, pub.
and pick up the correct noun. The same thing happened when she wanted to explain to Max about a pair of trousers, she
but the texture, the material
interlocuter would understand her by adding an alternative, perhaps more accurate, word. However, finding the
appropriate word is sometimes controversial because it is very much dependent on the context.
However, sometimes Molly did use an inappropriate word without offering an alternative. Take one of her
conversation with Max for example:
Molly: Of course. I mean that is not just to respect the others, it is also a showing of your own good manners.
Molly used the
another example, when Molly Actually our study plans, I
think, is a bit too heavy for the students
was either afraid to use it or temporarily could not bring it to min d, so that sometimes she had to invent expressions for
herself.
Determiners
Relating to nouns, Molly also has difficulties with determiners. Carter and McCarthy (2006, p335) define determiners
as the type of reference a noun phrase has, which could be definite or indefinite (the, a), possessive (my, her), and
demonstrative (this, those). One third of Molly
the night when Ny made me this when she should
have said a roast dinner and she said those some local
ng these
demonstrative determiners could help associate her listener with the situation she was referring to and smooth the
conversation by establishing such a connection.
Collocations
Gairns & Redman (1986) concluded that the most common types of colloc
Molly tends to have trouble
Molly meant within the context, but
they would soon notice the difference in how L2 learners describe things and where their weaknesses lie. As to the other
three types of collocation, they do not often appear in Molly
spoken language. but fail to use other verbs such as
totter, stroll and tr ot. It does not mean that L2 learners have to speak using complicated collocations, but it seems that
they tend to be satisfied with
adverbs to add any vivid flavour to their speech.
Adjectives and adverbs
Concerning adjective and adverb, as mentioned above, it seems that Molly does not often make use of these two
adverbs she uses are those about frequency, such as sometimes, often and never. She is capable of understanding a lot of
adjectives and adverbs when she hears them in conversation but, unfortunately, she does not take the opportunity of
using them herself. Perhaps she is reserved in this respect and adopting the avoidance strategy, being afraid to make a
mistake.
Ve r b s
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Molly is having problem with verbs and their ing be just want to stay in
Wales But people in the city, they just trying to get to high school, and then
university or, maybe, college. , ping
form is used with auxiliary be Molly sometimes forgets to add an ing to the verb or omits
the auxiliary be. This is almost certainly the result of L1 influence because the verb will not be modified whether it is a
progressive action or not. Moreover, Carter and McCarthy (2006, p ing form also occurs in
non- Molly Like you might say means that you pray for the
situation Molly tends to confuse the verb and noun forms of a
Modal verbs
Molly I will be stupid but I will never
lose my sense of humourThey really need to pay me something
entirely different mean
I would have finished all those things and I can start a jobcould have started
Molly to grasp the function of modal verbs because they are frequently used in
every-day life and the number of modal verbs is limited. Also, modal verbs are used within certain contexts and the
general rules for their use are very similar.
Subsection discoveries
Carter (1998, p
me), prepositions (in, on, by) and conjunctions (and, but). On the other hand, he indicates that lexical words are known
adverbs (quickly, luckily). From Molly
words, such as content noun, adjective, adverb and c (Scheffler, 2015).
For instance, she has been trying to memorize these kinds of lexis from vocabulary books, with Max and Pauline
helping with explanations but she found this process both inefficient and ineffectual, only rarely would a
newly-acquired term or phrase slip out in conversation whereas, she could quickly learn new vocabulary from, for
example, shopping with Pauline. She can receive abundant content information from her conversation with Pauline and
with other people, and even from item names and descriptions in shops. In this respect, she tends to separate the
information she gains through reading from that obtained from real life. As to functional words, however, Molly
achieved better acquisition fr (Scheffler, 2015) of such groups as determiners, prepositions,
pronouns and auxiliary verbs. As long as she understands the rules, she could make use of them in her own spoken
English and she could also identify them when listening to a native speaker.
Jones (2018) conducted a research to examine the effectiveness of immersion versus engagements in the classrooms
There is evidence from the two groups of data that Molly
from her h ome-
of
interaction with Max and Pauline, not from the books. However, her learning and application of functional words is
taking time and there seems to be little, if any, obvious improvement. These functional words in lexis have a strong
connection with grammar and even, with explicit and systematic instruction, Molly still makes mistakes from time to
time.
Grammatical difficulties in communication
Data presentation and analysis
Among all the grammatical difficulties Molly has encountered, her inaccuracy of tense seemed far to exceed the
others. In order to draw a clearer line between grammar and lexis, the grammar difficulties in this paper are focused on
the 5 categories shown in Chart 4 below:
Chart 4:
*Note: The numbers refer to the amount of grammatical mistakes collected from Mo lly
Ten se
For example, Molly I wear, I wore earplugs, and I fall fell asleep.Have you ever swim, swam in the sea?I
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in that training school
seemed that her brain was a little slower than her mouth when it came to dealing with tense. From the data, past simple
was the biggest challenge for Molly ...this morning as well when I woke up it is so quiet.
knew that she should use the pa
Molly is aware of the rule of past simple but she could not help making such
mistakes. As to present perfect, Molly sometimes confused it with simple present or simple past, especially with the
you just finish that big piece of cheese.
Molly is more capable when using the future tense and very
rarely confused it with other tenses.
Using declarative as a question
With respect to clause, Molly has a habit of asking a question using a declarative statement with a rising tone in the
end. For example, she aSo Adrienne is Why they changed now?
Is Adrienne Why did they
discovered affirmative and negative declarative clauses may also occasionally function as questions or requests.
Although this phenomenon is acceptable in communication, it may be even more popular among L2 learners than for
native speakers.
Missing a subject/object
On the other hand, Molly sometimes would miss a subject or an object in her spoken clause. For example, she said
They have a very cozy home, not very big but is very comfortable. but it is very
Actually they sent to me the afternoon before I arrived home.
sent it to me
situations where full forms may be irritating and time-consuming. However, in Molly is not a choice
of ellipsis in her spoken language but a mistake she needs to pay attention to.
Repeatin g
Carter and McCarthy (2006) reveal that speakers may repeat or recast what they said under the pressure of real time
communication and this cannot be regarded as sloppy. Repeating is also common in Molly
they are very friendly to her.she got to school at
the age of four.You know, some people, they just donMolly is repeating the subject
in her speaking. Although it does not hold up the conversation, but it seems an interesting phenomenon that she does not
repeat other parts of the sentence, only the subject.
Conjunction
Carter and McCarthy (2006) pointed out that real-time communication do not give speakers time to construct
well-planned patterns of main and subordinate clauses, and sequences of clauses linked by coordinating conjunctions
(and, but, or) or by simple subordinating conjunctions such as because and so are more commonly used. Molly is aware
of this feature, however, the problem is that she tends to repeat the same conjunctions too many times making her
speech repetitive and uninteresting. For example, she said And then we stayed there for one week, I mean in St. Joseph
College for one week. And then we went to Washington for a week and then New York for a week. And then we came
back to Indiana, and then we went to Chicago.
Third person singular
As to the form of third person singular, Molly often forgot about the correct s form. For example, she said
sometimes she still tell me that she miss him Molly
making such mistakes is probably that there is no such form alteration in the Chinese language. Molly
had another negative transfer on her English outcome in this respect.
Question tag
In addition, Molly clauses either to
, p532). Molly said
But you have, you know, the minimum wage, ?
graMolly
to any clause no matter whether it is positive or negative, whether it relates to a person or an article, or contains an
auxiliary verb, an auxiliary be
Molly and she normally receives effective responses from the listener when
Subsection discovery
Hedge (2000, p
Although Molly made mistakes in spontaneous speech,
she could explain most of the grammar rules when she started to analyze her own errors and she found the process of
noticing very helpful. Therefore, Molly prefers explicit teaching of grammar and she considers that there is little
ten years learning English in school and university in China which she believes has laid a solid foundation for her
English language competence. She is confident that this grounding will benefit her no matter where her career may lead.
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Scheffler and Cinciata (2011) signify that knowing explicit grammar rules can help learners to notice the structures
that exemplify rules in the input, as well as helping them to obtain more comprehensive input. This is especially so in
Molly
the input she received every day from the linguistic environment, especially from her conversations with native
speakers. For example, she began to notice modality more often in conversations, and it not only helped her to receive
more comprehensible input from native speakers but also to use it herself more practically. However, Molly holds a
view that, even if she has understood the underlying grammar rules, it will still take a lot of practice in real situations
before she will be able to make use of them accurately in spontaneous speech.
Pronunciation difficulties in communication
Data presentation and analysis
Although Molly is comfortable with her English having a Chinese accent, English vowels have posed her the biggest
challenge. See details below:
Chart 5:
Mix-up with other words
Sometimes Molly tends to mix up the pronunciation among different words. For example, when she observed to a
kindly (kind of) wh ere she
Molly is confident that it was not because she did not know these two
words but really due to accidental mispronunciation. It seems that if she spoke quickly, there was more chance of her
making such mistakes. She also has a slight difficulty with word stress. For example, she sometimes pronounced
Vowel
With some vowel sounds, Molly experiences difficulty in selecting the appropriate long or short vowels. For example,
- -
completely different meaning leading to unfortunate or embarrassing misunderstanding. The long vowel phonemes are
those with a lengthening symbol /:/. As Kelly (2000: 31) explains for pronouncing /i:/, the lips should be spread and the
tongue should be tense while for the short vowel /i/, lips are spread loosely and the tongue should be relaxed. However,
Molly invariably pronounces both /i:/ and /i/ with spread lips. Also, she had some problems with diphthongs, which
Kelly (2000: 34) defines as The most difficult one for Molly is the /ei/ sound because
Consonant
Molly
the do locked
Kelly (2000) gave a learner-friendly exercise for these two consonants: Put the front of your tongue against the bump
behind the teeth. Use the voice, and let the air pass out of your mouth for /l/ and let the air escape through your nose for
/n/. There are also /l/ and /n/ sounds in Chinese and, as Molly is capable of pronouncing them correctly, there should be
a positive influence on her L2 pronunciation of these two sounds. Also, there was one time when Molly mispronounced
afterwards.
Subsection discovery
Cook (2008) summarizes that the sound of language is a complex system which cannot be learnt at a time. Learners
In Molly
had some difficulties in her own pronunciation, it shoul
pronunciation as evidenced from how their conversations were continued. Walker (2010) also indicates that learners
should receptively cope with the pronunciation features that they themselves could not produce. Gilakjani (2017)
suggests that teachers should guide learners towards understandable pronunciation but not exactly native-like
pronunciation. Molly could make efforts to practice the pronunciation repeatedly so as to improve her native-like
linguistic competence, but it should not affect her communication in general.
From the outset of Molly Molly requested them to draw her attention to any
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mispronunciation she might make and she valued all the corrective feedbacks she received. Corrective feedback (CF)
MollyMolly herself is convinced that her pronunciation
can be developed with repeated physical practice. Also, as mentioned before, Molly can spot for herself most of the
pronunciation mistakes she might make and she could pay immediate attention to them. Last but not least, Molly
discovered that her satisfaction with her aptitude in English has been the main reason for her interest and confidence in
learning English.
Second language acquisition in communication
Data presentation and analysis
Linguistic environment
From the transcripts, it is noticeable that when Molly was relaxed and enjoying herself in conversation, her speaking
performance seemed better, whereas sometimes the purpose of recording did put her under some pressure which
impacted adversely on the accuracy of her spoken English. However, it has been more than 6 months since Molly
moved to stay with Max and Pauline and they have maintained a friendly relationship ever since. Therefore, Molly
should be able to present authentic spoken performances within such a linguistic environment. Whilst in the UK, Molly
had met many native speakers from different walks of life, such as her foreign teachers and classmates, friends from the
glish frequently,
almost as much as she spoke Chinese back in China.
When Pauline and Molly
ethics of it.Molly What do you mean the ethics of it?" Obviously, Molly knew the meaning of the word
Ortega (2009) points out
that negotiation for meaning carry potentials for learning and attract attention to the language code. This displays
positive evidence that Molly
would assist Molly to accumulate vocabulary with different connotation. By contrast, when Molly wanted to tell
Pauline that tI have this window on the roof, and
those seagulls, very noisy.Molly because she knew the situation. However, Molly was
not aware that she was using an incomplete and ungrammatical sentence. Although the communication was effective in
conveying the information, Molly
The transcripts also show that Molly
I think her mother-in-law is gonna take care of her. They prepared lots
of things for us; like we went to like local farms every day, like different farms
Molly the impression that it would make her sound more native-like if she
introduce this usage into her every-day speaking and, at the same time perhaps help her to engage more easily in
conversation. Cater (2007, p
and goes on to suggest those who desire native-like proficiency should learn to use them. However, it may be regarded
as sloppy English and an L2 learner is often uncertain under which circumstances it would be appropriate to use such
terms, acquired from badly-spoken input.
Individual differences
As mentioned above, this research focuses on one advanced learner, therefore, the individual differences of this
learner will probably determine the emphasis of the research in many respects. Ortega (2009) discovers that personality
traits will influence the success of an L2 study. Some individuals experience a sense of apprehension, tension, and even
fear when they think of Molly has an
interest in English language debating and public speaking so that she is confident of her own linguistic and
communicative competence in English. In her conversations with other L2 learners like herself, she tries to take the
initiative to break the ice and open a dialogue, always being keen to develop and extend a conversation. However, it
seems that she is reserved when talking with a native-speaker, demonstrating that foreign language anxiety influences
Molly
In one of the conversations from the transcripts, Molly
psychological point of view, Molly felt ashamed of her mistake.
People often make spelling mistakes, even some native English speakers. However, a minor mistake can put more
pressure on L2 learners who make great effort to improve their language competence whereas native speakers may
impact on their learning; some may be encouraged to improve while others might be disheartened. Molly recalls an
experience during her undergraduate years when she was a bilingual broadcaster. Initially, she was wary of speaking
judgment that made Molly afraid of speaking even her mother tongue at that time.
L1 influences
Molly is from China, and Chinese is her mother tongue. Universally, mother tongue would influence the processes
and outcome of L2 learning. Ortega (2009) explains that knowledge of the L1 interacts with L2 development by
accelerating or delaying the learning process but it will not override it. Ellis (1997) considers that L1 influence might
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ht be a positive transfer
helping to facilitate L2 acquisition. For example, Molly found L1 influence in her difficulty with numbers. When
somebody mentions a sum of money, it always takes a long time for her to figure out how much it is. For example,
£10,000, she would first convert into RMB 100,000 and then use the Chinese unit Wan, which is 1,0000, to finally
know its value as 10 Wan, i.e. 10.0000. In real conversation, this cognitive process would certainly slow down the
communication.
Another example of negative L1 influence is that Molly was sometimes confused with the plural and singular forms
of a noun. This feature of the English language seems so demanding and complicated for a Chinese L2 learner, because
the end of a noun, but different nouns may have different plural forms. Also,
there are non-count nouns which can be even more confusing. On the other hand, Molly Do you
understand what I mean?
comprehensive ability, but to ensure she is making herself clear and to find out whether she could have illustrated it
better. Subconsciously, she reminds herself that she is speaking a second language and her interlocutor might find her
way of saying things strange so that she needs to double-check.
Culture differences
Tseng (2002) emphasized that competence in language requires the ability of using the language accurately and also
knowing the culture that underlies the language. There was a time when Max wanted to tease Molly about British food.
Max told Molly Molly
but she was afraid to decline the offer and did n ot know how to develop the conversation. However, Molly
Molly was explaining to Pauline the
different levels of university in China, she referred to them as A-level University, B-level University, etc. Pauline could
not understand her because she was thinking in terms of the U.K. secondary school A-level exams whereas Molly
referring to the ranking of Chinese universities.
Here is another example relates to the cultural differences between Molly and the native speakers which have
influenced the communication. For example, when Molly was asked whether she would like more potatoes, she just
would say or certainly would be
expected to say
n a request for a
service is almost essential. Molly also noticed a phenomenon that when British people mention someone, they will often
stranger. Also, Molly found it interesting that British people kiss each other on meeting and parting but they do not
normally like to walk arm in arm or hand in hand.
Cognition
is more dependent upon general ability.
Williams (2012, p
is not just a short-term storage of information, but also a processing of that information so as to achieve a certain result.
Molly always has problems remembering English names, especially place names. For example, there is a pub in town
called Richard John Blackler and Molly used to pass it every day on her way home. But she always referred to it as
that pub opposite to Boots
the capital of Indiana
Annette. If she needs to explain something relating to a particular name she had to come up with a lot of peripheral
information to identify the person or object which can obstruct the natural flow of a conversation. Perhaps it is
simply to point to the things she wants
to say.
Subsection discovery
Molly is sometimes afraid to take risks in her speaking and she tends to apply guessing, paraphrasing and avoidance
quite frequently under such pressure. As a consequence, there may be only superficial understanding deriving from her
conversations with native speakers and this must have a negative effect in her language learning. Molly
to a native child and making mistakes in front of the others is almost certainly due t o her foreign language anxiety.
Zafar & Meenakshi (2012, p -
opic,
certain amount of tension could sometimes facilitate learning. It is revealed from Molly
influenced her application of plural and singular forms of a noun, third person singular, word order, numbers, different
verb forms etc. As to the cognition difficulty experienced by Molly, Zafar & Meenakshi (2012, p644) suggest a few
cognitive strategies visualizing information for memory storage keeping a sound or sound sequence in the
mind relating new information to other concepts in memory and etc.
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IV. CONCLUSION
Summary to research questions
Linguistic difficulties
A total of 205 mistakes are recorded in Appendices 1 to 10, lexis accounting for approximately 54% of the errors,
grammar 38% and pronunciation 8%. Molly
sufficient content words or expressions and also the struggle to use them within appropriate context and a weakness in
making correct use of functional words. With respect to her difficulty with grammar, her inaccuracy with tense,
especially past simple, is most prevalent. As to pronunciation, her biggest problem is her frequent mispronunciation of
long and short vowels.
As revealed by the data, Molly sometimes corrects herself while she is speaking. From her previous study, she may
have possessed a satisfactory capacity of lexis and grammar but she has difficulty in relating them to appropriate
context for real use. With regard to her confusion of functional words and grammatical rules, L1 influence may be one
of the main reasons, as well as perhaps an element of laziness obstructing the achievement of accuracy in spoken
language. On the other hand, she needs to notice her weaknesses and should device strategies to correct them. Also, her
limited usage of descriptive expressions and words, it is not only a matter of accumulating rich vocabulary, but al so a
determination to overcome the fear of taking risks in using them. Finally, her mispronunciation of long and short vowels
may be due to her incorrect way of spreading the lips.
Psychological difficulties
In Mollyhe relies on the habit of guessing and avoidance, and she expects
-esteem urges her to make improvements in her linguistic competence but she feels a lack of
confidence when speaking in front of a native speaker. Molly is aware that, subconsciously, she sometimes blocks the
receipt of complicated target-language input and she is fearful of expressing uncertain information. As a consequence,
she may be creating blind-spots which she realizes need to be overcome.
In Molly -confidence in second language
acquisition. Her caution when speaking a second language has inhibited the spontaneity of her spoken discourse with
native speakers. In this respect, Molly-level of spoken proficiency may overcome
her anxiety and motivate her to offload this burden. In addition, cultural differences and L1 influence have some
conscious and subconscious impact on her performance. Nonetheless, personality may play a more important role than
linguistic competence in real life communication.
Recommended study strategies
During the gap between recording the two groups of data, Molly paid specific attention to mistakes discovered from
the first group of data. It reveals that her usage of various content words and expressions have been enlarged since she
started to collect them from the input in everyday life, and her pronunciation has been improved due to corrective
feedback and repeated physical practice. However, there is no obvious progress with her grammar and usage of
functional words.
Molly found that she hardly increased her vocabulary by attempting to memorize lists of words but was
subconsciously acquire new words and expressions from everyday life. As Tomlinson (2013, p
Molly established a good
relationship with Max and Pauline and she is appreciative of such a learning opportunity in which the emotional aspect
Tomlinson (2013, p12) would mention. Tomlinson (2013) also suggest to make use of the mental resources which are
typically used in communication in the L1. The resources he refers to are visualization and inner voice. Molly attempts
to organize her ideas using inner voice in English, at the same time visualizing the image. She has discovered that it is a
good way of stretching her skills without interference from outside pressure and it is helping her to overcome her
foreign language anxiety. Finally, Tomlinson also emphasizes the importance of noticing. As mentioned, Molly has
benefitted from her notice of mistakes she made, as recorded in the first group of data, and it is apparent that she had
made progress subsequently.
Findings
This research reveals that grammar does not usually inhibit Molly in communication with native speakers whereas
the lack of appropriate vocabulary always slows down her response. As to the difficulties with lexis, it seems to be
possible to collect content words and expressions without formal instructions if there is sufficient immersion in the
target language environment whereas the acquisition of functional words and the use of accurate grammar are more
likely to be achieved from systematical instructions. The subsequent assimilation of these consciously-learnt rules and
concepts for successful application in everyday use is almost always a lengthy process. With regards to pronunciation, it
appears that certain sounds might present a challenge for some advanced learners if they have already picked up a habit
of their own. However, pronunciation can be improved with constant physical practice and corrective feedback.
From a psychological point of view, foreign language anxiety seems to be a major problem in the communication
between Chinese advanced learners and native speakers. In addition, cultural differences and L1 influence play an
important role in their communication and interaction.
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Last but not least, the study strategies derived from the research show that receiving continuous language exposure is
the best way for advanced learners to improve their linguistic and pragmatic competence.
Limitations
First of all, Molly is playing the roles both of participant and a researcher. Consequently, there is an underlying risk
of influencing the objectivities of the research. The data include not only the linguistic difficulties in Molly
but also the psychological problems that she encountered in facing those difficulties. The psychological data is certainly
subjective but also unique in displaying an immediate response and reaction of a Chinese advanced learner. It may
contribute to future study if another participant is involved for documenting Molly
herself, although it might reduce the authenticity of the actual feeling of the participant. Furthermore, this research
could have involved a few more Chinese advanced learners as participants but that would have greatly extended the
scope of the research, which could be further explored.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I want to thank Max Pugh and Pauline Pugh who have made fundamental contributions to the
research. This research would have been impossible to carry out without their participation and support. They have been
making significant efforts during the whole research process and have showed great kindness and patience. Also, I
would like to give my sincere thanks to Hitomi Masuhara and Stephen Pihlaja for their vital guidance and instructions.
Last, but far from the least, I would like to thank Margaret Hughes and Sandra James who have provided understanding
and support while I was concentrating on the writing.
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