Challenging an attempt to provide EFL learners to practice their English with overseas
tourists
著者 Yamamoto Yoshihiko
journal or
publication title
Journal of Shizuoka University Education
volume 16
page range 21‑33
year 2020‑03‑23
出版者 静岡大学大学教育センター
URL http://doi.org/10.14945/00027256
Challenging an attempt to provide EFL learners to practice their English with overseas tourists Yoshihiko Yamamoto (Education Development Center)
Key words: Fieldwork, English communication, PBL, Undergraduate students
Abstract
The author of this study has been teaching English at universities for several years and often find it difficult for my students to provide an opportunity for practicing their speaking skills in English after English classes on campus. Thus, in order to support these students, my colleagues and the author of this study tried to create an opportunity for the students to practice their English outside of their English class. The aim of this study is to explore whether or not, there are any issues with conducting the regular semester based English class (English seminar რ) to include a field trip. The research questions of this study are 1) if there are any issues of conducting the program, then what they would be, 2) how these issues can be solved, and 3) to explore students’ insights towards the program.
In order to collect the data, this study adopted a small-scale questionnaire given to the participants of this study to find out what the participants thought about the program. Then the results of questionnaires showed both positive and negative aspects. The learners of English found that the field trip was overall useful for themselves but they found it difficult to make small talk with overseas passengers and to give local information to overseas passengers.
1. Introduction
The summer intensive English program including a field trip to the local port has been successfully conducted since 2016. Since it was popularly supported by the learners of English, the author of this study has attempted to organize a similar English program through the regular semester (15 weeks) instead of the summer period (4 days intensive program). Olukayode and Tina (2013) points out a field trip gives students an opportunity to meet people and to attend events which students do not normally access on campus. The author of this study agrees with their opinions and tries to encourage his students to practice what they learn in class with people from overseas at the local port.
The field trip to the local port in this program also has another advantage for students. Overseas tourists on the cruise ship which come to the port are not always native speakers of English such as Germans, French, Mexicans, Chinese and so forth. At the local port, the students will meet non- native speakers of English but English is used as a common communication tool between these
論文
overseas tourists and students. In Japan, it is hard for the students to find places to practice their English skills outside of their classrooms in particular when they live in one of the suburbs of the big cities. However, in European countries, Seidlhofer, Breiteneder, and Pitzl (2006) point out that English is used in everyday life. For instance, English is used on TV and people watch CNN and MTV in English. People see companies’ advertisements in English on the street and they use English during meetings in their companies. In such an environment, learners of English can easily access the places where English is used as opposed to the learners of English in Japan. Thus, for Japanese students who learn English as a foreign language (EFL), practicing English with non-native speakers of English as well as native speakers of English give the learners of English a great opportunity to experience the real world. The aim of this study is to explore whether or not there are any issues with conducting the regular semester based English program to include a field trip. The research questions of this study are 1) if there are any issues of conducting the program, then what they would be, 2) how these issues can be solved, and 3) to explore students’ insights towards the program. In order to collect the data, this study adopts a small-scale questionnaire given to the participants of this study in order to find out what the participants thought about the program. Then the results of questionnaires are analyzed and based on the analysis of the results of the questionnaires, some discussions are made.
2. English as a lingua franca
The big advantage of the field trip to the local port for the students in this study is that they are exposed a variety of English from both native and non-native speakers of English. The author of this study admits that the learners of English will have opportunities to communicate with native speakers of English to some extent while they are learning English. For instance, English teachers who are native speakers are available for them to speak on campus and teachers are often friendly to their students to have a chat in English before or after their lessons. Also some highly motivated learners of English try to study abroad to the countries where English is spoken as its official language during the long breaks between the semesters. Even some of them have a year break from their university study and stay in a foreign country to learn English.
However, English is widely used among nonnative speakers of English as well as native speakers of English in the world. Even in Japan, more tourists from overseas visit, more opportunities for the learners of English to practice what they learn on campus. The author of this study believes that it is important for the learners of English being exposed to English which is spoken by both native speakers of English and non-native speakers’ English. For example, both Conrad and Mauranen (2003), and House (2003) claim that the numbers of non-native speakers of English are much larger than its native speakers of English around the world. Frith (1996:240) admits English is popularly
used as lingua franca in the world. Furthermore, Frith as a conversation analyst explains English is used as a foreign language of communication among different nationality groups such as between native speakers of Danish and native speakers of Japanese. These studies suggest that opportunities of using English tend to increase and the learners of English tend to face more opportunities to use their English skills than ever before.
In short, the demands of using English around the world tend to be increased and learners of English will need to be familiar with a variety of English speakers to be able to communicate with people around the world.
3. Backgrounds of the field trip to the local port
The author of this study has been teaching English at universities for several years and often find it difficult for my students to provide an opportunity for practicing their speaking skills in English after English classes on campus. In fact, the author of this study often gets questions from my students such as “How can I improve my speaking skill?” or “I want to go study abroad next year and I want to improve my speaking skill in particular. What can I do before I actually go overseas?”.
These questions suggest that some students are highly motivated to use English but they do not know how they can do it. Thus, in order to support these students, my colleagues and the author of this study tried to create an opportunity for the students to practice their English outside of their English class. In 2016, the summer intensive English program including a field trip to the local port was introduced. In this summer intensive program, the field trip was set up on the last day of the program and the students went to the local port when the overseas cruise ship came into the local port. At the port, the students went on taxi tours with overseas passengers and helped with activities provided by the local city hall such as green tea ceremony; trying on kimono’s; and so forth.
Because the summer intensive English program has been in high demand since it was introduced in 2016, the author of this study attempted to make an English class including a field trip to the local port in a regular semester (15 weeks long). The author of this study, of course, needed to follow the rules of the current curriculum of the university and therefore he needed to find an English class which was flexibly organized by the class teacher. English SeminarϪ as one of the elective English classes is held during each semester at Shizuoka University and within English SeminarϪ, the contents of the class is flexibly organized by the teacher. Thus, the author of this study decided to use English SeminarϪ as a regular semester version of the summer intensive English program including the field trip to the local port. In addition, one of the missions of Shizuoka University is to make some contributions through our research and education to the local society and to collaboratively
work together with the local society. English SeminarϪ includes a field trip to Shimizu port where the students collaboratively work with both city hall and a local travel agent for overseas tourists on the cruise ship which comes into the port. Thus, the author of this study believes that English Seminar Ϫ makes a contribution to support overseas tourists collaboratively with the local community where the university belongs.
4. A field trip activity to the local port
The field trip to the local port within English SeminarϪ has a different aim from it was done within the summer intensive English program. The field trip within English SeminarϪ is held in the middle of the regular semester as opposed to the field trip within the summer intensive English program was held on the last day of the program. Also the field trip within English SeminarϪ is used as a part of students’ projects through the regular semester. In the first half of the semester, the students are asked to research topics of local industry, nature, food, entertainment and history. The author of this study selected these five topics for students to research since these topics were often asked by overseas passengers from the past summer intensive English program. Therefore, the author of this study wanted his students to prepare answers of these topics for the field trip to the local port.
In the second half of the semester, they are asked to research a topic about how there can be an increase in the numbers of tourists from overseas. The second half of the semester starts after the students experienced their field trip to the local port and thus the students are able to utilize the field trip for their research projects. In short, the field trip is used as a part of PBL (Project Based Learning) method used in this English class.
On the other hand, the field trip in the summer intensive English class (four days on campus and 1 day at the local port) was held at the end of the program (on day 5) and the aim of the field trip was to give the students an opportunity to practice what they had learnt on campus at the local port.
The students researched topics of local industry, nature, food, entertainment and history as well as learn some expressions which would be useful for the field trip to the port. In one of the four days, the author of this study took his students to another field trip to the local city where tourists would probably visit. The students tried to practice how to guide tourists within a small group.
There are some reasons of making differences about the field trip in between English Seminar Ϫ and the summer intensive English class. Firstly, the summer intensive English class was held in a season of the typhoon and the field trip might be canceled because a cruise ship cannot approach to the port in such a bad weather. However, English SeminarϪ has 15 weeks in a regular semester and it gives more flexibility to make a day of the field trip to the local port. Secondly, the summer
intensive class is normally held in between mid August and late September. In addition, the field trip schedule is decided first since the field trip should be arranged when the overseas cruise ships are coming in to the port. Secondly, the schedules of classes on campus are secondly decided. Therefore, the aim of the field trip is set to test what the students have learnt on campus when they meet tourists on the cruise ship. In English SeminarϪ, there are several opportunities to go on the field trip to the local port since it has 15 weeks in each regular semester and many cruise ships are coming in to the local port during this time. In fact, in English SeminarϪ, 2018, in the second semester, the students were able to go to the port twice throughout the semester. The author of this study tries to maximize an opportunity for his students to practice their English with overseas people outside of their classroom.
5. Students’ activities at the local port
During the second semester, in English SeminarϪ, the students were able to go to the local port twice on 11th November, and 8th, December, 2018. The author of this study collaboratively tried to organize activities at the port for the students with the city hall and the local travel agent such as
1. A taxi tour support organized by the local travel agent 2. Tour information desk at the port support by the city hall
3. Foreign currency exchange and wifi service support by the city hall 4. Japanese Kimono try session and tea ceremony support by the city hall 5. A taxi stand support by the city hall
6. Local shop support by the city hall
7. Shuttle bus service support by the city hall
Every activity includes a speaking activity in English with overseas tourists on the cruise ship.
The students participated in these activities as volunteers together with other local volunteers. Except the taxi tour organized by the local travel agent, overseas tourists join these activities free of charge.
The students gave their preference of which activity they wanted to do. City hall considered their preference and they allocated the students for each activity. Since some activities are highly demanded such as shuttle bus support, not every student would get their favorite activity. However, it is important for the students to participate in at least one activity to use English with overseas tourists at the port. In addition, within most activities at the local port, there were not only students but also voluntary members of the local society who worked together with the students. The author of this study believes that this is a great opportunity for the students to learn things from these voluntary
members of the local society.
5. Methodology
This study adopts both quantitative and qualitative approach for the data analysis. To collect the data of this study, questionnaires were used for the students after the field trip. Some students did not answer some questions and thus the total numbers of each question are different. All questions were asked in Japanese to the students in order to make sure they answer questions. After the questionnaires were collected, the author of this study translated Japanese into English. This study uses a small-scale sample for the quantitative analysis and using a small-scale sample might be criticized by those who adopt the quantitative approach. However, the author of this study believes that even the small-scale data is still useful and makes some contributions to the research field of EFL (English as a foreign language). For instance, within conversation analysis, researchers are often faced with the dilemma of using a small amount of conversational data. However, they also believe that a small- scale data makes some contributions to the research fields. Heritage (2004), for example, insists that a single case study can be applied to other studies and that the small case qualitative analysis could be extended in the future. Bramley (2001) also supports the idea of using the single case study.
She explains that the single case study leads to a general principle and is useful to find particular features. Although this study does not adopt conversation analysis, as Bramely (2001) explained above, the author of this study believes adopting the small scale data for any research will still lead to general principle and make some contributions to some research fields. In short, the author of this study believes that although this study uses small- scale data for the analysis, this study will still make some contributions to the field of EFL/ESL study.
6. Participants
A total of 18 students participated in this study. All students were the first year students. English SeminarϪ is an elective English class and is held as one of the general subjects. Therefore, many students who enrolled in this class were not majoring in English but they were continuously interested in learning English even after they finished their compulsory English subject. In order to enroll English SeminarϪ, students should have TOEIC 500 above. Participants belong to either Humanities & Social science or Science department.
7. Results Results of Q3, Q5, Q6, Q7 and Q8 were shown below.
Table 1: The results of Q3, Q5, Q6, Q7 and Q8
Q3 Were
you able to talk with overseas tourists in English at the port?
Q5 At the port, did you have enough time to talk with overseas tourists?
Q6 Do you think the field trip was useful for you to improve your English?
Q7 Do you think the field trip was useful for your project in class?
Q8 Do you think you want to participate in this field trip again?
1: never
2
3 1 4 1 5 3 1 4 6 6 2 2 3 1 7 6 1 4 4 3 8 4 5 5 4 3 9 1 2 1 3 10:
Yes definitely
5 3 1 7
On average 6.5 7.8 7.8 6.9 8.7
Overall, the results of each question show relatively high scores. The results of Q3 show some lower scores such as both 3 and 4 scores while the results of Q8 show the highest scores.
Results of Q4 (reasons for Q3) are summarized below.
Table 2: The results of Q4
Scores of Q3 Reasons of Q4
8 9 I think I was able to answer what overseas tourists wanted to know.
9 I experienced working for tourist information in my hometown in the past.
7 9 I managed to deal with conversation about what I had to explain but I found it difficult for small talks with overseas tourists. I didn't understand the contents of the topic which they talked.
9 I often couldn't catch what foreign tourists said and so I asked
them several times.
9 I didn't explain things well sometimes.
6 9 I couldn't express what I wanted to say in English.
9 I did not have many opportunities of talking with overseas people before.
9 Overseas tourists asked me directions to the port and I was able to guide them. However, one of overseas tourists tried to make small talk with me but I was not able to keep conversations.
9 I was not able to make sentences in English.
9 I relied on my friends who could speak English well.
4 9 I felt like overseas tourists didn't seem to seek for my help.
3 9 I was not good at listening to English and it was difficult for me to make conversations with overseas tourists.
Those who scored lower on Q3 tend to show a lack of their English skills such as “I couldn't express what I wanted to say in English.” and “I was not able to make sentences in English.”. These comments by the participants were even given those who scored higher (above 7) on Q3 such as “I often couldn't catch what foreign tourists said and so I asked them several times.” and “I didn't explain things well sometimes.”. Furthermore, some participants found themselves making small talk in English such as “I managed to deal with conversation about what I had to explain but I found it difficult for small talks with overseas tourists.”
Both results of Q9 and Q10 are summarized below.
Table 3: The results of both Q9 and Q10 Results of Q9
(Please write things you found it difficult to do at the port.)
Results of Q10
(Please write things whatever you thought about the field trip.)
9 When overseas tourists asked me questions about the local area, since I was not a local guy, it was difficult to answer their questions. (4 answers) 9 I found it difficult for me to start
communication from me. (3 answers) 9 I couldn't hear what Europeans who
were not native speakers of English in particular were saying. (2
answers)
9 I felt talking with overseas tourists smoothly.
9 Overseas tourists sometimes did not understand my English.
9 I am keen on communicating to
9 It was a great opportunity for me to meet these overseas tourists. (3 answers)
9 I enjoyed this opportunity since I was able to talk a lot of people. (2 answers)
9 I have learnt keeping a daily conversation in English was important.
9 I was bored in the second half since there were not many passengers.
9 This opportunity makes me realize that I need to study English more.
overseas people but I found it
difficult to keep communication with them.
9 It was difficult for me to try to make overseas tourists understand what I wanted to say.
9 Overseas tourists were very excited but I was very calm and I should perhaps get more excited as they were
9 It was difficult for me to support overseas tourists.
Results of Q9, the most popular comments show a lack of information about the local area such as “When overseas tourists asked me questions about the local area, since I was not a local guy, it was difficult to answer their questions.”. Also, some participants found it difficult to start and keep conversations with overseas tourists such as “I found it difficult for me to start communication from me.” and “I am keen on communicating to overseas people but I found it difficult to keep communication with them”. The comment seen as “I couldn't hear what Europeans who were not native speakers of English in particular.” suggests the unfamiliarity of non-native speaker’s English by a student. On the other hand, results of Q10 show many positive comments about the field trip such as “It was a great opportunity for me to meet these overseas tourists.” or “I enjoyed this opportunity since I was able to talk a lot of people.”. One of the comments show learners’ motivation to learn English has improved by this field trip seen as “This opportunity makes me realize that I need to study English more.”.
8. Discussions
Before all the discussions are made, the research questions of this study need to be introduced again here. The first research question was to find if there were any issues of conducting the program, then what they were. The second research question was to find how those issues could be solved.
The third question was to explore students’ insights towards the program. To start with, the first and second research questions are discussed.
8.1. Discussions of the first and second research questions
The author of this study found three issues about conducting the field trip to the local port.
Firstly, the field trip to the local port in this study might be cancelled due to the bad weather. When a typhoon is approaching Japan, cruise ship companies sometimes decide not to come to the local port
the bad weather condition and the cruise ship could not approach to the local port because of a typhoon.
Secondly, there are some issues about the private taxi tour organized by the local travel agent. It is unknown how many private taxi tours will be provided for the students by the last minute. Since the cruise ship company conducts their own tours, the majority of passengers have already booked the tours by the cruise ship company. Thus, it is hard to predict how many private taxi tours can be provided for the students. In addition, a private taxi tour sometimes might be cancelled by the tourists within the last minutes for some reasons. Furthermore, the students can join the private tours when there are any empty seats available in the taxi. For example, when a couple book a taxi tour, and there is an empty seat in the taxi, one student can join the tour. However, when four people book a private taxi tour, then there are no empty seats available for a student to join them. In this case, if there is a private taxi tour organized and there are four tourists and they want to take a student, a student is not able to join the private taxi tour because there would not be enough seats in the taxi.
It is of course impossible to control the weather conditions, but an alternative field activity needs to be arranged in these circumstances. For example, instead of going to the local port, a language session with international students on campus will be an alternative activity for the students.
In such a session, the Japanese students perhaps will need to speak English, for instance 30 minutes, with the international students and after speaking English, the Japanese students might need to speak Japanese with the international students. This kind of activity would bring benefits to both the Japanese students who learn English and the international students who learn Japanese.
Thirdly, a field trip needs to be organized over the weekend since students have other classes on weekdays. The students will spend nearly a whole day at the local port when the field trip is carried out. Therefore, if they participate in the field trip on a week day, then they will miss other classes on that day. There are many cruise ships coming into the local port but the majority of the ships come on weekdays. In addition, some cruise ships are small which do not have many overseas passengers. Other cruise ships are owned by Japanese companies and in these cruise ships, most passengers are Japanese passengers. Therefore, the field trip to the local port needs to be organized on either weekend or pubic holidays for the students.
8.2 Discussions of the third research question
So far, both the first and second research questions were discussed, the last research question,
“to explore students’ insights towards the program” will now be explored. As the results of Q3, Q5, Q6, Q7 and Q8 showed, overall, the field trip to the local port was positively accepted by the participants of this study. However, the average score of Q3 was relatively lower than the other questions. Some participants pointed out their poor English skills made it difficult for them to make
small talk with overseas tourists as the results of Q4 showed. In particular, one participant gave a comment such as “Overseas tourists asked me directions them to the port and I was able to guide them.
However, one of the overseas tourists tried to make small talk with me but I was not able to keep conversations.”. The comment by the participant suggests a lack of experiences to be exposed to a daily conversation in English.
The author of this study tries to give the students opportunities to practice a small talk in class.
For instance, in the beginning of every lesson, students in class tell each other within a small group what they did over the weekend. However, the author of this study realizes that even explaining their weekend activities, as soon as this activity is introduced in class, nearly all students start looking at their dairy and start to recall their memories about their weekend. They tend to behave as if they do not remember anything about their weekend in this activity. Thus it is a challenge for the learner improving daily conversation skills in English before the field trip.
The author of this study believes that field trips such as this study, would be a great opportunity for the learners of English. For instance, two participants answered on Q9 as “I couldn't hear what Europeans who were not native speakers of English in particular were saying”. The comment above suggests the students will need to be exposed a variety of English used among non-native English speakers. The author of this study also believes that his students will have a lot of opportunities to talk with non-native speakers of English once they start their careers after completing their degrees.
Therefore, the field trip of this study seems to bring a contribution to the participants in that it made the participants realize the importance of using English with non-native speakers of English.
8.3: Suggestions to improve the English program
Based on the results of all questions of this study, there are two suggestions to improve coordinating this kind of English program. The first suggestion is to make the learners of English know more about their local information for overseas tourists before the field trip. Some answers on Q9 show that the participants who are not from the local area of the port were not able to provide information for overseas tourists since they are not familiar with the local area. In order to make the learners more familiar with the local area of the port, activities in class on campus such as small talk in groups can be introduced. The learners discuss with each other things such as places where they dine out over the weekend or where they went for shopping. While the learners are doing such kind of activities, the teacher needs to make sure the aim of conducting this activity and encourage learners to prepare for the field trip. The second suggestion is that although it is important to prepare for the field trip, the comments by the participants such as Q4, Q9 and Q10 suggest that learners of English perhaps want to practice in more daily conversation skills. According to the comments such as “I am
keen on communicating to overseas people but I found it difficult to keep communication with them”
or “I found it difficult for me to start communication from me.” on Q9, the 5 minutes activity in each class on campus did not seem to properly work for some learners of English. Sato (2003) points out the importance of introducing meaningful speaking activities to the learners in class. He emphasizes on the three key features of these activities such as focusing on a real content, focusing on language function and focusing on fluency instead of accuracy. These meaningful speaking activities will encourage learners of English to learn speaking skills in particular. The author of this study agrees with Sato’s point. As the comments of the participants such as above (Q4, Q9 and Q10) showed, the participants of this study realized through this field trip that they needed to improve their daily conversation skills in English. The author of this study believes that this field trip experience has brought a big contribution for the learners of English.
9. Conclusion
In conclusion, the aim of this study was to explore both positive and negative aspects of conducting a regular English program which included the field trip to the local port. At the local port, collaborating with both local city hall and local travel agent, the learners of English in this study were able to communicate with overseas passengers from the cruise ship. On the field trip, each participant of this study was able to join one of the activities at the port and all of them had a chance to use English with overseas passengers from the cruise ship. However, there were some issues of the field trip to the local port which needed to be considered in this program such as a cancellation of the cruise ship coming into the port due to the bad weather; dates of the field trip; and not knowing if there are taxi tour activities or not. These issues were out of the control of the course coordinator and thus the teacher needed to prepare alternative activities for the learners if required. The results of this study revealed both positive and negative aspects. Based on the questionnaires to the participants of this study, the field trip was overall useful for the learners of English in this study. Yet, the results of the questionnaires showed that the learners of English found it difficult to make small talk with overseas passengers and to give local information to overseas passengers. In order to solve these issues, introducing class activities on campus for the learners of English such as group small talk could help the learners to improve their conversation skills. At the same time, the teacher needed to make sure the aims of these activities were defined when they were introduced in class. The limitation of this study was researching only the first year university students and therefore, some different results might be observed if the second, third or fourth year students were joined in this study. In order to improve the quality of this study in the future, these different grade students will be researched as a future study.
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