Teaching Styles, Students’ Motivation, and Grit as Correlates of Students’ Performance in English
A research paper presented as a conference paper and subsequently published in an academic journal
Teaching Styles, Students’ Motivation, and Grit as Correlates of Students’ Performance in English
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya and Marie Charmaine P. Igwe
Business, Education, Social Sciences, and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 2025
DOI 10.69478/BEST2025v1n1a006.
Research Summary
Factors associated with both teachers and students influence the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language. This study examined several of these factors by investigating the relationships between teachers’ teaching styles, students’ motivation to learn English, students’ grit, and students’ English performance at a university in South Korea. The study conceptualized teaching style through four dimensions—teacher-student interaction, decision-making negotiation, teaching structuring, and behavioral control—and examined students’ motivation in terms of instrumental and integrative orientations. Grit was understood as students’ passion and perseverance in pursuing their goals despite challenges and setbacks.
The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Participants were students enrolled in mandatory English courses at a South Korean university and their foreign English teachers. The study invited two classes from each of 22 English teachers to participate, resulting in 385 student respondents from a potential pool of more than 600 students. Data were collected online through Google Forms using questionnaire items adopted from previously validated instruments. Students evaluated their own motivation and grit as well as the teaching styles demonstrated by their English teachers.
Unlike studies relying exclusively on students’ self-reported perceptions of their language ability, this research assessed English performance through a 25-item proficiency test covering five areas: vocabulary, correct grammar form, answering questions, combining sentences, and word sequencing. Frequency analysis and mean computation described the variables, while correlation analysis determined the relationships between English performance and teaching style, motivation, and grit. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS.
The results categorized the students’ overall English performance as moderately proficient, with an aggregated mean score of 2.32. Their strongest areas were vocabulary and answering questions, both classified as proficient. Correct grammar form and word sequencing fell within the moderately proficient range, while combining sentences emerged as their weakest area, with a mean score of 1.45 and a classification of less proficient. The results therefore suggested that although students demonstrated competence in selected aspects of English, important gaps remained, particularly in sentence construction.
Students generally perceived their teachers as frequently demonstrating all four dimensions of teaching style. Teaching structuring received the highest mean rating (4.45), followed by behavioral control (4.41), decision-making negotiation (4.35), and teacher-student interaction (4.32). The overall teaching-style mean of 4.38 indicated that these teaching behaviors were frequently observed across the English classes included in the study.
The findings also showed that students possessed a high overall level of motivation to learn English, although they were more integratively motivated than instrumentally motivated. Integrative motivation registered a mean of 4.27 compared with 3.84 for instrumental motivation. This indicated a stronger orientation toward learning English for engagement with English-speaking communities and cultures than toward purely practical benefits such as academic requirements, employment, or career advancement. The students’ mean grit score of 3.01, meanwhile, was interpreted as a moderate level of grit, with variation among students in their perseverance and passion toward their goals.
Correlation analysis revealed that all four dimensions of teaching style were significantly and positively associated with students’ English performance, although the relationships were weak. Teacher-student interaction correlated with English performance at r = .135, decision-making negotiation at r = .185, teaching structuring at r = .168, and behavioral control at r = .162. When the dimensions were combined, overall teaching style showed a significant positive correlation of r = .175 (p = .001) with students’ English performance. Among the teaching-style dimensions, decision-making negotiation exhibited the strongest relationship with English performance.
The two forms of motivation produced different results. Integrative motivation was significantly and positively correlated with English performance (r = .207, p < .001), the strongest positive correlation among the principal variables reported in the study. Instrumental motivation, however, was not significantly related to English performance (r = −.069, p = .176). When the study combined instrumental and integrative motivation into overall motivation, the resulting relationship with English performance was also not statistically significant. Thus, the findings suggested that motivation type, rather than motivation as a single overall construct, was relevant to students’ English performance in this sample.
One of the study’s most unexpected findings concerned grit. Students’ grit was significantly but negatively correlated with their English performance (r = −.106, p = .038). In other words, within this particular sample, higher grit scores were associated with slightly lower English-performance scores. This result contrasted with previous research cited in the paper reporting positive relationships among grit, motivation, and English-language performance. Given the weak magnitude and unexpected direction of the relationship, the study recommended further examination through replication, particularly to clarify the role of grit in English-language learning.
Overall, the study demonstrated that teacher-related and student-related factors were associated with English performance in different ways. Effective teaching-style dimensions showed consistent positive relationships with performance, while integrative—but not instrumental—motivation was positively associated with students’ English proficiency. The unexpected negative relationship involving grit highlighted the need for further investigation rather than assuming that perseverance necessarily translates directly into higher language-test performance.
The findings also carried practical implications for English-language instruction. Because students performed relatively well in vocabulary and answering questions but struggled particularly with combining sentences, the paper recommended interventions to strengthen grammatical and sentence-construction skills. Teachers were also encouraged to continue emphasizing effective classroom practices involving interaction, decision-making, lesson structuring, and behavioral management, while incorporating activities that strengthen students’ integrative motivation to learn English.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to research on English-language performance by examining teacher and learner variables within the same analytical framework. Rather than treating English achievement solely as a function of students’ abilities or motivation, it examined how teaching style, motivational orientation, and grit related individually to measured English performance among university students in South Korea.
A particularly useful contribution is the disaggregation of teaching style into four observable dimensions. The finding that teacher-student interaction, decision-making negotiation, teaching structuring, and behavioral control were all significantly and positively associated with English performance suggests that classroom teaching practices may be relevant across both the interpersonal and organizational dimensions of instruction.
The distinction between integrative and instrumental motivation is likewise significant. Although the students reported high levels of both, only integrative motivation demonstrated a significant positive relationship with English performance. This finding reinforces the value of examining different motivational orientations separately rather than treating motivation as a single undifferentiated construct.
Finally, the unexpected negative association between grit and English performance raises a question worthy of further investigation. Rather than providing definitive evidence that grit impairs language learning, the finding identifies an area requiring replication and more detailed examination of the conditions under which perseverance and sustained effort contribute to—or fail to translate into—English-language achievement. The paper itself explicitly recommends replication to ascertain this result.
Keywords: grit; motivation to learn English; students’ performance in English; teaching styles
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
Teachers’ Commitment and Students’ Performance in English at a University in South Korea
A research paper published in a Scopus-indexed journal
Teachers’ Commitment and Students’ Performance in English at a University in South Korea
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya, Joung-Hyun Ham, and Hyun-Jung Min
Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 8, No. S9, May 2015, pp. 228–233
DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2015/v8iS9/68306
Research Summary
Teachers play a central role in students’ academic development, but effective teaching may depend on more than professional knowledge and instructional competence. The extent to which teachers are committed to their work and to the institutions they serve may also influence how they perform their responsibilities and, ultimately, how their students learn. This study examined the relationship between teachers’ commitment and students’ performance in English at a university in South Korea, with particular attention to two dimensions of commitment: commitment to job and commitment to organization.
The study involved 15 foreign English teachers and 420 students. The participating teachers were teaching English to Korean students learning the language as non-native speakers, placing the teachers in a professional environment that required them to address not only differences in language ability but also cultural differences between themselves and their students. Teachers assessed their own levels of commitment to their job and organization through a questionnaire, while students’ performance was measured using their test scores in writing, listening, and speaking.
A descriptive research design was employed. Frequency counts and means were used to describe teachers’ levels of commitment and students’ English performance, while regression analysis was used to examine whether commitment to job and commitment to organization predicted performance in each of the three language areas.
The teachers reported being committed both to their job and to their organization. However, their mean commitment-to-job score (4.00) was slightly higher than their commitment-to-organization score (3.80), suggesting somewhat stronger identification with the work of teaching itself than with the institution in which they were employed.
Students, meanwhile, demonstrated generally high performance across the three English-language areas, with their strongest performance occurring in speaking. Regression analyses showed that, when considered together, commitment to job and commitment to organization did not significantly predict students’ performance in writing or listening. The same overall pattern was found for speaking: the regression model containing both commitment variables was not statistically significant.
An important result nevertheless emerged at the individual-predictor level. Commitment to job was significantly associated with students’ speaking performance (p = .042), whereas commitment to organization was not. The finding suggests that teachers’ dedication to the actual work of teaching may have particular relevance to an interactive language skill such as speaking, where student development depends heavily on classroom engagement, communication, encouragement, and sustained interaction with the teacher.
The study therefore presents a more nuanced picture than the simple assumption that greater teacher commitment automatically produces better student performance. Commitment to the organization itself did not emerge as a significant predictor of achievement in the three English skills examined, while commitment to the teaching job showed a significant relationship only with speaking. The results suggest that different forms of teacher commitment may relate differently to specific dimensions of student learning.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to research on teacher commitment and language-learning outcomes by distinguishing commitment to one’s teaching job from commitment to the employing organization and examining their relationships with separate English skills rather than with a single overall academic-performance measure. Its finding concerning speaking raises an important possibility: in communicative language education, teachers’ dedication to the actual work of teaching may be particularly relevant to learning outcomes that depend heavily on direct teacher-student interaction. The study also provides an early empirical foundation for further investigation of teacher-related factors affecting English-language performance in the South Korean university context.
Keywords: teacher commitment, commitment to job, organizational commitment, English performance, speaking, listening, writing, South Korea
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
Students’ Performance in English: Effects of Teachers’ Leadership Behavior and Students’ Motivation
A research paper published in a Scopus-indexed journal
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya and Marie Charmaine P. Igwe
Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), Vol. 19, No. 1, February 2025, pp. 91–102
DOI: 10.11591/edulearn.v19i1.21680
Research Summary
Teachers do more than deliver instruction; they also exercise leadership in guiding, motivating, and managing students throughout the learning process. In foreign-language education, this leadership role may be particularly important because successful language learning requires active student participation and sustained motivation. This study investigated how English teachers’ leadership behavior relates to students’ performance in English and examined whether students’ instrumental and integrative motivation mediate that relationship.
Teacher leadership was examined through two dimensions derived from the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ): initiating structure, which emphasizes task organization and goal attainment, and consideration, which emphasizes interpersonal relationships, respect, trust, and concern for students. Motivation toward learning English was examined through instrumental motivation, in which the language is learned for practical or external benefits, and integrative motivation, associated with interest in communicating with and understanding people from other linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
The study employed a descriptive survey design involving 911 university students in South Korea who were enrolled in mandatory English courses across different academic departments. Students evaluated their teachers’ leadership behavior and their own motivation toward learning English. Leadership items were drawn from the LBDQ, while motivation measures were adapted from Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). Students’ English performance was assessed using a 25-item grammar proficiency test covering vocabulary, correct grammatical form, answering questions, combining sentences, and word sequencing. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analyses, and parallel mediation analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS procedure.
Students perceived their English teachers as demonstrating high levels of both leadership behaviors, although consideration was more strongly manifested than initiating structure. The mean for initiating structure was 4.06, while the pattern of responses for consideration showed that nearly 88% of students rated their teachers high or very high on this dimension. Students also reported high levels of both forms of motivation, with integrative motivation (M = 3.96) exceeding instrumental motivation (M = 3.55).
Performance on the English test was generally satisfactory. Of the 911 students, 542 obtained scores of 12 or higher, while 369 scored 11 or below. Analysis of specific areas showed that students were proficient in vocabulary, correct grammatical form, and answering questions but only moderately proficient in combining sentences and word sequencing.
Correlation analyses showed that both initiating structure and consideration were positively related to students’ instrumental and integrative motivation and to English performance. Integrative motivation was also positively and significantly correlated with English performance, whereas instrumental motivation was not significantly correlated with performance at the bivariate level.
The regression and mediation analyses revealed a more differentiated pattern. When the two leadership dimensions were considered simultaneously, consideration—but not initiating structure—significantly predicted students’ English performance. Consideration also significantly predicted both instrumental and integrative motivation. When leadership behavior and both forms of motivation were entered together, consideration and integrative motivation had positive significant coefficients, whereas instrumental motivation had a significant negative coefficient.
Most importantly, the mediation analysis showed that neither instrumental nor integrative motivation significantly mediated the relationship between initiating structure and English performance. In contrast, both forms of motivation significantly mediated the relationship between consideration and students’ English performance. The direct effect of consideration remained significant after the mediators were included, indicating partial rather than complete mediation.
Overall, the findings emphasize the potential importance of the relational dimension of teacher leadership in language learning. Students may benefit when English teachers combine pedagogical competence with leadership behaviors characterized by rapport, respect, accessibility, and concern for students. The findings further suggest that students’ reasons for learning English form part of the pathway through which this people-oriented leadership behavior relates to their academic performance.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to research on teacher leadership and second/foreign-language learning by integrating teacher leadership behavior, student motivation, and measured English performance within a mediation framework. Rather than examining teacher and learner variables independently, it investigates a possible mechanism linking them: teacher leadership → student motivation → English performance. Its finding that consideration, rather than initiating structure, was associated with performance through both instrumental and integrative motivational pathways highlights the potential importance of relationship-oriented teacher leadership in the foreign-language classroom. The study also provides a foundation for further research examining how teacher behavior and different forms of learner motivation jointly contribute to English-language achievement.
Keywords: teacher leadership, consideration, initiating structure, instrumental motivation, integrative motivation, English performance, mediation, South Korea
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
Sexist Language: Gender-Linked Expressions in Official Communications in the Academic Workplace
Sexist Language: Gender-Linked Expressions in Official Communications in the Academic Workplace
Estrella F. Fajardo, Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya, and Joung-Hyun Ham
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, Vol. 11, No. 3, March 2020, pp. 2546–2551.
Research Summary
Language used in academic institutions does more than convey information; it can also reflect social assumptions about gender and reinforce linguistic conventions that privilege one gender over another. Although universities are expected to promote equality and gender awareness, gender-biased expressions may continue to appear in routine institutional communication. This study investigated the occurrence of sexist language in official communications within an academic workplace, focusing on gender-linked words and expressions appearing in university memorandums.
The study examined 14 official memorandums issued by members of the administrative and management councils of the respondent university. Ten of the memorandums were written by male officials and four by female officials. Each memorandum was manually examined for words and expressions identified in the literature as forms of sexist English usage. The occurrences were counted and subsequently classified according to the type of gender bias they represented.
The analysis found gender-biased expressions in seven of the ten memorandums written by male officials, while none of the four memorandums written by female officials contained expressions classified as sexist. Across the 14 documents, five principal gender-linked forms were identified: freshmen, chairman, Mrs., his/her, and himself/herself. The first two occurred most frequently, with freshmen appearing three times and chairman appearing twice; Mrs. also appeared twice, while his/her and himself/herself each appeared once.
The identified expressions represented several forms of gender bias. The use of freshmen illustrated the masculine generic, in which a masculine linguistic form is used to refer to a mixed-gender population. The use of chairman, including in reference to female department heads, represented gender-linked occupational or positional terminology. The use of Mrs. for female recipients while male recipients were addressed as Mr. reflected non-parallel treatment because Mrs. identifies marital status whereas Mr. does not. Finally, expressions such as his/her and himself/herself were classified as forms that habitually place the masculine form before the feminine.
The study also observed a notable difference according to the sex of the memorandum writers: the gender-biased expressions identified in the sample appeared exclusively in documents written by male officials. The authors cautioned, however, that it was difficult to determine whether such language was used intentionally or simply reflected established linguistic habits. This distinction is important because gender-biased language may persist through convention even when speakers or writers do not consciously intend to discriminate.
Overall, the findings indicate that gender-linked language remained present in formal academic communication within the institution examined. The study therefore drew attention to the need for greater awareness of gender-inclusive alternatives in official correspondence, particularly for generic references, professional titles, forms of address, and paired gender expressions.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to discussions of gender-inclusive language in academic institutions by examining sexism not in literary texts or informal speech but in actual official workplace documents. Its value lies particularly in demonstrating how seemingly routine linguistic conventions—such as freshmen, chairman, and gender-asymmetrical forms of address—can persist in institutional communication. Although exploratory and limited in scope, the study provides a useful starting point for larger investigations of how gender-inclusive language is adopted, resisted, or inconsistently practiced within educational institutions.
Keywords: sexist language, gender-linked expressions, gender-inclusive language, academic workplace, official communication, institutional discourse
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
Human Rights Victimization and Self-esteem of University Students: Mediating Effect of Hope and Moderating Effects of Human Rights Awareness
A research paper published in a Scopus-indexed journal
Human Rights Victimization and Self-esteem of University Students: Mediating Effect of Hope
and Moderating Effects of Human Rights Awareness
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya & Chang Seek Lee and Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, Vol. 9, No. 9, September 2018, pp. 1138–1142
DOI: 10.5958/0976-5506.2018.01151.8
Research Summary
Human dignity lies at the heart of human rights, and violations of those rights can have important psychological consequences. Because self-esteem reflects an individual’s sense of self-worth and personal dignity, experiences of human rights victimization may undermine how people perceive and value themselves. This study examined the relationship between human rights victimization and self-esteem among university students in South Korea, while investigating two psychological and cognitive factors that might help explain or alter that relationship: hope and human rights awareness.
The study involved 233 university students selected through purposive sampling from universities located in Seosan City, Chungcheongnam Province, and Mokpo City, Jeonnam Province. The participants had a mean age of 22.6 years; 149 were female and 84 were male. Established instruments were used to measure human rights victimization, hope, human rights awareness, and self-esteem. The scales demonstrated acceptable to high internal reliability. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Hayes’ PROCESS macro, with bootstrapping employed to examine mediation and moderation effects.
Correlation analysis revealed that human rights victimization was significantly and negatively associated with self-esteem (r = −.452, p < .01), hope (r = −.324, p < .01), and human rights awareness (r = −.132, p < .05). In contrast, hope was strongly and positively related to self-esteem (r = .601, p < .01), suggesting that students with greater hope also tended to possess higher levels of self-esteem.
The mediation analysis provided further insight into this relationship. Human rights victimization had a significant negative effect on hope, while hope had a significant positive effect on self-esteem. Bootstrapping confirmed a significant indirect effect, demonstrating that hope mediated the relationship between human rights victimization and self-esteem. In other words, victimization was associated with diminished hope, which in turn was associated with lower self-esteem. Conversely, maintaining or strengthening hope may help protect an individual’s sense of self-worth in the face of adverse experiences.
The study also found that human rights awareness moderated the relationship between victimization and self-esteem. The interaction between human rights victimization and human rights awareness was statistically significant, indicating that the association between victimization and self-esteem varied according to students’ level of human rights awareness. This finding highlights awareness of one’s rights as an important factor in understanding how experiences of victimization relate to psychological well-being.
Taken together, the findings show that the consequences of human rights victimization cannot be understood solely through the direct relationship between victimization and self-esteem. Psychological resources such as hope and an individual’s awareness of human rights form part of a more complex process through which experiences of victimization are associated with self-perception and well-being. The study therefore points toward educational and institutional interventions that strengthen students’ hope, awareness of their rights, and capacity to respond constructively when those rights are violated.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to the literature on human rights and psychological well-being by moving beyond a simple victimization–self-esteem relationship and examining both a mediating and a moderating mechanism. By identifying hope as a mediator and human rights awareness as a moderator, it offers a more nuanced account of the factors associated with university students’ self-esteem following experiences of human rights victimization. The findings also provide a basis for universities to consider human rights education and hope-enhancing interventions as complementary approaches to supporting students’ psychological well-being.
Keywords: human rights, human rights victimization, human rights awareness, self-esteem, hope, university students, mediation, moderation
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
Factors Affecting the Use of Computers for Instruction in South Korean Universities
A research paper published in a Scopus-indexed journal
Factors Affecting the Use of Computers for Instruction in South Korean Universities
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya, Joung-Hyun Ham, and Hyun-Jung Min
INFORMATION: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 19, No. 6(B), 2016, pp. 2245–2256
Research Summary
The increasing integration of computer technology into education has transformed how teachers prepare lessons, deliver instruction, access information, and interact with students. Yet access to technology does not necessarily guarantee its use in the classroom. Teachers differ in how they perceive the pedagogical value of computers, how prepared they are to use them, and how they respond to changes introduced into educational institutions. This study examined these factors among foreign faculty members teaching at universities in South Korea.
Specifically, the study investigated whether teachers’ perceived value of computers for instruction influenced the extent to which they used computers in their classrooms. It also examined whether two factors—teachers’ readiness to use computers for classroom instruction and their attitudes toward school change—affected this relationship.
Using a descriptive survey design, the study involved 115 foreign faculty members from different South Korean universities. Data were collected using a five-part questionnaire adapted from previously developed instruments. The respondents’ educational attainment, completion of computer-related degrees, and level of computer proficiency were also considered. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the respondents and major variables, while hierarchical regression analysis was employed to examine the relationships among the variables.
The findings showed that the teachers generally considered computers important for instruction and reported usually using them in their classrooms. They also regarded themselves as prepared to use computers and generally viewed changes in schools as beneficial. Interestingly, although 58.3% had not completed a computer-related degree, 61.7% classified themselves as proficient computer users and another 9.6% as advanced users. This suggested that computer competence was not necessarily dependent on formal computer-related education.
Regression analysis showed that teachers’ perceived value of computers significantly predicted the extent of their classroom computer use. After educational attainment, computer-related degree, and computer proficiency were controlled, adding perceived value increased the explained variance by 10.3%, with the resulting model accounting for 38.5% of the variance in computer use.
Teachers’ readiness to use computers for classroom instruction also made a significant additional contribution to the model, increasing explained variance by another 6.2%. In practical terms, teachers who recognized the pedagogical value of computers and felt prepared to use them were more likely to integrate the technology into their teaching. In contrast, teachers’ general attitudes toward school change did not make a statistically significant additional contribution to explaining computer use.
The findings underscore the importance of both belief and preparedness in technology integration. Providing schools with computers and other technological resources may be insufficient if teachers do not perceive their instructional value or lack adequate preparation to use them. The study therefore emphasized the role of training, familiarization, and sufficient adjustment time when institutions introduce new technologies into teaching.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to the literature on educational technology adoption by demonstrating that teachers’ use of computers for instruction is associated not only with technological competence but also with their perceptions of the technology’s pedagogical usefulness and their preparedness to employ it. Conducted before the massive shift toward technology-mediated education brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study provides an early examination of factors that later became central to discussions of digital teaching readiness. Its findings support institutional approaches that combine technological provision with teacher preparation, professional development, and cultivation of the perceived instructional value of technology.
Keywords: computer-assisted instruction, educational technology, technology integration, teacher readiness, perceived value of computers, computer proficiency, South Korean universities
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
Face-to-Face and Online English Lounges: A Comparative Analysis
A research paper published in a Scopus-indexed journal
Face-to-Face and Online English Lounges: A Comparative Analysis
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya, Hyun Jung Lee, Joung-Hyun Ham, Randy S. Tolentino,
Thomas Edward Farrell II, and Christopher Glenn Gunther
International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 12, No. 9, September 2022, pp. 888–897
DOI: 10.18178/ijiet.2022.12.9.1698
Research Summary
English conversation lounges provide university students with opportunities to practice a foreign language outside the formal classroom in a more relaxed and socially interactive environment. At the university examined in this study, the English Café Program (ECP) was established to give students additional opportunities to communicate with foreign English teachers, improve their speaking ability, and develop greater confidence and more positive attitudes toward interacting with foreigners. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced university activities online, the program shifted from its traditional face-to-face format to a virtual environment, creating an opportunity to compare the effectiveness of the two modes.
The study employed a descriptive-comparative survey design and examined the ECP during its face-to-face implementation in 2019 and online implementation in 2020. The student participants came from different academic departments and were members of the same general cohort: 800 students were selected for each phase of the study. Nineteen foreign English teachers also participated in both phases. Separate but closely parallel questionnaires for students and teachers assessed the perceived effects of the program on two principal outcomes: students’ speaking ability and their attitude toward foreign teachers. The study also considered teachers’ educational qualifications and length of service. Data were analyzed using frequency and mean analyses, t-tests, correlation analysis, and simple linear regression.
Both students and teachers perceived the face-to-face and online versions of the English Café Program as improving students’ speaking ability and their attitudes toward foreign teachers to a great extent. Although some mean scores differed between the two delivery modes, statistical testing showed no significant difference between the perceived effects of the face-to-face and online programs. This suggests that moving the conversation lounge to a virtual environment did not substantially diminish its perceived effectiveness.
One of the study’s most notable findings concerned the relationship between students and their foreign teachers. Students’ speaking ability was strongly and positively correlated with their attitude toward foreign teachers in both the face-to-face (r = .881, p < .01) and online (r = .889, p < .01) implementations. Regression analysis likewise indicated that attitude toward foreign teachers significantly predicted perceived speaking ability in both settings. These results emphasize that language development involves more than simply providing opportunities for practice; the quality of the student-teacher relationship and students’ comfort in interacting with their teachers also matter.
Teachers’ educational qualifications did not show a significant positive relationship with the major student outcomes. An unexpected finding was that teachers’ length of service was negatively correlated with students’ speaking ability in the face-to-face implementation (r = -.532, p < .05), although this relationship did not appear in the online implementation. The study treated this result cautiously and suggested that it warranted further investigation rather than assuming that greater teaching experience itself adversely affects student learning.
Overall, the findings support English conversation lounges as valuable forms of out-of-class language learning. They also demonstrate that such programs can be successfully adapted to online environments, potentially expanding access to students who cannot regularly participate in on-campus sessions.
Research Contribution
The study contributes to research on out-of-class language learning by providing a direct comparison of face-to-face and online English conversation lounges within the same university program. Its findings suggest that the effectiveness of a conversation lounge depends less on whether interaction occurs physically or virtually than on whether students are given meaningful opportunities to communicate and develop positive relationships with their language teachers. The study therefore provides practical support for universities considering hybrid, online, or flexible conversation-lounge programs as supplements to formal language instruction.
Keywords: English lounges, out-of-class language learning, speaking ability, foreign English teachers, student-teacher relationship, online learning, face-to-face learning
Full Text
The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.
