Bridging the Gap: Students’ Psychological and Linguistic Hurdles in Native Language Classrooms

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Do all students adapt equally to the MCH foreign language education curriculum?

 

Michuhol Foreign Language High School (MCH) provides specialized education in English and other major languages to students. In the school, students learn English and another language of their choice between Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese. Therefore, MCH has a more special language education curriculum than most high schools have. Let’s first look at the English education curriculum. There are various and special kinds of English classes: Debate & Current Affairs, Advanced English, Advanced English Reading, Research & Seminar, Critical Thinking and Argumentation. In these classes, students read more external English texts (such as books and articles) rather than only using textbooks. By speaking and writing in English, students not only learn the English necessary for exams but are also exposed to the language substantially. In the major language education curriculum too, they can learn speaking, reading, listening, writing and culture in their major so they can be experts in their language. In addition, after school, they can take additional lessons (English Debate Academy, English Book Club, Major Language Creative Academy, Language Assistant). Some students are satisfied with this curriculum and adapt, but other students have difficulty following it, thinking about it too much. We want to focus on the latter, especially the classes with native teachers.  As you know, students aren’t taught speaking and listening skills in most middle schools in Korea. So, there are some students who feel and experience difficulties in the classes with native teachers after entering MCH. Therefore, in this article, we examine the difficulties that native teachers and students have in their classes, and we suggest solutions for them. We had interviews with Josh teacher (English), Nohemi teacher (English), Hiroko teacher (Japanese) and Merly teacher (Spanish). Also, we had interviews with four students: Danbi Park (20108-Spanish), Ahyun Cho (20319-French), Yeonwoo Jang (10718-Japanese) and Minkyung Lim (10623-Chinese).

 

English Native Teachers: “The Biggest Reason Is Confidence.”

 

In the interview with Josh teacher and Nohemi teacher, we asked them about whether there is a big difference in English conversation skills among students. Their answer is “Yes”. Josh teacher said, “Some students are very good at English conversation. And they participate in more activities. And other students are really shy and they have difficulties understanding or trying to participate.” They said there is a big gap in English conversation skills. When we asked them the reason, they both talked about a “lack of confidence”. Especially, Josh teacher thought that although all students are good at communicating in and understanding English, the lack of confidence prevents them from doing so. And Nohemi teacher believed the reason is their exposure to English. She also said that students need to try and express themselves by talking in English.

 

“I think all of the students are very smart and they are capable of understanding and communicating in English. But the biggest difference is confidence. I think many students lack the confidence to try and make a mistake while speaking English.”

-Josh T-

 

“If they [students] are reserved and don’t make attempts at talking with others in English, their skills tend to decrease or just never improve overall.”

-Nohemy T-

 

Secondly, we asked them how often the content the teacher wants to convey and what the students understand are different due to language differences. They said “sometimes” and “occasionally”. When asked about the reason for this phenomenon, both teachers first pointed to the teacher’s speaking speed as the cause. They thought that the speed is so fast that students misunderstand. In addition, they each mentioned one different reason for this phenomenon. Josh teacher talked about the ‘topics of classes’. In the case of 1st Debate A, topics like UBI and Lab-meat might be hard for students to understand. And Nohemi teacher mentioned the case where students don’t ask questions that could help them because of embarrassment and shame even though they cannot understand the contents of classes.

 

“Our topics like UBI are very hard. Maybe they prevent students from understanding. But my first answer is that all of the students at MCH are very smart and capable. If they just are willing to make some mistakes and try a little more, I think everyone can understand.”

-Josh T-

 

“Students often don’t ask clarifying questions either because they’re too shy or feel embarrassed about needing to have something explained to them again.”

-Nohemy T-

 

Major Language Native Teachers: “Don’t be afraid and Have Confidence.”

 

When we had interviews with Hiroko teacher (Japanese) and Merly teacher (Spanish), we also asked them how often the content the teacher wants to convey and what the students understand are different due to language differences. Merly teacher said that only some students misunderstand and Hiroko teacher said that simple sentences are understood by students but complex contents are not. When asking them for potential solutions that could alleviate this phenomenon, they answered similarly. Hiroko teacher believed that teachers should speak to students in a simple manner. Merly teacher mentioned explaining material in other ways. For example, changing difficult vocabulary into easy vocabulary and using gestures.

 

“Usually, only some students cannot understand but I can notice those who don’t. So, I try to explain in other ways or use gestures.”

-Merly T-

 

Students: “Most Reasons Are Speed, Words and Confidence.”

 

Lastly, we had interviews with 2nd grade students (Danbi Park-20108, Ahyun Cho -20319) and 1st grade students (Yeonwoo Jang-10718, Minkyung Lim-10623). All of them have difficulties in their classes with native teachers. The difficulties are caused by the teacher’s fast speaking speed and difficult vocabulary. Particularly, 1st grade students feel let out of classes and left behind because of these difficulties.

 

“Usually, in the classes with native teachers, especially English, I have difficulty. Whenever the speed that teachers talk at suddenly becomes fast, I feel difficulty in listening.”

-Ahyun Cho (20319)-

 

“When teachers speak at a fast speed or use hard vocabulary for students who are good at foreign languages, I cannot understand the contents and feel left out of class. And there are many hard words from deep topics (like UBI) so I cannot understand them. Although I search for them, I still have questions about why they were used.”

-Yeonwoo Jang (10718)-

 

During these interviews, we noticed one difference between 1st grade students and 2nd grade students. When we asked them about trying to have relationships with native teachers, 2nd grade students said that they try to talk with native teachers. In contrast, 1st grade students think that they don’t try to do the same because they consider communicating with them difficult and burdensome.

 

“Although I cannot speak in perfect sentences, I accept my mistakes confidently and speak without hesitation. And then teachers correct my errors. I feel that speaking naturally without shyness, just like I do when talking with Korean teachers, helps build a closer relationship.”

-Danbi Park (20108)-

 

“Because I feel communication with native teachers to be difficult and burdensome I don’t make an effort to have a relationship with them.” 

-Yeonwoo Jang (10718)-

 

As a result of interviews with native English-speaking teachers, the major language native-speaking teachers, and students, the common difficulty that appeared during classes was that students had difficulty fully understanding the content due to difficult words and fast speaking speed. Also, students often felt burdened by having 1:1 conversations or asking questions with native-speaking teachers, and thus felt burdened by active communication. To overcome these difficulties, students organized difficult words separately and reviewed them, or made efforts to consistently practice conversation and reduce the fear of making mistakes.

 

Bridging the Gap: Comprehensive Strategies for Smarter Language Learning

 

Based on these results, the following solutions were derived.

 

First, a list of difficult words used in major language classes is regularly provided to help students review on their own. To this end, digital learning tools such as the ‘vocabulary app’ or shared documents are used to reduce the gap in vocabulary between students and support the improvement of listening and conversation skills. Through this, students can recognize difficult vocabulary in advance and study it repeatedly, which is expected to improve their listening and comprehension skills and increase their class understanding and participation.

 

Second, we create a ‘comfortable atmosphere’ in the classroom by increasing the frequency of small group discussions and game-based learning. To improve speaking and listening skills and build intimacy between teachers and students, it is important to reduce the burden of students meeting native teachers one-on-one and increase opportunities for them to interact with their friends and communicate naturally. In fact, during the first-year Debate time and the second-year Advanced English reading time, teachers often used game-based learning apps such as ‘Kahoot!’ to check the learning content, and students saw positive learning effects at that time. By checking the learning content through small group discussions and game-style classes, students will feel less burdened and will actively participate in communication, which will naturally improve their conversation skills and increase the intimacy between teachers and students.

 

Third, native-speaking teachers will continuously check students’ understanding by adjusting their pronunciation and speaking speed and will strengthen efforts to repeat or slowly explain important content. Even now, native English-speaking teachers try to speak slowly and with accurate pronunciation to ensure students' understanding, if they pay more attention to helping all students understand, it can be expected that students will understand the class content more clearly, reducing confusion and frustration, and increasing class concentration and learning efficiency.

Lastly, setting aside 5-10 minutes for a small group Q&A sessions each class so that students can ask questions and engage in conversation without pressure. This will create an atmosphere where students can resolve their questions and actively communicate, which will help increase their confidence and overall language skills.

 

Beyond Words: Building Bridges Through Understanding

 

While preparing this article, we realized that the ‘communication barrier’ we encounter in class is not simply a matter of language ability. The common opinion revealed through interviews with native-speaking teachers and students was that classes should move toward reducing the ‘psychological distance’ in both understanding and expression. We hope that these small suggestions, which we have organized through paired thinking, will help students engage with the language more naturally and help classes become real ‘conversations.’ Language is ultimately a bridge between people, so we hope that small but important changes in the classroom will continue to occur so that the bridge can be built wider and stronger.

 

By Staff Reporter Noh Eunseo (1-7)

Cheon Yeongmin (2-1)