| Case Study Of A Japanese Learner
Darren Elliott (MA ELT, DELTA)
APPENDIX H
Appendix H – Interview Extracts
D. Well, What..what kind of things do you find most difficult?
N: I can't listen to..your English is very clear to
me but er tell you the truth G's English is difficult
and also L' English is still difficult (hmm) and maybe
I'm not so get used to his to R's English. R's
English also ah not so difficult, but ah sometimes I feel
bit difficult to listen to so…
D: What about..I mean you're living in England obviously,
what about your host family?
N: Host family's English is quite difficult much more
difficult maybe the most difficult including all the the everybody.
Especially my host father's English, his name is A,
his English is really difficult.
D: What do you think…what makes it difficult?
N: He…speaks very fast and also his English not so
clear. (hmm) but before anything else his English speed itself
is really fast (so the speed is the first thing) and er, yeah
his, his how can I say really Nottingham accent, strong accent
that's also one problem. I think.
N: But the biggest factor I feel difficulty about his English
is er maybe speed (hmmm) and I can say that during for example
last week I had a tutorial from ahh D, but when he speaks
at natural speed I can understand to tell you the truth, but
er when he..she her speed er English speed up, and er soon
I notice that oh this speed is not..I can't catch up. I know
my, how can I say, I want to say that my limitation.
D: How about in lectures?
N: It's quite difficult question…S's English is ok
and sometimes I feel difficult in C's English because ah C's
English is er her voice is really soft how can I say (she
speaks very quietly) ah yes she speaks very quietly. And also
D's English is sometimes feel difficult because her English
vocabulary is er she uses sometimes difficult words and of
course she is very know knowledgeable. And so far we..I learnt
from only two or three tutors so…
But I can tell you that when I my feeling is so de…
I am so depressed my feeling is very down can I say that?
(hmm) I also..even K's English is difficult.
So, how can I say, I told you I'm keeping a diary but er
when I noticed that my anxiety affects my listening very much.
But I can tell you that, compared to last year, it's much,
much better. Much improved. How can I say, I can get back
to normal quickly, more quicker than last year, yeah. And
last year especially how can I say this is maybe my first
time in my life it really had a diff..so much difficulty because
while I was in Japan if they speak Japanese not English in
that point it's difficult but here both content itself and
English also difficult so it's really stressful to me (of
course)
D: How did you study listening before?
N: The main study for listening is radio listening conversation
programme. It decided from 10:40 I always listen whatever
happens, I try to. And also my listening practice is from
NHK's news from seven o'clock to yeah, ten o'clock. Because
it can be dubbed how can I say, it can be changed to English
version (dubbed was right).
But Darren I noticed that ah, how can I say, if I watch
the tv twice, seven o'clock and ten o'clock it's easy to understand
but I noticed that letter, Japanese letter helped me a lot
to help my listening. And also, their English is really clear,
NHK's person, their English really clear to me so it's not
so difficult to catch up. But after coming here I strongly
remember that when I first arrived in Heathrow I asked somebody
to which bank is better to exchange my money but his English
really difficult I really didn't understand at all.
D: How do you find reading?
N: I can tell you that, ah, reading speed is shortened about
almost doubled, I think.
D: Is that using reading passages of equivalent difficulty?
N: Yeah Yeah. I check with er ‘How languages are learned'
by Lightbown and Spada, Spada? Sorry, I don't know (neither
do I) Anyway, I strongly remember that it took four hours
to read only twenty pages but now I can read it less than
two hours. And I noticed that last year when I read it for
the first time I underlined almost all them and because I
had no background and also the vocabulary itself is so difficult
and I can't read skimming or scanning, (do you..?) sorry,
can I say, and every time I came across an unfamiliar word
I had to look it up in the dictionary to check the meaning.
D: So how about now?
N: Now, so of course my English is different and also lots
of background knowledge so how can I say it's quite easier
to gr.. grasp catch only the main point, can I say gist? (yeah)
D: How about if you read a new article that you don't know
so much about?
N: Mmm, One of the examples is last Monday I went to London
to take a TOEFL test and for reading I can spend seventy minutes
but ah, while I was in Japan it was too difficult to me and
ah vocabulary itself is also difficult to read all the passages
we need to read four passages, four passages to much for seventy
minutes but this time I spend only sixty minutes, so ten minutes
left and I can spend ten minutes for proofread, proofreading
can I say that proofreading?
D: What do you think you've improved?
N: I don't look up in the dictionary so many times and I
try to find the gist but last year it was my bad habit I knew
but I couldn't change it but my, if I came across an unfamiliar
word I can''t go ahead without checking it so whenever I meet
the new word to me I need to look up in a dictionary and oh,
this meaning is this, otherwise I can't go ahead but now,
I can, if I meet an unfamiliar word I can guess from the another
content.
Even now if I find the word I feel difficulty in the content
I check verb and noun but I can skip adverb and adjective.
D: Do you think the reason for the improvement is just extensive
practice?
N: Yeah yeah, extensive practice and we need to read so
many pages in a week if so if I keep reading in the previous
way I can't catch up with the reading (so you had to change)
but I can tell you that it is quite tough to me because since
I started… began to study English at the age of thirteen
my English style is this way. Of course I tried to skim and
scan while I was in Japan with English newspaper but I still
how can I say? the reading skim and scan I really feel so
weird because I cannot understand all of the English word.
D: The habits of a lifetime…
N: Yeah (laughs) and I can tell you that from junior high
school to the university all my English style learned from
teachers is just translating …content doesn't care,
gist doesn't care, so I haven't learned how can I read it
very fast. And even in..I can tell you that even in University
my teacher just read only three or four pages in 90 minutes.
It's really ridiculous I thought.
N: and also how can I say? Hmm how can I say I've had very
much confidence in writing English but at least how can I
say? limited to the test because my score on the test especially
English composition was really excellent I can tell you (laughs)
but here is different right? But I still have difficulty in
organise my idea and I can't write my essay with coherent
that's my problem but I haven't learnt from anybody while
I was in Japan and this is my first time to write an essay
and learn about dissertation things…
Appendix A
B C
D E
F G H
I
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