Students’ use of English outside university

This study (1) - investigates looks into looks at examine Hong Kong students’ use of English outside university. The data reported below were derived (2) - out of in from on a questionnaire survey of a (3) - huge big large substantial sample of first-year undergraduates from eight departments at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The survey was conducted between 12 and 23 September 2004. The subjects (4) - filled in completed answered did the questionnaire during their English for Academic Purposes classes under the supervision of a research assistant. A total of 1,283 questionnaires were (5) - handed out given issued distributed and 707 correctly completed copies were returned and subsequently analysed. The questionnaire (6) - needed wanted required asked for the respondents to indicate the frequency with which they speak, listen, read and write in English outside the formal setting of the English-medium classroom.

The first section of the questionnaire asked the subjects to (7) - talk about indicate tell point out on a six-point scale how often they speak in English in a range of non-academic situations. On the evidence of the findings presented in Figure 1, it appears that tertiary students in Hong Kong generally have (8) - little not much not enough not any need to speak in English outside the classroom.

The evidence suggests that (9) - kids youngsters undergraduates youth rarely communicate with their parents or grandparents in English. This finding is perhaps not surprising as census data indicate that the (10) - big huge upper overwhelming majority of people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese (Cheung et al., 2003). In the (11) - intimate nice close small family domain, young people understandably have little need or desire to speak English, apart from special circumstances such as preparing for English language examinations.

The results indicate that the situation in which tertiary students use English least is in (12) - talking saying interacting contacting with their grandparents. When interpreting this finding, it is worth noting that a recent survey has revealed that English is less widely known among Hong Kong people in their sixties and seventies than those in the 40-60 and 20-40 age groups (Chan, 2004). This largely (13) - comes results stems forms from the fact that the provision of English-medium secondary education was limited in the 1940s and 1950s (Li, 2000). The majority of citizens in the 60-70 age group are likely to have (14) - got given picked up received only a Chinese-medium primary education (So, 1992).

While the (15) - data facts records raw materials in Figure 1 suggest that tertiary students tend not to speak English very frequently outside class, there are apparently several situations where spoken English has some degree of importance in the subjects’ lives. As might be (16) - figured out expected dreamed hoped for the situation where the subjects need to speak the language most is on overseas holidays. As Cantonese is not widely spoken outside China, it is perhaps understandable that students need to (17) - ramble chat communicate gossip in English on trips to Europe, North America and other parts of Asia.

As noted above, students rarely talk to their (18) - immediate near dear loving family members in English. However, it is interesting that some of the subjects apparently have some need to communicate with their relatives in English. One possible (19) - issue factor matter stuff behind the use of English in this situation is that their relatives live in an English-speaking country. In the case of younger relatives (e.g. cousins), it is possible that they have (20) - not any zero no never ever knowledge of Cantonese, while older relatives (e.g. uncles, aunts) may feel more comfortable using their adopted language.