Learning English at a language training school in Beijing : the case of six adult learners

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research is to determine the factors involved in adult language learners’ success or lack of success in the private sector in Beijing, and why learners have chosen to voluntarily sign up to learn English as adults. To be specific, I wanted to find out why some learners are more successful than others when all have started learning English at beginner level and under the same context for a period of 9 months to 2 years. A total of six students in Aspire English (AE), a language training school in Beijing, took part in this small scale study. The six learners were interviewed on aspects such as motivation to learn English, reasons for learning English and for choosing AE, language learning strategies and previous learning experiences. Four AE teachers were also consulted to further ensure participants were placed accordingly to the two groups of learners – successful language learners and less successful language learners. The overall results of this study showed that students had negative learning experience when learning English in formal schools. Also, it was found that adult learners would most likely succeed in language learning in the private sector context of they were learning English as a way to obtain symbolic resource and not material resource. This means that learners were learning the language in order to gain a sense of belonging to the target language community, and not as a way to gain capital. Furthermore, learners who were integratively motivated, who used a wider variety of learning strategies along with out-of-class socializing with members in the target language community were also more successful that their peers.