Saturday 2:30 - 3:20
TTI, 306/7
What's My Line?  Chinese Undergraduate Students' Approaches to Learning English for Workplace

Despite the commonly held belief that an "Asian" learning style is simple combination of memorization and rote learning, there is a growing body of research to the contrary.  Firstly, the assumption that Asians are a homogenous group with a single approach to language learning is being questioned; secondly, it is becoming increasingly recognized that Asian learning styles are much more complex than previously believed.

This paper will report on a research project underway at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University which is investigating undergraduate students' approaches to learning work-related English language skills.  This paper will describe and interpret certain of the survey and interview data collected during the project, and illustrate how the undergraduate students view the role of English in their prospective workplaces; the interaction they perceive as appropriate; and so on.  Full-time undergraduate students' language learning attitudes and strategies will also be contrasted with those of part-time students who are concurrently working in industry, since the two groups appear to hold markedly different attitudes and use different learning strategies.