Identifying Learning Needs: Using Narrative Analysis
Anil Pathak and Sng Bee Bee, China
Dr Anil Pathak is an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His research areas are communication, discourse, and new texts. He has published in several journals including Web-based Communities, Business Communication Quarterly, ESPM, PaCall, PASAA, and Internet TESL.
E-mail: ASalpathak@ntu.edu.sg
Dr Sng Bee Bee is an independent researcher and adjunct tutor. She is interested in English for Specific Purposes and Academic Writing Skills. She has written on educational change in Singapore and how international students find learning English in Singapore.
E-mail: beesng@gmail.com
Menu
Introduction
Earlier research
Research method
Thematic analysis
Conclusion
References
The number of immigrants who come to study nursing in Singapore is substantial and learning English becomes a major issue for these students. Their ESL teachers frequently express concerns about their progress. The issues these students face include comprehending verbal instruction and communication. It has been suggested (Choi, 2005) that there is limited current literature related to the education of ESL nursing students. This situation encouraged us to engage in a qualitative study that aimed at analyzing nursing students’ ESL needs.
The present study began with the intention of identifying the learning needs of nursing students who have migrated from a non-English speaking to an English-speaking country. Seven students from China studying a nursing course in Singapore narrated their stories in open interviews. These students narrated their learning and communication experiences in their home country, namely, China, and their learning institutions in Singapore.
While designing a curriculum and developing activities for the classroom, ESL materials planners and teachers generally assume that they and their students share a common social reality. However, at times, the learning needs envisaged by the curriculum might conflict with the students’ perceived needs and their learning goals. The dynamic nature of migrant students’ aspirations accentuates this complexity.
In this project, the nursing students interviewed were offered the opportunity to represent their learning experiences in their own terms. This approach is characteristically different from the conventional approaches used for needs analysis. Students talked about being situated in re-teaching and ethnicity-based stereotyping. They were subject to cultural isolation while they sought assimilation in the Singaporean society which is essentially a multilingual environment. Some parts of their narratives also dwelt on their changed perceptions, goals, and interactions with teachers when learning English in Singapore.
Narratives about the self are increasingly seen as reflections of the self and are important aspects of one’s self-definition (Ochs&Capps, 1996; Buckner&Fivush, 1998). A narrative inquiry into these aspects can shed some light on the ‘secret’ stories of educational practices (Clandinin & Connelly, 1988). Three narratives are presented in this paper with the aim to illustrate how a strategic narrative model is used in learning needs analysis.
Narrative work originated in the field of literature and literary criticism. The field of teacher education has primarily focused on studying ways in which teachers' narratives shape and inform teacher practice. The recent emphasis on reflective practice (Schon, 1983) and teacher research has strengthened the focus on listening to the voice of teachers and hearing their stories (Bell, 1997c; Gallas, 1997; Jalongo & Isenberg, 1995). Work by Connelly and Clandinin (1988, 1990, 1999;Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) has suggested ways to adapt narrative inquiry for educational purposes, Carter (1993) provides a critique of the role of story and storied experiences in teacher education. Following this, the narrative view of curriculum has influenced the work of language and curriculum researchers (Calkins, 1983 B. Rosen, 1988; Lightfoot & Martin, 1988; Paley, 1979). The central theme in educational narratives research is that humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives. If we wish to understand the way our learners experience the world, studying their narratives can be a rewarding experience. As Connelly and Cladinin (1990) point out, “seeing and describing story in the everyday actions of teachers, students, administrators, and others requires a subtle twist of mind on behalf of the enquirer. It is in the tellings and retellings that entanglements become acute, for it is here that temporal and social, cultural horizons are set and reset.” (p. 2)
In a later review, Bell (2002) emphasizes that the notion of story is common in every society, and the stories themselves differ widely across cultures. Bell points out that the stories we are raised in determine the shape of our stories, the range of roles available, the chains of causation, and the sense of what constitutes a climax or an ending. By implication, it is imperative to examine our learners’ stories and their underlying assumptions in order to understand their cultural expectations of learning.
An example of a study in learners’ identity is Lam’s (2000) case study of a Chinese immigrant teenager. Using the approaches of ethnography and discourse analysis, the study examines how the electronic textual experiences of ESL learners affect their identity formation and literacy development. The study traces the development of the teen’s identity in using English by analyzing his written correspondence with his transnational peers. This study advances past studies on textual identity, and lays particular emphasis on representing and repositioning identity in the networked computer media.
Against these groundbreaking studies, we realize that narrative inquiry as a research approach demands going beyond using narrative as rhetorical structure. Such a research approach needs to focus on a systematised analysis of the underlying insights and assumptions that the story illustrates.
Seven students of a nursing diploma course in Singapore were involved as participants in the present study. These nursing students were in their first and second years of study. They were selected as they had completed a short practicum in the Singaporean hospital, and hence, were able to comment on how useful they found their previous and existing English training to their nursing experience in the hospital in Singapore. They had voluntarily agreed to narrate their stories of learning, keeping the focus on language and communication skills. All students were citizens of Mainland China and had studied in primary and secondary schools in China. They were in the 20-22 age group.
One of the interviewers in the present study came to know one of the nursing students through an informal hosting program that was designed to help these students adapt to Singapore. Consequently, this interviewer negotiated the terms of the study with this nursing student. It was agreed that the interviewers conduct the research with the view of understanding their language needs and design English language workshops for them based on this needs analysis. Apart from this relationship, the other two interviewers did not know interviewees prior to the research process.
The interviewers adopted an open strategy to the interview process that involved asking minimal questions and encouraging continuous narration. The questions were asked to seek clarification; encourage the participants to provide more details; or fill in the gaps. All interviews were audio recorded and transcripts were prepared. A coding scheme was used to analyse the transcripts, and the preliminary analysis was later developed into a thematic analysis.. The categories of analysis developed in the coding scheme were: types of English learning or communication situations; teaching methodology; learning strategies; problems encountered and coping strategies. The researchers first analyzed the accounts of the nursing students along with each of these themes. This gave the researchers a clearer picture of their language learning background in comparison with the teaching methods they were exposed to in Singapore. With this holistic perspective, the researchers then reconstructed the individual nursing student’s learning of English into an individual narrative.
Previous studies have also described the multiple levels at which the narrative inquiry proceeds. In each research situation, narrative inquiry presents unique challenges and offers specific benefits. One difficulty encountered in this study was to understand and portray the complexity of ongoing stories which were told and retold in the inquiry. In this study, where we examined educational setting and curriculum, we found these multiple layers (telling, re-telling, meaning-making) advantageous to our research purpose.
The first theme that emerges from the nursing students’ stories is their clear recognition that communication, especially communication in English, is an important skill in the nursing profession. Stephen, one of the nursing student interviewed, said:
Because we go to the hospital as a student, as a nursing student, so we have a lot of conversation with the nursing staff. If we don’t understand the diagnosis, or don’t understand the doctor’s writing, we go to the nursing staff to check on that. We go to hospital, we do a lot of work, such as the nursing care, the medication, or some nursing skills, example, suction, or oxygen, giving oxygen to patient and many procedures we need to perform so that we can practice our nursing skills that we learn in school. So, many times we need to talk to staff to ask for permission and assistance so we need to talk in English.
Steven demonstrated a clear understanding of his learning process. In fact, he seemed to have developed his own learning curriculum:
For myself with patient, because nursing is quite a practical occupation, we go to the patients, must to talk to them, before we do every nursing procedure. For example, if you give medication to patient, you must check their identity, and talk to the patient about what the medication is for and what’s the side effects of the medication. And so, sometimes the patients also ask us some questions about their condition and their treatment. Also, in the free time,we have the conversation with patient about their lives. Also the patients nothing to do also come to us. Also, we visit them in the ward, they find us quite free so they talk to us. We talk their general life.
This is an excellent example of task analysis. The domains, contexts, and types of skills required are accurately identified by Stephen.
All three of the interviewees started learning English in China at the age of twelve, namely at secondary level. They learned English as a third language and had learned English for seven to eight years before coming to Singapore. Starting English at the age of twelve was perceived to be a little too late and one of the subjects felt that it was difficult for her to accept English as her language. In addition, the approach to teaching did not help them to acquire communicative skills in English as shown their confession in the interview with Steven:
For my age, we started learning English from secondary school, that is after primary school. In China, before I came to Singapore, I have been to the university so we learn English so many years, almost 7-8 years, but uh.., our speaking English is still poor, we know the grammar, know the vocabulary, but don’t know how to talk and our listening is also poor.
Katherine said that her English was ‘deaf and dumb’ in the sense that the teaching focus was always on reading and writing at the expense of oral skills:
…and my teacher also worry ‘bu jin ren chin’ (not bearing in mind the human relationship component) always want us to learn all the words, but we cannot understand the meaning, like ‘tian shu’ (bookish) and the teachers are more focused on grammar and writing English. They don’t pay attention to your oral English and your listening skills, so consider us like deaf and dumb. Even after I graduated from senior middle English school, my English was still deaf and dumb.
Katherine was aware that her spoken English proficiency was extremely low. She said:
Our oral English is ‘Speak English’. Nobody know it’s oral English. When I communicate with foreigners, I just say ‘Hello, where you come from?’, ‘Do you like China?’, uh… ‘What food do you like best?’, ‘Bye, bye’ that’s all (laughingly).
The main reason for this teaching flaw was pointed out by Jane:
First, I just started to learn English in my …er…how to say…because Chinese education is different from Singapore, so I, I start from secondary school, so it’s a bit late lah…Then, first, because I like English, so at the beginning I don’t think there’s so much problem for me to study English. So… and uh…in the class, our teacher just ...uh…our English is taught in Chinese…
A grammar translation teaching approach was used in China. There was also an emphasis on reading, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and written English at the expense of listening and speaking skills. The focus was on the materials in the textbook versus communicative English. Sentence by sentence translation was used and students were asked to memorize pronunciation of words and lists of vocabulary. English was only used in reading and students used Mandarin to answer the teachers’ questions in class. These teaching-learning approaches proved to be ineffective in developing communicative skills in the learners.
In addition, such a teaching approach resulted in passive bilingualism where the students could read and write academinc texts in English but were unable to use it in real-life communication. The overriding concern seemed to be the final examination rather than communicative ability. As a result, the participants confided that they lacked a motivation in learning the language in China as they failed to see a purpose in an appropriate learning approach that they could apply in a real-life context.
OK…erm… also in class… all …our teacher is focusing on the…you understanding the…understanding what the…what the passage mean, and the, and the grammar. We focus on grammar, and …any…(hesitation, searching for word)…and …er… Reading…oh, yah…also the vocabularies is very important for us to …read…and…(pause)
This focus on writing was also described by Jane:
Yah, writing, yah…every, every week, we will have the diary, diary to write down…yah, sometimes we pass to the, we hand in, we hand in to the teachers, the teachers will correct the mistakes for us, and we get some points, …
Due to the fact that this teaching approach focused on writing, the nursing students faced difficulties with listening and speaking skills even after many years of learning English. There was no opportunity for them to use English outside the classroom. They memorized vocabulary which the teacher asked them to learn without understanding the meaning. Comprehension was a problem in the subjects’ learning of English in China as there was a lack of focus on meaningful communication. The emphasis on memory work did not help in them in the language acquisition.
With this EFL experience, the nursing students came to Singapore and experienced a different teaching approach. In Singapore, the subjects had a total of 900 hours of English lessons in an English teaching institution. Contrary to the teaching approach in China, this course adopted a focus on using English as a tool of communication.
Initially, the subjects had a high level of motivation and interest in learning English in Singapore as the teaching approach was different from China. However, later they became familiar with the approach and were bored. They continued to encounter difficulties in remembering the vocabulary as they started learning English only at secondary level in China. There were many words in their materials which they had not encountered before. Their listening skills improved from the exposure to the use of English in the classroom. However, their speaking skills remained weak through inadequate practice as evident in the utterance below:
Learning English, I think, the pronunciation is a big problem. Because, uhh., beginning of my learning experience, both in China and Singapore, I think, pronunciation is a big problem. And our speaking English is a problem. Although we came to Singapore, have English course, and I think, the listening improved, most faster, but the speaking and talking is not good. I think we need more training in speaking, in speaking English, in English talks. I think, I suggest, the teachers will correct our pronunciation in speaking English.
Jane expressed a typical dilemma in language learning and language use in her response to the interview below:
…because sometimes we are discussing some, we are very…erm…very eager to express ourselves, so we just express in Chinese, then the more you speak Chinese, the more you are speaking on, unless…what am I trying to say…so…
This results in inadequate efforts put into the use of spoken English. What is important here is the self-awareness of the students, which is remarkably prominent. Jane says:
Erm…since I’m studying here, I don’t, we don’t put more conscious, put a lot of conscious, don’t put a lot of conscious on our English speaking, frankly…speaking…
The participants painfully realised how the English curriculum in China had failed them. Jane pointed out that the text-based curriculum not only failed to develop her spoken English, but also failed to enhance her vocabulary.
Vocab, because I think we study in, we start to study English a little bit late in China, and er…not so much like readings and er…ya, that’s the problem. Even now with, in the, in our handouts or whatever, we can see a lot of new words, and then we don’t understand, and er, still refer to the dictionary or…ya…
The sse of English as a medium of instruction in their nursing courses in Singapore contributedto the students’ acquisition of listening skills. When it comes to oral skills, however, it is important that the students practice speaking in real-life contexts. In addition, Katherine confided that the teachers’ method of punishing the students for using Mandarin instilled a fear within her that hindered her from acquiring confidence in speaking in English. According to Katherine:
First of all, it’s uh.., first of all, it’s just nervous, you must use English, you cannot use Chinese. If you use Chinese, one word, one dollar (laughs). So expensive, uh, Chinese. So nervous (laughs). Even when I go toilet, very scared, teacher outside. If the teacher heard that we heard Chinese, then must be punished. Another problem is that because we are studying English for 3 months, and everyday we have to spend eight hours (in learning English), we find that all the knowledge, all the English we learn, don’t have enough time to absorb. It’s force absorb. So I hope we have some more time to go through them.
The problem with an intensive English course was that the students were accumulating knowledge of the language without adequate opportunities to use it. This was the same problem they encountered when they were learning English in China. They were still memorizing the content of the English lessons rather than using the language for real-life communication. What was lacking in their bridging English course was a review of the lessons. As a result, they only surface learning rather than deep learning where they processed what they learned.
As suggested by Wang (2002), previous cultural experience and prior knowledge can lead to difficulty in understanding instruction. It has also been pointed out in earlier literature that students construct meaning based on previous learning experiences (Lee and Lodewijks, 1995; Lacina, 2002). Our findings and qualitative analysis confirm this view. The three cases studies we presented in this paper show how early childhood, family, and traditional teaching methods frame the life experiences of the participants. The interviews underline the need for the nursing students to re-frame their learning experiences when they migrate to Singapore. The narratives also suggest that in their home country participants belonged to a structured home and education environment and had well-defined roles as children, siblings, or students. When they entered a society that was less structured in terms of familial and social roles, and practised a less rigid value-system, they found it difficult to come to terms with this situation. They found it hard to adjust to the methods of teaching since their early learning experiences consisted of teacher-led classroom. As the stories suggest, students were used to traditional methods of learning such as lectures and rote memorization. More interestingly, their narratives indicate that they have now realized the inadequacies of these methods.
It is also vital that the English syllabus and teaching methods are contextualized to the nursing situations that these nursing students will face when they practice in the hospital. This would help the nursing students to perceive their learning experiences as meaningful and applicable. In addition, it would equip them with the confidence to communicate in the wards with patients, doctors and other nurses. Based on the feedback provided by the nursing students interviewed, their urgent need was to develop the ability to communicate in English in the wards rather than simply acquire linguistic knowledge of English. In addition, communicating in English in the wards is complicated by the large varieties of English used and the extensive code-switching as well as code-mixing of other speakers. This compounded the difficulties faced by these Mainland Chinese nursing students in communicating in the wards. Since much of their communication involves medical care for the patients, it is vital to address these communication problems.
It is also important to understand the experiences and needs of EFL learners, particularly those of the Mainland Chinese learners, when designing a curriculum and adopting teaching approaches. The nursing students revealed in the interviews that although they were exposed to an English-speaking environment in Singapore, their bridging course failed to engage them in revising the language learned. It can be deduced that they would like teaching approaches that simulate real-life communication and they need constant revisions of language learned. An English curriculum that focuses on language functions, communication situations, particularly nursing situations and spoken grammar may be more useful for them. Teaching approaches that involve role-plays and simulated activities based on nursing practices in the wards would also be more appropriate for their learning needs.
This study shows the need for language teachers and curriculum planners to consider the needs of learners as perceived by the learners themselves., This will prevent the problem of learners feeling that what they learn is irrelevant to their future needs, and that they have to cope on their own when they go into English-speaking work situations. We would like to suggest similar studies be conducted on a broader scale in order to obtain a more complete picture of the ESL needs of nursing students. The findings of this and similar studies should be relevant to many situations where immigrants with an ESL background are involved as participants in a nursing education programme.
Finally, a word about the methodology used in this study. As stated earlier, needs analysis is an established field of research. However, the traditional methods used for needs analysis (such as diagnostic tests and survey questionnaires) are not particularly suitable for the EFL situation in nursing education. The narrative approach used in this study situates the learners in an empowered position. The narratives produced by learners show that such data can be used more meaningfully in course and curriculum design. We hope that more studies in future would be able to use such an approach in their investigation as well as in the process of curriculum design.
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