Schloz, Radice; Foreign Language Survey

This survey is part of a research project for ENGL300 here at SIU. The course is taught by Dr. Christina Voss, and this survey is created by Mike Schloz and Jim Radice. The goal is to discover why students choose to learn foreign languages, and what teaching methods might better suit them according to their motivations. We will be surveying undergraduate foreign language students. This survey does not require consent by the Human Subjects Committee (HSC)/ Institutional Review Board (IRB) of SIU, because it doesn't involve minors or take blood samples, and is not for publication but for in-class practice only. This survey should take no longer than 10 minutes. The deadline for completion of this survey is April 11th, and anyone who wishes to see the results should send an email to us and we would be happy to show you the results. Thank you for your time.

1. Motivations for Learning a Foreign Language

1. Are you

2. Are you a native English speaker?

3. Which of these languages do you speak proficiently?

4. Were you raised in a bilingual/multilingual home?

5. Did you study the foreign language you are currently learning while you were in high school?

6. How many TOTAL years have you spent studying the foreign language you are currently learning?

7. If you were completely immersed, without a translator, in a country where ONLY this language is spoken, would you be able to effectively communicate with the people around you?

8. Rate the overall foreign language instruction at SIU (10=highest; 1=lowest).

9. Why have you chosen to take a foreign language? (Select all that apply.)

10. What type of career do you plan to pursue upon completion of your undergraduate studies?

11. Do you believe learning a foreign language should be a requirement for all students at some level in their education? Why or why not?

12. Will a knowledge of formal grammar be valuable to you in using this language?

13. Do you expect that you would learn the language faster or slower if knowledge of formal grammar was an expectation? (In other words, do you believe learning grammar helps a person learn a language more quickly?)

14. How many hours per week do you spend (outside of class) studying your foreign language?

15. Has learning a foreign language helped you better understand the grammar of your native language?

16. Are you taking this language primarily for:

17. Have you ever traveled somewhere where you had to use your foreign language?

18. Do you think you have benefited from a second language?

19. Do you think learning an additional language would give you the same benefits?

20. Rate the overall difficulty of learning a foreign language. (1 = least difficult; 10 = most difficult)