西山学苑研究紀要第16号

A Report of Strategy-Based English Class
Designated for Third Language Learner
WU ZijingAbstract
This paper is an educational report about an English course thatfocuses on SBI（Strategy Based Instruction）. This course is specially designed for undergraduate and college students who need to submit TOEIC（Listening & Reading）grades when applying for higher education. WhenEnglish was taught to students who did not major in said language, I examined if SBI-focused teaching methods would positively affect students’learning ability, which should result as an improvement in their TOEICgrades. In terms of the analysis, I used students’ final grades of the firstsemester’s English RII class（including initial mock exam scores, homework, quizzes, word tests, class participation, final exams, etc.）, as well as
an English class for non-English major college students. Studies havefound SBI-focused teaching has a positive impact and feasibility on English
education and can effectively improve students’ ability to improve on theTOEIC test.
Keywords：English education, test strategy, education, grading policy,
teaching

I. Introduction
To analyze the factors that may affect students’ English testing―1―

performance, the author used data from a course called “English R”. According to the syllabus of “English R”, the purpose of this course is to help
students with weaker English skills to improve on TOEIC testing strategy
and the overall score, especially in the listening and reading sections. Students, not limiting to those who are planning to take TOEIC for theirschool applications and job hunting are welcomed.
In this class, students will focus on solving up-to-date TOEIC
problems. The instructor will guide students and provide detailed answers
and explanations to the problems being solved. The instructor will also
distribute handouts and homework to students as supplements to their after-class learning. After completing the course, students are expected tomake significant progress on their listening and reading skills.
In terms of grading, the following factors will be valued throughtout the semester：20% for participation, 20% for homework, 20% for quizzes, 15% for Midterm Exam, and 25% for the final exam.

II. Class arrangement base on the content of TOEIC
According to Hardan（2013）, there are many different types oflanguage learning strategies, and every category of the strategies is
unique in its way（p. 1725）. As a result, it is crucial to find the most suitable learning method depending on the learning content and objectives.
As stated before, this class helps students who are going to take the TOEIC test, so in the following paragraph, a brief explanation of the testing
range and content will be introduced.
There are two major parts to TOEIC, Listening and Reading.
Based on the students’ survey after the first mocking test, many students
think that there are way too many unfamiliar vocabularies in the exam.
―2―

The second most common finding is the duration of the listening portion is
too long, and the reading-contents are too dense. The latter one can be effectively improved through practice, so I focused more on word accumulation by introducing root and affix during my teaching, and offered aselection of problem sets for students to practice.
As stated above, the main task is to design a class focusing on vocabulary memorization. According to Ma and Wang（2010）, it is essential
to build a strategic learning mind for students. So, the instructor will enhance the class based on Cohen’s SBI model during the class（p. 74）.
Students in this class are international students whose mothertongue is Chinese. Their goals are to obtain a higher TOEIC score. The instructor studied the language background of every enrolled student
through one-on-one interviews before starting the class. As a second language learner, the English education I had received in China was very exam-oriented – with the intention of passing the English portion of “Gaokao”,
which is the National Higher Education Entrance Examination in China.
As a result, English study in China focuses more on difficult grammars,
but with a low requirement on vocabulary, listening, and reading skills.
To form an effective and comprehensive class in order to introduce test strategies and improve listening and reading scores, the instructor adapts the following strategies to cultivate below capabilities：
In Terms of Vocabulary Learning
Memory and practice strategy：Make the vocabulary list into a vocabulary practice sets
Recitation strategy：memorize words by memorizing unknown vocabulary in the article
Word-building strategy：learn vocabulary with the help of etymology,
roots, affixes and other knowledge―3―Context strategy：in the process of reading or listening, guess themeaning of words based on the known information in the context
In Terms of Listening Practicing
Focus on new words strategy：Focus on new words, phrases or sentences in the material and understand the pronunciation
Listening and reading strategy：listen while reading silently or read
aloud what you have heard
Theme pre-listening strategy：analyze and related material information, predict listening content, such as through pictures, backgroundinformation, relevant text, etc.
In Terms of Reading PracticeGrammatical analysis strategy：Ask for grammatical analysis when
encountering long or difficult sentencesLogic combing strategy：logical analysis and understanding based oncontext
Extensive reading strategy：Make extensive use of all the English
reading resources available for extensive contact, such as：magazines,
books, newspapers, online publications, etc.（Ma and Wang, p.75）

III. Methodology for memorizing vocabularies in English RTo provide students with efficient methods of memorizing vocabularies, the instructor chose “17 Days to Finish GRE Words” written byYang Peng（2015）and “Yingyu Cihui Suji Daquan 1 – Cigen + Cizhui JiyiFa” written by Minhong Yu（2019）. Yang and Yu are both popular English teaching professioals from New Oriental. New Oriental is the largest
English training institution in China, and many students refer to these twobest-selling books when preparing for studying abroad in English-speaking―4―

countries.
The book “17 days to finish GRE words” tells about a new methodof word memorization, which is called the “quick method of memorizingwords.” The principle of this method is multiple repetitions. Now I will
briefly introduce this method iontrudced by the book. GRE stands for
Graduate Record Examination, an examination for most of the graduate
school applications in the United States, and the amount of vocabularies
required by GRE is the largest compared to other exams. Yang（2019）first divides all the words needed for GRE into 51 lists, each list contrains
about 121 words. When memorizing, memorize up to 3 lists of new wordsevery day；but at the same time, students need to review the words they
memorized before, which are marked with pound sign as shown in Figure 1.
This method does not pursue accurate spelling or accurate translation of123

List 1-3*List 1-3

List 4-6*List 1-3
*List 4-6

List 7-9*List 4-6
*List 7-989104567

List 10-12 List 13-15 List 16-18 List 19-21*List 1-3
*List 4-6
*List 7-9
*List 10-12*List 7-9
*List 10-12 *List 13-15 *List 16-18*List 10-12 *List 13-15 *List 16-18 *List 19-2111121314*List 1-3
List 22-24 *List 7-9
List 25-27 *List 13-15 List 28-30 *List 18-20*List 13-15 *List 4-6*List 19-21 *List 10-12 *List 22-24 *List 16-17 *List 25-27*List 19-21 *List 16-18 *List 22-24 *List 25-27 *List 25-27 *List 28-30 *List 28-30*List 22-2415161718192021

List 31-33 *List 4-6
List 34-36 *List 10-12 List 37-39 *List 16-18 List 40-42*List 1-3
*List 22-24 *List 7-9*List 25-27 *List 13-15 *List 28-30 *List 19-21*List 31-33 *List 28-30 *List 34-36 *List 31-33 *List 37-39 *List 37-39 *List 40-42*List 31-33*List 34-36
Figure １Note. From “Yingyu Cihui Suji Daquan １ – Cigen + Cizhui Jiyi Fa,” by P. Yang, 2019
Beijing Language and Culture Univiersity Press, p. 27. Copyright 2019 by P.
Yang.

―5―

words but aims to quickly reflect the general meaning of words when students see them in the test. The following picture shows the partial memorizing form according to Yang’s book.
The instructor of “English R” will ask the students to memorize
the vocabularies after class as their homework assignment. According toTOEIC’s official vocabulary book, the instructor have adjusted the numberof words and adapted Yang’s approach.

Figure 2. Schedule for memorizing vocabularies
Note. The table above is the new time schedule for memorizing vocabularies created by the instructor

Minhong Yu’s “Root + affix memory method” provides the method of memorizing words used by students in English-speaking countries
and introduces 333 root affixes commonly appeared in exams. Learning
root and affixes is an effective way to assist students to understand themeaning of vocabularies. Besides, this method of learning can help students to classify vocabularies into different categories based on the word
origins, which significantly improves the efficiency of word memorization.
The above methods will be widely used by the instructor when introducing new words in class.
―6―IV. The result（grades of students before and after SBI）& Conclusion
Table 1. Initial practice test score and other exam scores throughout the semester
模擬

模擬

模擬

Listening

ReadingTotal

Exam 1

Exam 242243147654460

BNxxx508

42

35

38

58

73

BNxxx027

58

12316663

BNxxx526

67

3548

65

75

BNxxx014

67

76

72

99

100

BNxxx026

33

41

38

55

70

71

61

BNxxx544
BNxxx541

BNxxx035
BNxxx515

67

65

66

57

73

BNxxx539

42

29

34

58

68

BNxxx514

78

78

BNxxx530

83

78

BNxxx515

10095

Table 2. Other grades of students throughout the semester
HW

Partici

AttendBonus

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

Exam 1

Exam 2

33

100

2260

47

65

46.15

83

155

63

204460

72.75

67

200

2463

58

73

77.65

17100

44

71

66

6345.75   01505206575

72.35

67

20009599

100

82.1

93

10006855

70

65.65

100

10583

68

71

6175.4

67

20075

85

57

73

73.65

―7―60100061

58

68

62.35

100

1552478

78

78

82.4

83

20586

86

83

78

91.65

83

25585

98

100

95

103.15Note. Exam 1 and exam 2 are vocabulary tests, and both table １ and table 2 aregenerated by the author

As stated before, most students who are taking this course haveenough grammar knowledge to handle the test. Since the TOEIC test only
consists listening and reading portions, and it is taken in the form of multiple-choice questions, improving vocabulary is the top priority. After completing a semester of study and memorizing vocabularies by applying themethods introduced in the previous section, students’ grades increased
significantly. By comparing different tests scores, we have obtained the following scatter plots：
Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Note. Figure 3, 4 and 5 are generated
by the author, both vertical axis
and horizontal axis represent
scores―8―

“English R” is a course that requires adequate practice, and demands students to spend a significant amount of time in memorizing vocabularies. By looking at the above scatter plots, which are drawn basedon students’ scores, we can tell there is a positive correlated relationshipbetween the score of the mock test and the final exam. The above graphs
show a great improvement in students’ testing scores, especially on theirlistening and reading portion. By looking at the other two scatter plots,
Exam 1 vs. Final Exam and Exam 2 vs. Final exam, we can tell there is aclear positive relation can be seen in both of them.  Examinations 1 and 2
are pure vocabulary tests, and there is a steeper relationship in the Exam
2 vs. Final test graph. As a result,  there is sufficient evidence to conclude
that the impact of vocabulary on the performance of this course is vastand proportional.

V. Class Evaluations the instructor received from the students
According to the result of “class evaluations” conducted by Kyoto
Seizan College for all teachers and students in the 2019 Fall Semester, theauthor or the instructor of “English R” received the following teachingevaluation base on the following questions：<English RII>
・Did this class help you learn and grow?
・Did the teachers proceed with the lessons with enthusiasm?
・Is the teaching material used in the class appropriate?
・Did the faculty respond appropriately to your questions and consultations?
・Did teachers take measures to improve the educational environment?
―9―Note. From “A Survery for Better Classes（Fall Semester of 2019）” by Kyoto SeizanCollege. Copyright 2020 by Kyoto Seizan College

In the above questions, the percentages of students who answered “I agree” were 75%, 92%, 92%, 83%, and 92%, respectively. On theother hand, in the whole Department of Buddhism, the percentages of students who answered “I agree” were 73.5%, 82%, 79%, 76%, and 75%（Kyoto
Seizan College, 2020）.

VI. Future Improvement
Since it is the first year for the instructor to teach “English R” asa new graduate, the lack of experience is inevitable. The class started at
the end of September and was shortened from one year to only one semester. Additionally, although the initial enrollment of the class was thirteen, there are several absences from the first day of the class, making theeffective sample size in the final score analysis smaller. To effectively reduce any bias that may be present in our analysis, we should consider thefollowing：1. Expand the data duration by using students’ scores from awhole school year, instead of one semester；2. Consider doing the analysis
again when we have accumulated a bigger sample size.
Reference
Hardan, A. A.（2013）. Language learning strategies：A general overview. Procedia - Socialand Behavioral Sciences, 106, 1712-1726. doi：10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.194
Ma, G., Wang, J.（2010）. A Study of SBI on College English Teaching Practice. In Jan 2010
Vol 31 No 1 of Foreign Language Education（pp. 73-77）. DOI：10.16362/j.cnki.cn61 -1023/
h .2010.01.024
Kyougaku-ka, Kyoto Seizan College.（2020）.［A Survey for Better Classes（Fall Semester―10 ―of 2019）］. Kyoto Seizan College.
Yang, P.（2019）.17 Tian Gaoding GRE Danci. Zhejiang Education Publishing House.
Yu, M.（2015）.Yingyu Cihui Suji Daquan 1 – Cigen + Cizhui Jiyi Fa. Beijing Language andCulture Univiersity Press.

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