Write a summary of the following text: "Chapter 3. The study
This is the final chapter where the study itself will be described. First, the objectives of the study will be described. Next, I will describe the methodology, including a survey for self-assessment of one’s own language skills. The profiles of study participants will also be presented, in particular such factors as their gender, age, education, and previous contact with the English language. Finally the procedure of testing the participants’ language skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing and grammar, and vocabulary) will be described. The final section will focus on the results of the study.
3.1. Study objectives, participants and the procedure
3.1.1. Objectives
Numerous meetings and conversations with Chinese people (usually Mandarin native speakers from the mainland China), allowed me to make the following observations:
1) Regardless of the time they spent learning English, most Chinese speakers claim that their English is not good., and they do not feel very confident to speak this language. Usually, as soon as they find out that I speak communicative Mandarin, they immediately switch into it.
2) In the Chinese culture, boasting is not well perceived, while being modest is perceived positively.
3) Most of the Chinese with whom I had the opportunity to engage in a longer conversation were either people with higher education or university students. To be able to start higher education in China, one must pass the so-called Gao Kao, which is the equivalent of the high school final exam. One of the mandatory subjects that is included in Gao Kao is English, thus everyone who passed it was required to study some English.
4) English is one of the mandatory subjects in primary school as well as in the secondary school in mainland China. Moreover, many parents also make sure that their children learn English privately.
Thus, the following questions arise:
1) To what extent do Chinese people’s (educated adults from mainland China) self-assessment of their ability to speak their native language coincide with reality?
2) The assessment of which of the basic language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing, as well as vocabulary and grammar level) is the most consistent with the results obtained in tests.
3) What could be the reasons for possible significant differences between self-esteem and test results?
3.1.2. Methodology and the questionnaire
To obtain data on the self-assessment of command of the English language by the surveyed group of Chinese, I used a questionnaire (in the Appendix).
This questionnaire is designed to assess the respondent’s skills and motivation in four areas of English language: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. It also evaluates their vocabulary and grammar skills. The questions use a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 represents no or minimal skills and motivation, and 10 represents proficient skills and high motivation. The questions explore the respondent’s perception of their skills, their biggest challenges in learning the language, their frequency of usage, and their motivation to improve. The questionnaire is designed to help measure individual progress and pinpoint areas for improvement.
The questions in the questionnaire cover all four basic language skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing and vocabulary and grammar level. The questionnaire was prepared in two language versions to make sure that the respondents fully understood the questions, and that they could provide complete answers to them. The tests were carried out during sessions that took place on a Chinese platform that is the equivalent of the Zoom application.
In addition to the question about assessing their language abilities in numerical form (from 0 to 10), open questions were also asked about the greatest difficulties or challenges regarding a given language skill. For each of the participants, the answer to this question will be confronted with what, according to the test results, is really the most difficult.
Since motivation also plays a very important role in Second Language Acquisition, the questionnaire includes questions about this factor as well.
According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Language skills (CEFR / Europass 2023), there are six levels of proficiency of each of the four basic language skills (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). However, for the purposes of this study, I have adopted a scale from 0 to 10, so A1 will be 0 and 1, A2 will be 2 and 3, B1 will be 4 and 5, B2 will be 6 and 7, C1 corresponded to 8 and 9, and C2 level will be 10.
For clarity, it is illustrated in the table below:
CEFR level
The corresponding value from 0 to 10

A1 0 and 1
A2 2 and 3
B1 4 and 5
B2 6 and 7
C1 8 and 9
C2 10

In order to obtain data on the true level of language skills of study participants, they will be subjected to the following tests:
1) Listening, Reading, Vocabulary and Grammar was assessed through level tests provided by Oxford Online English.
2) To assess writing skills, the participants wrote a short a text (maximum 250 words) about one of three topics that will be chosen by them. Grammatical correctness, logical coherence, vocabulary used and appropriate style matching the statement on a given topic were assessed. There were two topics to choose from.
a) In the past five years, how has technology affected people’s health?
b) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Discuss, with specifics, why you would choose this location.
The maximum number of points that can be obtained for this is 100 (25 for each of the criteria listed above). The result was then divided by 10 and rounded to a full numerical value so that it can be compared with the self-assessment from the survey. The writing test is based on ALTA’s Writing Practice Test (English).
3) The assessment of speaking is based on the Assessment Scales provided by Cambridge English – Language Assessment (2011). The following four individual criteria were assessed:
I) grammar and vocabulary;
II) discourse management;
III) pronunciation;
IV) interactive communication.
Each criteria contains a few corresponding questions, so we can find out what the tested person copes with and what he/she does not. The table below illustrates it in detail:
Table 1. The Assessment Scales
Yes
No

Grammar
And
Vocabulary Does the speaker use simple grammatical forms with control?
Does the speaker use complex grammatical forms?
Does the speaker use a range of appropriate vocabulary?
Discourse Management
Are the answers of an appropriate length for the task? Is there much hesitation?
Are the contributions relevant? Is there much repetition? Is it well organised?
Does the speaker use a range of cohesive devices? And discourse marks?
Pronunciation Are the answers clear? Can the speaker be generally understood?
Is the speaker’s intonation appropriate?
Does the speaker use sentence stress correctly? Is the word stress correct?
Are individual sounds clear? Are they correctly produced?
Interactive Communication
Does the speaker start discussions? Does the speaker introduce new ideas?
Does the speaker react appropriately to what the interlocutor says?
Does the speaker keep the interaction going? Does the speaker say more than the minimum? Does the speaker involve the other candidate?
Does the speaker try to move the interaction in an appropriate direction? Does the speaker need support?

There are a total of 14 questions for each of the four main criteria, so each participant can score a maximum of 14 on the speaking test. The result will be divided by the maximum possible score to get a decimal, multiplied by 10 and rounded to a full numerical value, so that it can be compared with the self-assessment from the survey. For example, if a participant scored 6 out of 14, his score is 4 because of the following calculation: (6/14) * 10 = 4.2857.
The speaking test was in the form of a discussion. Participants could choose one topic from the following three:
1) Are we in danger of overpopulation?
2) Is it worth learning foreign languages?
3) Is it worth exploring space?
3.1.3. Participants
All the participants are adults and Mandarin native speakers from mainland China. Six people took part in the study.
Participant 1 is a female, 31 years old. She has her bachelor degree in logistics. She has never been abroad, and she rarely talk with foreigners (thus, rarely uses English). When it comes to her knowledge about English, it is mostly based on the content provided by the public educational institutions in China. She originally comes from a small town in Yunnan province, but she currently lives in Shanghai.
Participant 2 is a 22-years old male, and a university student from Beijing. His major is Russian language. He has never been abroad, however, he is in touch with a few foreigners, so he sometimes uses English. Except of the English course provided by public schools, he had some private classes as well.
Participant 3 is a 24-years old male, who has got his bachelor degree in finances. He has been abroad once or twice for vacations (Europe). He also has a couple of foreign friends, with whom he has contact regularly. He learnt English both in public and private schools.
When it comes to Participant 4, he is a male, 52 years old. He is an engineer, who worked 2 years in Canada. Most of his life, he spent in a prefecture-level city in Shanxi Province (where he currently lives). During his stay in Canada he met a several people, with whom he still stays in touch. When he was a student, English was not an obligatory subject at school, however, he was taking some private classes.
Participant 5 is a 28-years old female, who is currently doing her PhD in Chinese literature (she both reads and writes academic papers in English). She lives in the city of Guangzhou – the capital of Guangdong Province. She has never been abroad, but she has a few English speaking friends she met online. She learnt English both in public and private schools.
Participant 6 is a 25-years old female, who studied 5 years in Melbourne, Australia, where she got the Master of Economics diploma. She currently lives in the capital of Sichuan Province – the city of Chengdu. Before going overseas, she learnt English privately over 10 years. She has lots of foreign friends; with whom she regularly contacts.
As I am aware that the number of people surveyed is relatively small, I tried to ensure that the people surveyed were as diverse as possible. I had the opportunity to meet one of the above-mentioned people in person, while I have been in contact with the others for a long time thanks to a language learning application.
3.2. Results
3.2.1. Numerical scores
Table 2 below shows the self-assessment results of the four participants (on a scale of 0 to 10) for each of the six language skills: listening, reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary, and grammar.

Table 2. The results of the questionnaire
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6
Listening 3 3 6 5 8 7
Reading 3 4 6 7 7 9
Speaking 3 2 3 4 8 6
Writing 3 4 4 5 8 9
Vocabulary 3 4 4 6 7 8
Grammar 2 1 8 4 8 9

Table 3 presents the results of the study participants obtained through language tests and converted to the corresponding numerical values from 0 to 10.

Table 3. The results from the tests
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6
Listening 2 2 6 6 7 8
Reading 3 4 7 7 9 9
Speaking 1 2 5 7 7 7
Writing 2 3 7 5 8 8
Vocabulary 3 2 7 6 9 9
Grammar 1 2 5 6 8 8

3.2.2. Discussion of the results
The results that coincided with those from the survey are marked in yellow, the results that are lower than the values marked in the survey in red, and the results in green are higher.
Correct self-esteem: 11/36 (~31%)
Overestimation: 12/36 (~33%)
Underestimation: 13/36 (~36%)

At first glance, there seems to be a slight tendency to underestimate the English skills among the participants. However, if we take a closer look, such a tendency is restricted to the participants with an intermediate level of English (P3 and P4). The level of English proficiency varies the most between Participant 1 and Participant 6. The level of Participant 1 and Participant 2 is elementary, whereas, the level of Participant 5 and Participant 6 is rather advanced… Nevertheless, in the case of Participant 5 and 6, overestimation occurs as often as underestimation and correct self-esteem.
It is worth noting that the self-assessment results do not always correspond with the actual level of English proficiency of the participants. Only about one-third of the participants have correctly assessed their own English skills. The majority of them either overestimate or underestimate their abilities.
The background and experiences of the participants seem to play a significant role in their assessment of their English proficiency. Participants who have had more exposure to English, such as Participant 6 who studied in Australia and has many foreign friends, tend to have a more accurate perception of their English skills. On the other hand, participants with limited exposure to English, such as Participant 1 and 2, tend to overestimate their abilities.
Inflated self-esteem in the case of P1 and P2 may be related to the Dunning-Kruger (1999) effect in general, that is a tendency for people with limited experience or expertise in a specific task or field to overestimate their abilities or knowledge.
On the other hand, the general tendency to low self-esteem in the surveyed people may be related to the general preference for modesty and not superiority present in Chinese culture for centuries, as mentioned by Upton-McLaughlin (2020).
The study shows that self-assessment alone may not be the most reliable indicator of English proficiency, especially for those with limited exposure to the language.
The study highlights the importance of taking into consideration the participants’ background and experience when assessing their English proficiency. It also suggests that self-assessment should not be relied upon as the sole method of evaluating language skills. "