How to Help Students Learn English Better: Towards Creating a Language Learning Culture

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate university students' perspectives of effective teaching that helped them learn English better. Adopting an interpretative approach to the research, the data was collected in three phases. In Phase One an interview was used and 17 university students studying English in Intensive English programs were interviewed. In Phase Two a qualitative questionnaire was used and 165 students responded to it. In Phase Three four students were interviewed for further information about the effective teaching characteristics identified in phases one and two. The findings of the study revealed that effective EFL teaching had two main dimensions: instructional skills and human characteristics. A wide range of categories and subcategories were classified under each dimension. Bearing in mind the descriptions and information the respondents gave throughout the Three Phases, the broader picture of effective teaching reflected the idea of a learning culture that effective teachers had an important role in creating.