Difficulties in Learning English As a Second Or Foreign Language

Participant Introduction 
The participant in this case study was a Taiwanese-Chinese woman who 
emigrated to the U.S. in 1998 from Taiwan. She came to this country, not due to 
poverty or persecution or personal desire, but for the benefit of her husband and 10 
year old daughter. Her daughter had established an almost irreconcilable disposition 

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toward the unforgiving Taiwan educational system, one that the participant had 
struggled with herself, and her husband had grown restless on the Beautiful Isle.
Ching was born in 1960, although she does not know the exact date. It was 
probably about mid-April, and even its lunar date, which was more closely followed 
by the Taiwanese, went unrecorded by her mother. Ching had two older brothers and 
two older sisters and was followed by a younger brother. She grew up in Chang-hua, 
a city in central Taiwan with a decidedly country flavor. Ching’s father had come to 
Taiwan from Shantou in the Chinese province of Guangdong, via Hong Kong, in 
search of fortune. He married a Taiwanese wife, learned to speak the Taiwanese 
language, and raised Taiwanese children. He never found fortune in business, and 
Ching thought that he should have tried for a life as a bureaucrat or scholar as he was 
more a man of words than deals, and he had such beautiful handwriting and 
calligraphy.
Early Education and First Languages 
Ching’s first language was Taiwanese. It was the language of home, business, 
the market, the streets, and the people. It was not written in daily life. It is an animated, 
gesture rich, decibel enriched, tonal language, and one that, to the uninitiated, sounds 
discordant and dissonant, especially as spoken by hustling people on bustling streets.
Since it was not a written language, at least not in its practical modern application, 
Ching, like all other Taiwanese children of her time, learned her first language 
exclusively in its spoken form.

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Going to school meant learning, technically, her second language, Mandarin 
Chinese, the official language of the ruling Chinese Nationalist administration.
Taught by Chinese people whom she and her classmates could not understand, the 
language of her elementary school teachers was unintelligible to them. Having 
arrived in Taiwan from various regions of China with the Nationalists, these teachers 
and their various pronunciation patterns were extremely difficult for the Taiwanese 
students to understand. Surely, they were scholars, but they were not necessarily 
good teachers, and for Ching and her schoolmates, their pronunciation was 
indiscernible. Chinese was, to them at that time, a completely foreign language. It 
was not, however, taught as a foreign language, a methodology that those who have 
never had a second language forced on them might take for granted, one that those 
who have, might relish.
Researcher: Can you tell me a little about yourself, please? 
Learner: I come from Taiwan. U.S., I just few time going to the school, not 
all the time. Yeah, since I’m, 1998, in the United State, that time I went to 
Front Range College, but that time my English so bad, I can’t know 
everybody say something, I don’t know. And teacher say something, I don’t 
know. Yeah, that time I’m so fear, I feel bad . . . because English for me is 
second language, not Chinese, easy for me, so . . . I don’t know . . . I just feel 
bad. 
Comment: The participant knows the main topic is English language learning, 
and she goes right to the topic herself.
Researcher: What was your first language? 
Learner: Chinese, Taiwanese.
Researcher: Is Chinese and Taiwanese the same?
Learner: No, it’s different.
Researcher: Which one is your first language?
Learner: Taiwanese

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Researcher: What’s your second language?
Learner: Chinese
Researcher: Did you learn to read and write in Chinese and Taiwanese? 
Learner: No, we, I never read and write in Taiwanese. 
Researcher: Never?
Learner: Never. I only speak it to my family. That’s it.
Researcher: So you first learned Taiwanese at home?
Learner: And neighborhood, everybody said Taiwanese. Nobody can speak
Chinese.
Researcher: So your first home language was Taiwanese, and when did you
begin learning Chinese?
Learner: I think its. . . middle school, maybe four year, uh, foursth grade or
fiveth grade start, uh, Chinese.
Comment: Later clarification determined that she misspoke. She meant to
say that she began learning English in elementary school, a word she did not
know.
Researcher: So how old were you when you began to study Chinese?
Learner: Nine or. . . nine or ten, yeah.
Researcher: Can you describe that learning experience? Tell me how you
learned Chinese in school.
Learner: Oh, it’s so bad for me, because that time my teacher she/he or she,
because we have two teacher, they from China and they not a real Chinese.
So the prncnction not good for me, I think its not only me, everybody,
because we don’t know, he say the Chinese pronsl, not good. So I don’t
know, I can’t understand what they say, no. That’s very important for me,
because I don’t know. So that time I just oh, my god. . . .
Researcher: How long did that continue this way?
Learner: It’s a long time, I think until I going to middle school, the teacher’s
good, but. . . she is very good. . . but, because before, at middle school, I’m
not good.
Primary school was half-days and opened the door to Chinese language study, mostly 
with short stories or proverbs from which phrases were memorized. Among 
themselves, the students would speak Taiwanese, but by middle school, it was strictly 

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forbidden in the classroom. Only Chinese was allowed, but it was a language none of 
them had mastered, except for the children of the teachers themselves.
Ching had always envied the children of teachers for two simple reasons.
One, the first impression of one of these classmates was that she had an apple every 
day for a snack. That alone was reason enough, but Ching envied them mostly 
because when they went home after school, there was someone there to direct them to 
their studies and help them too. She did not like feeling dumb and unable to 
comprehend what was being taught in the classroom and she knew that learning was a 
gift. That might help to explain why, when given the chance in the higher grades to 
participate in music and arts, she gladly pushed herself to keep up and perform her 
best.
Her effort, enthusiasm, and whatever talent she had were rewarded with 
frequent appointments to competitions and performances. Paradoxically, this often 
took her away from the classroom and the language learning foundation she had yet 
to establish. It wasn’t until middle school that she began to really learn Chinese, 
especially in written form, at the stern hands of teacher, Hsiao Kui-hsiang. She had 
only begun to really learn, but by that time she felt it was too late to catch up. Any 
progress she made was due to the effective teaching of this particularly fearsome 
teacher, who motivated her students to memorize for tests in the ancient tradition, the 
threat of corporal punishment. Misbehavior, failure to pay attention, or even an 
incorrectly written word would bring a crack from her bamboo switch down on the 
hand. Ching feared her completely, but knew she was a good person at heart and 
appreciated and responded to the pressure. 

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Also, it was in middle school that Ching and her peers were exposed to
English language instruction. Her first English teacher was a nice woman from India, 
who apparently was so nice that she lacked the strength, or effective teaching that the 
Chinese teachers employed to ensure full attention and participation. She simply read 
to the students from books, grammar and otherwise, and failed to make it interesting 
to them and to teach the letters and sounds of English. 
Researcher: Tell me your first good learning experience. When was that first 
good learning experience in Chinese? 
Learner: Middle school, she’s very good but before. . . I. . . elementary 
school, I’m not good, but middle school the teachers so good, but I can’t start, 
touch. . . . 
Researcher: Can’t catch up? 
Learner: No. Because first language I’m not learning good. . . so I can’t catch 
in the middle school. But I want learning more, study more. Maybe I can’t 
go . . . forward, yeah, I can’t, so I just stopped here. 
Researcher: In middle school?
Learner: Yeah.
Researcher: Hard to catch up. . . because you had a difficult beginning? 
Learner: Yeah, because we are different. We don’t have a second teacher 
teaching you, you have a problem learning. We don’t have that kind of 
teacher, no, never, ever. [If] you don’t understand, that’s yourself, in Taiwan, 
just like that, nobody teach you, you from yourself. 
Comment: By second teacher, she meant a specialist in teaching second 
language. 
Researcher: Did you graduate high school?
Learner: No.
Researcher: What age did you leave school? 
Learner: Ninth grade. . . about eight half, because I going to high school just 
one year half, so I think its eight-half. 
Researcher: How old were you at that time, when you left school? 
Learner: Seventeen-half, almost eighteen. . . eighteen, yeah. 

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Researcher: When did you then begin to study English? 
Learner: In high school we have a little bit English, but, I’m not interest in 
English, so I don’t know, I just go away, I don’t learning more English, I 
don’t like it, so. . . I don’t know. But start, really starting, I can say, was I 
been in United State.
Comment: Confirmed later, she meant that she didn’t attend her high school 
English classes, a participation/attendance theme that recurs. 
Researcher: Tell me about your first English teacher, please.
Learner: She’s from. . . I’m not really remember.
Researcher: What do you remember? 
Learner: She’s from India. She’s nice, but. . . she’s very nice I just 
remember, but she’s English, I’m not very. . . for me. . . not very. . . she’s 
person is very good, for teaching, I think so, not good for me, ok, I don’t 
know. Because if you’res English teacher you need to have more power, 
different, I think, that’s my opinion. I don’t know. 
Researcher: How long did you study English in high school? 
Learner: High school? No. Middle school. High school, no, no. I not catch 
the class.
Researcher: In middle school, how long did you study English?
Learner: Three years. We have class 3 years but we are dumb.
Researcher: What do you mean? 
Learner: I don’t know. Nobody discover the English is interesting, we just 
read, read, learning just, like a book, not life. That’s not good. English. . . if 
you. . . because second language, you need more interesting. That’s very 
different, not life. But interesting for you, you can learning more, teaching 
you more.
Comment: Learner’s voice grew in animated optimism at this thought. 
High school was not compulsory in Taiwan at the time, and Ching went to school at 
night, partly because she was needed at home in the daytime and also because night 
school tuition was cheaper than day school tuition, which was roughly the equivalent 
of 1 month’s salary. She was fortunate to have the opportunity, nonetheless, and she 
would reflect on this many times as she grew into adulthood, always wanting to 
return to her studies, even and especially if, she could start again from the very basic. 

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Education was important, but it was not always the first priority, perhaps 
because there was not much money in it. By the time she was old enough, family 
economics dictated that she get up early and go to the nearby market to sell bean 
curd, both dried and fresh, and bean sprouts before doing the housework and taking 
care of her younger brother and whatever other errands that might have been assigned 
her on any given day. Unfortunately for Ching, high school would also have to take a 
back seat to family financial need. Ching left school and home at the age of 17 to 
join a classmate who had gone to work in a bookstore in the capitol city of Taipei, for 
her aunt, a strict and inflexibly stern boss, for room and board. 
Adult Life and Learning 
In less than a month, she found a paying job as a receiving and dispatch 
assistant in a textile company. This was the beginning of the Taiwan economic boom 
as foreign investment fueled success for many, many people. For Ching, this feeling 
of success was exhilarating, and she could hardly wait to share her newfound success 
with her family. She was so thrilled that she could help her family financially, and in 
so doing, show them her value as a member of the family, she immediately sent home 
her entire first month’s salary of NT4500, approximately $112.50, without a thought 
for her own needs. It was only after the money was long gone that she realized she 
had not kept a single dollar for herself. She continued to send money home monthly 
and worked a variety of jobs in which she sold everything from leather handbags to 
real estate over the next 6-7 years. Ching’s success in these very social job functions 
is attributable to her optimistic, friendly, and purposeful nature; she had always built 

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good relationships and had a reputation for solving problems quickly, efficiently, and 
decisively.
All this time, and through various levels of success and personal wealth, 
Ching dreamed of continuing her education and completing high school. Education is 
a highly respected theme in the Confucian-Chinese culture, and her self-image and 
social status had been built around the private knowledge that something was missing 
in her make-up. She liked to study a wide variety of subjects from gardening and 
nutrition to pottery and yoga, but she had never developed the desire or the need to 
study English. That was about to change. 
Sacrifice and Challenge 
The decision was made to move from Taiwan to the U.S. It was a move that 
would most benefit her daughter and her husband. Ching did not fit the mold of a 
typical Chinese or Taiwanese immigrant to the U.S., if there is such a thing. She did 
not suffer from poverty or persecution in her home country, nor did she dream of 
coming to the U.S. as so many people from around the world had throughout modern 
history. In fact, Ching had had the means and previous opportunities to come to the 
U.S., but she loved her native Taiwan. The Island of Treasures holds a bounty of 
richness that, despite the throngs of humanity, industry, and development at every 
turn, impresses visitors and inspires passionate patriotism in its own people. 
Ching’s coming to U.S. was more a selfless act of cooperation, a lifestyle 
adventure that would primarily serve to expand her daughter’s educational 
opportunities. With just 2 months of private English lessons, she was off to the U.S.

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Within 6 months, Ching’s small family was busy with life, and she was set in a 
homemaker and support role. A quaint home had been purchased, a pair of dogs 
added to the mix, two stray cats moved in, and her first snowfalls were a matter of 
record. Photographs sent back to family and friends in Taiwan were celebrated for 
their novelty as much as for the joy of sharing Ching’s new experiences and 
immediate settling into her new life. 
Despite an artful use of her own first and second languages, Taiwanese and 
Mandarin Chinese, she had little interest in, and questionable aptitude for, other 
languages. She often said that English could not recognize her, an interesting 
description as it reflects a part of her identity that is unseen and unheard, due to this 
language barrier. Her lack of confidence and proficiency in English forced her to 
either depend on her husband or daughter for assistance or struggle through 
communication events on her own at a severe handicap. In contrast, her daughter 
enjoyed the benefits of being immersed in English at school, and her fluency seemed 
to improve daily as a result. 
Not surprisingly, the early stages of Ching’s life in the U.S. involved the slow 
mastery of survival tasks such as finding her way around, negotiating traffic customs, 
knowing money values, and understanding supermarkets, gas stations and other retail 
stores in the U.S. Regardless of how she had perceived herself as a learner before 
arriving in this country, her learning began immediately and never stopped as long as 
she lived in the U.S. What few personal and linguistic successes she experienced, 
those gained through interaction were the most exhilarating and pleasing for her.

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Adult ESL 
Ching quickly began to crave more than just a support lifestyle. A chance 
meeting quickly produced a job opportunity in a Japanese restaurant that provided a 
much needed social outlet. Rapidly she became a customer and management favorite. 
Predictably, over the course of three different jobs and despite working closely with 
other Chinese speaking coworkers, the work environment provided the best 
opportunities for real language learning and practice. Some of these contacts 
provided access to English language classes, some in the basements of churches, 
others in community learning centers.
Researcher: Did your first English teacher teach you the sounds of English? 
Learner: Nooo.
Researcher: What about the letters?
Learner: Noooo.
Researcher: No sounds and no letters, how did they begin teaching you? 
Learner: Like book. So boring for us, nobody like it. Because we don’t 
know, some day we need to use the English or not, yeah, we don’t know. 
Researcher: Did you study English after high school? 
Learner: No. 
Researcher: Did you first study English, before you came here? 
Learner: I have a special teacher teaching me. . . grammar, but I’m not good 
for that. 
Researcher: How long did you study English before you came to this 
country? 
Learner: Two months. 
Researcher: At that time did you also learn the sounds and letters of English? 
Learner: I learned sounds, letters little bit, but I forgot every day. 
Researcher: Since you’ve been in the United States. . . how long has it been? 
Learner: Almost 7. . . 8 years. 

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Researcher: In these almost 8 years, have you been attending English classes? 
Learner: Yes, I do. First time I been the United States, since 1998, I went to 
Front Range College. That time I have 2 months English class. I can say, that 
time English, I can’t understand everybody say something, teacher teaching 
something. I don’t know. I just dumb! 
Researcher: Ok, you felt dumb because you couldn’t understand? 
Learner: Yeah. But I want understand what is it, what they say something. . . 
what kind of class, we just English conversation and the teacher just brings 
one book, for the story we just read a story but I can’t read it. I don’t know. 
Researcher: Two month class? Did you continue? 
Learner: Uh-huh. No, I quit 
Researcher: What about the next class you took? 
Learner: Next, I think. . . after 6 months later. 
Researcher: What can you tell me about that class? 
Learner: That class, not from the book, but the teacher, she just took some 
news from the newspaper or some magazine and she. . . she just teach us 
every car, color, just easy one for the English. So that time’s more 
comfortable for me. 
Researcher: In either of these two classes, did anybody especially teach you 
the sounds and letters? 
Learner: That time, no, no. I can say, that time maybe, teacher, because 
we’re from lots of country, not only me from Taiwan, lots of people from 
China, Mexico, Korea, Japanese. . . so, the teacher, she don’t know we’re the 
level, what kind of level, so she just grab the book, news, no, the story book, 
try everybody, and. . . if you can’t read it, you just quit, quit yourself, not the 
teacher for you quit. Just like that. 
Researcher: How long did you study with that teacher? 
Learner: Two months 
Researcher: Can you tell me about your next English class? 
Learner: The next class, the teacher’s. . . is very good, is for the volunteer, 
she’s like that. She just teach us from magazine. . . and newspaper. . . and. . . 
I. . . I don’t know, I forgot. 
Researcher: How long did you attend that class? 
Learner: Not long. . . one month-half, I just quit. 
Researcher: Do you remember why you quit that class? 
Learner: Because my English not good, I can’t read, I can’t writing, so I quit. 

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Researcher: And the second one, do you remember why you quit that class? 
Learner: Just the same, first one. I can’t read, I can’t writing, so I quit. 
Researcher: And the third one, do you remember why you quit that? 
Learner: Same, I just can’t write, I can’t read, but I like it. I know this 
teacher’s good. I know they. . . because I know I had lots of teacher from 
Taiwan. Here, the teacher need more patient, they have more patient. In 
Taiwan, no, they just go, go, go. It’s different. They don’t care you know or 
you understand or not understand. They don’t care. For my age, that time the 
teachers different. Now, I don’t know. 
Researcher: Do you think that the teachers you’ve had in America are more 
patient than the teachers you’ve had in Taiwan? 
Learner: Uh-huh. Yeah. 
Researcher: Can you remember the next English class you took? 
Learner: Now. 
Researcher: So right now is the next one? 
Learner: Yeah. 
Researcher: Tell me about that one. 
Learner: Oh, this teacher’s very good. You want me say the name? 
[Omitted]. She is very good. She’s not in the Colorado. She’s from. . . the 
last part come the Colorado and teaching us the second language. She’s very 
. . . she’s very good, she. . . she very patient, and we, we’re class from the 
Lao, Chinese people, Taiwan people, and Mexican people, we. . . we’re levels 
different but teacher, she’s very good for me, she’s just patient teaching 
everybody and find, we need what kind the teaching for us. And I like it. She 
choice from the story, love story, or interesting story for us, and sometimes 
inside, the story inside, the words, we don’t know, and she say, its OK, you 
can learn later. So we just going. . . and don’t worry like that. So that’s very 
comfortable for us because we’re not young people. You know. So if you 
push lot or push hard we quit. That’s very different for the young people. 
Young people need push. We’re just need learning useful and interesting. 
That’s very important for us. I think it’s different, I don’t know.
Comment: Again, she meant the instructor studied and specialized in teaching 
English as a second language (ESL). Also, by quit, she meant the students 
can stop reading whenever they want to stop reading for whatever reason and 
there isn’t pressure to know every word in order to participate, and there is no 
need for embarrassment for opting out. 
Researcher: These very good teachers you’ve had; you said they were patient 
and also that it was a very comfortable class for you. Is that very important? 
Learner: Yeah. That’s very important, yeah. 

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49 
Researcher: Why? Do you feel very nervous in English class?
Learner: Yeah, because if you don’t know writing and reading, you just
dumb.
Researcher: You feel dumb?
Yeah. If a teacher call you, read this part, and you can’t, that’s very hard for
us.
Researcher: So are you more interested in learning English now than you
were before?
Learner: I’m not very interesting, but I need, because I live in United States, I
need learning some English. And. . . if I go out I need speak English, that’s
my life for now.
Even if the learner’s participation had been more regular, it might have been difficult 
to make significant progress via twice weekly English classes that were put together 
with small numbers of adults with widely varying levels of English ability and mostly 
itinerant teachers. The participant was not critical of the system, the classes, or the 
instructors. She enjoyed the social outlet, but recurring attendance issues point to a