English Language Needs of College Student-Athletes in Taiwan

臺灣大專生運動員的英語需求

林佳儀(Crystal Jia-Yi Lin) ； 劉冠麟(Kuan-Lin Liu)

《大專體育學刊》 19卷3期 (2017/09) Pp. 229-242

https://doi.org/10.5297/ser.1903.003

摘要

For many years Taiwan has been actively seeking opportunities to host international sporting events, and student-athletes from Taiwan have many opportunities to interact competitively and socially with athletes from all over the world. The purpose of this study was to understand English needs of student-athletes in Taiwan. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were administered to student-athletes and coaches at a university in central Taiwan. Results showed that student-athletes had fairly ambivalent feelings toward learning English. Student-athletes felt positive about learning English, but they did not have the discipline to study English, and even they did not know how to study English. With regard to student-athletes' English needs, our findings suggest that listening and speaking are the essential skills for student-athletes to exchange information with foreign players, and to be more independent when travelling abroad for games. However, basic reading and writing skills should not be neglected for the professional development and communication via e-mail. Our results further suggest that having better English skills may well contribute to better self-confidence in student-athletes. This study concludes that to accommodate student-athletes' language needs, specific emphasis can be placed on listening and speaking skills with modularized training in travelling English, social English and professional English. Furthermore, learning support services, such as time management and learning strategies should be offered to student-athletes, and school administration should put every effort to create a supportive environment to ensure the quality teaching and learning.

關鍵字

travelling English ； social English ； English for specific purpose s (ESP) ； needs analysis

並列摘要

多年來臺灣一直積極尋求舉辦國際體育賽事的機會，臺灣的學生運動員有很多機會與來自世界各地的運動員競賽並進行社交互動。本研究旨在探索大專生運動員的英語需求。為此，本研究對臺灣中部某大學的學生運動員和教練進行問卷調查和訪談。研究結果顯示學生運動員對學習英語有相當矛盾的感覺。一方面，他們對學習英語有正面的想法，但另一方面，他們沒有學習英語的習慣，也不知道如何學習英語。此外，研究結果發現英語聽說技能對學生運動員與外國選手溝通及海外參賽的獨立性是必須的，然而基本讀寫能力對學生運動員專業知識的成長與網路信件溝通也有助益不容忽視。研究結果亦進一步發現增進英語技能有可能提升學生運動員的自信心。本研究結論：考量到學生運動員的英語需求，教學重點可放在聽力和口語能力，並進一步以模組單元型式進行旅行英語，社交英語與專業英語的訓練。最後，學校也應提供支援學習的配套課程如：時間管理和學習策略等課程來協助學生運動員學習英語，且行政部門應盡一切努力創造一個支持學習的環境以確保優質的教學和學習。

並列關鍵字

旅行英語 ； 社交英語 ； 專業英語 ； 需求分析

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