The Questionnaire
Adapted from Naiman et al (1978), Reiss (1985) & Wingate (2000). Please see the references at the end of this paper to obtain complete versions of each of these three questionnaires.
Part I – Background & Previous Knowledge
1) Name:
2) Age:
3) Birthplace:
4) Residence in childhood:
5) Residence now:
5) Sex:
6) Nationality:
7) Ethnicity:
8) Social Class:
9) Education:
10) Have you ever taken an IQ test? And if so, what result did you get?
11) Present and previous occupations:
12) What is your native language?
13) Which languages were spoken in your home as a child?
14) Which languages were spoken in your neighborhood when you were a child?
15) Which was the first foreign language you learned?
a. When did you start and how long did you learn ……?
b. Where and under what circumstances did you learn …….?
c. When you learned ……, what did you study? Grammar? Speaking?
d. Do you remember what kind of text-books you used, if any?
e. Did the teacher speak in the foreign language most of the time?
f. Did you have to speak a lot yourself or did you mainly read and/or translate?
g. Do you remember what kind of homework you had to do?
h. Did you have any contact outside the classroom/your home with speakers of that language?
i. Did you listen to the radio or watch films or TV in the foreign language?
j. What motivated you to learn ……?
k. After how long do you think you were fluent (if you became fluent)?
l. Could you tell me how well you know this language now or when you were at your best?
(Repeat for all other languages learned)
16) If you had to describe your knowledge of ….. now, which of these statements would be most appropriate?
Basic
Working Knowledge
Fluent
Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
17) Do you consider yourself to be :
a. a gifted language learner
b. an above average language learner
c. an average language learner
d. a poor language learner
18) Do you have a good memory?
19) What do you remember?
a. a. I remember what I see. I memorize by picturing.
I have problems remembering verbal instructions.
b. I remember words or what I hear.
I memorize by repeating words in my head.
c. I remember an overall impression of what I experience.
I memorize by doing.
a. 20) Do you consider yourself to be:
a. an assertive person
b. an assertive person most of the time
c. neither assertive nor timid
d. timid most of the time
21) Please think of at least five adjectives to describe your personality.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
22) Do you like to take the language apart and analyze it? Do you like to figure out the language on your own or would you rather have the teacher tell you the rules?
23) Do you think that your success at learning the foreign language so successfully is due to the teacher? Or did it have something to do with the environment? Or would you say that you developed some special study habits? Or do you have some particular personal characteristics that helped you in learning?
Part II - Language Learning Strategies
1) Some people say that you cannot make a conscious effort to learn a foreign language. They hate to study grammar and say you must simply allow the language to sink in gradually.
Others argue that language learning is a conscious and systematic process. It is necessary to study hard, practise, and constantly ask for explanations and rules.
Which idea do you believe in?
2) Some people think that to learn a new language you must completely forget your native language. Others say you cannot and should not. To what extent do you find that comparing your native language with the foreign language helps you to learn a new language?
a. To what extent do you find translations useful?
b. Would you prefer to use a bilingual or monolingual dictionary?
3) Do you feel that you can actually learn to think in the foreign language?
a. If yes, how do you think you might achieve that?
b. How important do you think it is?
4) To what extent did you find that your learning was influenced by your previous language learning experience? Do you think that knowing another foreign language was an advantage or a disadvantage when learning a new language?
5) When learning a new language, do you learn:
a. by listening, talking to others and talking to yourself in your head. You try things out by talking them through before doing them.
b. by seeing. You need an overall view and purpose. You are cautious until mentally clear. You like to see something first, then do it.
c. by doing, by manipulating things. You like `hands on` experience. You do it first, then talk about it or see it being done.
6) Are you good at mimicry? Can you easily copy different accents?
7) Have youdeveloped any language study habits (gimmicks, tricks, ways, techniques) that you find useful in learning a new language?
a. in learning the sound system,
e.g. reading aloud to yourself (in front of the mirror), repeating words silently to yourself after the teacher, etc.
b. in learning the grammar
e.g. memorizing rules through humorous rhymes, etc., forming hunches about regularities and rules and then applying them etc.
c. in learning vocabulary
e.g. by repetition, by finding relations between words, writing down words, memorizing by picturing, guessing from the context, rhyming, making vocabulary lists etc.
d. in developing listening comprehension
e.g. by listening to records, to the radio, by vowing to think/listen in the foreign language, by focusing your attention on the task and clearing your mind, by assessing your previous knowledge of the topic, by monitoring yourself (Am I getting this?), by expressing interest, etc.
e. in learning to talk
e.g. through contact with native speakers, by insisting on constant correction, by imagining dialogues in your mind, by talking to yourself, using gestures etc.
f. in learning to read
e.g. by reading magazines or books, by pointing while reading, reflecting the story with body movements and feelings while reading, by saying words in your head, etc.
g. in learning how to express yourself in written form
e.g. by writing to a pen-pal, by writing and talking at the same time, etc.
h. in learning how to spell
e.g. by counting out letters with body movements (like moving your finger), by checking spelling with internal feelings, by spelling words as they sound phonetically, etc.
What about when trying to remember a new aspect of grammar, like a conjugation, or a complicated tense? How do you remember it, do you think?
8) How is your spelling in ……? Do you ever spell phonetically? Or did you when you were first learning?
9) If you are reading a sentence in the foreign language with several words unfamiliar to you, do you:
a. first try to guess the word from the context
b. first look up some words and try to guess the others
c. look up all the words you do not know
10) When you hear the foreign language and you do not understand several words, do you:
a. make do with what you understand and guess the rest
b. occasionally guess a missing word from the context
c. concentrate on those words you already know
11) When you hear two people speaking in a foreign language, do you:
a. pay attention first to the meaning, using clues such as gestures, relationship of speakers, tone of voice
b. feel satisfied if you understand an occasional word or phrase
c. hear the conversation passively
12) When you hear or read something in the foreign language and you only understand part of it and have to guess the rest, are you:
a. fairly correct in your guess
b. occasionally correct in your guess
c. rarely correct in your guess
13) When someone (like a teacher) speaks in the foreign language, and you do not understand a good part of the message, do you:
a. make do with what you have and consider it a challenge to guess the rest
b. feel uncomfortable, but try to figure it out
c. become frustrated and give up
14) When you are trying to say something in ….. and you suddenly lack the necessary vocabulary, do you:
a. use circumlocution, i.e. say “where you buy things” if you don’t know the word for “shop”
b. skip the word(s) or change the message
c. stop speaking
15) When you have learned some new expressions in a foreign language, do you:
a. try to use them in "real life"
b. practice them while mentally speaking to yourself
c. practice them only when preparing for a test or an interview
16) When you need to learn some new items in a foreign language, do you remember them by:
a. associating with another word or expression in your own language
b. forming an aural (sound) image
c. writing them down and memorizing them
17) If you are saying something in a foreign language and you cannot think of the proper tense, e.g.. you are talking about the past but only remember the present tense of the verb, do you:
a. try to make yourself understood by using a word such as “yesterday” and using the present tense of the verb
b. use the infinitive or present verb hoping the listener will understand
c. use your native language for the missing words
18) If you have an opportunity to practice the foreign language you are studying with a native speaker, do you:
a. plunge right in, even though you may appear foolish
b. only speak the foreign language with the person after you have known him/her for some time
c. speak only your native language with him/her
19) While listening to another learner of the foreign language, do you:
a. correct any mistakes
b. mentally correct the mistakes, butlet the teacher or someone else actually do it
c. listen passively
20) Do you often correct native speakers of your own language, either to their face or in your head?
21) When you come across a structure in the foreign language that you have not yet covered and the teacher says will be explained later on, do you: