Factors Affecting ESL Learning: Romanian Migrants in Bedfordshire

This report investigates the factors affecting English as a Second Language (ESL) learning among Romanian adult migrants in Bedfordshire. The research aims to understand the specific challenges faced by this community, exploring both positive and negative influences on their language acquisitio...Read More

LINGUISTIC BARRIERS FOR ROMANIAN ADULTS
– AN INVESTIGATION OF FACTORS

Research aims and objectives
The aim of this research is to investigate and provide an understanding of those
factors that can affect the learning process of English as a Second language in the
Romanian adult migrant community from Bedfordshire.
The current study, the aim of this research is generated as what it is in order to
achieve two primary goals, firstly, to explore the general factors that affect the English
learning process both positively and negatively in adult migrants, and secondly, to
highlight which are the specific factors that are currently hindering the development of
English as a second language learning process in the limited adult Romanian community
in Bedfordshire. In addition, the research also aims to propose teaching of ESL / EFL to
the Romanian learners of English in Bedfordshire. It would involve a preliminary
assessment of the learners’ English levels and depending on that they would be provided
with specific ESL learning options.
A research objective defines the specific and measureable outcomes that are
associated with a particular research. An efficient research objective is defined by the
S.M.A.R.T. policy that is how Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time
constrained the objective is (Werle Lee 2010). In that context, the current research
objective falls under those specific parameters because of the following factors:
1. It identifies the barriers to ESL learning in adult Romanian migrants in Bedfordshire as
the specific research topic.
2. It is directed towards gathering collectable and measureable data from Romanian
participants living in Bedfordshire, in order to analyse.
3. The objective is achievable, as in its attempts to identify potential barriers in ESL
learning for the Romanian immigrant learners in Bedfordshire, which is identifiable.
4. The research is also realistic in nature given that it focuses upon the Romanian Migrants
from in Bedfordshire as the specific identified group of individuals and does not require complex
and financially taxing data collection methods.
5. Each stage of the research is also constrained by time. That means, there is a specific
approximate timeline set for each element of the task starting from gathering the data to
analysing the data and compiling all necessary information together.

Research Question
In order to address the aim of the research, which is to identify why for some
adults is more difficult to learn English than for others, with a focus on the Romanian
immigrants in the Bedfordshire region, the following two research questions have been
identified
1. What are the factors that create a barrier in the process of learning the second
language among the adult Romanian migrants in the United Kingdom, and how do
these factors manifest?
2. What teaching practices can be proposed that can reduce the linguistic barriers for
Romanian adults in the UK.
The first question is directed towards identifying the correlation with the factors
identified above which would supposedly provide significant information regarding the
condition and the needs of the target population. This would lead us to the second
question which is more directed towards a future implementation of the research results
in an environment that is inclusive, supportive as well as appreciative of the needs of the
target community.
Methodology
In order to address the mentioned research questions, this research implemented a
qualitative study analysis with the goal of reaching out to the population to assess their
conditions (Gibbs 2018). The method involved a questionnaire survey.
Questionnaire Survey
In order to collect the relevant linguistic data, a questionnaire survey was done
with the target individuals. The questionnaire involved primarily generic demographic
and background questions in order to identify the target individuals’ habits, attitudes,
background, age group, sex etc. The questionnaire consists of a set of 31 questions that
attempts to gather certain specific details about the Romanian migrants in the UK, their
experiences, tenure of stay, their cultural and linguistic preferences, current living
conditions etc.

The first section of the questionnaire is directed towards gathering general
demographic information regarding the Romanian migrants in the United Kingdom. It
asks about the participants’ age, if they are married or have a partner, if they have
children or if they are the guardians of anyone who is underage and if yes, where they
live (in UK or in Romania). It also asks about how long they have been staying in the UK
and if, prior to coming to UK, they knew anyone in the host country.
Following this series, the questionnaire diverts the attention towards
understanding the general background of the participant(s) by asking about their
educational qualifications, particularly about the highest qualifications they have
received, either in Romania or in the UK. It then asks about the participants’ level of
English proficiency and their reasons behind migrating to the UK.
The following section gathers information regarding the current financial situation
of the Romanian migrants in the UK, including housing situations, number of members
in the family, levels of professional skills, employment in the UK and if the current
employment caters to their skills or not, if they have experienced any form of
discrimination in their search for employment.
This is followed by the participants’ levels of English use and exposure in a day –
to – day scenario, including conversation with other people, colleagues and peers,
partners, through English television programmes. Following this, the questionnaire asks
about the levels of use of Romanian among the participants and how much Romanian
contact and interaction they have regularly. This includes shopping for Romanian
groceries, going to Romanian restaurants and clubs, watching Romanian television
programmes (both televised and online). It ends with asking the participants about when
or if they would want to return to Romania.
The last section asks about the participants’ current engagement with any English
language proficiency course in the UK, if yes, then at what level, their expectations and
motivation regarding learning English.

Procedure
Firstly, the information about the research was spread to the target group of
individuals. It was primarily done through word of mouth, by posting it on the Facebook
pages of the targeted group form Luton and Bedford in order to attract the attention of the
people towards the potential research. Flyers and bills were also distributed to the people
within the community as well as the locations that they worked in.
Thereafter, from the responses, the selected candidates were recruited based on
their eligibility. The primary eligibility criterion was a Romanian nationality and
heritage. The pther eligibility criteria included adult participants in the age range of 18 to
55 years, (male/female/other gender) who have been living in the Bedfordshire area for 6
months.
Prior to answering the questionnaire, the participants signed a consent form which
highlighted that they have voluntarily chosen to participate in the research. It also
proposed that no additional external pressure for compliance has been put on the
participants and they can withdraw from the research whenever they wish to.
Ethical considerations
Given that the research was qualitative in nature, there were certain ethical
considerations that needed to be kept in mind prior to engaging the participants in the
research (Miller et al. 2012).
First of all, the research method should not be forced upon the individuals just for
the sake of gathering data. Therefore, informed consent of all individuals was obtained
prior to recruiting them for the study (Hill 2012).
The safety and sanctity of the participants was assured and taken care of. Besides,
participant anonymity and confidentiality should be given the priority as well. It is
crucial that the data that is being gathered is stored and evaluated under close scrutiny.
Given that the target population are immigrants and they might tend to highlight aspects
of their life that could not be suitable for general public reading. Therefore, participant

anonymity and data privacy should be given significant consideration post collection
(White, Oelke& Friesen 2012).
Data Analysis.
Given that the research is qualitative in nature and attempts to highlight the factors
that affects the Romanian migrants in their ESL learning, the questionnaire was
developed to identify the factors that affect the Romanian migrants on a daily basis. The
results from the questionnaire survey will be individually transcribed and analysed and
the responses according to the number of participants will be visualised in a graphical
form. The graph will make it easier to understand the responses made by the participants
as it will highlight, for instance, how many people watch Romanian television daily
against how many watch on a weekly basis.
A generalised summary of the questionnaire response will be developed post
completion of analysis that will highlight the general preferences for responses from the
Romanian participants.
All the gathered data will be stored with the researcher under tight security to
maintain the ethical constraints (White, Oelke& Friesen 2012). The data will be stored in
the form of manuscripts as well as digital copies. Access will only be provided to the
researcher, supervisor and evaluators and all data will be destroyed after 5 months from
when the competition ends.

References.
Karuppan, C.M. and Barari, M., 2010. Perceived discrimination and international
students' learning: An empirical investigation. Journal of Higher Education Policy and
Management, 33(1), pp.67-83.
Mohamed, A.M.A., 2008. Culture as Barrier to the Acquisition of Language and
Translation Skills. culture, pp.3-4.
Spackman, C.L., 2009. Culture and second language acquisition. The Times, pp.87-102.
Sun, L., 2013. The Effect of Meta-cognitive Learning Strategies on English
Learning. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 3(11).
Van Dozer, C., 1997. Improving ESL learners’ listening skills: At the workplace and
beyond. Center for Applied Linguistics.
The questionnaire was developed based on the author’s language teaching and
learning experience, and assumptions about social and cultural factors relating to L2 motivation of
students from rural areas derived from email exchanges with ten of his colleagues, who were English
language lecturers at different universities in Vietnam. The questionnaire (see Appendix A) comprised
three sections covering the major points of students’ retrospective views of the impetus behind their
English language learning at high school and sociocultural elements impacting on their language studies.
These points were presented in different item types, aiming to elicit different levels of respondents’
reflections. The questionnaire survey was administered with the assistance of two of the author’s
colleagues, who held Masters in TESOL and had been teaching English at the two universities for several
years. 100 questionnaires were distributed to the students in different English classes who volunteered
to participate in the study and identified themselves as coming from rural areas based on the location of
their hometowns. The languages used in the questionnaires and responses were either English or
Vietnamese at the participants’ discretion, aiming to encourage their use of English. The students
worked on the questionnaires in their own time and returned them to the teachers in later class
meetings. There were 92 responses, with 61 in Vietnamese and 31 in English - indicated as English in the
original responses (EOR). The respondents were requested to leave their contact details should they be
willing to participate in further follow-up discussions with the author. Influences on motivation to learn
English in Vietnam 9 Semi-formal interviews were conducted with three of the respondents, Hoa

(female), Hoang (male) and Khoa (male) who, unlike the other 11 volunteers, were able to work with me
on Skype (all names are pseudonyms). An interview guide (see Appendix B), drawing on the result of the
survey and not disclosed to the interviewees, was used for gaining in-depth insights into the issues of L2
motivation within rural contexts. Skype interviews were arranged with individual students at their
convenience. The interviews began with some introductory information which was then steered to the
points listed in the interview guide. In terms of data analysis, quantitative data from the survey were
entered into Microsoft Excel worksheets to calculate the mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) for each
questionnaire item that was based on the five-point Likert scale; the number of respondents (N) to each
item was also indicated. Interviews lasted approximately 30 minutes each and all interview data were
transcribed and where necessary translated into English by the author. Qualitative data from both the
survey and interviews were utilised to provide in-depth explanations for the numeric data. Extracts from
the survey were abbreviated as Q and a number assigned to each respondent (e.g. Q30), and those from
interviews as I and the name of the interviewee (e.g. IH