Avoidance Behaviour in Efl Learning: a Study of Undergraduates

Introductionavoided some difficult words, idioms, phrasal verbs and
When speaking or writing an L2, the learner is oftensentence structures both in speaking and writing while
found to try to avoid using difficult words or structures,the rest were found to be unaware of the issue in
and use some simpler words or structures instead.question. Again, 87.25% said that they avoided using
This phenomenon in L2 learning/acquisition is termedsome words, idioms, phrasal verbs and sentence
‘avoidance behaviour’ first brought to light bystructures mainly because the items appeared to them
Schachter (1974). According to Kleinmann (1977, 1978),to be very difficult to use correctly and appropriately
avoidance behabiour is a strategy that the L2 learnerboth in speaking and writing whereas the remaining
may resort to when, with the knowledge of a targetsubjects did not say anything considerable.
language word or structure, he/she perceives that it isFurthermore, 83% subjects admitted that their
difficult to produce. To investigate whether the L2avoidance of some words, idioms, phrasal verbs and
learner adopts avoidance strategy, why he/she adoptssentence structures really functioned as resistance to
this strategy and how this strategy affectstheir learning of and actual performance in EFL, but
performance in an L2 is momentous since both the L217% of the interviewees said something insignificant.
forms consistently avoided by the learner and thoseHence, the results of the interviews were consistent
actually produced by him/her are two importantwith those of the questionnaire.
aspects of a developmental manifestation ofDiscussion of the results
interlanguage from avoidance to nonavoidance (LiaoBased on the results of the study presented above, a
and Fukuya 2004).huge majority of the subjects, more than 90% on
Though the literature on avoidance behabiour in L2average, admitted both in the questionnaire and the
learning/acquisition is still inadequate, it is evident thatinterviews that they adopted avoidance behaviour in
avoidance behabiour exists in and has some sort oftheir learning of and performance in EFL. Therefore,
influence on L2 performance. Schachter (1974)the first research question “Do the learners adopt
conducted a study with some native speakers ofavoidance behaviour?” is positively answered. The
Japanese, Chinese, Arabian and Persian learners offinding lends support to the conclusion of the
English as a foreign language. The investigation revealsinvestigations carried out by Schachter 1974, Dagut
that the difficulty of relative clauses for Chinese andand Laufer 1985, Kleinmann 1977, 1978, Hulstijn and
Japanese learners manifests itself not in the number ofMarchena 1989, and Liao and Fukuya 2004, and may
errors committed by these two groups of learners, butbe considered to be a common or ‘universal’
in the number of relative clauses produced. And thephenomenon of second/foreign learning.
number is considerably smaller than that produced byTo respond to the items in the questionnaire related to
the Arabian and Persian learners. The study concludesthe second question of this study “If yes, why do
that if a learner finds some particular construction inthey adopt avoidance behaviour?” as well as in the
the target language difficult to understand it is likely thatinterviews, a great majority of the population identified
he/she tries to avoid using or producing it. Kleinmanndifficulty and differences in the first language and
(1977, 1978) examined four English grammaticaltarget language as the causes of avoiding using some
structures– passive, present progressive, infinitivewords, sentence structures, idioms and phrasal verbs
complement and direct-object pronoun– producedboth in speaking and writing. This result is also
by a group of Arabic speaking as well as a group ofconsistent with the results of the studies conducted by
Spanish and Portuguese speaking intermediate-levelSchachter 1974, Dagut and Laufer 1985, Kleinmann
learners learning English as an L2. The findings show1977, 1978, Hulstijn and Marchena 1989, and Liao and
the existence of an avoidance pattern in accordanceFukuya 2004, and can be attributed to the
with difficulty predictions made by contrastive analysis,subjects’ mechanical learning resulted from the
and lend support to Schachter’s (1974) point thatteaching through the grammar-translation method
avoidance can be predicted by the structuralwhich fails to help learners bring theories into practice
differences between the first and the second/foreignand use forms in communicating meaning. Moreover,
language. Dagut and Laufer (1985) looked at advancedthe learners may have lacked self-confidence and
Israeli learners’ use of English phrasal verbs, a‘facilitating anxiety’ that enhance learning and
lexico-syntactic form with no formal equivalent inperformance; rather, they may have had
Hebrew. The results of the study show that a majority‘debilitating anxiety’ that blocks learning and
of the learners avoid using the phrasal verbs becausereduces performance, as Scovel (1978:139) maintains -
of the structural differences between the L1 and L2.Facilitating anxiety motivates the learner to
Hulstijn and Marchena (1989) conducted a study with‘fight’ the new learning task; it gears the learner
Dutch learners of the English language. Thisemotionally for approach behaviour. Debilitating anxiety,
investigation also exhibits the existence of avoidancein contrast, motivates the learner to ‘flee’ the
behaviour, but implies that avoidance does not resultnew learning task; it stimulates the individual emotionally
from the structural differences between the first andto adopt avoidance behaviour.
the second language alone. Moreover, Laufer andThe responses of more than two-thirds subjects on
Eliasson (1993) carried out a study with advancedaverage to the third question “If yes, does their
Swedish learners of English. The results of the studyavoidance behaviour affect their performance?”
discover the existence of avoidance behaviourshow that avoidance behaviour conspicuously reduces
basically caused by the differences between the L1and hampers the learners’ ability, fluency and
and L2. It is thus seen that avoidance behaviour morespontaneity of speaking and writing in the target
or less exists in L2 learning/acquisition, but results fromlanguage. The finding is not substantiated by the
varied causes related to types of learners and settingsexisting studies, and hence further investigation is
as well as the similarities and dissimilarities between theclearly warranted. Nonetheless, this result can be
L1 and L2.explained by pointing to the fact that when a learner
As the existing studies of avoidance behaviour inhesitates to use some words and structures his/her
second/foreign language learning/acquisition are quiteperformance will automatically be affected negatively.
limited and their findings are sometimes inconsistent,Conclusion and suggestions
and since I am not aware of such an investigation thusThe current study revealed three important factors of
far conducted with Bengali speaking learners learningBengali speaking undergraduate learners learning EFL.
EFL, this study was designed to investigate threeFirstly, like Chinese, Arabian, Persian, Israeli, Dutch,
research questions:Swedish, Japanese and Spanish learners, Bengali
RQ 1: Do the learners adopt avoidance behaviour?learners adopt avoidance behaviour in their learning of
RQ 2: If yes, why do they adopt avoidanceand performance in EFL. Secondly, the present
behaviour?subjects adopt avoidance behabiour mainly because
RQ 3: If yes, does their avoidance behaviour affectof difficulty and differences between the L1 and L2.
their performance in EFL?Thirdly, the learners find the adoption of avoidance
Methodbehaviour as resistance to their performance in both
Subjectsspeaking and writing.
Seventy five Bengali speaking first year BA (Hons)In the light of the conclusion of the findings of the study,
students studying English language and literature in thesome suggestions for ways of reducing avoidance
Department of English at Jahangirnagar University tookbehaviour and at the same time enhancing learning of
part in the study. The subjects had already had twelveand performance in the L2 can be put forward:a. The
years of formal instruction in EFL at the rate of aboutsyllabus has to be constructed in such a way that it
four hours per week and studied throughout in theincorporates what the learner wants and needs to
Bangla medium.communicate in his/her real life situations. That is, the
Instrumentationvocabulary items and the sentence structures to be
Both quantitative and qualitative methods including ataught have to be selected on the basis of the needs
questionnaire and interviews were employed toanalysis of the learner. Hence, the syllabus is a
answer the research questions of this study. Tosemantic one in which meaning is paramount, and the
ascertain the adoption, causes of adoption and effectscommunicative competence is the desired goal.b. The
of avoidance behaviour in EFL learning by thesequencing of the teaching/learning items, such as
undergraduate students, the present researcherwords, grammar rules, idioms, phrasal verbs, and so on
designed a questionnaire in the light of his own teachingshould be determined by any consideration of content,
experience and his experience of the previous studiesfunction and/or meaning that maintains the learner’s
(Schachter 1974, Dagut and Laufer 1985, Kleinmanninterest.c. The teaching of linguistic items has to
1977, 1978, Hulstijn and Marchena 1989, Liao andconform to a strategy which encourages the learner
Fukuya 2004, etc) as well.to encounter and solve problems in communication
The questionnaire (see the appendix) comprisessince the target linguistic system is best learned
eighteen items related to the adoption, causes ofthrough the process of struggling to communicate in
adoption and effects of avoidance behaviour in EFL.authentic situations (Richards and Rodgers 1986).d. The
The items numbered 1, 3, 6, 10, 15 and 17 aredifficulty level of vocabulary items and sentence
concerned with the question “Do the learners adoptstructures has to be considered in both ordering and
avoidance behaviour?”. Items 2, 5, 9, 12, 14 and 18teaching. It is effective if easier items are taught first
are related to the question “If yes, why do theyand more difficult ones later. When needed, correct
adopt avoidance behaviour?”. Finally, the itemsand comprehensible pronunciations of words, clear and
bearing numbers 4, 7, 8, 11, 13 and 16 have relations tointeresting explanations of uses of words and
the question “If yes, does their avoidance behaviourgrammar items can be given in terms of feedback,
affect their performance in EFL?”.even in limited and judicious use of the L1, as
Data collection and analysisManiruzzaman (2003: 54 -55) contends -
The data for the investigation were collected from a... the teacher should use the learner’s mother
population of seventy five undergraduates. Thetongue so as to give instructions, define new and
questionnaire on the adoption, causes of adoption andcomplicated words, phrases and expressions, explain
effects of avoidance behaviour in EFL learning wascomplex grammatical rules, difficult concepts and
administered after an explanation of the purpose ofunfamiliar contexts, and train complex pronunciations of
the study and preliminary instructions. The datathe target language.e. Similarities and dissimilarities
collected were scored by hand.between the L1 and L2 should be considered and
The subjects were also interviewed one by one anddisclosed to the learner so that he/she can pay special
asked if they avoided using some words, sentenceattention to them. Materials and classroom activities
structures, idioms, phrasal verbs, and so forth inembodying the similarities and dissimilarities between
speaking and writing in English. They were moreoverthe L1 and L2 can discourage and decrease the
asked about the causes of their avoidance behaviourlearner’s avoidance tendency.f. Finally, the teacher
and the effects of their avoidance on theirhas to help the learner reduce debilitating anxiety, gain
performance in EFL. The interviews were recordedself-confidence and feel motivated to work with the
and then summarized.target language.
Results of the studyAcknowledgements
QuestionnaireThis paper is a reviewed version of an article
The table on pages 4, and 5 demonstrates thatpresented at BELTA’s 3rd international conference
97.25% of the subjects avoided using some words inon ELT in Context: Future Directions held at The British
speaking and 89.25% of them in writing. 95.50% of theCouncil Auditorium, Dhaka from 14 to 16 September
learners avoided using some structures, such as2005. I am grateful to the enthusiastic audience for
relative clauses, passive, present progressive, infinitivetheir interesting questions and constructive
complement in speaking and 90.45% of them in writing.observations contributing to the revision of the article.
Again, 97.75% of the population avoided using someSpecial thanks go to my colleague at BUBT, Professor
idioms and phrasal verbs in speaking and 85.50% inAbu Taher Mojumder, who gave generously of his
writing. Thus, a huge majority of the subjects, that is,rime and expertise whenever I needed it. He proved
more than 90% on average adopted avoidanceagain to me how helpful it is for a writer to have
behaviour in their learning of and performance in EFL.friends who listen, read, and give suggestions.
1. Do you avoid using some words while you speakWorks cited
English?Dagut, M. and B. Laufer. ‘Avoidance of phrasal
Yes 97.25%verbs: a case for contrastive analysis.’ Studies in
No 02.75%Second Language Acquisition, 7, 1985: 73 - 79.
2. Do you avoid using some words in speaking due toHulstijn, J. H. and E. Marchena. ‘Avoidance:
difficulty in pronunciation?grammatical or semantic causes?’ Studies in
Yes 94.50%Second Language Acquisition, 11, 1989: 241 - 255.
No 05.50%Kleinmann, H. H. ‘Avoidance behaviour in adult
3. Do you avoid using some words while you write insecond language acquisition.’ Language Learning,
English?27, 1977: 93 - 107.
Yes 89.25%Kleinmann, H. H. ‘The strategy of avoidance in adult
No 10.75%second language acquisition.’ In W. C. Ritchie (ed.),
4. Does avoidance of words hamper fluency andSecond Language Acquisition Research: Issues and
spontaneity of your speaking in English?Implications. New York: Academic Press, 1978.
Yes 84.25%Laufer, B. and S. Eliasson. ‘What causes avoidance
No 15.75%in L2 learning: L1- L2 difference, L1- L2 similarity, or L2
5. Do you avoid using some sentence structures incomplexity?’ Studies in Second Language
speaking due to difficulty?Acquisition, 15, 1993: 35- 48.
Yes 82.25%Liao, Y. and Y. J. Fukuya. ‘Avoidance of phrasal
No 17.75%verbs: the case of Chinese learners of English.’
6. Do you avoid using some structures, such asLanguage Learning, 54, 2004: 193 - 226.
relative clauses, passive, present progressive, infinitiveManiruzzaman, M. ‘The use of the mother tongue in
complement while you speak English?the EFL classroom: learners’ reaction.’ Harvest:
Yes 95.50%Jahangirnagar Studies in Language and Literature, 18,
No 04.50%2003: 43 - 58.
7. Does avoidance of words reduce your ability andRichards, J. C. and T. E. Rodgers. Approaches and
hamper spontaneity of your writing in English?Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and
Yes 73.00%Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1986.
No 27.00%Schachter, J. ‘An error in error analysis.’
8. Does avoidance of structures hamper fluency andLanguage Learning, 24, 1974: 205 - 214.
spontaneity of your speaking in English?Scovel, T. ‘ The effect of affect on foreign
Yes 93.25%language learning: a review of the anxiety
No 06.75%research.’ Language Learning, 28, 1978:129- 142.
9. Do you avoid using some words in speaking due toAPPENDIX
difficulty in use?Learner Questionnaire on the Adoption, Causes of
Yes 88.50%Adoptionand Effects of Avoidance Behaviour in EFL
No 11.50%Learning
10. Do you avoid using some structures, such asYou are being asked to complete this questionnaire as
relative clauses, passive, present progressive, infinitivepart of a research to investigate your adoption, the
complement while you write in English?causes and effects of your adoption of avoidance
Yes 90.45%behaviour in EFL learning. For the results of the survey
No 09.55%to be meaningful, it is important that you be as
11. Does avoidance of structures reduce your abilityaccurate as possible in your answers. Remember that
and hamper spontaneity of writing in English?this questionnaire will not be seen by any of your
Yes 78.25%teachers and classmates. Each of the statements
No 21.75%bellow is followed by more than one answer. Please
12. Do you avoid using some words and sentencecircle only one of them that best expresses your
structures in writing due to difficulty in use?feeling and/or state.
Yes 74.25%If you have any queries while you are answering the
No 24.75%questions, please do not hesitate to raise your hand.
13. Does avoidance of idioms and phrasal verbsThank you very much for your cooperation.
hamper fluency and spontaneity of your speaking in1. Do you avoid using some words while you speak
English?English?
Yes 72.75%Yes No
No 27.25%2. Do you avoid using some words in speaking due to
14. Do you avoid using some structures in speaking asdifficulty in pronunciation?
they are absent from my L1?Yes No
Yes 63.00%3. Do you avoid using some words while you write in
No 37.00%English?
15. Do you avoid using some idioms and phrasal verbsYes No
while you speak English?4. Does avoidance of words hamper fluency and
Yes 97.75%spontaneity of your speaking in English?
No 02.25%Yes No
16. Does avoidance of idioms and phrasal verbs5. Do you avoid using some sentence structures in
reduce your ability and hamper spontaneity of writing inspeaking due to difficulty?
English?Yes No
Yes 68.50%6. Do you avoid using some structures, such as
No 31.50%relative clauses, passive, present progressive, infinitive
17. Do you avoid using some idioms and phrasal verbscomplement while you speak English?
while you write in English?Yes No
Yes 85.50%7. Does avoidance of words reduce your ability and
No 14.50%hamper spontaneity of your writing in English?
18. Do you avoid using some sentence structures inYes No
writing as they are absent from my L1?8. Does avoidance of structures hamper fluency and
Yes 69.25%spontaneity of your speaking in English?
No 30.75%Yes No
Table: Results of the questionnaire on the adoption,9. Do you avoid using some words in speaking due to
causes of adoption and effects of avoidancedifficulty in use?
behaviour in EFL learningYes No
The table next exhibits that 94.50% of the learners10. Do you avoid using some structures, such as
avoided using some words in speaking due to difficultrelative clauses, passive, present progressive, infinitive
pronunciation, 88.50% avoided some words is speakingcomplement while you write in English?
due to difficult use, and 82.25% avoided someYes No
sentence structures in speaking due to difficulty. And,11. Does avoidance of structures reduce your ability
74.25% of them avoided some words and sentenceand hamper spontaneity of writing in English?
structures in writing due to difficulty in use. Besides,Yes No
63% of the subjects avoided using some structures in12. Do you avoid using some words and sentence
speaking as they were not in the L1 and 69.25%structures in writing due to difficulty in use?
avoided some sentence structures in writing for theYes No
same reason. That is, the causes of avoidance13. Does avoidance of idioms and phrasal verbs
behaviour for a great majority of the population includehamper fluency and spontaneity of your speaking in
difficulty and dissimilarities in the L1 and L2.English?
The table moreover displays 84.25% of the subjectsYes No
admitted that avoidance of words, 93.25% said that14. Do you avoid using some structures in speaking as
avoidance of structures and 72.75% disclosed thatthey are absent from my L1?
avoidance of idioms and phrasal verbs hamperedYes No
fluency and spontaneity of their speaking in English.15. Do you avoid using some idioms and phrasal verbs
Further, 73% of the sample thought avoidance ofwhile you speak English?
words, 78.25% said avoidance of structures andYes No
68.50% admitted avoidance of idioms and phrasal16. Does avoidance of idioms and phrasal verbs
verbs reduced their ability and hampered spontaneityreduce your ability and hamper spontaneity of writing in
of their writing in EFL. That is to say, avoidanceEnglish?
behaviour is a significant predictor of L2 learning andYes No
performance in the L2.17. Do you avoid using some idioms and phrasal verbs
Interviewswhile you write in English?
The seventy five subjects who responded to theYes No
questionnaire were invited to an interview in a free and18. Do you avoid using some sentence structures in
friendly situation. 91% of them admitted that theywriting as they are absent from my L1?