A comparison of the perceptions and practices of Chinese and French-speaking Belgian university students in the learning of English

Abstract

This paper describes the first stage of a pedagogically oriented programme of research, the ultimate objective being to facilitate the learning of lexis within the context of the language learning programmes already developed within our respective universities, namely, the Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (Namur, Belgium) and Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering (Wuhan, China). This first stage consists in exploring the personal language learning practices and perceptions of the student populations concerned. We have already completed the second stage which attempts to highlight the most salient and persistent difficulties encountered by our respective student populations. At present, we are investigating various exercises and techniques which, in the light of theoretical and empirical findings, should facilitate their learning of lexis; if proved effective, they would eventually be integrated into the existing language programmes.