English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps A Case Study from Malaysia by Dr. Ria Hanewald, Malaysia

International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 33 English Language Teaching and Learning du

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International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies

ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org

33

English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps: A

Case Study from Malaysia

Dr Ria Hanewald, CfBT Education Trust, Malaysia

Abstract

Language holiday camps for children or adolescents who are learners of a second or additional language are a world-wide phenomenon They are particularly popular in the USA, Canada and Britain for languages such as French, German and Spanish

Youth camps (also called summer camps) during the European school holidays to learn English or other languages have also enjoyed a long tradition In Malaysia, English language holiday camps are prolific and have been running since the 1940s

With such popularity that these camps enjoy the world over, the subject is coming under research In line with such researches, the present study covers a four day long residential English language holiday camp in Malaysia for 31 female students (aged 16) during May 2013 Its aim was to identify activities that actively engage learners and increase their attitudes positively in regards to learning English

The paper is intended to stimulate further research into extra-curricular activities, specifically English language holiday camps due to their global abundance, to build a corpus of literature in order to fill the current vacuum, and to gather empirical data on the value of such camps The findings of the focused study have broad relevance internationally due to the significant numbers of language camps around the world and will contribute to the scanty knowledge currently available on this topic It is anticipated that the issues discussed in this paper will be useful for students, teachers, researchers, policy makers and practitioners of English language studies alike

Keywords: holiday camps, English language, attitudes, adolescents, Malaysia

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1 Introduction

1.1 Historical perspective

Residential camps for children and adolescents have been in existence for almost 140 years In 1876, Swiss Pastor Hermann Walter Bion organized a holiday camp for a group of 68 underprivileged children from the Swiss city of Zürich It afforded them some time away from their often crowded, poor and unhygienic homes to spend their school holidays in the clean air of the Appenzeller country side while engaging in recreational activities for example hiking, singing, dramatic performances, adventures games and kite making The success of the initial camp led to a larger cohort of campers the following year It grew to 3,500 youngsters by 1899, hailing from 29 different cities in Switzerland Before long, the idea of holiday camps spread around Europe and to the USA, South America and Asia (MOTIF, 2008)

In the United Kingdom, camps are attributed to Lord Baden Bowell, who founded the Boys Scouts in 1908 and introduced camps with outdoor activities for children The number of annual summer camps in England increased exponentially after the end of World War II The British training of educators during the 1940s established the idea

of holiday camps for children and teenagers in Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia (Pulliam, 2013)

1.2 The global context

Camps are held either on weekends or during the school holidays and offer supervised programs for youngsters Day camps are usually offered for younger children so that the participants (also called campers) can go home every night to sleep Residential camps are frequently designed for older children or adolescents as they include one or more overnight stays Camps are commonly focused on either recreational activities

in the areas of sport, music, performing arts; enrichment pursuits such as cooking, yoga, photography, comic book design; or educational development concentrating on computer/technology or second/ additional languages classes In recent years, weight loss camps, bible camps and Tech camps (with 3D Game creation, robot building, and web design) have been also advertised

Establishments offering camps can be divided into non-profit organizations, charities and commercial providers Examples of the first are religious groups, girl or boy scouts, and youth music organizations The latter are wide-spread in the USA The

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American National Camp Association (NCA) reported nearly 10,000 camps during

2013 with the majority (60%) being residential (also called sleep-away) camps Each year, over six million youngsters attend camps at the average cost of U$ 2,500 for a four weeks stay (NCA, 2013)

The British Activity Providers Association (BAPA), who sets the standard for quality safety and value for activity centers, residential and day camps for private sector providers acknowledges copious annual summer camps with large number of youngsters attending but has no statistics on these However, more than twenty camp providers are listed, some with up to 130 person capacity and others with a history of running camps for more than 30 years giving an indication of the scale of operations (BAPA, 2013) Likewise, the European Camping Association established in September 2003 with the member countries of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine aims to enhance the quality of camps by establishing standards in services and programs but has no statistics on the number of youngster attending (Pulliam, 2013)

The literature on language camps is limited to descriptive reports that date back 30 years ago such as covering the activities, schedule, staffing, fees and special events (Trujillo, 1982; Vines, 1983); publicity materials and volunteer forms (Griswold, 1989) or a sample syllabus, proposed budget, teacher packet and schedule (Shrum,

1983, 1985)

The only empirical data available was published by the American Camp Association (2010) and consists of a 12 question survey administered to 228 camps across the United States The top reasons for running a camp were given as revenue raising (55%) and keeping young people engaged throughout the year (43%) Overnight camps (80%) were the dominant form, with two and three days stay (51 %) followed

by a half or full day stay (47 %) Campers were mostly from middle school (88 %) while the top activities in this English speaking nation focused on Environmental sciences (75 %), General Sciences (51%), and Biology (47%) While a third of the camps indicated that they linked their lessons to learning standards from the main stream syllabus, almost a quarter did not assess the learning outcomes Hence, what learning really occurred as part of the camp is not known to almost half (40 %) of the staff (American Camp Association, 2010)

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The outlined literature above shows the proliferation of camps, the size of this industry, the significant number of young people and educators engaged in these as well as the considerable amount of time spent in camps It also clearly demonstrates the lack of empirical data on any aspects of the camps (quality of teaching and learning environment, curriculum and materials evaluation, assessment of learning outcomes) It is therefore argued that the current capacity of camps - and specifically English language camps - should be of interest to students, teachers, researchers, policy makers and practitioners of English language studies Furthermore, it is hypothesized that globalization will lead to an increase in demand for English language camps and it would be advisable for the various stakeholders to harness this potential as it emerges

1.3 The local context

Malaysia is located in the Southeast Asian region, with a population of 28.3 million,

of which 1.6 million live in its capital Kuala Lumpur (Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2013) It is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious country with three major groups: Muslim Malay (67.4%) who speak Bahasa Melayu, Chinese Buddhists (24.6%) who speak Cantonese, Mandarin and other dialects as well as Indian Hindus (7.3%) who speak Tamil or related dialects (UNESCO, 2011) English was introduced and served as the official language under the British government until

1957, when Malaysia achieved Independence Bahasa Malaysia (also referred to as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malay) became the national language, with a course of language cultivation perused by the Malaysian government for over 40 years

Increasing globalization and the need to communicate with global market for business, trade, tourism and more recently education has given English increased importance It led to the Malaysian governments’ decision to establish English as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools (Gill, 2005)

The English language has been historically associated with British Imperialism in Malaysia Internationalization combined with the status of English as a lingua franca for the world changed attitudes amongst the population Another issue is social harmony as multi-lingual Malaysia holds 137 living languages (indigenous language such as Iban, Kadazan and Dusunic) and English serves as a common one, which underpins the country’s aspiration for national unity

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The development of English language holiday camps in Malaysia can be traced back

to the late 1940s due to the British training of educators (Pulliam, 2005) The holiday camp tradition for children and teenagers survived into present times despite the 1957 Independence of the British Oral accounts of adult Malaysians recall fond memories

of attending holiday camps as children during the late 1980s (R Hanewald, personal conversation, May, 29, 2013)

This assertion is further strengthened by various reports in the mass media such as an English Language Immersion Camp for 80 students (Embassy of the United States, 2010); a facebook site with photos of a 30-day English camp in Kuala Lumpur (PD &

U Academy, 2012); a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant’s photos of a camp, which

he helped to run (Pan, 2013); a camp schedule by KDU College in Penang, Malaysia (KDU, 2013) and several clips on YouTube about various English Language camp experiences The evidence shows that substantial numbers of English language camps

by various organizations have been taking place for decades in Malaysia Despite this sizeable involvement, there is no data available on the quantity or quality of English language camps

In an effort to fill this void, this action research was conducted to identify effectiveness of such camps in teaching English and providing enjoyment for the participants within the context of a Malaysian school holiday camp

2 The action research project

In planning the English language camp, the age, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, geographical location and language level of the learner have to be considered (Tomlinson, 1998) In this case, the campers were a homogenous group: all 16 years old female Muslim Malays from a rural area in the northeast of Malaysia

2.1 The participants

The four day residential English Language Camp was held from 27th May to 30th May

2013 with 31 Muslim Malay students in Form 4 (16 years old) under the leadership of one English language educator This particular age group was selected as they had already settled into their secondary schools (during From 1 to Form 3) and thus were ready for a challenge but not yet in their final year (Form 5) which might distract them from their exam preparations

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The all female campers came from a pool of about 20 rural schools in a northeastern state of Malaysia The camp package included transportation, hostel accommodation with six meals per day and an excursion to the hot springs Due to English being a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools, it was assumed that their language skills were at a reasonably high level However, English language proficiency levels of students in rural areas are typically lower than those of students living in urban areas as exposure to (native) English speakers and media or events (newspapers, movies at the cinema, theatre productions, concerts) are fewer

The camp took place at a residential school with a modern campus that has excellent facilities The high quality learning environment included a designated (air-conditioned) language room with ample resources, an extensive library with a large English language collection as well as a computer laboratory containing 30 desktops

Most activities of the English learning and teaching component were held in the language room, with the exception of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which was held in the computer lab of the library There was also

a recreational component, which consisted of an excursion to the hot springs for bathing

In conceptualizing the camp structure, schedule, recreational and English language program a number of cultural, linguistic and social-emotional considerations had to be taken into account for all Muslim Malay campers For example, it was decided that a single gender cohort would be easier to supervise due to the overnight stays in strictly segregated Muslim dormitories and the reluctance of many students to participate in mixed gender teams within a classroom The five daily Muslim prayer times and the six associated meal times (provided at the residential school’s dining hall) were the corner stone for the daily schedule around which the English language program had to

be constructed Although the camp ran from 8 AM to 10 PM, the total amount of English learning added up to only 14 hours; the remaining time was allocated for five daily prayers, six daily meals, daily afternoon rest and an excursion

2.2 English language learning activities

In designing activities and creating the camp program, Tomlinson’s advice that

“…materials can achieve impact through novelty, variety, attractive presentation, and appealing content” (1998, P:7) was taken into consideration Hence, educational

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games, art and craft activities, quizzes, songs, music, dramatic performances, puppet plays and ICT sessions were devised This range offered a variety of texts and classroom management choices while drawing on subject areas such as the Arts, Computer Technology and Physical Education Such an activity-based organization principle has as its main advantage that individual sessions are like building blocks A modular approach enables greater flexibility as units can be selected to fit the students’ needs, interest and energy level Activities can be changed every day to ensure variety as well as a balance between artistic, intellectual, physical and recreational activities Given that the English language instructor was unfamiliar with the students, their ability levels, learning styles and preferences, it seemed the most sensible tactic

In the light of the fact that only 14 hours of English language exposure were available,

it was unrealistic to expect huge improvements in the students’ proficiency levels, especially since these were unknown in the first place Therefore, the goal was to raise students’ motivation to learn English by providing them with pleasurable experiences

in the language It was hypothesized that a range of fun activities would nurture positive attitudes towards English and an interest in continuing to pursue it The central idea of the program was therefore enjoyment and engagement It was further reasoned that without the fun element, the holiday camp would replicate a normal school week It was speculated that it would be highly likely that this may cause resentment, boredom and frustration in the students who – in turn – may refuse any involvement in future English language camps Furthermore, the students may not have self-selected for the camp but may have been forced to attend by their parents or school, causing them to be unenthusiastic and uninterested as they might have been coerced to spend their holidays with extra lessons while their peers are travelling or relaxing

2.3 Research questions

Since the focus of the English language camp was on increasing learners’ motivation, interest and enjoyment of English, the research aims focused on finding activities that would enable this most effectively The central research problem was to explore the relationship between learner participation, satisfaction, motivation and types of activities Specifically:

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1.) What is the most effective camp structure to ensure students’ satisfaction?

2.) What are the types of activities that encourage students and actively engage them?

3.) What are the types of activities that interest students most during English camp?

4.) How satisfied are students with the various aspects of the camp?

2.4 Data collection

For this action research project, a mixed-method approach was employed, consisting

of pre-and post camp questionnaires, observations, visuals and individual interviews

of campers The questionnaire used a five-point Likert-scale for most questions, and a

‘choice of yes/maybe/no’ as well as indication of frequency for the remaining question The language for the questionnaire was kept simple in terms of length, structure and sentence complexity Campers were asked to ‘tick the box’ that was closest to their feelings on the range of ‘strongly dislike’ to ‘strongly like’ It was based on the notion that the participants were learners of English, teenagers (and not adults) and may lack previous experience with this type of questioning due to cultural norms in Muslim Malay rural communities Each of the Likert-scale question questions had an extra line (named ‘others’) to include a short explanatory sentence if desired However, it was hypothesized that this would most likely be kept blank or perhaps filled with a compliment due to the Muslim Malays culture of non-confrontation Reluctance of English learners to write freely may also be based on fear of spelling mistake, hence open-ended questions and free commentary were seen

as inefficient and therefore kept to a minimum on the questionnaire A number of noted observations, visuals (still images) and individual interviews were gathered in situ

At the beginning of the camp, the pre-questionnaire was given to all students with instructions to leave off their names to ensure anonymity, which afforded them the freedom to answer uninhibited The purpose of this pre-questionnaire was to establish previous camp experience, reasons for attending, perceived English proficiency and preferences for activities The post-camp questionnaire aimed to gauge students’

satisfaction rates and reflections on their English language attitudes in terms of

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enjoyment, interest and motivation The completed pre-and post-camp questionnaires were then compared to detect and measure any differences

3 Findings and Discussion

This section deals mainly with the examination and discussion of the findings from the pre-and post camp questionnaire Then, a comparison between the two sets of data was drawn and the difference deliberated in terms of its significance

3.1 Pre-camp questionnaire

The main goal for the pre-camp questionnaire was to seek insights about the learners’

previous experience of camps, differentiated into English language and other subject areas Since the literature search had found evidence of English language camps in the form of photos, videos and a media release on websites, Facebook and YouTube that revealed substantial activity in this field, it was hypothesized that the students have had some prior involvement with camps Therefore, the first question of the pre-camp survey aimed to explore if and how often the learners had been to camp (see Table 1)

Table 1 Pre-camp Question to Elicit Prior Camp Experience of the May 2013 Camp Cohort

How often do you go to Never 1-2 before 3-4 before more than 5 camp? before

camp Why? Why not?

Note: Some participants did not respond The responses (n=31) were unexpected as their answers showed that the majority (60

%) of the cohort (29 out of 31) had been to one or two previous English language camps One camper had been to at least three English language camps, averaging one camp per year of secondary school attendance, which makes this an annual event for the learner Eight campers indicated that they had never been to an English language camp before, although they may have previously been to a Sport, Art, Music or Science camp as twenty learners indicated

Three campers had been to five or more camps, which was considerable and averaged

to more than one camp per year during their secondary schooling The interpretation

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of this data is made somewhat challenging due to learner’ missing reply, with two answers omitted on the English language camp experience and ten absent for the other subject area camps

Two comments in the ‘why’ and ‘ Why not’ line were “I don’t know” and “Because I don’t know”, interpreted as no prior awareness or knowledge that camps and an opportunity to participate in them exist, which might explain why eight campers had not been to any previous camps However, the majority of campers’ previous experience shone through during the four days, as they quickly and smoothly adjusted

to the hostel accommodation, layout of the campus, English language program, prayer and meals routine, instructor and group dynamics

The second pre-camp survey question (Table 2) aimed to unearth the motivation for attending this particular camp (own, parents or school’s choice, academic or social purpose for attending, and rating of own perceived English skills)

Table 2 Pre-Camp Question to Elicit Motivation for Attending the May 2013 Camp

Why did you come to camp Strongly disagree Ok Strongly Agree disagree agree

said I should go

and I want to improve

and I want something to do

and meet new people Note: Some participants did not respond to each statement Almost a third of the campers (12 out of 31) indicated that their parents sent them to camp, whereas six decided for themselves that they wanted to attend Twelve learners seemed to be at camp due to a mutual decision between their parents and themselves

as they ticked ‘ok’ This interpretation of the data in Table 2 was confirmed by follow-up interviews with individuals, who stated that they discussed and jointly decided the issue with their parents The influence of the school or teacher was acknowledged by a third of the campers (14 out of 31) The entertainment, recreational and social aspects of the camp rated highly, as the majority (19 out of 31) campers were looking for something constructively to do during their holidays, which

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