Research design and methodology

This chapter describes in detail the research design, the research data collected,

the research sample, the instruments of data collection and the means of data anaJysis.

Research Design

This is a quantitative study with multiple approaches.

The primary purpose of the study lies in its attempt to determine linguistic and

non-linguistic factors associated with the students' learning of English language

macroskills at secondary scflools. To determine what those factors might be, the study

has been designed to investigate primarily whether there are any associations between

what the students perceived to be affecting their learning of the four English language

macroskitls and their actual performance in those macroskills. This necessitated the

adoption of a correlational approach.

A further purpose of the study was to provide a characterisation of the

perfonnance of students in the four English language macroskills. This called for the

measurement of the students' performance in those skills and then the use of the results

to describe the nature of their performance. This kind of approach was descriptive in

intent. The results were also used to provide the basis for the correlational study

mentioned above.

Another dimension which was incorporated as one purpose of the study, was to

compare the perceptions of students and the English teachers of the students on factors
perceived to be associated with the learning of English language macroskills at secondary

schools. The nature of this purpose and the kind of data called for necessitated the

adoption of a survey type of approach.

The final purpose of the study was to account for the performaoce and

perceptions of the students on the basis of applied linguistic theories. This required a

literature search attempting to link the study and its results with existing theories in the

fields oflinguistics and applied linguistics

Research Instruments

The purposes of the study and the types of data called for necessitated the use of

language tests and questionnaires as the major data gathering instruments. Language

testing was considered appropriate not only because of its potential to provide

infonnation about the students' knowledge and use of English as a second language, but

also because of its suitability for the situation, as it has been the main instrument

commonly used in Tonga for assessing achievement in language learning. The

questionnaire technique was selected because of its appropriateness for gathering

quantitative infonnation on perceptions.

Population

The study was conducted by studying the STEM students in Richwell Colleges, Inc. for the

academic year 2019/2020. The analysis and discussion were elaborated by the descriptive

method and supported by the graphic.

Sample

Random samples were taken from the population of study, consisting of

thirty (30) STEM students who advert speaking in English.