The CATESOL Journal

The California State University and University of California campuses have recently experienced an increasing number of nonnative speakers who enter their schools underprepared in English. This problem appears also to be common at community colleges. This study examines the personal backgrounds (e.g., age at time of arrival in the United States, number of years in American high schools, number of ESL classes taken in high school) of 54 Vietnamese graduates of American high schools and their perception of how prepared they are in English. The study also looks at what these students expect from ESL teachers and what classroom activities they find beneficial in ESL courses. While offering explanations for this particular group’s underpreparedness in English, the authors conclude that (a) these students value well-organized, prepared teachers and (b) they would greatly benefit from additional focused study in grammar and writing skills.