Various Roles in the Development of EFL Learners' English Skills

This paper investigates the various roles found in the EFL classroom, such as native English-speaking teachers, learners' parents, and study habits outside of the classroom. During the study, the development of learners' reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing ability was measured over the course of one semester in a weekly 2-hour English class taught by a native English speaker. Results of the change in the twenty learners' performance on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing ability, are drawn from pre-tests and post-tests. In both the pre and post-tests, the frequently occurring errors included articles, spelling errors, the use of fragments and run-on sentences, as well as a lack of overall coherence in the writing portion of the pre and post-tests. The study finds the learner's struggled to express their ideas properly in and academic way in both the pre and post-tests writing ability section. Based on the findings in the pre and post-tests performance of the learners, it is concluded that the role of a native English-speaking teacher in the development of learners' reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills may not be as important a factor as perceived by students and parents of English language in China.