Browsing by Author "Long, Xinyu"

This study examines the differences in English language exposure perceived by Chinese and Finnish university students. Meanwhile, it attempts to investigate the relationship between English language exposure and students’ self-assessed English proficiency. A total of 103 university-level of students participated in the study. Online questionnaire was used as the primary data collection method. The questionnaire included questions on participants' exposure to English and their self-reported English proficiency, assessed through the CEFR self-assessment grid across four aspects (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The data were analyzed using unpaired t-tests and a multiple regression model to identify differences in English exposure and its relationship with English proficiency between the two student groups. The results revealed that Chinese students were statistically significantly less exposed, and had lower exposure quality than Finnish students. Furthermore, English exposure amount and exposure quality are found to be positively correlated with English proficiency in a Pearson’s correlation analysis. Finally, a multiple regression analysis revealed that the amount of English exposure and the quality of such exposure are significant predictors of the ultimate attainment of English proficiency of students. The findings of this study imply that a high-quality and language-rich environment is conducive to promoting more natural language acquisition and achieving an overall higher English proficiency.