A Comparison Study of Buxiban Learning in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Lisa Hsu^1, and Wendy Yang¹

¹National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taichung City, Taiwan

Cite this paper:
Lisa Hsu and Wendy Yang. A Comparison Study of Buxiban Learning in Hong Kong and Taiwan. American Journal of Educational Research. 2018; 6(9):1257-1263. doi: 10.12691/education-6-9-3

Abstract

The study aimed to explore students’ perspective and reasons for going to a Buxiban, and whether their English ability improved after attending a Buxiban. Buxibans, also known as cram schools, provide extra help to enhance the four skills needed to learn English. English as a subject is treated as an essential course when taking the college entrance examination for both Hong Kong and Taiwan students. It is common for students to seek additional help from a Buxiban. This study also tried to investigate the differences between Taiwan and Hong Kong Buxiban’s learning culture. Three hundred and ten high school students participated in this study. Four research questions were posed to understand students in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as their intention of attending a Buxiban and their evaluation after attending a Buxiban. A questionnaire was developed for the purpose of this study; it contained 25 questions. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability of this questionnaire in this study was .731. The descriptive statistics and t-test were computed. The result showed that students from both places had slightly different reasons for going to a Buxiban. They enjoyed Buxiban’s “varied teaching methods,” but “teacher appearance” was more important to Hong Kong students. Next, they never attended a Buxiban just for “killing time” but appreciated the “various resources” provided by them and aimed for a higher English score. Also, Taiwan students indicated they learned “vocabulary” more in a Buxiban whereas Hong Kong students learned more “grammar.” Fifty-three percent of Taiwan students perceived that a Buxiban helped them improve their English ability while 44% of Hong Kong students indicated they were helped. Furthermore, 65% of Hong Kong students stated that they expected to continue studying in a Buxiban but only 24% of Taiwan students would be willing to do so. At the end of this study, more pedagogical suggestions, future suggestions, and limitations of this study are discussed.

Keywords:
Buxiban Taiwan Hong Kong English learning

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