A study of English learning problems was carried out among a total of 106 foreign students. It shows that most students considered understanding spoken English to be their biggest problem on arrival. This was followed by speaking. Writing increased as a problem as students discovered difficulties in writing papers that they were now expected to hand in. Reading remained as a significant problem.
对总共106名外国学生的英语学习问题进行了研究。研究显示，大多数学生认为理解英语口语是他们的最大问题，其次是口语，写作也是一个问题，因为学生们在写他们现在应该交的论文时有困难。阅读仍是一个重要问题。
The information gained helped us in determining where special attention should be paid in our course. Although many students have chosen to join the course with a reasonable motivation, we considered it important to note what seemed to encourage interest. Nearly all the students have experienced some kind of grammar-based English teaching in their own country. To use the same method would be self-defeating because it might reduce motivation, especially if it has failed in the past. Therefore a different method may help because it is different.
获得的信息有助于我们确定在我们的课程中应该特别注意的地方。尽管许多学生有合理的动机选择课程，但我们认为重要的是要知道什么能激发兴趣。几乎所有的学生都在自己的国家经历过某种基于语法的英语教学，使用相同的方法会弄巧成拙，因为它可能会减少兴趣，尤其是在过去失败的情况下。因此，不同的方法可能会有所帮助，因为这是不同的。
Variety of activity was also seen as a way of maintaining or increasing motivation. Several years ago we had one timetable that operated throughout, but we soon found that both the students and the teachers lost interest by about halfway through the ten weeks. This led us to a major re-think, so finally we brought it into line with the expressed language needs of the students.
多种多样的活动也被视为维持或增加兴趣的一种方式。几年前，我们有一个贯穿始终的时间表，但很快我们发现学生和老师在这为期十周的中途都失去了兴趣。这让我们进行了一次重大的重新思考，因此最终我们将其与学生们期望的语言需求相一致。
