Research Project about falling numbers of student usage in the English Help Desk at Yeungnam University

1. English Help Desk Study
Yeungnam University
Foreign Language Institute
Feb. 2014
Terry Faulkner, Ted Mishler, Steven Schuit,
& Peter Thwaites

2. The English Help Desk is the public
face of FLI, as such, it should maintain
a welcoming and helpful atmosphere.
From the FLI Employee Manual 8/2013

3. Why undertake an EHD
study?
• Most faculty work at the EHD = high
resource investment for the FLI
• Key FLI service
• Declining participation by students (<48%)
• Discussions amongst FLI staff indicate
disagreeing perspectives on the role,
services and protocol of the EHD

4. Components of the study
• EHD attendance records
• Faculty survey
• Student survey
• Visitation and interview: Keimyung
University’s International Lounge

5. Findings: Survey participation
• Faculty: 42 of 55 responded (76%)
• Students: 642
– Freshmen……………………………607 (94%)
– 2nd and 3rd year students…………...34 (5%)
– Graduate students and faculty……….4 (1%)

6. Findings: Student Usage
Semester # of student
visits
Average/We
ek
Average/Da
y
Spring 2013 804 67 13.4
Fall 2013 422 (<48%) 35 7

7. Findings: Students
Do you know about the
English Help Desk?
Yes 50% (320)
No 50% (322)

8. Findings: Students
What services do you
think the English Help
Desk should provide? N = 486
Free speaking practice 55%
Help with writing skills 23%
Help with homework 21%
Help with resumes and
cover letters
13%
Other 1%

9. Findings: Students
For those students who do
know about the English
Help Desk), have you ever
visited the English Help
Desk? (N=320)
Yes 27%
No 73%

10. Findings: Students
Why haven’t you visited the English
Help Desk? (N=315)
It doesn’t look like a friendly place. 32%
I’ve never needed it. 29%
I am too nervous. 14%
I don’t know when it’s open. 13%
I am too busy 7%
Location and hours are inconvenient. 3%
Other. 2%
My friend had a bad experience. NR

11. Findings: Students
How many times have you
visited the English Help
Desk?
(N=88)
1 time 66%
2-3 times 25%
4-5 times 2%
6+ times 6%

12. Findings: Students
Do you think you will visit
the English Help Desk
again in the future?
(N=87)
Yes 47%
Probably 39% subtotal = 86%
Probably not 13%
No 1%

13. Findings: Faculty
How often have you
recommended to your
students that they use the
EHD?
(N=40)
Never/hardly ever 3%
Once or twice a semester 38% subtotal = 41%
3-6 times a semester 40%
7-12 times a semester 20%

14. Findings: Faculty
Faculty members who think
the following services should
be provided by the EHD:
Speaking practice 88%
Interview practice 76%
Spoken error correction 74%
Writing skills 67%
Advice 67%
Listening services 62%
Editing/proof
reading/correction
33%

15. Findings: Faculty
How do you feel about the
time you spend in the EHD?
(N=37)
I enjoy it. 38% (14)
I enjoy it somewhat. 24% (9)
I wouldn’t say I enjoy it, but I
don’t have a problem with it. 30% (11)
I don’t enjoy it at all. 8% (3)

16. Findings: Faculty
How do you generally deal with
students who want help with
writing?
(N=39)
I correct their errors. 21% (8)
I give general feedback but don’t
correct specific errors.
31% (12)
I re-write their texts or provide a
model.
3% (1)
I don’t give feedback on writing. 0%
I have no idea how to deal with
writing requests.
0%
Other 46% (18)

17. Findings: Faculty
As a faculty member providing EHD
services, which areas would you like to
know more about to enhance your
effectiveness?
TOEFL 26% (11)
TOEIC 21% (9)
IELTS 21% (9)
Information about independent study 19% (8)
Other 14% (6)
Coaching writing 12% (5)
Interviewing skills 8% (4)
Resumes 4% (2)
Cover letter 4% (2)
Conversational skills 2% (1)
Slang/Jargon/Idioms 0%

18. Findings: Faculty
Have you ever turned a
student away? If so, for
what reason(s)?
(N=21)
No 48% (10)
Yes 52% (11)

19. Findings: Why did you turn
students away?
• “I have turned away “students who come to the EHD with a written
homework assignment that they want to have corrected and
perfect before handing to their teacher. This serves very little
purpose to either student-someone else corrects their mistakes so
they don’t learn, or teacher-every student can hand-in a perfect
copy so there is no way to assess their writing skills or
improvement.”
• “Unreasonable requests, in particular from students being sent by
‘profs’ in the English Dept. who should do their own jobs instead of
sending their students to us. I have also turned away many
professors-the EHD is for students.”

20. Visitation and Interview:
Keimyung University International Lounge
• “International Lounge is a place where students, faculty, and staff
can meet up, exchange cultures, get to know each other, practice
2nd languages and bring the world to our campus.”
• Physically, the International Lounge has seven (7) different “zones”
ranging from an “internet zone” to a “café zone,” which serves fresh
coffee.
• The Lounge also offers or sponsors events that vary over the course
of the semester such as cultural presentations, seminars, and trips.
• One ongoing service, “Language Advisory Support (LAS) of English
Study,” seems to be similar to the FLI English Help Desk. This service
is available Monday-Friday, from 10:30-2:30 and takes place in the
lounge’s seminar room, which has a capacity of 8 people.

21. Visitation and Interview:
Keimyung University International Lounge
• The Lounge itself is directed by Mr. Seanan Clifford, this year’s
faculty volunteer professor, who performs the role in addition
to his regular teaching responsibilities.
• Two (2) full-time employees, and four (4) part-time
employees staff the Lounge.
• Student usage is monitored by visual headcounts taken hourly
by the staff. According to Professor Clifford, 300-400 students
use the Lounge on a typical day.
• Professor Clifford offered that there are 13 “Help Desks” at
universities in Korea, including those at Yeungnam and
Keimyung Universities.

22. Conclusions
• It has been suggested that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
However, recent records of student visits to the EHD suggest
that visitation frequency may have decreased by as much as
48% between the Spring and Fall semesters of 2013.
• More than 70% of students, who learn about the EHD services
from their teachers, when asked if they will use the services,
say “Yes” or “Probably.”
• For some faculty who have come to expect less frequent
student visits, and to be able to use their time at the EHD for
planning purposes, student visits may be experienced as
interruptions.

23. Recommendations
1. Expand the English Help-Desk service hours from
10:30AM-4:30PM to 9:00AM-6:00PM. We recommend that
the EHD be closed during lunch hours.
2. Implement a basic service policy that says: “We will not turn
any visitor away without providing some sort of assistance.”
3. We believe all Yeungnam University students and faculty
should be welcome at the FLI English Help Desk. Program
policy, procedures and practices should support this
philosophy.

24. Recommendations
4. We encourage the FLI faculty to regularly recommend
the EHD to their students throughout the semester.
Additionally, we recommend that all faculty give a brief
presentation with information on the English Help Desk
during the first or second class meetings of the
semester. This project team will provide a PPT presentation
for that purpose.
5. We believe that the EHD should be more welcoming to
visitors. This includes both physical factors such as the actual
set-up of the EHD and interpersonal factors such as how
faculty members welcome and treat students.

25. Recommendations
6. Help visitors with their skills, as opposed to their product:
We encourage FLI faculty staffing the EHD to adapt the
spirit of "to aim to help the student, not the text they bring
in with them,” For example, rather than word-for-word
editing of a written document, look for themes that
suggest areas for development for the student. Point-out
and discuss these themes.
7. We encourage faculty members to identify areas in which
they would like to further develop their own expertise
regarding their EHD service skills and abilities, for example
exam preparation skills and independent study skills.

26. Recommendations
8. We recommend that the EHD have an automatic card-swipe
system to make usage easier and record keeping more
effective. In any case, record keeping of student usage must
be improved, including ongoing record keeping and record
maintenance.
9. We suggest that one faculty member be designated each
semester as a coordinator or “point-person” to ensure that
the EHD is running effectively, and that EHD-related
communication amongst all FLI staff is timely and effective.
10. We believe there are opportunities for better marketing,
communication and overall integration of the EHD with other
FLI programs and services.

27. The EHD Mission
To help the university community with
their English, while maintaining a
welcoming and helpful atmosphere.