The language learning activities of students of EFL and French at two universities

This article presents the results of a survey of the time spent on language learning activities of EFL and French at two British universities. It attempts to answer the questions: 1.How do students spend their time when language learning? 2.What do they spend most time on? 3.To what extent do these study habits vary with proficiency level and target language? 4.What are the study implications of these study patterns for language teaching? A group of 118 students of French and EFL at the universities of X and Y completed a questionaire during the period March to May 1995. This questionaire collected data on the periods of time students spent on language learning and on student proficiency levels, using self-report instruments. This data was triangulated with similar data collected from 23 interviewees and six case study students. Students of French spent most time on classwork and homework, whereas the EFL students spent most time chatting to nonnative speakers and listening to the radio. All students spent a very high percentage of time on out-of-class language learning (85% for the complete sample), therefore, it is suggested that these activities should be more carefully monitored by language teachers.