Developing mentorship provisions for academic English success

This study investigated the motivations of undergraduate students in joining a university English language mentoring scheme. The study also reports participants' views on the effectiveness of this scheme in fulfilling their learning objectives. Participants consisted of 46 first-year students transitioning from secondary to university education in Hong Kong. A two phase-research design was implemented including an initial questionnaire followed by semi-structured interviews to clarify and extend on the preliminary data collected. Data revealed that the mentorship program had enhanced participants' perceptions of their language skills, and the mentees appreciated the informal nature of the mentoring sessions and the opportunities to develop conversational English. Participants also indicated that they felt more comfortable in addressing specific language problems than they would have in a larger class setting. Copyright © 2019 Asian EFL Journal. All rights reserved.