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Shih-Chieh Chien, National Taipei University of Business, TaiwanAbstract
In many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts, learners are exposed to English from early childhood through tertiary education; however, sustained proficiency remains difficult to achieve. This difficulty largely stems from the limited functional role of English in learners’ everyday lives, which often leads to gradual language attrition once formal instruction ends. Despite this widespread challenge, some learners continue to actively maintain and even develop their English proficiency well beyond their formal schooling years. Examining the experiences of these learners offers important insights into the mechanisms that support long-term language maintenance. This study explores how Taiwanese EFL learners perceive and sustain their English proficiency over time. Participants were purposively selected based on their demonstrated commitment to ongoing language maintenance and were interviewed about their post-educational English learning experiences. Adopting a grounded theory methodology, the study analyzes participants’ narratives to uncover recurring patterns, strategies, and developmental processes. The findings indicate that learners commonly undergo an initial period of proficiency decline due to reduced exposure and use. However, rather than remaining passive, they actively respond by constructing individualized and adaptive maintenance practices. These practices are driven primarily by intrinsic motivation and characterized by high levels of learner autonomy and self-regulation. Specifically, participants engage in a range of self-directed activities, including revisiting previously learned materials, selectively consuming English-language media, reading for personal interest, participating in informal discussion communities, and using English for online communication.
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Conference: ACEID2026Stream: Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
This paper is part of the ACEID2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Chien S. (2026) Keeping a Language Alive: EFL Learners’ Practices in Maintaining English Proficiency ISSN: 2189-101X – The Asian Conference on Education & International Development 2026 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 509-521) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-101X.2026.41
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-101X.2026.41
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