The Language Teacher

Japanese College Student Attitudes Towards English Teachers: A Survey Kathleen Shimizu Yasuda Women's University

Attitudes and Motivation

Considerable research has been done in the areas of student attitudes and motivation. Gardner and Lambert's (1972) pioneering research categorized learner's motivation into two types: "instrumental," which stresses "the practical value and advantages of learning a new language," (p. 132) and "integrative," which stresses "a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other group"(p.132).

In addition to Gardner and Lambert's integrative and instrumental classifications, Cooper and Fishman (1977) added a third type of motivation they termed "developmental." Developmental motivation refers to motivation relating to personal development or personal satisfaction. This includes such activities as watching movies and reading books in English.

Recognizing the importance of student attitudes and motivation, several surveys have recently been conducted in Japan concerning this topic. Berwick and Ross' (1989) longitudinal study of Japanese college freshmen examined the correlation between learner attitude and motivation with proficiency in English. The results of the study showed that motivation to "learn English" peaked in the last year of high school and then dropped upon entering college. The authors attribute this drop to the college entrance exam system and to colleges themselves. They state that once the entrance exams are over, "there is very little to sustain this kind of motivation, so the student appears in freshmen classrooms as a kind of timid, exam-worn survivor with no apparent academic purpose at university" (p. 206).

Benson (1991) underscores the importance of these personal goals as factors in motivation in his survey of Japanese college students. The results of his study did not yield any clear bias towards any particular type of motivation, but the study did show that "integrative and personal reasons for learning English were preferred over instrumental ones" (p. 34).

Widdows and Voller's (1991) survey focused on Japanese college students' motives, needs, and attitudes toward studying English. The survey concluded that students were the most interested in developing speaking and listening skills but that many college English classes neglected to teach to these needs. Similarly, Kobayashi, Redekop, and Porter's (1992) survey of college English students found that students were most interested in learning to speak English and using it to learn about foreign cultures.

The results of these studies have yielded valuable information for assessing students' attitudes toward the study of English. However, none of these studies address an important factor that should be considered in evaluating students' attitudes and motivation: student attitudes toward foreign language teachers. According to Gardner's socio-educational model, motivation to learn and speak a second language is influenced by two types of attitudes. The first type being integrative (defined above), and the second being attitudes toward the "language learning situation as a whole, including the teacher and the course itself" (Spolsky, 1989, p. 154). For foreign teachers of English in Japan, research on this topic is doubly important because not only are student attitudes towards them (as teachers) important, but also because they are representatives of the culture which speaks the target language. Viewed in this manner, attitudes toward foreign teachers can have consequences far beyond the learning environment. For example, negative attitudes toward teachers could adversely affect student motivation not only in the classroom, but also in terms of a student's desire to continue learning the language.

Method

Subjects: A total of 1,088 Japanese college students (871 females and 217 males) were surveyed. The subjects included 492 students from Yasuda Women's University, 37 students from Yasuda Women's Junior College, 137 students from Shimane University, 132 students from Hiroshima University, 109 students from Hiroshima Bunkyo Women's University, 82 students from Hiroshima Bunkyo Women's Junior College, 55 students from Kansei Gakuin University, and 44 students from Hiroshima Shudo University.

The majority of the subjects surveyed were English majors (636 students), followed by law majors (100 students), agriculture majors (58 students), and education majors (51 students).

Materials: The survey included a total of 16 questions, half of which offered multiple responses, and was broken down into two parts. The first part consisted of biographical questions, including students' gender, major, and year at college. The second part consisted of questions concerning students' attitudes toward foreign and Japanese English teachers.

The responses to the survey were used for the analysis of student attitudes toward foreign and Japanese teachers of English as well as for descriptive purposes.

Procedure: In preparing the questionnaire, a number of students were interviewed to solicit many of the possible responses. The survey was originally outlined in English, and then translated into Japanese. After translation, eight people who were not included in the survey answered the questionnaire so that any ambiguities and/or misunderstandings could be resolved ahead of time. The survey was then revised and administered in April of 1992 mainly by Japanese English teachers. Of the 1,153 questionnaires returned 65 had to be discarded due to incomplete data. A total of 1,088 surveys were used in this study.

Analysis: The responses to the survey were used for the analysis of student attitudes toward foreign and Japanese English teachers. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the students' overall impressions of their classes and the qualities and attributes students felt important in English teachers.

Results

Impressions of Foreign and Japanese English Classes: Students showed a clear bias when asked what their overall impressions of English classes taught by Japanese and foreigners were. Table 1 shows that over half the students felt that English classes taught by Japanese were gloomy, boring, dead, strict, serious, and at times tedious. They felt that students talked too much in class and that they could not hear the teacher. The biggest impression students had of English classes taught by Japanese was that the classes were very formal and that students felt sleepy in class. In fact, except for the responses "feeling comfortable asking questions" and "easy to understand," in none of the overall impressions that might be considered "positive" did Japanese teachers alone receive a score higher than 17%.

In contrast to this, over half the students felt that English classes taught by foreigners were interesting, humorous, and energetic. Similarly, students felt relaxed in class and their impressions of their foreign teachers were that they were kind and easy to get acquainted with. The biggest impression students had of English classes taught by foreigners was that classes were cheerful and fun.

Important Qualities for Japanese and Foreign Teachers: The students were asked what qualities and attributes they felt important in their foreign and Japanese English teachers. The results did not reveal any large bias. A trend did surface, however, which suggested that students' perceptions of foreign and Japanese teachers were dissimilar. Students were asked to choose the qualities or attributes from a list of 21 items they felt were important for English teachers. In most cases, students indicated that the qualities important for Japanese and foreign teachers were the same. As shown in Table 2, students felt that being knowledgeable was the most important quality (63%), followed by being reliable (57%), and being respectable (52%) for both Japanese and foreign teachers.

Table 1

Students' Overall Impression of English Classes

	Both	Japanese	Foreigner	Neither	Total
	Jp & Fr	only	only

Qualities & Attributes

Students Feel Are Important in English Teachers

	Both	Japanese	Foreigner	Neither	Total
	Jp &Fr	only	only

Following this, there were a number of qualities that a majority of students felt were important for both foreign and Japanese English teachers but showed a bias toward Japanese teachers. In fact, in almost every case where over a third of the students listed a characteristic as important for both Japanese and foreign teachers, i.e., where the "both" category received over 33%, there was a bias towards Japanese teachers. It is interesting to note that the only instance where this was not true was in the case of "easy to get acquainted with" where the reverse was true. As the table indicates, 45% of the students thought that intelligence was important for both foreign and Japanese teachers. This could be interpreted to mean that students thought that it was simply a characteristic that was important for teachers in general. But a closer examination of the breakdown shows that while 28% of the students thought intelligence was important for Japanese teachers only, a mere 4% students thought that it was important for foreigners only. Knowledge of the subject area, respectability, ability to explain things clearly, reliability, and being knowledgeable followed the same pattern. In each of these cases, students felt that these qualities were more important for Japanese teachers by more than double.

The least important qualities, or in this case attributes, for foreign and Japanese English teachers were rated the same for both Japanese and foreign English teachers. They were race, gender, and physical appearance.

Discussion

The most surprising result of the survey was the negative responses students gave for their English classes taught by Japanese teachers. The only positive impressions the students had of classes taught by Japanese English teachers were that the classes were easy to understand (43%), and that the students felt comfortable asking questions (54%). These responses, however, could be attributed to the absence of a language barrier. These results suggest that most students have a negative impression of English classes taught by Japanese.

A less surprising result was the positive impressions that students had of classes taught by foreign instructors. In all but two of the "positive" items that were listed as possible responses, classes taught by foreign instructors received a rating of over 50%. The only two "positive" responses that did not receive a high rating were that classes were "easy to understand" and that they felt "comfortable asking questions." Difficulty in understanding the class and discomfort about asking questions may have been due to communication difficulties between the Japanese students and non-Japanese teachers.

There may be a number of explanations as to why students have negative impressions of English classes taught by Japanese. One explanation may be found in the nature of the subjects they teach. In Japanese universities, the subjects of grammar, reading, and writing are almost exclusively taught by Japanese. These subjects were the three that students indicated in this survey that they were least interested in studying. Conversely, the subject usually taught by foreign instructors, conversation, was listed as the area the students were most interested in studying.

Another possible explanation might be the way in which Japanese teach. Widdows and Voller's (1991) survey indicated that most Japanese college students perceived traditional teaching methods as relatively ineffective, which the authors say "amounts to a strong negative evaluation of the status quo."

The responses appear to imply that Japanese students evaluate Japanese and foreign instructors by different standards. The results suggest that foreigners are not seen as serious teachers. Qualities such as intelligence and being knowledgeable did not seem as important for foreign teachers as for Japanese. Conversely, qualities such as being easy to get acquainted with and being entertaining seemed more important.

In conclusion, the results of this survey strongly suggest that foreign and Japanese English teachers are perceived differently. Japanese English teachers are valued more for scholarly skills such as intelligence and knowledge, whereas foreign instructors are valued more for personal characteristics such as friendliness. To some degree there are some benefits arising from this perception. For example, many students are more enthusiastic about attending English conversation classes. But there are also definite costs. For example, some students may not seriously participate in classes taught by foreigners because they feel classes are trivial. In addition, foreign teachers may feel burdened with having to fulfill student expectations that they are interesting, cheerful, and entertaining.

The results of this study appear to support my original supposition regarding Japanese college students attitudes towards Japanese and foreign English teachers. Since the majority of subjects in this survey are women from private women's colleges in Hiroshima, the external validity of the study is limited. Further research in this area would benefit from wider subject selection conducted over a larger geographical area.

References

Benson, M. J. (1991). Attitudes and motivation towards English: A survey of Japanese freshmen. RELC Journal, 22(1), 34-48.

Berwick, R., & Ross, S. (1989). Motivation after matriculation: Are Japanese learners still alive after examination hell? JALT Journal, 11, 193-210.

Cooper, R. L., & Fishman, J. A. (1977). A study of language attitudes. In J. A. Fishman, R. L. Cooper, & A. W. Conrad (Eds.), The spread of English, Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Gardner, R., & Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes and moiivations in second language learning. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.

Kobayashi, S., Redekop, B., & Porter R. (1992). Motivation of college English students. The Language Teacher, 16(1), 7-9,15.

Spolsky, B. (1989). Conditionsfor second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Widdows, S. and Voller, P. (1991). PANSI:A survey of the ELT needs of Japanese university students. Cross Currents, 18(2),127141.