Communicative Language Teaching in Tertiary EFL Contexts in Japan: Examining Learner Beliefs, Perceptions and Attitudes

Learner views of learning cannot be ignored, since they may have a facilitative influence on teaching and learning. The learner views examined in this study are Japanese university students’ perceptions of classroom practices they have experienced, their attitudes toward these classroom practices, and their beliefs about English language learning in general. Results revealed that there was a match between student beliefs about English language learning in general and their perceptions of the classroom practices they experienced. These strong beliefs and perceptions seemed to influence students’ positive attitudes towards particular classroom practices. The implications of these results to language teaching as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

 

学習者の学びに対する考えは、学習と教育の両面に効果的な影響を及ぼす可能性を含んでおり、非常に重要である。本研究では特に日本の大学生の授業活動に対する認識と態度、さらに英語学習全般ついての見解を調査した。台湾の中等教育の学生を対象に行われたアンケート(Savignon & Wang, 2003) を日本の大学生向けに一部変更し関西圏の大学に在籍する学生を対象に調査を実施した。両国とも、EFLの環境で英語教育が実施されているが、学習者の考えに関して異なる結果が得られた。