2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Developing A Syllabus for Improving College Students' Communicative Competence in English
| Project/Area Number |
14510532
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
英語・英米文学
|
|---|
| Research Institution | University of Shizuoka |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
YOSHIMURA Noriko University of Shizuoka, Faculty of International Relations, Professor, 国際関係学部, 教授 (90129891)
|
|---|
| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TAKEDA Shuichi University of Shizuoka, Faculty of International Relations, Professor, 国際関係学部, 教授 (80137067)
TSUBOMOTO Atsuroo University of Shizuoka, Graduate School of International Relations, 国際関係学研究科, 教授 (40138623)
TERAO Yasushi University of Shizuoka, Faculty of International Relations, 国際関係学部, 教授 (70197789)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2004
|
| Keywords | college English education / communicative competence / syllabus design / TOEIC instructions / ACTFL interview tests / academic communication |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
This study was conducted to investigate the development of a more effective syllabus to assist Japanese college students improve their communicative competence in English. A series of analyses were made of TOEIC practice tests, ACTFL-like interview tests, and Michigan tests which were all performed on more than five hundred students during the 2002-2004 period. Their results indicated that the great difficulties they experienced in comprehension and production tasks derived from, first, lexical unfamiliarity, second, insufficient understanding of cultural content, and third, inadequate knowledge of English discourse development. It was suggested that if a syllabus for college students learning communicative competence in English is to be effective, it should teach them how to negotiate unknown vocabulary, and how to comprehend complex or "de-contextualized" discourse communication. A conclusion was that Japanese college students should be encouraged to acquire "academic communicative competence" beyond "everyday conversational fluency."
|
