Development and Evaluation of Program for Elementary School English Instructors to Improve Their Pronunciation Skills: Comparison of Face-to-Face Instruction and Distant Learning

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02979
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Daito Bunka University
• Principal Investigator: Awaji Yoshimasa 大東文化大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (90259820)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 靜 哲人 大東文化大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (60270211)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 小学校英語 / 発音指導 / 個別指導 / ICT

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research revealed to certain extent how much improvement in pronunciation skills can be expected among elementary school teachers by intensive instruction. The outcome of the workshops indicated that many of the popular pronunciation errors can be corrected and the participants' awareness toward pronunciation has been raised. The instruction and the participants' response were recorded with digital tools such as wearable cameras and tablet devices, which provided specific data to visualize the characteristics of coaching such as time spent on each learner, what instruction was given, and how the response changed. More research needs to be done to investigate the possibilities and effectiveness of distant learning, and how to overcome the limitation of time available to teachers.

Free Research Field

英語教育学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により、発音に苦手意識を持つ小学校教員の発音スキルを、集中的な個別指導によって短時間である程度向上させることができるプログラムを開発することができた。このプログラムを用いて実施した数回のワークショップにおける映像データや受講者のスキル向上度などを分析することによって、指導の所要時間や内容と、受講者の発音スキルの向上度の関連について可視化することができ、今後の指導内容改善の土台となる情報が得られた。これらの得られた成果は、今後の教科化を控えた小学校の英語指導において、教員のスキル向上という点から資するものとなる。