A Comprehensive Study on Japanese EFL Learners' Beliefs and English Proficiency

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25381215
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Education on school subjects and activities
• Research Institution: Saitama Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: IIJIMA Hiroyuki 埼玉県立大学, 保健医療福祉学部, 教授 (80310994)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 信条 / ビリーフ / 英語熟達度 / EFL / 動機づけ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated Japanese university students' beliefs regarding learning English. Participants involved in this study were non-English-major university students studying at a public university. The students answered likert-scale questionnaires developed by the author, and the data obtained were computerized using factor analysis and ANOVA. Factor analyses performed on the data showed that "motivation" was a factor that emerged in all the categories of beliefs: beliefs regarding (a) studying English in general,(b) reading, (c)speaking, (d)listening, and (d)writing. Further analyses using ANOVA showed that advanced-level students were highly motivated especially in the two following categories, (a) studying English in general and (d)writing. These results show that learners' motivation is the key to successful language teaching in an EFL environment.

Free Research Field

英語教育学、リーディング、学習者要因