How Japanese students perceive demotivation toward English study and overcome such feelings

概要

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Researchers and practitioners in SLA have recently been interested in the "shadow" part of motivation-namely, demotivation-yet there is still more to be learned about it. The purposes of this study are to investigate how Japanese EFL learners experience feelings of demotivation and how they react to them. The 1,899 Japanese students from 20 universities who participated in this study were asked to complete a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire consisting of 40 self-evaluation questions aimed at determining the triggers for their demotivation. In addition, the participants freely wrote the reasons for their demotivated feelings and their efforts to overcome such feelings. The results of the quantitative analyses showed that, generally speaking, demotivated EFL learners tend to (1) believe that English is more difficult, (2) have been more dissatisfied with the teacher and class, (3) had weaker L2 self (i.e., a self-image of using English), and (4) have experienced higher anxiety toward L2 use. Further analyses conducted both quantitatively and qualitatively suggested the degree to which and point at which learners initially encounter difficulty in learning English and learners' having or not having L2 self. The discussion focused primarily on these two factors and the resulting pedagogical implications. (198 words)
2013-03-30