Dissertations / Theses: 'Japanese language Motivation in education'

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Hayashi, Chiyo. "JAPANESE LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION FOR READING ENGLISH." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/354603.

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Language Arts
Ed.D.
The present study is an exploration of multiple dimensions of L2 learners’ reading motivation and its relationship with L2 reading achievement. Based on theories of motivation and L1 and L2 studies, nine dimensions of motivation (Curiosity, Involvement, Challenge, Importance of L2 Reading, L2 Reading Self- Confidence, Instrumental Orientation, Recognition, Compliance, and Intrinsic Motivation for L1 Reading) were hypothesized to influence L2 reading achievement, and their dimensionality was examined using an L2 reading motivation questionnaire and statistical procedures. The participants, 1,030 students from nine Japanese universities, completed a 69-item Reading Motivation Questionnaire and a reading comprehension test. The questionnaire and test scores were statistically analyzed using the Rasch rating scale and dichotomous models, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. The findings indicated that L2 reading motivation was multidimensional, consisting of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This result was consistent with previous studies conducted in L1 and L2 reading. Intrinsic motivation for L2 reading (Interest and Involvement in L2 Reading and Desire to Read L2 Materials) and one types of extrinsic motivation (Instrumental Orientation) exerted greater influence on L2 reading motivation than the other types of extrinsic motivation (Importance of L2 Reading, Recognition, and Compliance). That is, internally controlled motivation is more influential than externally controlled motivation with an exception of Instrumental Orientation. Another important finding was that L1 reading motivation and L2 reading motivations were similar to some extent because five of the eight factors (Intrinsic Interest and Involvement in L2 reading, Desire to Read L2 Materials, Importance of L2 Reading, Recognition, and Compliance) were found both in L1 and L2 reading motivation. However, three L2 specific factors (Instrumental Orientation, L2 Reading Self Confidence, and Intrinsic Interest in L1 Reading) were also identified. Thus, the study showed that there were some similarities as well as fundamental differences between L1 and L2 reading motivation. In terms of the relationship between L2 reading motivation and text comprehension, the L2 Reading Motivation and Comprehension Model demonstrated L2 reading motivation is significantly related to L2 text comprehension. Concerning individual differences between male and female students, the study showed that their profiles were similar although, on the average, the female students were more motivated to read as has been repeatedly found in L1 reading. Differences in the motivational profiles due to L2 proficiency showed that Recognition, the desire to be recognized by others by performing well, was a factor that differentiated the high and low groups. However, because the relationship between L2 Reading Motivation and L2 Reading Comprehension was not significant for both groups, it is possible that there was a problem with the reading test that was used to make the groups. In summary, the present study has demonstrated the vital role of L2 reading motivation in L2 reading, and pointed to the need to incorporate motivational support into L2 reading pedagogy as has been successfully practiced in L1 reading. This study is significant to the domain of L2 instruction and research for several reasons. First, it extends the knowledge base in L2 reading by identifying the influence of L2 reading motivation on L2 reading behavior. Second, the results of the study contribute to designing research-based reading instruction aimed at enhancing L2 reading motivation and performance. Finally, it is hoped that this study provides individual educators with practical suggestions on how to improve L2 reading instruction in their individual teaching contexts, focusing on both affective and cognitive aspects of L2 learners.
Temple University--Theses

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Shibuya, Kazuro. "The development of L2 motivation of Japanese learners of English as a foreign language." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609133.

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Guinn-Collins, Shannon. "Motivation in Late Learners of Japanese: Self-Determination Theory, Attitudes and Pronunciation." PDXScholar, 2011. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/191.

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The present study examined a hypothesized relationship between the following variables: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as described by Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), integrative and instrumental orientation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972), attitudes toward pronunciation, and accent in English-speaking late learners of Japanese. Data collection occurred in two steps: First, English-speaking participants completed three questionnaires designed to measure their motivation and attitudes toward pronunciation; they then provided speech samples in Japanese. Native speakers of Japanese then rated these speech samples holistically on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating a strong foreign accent, and 5 indicating a native accent. Scores on the questionnaires were then correlated with the accent ratings. None of the English-speaking participants were judged as native or near-native speakers of Japanese. However, results demonstrated a significant positive correlation between ratings of accent and two variables: Intrinsic Motivation Toward Accomplishment and attitudes toward pronunciation. The statistical analysis also revealed a positive correlation between integrative and instrumental orientation and extrinsic motivation, suggesting a relationship between measures of orientation and extrinsic motivation as well. These results highlight the importance of including Self-Determination Theory in the area of second/foreign language acquisition research, as well as clarifying the role of motivation and attitudes toward pronunciation in the present context of late learners of Japanese.

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Martin, Ron Reuel. "The Foreign Language Learning Value Beliefs of Japanese Elementary School Students." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2013. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/232554.

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CITE/Language Arts
Ph.D.
This study was an investigation of student beliefs about their EFL education, and it was based upon the subjective task value component of the expectancy-value theory, a prominent theory of achievement motivation. The participants were three cohorts of Japanese public elementary school students (Cohort 1 from 2008; Cohort 2 from 2009; and Cohort 3 from 2010); each cohort consisted of third through sixth graders (N = 1,478; N = 3,693; and N = 1,336, respectively). Three research questions with associated hypotheses were posited in order to determine: (a) if students of all age groups could differentiate the three value components of Enjoyment, Importance, and Use; (b) the degree to which grade levels and genders were different with regard to each value; and (c) if grade level and gender differences were consistent between cohorts. The Young Learners Value Scale (YLVS) was an 11-item, 4-point Likert self report scale created in order to investigate elementary school students' values concerning their EFL education. Prior to conducting inferential analyses on the collected data, the dimensionality, validity, and reliability of the YLVS were established through the use of the Rasch rating-scale model. In addition, the raw scores were converted into interval Rasch measures. Results of the principal components analyses showed that each grade level was able to differentiate the three values of Enjoyment, Importance, and Use. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the instrument measures as well as the factorial structure of the theoretical model were both invariant across grade level. Results of the two-way ANOVAs indicated that the third grade students valued the Enjoyment, Importance, and Use of English to a statistically significant higher degree than the higher grade levels. Descriptive statistics showed that all grade levels valued the Enjoyment and Importance of English, yet all grade levels responded neutrally to the Use of English. With regard to gender, female students held statistically significant greater values of Enjoyment, Importance, and Use of English and their EFL class than boys, yet these differences were found for only Cohorts 2 and 3. This study was the first, to the best of my knowledge, to use the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation as a basis for an investigation of public school EFL students. The results indicated that the elementary school students valued the Enjoyment and Importance of English, but were neutral to the Use of English. The integration of more skill-based activities that focus on listening to English and speaking in English to communicate to others and a reduction in fun-focused activities such as songs and games might provide a greater opportunity to enhance the students' value of Use.
Temple University--Theses

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Visgatis, Brad. "English-Related Out-of-Class Time Use by Japanese University Students." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2014. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/293717.

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Teaching & Learning
Ed.D.
This project explored aspects of English-related out-of-class time use by Japanese university students. The aim was to identify the salient temporal and motivational features of the episodes. The study had three parts, two longitudinal components and one cross-sectional component. Data from these three components consisted of out-of-class English time use information collected through a time diary (8,838 episodes). The episode data was collected from longitudinal study participants (n = 125) and cross-sectional study participants (n = 642) who maintained the time diary for at least one week. Data also include interviews with longitudinal participants (n = 40) about their time use and motivation and motivational information collected through an L2 motivational self system survey administered to cross-sectional study participants (n = 1,399) that was modeled after the survey developed by Taguchi, Magid, and Papi (2009). Two sets of time use and interview data were collected longitudinally (one semester per dataset) through Longitudinal Study 1 (ninitial = 66, nfinal = 15), which included participants from three universities in Western Japan, followed by Longitudinal Study 2 (ninitial = 59, nfinal = 25), which included participants from two universities in Western Japan. Interviews were with participants from these studies. Participants maintained a record of their out-of-class English-related time use during the semester. These data provide an overview of the out-of-class time use of Japanese university students during a full Japanese academic year. Longitudinal Study 1 data were collected during the fall semester, the second term at Japanese universities. Longitudinal Study 2 data were collected during the spring term, the initial term. Longitudinal Study 1 participants reported 2,529 episodes and Longitudinal Study 2 participants reported 3,322 episodes of out-of-class English access during the study period. One interview was held with the Longitudinal Study 1 participants (n = 15), at the end of fall semester. Two interviews were held with Longitudinal Study 2 participants (n = 25), one during the term and one following summer holiday. Data were examined for their temporal patterns and the contextual and affective features of the time use episodes. The cross-sectional component collected data from participants (n = 1,399) at 11 universities in Western Japan. These participants provided data for the motivational survey (n = 1,399) and at least one week of out-of-class English time use (n = 642) data. The participants in the cross-sectional study reported 2,987 out-of-class English access episodes. Episode data for all three components (K = 8,838) and the motivational survey data (n = 1,399) were analyzed at the person, group, and amalgamated episode levels for the patterns of participants' time use using ANOVA and nonparametric procedures. The data were also examined using nonparametric procedures (Kruskal-Wallis) to exam the affective variables (anxiety, enjoyment) by the contextual variables (purpose, location, persons present) of that time use. The episode data regarding participants' (n = 1,399) time use and motivational survey data were analyzed using ANOVA, factor, Rasch, multiple regression analyses, and structural equation modeling. The analyses of the time use data considered the temporal features of the episodes (time of day, day of week, hebdomadal pattern), the contextual features of the episodes (purpose, location, persons with), and the affective features of the time use (enjoyment, anxiety). The analyses of the motivational data considered two models of the L2 motivational self system, an intention to learn model (ILM) and a time use model (TUM). The ILM replicates the model found in the final solution proposed by Taguchi et al. (2009) for their model of the L2 motivational self system. In this model, the outcome factor is Intention to Learn, a factor labeled Criterion Measures by Taguchi et al. In the TUM, the outcome factor of Intention to Learn is replaced by actual time use on out-of-class English access. Time use results from all three components of this study indicated most out-of-class episodes occur when the participant is alone at home either studying or listening to English music. The most typical episode was listening to music, either alone at home or while commuting. A similar pattern of out-of-class English access was found for participants in all three components of this study. Study-related episodes were not considered enjoyable but also were not seen as causing anxiety. The amount of out-of-class time varied widely between participants, with one longitudinal study participant devoting 40 hours per week to English outside of class. For longitudinal study participants, the time use episode data, along with interviews, indicated that habit was a primary driver of out-of-class English access, with participants showing stable patterns of time use, whether for enjoyment or study, during the term. For the most part, once participants in the longitudinal components for this project had established a routine it remained fairly consistent during the term. The interviews clarified the initial motivators and drivers of the participants' English-related out-of-class time use. Interviews also confirmed the importance of habit in out-of-class time use patterns. Moreover, the interviews also indicated that the participants' L2 motivation was set in junior high school, though initial interest may have begun much earlier. Moreover, results from the three components showed that none of the participants met the time requirements of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Technology and Culture (MEXT, 2002, 2009b) for out-of-class time allocated to study for their English courses, a 2:1 ration, for every week that they participated in the study. Only a few of the participants met this requirement for out-of-class English access during any week of the study and only if all purposes, including enjoyment, were considered. This study also addresses the call that Dörnyei (2000) made for research examining the links between motivation and behavior in L2 learning. One unique aspect of this study is the use of a behavioral variable, Time Use, in addition to the survey-assessed latent trait, Intention to Learn, to explore the links between motivational profile and actual behavior. Motivational results show limited support for Taguchi et al.'s (2009) structural model following the same paths that they used in their model of the L2 motivational self system. More informative is the difference in the loading of the motivational profile factors on the outcome variable, Intention to Learn, which was the Criterion variable in Taguchi et al.'s final model, and the loading of the motivational profile factors on the measure of actual out-of-class time accessing English. Results show that Ideal L2 Self loaded strongly (.94) on the criterion, Intention to Learn, but much less strongly (.35) on actual out-of-class time use. However, the confirmatory factor analysis also indicated only a marginal fit to the model. Of importance, however, is that participants who rated highly on their Ideal L2 Self rated highly on the Intention to Learn, but not nearly as highly on actual time use on English. This suggests that responses on surveys of motivation to learn a second language are measures of intention and should not be used to predict or explain actual language learning behaviors. Like the results found by M. P. Eccles et al. (2012), who looked at intention and behavior in medical intervention studies and concluded that surveys targeting intention did not indicate actual behavior, language researchers might need to take a more critical approach to any interpretation of survey-based results as explaining actual learner behavior. This study set out to begin the process of understanding language learners' out-of-class time to language learning and exploring the links between out-of-class behavior and the learners' motivations. Through the longitudinal and the cross-sectional components, the study clarified the ways in which language learners use their out-of-class time allocated to second language access, the amount of time that they allocate, and the characteristics of this time use. It examined the connections between motivation and behavior and began the process of linking motivational studies with actual behaviors called for by Dörnyei (2000). If, as this study has suggested, there is little connection between the level of motivation and the type of motivated behavior that is being targeted, then researchers need to reconsider the current construction of such instruments and search for alternative ways to include actual measures of behavior in L2 motivational surveys. Given the large body of research on motivation in language learning, the results of this study indicate that researchers might want to consider ways include a measure of actual behavior or interpret results of surveys more conservatively when making claims of links between motivation and actual intention.
Temple University--Theses

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Matsubara, Katsuko. "Learner Attitudes Toward Studying English in a Rural Japanese University: Motivation, WTC, and Preferences for Instructional Activities." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2011. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/132708.

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CITE/Language Arts
Ed.D.
This study is a multi-faceted analysis of the English learning motivation of one particular population: first-year non-English-major Japanese university students in a rural area of Japan. In addition to traditional motivation measures, measures of group dynamics thought to be relevant to classroom motivation and L2 Willingness to Communicate (WTC),which has recently caught interest both as an influence on and valued outcome of second language (L2) learning, were also included. The participants' English proficiency was measured with the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). The participants were 238 Economics and Management majors enrolled in required English courses. They completed a 44-item L2 motivation and preferences for instructional activities questionnaire, a 30-item L2 WTC questionnaire, and the TOEIC. A factor analysis was performed to determine the internal structure of the motivation and preferences for instructionl activities variables. A Rasch rating-scale analysis was conducted to estimate the strength of the components by calibrating person measures for each variable for this sample Motivational Intensity, Intergroup Approach Tendency, Necessity of English and Instrumental Orientation emerged as motivational components, and Group Cohesion, Preference for a Student-Centered Approach, Enjoyment of Group Activities, and Study Habit Preference emerged as preference for instructional activities components. To determine the effects of the motivational and preferences for instructional activities components on proficiency and L2 WTC, multiple regression analyses were performed. One motivation component (Motivational Intensity) and one preference for instructional activities component (Study Habit Preference) contributed to predicting proficiency. For L2 WTC, Intergroup Approach Tendency and Preference for a Student-Centered Approach were statistically significant predictors. Next, a profile analysis was conducted to determine the differences in motivational and preferences for instructional activities tendencies at low, medium, and high levels of proficiency and L2 WTC. No notable differences in profiles emerged for the three proficiency levels, but significant differences emberged among three levels of L2 WTC groups. Overall, the set of analyses provide an in-depth understanding of the motivation of university-aged Japanese learners of English in a rural area. Teachers of these and similar students can adapt their practices to match and expand the preferences of these learners, and researchers in the future can apply this research strategy to different populations.
Temple University--Theses

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Watanabe, Michinobu. "Motivation, Self-determination, and Willingness to Communicate by English Learners at a Japanese High School." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2011. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/207090.

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CITE/Language Arts
Ed.D.
In this longitudinal study, I investigate changes in Japanese high school English learners' motivation over time, and whether the initial individual differences and the changes in those differences over time predict their final English achievement and overall academic achievement in high school. A questionnaire, which was developed by drawing on the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (Gardner, 1985b), the self-determination-theory scale (e.g., Noels, Pelletier, Clément, & Vallerand, 2000), and the willingness-to-communicate scale (e.g., McCroskey, 1992), was administered to 190 students three times at the beginning of each academic year of high school; follow-up interviews were conducted with 13 selected students. The questionnaire data were analyzed using the Rasch rating scale model, ANOVAs, and the latent growth curve modeling. The major findings include the following. First, twelve motivational constructs were identified. Second, significant differences were found over time for Attitudes Toward Learning English, Desire to Learn English, and Motivational Intensity; the other constructs were stable across time. Third, the students' average motivational profile was characterized by high External Regulation and Instrumental Orientation, and low Willingness to Communicate with Strangers across time. Fourth, Motivational Intensity, Attitudes Toward Learning English, and Intrinsic Motivation appear to directly affect both English achievement and overall academic achievement. The interview data were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. The major findings include the following. First, the students' motivation seemed to be temporarily raised or lowered by `motivation-fluctuating factors' (e.g., test results), but it was stabilized by motivation-stabilizing factors (e.g., past travel and learning experiences). Second, in the face of university entrance examinations, the students' negative feelings toward examination English seemed to decrease their motivation, whereas positive attitudes toward examination English later in high school seemed to enhance motivation. Third, the students had a growing awareness of the need for practical and communicative English skills in the future. However, this awareness did not lead to greater willingness to communicate probably because of various interfering factors. Other interview results provided an in-depth understanding of and supporting evidence for some of the questionnaire results. Implications for researchers, school administrators, and teachers are provided.
Temple University--Theses

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Kitamura, Wakana. "Social cognition-based content instruction for communicative competence in Japanese middle school English." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2001. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/43.

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This project demonstrates how English teachers in Japan can conduct purposeful and meaningful lessons for middle school low-intermediate students. The teaching approach used for this project is based on Content-Based Instruction (CBI).

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Tanaka, Mitsuko. "The effects of affective variables and kanji growth on L1 Chinese JSL learners' kanji learning." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2014. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/252406.

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Applied Linguistics
Ph.D.
Learning kanji (i.e., the Chinese characters utilized in the Japanese writing system) is unique for learners of Japanese who speak Chinese as their first language (L1) due to their ability to transfer their knowledge of L1 hanzi (i.e., the Chinese characters utilized in the Chinese writing system). The present study is a longitudinal investigation into the effects of affective variables and kanji growth on kanji learning utilizing the self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2002). L1 Chinese learners of Japanese as a second language (L2) responded to a questionnaire designed to measure eleven affective variables and took kanji tests three times over one academic semester (N = 229-340). In addition, interviews were conducted with 12 participants to further explore the affective variables influencing kanji learning. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate latent growth modeling, multiple regression analyses, and path modeling to answer six research questions. The results showed that: (a) there were no associations between the initial affective status and the initial kanji proficiency; (b) intrinsic motivation and introjected regulation exerted significant positive and negative influences on short-term kanji growth, respectively; (c) growth in kanji proficiency did not cultivate intrinsic motivation, nor did intrinsic motivation lead to growth in kanji proficiency; (d) perceived competence was significantly associated with both the initial status of intrinsic motivation and changes in intrinsic motivation; (e) perceived competence was not associated with either the initial level or the development of kanji proficiency; (f) perceived competence positively affected four variables, intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, external regulation, and mastery goals; (g) perceived autonomy led to lower amotivation and higher intrinsic motivation, but caused lower external regulation; (h) peers' positive influences positively affected all six variables, cultivating higher intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and mastery goals, as well as causing lower amotivation; (i) peers' negative influences led to lower identified regulation and higher amotivation, and higher introjected regulation, and; (j) attitudes toward L2 community/speakers did not influence any of the SDT kanji learning motivation and mastery goals. The results of the interview study revealed that (a) the participants felt various types of enjoyment in kanji learning, including intrinsic motivation-knowledge, intrinsic motivation-stimulation, and intrinsic motivation-accomplishment; (b) ideal L2 self guided intrinsic motivation; (c) introjected regulation was channeled by ought-to L2 self and feared L2 self, and; (d) feared L2 self was uniquely formulated as a result of the complex interactions of various factors such as pride as L1 hanzi knowledge holders and normative pressure from Chinese peers. Evidence gathered in research targeting English learners is not necessarily applicable to the learning and motivation for learning other languages. The present study contributes to a better understanding of the universality as well as the individuality of the roles of motivation in L2 learning.
Temple University--Theses

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Stribling, Parrill Lewellyn. "Extrinsic motivation factors in a Japanese junior college." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.324476.

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Millington, Neil. "Temporal perceptions of second language learning motivation : a Japanese context." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2016. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/86311/.

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Over the last few decades, motivation has become recognized as crucial in language learning success. Researchers have conducted numerous of studies which have sought to explain why people select, perform, and continue to learn a language. The results and findings of these studies allow us a greater understanding of second language (L2) learning motivation. However, one area of language learning motivation research that has not received as much attention is the temporal aspect of motivational fluctuations. In recent years, there have been calls for a more widespread adoption of qualitative research methods to investigate what Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011) describe as the dynamic processes of a learner’s’ motivational development. This thesis is a response to those calls. This thesis attempts to discover perceptions of language learning motivation. In particular, the research reported in this thesis is an attempt to develop a greater understanding of temporal motivational fluctuations of Japanese university L2 learners. As such, the overall aim of this longitudinal qualitative study is to explore the temporal progression of the motivational thinking of three different age groups of Japanese university learners. More specifically, this research sheds light on the motivations of L2 learners in a medium-sized university in Japan, discovers similarities and differences in language learning motivation between different age groups of university learners, and determines how their language learning motivation fluctuates over the period of an academic year. The tools of inquiry used in this qualitative research project were interviews and diaries. Three sets of interviews were conducted with 23 learners in a Japanese university over the course of an academic year. Seven of the participants were freshmen students and seven were in their second year. The remaining nine were in the third grade. Participants completed and submitted a total of seven diary entries at regular intervals throughout the study and these were used to inform the second and third rounds of interviews. The overall findings showed that the learners in each grade were influenced by both their sociohistorical and cultural context and their values and goals at the start of the study. During the middle of the academic year, these goals and values were placed on hold as their immediate context seemed to have more motivational influence. Towards the end of the study the values and goals returned to play a more prominent role in their language learning motivation. There were also several subtle differences in the motivation of the three age groups and this could be seen most clearly in the educational context where institutional pressures were stronger for the older students in the study.

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Hoopes, Rebekah Susan. "Teaching Practice and Motivation Among Albanian and Japanese Missionaries." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2015. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5500.

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This study explored the relationship between the use of motivational strategies by Albanian and Japanese teachers and the observed and reported motivation of missionaries at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Provo, Utah. The aim of this study was to collect baseline data about the motivational strategies already employed by teachers in the Albanian and Japanese areas of the MTC and to explore the relationship that the teachers' use of these strategies has with the motivation of the respective missionaries. The data for this study was collected from seven teachers and 28 learners during a series of observations using a modified version of the Motivation Orientation of Language Teaching (MOLT), a classroom observation instrument developed by Guilloteaux and Dörnyei (2008). The MOLT is used to record the observable motivated behavior of learners as well as the motivational practices of the teachers according to Dörnyei's (2001) foreign language classroom motivational strategy framework. Each participating class was observed using the MOLT three times during the missionaries' nine-week stay in the MTC. The data from the observations was supplemented with teacher and learner surveys administered during the first and final weeks of the study period. Not only was this study useful for collecting valuable information about teaching practice at the MTC, but it also adds a new dimension to the empirical research that has been done in motivation in second language acquisition by expanding the research to English speakers being taught in foreign languages, whereas most research had been focused in ESL and EFL contexts. It is the first study to combine surveys with an observation component in target languages other than English. The results of this study support previous findings that teacher use of motivational strategies does indeed correlate significantly with learner motivation.

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Kitano, Megumi. "The Role of Role Language in Japanese Language Education : A Study on the Involvement of Role Language in the Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language Education at Stockholm University." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Avdelningen för japanska, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-158714.

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Knowles, Timothy John. "An interpretive study of the motivation of language teachers in a Japanese university." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/15176925-db2b-4100-8ad8-27ee97929e10.

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This dissertation investigates teacher motivation in a language-teaching department of a Japanese university. The main objective is to contribute to the overall understanding of the nature of teacher motivation. It is hoped that this understanding will be enhanced by two further objectives: firstly, to show how teacher motivation can be dependent on the teaching context, and secondly, to relate teacher motivation to the work/market/status categorisation proposed by David Lockwood (1989).

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Kono, Nariyo. "Language orientations: Case study of a Japanese-as-a-foreign-language classroom." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280530.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the theories of orientations in the context of a Japanese-as-a-foreign-language (JFL) classroom in the Northwest of the United States. Using a Grounded Theory methodology, this study includes data from card-sorting activities, teacher and student interviews, classroom observations, and scenario studies. The perspectives of language planning--theories of orientations--bring socio-political aspects to the foreign language classroom context, and help to describe the participants' voices, hopes and determinations toward learning Japanese in a foreign language classroom setting. The existing theories of orientations and the abstraction of the data results are merged into a new taxonomy. The notion of Grounded Theory--an interplay of data and theories--is a central perspective throughout the study. The JFL program in the Northwest reflects many aspects of the language-as-resource orientation. Most of the participants' voices and hopes are explicitly included in the program and in some standards on foreign language education. However, heritage language and identity issues are not explicitly discussed in this program. The research suggests that this program consider this aspect and develop an appropriate methodology for this population. In addition, a new descriptive orientation taxonomy is suggested in the coding process: Language as means of communication, Language as linguistic means, and Language as a mediator of culture (with two different emphases: First language and culture; and Any language and culture). The research findings and interpretations were negotiated with the participants in order to assure their appropriateness, and the study includes two-year data from various interviews, ranging from a pilot study to final interviews. Final interviews were conducted in addition to the main study in order to assure the results and my interpretations of interview quotations. This study contributes to research methodology itself by incorporating various research tools including descriptive statistics and traditional qualitative methods. As an exploration of this topic, this study presents important implications to foreign language education and pedagogy, and to theory development in language planning and policy.

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Fewings, Catherine Shu-fen (Yu). "Japanese colonial language education in Taiwan and assimilation, 1895-1945." Curtin University of Technology, Department of Language and Intercultural Education, 2004. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=15269.

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This thesis explores the subject of Japanese colonial language education in Taiwan and assimilation between 1895 and 1945. It examines the overall nature of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan through its colonial policies, followed by a review of the history of Japanese colonial language education in Taiwan, the investigation of the Japanese colonial position on language education and assimilation, the establishment of the implementation of Japanese language education in Taiwan in areas of teaching methodologies and textbook compilation, and the determination of the effects of Japanese language education on assimilation in Taiwan. The thesis further seeks to determine the link between a Taiwanese identity and the Taiwanese who were ruled and educated under Japanese colonial rule. The views of both the elite and common Taiwanese who lived through the colonial era are examined.The aim of this thesis is to test the hypothesis whether Japanese colonial education in Taiwan achieved assimilation among the Taiwanese as claimed by Japanese colonial authorities. Through the official facts and figures provided by Japanese colonial authorities, they seemed to prove a successful case of assimilation among the Taiwanese. However, through close scrutiny of these official facts and figures and reality backed up by the oral accounts of the Taiwanese and conscientious observations by the Japanese, it is found that the claims made by Japanese colonial authorities in the case of assimilation through Japanese language education are highly contestable. By interviewing those who experienced Japanese language education during the colonial period, further insights into the formation of post-colonial Taiwanese identities are gained. This study contributes to studies on Taiwans subsequent socio-linguistic developments in the post-colonial period.

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Sinclair, Paul. "Chinese language education, the contemporary Japanese university, and modern Japan." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0004/MQ40673.pdf.

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Fewings, Catherine Shu-fen. "Japanese colonial language education in Taiwan and assimilation, 1895-1945 /." Ful text available, 2004. http://adt.curtin.edu.au/theses/available/adt-WCU20041020.092132.

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Bellini, Marisa Utida. "Life Stories of Nikkeijin Seeking Better Opportunities: The Motivation of Brazilian Immigrants in Japan." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2006. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1033.

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The immigration of Brazilian-Japanese to Japan has started as recently as the early 1980s as a result of an economic downturn in Brazil and labor shortages in Japan. In a recent study published by the Ministry of Justice in Japan, there are about 250,000 Brazilians currently working throughout Japan. Even though most of the Brazilians are second or third generation of Japanese descent, they are not fluent in Japanese, thus resulting in many cultural problems and misunderstandings. Some research has examined about the immigration of Brazilians (nikkeijin) to Japan, but none has investigated their acquisition of Japanese as a second language. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that motivate or unmotivate the nikkeijin in Japan to learn Japanese as a second language (JSL). This qualitative study shows the life experiences of four nikkeijin who arrived in Japan at different ages (8, 18, 25 and 42 years old). It is a very richly descriptive study about the experiences of nikkeijin learning JSL. Through interviews conducted over the Internet using Online Messenger and phone conversations, the researcher gathered information and data about their real life experiences learning the language and adapting to Japanese culture. The results of this study show how positive and negative life experiences of nikkeijin in Japan can affect their motivation to learn or improve their Japanese language skills. The age of arrival and the place of residence in Japan are also important factors that influence their experiences in Japan.

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Butto, Louis. "THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYING MINDFULNESS ACTIVITIES WITH JAPANESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2018. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/484377.

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Teaching & Learning
Ed.D.
Learning a foreign language can be challenging. If the learning environment is compulsory, motivation can also contribute to the struggles. Mindfulness, a psychological construct, is a robust topic in the academic literature. Mindfulness is a mindset that views the world from multiple perspectives, reorganizing what is perceived, focusing on the present moment and keeping open to new ideas (Langer, 1997). Moreover, mindfulness is claimed to increase interest and academic outcomes. Therefore, the construct was employed in this research to validate these claims and to contribute to second language education. This study was designed to fill several gaps in the second language acquisition (SLA) literature. First, the construct of mindfulness has not been explored in SLA as a mindset to engage students in learning. Second, the construct of interest has not been investigated in SLA in tandem with mindfulness. Lastly, mindfulness has never been employed with motivated or unmotivated high school students in the compulsory education system in Japan. The following research hypotheses and research question were investigated: (a) The treatment group receiving the mindful tasks will outperform the comparison group receiving normal foreign language instruction on vocabulary learning and reading comprehension measures; (b) The treatment group receiving mindful tasks would be more engaged, interested, and like English more than before. Increased interest will lead to improvements in language performance; and, (c) To what extent do mindful practices assist low-achieving proficiency high school students in enhancing their abilities? The participants were students attending a private high school in Japan. Both the treatment and comparison groups included 45 female and 34 male students, respectively, for a total of 79 participants. A Rasch analysis was utilized to confirm the validity and reliability of the mindfulness and interest questionnaires and to transform the raw scores into equal interval measures. MANOVA, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient data were analyzed to ascertain differences between groups and within groups for all tests and constructs measured. The results indicated that mindfulness was not a significant influence on improved outcomes in language performance for the treatment group, although the descriptive statistics did show small gains in the hypothesized direction. The dependent variables included the mindfulness and interest questionnaires, as well as vocabulary and reading comprehension questions. The independent variable was the mindfulness tasks. The dependent variables were vocabulary and reading comprehension measures. The results of the MANOVA were the treatment effect was not significant, F(2,81) = .397, p < .67, η2 = .01. The results of the ANOVA were the treatment effect was not significant, F(1,82) = .82, p < .77, η2 =. 001. There was also no significant correlation between increased mindfulness and increased interest. Out of the six factors, all except for sensitivity to new contexts, showed negative relationships. The only positive relationship was not significant. Lastly, a one-way repeated measures ANOVA showed no improvement for the low-proficiency treatment group, ∧= .30, F(2,18) = 1.30, p < .30, η2 = .13, over time. The effect of mindfulness on improved language performance outcomes might have been influenced by the following: shallow levels of processing, lack of clear goals for the participants, unclear task design protocols, working memory issues and environmental restraints. A lack of correlation between increases in mindfulness and interest gains might have been attributable by the compulsory nature of the course, time constraints and the lack of perceived utility of the tasks by the part pants. Lastly, the reason for the lack of improvement for the low-achieving proficiency participants might not be an issue of proficiency, because both the low- and high-achieving participants of the treatment condition did not improve. Overall, these findings suggest that mindfulness is more nuanced and more complex than originally expected.
Temple University--Theses

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Fujioka, Noriko. "The interrelationship of Japanese language learners' epistemological beliefs and learning styles with their perceptions of error treatment in the Japanese Language Classroom at the college level /." Connect to resource, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1260987889.

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22

Sorenson, Britainy Dawn. "Motivation in Learners of Japanese as a Foreign Language: An Analysis of Profiles and Behaviors." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2009. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2264.

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This thesis examines motivation in English L1 learners of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) by analyzing the students' responses to a questionnaire modeled after Dörnyei's research and an observational instrument called the Motivation Behaviors of Language Learning (MBLL) modeled after Guilloteaux and Dörnyei's (2008) research on motivational teaching strategies on behaviors. The data from the questionnaires were subjected to a discriminative analysis of students answers in relation to a high grade (receiving a B- or higher) or lower (C+ or lower) in their Japanese classes. A Factor Analysis of the data was also carried out. The discriminative results could predict students' receiving higher or lower grades with 13-16% error. In addition, behaviors examined in the 200-level Japanese classes seemed to match students' responses to a questionnaire, suggesting they are not highly motivated. However, students who passed this class reported similar study habits outside of class in preparation as students from a 400-level class. The Factor Analysis also found that students with higher self-perception of their motivation and language aptitude tended to receive higher grades in the class. The results suggest that motivation can be further understood by understanding behaviors in addition to traditional questionnaires, and students' self perceptions of their language abilities may affect their grades in the language classroom. In the future, motivation research should include triangulating questionnaire data with other data, such as observational instruments. This thesis is a step in that direction.

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Warnick, J. Paul. "A phenomenology of reading performances: Reading Japanese as a foreign language /." The Ohio State University, 1996. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487942476409126.

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24

Robinson, Jennifer Lynn. "English language learners' motivation to engage in reading." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2010. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Dissertations/Spring2010/J_Robinson_041910.pdf.

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Ozawa, Michiyo. "Japanese Students' Perception of Their Language Learning Strategies." PDXScholar, 1996. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5160.

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Students' use of language learning strategies (LLSs) is affected by their educational backgrounds and academic requirements, and so are their attitudes toward language learning. This study investigates Japanese students' perception of their English LLSs in different language environments: Japan and the United States. A group of 43 Japanese students from Otemae College participated in a cultural study program at Portland State University. The group consisted of 28 students who studied for two terms (ST Group) and 15 students who studied for three terms (LT Group). In this study, a combination of a self-assessment questionnaire, dialogue journals, and a card-ranking activity was employed. The self-assessment questionnaire, SILL (Rebecca Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning), was administered at different times during the learning period for identification of students' English LLSs in Japan (Ll) and in the United States (L2). The SILL provided this study with quantitative data; whereas, dialogue journals and the card ranking activity supplied qualitative data that more insightfully indicated students' perception of language learning, learning experiences, and insight into the students themselves. Dialogue journals allowed students to record their positive and negative experiences in the L2 related to language learning, emotions, concerns, problems, and questions. The students' LLSs increased in frequency and variety of use when the language environment changed from the Ll to the L2. The LLSs of the LT Group continued to improve during an additional term in the L2. Conversely, the LLS use by the ST Group regressed after only four months back in the Ll (except Affective and Social Strategies). The results of the SILL indicated direct strategies were adjusted according to English learning experience in a different learning environment. Three administrations of the SILL, dialogue journals, and the card ranking activity gave students opportunities to review the process of their English learning. This process functioned in raising students' awareness of language learning from cognitive, psychological, social, and cultural perspectives. Such conceptual development of metalinguistic awareness of the language and culture helped the students recognize their language learning experiences in the L2 as the process of human development.

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Watanabe, Ken. "Curricular integration between teaching English and Christian education at Japanese Christian schools." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1998. http://www.tren.com.

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Bradley, William S. "Technology, risk and education: English language teaching with computers in Japanese universities." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279850.

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A study of computers and the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Japanese universities was designed to look at interrelations of technology and teachers' theories in these contexts. A review of the literature on technology and education concludes that technology is often given a purposive role in formulating change. However, instead of focusing on the effects of technology, it is argued that technology is better seen as indicative of other purposes. Connections to changing employment opportunities, skills, relations of professionals within the university, as well as problems and issues in teaching and learning with computers, lead to a conceptualization of risk in the teaching approaches in this study. In recent years, Japanese universities face increasing competition for a declining population of students. The financial pressures are concomitant with changes impinging on Japanese universities. These include the first attempts at on-line education in Japan, the need to reduce costs, initiatives from the central government to reform higher education, and demands for new skills. The primary source of data in this study were 14 in-depth interviews with experienced university English teachers who used computers frequently in teaching. A second source was a reflective journal of the author's teaching in a computer classroom for two years. Themes in the data were analyzed and linked to sociological theories of risk. Two strands of risk-oriented theories reviewed, Beck's risk society and Foucault's governmentality, were used to hypothesize simplified approaches to risk, one that is ethical and another that is strategic. Both approaches help explain ambivalences in the pattern of responses in the interview data. How these teachers value the skills of computing in English as necessary but at the same time express reservations for the isolating tendencies of using computers in teaching is an example. The results show that risk is useful in explaining ambivalences while pointing to the need for further research to understand how computing is becoming part of the educational equipment of more and more teaching contexts in Japanese universities and how risk as strategy and ethics opens up possibilities for increased understanding of computers and education.

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Kikuchi, Keita. "LEARNER PERCEPTIONS OF DEMOTIVATORS IN JAPANESE HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOMS." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2011. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/157753.

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CITE/Language Arts
Ed.D.
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate external and internal factors that act as learning demotivators that can discourage students from learning in Japanese high school English classrooms. More than 1,200 students responded to two questionnaires designed to measure five external demotivators, Teachers, Characteristics of Classes, Experiences of Failure, Class Environment, Class Materials, and one internal demotivator, Learners‘ Lack of Interest. Using the Rasch rating scale model and confirmatory factor analysis, the questionnaire results were analyzed to test the inter-relationships among the six hypothesized demotivators. Qualitative data were also obtained from an open-ended questionnaire asking the participants what demotivated them from learning. Two models, a six-factor and a four-factor demotivation model, were tested. As the four-factor model displayed slightly better fit than the six-factor model, it was selected as the final model. In this model, the first-order latent variable that best explained Demotivation was Experiences of Difficulty (b = .74), which was followed by Class Environment (b = .72), and Loss of Interest (b = .71). In contrast to the findings of previous studies, teachers‘ direct behaviors (b = .51) were the least influential of all the demotivators studied. In a follow up study, relationships between the teacher ratings of students‘ motivation, the students‘ perception of their current motivational level and their motivation in high school were investigated. Although it was anticipated that students‘ self-reported motivational states and teacher ratings of students‘ motivation would have a reasonably strong relationship, a series of regression analyses indicated that the teacher rating of students‘ motivation was not significantly related to either motivational level. While students might appear to be motivated in the classroom from the teachers‘ point of view, the students might feel otherwise. The first important finding concerned the two hypothesized demotivation models that were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. In the final four-factor model, the first-order latent variable that best explained Demotivation was Experiences of Difficulty followed by Loss of Interest, and Class Environment. In contrast to the findings of previous studies, teachers‘ direct behaviors were the least influential of all the demotivators studied. The results revealed that Japanese high school English learners can become demotivated due to difficult experiences they encounter or loss of interest in studying in the classroom. While influences from teacher behaviors can also cause demotivation, it appears that the approach or materials that focus on difficult reading passages and/or vocabulary cause the strongest sense of demotivation. The second important findings concerned group differences. The high and low motivation groups and the male and female groups differed in their perceptions of Class Environment. However, no statistically significant differences were found among the first- and second-year groups, and the students attending academic and non-academic schools. The third finding was from the follow-up study. It was found that the teacher rating of students‘ motivation is not related to the students‘ perception of their current motivational level and their motivation in high school time. While students might appear to be motivated in the classroom from the teachers‘ point of view, the students‘ perception of their current motivational level and their motivation in high school can differ greatly. Overall, the results revealed that Japanese high school English learners can become demotivated due to the difficulties they experience in the English language classroom, or a loss of interest in classroom study. While influences from teacher behaviors can also cause demotivation, this study shows that an approach or materials that focus on difficult reading passages and/or vocabulary cause the strongest sense of demotivation.
Temple University--Theses

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Miyahara, Masuko. "Evolving self-identities of second language learners in Japanese higher education." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2012. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020676/.

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Grounded in social constructivism and poststructuralist theory, this thesis explores identity in relation to the learning of English in a foreign language context, namely, Japanese university students studying English in Japan. The research problematizes the current dominant emphasis on the social dimension of identity in Applied Linguistics, and calls for more focus on the psychologically-oriented aspects of the language leamer's identity. Drawing on the concept of possible selves (Markus and Nurius 1986) with the theories of situated learning (Lave and Wenger 1991) and imagined communities (Anderson 1991; Norton 2000) as its main frameworks, the study proposes ways to close the gap between the social and the psychological dimensions of identity construction. In particular, Dornyei's notion of ideal L2 self (2009) is employed to examine how learners in this context construct their identity in the present through imagining their future selves participating in communities of English users and how emotions are implicated in the process. The study documents the language learning experiences of six participants going through the first year of their two-year intensive English for Academic Purposes at a liberal arts college in Tokyo. A narrative-oriented approach to data collection and analysis was adopted as the stories of six focal participants were collected over a period of approximately one academic year through unstructured interviews, which were complemented by various other sources of data, such as diaries. The findings clearly indicate the emergence of three distinct patterns of learners' constructions (or the opposite) of their ideal L2 selves. They also reveal the importance of emotions in the process of identity construction. This study illustrates the transformative and developmental nature of the ideal L2 self where both positive and negative emotions can affect learners' response to and ability to negotiate their social environment.

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Davies, Walter John Havard. "English language education reform in Japanese high schools : a qualitative study." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.439872.

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Okuyama, Yoshiko. "Computer-assisted Japanese vocabulary learning: The choice of script in CALL." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/284198.

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Despite the rapid growth of software use in foreign language education, many language-specific issues in computer-mediated instruction have not been investigated in research. One example is L2 orthography in CALL. When the target language is a non-alphabetic type, such as Japanese, decoding the unfamiliar script becomes a difficult task. Although the type of current Japanese language software ranges from immersion to translation-mediated, the method for script presentation is not spelled out with a clear pedagogical principle. Furthermore, due to the lack of empirical evidence, we have yet to find out which feature of CALL assists most effectively the Japanese beginner's L2 vocabulary acquisition. The present study attempts to evaluate the impact of using Romaji, or alphabetic spellings of Japanese, on beginners' learning of Japanese vocabulary. Sixty-one students enrolled in first-semester Japanese were recruited from two American universities. Individually the subjects participated in a vocabulary CALL experiment created with the HyperCard authoring system. The control and experimental groups were exposed to CALL lessons that taught 40 new Japanese words in conversational context. Immediately after the instructional phase, both groups were assessed on their retention of the vocabulary items in the same computer program. The only difference was the intervention of the Romaji script added to the vocabulary instruction of the experimental group. Both learner processes and performance data were collected and were analyzed. Major findings from this CALL study are (1) contrary to the prediction, the aid of Romaji did not facilitate the learner's short-term vocabulary retention, (2) the subjects who used the "sound" button more frequently recalled more words, and (3) the CALL vocabulary instruction assisted the learners of beginning-level Japanese in retaining a majority of the vocabulary items for recognition posttests but not for production tests. It is implied that the orthographic accommodation in CALL is not effective in assisting English-speaking students' Japanese vocabulary learning. Regardless of the presence or absence of Romaji, the intensive use of audio recordings was found to play the most crucial role in Japanese beginners' short-term vocabulary retention.

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Mullen, Ana-Lisa Clark. "An Investigation into the Motivational Practice of Teachers of Albanian and Japanese." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2015. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5767.

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This study explores the use and effectiveness of motivational strategies with teachers and learners of Albanian and Japanese at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, UT. Each teacher was observed three times using a modified version of the Motivation Orientation of Language Teaching (MOLT) observation scheme that was first used by Guilloteaux & Dornyei (2008). Learners were surveyed using an instrument from that same study. Teachers were surveyed using a modified version of the instrument created by Cheng & Dornyei (2007). Data collected from these three instruments provide insight into (a) the relationship between teacher motivational practice and learner motivated behavior in this context and (b) teachers' awareness and use of motivational strategies. The significant relationship found between teacher motivational practice and learner motivated behavior indicates that teachers' use of motivational strategies does influence learner engagement in this context, similar to results from previous studies. Although teachers were observed using some motivational strategies, they underused many other strategies because they lacked confidence, forgot to use them, or did not see how the strategies support the MTC curriculum. Training teachers to use strategies within the framework of MTC principles may help increase teachers' confidence in using motivational strategies, thus improving the teachers' motivational practice.

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Curtin, Karen. "Negotiating politeness in PCA Intermediate Japanese language classes: A microethnographic constructionist exploration of Japanese politeness behaviors." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471865933.

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34

Chen, Yih-Lan. "Motivation and language learning strategies in learning English as a foreign language /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7593.

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35

Mashav, Asuka H. "An Exploration of the Reasons and Purposes of Non-Japanese Undergraduate Students for Taking a Beginners’ Japanese Language Course." FIU Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2305.

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This study took place at Florida International University (FIU), a large public research university in Miami, Florida and one of largest Hispanic serving institutions in the United States. The purpose of this study was to explore the motivations of non-Japanese undergraduate students for taking a beginners’ Japanese language course. In-depth one-hour semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants before the fall semester of 2014 (Phase I) and 10 after the semester (Phase II). Two major themes emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: attraction to Japanese culture and utility of using the Japanese language. Sub-themes for attraction to Japanese culture were anime and manga, martial arts and various types of games. Sub-themes for utility of using the Japanese language were study abroad and employment which both require residing in Japan. In particular to Phase II, three other themes emerged: a sense of community, openness to others, and investment of time. The findings were analyzed through the lens of L2 motivational-self system. L2 is a foreign language that is not the native language of the speaker. The L2 motivational self-system supports the idea that the images of a possible future-self as a successful learner in L2 acquisition which directs a language learner to have motivating behavior The researcher saw significant changes in participants’ motivational level during qualitative comparative analysis of Phase I and II, especially for those who had and/or gained possible future L2 ideal-self during L2 learning experience. The findings might be used by policy makers or curriculum developers for Japanese language education to refine, enhance or strengthen the competency-goals for Japanese instructions. Moreover, the findings suggested that by creating a personally relevant and inspiring vision of possible-future ideal L2 self, the students will be inherently motivated, which then allows the instructors to be more productive and effective in their teaching.

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Nakata, Yoshiyuki. "Motivation and experience in foreign language learning /." Oxford ; Bern Berlin Bruxelles Frankfurt am Main New York Wien : Lang, 2006. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=015442386&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.

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37

Martz, Chris D. "Production of onset consonant clusters/sequences by adult Japanese learners of English." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3256799.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Speech and Hearing Sciences, 2007.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 20, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: A, page: 0980. Adviser: Raquel T. Anderson.

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Deckner, Sebastian Ephraim. "Issues of pupil motivation for language learning in year 7." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6173/.

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This thesis presents a study of the motivation of UK school pupils to learn a modern foreign language. The study involved 345 year 7 pupils learning either French or German in a large inner-city school based in an urban area in central England. Anecdotal evidence and personal experience suggested a widespread decrease in motivation for modern language learning during the course of year 7. The purpose of the study was to seek evidence substantiating or refuting the hypothesis of a motivational dip and to investigate factors that might affect any perceived changes in motivation. The research design was inspired by elements of the Dynamic Systems Approach (DSA), particularly the idea of attractors and repellers. This study attempted to incorporate elements of DSA through the design of two questionnaires, which were used to collect the data in the autumn of 2007 and spring/summer 2008. The data were analysed employing both quantitative and qualitative methodology and the findings suggested that there was indeed evidence of a motivational dip occurring within the time span under investigation. Contrary to discussions in the literature and wider society the drop in motivation could not be explained through the impact of individual factors, such as the teacher, nor did any combination of factors seem to suggest predictable outcomes. However, the findings did appear to confirm characteristics of a complex dynamic system present in the construct of motivation as suggested by DSA and provided evidence that particular factors may act as strong attractors and repellers. Further to this, the importance for motivation of feelings of belonging and emotional well-being in the classroom situation was strongly implied in the pupils’ responses, suggesting that current teacher training strategies and educational policies may need to be re-focused if this is confirmed in future research.

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Ohara, Tetsushi Languages &amp Linguistics Faculty of Arts &amp Social Sciences UNSW. "Design of learning environment for beginning level Japanese education: classroom as a community." Publisher:University of New South Wales. Languages & Linguistics, 2009. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/43588.

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The context of this study lies in the fact that in Australia, compared to learners of Japanese language in Japan, learners tend to have fewer opportunities to use Japanese. For many learners in Australia, especially beginners, it is difficult to find a variety of opportunities and maintain motivation to seek out and participate in such opportunities to use Japanese. In the present study, the researcher exploits sociocultural approaches (SCT) in a beginning-level Japanese language program in an institutional setting in order to enable language learners to become language users in Australia. Based on Lave and Wenger (1999), the study considers that learning a foreign/second language brings about not only the acquisition of linguistic structures but also leads to changes in participation in communities. Adopting SCT, the researcher created Japanese language revision courses at an Australian university and designed participant roles, rules, and artefacts in the revision courses as well as devising activities that aimed to develop the classroom into a community and to enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression for learners. The results of the study show that the learners developed a sense of community in the classroom through a variety of activities in the revision course. One of the new roles introduced for this study, the role of the nicchoku, had a significant effect on making classroom interaction learner-centred and authentic. Under the leadership of the nicchoku, other learners engaged in learning activities, while the teacher stepped aside to take a support role. The nicchoku altered the typical teacher-fronted classroom sequence of Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) and helped redistribute classroom turns more evenly among classroom members. The study suggests that interactions are important not only to learn language but also to build human relationships. Thus, if the course aims to build both language proficiency and a learning community, it is necessary to create a variety of interaction opportunities in the classroom so that learners can acquire interactional competence/social skills to build a good relationship in a target language in/outside of the classroom. The results of the SPOT show a significant improvement in the Japanese proficiency of all the learners in the revision course. In addition, the study described an acquisition process of the verb ??ogoru?? as an example. The learners encountered the expression, learned its linguistic structure, applied it to a variety of contexts to learn its usage, and used it as a means of self-expression. The process showed that using the linguistic structure as a means of self-expression occurred through, first, acquisition of the linguistic structure, second, exposure to appropriate applications including sociolinguistic aspects in a given context and, third, experiences of a variety of interactions though activities. Thus, all stages of classroom activities are necessary to help learners enhance their ability to use Japanese as a means of self-expression. These findings suggest the classroom can provide learners with opportunities to use Japanese as a means of self-expression if the roles and activities in the classroom are carefully designed to bring learners into learner-centred interaction sequences, which are both qualitatively and quantitatively different from the typical teacher-fronted IRF sequences. In addition, the study indicates that learning a foreign language and becoming a language user is a complex and dynamic process of learners participating in communities that are created, maintained, and changed by their members, the acquisition of linguistic structures and appropriate application to context, and individual learners?? personal attributes and experience.

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Uematsu, Shigeo. "THE LONG-TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION AT JAPANESE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2010. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/60100.

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CITE/Language Arts
Ed.D.
This study was an investigation of the effect of English Learning in the Elementary School (ELES) on both English language skills and affective variables. The participants were 145 public junior high school students in Grades 7 and 8; 72 participants received English language instruction once a week in the local public elementary schools in tokku (special educational district), while the remaining 73 participants had not received any English language instruction in their local public elementary schools. Three research questions were investigated: (a) To what degree do the ELES Experienced students and the Non- Experienced students differ in terms of their English listening, speaking, reading, vocabulary, and grammar skills?; (b) To what degree do the ELES Experienced students and the Non- Experienced students differ on the motivational and attitudinal variables?; (c) To what degree do the affective differences between the Grade 7 and Grade 8 results converge or diverge? The Experienced group outperformed the Non-experienced group to a statistically significant degree on the listening test in Grades 7 and 8, on the speaking test in both Grades 7 and 8, except for the Grade 8 story-telling task. The Experienced group outperformed the Non-experienced group on vocabulary/grammar and reading tests, but the results did not reach statistical significance in part because of a lack of statistical power caused by the modest N-size. Unlike previous research findings, no statistically significant differences were found between the Experienced and Non-experienced students for the four motivational and attitudinal variables of Attitudes Toward Intercultural Communication, Attitudes Toward English Learning, Respect for Self and Others, and Reasons for Studying English. Although the conversion or diversion of English skills could not be obtained because different tests were administered to measure the Grade 7 and Grade 8 participants' English skills, the above affective variables did not converge or diverge from Grade 7 to Grade 8.
Temple University--Theses

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41

Winch, Junko. "An investigation of Japanese educational cultural impact on Japanese language learning in an international context." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2012. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/345955/.

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The current language teaching and learning environment in British higher educational establishments appears to have two main characteristics. Firstly, an unprecedented number of students from various cultural backgrounds now study in the UK, including students with a cultural background that is very different from the Anglophone educational culture. Secondly, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) remains the prevailing teaching method used in higher educational establishments, however, CLT is based on assumptions that relate closely to the Anglophone language teaching and learning environment. This study poses a question of whether CLT should continue to be valued and relied upon in this new international teaching and learning environment. Out of many non-Anglophone educational cultures in the world, Japanese educational culture was selected as the focus of this study to help explore this question. In the empirical study, two teaching methods, Japanisation and CLT, were used to investigate the impact of Japanese educational culture in a British university's Japanese language teaching classes where the British educational culture currently dominates. The study was conducted for one semester at the University of Southampton. The concept of Japanisation is drawn from the study of the Japanese car manufacturing industry and is transferred to a language teaching context. The study was investigated by tests (two assignments and Reading and Written Test) that provided quantitative data, questionnaires that provided quantitative and qualitative data and classroom observation that provided qualitative data. There was no statistically significant difference between the two teaching methods regarding attainment in the two assignments. However, Japanisation was associated with significantly improved results in the Reading and Writing Test, compared with CLT. These results seem to suggest that embedding elements of Japanisation and Japanese educational culture into the teaching of Japanese to non-Japanese speakers in British language classrooms might possibly enhance students' learning of reading and writing skills. This study also presents possibilities as to how the Japanese educational cultural method of teaching could be incorporated into the teaching of Japanese to non-Japanese speakers. In addition, this study indicates that language teachers facing a multicultural classroom might consider the international students' educational cultural expectations and needs in learning. Those who develop the teaching curriculum are encouraged at a strategic level to examine other educational cultures and teaching practices from non-Anglophone countries and assess how they may be combined with CLT to reflect the new international characteristics of teaching and learning environments.

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Okada, Nana. "Foreign Language Anxiety Among Japanese International Students in the U.S." TopSCHOLAR®, 2015. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1468.

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This study aims to investigate the foreign language anxieties Japanese international students at American universities have and the relationship between these anxieties and length of stay in the U.S. 151 Japanese international students answered a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986) followed by demographic questions. The findings from the questionnaire were analyzed through SPSS 21 software. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between students’ level of anxieties and the length of stay in the U.S. Implications for teachers and government officials in Japan, as well as for teachers and university administrators in the U.S., are discussed.

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Satō, Tetsuya. "Learner interaction during pair communication activities in university Japanese as a foreign language classrooms /." view abstract or download file of text, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p1397798.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Oregon, 1999.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-167). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p1397798.

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Moore, Glenn Edward. "Anxiety and motivation in second language learning." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2448.

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This study investigates student and instructor perceptions of the causes and effects of anxiety and motivation's effect on a student's ability to learn a second language. The study focused on the participant's perceptions of the causes and effects of anxiety, and relationships between anxiety and motivation, in both short-term and long-term learners.

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Alzamora, Priscilla M. "A study on motivation in the high school foreign language classroom through focus groups with third- and fouth-year high school Spanish students." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2008. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1065.

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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.
Bachelors
Education
Foreign Language Education -Spanish

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46

Kanda, Makiko. "DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH ORAL PROFICIENCY AMONG JAPANESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/355716.

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Language Arts
Ed.D.
This study is a longitudinal study that investigated the development of English oral proficiency—complexity, accuracy, and fluency—under the pre-task and on-line planning conditions with task repetition among Japanese high school students. This study is unique because it is longitudinal and includes qualitative data. The participants were 15 Japanese high school students whose English proficiency level is categorized as low proficiency. Narrative tasks, post-task questionnaires, journals, and interviews were used in this study. In the narrative tasks, they were asked to describe a four-picture story three times with two minutes planning time, when they were allowed to listen to an ALT (assistant language teacher) tell the story and take notes. They completed a post-task questionnaire and a journal after completing the task. Interviews were conducted two times to further investigate their questionnaire responses and what they wrote in their journal entries. The results showed that low proficiency learners increased oral fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and syntactic accuracy through repeating the same task within a single session, and syntactic complexity and lexical complexity through repeating the same type of task during the academic year. The aural input between the first, second, and third performance can lead them to draw their attention to form-meaning connections, resulting in increased oral performance. In addition, low and intermediate beginners benefited in increasing oral fluency, syntactic complexity, and syntactic accuracy, while high beginners benefited in improving oral fluency and lexical complexity under pre-task and on-line planning conditions with repetition during the academic year. The study suggests that the combined use of pre-task planning, on-line planning, and task repetition have a cumulative effect and can facilitate the development of oral fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and syntactic accuracy for low proficiency high school learns of English. If learners are given the opportunity to plan before and during task performance with repetition, and to make the condition that draws their attention to both form and meaning, it is the most effective strategy to improve oral fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and syntactic accuracy in task-based teaching in the classrooms.
Temple University--Theses

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47

Visgatis, Brad L. "English-related out-of-class time use by Japanese university students." Thesis, Temple University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3637511.

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This project explored aspects of English-related out-of-class time use by Japanese university students. The aim was to identify the salient temporal and motivational features of the episodes.

Two sets of time use and interview data were collected longitudinally (one semester per dataset) through Longitudinal Study 1 (n_initial = 66, n_final = 15), which included participants from three universities in Western Japan, followed by Longitudinal Study 2 (n_initial = 59, n_final = 25), which included participants from two universities in Western Japan. Interviews were with participants from these studies. Participants maintained a record of their out-of-class English-related time use during the semester. These data provide an overview of the out-of-class time use of Japanese university students during a full Japanese academic year. Longitudinal Study 1 data were collected during the fall semester, the second term at Japanese universities. Longitudinal Study 2 data were collected during the spring term, the initial term. Longitudinal Study 1 participants reported 2,529 episodes and Longitudinal Study 2 participants reported 3,322 episodes of out-of-class English access during the study period. One interview was held with the Longitudinal Study 1 participants (n = 15), at the end of fall semester. Two interviews were held with Longitudinal Study 2 participants (n = 25), one during the term and one following summer holiday. Data were examined for their temporal patterns and the contextual and affective features of the time use episodes. The cross-sectional component collected data from participants (n = 1,399) at 11 universities in Western Japan. These participants provided data for the motivational survey (n = 1,399) and at least one week of out-of-class English time use (n = 642) data. The participants in the cross-sectional study reported 2,987 out-of-class English access episodes.

Episode data for all three components (K = 8,838) and the motivational survey data (n = 1,399) were analyzed at the person, group, and amalgamated episode levels for the patterns of participants' time use using ANOVA and nonparametric procedures. The data were also examined using nonparametric procedures to exam the affective variables by the contextual variables of that time use. The episode data regarding participants' ( n = 1,399) time use and motivational survey data were analyzed using ANOVA, factor, Rasch, multiple regression analyses, and structural equation modeling. The analyses of the time use data considered the temporal features of the episodes, the contextual features of the episodes, and the affective features of the time use. The analyses of the motivational data considered two models of the L2 motivational self system, an intention to learn model (ILM) and a time use model (TUM).

Time use results from all three components of this study indicated most out-of-class episodes occur when the participant is alone at home either studying or listening to English music. The most typical episode was listening to music, either alone at home or while commuting. A similar pattern of out-of-class English access was found for participants in all three components of this study. Study-related episodes were not considered enjoyable but also were not seen as causing anxiety. The amount of out-of-class time varied widely between participants, with one longitudinal study participant devoting 40 hours per week to English outside of class.

For longitudinal study participants, the time use episode data, along with interviews, indicated that habit was a primary driver of out-of-class English access, with participants showing stable patterns of time use, whether for enjoyment or study, during the term. For the most part, once participants in the longitudinal components for this project had established a routine it remained fairly consistent during the term.

Moreover, results from the three components showed that none of the participants met the time requirements of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Technology and Culture (MEXT, 2002, 2009b) for out-of-class time allocated to study for their English courses, a 2:1 ration, for every week that they participated in the study. Only a few of the participants met this requirement for out-of-class English access during any week of the study and only if all purposes, including enjoyment, were considered.

This study also addresses the call that Dörnyei (2000) made for research examining the links between motivation and behavior in L2 learning. One unique aspect of this study is the use of a behavioral variable, Time Use, in addition to the survey-assessed latent trait, Intention to Learn, to explore the links between motivational profile and actual behavior.

Participants who rated highly on their Ideal L2 Self rated highly on the Intention to Learn, but not nearly as highly on actual time use on English. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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48

Wood, Connie. "Increasing achievement and motivation in secondary language arts classrooms." Online pdf file accessible through the World Wide Web, 2007. http://archives.evergreen.edu/masterstheses/Accession89-10MIT/Wood_C%20MITthesis%202007.pdf.

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49

Okubo, Misako. "An Analysis of Japanese Learners' Comprehension of Intonation in English." PDXScholar, 1996. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5172.

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Typically, most native speakers of Japanese, who have been taught English in Japan, have had limited exposure to prosodic features of English. Consequently, their ability to understand the meaning of different intonation patterns is limited as well. Though it is generally accepted that intonation plays a crucial role in English communication, comprehensive pedagogical materials for teaching English intonation to native speakers of Japanese are not widely available or used in Japan. This is, in part, due to the complexity of English prosodic features and their abstractness. A better understanding of these barriers requires that the extent and the nature of native speakers of Japanese' understanding of English intonation be explored. The scope of this study is restricted to the examination of the following questions: (1) How well, compared with native speakers of English, can Japanese adult learners comprehend intonation patterns of English? (2) Are there any patterns in their misinterpretations of test sentences, according to three types of errors: paraphrase, categorization, or attitudinal judgments? (3) Can Japanese learners who comprehend one variation of intonation also interpret correctly the same sentence with the contrastive variation of intonation? Seventy-four native speakers of Japanese and thirty-one native speakers of English (control group) listened to twenty pairs of sentences presented with contrastive intonation. For each sentence they were asked to choose one of three different interpretations. Their responses were evaluated, at a 0.05 level of significance, using statistical tests of hypothesis (t and chi-square), and measures of correlation (r, phi and Cramers' s V). Major findings of this study are (1) the Japanese students had more difficulty with comprehending English intonation than the American students; (2) the Japanese students seemed to lack know ledge of grammar-intonation relationships; (3) they were able to understand attitudinal judgment intonation as well as native speakers.

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50

Puthawala, Kayo. "Japanese Language Learners’ Grades and Performance Improvement in High-Performing and Low-Performing Classrooms." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1574805643303484.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Japanese language Motivation in education'

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