Friday
3:00 - 3:50 PM
Azalea
Goal Orientations in Japanese College Students Learning EFL
Neil McClelland
Shimonoseki City University, Japan
This study adopted a socio-psychological approach toward investigating
the orientations that college EFL learners have towards learning English.
In total 153 sophomore students from four universities were surveyed about
the usefulness of leaning English. The results serve to question the traditionally
accepted two-way split between integrative and instrumental goals, and
suggest a multi-factorial perception as more appropriate. The orientations
that emerged coincide well with findings from other EFL contexts, and included-,
foreign travel, a desire for contact with foreigners, media use, personal
development, and cultural comparison. Post hoc analysis of the endorsements
showed a general indifference towards interaction with native speakers
a main goal of learning English, with important implications for the design
and evaluation of EFL programs in Japan.
|