Abstract:
This study investigates the relationship between attitudinal factors and language learning of Japanese learners of English. The subjects were 27 Japanese graduate and undergraduate students who studied at a university in the United States. They participated in a survey which consisted of an English proficiency test, questionnaires, and Japanese proficiency tests. The questionnaires were designed to measure their attitudes toward Americans and Japanese, and toward the proper model of spoken English, and also to measure their orientations for learning English and for coming to America. The results showed that 81.5% of the Japanese students in this study had favorable (i.e., integrative) attitudes toward Americans, 44% had integrative orientation for coming to America, and 54% had integrative orientations for learning English. It also showed that 52% of the students considered American English as the proper model of spoken English, and 4% considered Japanese English as the proper model. This attitude toward American English as the model was stronger for males, or for the students who have stayed in America longer. The test score of Japanese or English proficiency tests did not correlate with any attitudinal/orientational factors, but they correlated with the length of the students' stay in America. The correlation between the English test score and the length of stay was significant and negative; the longer the students stayed in America, the lower their English test score was. The correlation between the Japanese test score and the length of stay was also negative but statistically non-significant. Several other correlations were also found.