Language Learning Motivation in Japan (Second Language Acquisition, 71) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783090502 ISBN 13: 9781783090501

Verlag: Multilingual Matters, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

This book synthesises current theory and research on L2 motivation in the EFL Japanese context carried out by internationally recognized researchers and upcoming researcher-educators working in various educational contexts in Japan. Topics covered include the issues of cultural identity, demotivation, language communities, positive psychology, possible L2 selves and internationalisation within a key EFL context. The studies in the book utilise a wide variety of research methodologies aiming to narrow the gap between theory and practice and examine L2 motivation in primary, secondary and tertiary education. This volume will be of interest to research/teacher professionals who are currently engaged in active ESL/EFL practice, EFL educators, researchers, and teacher-trainers both inside and outside Japan, who are interested in research on L2 motivation in general and within the Japanese context in particular, as well as graduate and postgraduate researchers.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Matthew T. Apple is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Ritsumeikan University. His research interests include individual differences in SLA, L2 vocabulary acquisition and educational statistics.

Dexter Da Silva is Professor in the Department of Psychology and Horticulture at Keisen University. He has been working in the field for over 25 years, researching student motivation, identity development, trust and classroom dynamics.

Terry Fellner is Associate Professor at the Center for General Education at Saga University. He is a section editor of @CUE in The OnCUE Journal and his research interests include vocabulary acquisition, outdoor language learning and L2 reading.

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Language Learning Motivation in Japan

By Matthew T. Apple, Dexter Da Silva, Terry Fellner

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2013 Matthew T. Apple, Dexter Da Silva, Terry Fellner
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78309-050-1

Contents

Contributors, vii, 
Preface, xi, 
1 Foreign Language Motivation Research in Japan: An 'Insider' Perspective from Outside Japan Ema Ushioda, 1, 
2 Learning Japanese; Learning English: Promoting Motivation Through Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness Kimberly A. Noels, 15, 
3 Imagined L2 Selves and Motivation for Intercultural Communication Tomoko Yashima, 35, 
4 Exploring Classroom-based Constructs of EFL Motivation for Science and Engineering Students Matthew T. Apple, Joseph Falout and Glen Hill in Japan, 54, 
5 Dual Goal Orientation in the Japanese Context: A Case Study of Two EFL Learners Hideo Hayashi, 75, 
6 A Comprehensive Summary of Empirical Studies of Motivation Among Japanese Elementary School EFL Learners Rieko Nishida, 93, 
7 One Curriculum, Three Stories: Ideal L2 Self and L2-Self-Discrepancy Profiles Kay Irie and Damon R. Brewster, 110, 
8 Effect of Intercultural Contact on L2 Motivation: A Comparative Study Scott Aubrey and Andrew G.P Nowlan, 129, 
9 Motivation, Ideal L2 Self and Valuing of Global English Yoko Munezane, 152, 
10 Motivation, Attitudes and Selves in the Japanese Context: A Mixed Methods Approach Tatsuya Taguchi, 169, 
11 A Longitudinal Perspective on EFL Learning Motivation in Japanese Engineering Students Michael P Johnson, 189, 
12 Demotivators in the Japanese EFL Context Keita Kikuchi, 206, 
13 Positive L2 Self: Linking Positive Psychology with L2 Motivation J. Lake, 225, 
14 What's Working in Japan? Present Communities of Imagining Joseph Falout, Yoshifumi Fukada, Tim Murphey and Tetsuya Fukuda, 245, 
15 Understanding Motivational Evolution in the EFL Classroom: A Longitudinal Study from a Dynamic Systems Perspective Ryo Nitta, 268, 
16 Motivational Design for Effective Second Language Instruction Tomohito Hiromori, 291, 
17 Perspectives on L2 Motivation: Bridging the Gaps between Teachers, SLA Researchers and Teacher Educators Yoshiyuki Nakata, 309, 
Index, 326, 

CHAPTER 1

Foreign Language Motivation Research in Japan: An 'Insider' Perspective from Outside Japan

Ema Ushioda

In this paper, I would like to develop an evaluative commentary on foreign language motivation research in Japan, in my capacity as both an 'insider' and an 'outsider'. In terms of academic credentials, my insider status stems from the fact that I have been 'inside' the L2 motivation field since my doctoral studies in the early 1990s. Most of my research and publication work over the past 20 years has focused on language learning motivation and associated issues of learner autonomy and language pedagogy (e.g. Ushioda, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008; Dornyei & Ushioda, 2009, 2011). From a professional perspective, my insider status stems from the fact that most of my language teaching experience in the decade before I began my doctoral research was with Japanese students of English, both in Japan and in the UK. From a personal, linguistic and cultural perspective, my insider status stems from the fact that I am ethnically Japanese, born of Japanese parents, with whom I continue to interact mostly through Japanese rather than English. At the same time, however, my perspective on foreign language motivation research in Japan is that of someone born and educated outside Japan – namely, in Ireland – and based since 2002 in a UK academic environment. Japan is not geographically 'home' for me, and I have spent only three years of my life living there, as a language teacher in the 1980s.

So with my insider perspective from outside Japan, my purpose is to offer an evaluative commentary on foreign language motivation research in Japan. As evidenced by the range of papers in this volume, foreign language motivation is a major research topic in Japan. It is interesting to consider why this may be so and to evaluate how this body of research in Japan connects with and contributes to the broader field of research on language learning motivation outside Japan. I will begin by considering this wider international field and discuss possible reasons for the current growth of interest in L2 motivation in general. I will then focus on the Japanese context and explore three key areas of inquiry in foreign language motivation research in this context. I will evaluate the empirical, theoretical and pedagogical insights deriving from this body of work, and position these in relation to current broader developments in the field of L2 motivation research. In doing so, I will show how foreign language motivation research in Japan is contributing in no small measure to advancing current thinking in the field, and I will highlight the importance of localized understandings of L2 motivation in shaping theory and classroom practice.

L2 Motivation in the New Millennium: A Vibrant Field of Research

Before we consider why foreign language motivation is currently a major research topic in Japan, it is important to take a step outside Japan and ask a broader question: Why is L2 motivation research such a vibrant research field right now in general? For there is no doubt that it is, as evidenced in the surge of L2 motivation studies and papers published since the turn of the millennium, and continuing to be submitted to international and local refereed journals across the globe. More particularly, within the last few years, several book-length publications on L2 motivation have appeared. These include two research monographs by Nakata (2006) and Gu (2009) and two volumes of conceptual and empirical papers edited by Dornyei and Ushioda (2009) and Murray et al. (2011), respectively. Across these two edited volumes, there are as many as 39 L2 motivation researchers represented, hailing from different parts of the world. To this I should add that I have just edited another volume of papers on international perspectives on motivation in English language teaching (Ushioda, 2013a). In short, within the space of just a few years since 2009, the field of foreign language motivation research will have generated three substantial collections of papers. Prior to this, the most recent anthology of L2 motivation studies dates back to just after the turn of the millennium (Dornyei & Schmidt, 2001). It is clear that L2 motivation research across the globe has become much more vibrant within the last few years, as attested to by the publication of these new collections of studies as well as journal articles, and by the growing popularity of motivation-themed conferences in the language education field. This begs the question: why are we so interested in foreign language motivation these days?

Of course it is difficult to specify the exact reasons for this recent surge in interest in L2 motivation across the globe. Undoubtedly, however, what seems key to the analysis is the nature of this global context – or more specifically, the impact of globalization and global English on all aspects of our lives, including language learning and education. For if we ask ourselves what recent debates within the L2 motivation field have centered on and what has provoked these debates, it is unquestionably the impact of globalization and the dominant status of English.

Theoretical and empirical perspectives

At a theoretical level, these debates have revolved around questioning the continued...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Multilingual Matters
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1783090502
• ISBN 13: 9781783090501
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 340
• Herausgeber: Apple Matthew T., Da Silva Dexter, Fellner Terry
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland