A close look at the effects of the current Courses of Study on Kanagawa University students' English learning

The present study tried to investigate the difference between 2005 and 2006 Freshmen of Business Administration at Kanagawa University in their attitude toward their own English learning. It was expected that the current Courses of Study, which introduced the five-day week system and approximately 30% of reduction in contents of each course subject at high school in 2003, might have influenced 2006 Freshmen's past English learning. The data from a questionnaire given to 2006 Freshmen and those from Shite (2006), which had carried out the same questionnaire and procedure as the present study with 2005 Freshmen were compared and analyzed with regard to three points; their motivation for learning English; their English ability; what they want to learn and what they do not in a university English classroom. It was found that 2006 Freshmen appeared to have more confidence in their English ability and higher proficiency than 2005. Another finding was that although the majority of both Freshmen thought their past English learning was uninteresting, more 2006 Freshmen demonstrated practicality than 2005 in their attitude toward English learning. Moreover, contrary to 2005, 2006 Freshmen tended to prefer learning productive skills such as conversations, which might be attributed to the emphasis the current Courses of Study placed on the development A close look at the effects of the current Courses of Study on Kanagawa University students' English 77 of practical communication abilities. Further studies would be needed to validate the findings. Introduction It is widely said that Japan has been facing the problem of youth's deteriorating scholastic proficiency (Komatsu, 2002; Ikai, 2003; Sato, 2005). As a matter of fact, the results of an international survey of academic ability such as PISA2003 indicated the tendency for Japanese children's academic ability and motivation for learning to decline. Although numerous factors are involved in the outcome of learning, it would be plausible to say that one of the factors that caused this problem is the Courses of Study guideline, which has been revised by Ministry of Education every about ten years since 1958. The Courses of Study are established according to laws and ordinances and provided as the standards for educational courses in all schools. The objective and contents of each course subject are stipulated under their influence (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Science and Technology, 2007). Thus, they exert their authority to much extent not only on the process of authorization of textbooks but also on classroom teaching in terms of what and how to teach. The current Courses of Study has been implemented at elementary and junior high school since 2002 and senior high school since 2003. What is to blame is that with the aim of avoiding the cramming knowledge and allowing children "room to grow" (YUTORI), they introduced the comprehensive five-day school week system, which was accompanied by approximately 30% of reduction in contents of each course subject. Mochizuki (2001) summarized the main features of the current Courses of Study for foreign language instruction at high school. There are seven features: 1 . Foreign language instruction became compulsory. 2 . A main objective is to develop students' practical communication 78 F ,TNI M aV No.33 2007 abilities through foreign languages. 3 . Language activities should be conducted by integrating the four skills. 4. The word "international understanding" was left out of the overall objectives of foreign language instruction. 5. A grammar point to be learned is not allocated to each grade and subject as in the 1989 version of the Courses of Study. 6 . The number of English subject was reduced from 7 to 6. 7. The total number of English words to be covered was reduced from 2000 to 1800. It is not only students but also teachers that are influenced by the Coursed of Study. As many researchers pointed out (Takahashi, 2004; Saida, 2006), what teachers have been the most worried about seems to be that the great emphasis on the development of students' practical communication abilities (feature 2) may hamper students' acquiring fundamental grammar and lexical knowledge (feature 5&7). In the 2006 year, freshmen at university were expected to be the first students that had taken high school class subjects under the influence of the current Courses of Study. That is, the ones who entered a university in 2006 had learned at high school in a different way from those in 2005 with regard to quality and quantity. Although only a few empirical studies prove that the youth's academic ability is deteriorating due to the current Courses of Study (Saida, 2006), it would be worth investigating the difference between 2005 and 2006 Freshmen in their learning. Shite (2006) conducted a survey with Kanagawa University students, a portion of whom were freshmen of Business Administration (BA) in 2005, to examine their views on their English learning and their motivations. The present study intended to replicate Shite (2006) partly in order to explore the difference between 2005 and 2006 Freshmen of BA at Kanagawa University in their attitude toward their own English learning. Moreover, it was expected that the effects of the current Courses of Study on their attitude would be observed. A close look at the effects of the current Courses of Study on Kanagawa University students' English 79 Research Questions In order to examine the effects of the current Courses of Study, the following question was addressed: Are there any differences between 2005 and 2006 Freshmen at Kanagawa University in their views on their English learning? Moreover, the question was investigated with regard to three points: I. their motivation for learning English; 2. their English ability; 3. what they want to learn and what they do not in a university English classroom. Methodology Participants The participants were the first-year Kanagawa University students of Business Administration (BA) in 2005 (n=76) and 2006 (n=72). The data for 2005 and 2006 Freshmen and those of 2005 Freshmen were compared and analyzed. The former data derived from Shite (2006), which employed the same procedure as the present study. According to the results of the placement test, which students take before a semester begins, they are allocated into a certain level of English proficiency slot so that they study with peers whose proficiency levels are similar to each other. The type of class the participants belonged to is as in the following table. Both 2005 and 2006 Freshmen groups consisted of the four different level classes.