Language Anxiety and Oral
Assessment - Is there any
alternative to the speaking test?

OVERVIEW
1. Define the research aims
2. Glossary of terms
3. Literature review
4. Interviews with teachers on student motivation

5. Interviews with students on student motivation
6. A questionnaire administered to 50 students
7. Limitations of the research

8. Wrap-up and the BIG SO WHAT!?

RESEARCH AIMS
The research aim is to identify motivating anddemotivating factors that affect decisions to major in
English, and the pedagogical consequences ofascertaining the data.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS➤ Contemporary International English (CIE)➤ Nyumon Enshu➤ The Language Cafe (The LC)

LITERATURE REVIEW - THE FOREFATHERS
Gardner and Lambert (1959,1972) identified two motivations to learn
a language….

1. Instrumental Motivation

2. Integrative Motivation

LITERATURE REVIEW - A LATER
CATEGORIZATION
Gardner (1985) later categorized integrative motivation into threecomponents….

1. motivational intensity or effort
2. desire to learn a language
3. attitudes towards learning the language

LITERATURE REVIEW - EXTRINSICMOTIVATION
Skehanin 1989 suggested the ‘carrot and the stick hypothesis’LITERATURE REVIEW - WILLINGNESS TO
COMMUNICATE
It is not uncommon to find people who tend to avoid entering L2
communication situations even if they possess a high level ofcommunicative competence. This implies that there is a further
layer

of

mediatingcompetencetocommunicate and putting this competence into practice.

-

Dornyei 2005 p207

factors

betweentheLITERATURE REVIEW - WILLINGNESS TO
COMMUNICATELITERATURE REVIEW - INTERNATIONALPOSTUREInternational posture is a tendency to see oneself as connectedto the international community, have concerns for international

affairs and possess a readiness to interact with people other thanJapanese.’ - Yashima 2009 p146

LITERATURE REVIEW - INTERNATIONALPOSTURE
Learners of English in Japan regard the notion of an Englishspeaking community freed from the ties of nationality and locality

to be a more powerful motivating factor because it presents tolearners the possibility of legitimate, full membership of that
community. - Sampson 2016 p131

LITERATURE REVIEW - FOREIGNLANGUAGE
ANXIETY
Foreign language anxiety is the feeling of uneasiness, worry,
nervousness and apprehension when learning or using a second or

foreign language.
- MacIntyre and Gardner 1994 p 321

LITERATURE REVIEW - A STUDY INTO LANGUAGE
ANXIETY IN JAPAN
Ohata (2005) found three factors that caused anxiety in the language
classroom….
1. Fear of losing face in front of others
2. Lack of self-confidence in their English proficiency and the subject
matter
3. Culturally fixed beliefs

EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS- THE QUESTIONS
1.What motivates our students to choose English as a major?

2.What demotivates our students to not choose English as amajor?

3.What are the pedagogical consequences of yielding thisinformation?

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE ANSWERS(MOTIVATION)
It’s all about getting the grade, that’s the main reason to be there, get thegrade, graduate, get the job…playing the game - P1

I mean there could be some pressure to please parents going on, that mightspur them on as they want to make mommy and daddy happy, but thenagain that could lead to performance anxiety as well - P2

Most of those kids have already decided on their major long before entering

the classroom, they’re there to just get the credit - P2

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE ANSWERS(MOTIVATION)
There’s a bigger issue going on here, the students all the way
through their education are not aware of the application of what
they’relearning,

they’ve

never

been

concerned

with,

I

mean…’why’ had never been explained to them…it’s just fortests. It’s a stressful but motivating factor of doing XYZ but

that’s not giving them life skills, it doesn’t promote life longlearning - P2

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE ANSWERS(MOTIVATION)
English is still the gatekeeper to getting those elite positions,those who have it can become the elite…but I’m not teaching theelite, so I need to make it meaningful for them - P3

I mean they get it, the students get it, well some of them, they get
the practicality of English, it’s an important tool, and one day theymight need to tick a box someday - P1

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE ANSWERS(MOTIVATION)
The gang you see down the Language Café at lunchtime, speaking

to each other in English, they got intrinsic motivation if that’s

what you want to call it, they are interested in making friends withpeople from different places - P1
The best of them are on the fringes of globalization - P4

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE ANSWERS(DEMOTIVATION)
Who’s going to be the one student to say ‘let’s speak English.’It’s a dilemma, a quandary for them, they know they should betalking to each other in English, but something is stopping themfrom doing so, they lack the confidence to insist on English - P3

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE ANSWERS(DEMOTIVATION)
You know, well…I do not want my students to have an inferiority

complex about their English, it’s O.K…that seems to be implanted inthem at an early age…that they’re not good enough - P3

What you will find is… cultural access is highly regulated in Japan,

these things remain foreign, not what they are concerned with…thedeeper and richer concept of being Japanese is way more important P4

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE
ANSWERS(PEDAGOGICAL)
Speaking tests make them nervous, that’s for sure, some of them who canwrite it all down well enough just can’t do it when it comes to oral
assessment. I mean what are we testing? Informal banter? The students who
can do it are not necessarily the better students if you know what I
mean…there’s a kind of superficial nature to those kids who speak English

well, have good pronunciation from going to Eikaiwa for years, they just thinktheir skills will be enough to see them through, but what I find is that thestudents who had a problem with the language, often their content had more

depth,

they’dtried

harder.

I

assessing….effort and content. - P3

thinkthat’swhat

weshouldbeINTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE
ANSWERS(PEDAGOGICAL)
Oh for sure it’d be nice to know what motivates the students, yeah, but is
it totally necessary to know? I don’t think so, I know more about this thanthey do, I can figure out the course and the content regardless - P1

It’s unfeasible to hit all the motivations because there is just so many ofthem (students), what that ends up in is a generic textbook that’s on traveland food and those topics are boring, those topics don’t hit anyone’s
motivations that’s for sure - P2

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE
ANSWERS(PEDAGOGICAL)
You know, things that were happy with or not so happy with within
the classroom are the things they spoke about at most length.

These interpersonal relationships at their age are so important tothem, they feel they are part of a total equation that leads themto succeed or not when they have to do some speaking test or
whatever - P3

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE
ANSWERS(PEDAGOGICAL)
I’m not terribly convinced that the students are a better judge ofwhat they need than I am, if you see what I mean, this isuniversity

but

they

are

not

encouraged

to

think

independently…what this leads us to is a situation where you, theteacher are in a position to point out their needs, am I going off
topic? I realize needs and motivation are not quite the same - P4

INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - THE
ANSWERS(PEDAGOGICAL)
If a teacher is committed, confident and interested in the students
and what he’s teaching, I don’t have a problem with him being theleader as long as he’s taking the students to a good place - P4

INTERVIEWS WITH 2ND YEARS - THE
QUESTIONSWas English your first choice as a major? Why/why not?
How often do you speak English outside the classroom?

Do you want to use English after graduation? In what ways?

INTERVIEWS WITH 2ND YEARS - THE
ANSWERS
Student A
I like English, English is fun.

I do not have chance to speak in real world, only classroom…now.

Communicating with foreigners, maybe I can, I’m not sure….abroad is more difficult than in Japan,
English teacher in Japan know Japanese.

Student B
I didn’t know words of English, difficult for me.

I will be a civil servant in the future so maybe don’t need English, maybe only for travel.

INTERVIEWS WITH 2ND YEARS - THE
StudentC
ANSWERSI decided to major in CIE because I want to speak with the world, if I can speak English well, then I canspeak to more people easily

English has more information on the internet than Japanese so English is important.

I sometimes hang out with English speaking friends, they are not native speaker, but we have fun.

Student D
I don't like studying English, but speaking can be fun in English. I study because I want to touch English
like movies.

English makes me nervous because I’m not very good at English.

INTERVIEWS WITH 2ND YEARS - THE
ANSWERS
Student E
I lived in Australia for one year when I was a high school student, and I still have friends there…wechat on Skype. Sometimes I can’t remember the words so it’s getting more difficult to do it. I chose

this major because I want to keep my English.
Student F
I want to make friends with people from all over the world.
I use English at work sometimes….nervous but fun.
I can get information about culture from speaking to people in English.

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTSI understand that studying CIE means frequently communicating withmy teacher and classmates in English. Furthermore, I am expected toseek opportunities to speak in English outside of the classroom.
YES 50/ NO 0

I will choose CIE (English) as my major from April 2018
YES 27/ UNSURE 10/ NO 13

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTS
Strongly Agree: SA Agree: A Undecided: U Disagree: D Strongly Disagree: SD

I want to be in situations where I can speak English.
SA: 10 A: 20 U: 5 D: 13 SD: 2 (3.46)
I avoid situations where I need to speak English.
SA: 5 A: 10 U: 5 D: 15 SD: 15 (2.5)‘I want to study abroad again, so I need to find situations for my practice.’‘I don’t look for situations but I don’t avoid them either.’‘I want to be in situations in foreign, but not in Japan.’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTSI want to make foreign friends with English.
SA: 12 A: 25 U:3 D: 9 SD: 4 (3.82)
I might find my future life partner through English.
SA: 2 A: 4 U: 2 D: 33 SD: 11 (2.18)‘It is so fun to have foreign friends.’‘ I want to teach foreign friends about Japan in Japan.’‘I have many foreign friends, do you mean make more?’‘If I study abroad next year, I want to make friends who are not Japanese.’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTSI want to be part of a global community so English is important.
SA: 15 A: 15 U: 10 D: 7 SD: 3 (3.64)‘I want to go abroad to study abroad in global community.’‘In my future, Japan is more international so English is necessary.’‘Tokyo Olympic is coming so we need English for foreigner.’‘I want to experience the world and touch other people’s life.’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTSI’m interested in international current affairs such as the news and using English will help me
understand them better.

SA: 13 A: 25 U: 10 D: 2 SD: 0 (3.98)‘I want to watch CNN in English’‘I sometimes watch the news in English, but I understand almost nothing’‘Understanding English will give me a different view’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTSI feel anxious when speaking English in front of other students.
SA: 8 A: 18 U: 8 D: 15 SD: 1 (3.34)‘Some students are better than me so I feel bad’

‘My level is not so good so I feel embarrassment’‘I make a mistake when speaking so I’m shy to speak’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTS
Understanding the class content before the class is important to prepare myself for English
communication.
SA: 15 A: 15 U: 15 D: 5 SD: 0 (3.8)‘We should know about topics before as a homework’‘If I don't know in Japanese then I don’t know more in English’

I want to know class content to get ready my answers’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTSI’m worried that my English is not good enough so I sometimes speak in Japanese in class.
SA: 20 A: 12 U: 10 D: 7 SD: 1 (3.86)‘Sometimes I don’t know a work so say Japanese language – it’s bad’

‘All in English is too difficult to me’‘Japanese is easy for us’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTS
Speaking tests cause me stress that makes it difficult to communicate.
SA: 37 A: 8 U:2 D: 3 SD: 0 (4.46)‘I HATE SPEAKING TESTS’ (written in capitals)‘I don’t understand why we need to have speaking tests, it is not natural to have a test which is

speaking a conversation, it is like a testing sleeping or eating’‘Please stop speaking tests’QUESTIONNAIRE FOR 50 STUDENTS - THE
RESULTS
15) Japanese people are generally not good at speaking English.
SA: 4 A: 12 U: 20 D: 10 SD: 4 (3.04)‘Japanese are shy so not good at speaking English’‘Japanese are not good because nervous people’‘Japane (sic) is an island in Asia not connected so no use English, only Japanese’‘Japan is changing country becoming more globalization so not true anymore’LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH➤ Lack of Japanese on the student written questionnaire➤ Lack of comments➤ Disparity between questionnaire results and student registration➤ Pedagogical consequence

SO WHAT!?
➤ They’re on the fringes of globalization.
➤ Motivation both extrinsic and intrinsic exists in varying measures.
➤ There is evidence of International Posture and WTC.
➤ Without clear pedagogical consequences, the validity of motivation

research is questioned.

HOWEVER…..
It’s about the individual narrative, it’s just not that clear. - P3

DISCUSSION STATEMENTS/QUESTIONS MOTIVATION➤ Do you think the students are mature enough to articulate theirmotivation for L2 acquisition?
➤ Will a written questionnaire yield genuine research data?
➤ Generic textbooks focussed on topics such as food, travel etc.

are boring and don’t ‘hit the motivations.’➤ Is quantitative data collection a waste of time in motivation

research?
➤ The ‘why’ has never been properly explained to our students.
➤ Does the teacher need to know what motivates their students?

DISCUSSION STATEMENTS/QUESTIONS LANGUAGE➤ The ‘all-English’ANXIETY
classroom demotivates as depriving access to
the L1 creates unnecessary anxiety.
➤ There should be no ‘surprise element’ in the classroom.
➤ Speaking tests make students anxious so should be avoided.
➤ Speaking tests can be superficial in nature, how can conversation

be graded!?