山陽論叢
山陽論叢 第第 21
21 巻
巻 （2014）(2014)

論文

L2 Learning Motivations of Japanese College Students:
A Survey Ⅱ
清水 律子 1)・久保田 靖子 1)・中野 香 1)
Ritsuko Shimizu, Yasuko Kubota, and Kaori Nakano

キーワード：態度、意欲、学習目的、第二言語学習、EFL
Key words: attitudes, motivation, orientation, L2 learning, EFL

1 Introduction
The study reported here formed the second part of an investigation into L2 learning
motivations of Japanese college students. Our previous research revealed similar
attitudinal tendencies and motivation patterns across college students with threedifferent majors (Shimizu et al., 2013). These students also agreed on the four mostimportant reasons for learning English. However, a significant difference was observed
between four-year and two-year college students in their overall attitudes towardlearning English and in the strength of their motivation for learning English. The
four-year college students showed significantly more positive attitudes towards
learning English and were more motivated to learn the language. They also placed
greater importance on their reasons for learning English than did the two-year college
students. The results also indicated that students’ attitudes and motivation levels weresignificantly correlated with their English proficiency levels.
Examination of the students’ major reasons for learning English indicated that somestudents were more interested in foreign people and cultures than others. Furthermore,
results showed that although students seemed to agree on the importance and value oflearning English, they did not feel a clear and immediate need to learn the language.
The purpose of the present study is twofold: (1) to confirm the tendencies observed in
the 2013 study regarding Japanese college students’ attitudes, motivation, and reasonsfor learning English, and (2) to further analyze their reasons for learning English inorder to investigate the orientation construct in the context of learning English as aforeign language (EFL) in Japan. First, we review some past research on theorientation construct in EFL contexts. Then, we present the research questions and1)

山陽学園大学総合人間学部言語文化学科
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清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Survey

methods of the present study. Finally, the results of the analyses are reported, followedby discussion.
2 The Orientation Construct in EFL Learning Contexts
Clément and Kruidenier (1983) investigated the influence of contextual factors on
the L2 learners’ reasons for learning a target language (orientations). The participantsin the study were 871 L2 learners in Canada, who were divided into eight groups
according to ethnicities (English or French), target languages (official language or
foreign language), and cultural composition of their communities (multicultural or
unicultural). They reported that four orientations to L2 acquisition were common
across all the groups: “Instrumental,” “Travel,” “Friendship,” and “Knowledge.” Fivefurther orientations, including “Social-Cultural,” emerged in subsets of the eightgroups. The authors posited that knowledge, travel, friendship, and instrumentality
should be considered as independent orientations regardless of contextual differences.
They also pointed out that sociocultural orientations in EFL learning contexts “mightlack the affective connotation proper to the integrative orientation” (p.288).
In order to investigate the contextual influence on L2 learning pertaining to EFL
learning contexts outside Canada, Dörnyei (1990) examined 134 EFL learners in
Hungary who were enrolled in a language school run by a British organization. By
examining the relationships among seven identified orientations and the actual fieldsof language use reported by the learners, he proposed an EFL motivation constructconsisting of four components: “Instrumental Motivational Subsystem,” “Integrative
Motivational Subsystem,” “Need for Achievement,” and “Attributions about Past
Failures.” The instrumental motivational subsystem concerns professional utility,
whereas the integrative motivational subsystem comprises four loosely related but
distinct dimensions. Each dimension in (1) to (4) below is related to the orientations
identified by Clément and Kruidenier (1983), given in brackets.
(1) a general interest in foreign languages, cultures and people (social-cultural)(2) a desire to broaden one’s view, to be cosmopolitan and up-to-date (knowledge)(3) a desire for new stimuli and challenges (friendship and travel)(4) the desire to get actually integrated (travel)
Unlike the integrative motive in the context of learning English as a second
language (ESL), which is characterized by the desire to become a member of the target
language community, the integrative subsystem in EFL contexts is characterized by
the desire to accept “the cultural and intellectual values associated with the language”(Dörnyei 2003, p.6).
Examining motivational factors including orientations and other affective factors
among EFL learners in Japan, Kimura et al. (2001) conducted a survey of 1027
2

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Japanese EFL learners in different grade levels. Six motivational factors werereported, the main ones being the “Intrinsic-Instrumental-Integrative Motive” and the“Extrinsic and Instrumental Motive.” The former was related to an interest in foreign
languages, cultures and people including American/British culture and people. It
should be noted that survey items loaded most heavily on this factor concerned positive
attitudes towards American/British culture.

The latter component (“Extrinsic andInstrumental Motive”) was mainly related to vocational benefits and English tests andexaminations.
When the target language is English, which often assumes the role as aninternational language, the target L2 group may not be limited to English-speaking
countries. It may well go beyond national boundaries to represent the international
community in general where English is used as an auxiliary language for interculturalcommunication. Nakata (1995), for example, reported on a group of Japanese learners
with an international orientation toward learning English, who displayed knowledgeof and an interest in international issues. Yashima (2000) investigated reasons forlearning English among 389 Japanese college students with non-English majors andfound a cluster of three highly correlated orientations, namely “Intercultural
Friendship,” “Travel and Passive Socio-cultural,” and “Interest in Anglo/American
Culture.” She argued that these orientations reflected Japanese learners’ interest in
and willingness to contact different cultures outside Japan, and pointed out thesignificant role that culturally and interactionally driven orientations play in Japanese
EFL contexts. “Work in the International Community/International-mindedness”
emerged as another orientation that reflected the learners’ view of English as a lingua
franca. Based on these findings, Yashima (2002) proposed the concept of “International
Posture” that reflects “a general attitude toward the international community that
influences English learning and communication among Japanese learners” (pp.62-63).
She postulated that such an international posture affected learners’ L2 motivation,
increasing their L2 communication confidence and thereby their willingness tocommunicate in the target language.
Sibuya (2007) examined the orientation construct of 350 Japanese college learners ofEnglish. Among the five orientations identified in his study was “Interest in Foreign
Cultures and People,” which Sibuya (2007) pointed out to be similar to theinternational orientation suggested by Nakata (1995), and “Intercultural Friendship”
identified by Yashima (2000). Sibuya (2007) posited that motivated college learners
had various specific orientations such as “Interest in Foreign Cultures and People,”“Recognition of Future Usefulness/Necessity,” and “Intrinsic Orientation,” whereas
less motivated college learners displayed more vague and extrinsic orientations.
It is worth mentioning that both Yashima (2000) and Sibuya (2007) included
statements concerning vague reasons for learning English in the questionnaire itemsof their surveys. In the Japanese context, where English is primarily learned as a3

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清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Survey

required subject at school, it is not uncommon for college learners to continue learning
it without establishing their own reasons for learning the language. In Sibuya’s (2007)
study, such vague reasons were reported to have a negative association with EFL
learning motivation.
The review of the literature above suggests that one of the major components of EFL
orientation in Japan is an “International Orientation,” which involves learners’
interest in foreign issues and their willingness to interact with people and cultures offoreign countries. Such interests may drive learners to seek sociocultural activities
involving foreign countries, such as travelling abroad and making friends withforeigners, and also to appreciate foreign art and culture. Another powerful componentof the Japanese EFL orientation seems to be “Instrumentality,” that is, learning
English primarily for the purpose of professional utility. A less positive aspect ofinternational and instrumental orientations appears to be reflected by theabove-mentioned vague sense of necessity, indicating a failure to establish clear andpersonal goals in the pursuit of language learning.
3 Research Design
3.1 Research Questions
The present study aims to address the following questions:
1.

What are the attitudes towards and motivations for English language learning
among Japanese college-level non-English majors?

2.

Are there any differences in attitudes and motivation (1) among students withdifferent majors, and (2) between the classes of 2013 and 2014?

3.

What is the nature of Japanese college students’ L2 learning orientation?

4.

What are the main reasons for these students to learn English?

5.

Are there any differences in English learning orientations (1) among students
with different majors, and (2) between the classes of 2013 and 2014 and (3)between two-year and four-year college students?

3.2 Method
3.2.1 Participants and Procedures
The participants in the present study were 255 Japanese first year students atcollege. Of these, 123 participants were two-year junior college students majoring inChild Education or Food Science, and 132 were four-year college students majoring in
Liberal Arts or Health Science. At the time of the survey, 83.5% of the participants had
never been abroad and none had stayed in an English speaking country for more thansix months.
The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire in April 2014, on the first dayof the students’ English classes. The questionnaire was the same as that used in the4- 90 -

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2013 survey (Shimizu et al., 2013) and included five items relating to “Attitudes,” eight
to “Motivation,” and 25 to “Orientation,” all written in Japanese. The participants wereasked to respond to each statement by indicating their degree of agreement on a scaleof one to five (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree). The 26 Food Science students
responded only to the Orientation section of the questionnaire.
3.2.2 Data Analysis
The items in the Attitudes part of the questionnaire reflect students’ attitudes
towards the English language and learning the language. The scores for the two
negative statements (“Learning English is a waste of time” and “We don’t need English
as part of school programmes”) were reversed for the purposes of the present analysis.
All the item scores were added to produce an average score, which is named ‘Attitude
Index’ (Cronbach’s α=.89). The items in the Motivation part of the questionnaire
indicate the strength of students’ desire to learn English as well as the effort they arewilling to exert to learn the language. The average score for these items yielded the‘Motivation Index’ (Cronbach’s α=.92).
The Attitude and Motivation Indexes were compared among the three groups withdifferent majors (Liberal Arts, Health Science, and Child Education) by using t-tests,

ANOVA, and Tukey’s tests, and t-tests were also used to compare the 2013 and 2014
results for the Attitude and Motivation Indexes.
A principle component analysis with Varimax rotation was conducted to delineate
the orientation construct for learning English among the students with four different
majors (Liberal Arts, Health Science, Child Education, and Food Science). Five factors
were revealed, with one of these receiving appreciable loadings from only two items,
and one item showing approximately the same loading level for three different factors.
Those three items were, therefore, omitted from the present analysis. One further item(“I need to learn English to enter into graduate school”) was also omitted because its
mean score suggested that it concerned very few students. A principle component
analysis of the remaining 21 items yielded four factors, whose eigenvalues were alllarger than one and the accumulated percentage of variances explained was 70.17%.
Finally, the mean score for each item in the Orientation part was calculated to givean indication of the relative importance in students’ perception of each statement as areason for learning English. The rank order of reasons and their levels of importancewere compared among the three groups with different majors (Liberal Arts, Health
Science, and Child Education). The data from the 26 Food Science students were
excluded from this final part of the analysis because the sample size of the Food
Science group was much smaller than the other three groups. All of the above analyses
were conducted by using SPSS 16.0 for Windows.

5- 91 -

清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Survey

4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Attitude Index
In order to identify any differences in attitudes among the students with each of thethree majors, the average scores of each person across Attitude items were calculated(see Figure 1).

percentage of groups

Figure 1. Mean Distribution for Attitude Items
50
40

LA

30

HS

20

CE

10
0
5.0-4.1

4.0-3.1 3.0-2.1
scores

2.0-1.0

Note. LA=Liberal Arts; HS=Health Science; CE=Child Education

As shown in Figure 1, the average scores of more than half the Health Science
students were distributed from points 5.0 to 3.1, whereas those of the Liberal Arts andChild Education students were distributed from points 5.0 to 2.1. This suggests morepositive attitude towards English among Health Science students than in the othertwo groups. Means and standard deviations of the three groups are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Three Groups

N

Group

Liberal Arts
Health Science
Child Education

52
80
97

M

SD

3.58
3.61
3.27

0.99
0.86
0.88

ANOVA was conducted to investigate the significance of differences among the threegroups.

The

results(F(2,226)=3.85, p=.02,

indicatedη2=.03).

asignificant

differences

among

the

groupsGiven these results, a Tukey’s multiple comparison

test was performed to examine where precisely the differences lay. As seen in Table 2,
significant differences were found between the Health Science and Child Educationgroups (d=.04). However, there were no significant differences between the Liberal
Arts and Child Education groups, or between the Liberal Arts and Health Sciencegroups.

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Table 2. Results of Pair-wise Comparisons across Groups (Tukey)

Compared Group(s)Liberal Arts

Health Science
Child Education
Liberal Arts
Child Education
Health Science
Liberal Arts

Health Science
Child Education

p

0.983
0.104
0.983
0.032*
0.032*
0.104

d

0.03
0.34
0.03
0.39
0.39
0.34

*p<.05In terms of the mean score for each item, the three groups showed similar
attitudinal tendencies (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Mean Distribution of Attitude by Item
5mean score

4
3

LA

2

HS
CE

1
0
1

2

3
items

4

5

As is clear from Figure 2, all groups showed strong disagreement with items (1) “I
like English” and (3) “Learning English is fun.” In contrast, the means for items (4)“Learning English is a waste of time” and (5) “We don’t need English as part of school
programmes” were high, indicating strong agreement. (Items (4) and (5) werereverse-scored items.) It is worth noting that the Child Education group showed rather
lower points on item (2) “I am interested in English.”
Tukey’s multiple comparison test revealed statistically significant differences

between the Health Science and Child Education groups. A t-test was run to determine

whether any significant differences between four-year and two-year college students
existed for each item. The t-test revealed significant differences for items (2) “I aminterested in English” (t(227)=3.78, p<.001, d=.19).

A further t-test was run to determine whether there was a significant difference in

Attitude Index between the 2013 and 2014 groups. No significant difference wasrevealed.
A number of similarities and differences were evident from a comparison of the threegroups on the Attitude Index. According to the Tukey’s test, the Health Science and7- 93 -

清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Survey

Child Education students showed different attitudes towards learning English. On theother hand, all groups appeared not to like English much and not to think thatlearning English is fun. However, the groups appeared to agree that learning English
is not a waste of time (items 4) and they believe English is indispensable for school
education (item 5). Overall, these results are quite similar to those of Shimizu etal.(2013).
4.2 Motivation Index
In order to identify differences in motivation among the three groups, the averagescores across Motivation items were calculated (see Figure 3).

percentage of groups

Figure 3. Mean Distribution for Motivation Items
50
40

LA
HS
CE

30
20
10
0
5.0-4.1

4.0-3.1

3.0-2.1scores

2.0-1.0

As shown in Figure 3, most of the average scores of the Liberal Arts and Health
Science students were distributed between points 5 and 2.1. In contrast, most of theaverage scores of the Child Education students were distributed from points 4.0 to 1.0.
Means and standard deviations of the three groups are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of the Three GroupsGroup

Liberal Arts
Health Science
Child Education

N

52
80
97

M

3.13
3.20
2.76

SD

1.03
0.84
0.78

ANOVA was conducted to investigate significant differences among the three groups.

The results indicated a significant difference across the groups (F(2,226)=6.43, p=.002,

η 2=.05). Given this result, a Tukey’s multiple comparison test was performed to
examine where the differences might lie. As seen in Table 4, significant differenceswere found between the Health Science and Child Education groups (d=.54) andbetween the Liberal Arts and Child Education groups (d=.42).

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Table 4. Results of Pair-wise Comparisons across Groups (Tukey)

Compared Group(s)Liberal Arts

Health Science
Child Education
Liberal Arts
Child Education
Health Science
Liberal Arts

Health Science
Child Education

p

0.872
0.039*
0.872
0.003*
0.003*
0.039*

d

0.08
0.42
0.08
0.54
0.54
0.42

*p<.05

Examination of the means for each item show that all three groups showed similartendencies toward the items (see Figure 4). As is clear from Figure 4, however, theChild Education students responded rather negatively to items (1), (7), and (8) (seebelow).

Figure 4. Mean Distribution of Motivation by Item

A t-test was conducted for each item to determine whether there were any
significant differences between two-year and four-year students. The results showedsignificant differences in their responses to items (1) “I strongly wish to learn English”(t(227)=3.82, p<.001, d=.51), (7) “After I graduate from college, I want to continue tostudy English” (t(227)=4.47, p<.001, d=.57), and (8) “If English were not taught at
school, I would study it on my own” (t(227)=3.76, p<.001, d=.48).

In addition, differences in Motivation Index between the 2013 and 2014 participants

were examined. The t-test revealed no significant differences.

The results of the Tukey’s test and t-test suggest that the Child Education students

were less motivated to learn English than were the other two groups. The t-test resultsfor items (7) and (8), in particular, indicated that the Health Science and Liberal Arts
students were more independent in terms of their English learning than were theChild Education students. However, all three groups revealed similar motivationaltendencies in terms of each item. These results are the same as those reported by
Shimizu et al. (2013).

9- 95 -

清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Survey

4.3 Orientation Construct
A principle component analysis was performed for the 21 questionnaire items in the
Orientation part of the questionnaire to obtain four factors. The item loadings whichwere larger than 0.4 are shown in Table 5.
Factor 1 received appreciable loadings from 10 items that centered around“International Orientation” discussed in the literature review. Similar factors werereported in the previous research, such as the “Interest in Foreign Cultures andPeople” in Sibuya (2007), “Intrinsic-Instrumental-Integrative Motive” in Kimura et al.
(2001), and a cluster of three culturally driven orientations in Yashima (2000). Thisorientation involves learners’ interest in and willingness to interact with foreigners
and foreign cultures, including native English-speaking people and countries. As
English largely represents the world outside Japan in general, it is likely that theinternational community and English-speaking countries are closely associated witheach other in the minds of Japanese learners. As all the present items concern
interpersonal and cultural aspects of foreign countries, Factor 1 of the present study
was labeled “International Friendship.”
Factor 2 obtained heavy loadings from six items. This factor was labeled“Employment and Education” because four of the items are associated with vocational
utility and general education. Sibuya (2007) identified a similar factor called“Recognition of Future Usefulness/Necessity,” and Yashima (2000) spoke of“Instrumental Orientation” and “Academic Importance of English.” These are all
associated with instrumentality and the acquisition of knowledge in L2 orientation.
However, in the present study, there are two further items showing heavy loadings forthis factor, namely item (4) “There is no specific reason, but I think English is useful”
and item (25) “There is no specific reason, but I want to be able to speak English.” Thisapparently contradictory phenomenon could possibly be explained by the heavy
influence of contextual factors on EFL learning. When strong values are attached tothe target language, such as in the case of English in Japan, learners exposed to thesevalues tend to believe that it is important to learn the language. However, due to a lackof direct contact with the target language in their daily life, they fail to establish
personal goals in the learning of English, and continue to learn the language with theabove-mentioned “vague sense of necessity” (Yashima, 2000). It is possible that the“Employment and Education” orientation is closely associated with the values
attached to English in Japanese society in the minds of the participants of the present
study.
Factor 3 also gathered appreciable loadings from six items. Four of these wererelated to international occupation or volunteer activities, and the other two items
indicate an interest in international activities and qualification tests. Therefore, thisfactor was called “Work in the International Community,” following the label used in
Yashima’s (2000) study.
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Finally Factor 4 was named “English Songs and Films” because it was marked withhigh loadings from two items concerning English songs and films. This may also taken
to reflect students’ strong interest in English-speaking people and countries. Sibuya(2007) reported on learners’ interest in English music and films as a part of the factor“Interest in Foreign Cultures and People,” whereas Yashima (2000) identified“American/British Songs” as a separate orientation.
Table 5. Factor Matrix for Orientation Items: Principle Component Analysis with

Varimax Rotation
Item #
20
19

Questionnaire items

understand cultures and peoples of English-speaking countries.

.75

travel to various countries and areas in the world.

.74

participate in exchange activities of foreign countries.

8

21

1

understand various cultures and peoples in the world.

.73

11

make friends with English-speaking peoples.

.69

24

like English-speaking peoples and their countries.

.55

18

participate in international volunteer activities.

13

useful in getting a job and at work.

14

.67

no specific reason, but I want to be able to speak English.

16

allows me to acquire new ideas and broadens my horizon.

17

work in international organizations such as the U.N.

15

work in a foreign country in the future.

3

get high scores on qualification tests such as TOEIC.

23

.77

.51

.41

.77

.73

.65

.65

understand English films and dramas.

9
get information using ICT such as the Internet.
Percentage of Variance Explained
Cumulative Percentage of Variance Explained

.50

.71

.52

like English songs.

5

.42

.74

need English for my future occupation.

6

.52

.75

no specific reason, but I think English is useful.

25

4

.49

.72

necessary to be a modern educated person.

4

3

.73

travel to English speaking countries.

make friends with peoples of various countries.

2

.75

7

12

Factors*

.82

.70
26.31
26.31

16.42
42.73

15.88
58.61

.45
11.56

70.17

*Item loadings greater than .40 are shown in the table above.

4.4

Main Reasons for Learning English

In the 2013 survey (Shimizu et al., 2013), the mean scores of students’ orientations
were compared across the three groups with different majors. The comparison revealed
that the three groups had similar orientations toward their English learning. Items (4),(13), (14), and (25) were shared as the most important reasons, and items (3), (15), (17),and (22) were accorded the least importance by all the groups. Their main reasons
seemed to arise from their recognition of learning English in vague generalities,
whereas their least important reasons were specifically those requiring a certain
outcome in learning English.
The 2013 study also showed different tendencies among the two-year and four-year11- 97 -

清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Survey

students. The highest mean scores in the Child Education group were lower and more
widely spread in comparison with those of the other two major groups, and thecoverage of their mean confidence intervals was also different.
The results of the present survey were similar to those of 2013 in terms of both thehighest and lowest means for student’s orientation. Items (4), (13), and (14), which areassociated with Factor 2 “Employment and Education,” once again fall amongst thefive highest mean scores. As for item (25), students in the Liberal Arts and Child
Education groups regarded this as an important reason for learning English.
However, the Health Science students in the present study placed less emphasis on
this item (Mean(SD)= 3.52(1.06)), despite it being this group’s most important reason
in 2013. Furthermore, this group considered items (7) and (8), which are about English
for traveling, more important than item (25). The 2014 Liberal Arts students regarded
item (11) “I want to make friends with English-speaking peoples.” as more important
than item (10) “It is cool to be a competent English user,” which was highly emphasized
by this group in 2013. Items (7), (8), and (11) are associated with Factor 1“International Friendship.” Although the present students may not have a mental
picture of themselves using English in a practically responsible manner in a work or
volunteer environment, they did indicate that they are sufficiently interested to get
involved with recreational activities involving the use of English, such as traveling or
making foreign friends. The mean scores of the 2014 Health Science students ingeneral are lower than those in 2013.
Table 6: The Five Most Important Reasons for Learning English across Groups
Health Science

Liberal Arts

Child Education

M(SD)
2013

item

M(SD)
2014

M(SD)
2013

item

M(SD)
2014
(n=97)(n=115)4.02(0.93)(13)

3.96(1.03)

4.02(1.11)(4)

3.67(0.8)

3.44(1.24)

4(0.93)(14)

3.81(1.14)

3.83(1.05)(13)

3.48(0.9)

3.37(1.31)

3.84(1)4.04(0.94)(4)

3.79(1.16)

3.94(0.87)(14)

3.44(0.94)

3.26(1.28)(8)

3.75(1.14)

*

(25)

3.69(1.18)

3.83(1.17)(25)

3.39 (0.98)

3.38(1.27)(7)

3.68(1.18)

3.92(1.18)(11)

3.6(1.21)*(10)

3.21(1)

3.39(1.37)

rank
2014

item

1

(13)

2

(14)

3

(4)

4
5

M(SD)
2014
(n=80)
3.93(0.95)
3.85(1.08)(n=89)(n=52)(n=47)

M(SD)2013*This item was not among the five most important reasons in 2013.

The Child Education students of 2014 revealed exactly the same items as their five
most important reasons as in 2013. All of these are related to Factor 2 “Employment
and Education.” The mean scores of the 2014 group in general are slightly higher thanthose in 2013.

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巻 （2014）(2014)

As for the least important reasons to learn English, in all three groups, there were
only a few students who indicated that they might use English if they enter graduate
school, take a job in the U.N., or work outside Japan. These items were also regarded
as least important in 2013, and they are related to Factor 3 “Work in the International
Community,” identified in the previous section.
Table 7: The Five Least Important Reasons for Learning English across Groups
Health Science
rank
2014

item

1

(22)

2

(17)

3

(3)

4

(15)

5

(9)

M(SD)
2014
(n=80)
1.98(0.95)
2.38(1.33)
2.48 (1.2)
2.49(1.35)
2.75(1.02)

Liberal Arts

M(SD)
2013

item

1.89(1.17)(22)

2.28(1.31)(17)

2.54(1.28)(15)

2.58(1.4)(18)

2.69(1.12)(1)(n=89)

M(SD)2014(n=52)
2.29

Child Education
M(SD)
2013

M(SD)
2014
(n=97)(n=115)(22)

1.64 (0.84)

1.63 (0.88)(17)1.82 (0.92)

1.76 (0.95)(15)

1.86 (0.89)

1.96 (1.04)

2.7 (1.2)(3)

2.1 (0.94)

1.93 (1.12)

*

(18)

2.26 (1.04)

2.19 (1.2)(n=47)
2.04(1.03)(1.02)(1.14)(1.13)(1.32)(1.21)

2.38
2.44

2.63

(1.25)

M(SD)
2013

item

2.06
2.21

2.67

(1.18)*The item was not among the five least important reasons in 2013.

Students of both Health Science and Child Education also showed little interest in
the TOEIC qualification test, possibly because they have specific future jobs in mind
that usually do not require English skills. As the students in Liberal Arts do not
generally have a particular job in mind, and will get involved in job-hunting activities
later, they ought to put more emphasis on item (3) than the other two groups, as a good
TOEIC score could be beneficial. Their mean score for item (3) in 2014 was slightly
higher than that in 2013 (2.83(1.82) as opposed to 2.57(1.28)). Students in Child
Education and Liberal Arts also put less importance on international volunteer
activities (item (18)), and Health Science students appeared to have less intention to
get information via ICT in English (item (9)).
From the above, it can be said that the results of the 2014 survey show the sametendencies as did those in 2013. The most important reasons for learning English
among the students in four-year college, with Health Science and Liberal Arts as
majors, were associated with Factor 2 “Employment and Education” and Factor 1“International Friendship,” whereas the most important reasons for two-year college,Child Education students were related only to Factor 2 “Employment and Education.”
It was also found that the least important reasons were related to Factor 3 “Work in
the International Community” for all three groups.
A T-test was performed to determine where the differences between two-year and13- 99 -

清水 ・ 久保田 ・ 中野 ：Learning
L2 Learning
Motivationsof
of Japanese
A Survey
Ⅱ Ⅱ
清水・久保田・中野：L2
Motivations
Japanese College
CollegeStudents:
Students:
A Surveyfour-year college students lay in their L2 orientations. The factor scores obtained by
the principle component analysis were used for this analysis. The results showed thatthe two groups were significantly different in two of the four orientations, namely“International Friendship” (t(253)=2.12, p=.035, d=.13) and “Work in International

Community” (t(253)=4.48, p<.001, d=.27). No significant differences were observed forthe remaining orientations, namely “Employment and Education” and “English Songsand Films.” These results suggest that the four-year college students were moreinternationally orientated in learning English than were the two-year college students.
It may be that those who chose to enter four-year college tend to seek knowledge andinteractions with people beyond the boundaries of their immediate circle, whereas
those in two-year college tend to stay within their familiar environments.
5 Summary
The present study set out to investigate L2 learning motivations among Japanesecollege students. The students in this study were found to place high value on learning
English, but showed only moderate levels of intrinsic interest in learning the language.
They expressed a wish to learn English and to try hard in class, but they were lesswilling to get positively involved in the learning processes. These findings wereconsistent across the studies in 2013 and 2014.
Further analysis of the students’ reasons for learning English yielded four distinct
orientations, namely “International Friendship,” “Employment and Education,” “Workin the International Community,” and “English Songs and Films.” Among these, thestrongest orientation was found to be “Employment and Education,” and the weakest
orientation, “Work in International Community.”
The 2013 survey had revealed a significant difference between two-year andfour-year college students in their L2 learning motivation, and this difference wasconfirmed in the 2014 survey. Two-year college students showed less interest in
English and less willing to exert efforts to learn the language. They attached lessimportance to the reasons for English learning than their four-year counterparts. The
2014 survey also indicated that the difference between the two groups was not only
quantitative,

but

also

qualitative.

Four-year

collegestudents

were

more

internationally orientated, that is, they were more interested in cultural andinteractional contact with the world outside Japan in their pursuit of learning English.
It should be noted that since two-year college students in our studies majored in Child
Education or Food Science, possible influences of their college study fields should betaken into consideration when interpreting the results.
Japanese college students’ orientations toward learning English appear to be heavily
influenced by the values attached to the language by society.

The strong values

associated with English in Japan could promote L2 learning by helping learners
positively seek interactional and intercultural contact with the world outside Japan.
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山陽論叢
山陽論叢 第第 21
21 巻
巻 （2014）(2014)At the same time, however, those social values could cultivate a vague sense of thenecessity to learn English, making it harder for effective personal learning processes totake place. Measures need to be proposed on how to help learners personalize theirlearning goals, so that they can sustain reasonable levels of motivation for learning
English.

References:
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I. The Effects of Ethnicity, Milieu, and Target Language on Their Emergence.

Language Learning 33:3, 273-291.

Dörnyei, Z. (1990) Conceptualizing Motivation in Foreign-Language Learning.

Language Learning 40:1, 45-78.

Dörnyei, Z. (2003) Attitudes, Orientations, and Motivations in Language Learning:

Advances in Theory, Research, and Applications. Language Learning 53:S1, 3-32.

Kimura, Y., Y. Nakata, and T. Okumura. (2001) Language Learning Motivation of EFL
Learners in Japan – A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Various Learning Milieus.

JALT Journal Issue 23.1, 51-72.

Nakata, Y. (1995) New Goals for Japanese Learners of English. The Language Teacher
vol.19, 17-20.
Sibuya, K. (2007) Orientations of Motivated and Less Motivated EFL Learners:

A Study of Japanese University Students. Studies in English Linguistics andLiterature no.17, 81-99.

Shimizu, R., Y. Kubota, and K. Nakano (2013) L2 Learning Motivations of JapaneseCollege Students: A SurveyⅠ. Sanyo Review vol.20, 121-134.

Yashima, T. (2000). Orientations and Motivation in Foreign Language Learning:
A Study of Japanese college students. JACET Bulletin 31, 121-133.

Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to Communicate in A Second Language: The Japanese
EFL Context. The Modern Language Journal 86(1), 54-66.

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