Feature Article

Effects of Awareness Raising

Activities About World Englishes on
EFL Learners
Tomoyuki Kawashima
Gunma University
The effects of raising students’ awareness about World Englishes (WE) is an underresearched, but promising area of study. Few studies have investigated the effects ofWE awareness raising activities in classroom. To fill this gap in research, the researcher
designed experimental awareness-raising activities over nine weeks. Based on pre- and postquestionnaire data and comments collected every three weeks from 38 university students inJapan, the present research attempted to investigate two research questions: Do awarenessraising activities influence the learners’ attitudes and beliefs about speaking English andtheir own English accent? and, of the many topics dealt with throughout the course, which
topic did participants find more important? The changes in item mean scores between
pre- and post-tests and the thematic analysis of comments suggest that participants’ anxiety
about speaking English weakened and their perception of English with a Japanese accent
was altered. Meanwhile, the awareness-raising talks seem to have reminded participants of
the importance of learning and speaking English. Despite its shortcomings, this study haspresented findings which will support the positive effect of awareness-raising activities about
WE and suggested awareness-raising is a promising approach to mitigating perfectionistic
attitudes of Japanese English learners.

This paper begins with a discussion of the rationale for the benefits of raisingawareness about World Englishes (WE). The concept of WE will be defined in
more detail later. It is thought awareness-raising activities can show role models
for Japanese learners in becoming confident English users. Japanese learners have
low self-confidence in speaking English. For instance, despite the lack of actual
experience communicating in English, nearly half of Japanese high school students
believe their English is unintelligible (Matsuda, 2003). Matsuda speculated that25

Kawashima

their lack of awareness that English serves the wide range of functions in the world
reinforced the perception that English spoken by Japanese is “either Japanese orincorrect English that deviated from the ‘real’ English of native speakers” (p.
493). Despite changes that the English education in Japan has gone through inthe past few decades, little change seems to have occurred in terms of student
attitude toward speaking. Ryan (2009) argued that for most of the secondary
school students in Japan, English is “stripped of any communicative function”
and that it exists “as content for a series of examinations” (p. 125). Speaking has
not been emphasized as much as reading and listening in the classroom at seniorhigh schools because English speaking abilities are not tested most of the timein the entrance examinations to college. For example, Butler and Iino (2005)
reported swift reactions of some high schools and cram schools in response to theintroduction of a listening section to the standardized entrance examination forcollege, Center Test, in 2006.
Though underemphasized in Japan, the teaching of pronunciation is of great
importance. The goal of teaching English pronunciation is not necessarily to try
to make students sound like native speakers (NSs) of English (Riney, Takada,& Ota, 2000). Cook (2005) maintained “teaching should try to make them[students] independent L2 users who can function across two languages” (p.
53). Matsuda’s (2003) finding that one out of two Japanese high school students
believe their spoken English is unintelligible suggests a reasonable possibility
that raising awareness of English pronunciation may lead to a fairer perceptionof their own English.
The need to raise Japanese learners’ awareness about WE can be argued
from another perspective, too. The lack of Japanese students’ awareness about
the outer world has been discussed. For instance, the separation of an EFL
classroom from the real communication is well illustrated in Yoshida (2002).
He proposed the Fish Bowl and the Open Seas Models and contrasted thedifferences between a traditional EFL classroom and real interactions in the
globalized world. Yoshida argued that Japanese learners of English live in an
isolated, artificial environment and that they miss the opportunity to learn toaccept differences in the use of English. One of the realistic purposes of the EFL
26

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48

classroom is to enable students to pass high-stakes examinations. However, thefundamental and primary purpose of language teaching is to prepare students forreal communication. Therefore, the necessity from the viewpoint of preparation
for future communication should be emphasized too. As Jenkins (2001) argued,
learners’ understanding of the sociolinguistic reality of varied use and users ofEnglish should be enhanced. For these two reasons, it is important for teachers
to make their students more aware of the growing number of non-native English
users and of the actual English use today.
The following sections describe some concepts related to learners’ attitudes
and beliefs, and WE. Self-confidence in using the L2 is defined as “low anxious
affect and high self-perceptions of L2 competence” (Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels,
1994, p. 422). This means if learners feel less anxious about speaking English
and if they think they can speak English, we can say the learners probably have ahigher level of self-confidence in speaking English. Willingness to Communicate(WTC) in L2 is defined as the “probability of engaging in communication when
free to choose to do so” (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998, p. 546).
Yashima (2002) conceptualized attitude toward the international communitythat influences English learning and communication among Japanese learners as
International Posture. Referring to the components of the concept, she presented
interest in foreign or international affairs, willingness to go overseas to stay orwork, readiness to interact with intercultural partners, and openness or a nonethnocentric attitude toward different cultures (Yashima, 2002).
Key concepts related to WE will be reviewed in this paragraph. The Three
Concentric Circle Model (Kachru, 1989) illustrates how the English languageis spread, acquired, and used in the world. The Inner Circle represents native
English speaking countries, whereas the middle and outermost circles represent
non-native English speaking countries. People born in the Inner Circle countries
are considered by and large to speak English as a native language (ENL). The
middle circle is called the Outer Circle, Where English is used as an official
language and people speak English as a second language (ESL). The outermost
circle called the Expanding Circle represents the rest of the world where English
is spoken as a foreign language (EFL). The concept of WE places a primary focus
27

Kawashima
Table 1
Classroom Activities Documented in Literature
Researcher (Year)

Participant

Duration

Location

Ates, Eslami, and Wright (2015)

Preservice teachers

4 sessions

United States

Baik and Shim (2002)

English majors

15 weeks

Korea

Brown (2008)

Non-Eng. majors

90 min eachJapan

Chang (2014)

English majors

Semester

TaiwanGalloway (2013)

Non-/Eng. majors

13 weeksJapan

McLean (2004)

Non-/Eng. majors

3 daysJapan

Morrison and White (2005)

English majors

-

Japan

Sung (2015)

Non-Eng. majors

4 weeks

Hong Kong

Sutherland (2006)

Non-/Eng. majors

13 weeksJapan

Takagaki and Tanabe (2004)

High school Ss

11 weeks

Japan

Tanghe (2014)

English majors

15 weeks

Korea

on the use of English in the Outer and Expanding Circles, and it acknowledges
and respects differences in English (Kachru, 1993). The concept of English
as a Lingua Franca (ELF), which has been advocated since the turn of themillennium, aims to shed further light on the legitimacy of non-native English
varieties ( Jenkins, 2006). Those who teach with the concept of ELF are accepting
different varieties. However, for those who teach EFL, only native English is thenorm, and that is the target for our EFL learners.
Pedagogical Approaches
A preliminary search was conducted in the ERIC (Education Resources
Information Center) database with such key words as “awareness”, “Englishes”,“accent,” and “teach” to identify awareness-raising classroom activities documented
in the literature. The search resulted in 11 studies (Table 1). Six were conductedin Japan, and the remaining studies were administered in Hong Kong, Korea,
28

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48

Taiwan, or the US. All the activities were designed to raise awareness about WE.
The following paragraphs will describe classroom activities from Table 1
studies according to the topics discussed in each activity. The activities will bepresented in the following three topics: listening proficiency, discussions, andawareness raising. Multiple references to the same researcher is made when theiractivities are related to more than one topic.
First, in order to enhance listening proficiency, Ates, Eslami, and Wright(2015) used YouTube videos of non-native speakers (NNSs) in Europe andin Asia. Baik and Shim (2002) exposed their students to Inner, Outer, andExpanding Circle Englishes by leading them to the websites of radio stations
around the world. Similarly, Sutherland (2006) gave lectures in order to orient
students towards various concepts of WE before asking students to access auralmaterials on the internet and listen to WE individually. Brown (2008) showed
students video interviews of their Japanese, Korean, and Russian faculty whowere well-known to them and who did not specialize in English. Galloway (2013)asked students majoring in English to listen to English speakers of their choiceover 13 weeks. They were instructed to listen for 10 minutes at one time, andwrite their reflections in the journal. Sung (2015) asked university students inHong Kong to watch a video clip of an interview with a linguist, David Crystal,and answer questions, e.g., “What should teachers tell their students about
language variation?” Secondly, Galloway (2013) gave reading assignments about
WE to English majors in Japan, standard language ideology, and ELF research,whereas Baik and Shim (2002) asked Korean university students majoring in
English to write their opinions on fallacies on English education in Korea.
Awareness raising was conducted through a variety of discussions. For
example, Ates et al. (2015) led discussions with pre-service teachers in the US
about the issues related to a dichotomy between native and non-native English
speakers, and ownership of English. They held another discussion online using
a discussion board, where participants chose a character from a Disney or any
other animated film who spoke with an accent and discussed why they thought
the specific accent was chosen for that character. Chang (2014) held discussions
at a college in Taiwan on the spread of English as the global lingua franca, as well29

Kawashima

as language death and preservation. In Galloway’s (2013) course, advanced level
Japanese university students had discussions on the advantages and disadvantagesof the spread of English and ELF. Tanghe (2014) designed an interesting
discussion on the native and non-native dichotomy. Students were given a
scenario where they were on the hiring committee for a new English professor
at a university in Korea. One applicant was an American who had a 10-yearlong working experience in a bank in the US and a one-year-long experience ata language school in Korea. The other applicant was a Thai majoring in English
education who had taught English at a university in Thailand for 10 years.
Students discussed who they would hire and why.
Finally, awareness raising was conducted as comprehensive experiential
activities as well. McLean (2004) proposed a three-day project in small groups.
University students were instructed to study the history, status, and use ofEnglish in one of the Outer Circle or Expanding Circle countries, and present
the results of their research in class. Ates et al. (2015) invited 12 international
graduate students to the classroom, and the students talked about the status ofEnglish and the varieties of English in their countries. Then, they joined a group
discussion with participants. As a course assignment, Baik and Shim (2002)
asked students to interview three speakers from each concentric circle. Takagaki
and Tanabe (2004) reported on two courses offered at a public senior highschool in Japan over 11 weeks. Students met for an English-mediated class by
WE speakers once a week, and they met again for a follow-up class in Japanese.
They invited a Filipino speaker of English to teach home economics and an
Indonesian teacher to assist her. In addition, a course in politics and economics
was taught by a Dutch speaker of English.
This section presented awareness-raising activities conducted in theclassroom. However, none of the studies described above used experimental
design, nor did they examine the effects of raising awareness. In order to fill thislack of research and explore the effects on Japanese learners of English, awarenessraising classroom activities were developed with experimental design. This study
attempts to investigate two research questions. RQ1: Do awareness-raising
activities influence the learners’ attitudes and beliefs about speaking English and30

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48

their own English accent? RQ2: Of the many topics dealt with throughout thecourse, which topic did participants find more important?

Methods
Participants and Procedures
A total of 42 second-year university students majoring in health sciences
participated in this study. The experiment was conducted in the regular classesof a required English course, of which the researcher was in charge. Informed
consent was obtained in writing from all students before the experiment.
However, the data of four students who did not attend all data collection sessions
were excluded from analyses, which made the number of final participants 38(female = 26; male = 12). Their first language was Japanese, and their overseas
experiences were unknown. The university administered a standardized English
proficiency test called Visualizing English Language Competency (VELC) Test
to all the students as the placement test. The average score of 543.5 for this groupsuggested that their English abilities were slightly higher than those of the average
Japanese university students. A rough conversion table of the scores between the
VELC Test and the TOEIC Test is available at https://www.velctest.org/outline/,
and the average score for this group was equivalent to 511.8 of the TOEIC.
Participants listened to 10-minute talks by their teacher every week except
for the tenth week when they watched a TV program. The topics of teacher talks
and TV program are provided in Table 2. The topics included research findings
about the effects of accents on comprehension. Some papers used in the talks
are dated. However, they were included in the topics for the sake of their uniquefindings. For instance, a strong accent did not necessarily affect intelligibility of
NNS English (Munro & Derwing, 1995); an English speech made by a Japanese
speaker was found to be intelligible 75% of the time by the listeners from 11
countries, and intelligibility of the Japanese speaker was ranked third among
seven speakers (Smith & Rafiqzad, 1979). The TV program viewed in week
10 introduced Japanese businessmen who were struggling with English due totheir recent job requirements. In the latter half of the program, Kumiko Torikai,
Professor Emeritus at Rikkyo University, emphasized the importance of putting
31

Kawashima
Table 2
Topics Covered in Awareness-raising Classroom Activities
Week
1

Topics
1. Native language, official language, and foreign language
2. Kachru’s three concentric circle model
3. Population of six English speaking countries (= the Inner Circle countries)
4. 54 countries in the British Commonwealth
5. Population of the world
6. Who are English speakers?

2

1. Percentage of global interaction involving NSs (Graddol, 2006)
2. National breakdown of assistant language teachers in Japan
3. Countries NNS assistant language teachers in Japan come from
4. Percentage of Americans/Australians who speak languages other than English athome
5. Percentage of Singaporeans who speak English at home
6. Genetic NSs and functional NSs

3

1. Newspaper article “French Pride Tested at EU Summit”
2. Language choice by the heads of state at the UN General Assembly (Kawashima,
2014)
3. “Kodokan” judo and international judo
4. Ownership of judo and ownership of English

4

1. Accents and dialects
2. Types of accents
3. Roles of accents: Accents as group/individual/affective markers
4. What is Standard English?
5. Critical Period Hypothesis

5

1. Concepts of EIL, WE, and ELF
2. Changes in the English stipulated in the Courses of Study

6

1.

Strength of accents and intelligibility (Munro & Derwing, 1995; Derwing &Munro, 2008; Anderson-Hsieh & Koehler, 1988)

2. Speech rate and intelligibility
7

1. Background knowledge about the topic and intelligibility (Gass & Varonis, 1984)
2. Familiarity with the accent and intelligibility (Derwing & Munro, 1997)
3. Recognition of accents and speakers’ countries of origin (Bayard, 1991)

8

1. Intelligibility of NNS English (Smith & Rafiqzad, 1979)

91.

TV Program: NHK’s “kuroozu appu gendai” or Today’s Close-Up titled“Dokomade Hitsuyo? Nihonjin No Eigo” or “To what extent do the Japanese
need English?” (NHK, 2009)32

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48

their thoughts into words before worrying about grammar or pronunciation.
Data Collection and Analysis
The experiment lasted for 11 weeks. An identical questionnaire was administeredin week 1 as the pre-test and in week 11 as the post-test. Participants attended
awareness-raising activities over nine weeks (week 2 to week 10). Student journals
were collected every three weeks during the experiment (week 4, week 7, andweek 10). Students were asked to write in Japanese what they had felt or thought
after listening to the teacher talk about accents on a piece of paper.
A specifically designed questionnaire with 70 test items was administered as
pre- and post-tests. Those 70 items, some of which were from previous studies,were intended to elicit the following learner beliefs and attitudes: Anxiety about
Speaking English ( n = 7), Self-Confidence in One’s Ability to Master English (n = 6), Liking for Speaking English ( n = 3), Aspiration for Better Pronunciation( n = 4), Recognition of Correct Pronunciation ( n = 3), Ideal L2 Self ( n = 6),
International Posture ( n = 16), WTC ( n = 8), Perception of English accents ( n= 3), Self-evaluation of English speaking proficiency ( n = 1), Attitudes toward
NS accents ( n = 6), and other seven items related to pronunciation and speaking
English. The test items except for four items that were not discussed in the paper
are presented in Appendices A, B, and C with the notes from which studies they
were adopted. The number of items differed in the original studies, so there were
varying numbers of items.
The questionnaire had three types of test items. For the first type of test
items, participants were instructed to indicate the extent to which they agreed
to each statement by choosing from 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (neither
disagree nor agree), 4 (agree), and 5 (strongly agree). The second type of test
items adopted a semantic differential technique in which five 5-point scales
labelled by bipolar adjectives were used to elicit participants’ impressions or
attitudes toward certain accents. Third, there was one test item for self-evaluationof English speaking proficiency which asked participants to choose one can-dostatement.
The analysis of student journals started with typing all the comments in
33

Kawashima

Japanese on a computer. Then, by identifying key words or words that occurred
frequently, data were coded and classified in order to extract themes with an
English translation (by the author). Some participants’ individual reflections
on a particular point contained more than one discrete comment. So, judging
from overall meanings which the researcher assumed they intended to convey,
their reflections were divided into smaller comments so that each comment
would contain a single point of view. Translation into English was done by the
researcher. To protect anonymity, participants were numerically coded from S1
to S38.

Results

Positive treatment effects were observed in the rating of test items related to“anxiety about speaking English”, “self-confidence in one’s ability to master
English”, “perceptions of English pronunciation”, and “attitudes toward
American and Japanese accents”. A drop in the ratings of Items 1 and 4 indicatedthat participants’ anxiety about speaking English weakened after the awarenessraising activities. On the other hand, the ratings of Items 2 and 6, which referred
to “self-confidence in one’s ability to master English”, went up. Moreover, theincreased rating of Item 67 shows that participants’ perception of their own
English accent turned more positive. Items 22 and 65 tested how (un)importantparticipants think it is to sound like NSs. The marked fall in the ratings suggeststhat participants came to think that communication is more important thansounding like a NS.
Table 3 presents the result of the translated thematic classification ofparticipants’ comments collected through students’ journals at week 4 (time 1),
week 7 (time 2), and week 10 (time 3). A total of 238 comments were sorted into
eight topics: speaking English, linguistic situation, English ability and language
learning, accents, intelligibility, English speakers, ownership of English, anditems unrelated to the themes of this research. The topics are presented in thedescending order in terms of the total number of comments collected at the three
data collection points. It should be noted that different results were recorded at
different times.
34Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48
Table 3
Thematic Classification of Participants’ Comments
Time 1(n = 75)

Time 2(n = 71)

Time 3(n = 92)

Total(N = 238)

Total(%)

Speaking English

23

5

27

55

23.1

Linguistic situation

18

1

23

42

17.6

English ability andlanguage learning

2

8

31

41

17.2

Accents

0

32

0

32

13.4

Intelligibility

0

22

9

31

13.0

English speakers

22

2

1

25

10.5

Ownership of English

7

0

0

7

2.9

Others

3

1

1

5

2.1

Topic

The topic which participants commented on most throughout the course
was speaking English (23.1% of the total number of comments throughout thecourse). The teacher talks may have reminded participants of the importanceor need of learning and speaking English. Some participants felt the needto learn English when they heard that Japanese leaders did not address theUnited Nations General Assembly in English (S15, S25, S35: Time 1). Many
participants were encouraged by Prof. Torikai. One quoted her comment “We
tend to care about grammar and pronunciation in speaking English. However,what is truly important is to speak English no matter how short it might be withconfidence and show this is my English” (S1: Time 3). After this student agreed
to Torikai’s speech, she went on to state, “The fact that English has become alanguage for communication around the world means that English is, in fact,
just a tool for communication among NNSs.” Furthermore, it is possible thatsome participants’ interest in English and their interest in speaking English
was enhanced. For instance, one participant wrote “I will learn English with a
new knowledge that English is not just used among native speakers but that it
35

Kawashimais spoken as a world language” (S29: Time 1). After they listened to the talks onaccents, there seemed to be a shift in their goals. One participant commented,“When I study English, I always care about my own English pronunciation
which is not ‘perfect’ or ‘beautiful’. However, many accents are spoken in theworld, and we can communicate with each other (using English) with accents.
I thought it important to become more confident in speaking English” (S30:Time 2).
Of the two topics which were nearly tied for the second most popular(17.6% of the total comments), one was linguistic situation. This referred tomultilingual societies outside of Japan, global spread of English, and language
and language learning situations in Japan. The other topic, which was very close
to the above in percentage (17.2%), was reflections about English ability andattitudes toward language learning. They referred to both participants themselves
and Japanese learners in general. Some comments implied the development of
positive learner belief in participants. For example, one participant wrote “I waspoor at pronunciation, and I never ever wanted to try an English conversation.
However, my feeling of inferiority toward English conversations became slightly
weaker” (S32: Time 3). At the same time, comments emerged at Time 3 which
saw a departure from previous perfectionistic attitudes that were held by theparticipants. “I think getting our feelings across in broken English is enough. I
felt it is becoming more difficult to define what ‘perfect English’ is when varietiesof people speak English” (S8: Time 3). “I thought the idea that there is no need
to be perfect is a step which encourages me to continue my studies” (S38: Time
3).
Another pair of topics, namely accents (13.4%) and intelligibility (13.0%),
were in the next group in ranking. The talks might be surprising for many
participants who tend to aspire to speak English without an accent. The story
that even NSs have accents may have been unexpected knowledge for them.
The following comment shows a change in a student’s perception: “Manypeople have accents. I used to think NSs are the best, but I came to think thiswas not true” (S6: Time 2). The topic of intelligibility included five commentsthat intelligibility is more important than perfect pronunciation. For instance,
36Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48

a student added “Thinking that we don’t need to be perfect might be the firstachievable step” (S38: Time 3).
Many of the remaining comments referred to the number of English
speakers and the definition of NSs. They tend to use the word “native (speaker)”frequently in Japanese perhaps without caring much about what it actuallymeans. Therefore, they may have been surprised to learn about the conventional
practice of defining the NS on the basis of the country the speaker comes fromrather than on the basis of the English proficiency level they have achieved. One
participant commented, “I thought as long as people come from a country where
English is used, they will be NSs. However, I was surprised to know that only thepeople from certain countries are entitled to be NSs” (S31: Time 1). Anotherparticipant wrote, “I learned that it is difficult from the beginning to define theNS” (S27: Time 1). Others felt that they should familiarize themselves withEnglish further when they found that NSs are only a small part of English users
in the world and that most of them are NNSs.

Discussion

Despite the growing number of awareness-raising activities in the classroom,
little research has been done to examine the effects of raising awareness. This
study was designed to help fill the gap in research. The first research question thisstudy addressed was whether a set of 9-week awareness-raising activities (Table2) would influence Japanese EFL learners’ attitudes and beliefs about speaking
English and their own English accent. Positive changes were observed in theratings of some questionnaire items related to anxiety about speaking English
and self-confidence in one’s ability to master English. For instance, the ratingof Item 4 “I feel shy when I speak English” dropped, and the rating of Item 6“Japanese English can be understood by the people in the world” went up. Thisfinding underlines a widely held argument that awareness-raising activities canintroduce role models for Japanese learners in becoming confident English users.
The second research question was to ascertain, of many topics dealt
with throughout the course, which topic Japanese learners would find more
important. The thematic analysis of participants’ responses revealed that the37

Kawashima

importance or need of learning and speaking English was the topic mostfrequently discussed throughout the course. The responses in this classification
also included participants’ comments about their enhanced interest in English
and in speaking English.
Moreover, an increased awareness about accents seemed to have contributed
to a shift in participants’ goals of language learning. One student (S30: Time 2)comment suggested that she was “emancipated” from a fallacy that her English
pronunciation should be “perfect” or “beautiful” and she came to think speaking
English confidently is more important. In addition, the second most popularreferences were to the ever-growing spread of English in the world and to theunfavorable comments about language and language learning situations in Japan.
These findings seem to uphold the validity of the Yoshida’s (2002) argumentthat Japanese learners, living in an isolated and artificial environment, miss theopportunity to learn to accept differences in the use of English.
Finally, this research is not free from limitations and there are ways toimprove this research in the future. For instance, this study should be replicatedwith a larger sample or with a control and experimental groups. In addition, test
items need to be reconsidered. Some items which seemed unrelated, e.g., WTC
and International Posture, can be omitted and others such as self-evaluationof English speaking proficiency should be revised. Only one can-do statement
was inefficient to measure learners’ self-perceived proficiency levels in Japan, forthey tend to value self-deprecation (Ohata & Christianson, 2008). Despite its
shortcomings, this study has presented the meaningful findings. These results
provided empirical support to the positive effects of awareness-raising activities
about WE and suggested that awareness raising is a promising approach to
mitigating perfectionism of Japanese English learners.

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Author Bio

Tomoyuki Kawashima is associate professor at Gunma University. Prior to thepresent job, he taught English to high school students for 25 years. His researchinterests include pedagogical applications of world Englishes in the English language
teaching, affective factors in speaking English, and methodology to develop productive
English skills. tkawashima@gunma-u.ac.jp
Received: November 4, 2018
Accepted: June 6, 201942

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48

Appendix A
Table of Means, SD, and Differences for Items from Kawashima (2013)
Time 1Time 2

M

SD

M

SD

Diff

Anxiety about Speaking English
1

I get nervous when I read English aloud.

3.63

1.36

3.00

1.36

-0.63

3

I do not have confidence in pronunciation when
I read English aloud.

4.29

1.01

4.00

1.09

-0.29

4

I feel shy when I speak English.

4.03

1.08

3.55

1.18

-0.47

7

I am relaxed when I speak English. (*)

4.05

0.90

3.92

0.85

-0.13

8

I am afraid that other students will laugh at me
when I read English aloud.

3.34

1.28

3.05

1.25

-0.29

13 I am ashamed of my English pronunciation.

3.39

1.28

3.24

1.22

-0.16

19 I feel uncomfortable when I read English aloud.

2.89

1.20

2.74

1.20

-0.16

Self-Confidence in One’s Ability to Master English
2

Japanese people can speak English well.

1.55

0.69

2.26

0.95

0.71

6

Japanese English can be understood by thepeople in the world.

2.58

1.06

3.21

1.09

0.63

9

Speaking English with other Japanese people
will not improve my English pronunciation. (*)

2.92

1.24

2.92

0.97

0.00

10 We can have good English pronunciation even if
we haven’t spoken it from childhood.

3.26

1.41

3.39

1.03

0.13

15 We can speak English well even if we haven’t
spoken English from childhood.

3.50

1.35

3.89

0.98

0.39

18 It is impossible for Japanese people to makecorrect English pronunciation. (*)

4.05

1.01

3.76

1.10

-0.29

43

Kawashima
Time 1Time 2

M

SD

M

SD

Diff

3.11

1.35

3.24

1.15

0.13

11 I like speaking English.

2.87

1.28

2.74

1.33

-0.13

17 I don’t dislike reading an English textbook
aloud.

3.61

1.17

3.76

1.10

0.16

Liking for Speaking English
5

It is fun to read an English textbook aloud.

Aspiration for Better Pronunciation
16 I want to speak English like an American.

4.08

1.12

3.68

1.14

-0.39

24 It is important to speak English with anexcellent pronunciation.

4.24

0.75

4.05

0.80

-0.18

27 Acquiring proper pronunciation in English isimportant to me.

3.95

0.93

3.76

0.88

-0.18

28 I am satisfied with my English pronunciation.
(*)

4.53

0.69

4.08

1.05

-0.45

Recognition of Correct Pronunciation
20 I know what correct English pronunciation is
like.

2.53

0.98

2.95

0.93

0.42

23 There is someone I am trying to be like when
speaking English.

2.34

1.48

2.50

1.45

0.16

29 In listening, I can tell correct pronunciationfrom incorrect.

2.05

1.14

2.21

1.07

0.16

12 I always try to make correct pronunciation when
I read English aloud.

3.63

1.00

3.58

1.03

-0.05

14 Other students are better at reading English
aloud I.

2.87

1.55

2.63

1.02

-0.24

Other Items

44

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48
Time 1Time 2

M

SD

M

SD

Diff

21 My English pronunciation is good.

1.55

0.86

1.82

0.95

0.26

22 Communicating is much more important thansounding like a native speaker.

3.82

0.95

4.39

0.68

0.58

25 We shouldn’t say anything in English until we
can say it correctly.

1.76

0.85

1.45

0.65

-0.32

26 It is necessary to know about American or
British cultures in order to speak English.

3.53

1.18

3.63

1.05

0.11

30 English spoken by Japanese people will be better
if it doesn’t have a Japanese accent.

3.74

1.20

3.18

1.09

-0.55

Notes: (*) indicates a reverse-coded item.

45

Kawashima

Appendix B
Table of Means, Standard Deviations, and Differences for Other Motivational Items
Time 1Time 2

M

M

SD

Diff

SD

Ideal L2 Self (from Taguchi et al., 2009)31 I can imagine myself living abroad and having a
discussion in English.

1.66

0.85

1.76

0.82

0.11

33 The things I want to do in the future require me
to use English.

2.16

1.26

2.34

1.05

0.18

36 I can imagine myself speaking English as if I
were a native speaker of English.

1.53

0.98

1.58

0.92

0.05

42 I can imagine myself as someone who is able tospeak English.

1.95

0.98

2.24

1.10

0.29

47 I can imagine a situation where I am speaking
English with foreigners.

2.11

1.09

2.26

1.13

0.16

51 Whenever I think of my future career, I imagine
myself using English.

1.58

0.72

1.74

0.92

0.16

International Posture (foreign affairs) (from Yashima, 2002)
41 I often read and watch news about foreigncountries.

2.47

1.27

2.34

1.17

-0.13

35 I often talk about situations and events inforeign countries with my family and/or friends.

1.92

1.22

2.03

1.17

0.11

52 I have a strong interest in international affairs.

2.39

1.22

2.37

1.13

-0.03

International Posture (international vocation) (from Yashima, 2002)
32 I want to work in a foreign country.

2.16

1.22

2.32

1.21

0.16

38 I don’t think what’s happening overseas has
much to do with my daily life. (*)

4.26

0.89

4.05

0.93

-0.21

46

Effects of Awareness Raising Activities, OCJSI 1, pages 25-48
Time 1Time 2

M

SD

M

SD

Diff

43 I want to work in an international organizationsuch as the United Nations.

1.55

0.95

1.61

0.89

0.05

45 I would rather stay in my hometown. (*)

3.32

1.44

3.42

1.43

0.11

48 I am interested in working abroad.

2.32

1.28

2.29

1.14

-0.03

50 I would rather avoid the kind of work that sends
me overseas frequently. (*)

2.58

1.31

2.55

1.39

-0.03

International Posture (intercultural approach tendency) (from Yashima, 2002)
34 I try to avoid talking with foreigners if I can. (*)

2.55

1.22

2.74

1.13

0.18

37 I want to participate in a volunteer activity
to help foreigners living in the surrounding
community.

2.34

1.05

2.68

1.23

0.34

39 I would feel somewhat uncomfortable if aforeigner moved in next door. (*)

3.45

1.16

3.24

1.15

-0.21

40 I want to make friends with international
students studying in Japan.

3.58

1.18

3.45

1.06

-0.13

44 I would help a foreigner having trouble
communicating in a restaurant or at a station.

2.55

1.29

2.89

1.13

0.34

46 I would talk to an international student if there
were one at school.

2.18

1.01

2.47

1.03

0.29

49 I wouldn’t mind sharing an apartment or roomwith an international student.

2.92

1.28

2.92

1.24

0.00

Notes: (*) indicates a reverse-coded item.

47

Kawashima

Appendix C
Table of Means, Standard Deviations, and Differences for WTC and Attitudes Toward NativeSpeaker AccentsTime 1Time 2

M

SD

M

SD

Diff

WTC (from Yashima, 2002)
53 Speak in public to a group of strangers

2.00

0.90

2.00

0.77

0.00

54 Talk with an acquaintance while standing in line

3.16

1.10

3.05

1.06

-0.11

55 Discuss with a group in English class

3.16

0.89

2.95

0.80

-0.21

56 Talk in a large meeting of strangers

2.58

0.95

2.61

0.95

0.03

57 Speak freely in English class

2.26

0.92

2.47

1.01

0.21

58 Talk with a friend while standing in line

3.50

0.89

3.45

0.92

-0.05

59 Speak in front in English class

2.74

1.06

2.58

0.95

-0.16

60 Talk in a small group of friends

2.89

1.01

3.13

0.99

0.24

Attitudes toward NS accents (from Episcopo, 2009; Guinn-Collins, 2011)
65 How important is it for you to sound like anative speaker?)

3.45

0.98

2.84

1.00

-0.61

66 When you are speaking to another NNS, howimportant is it for you that s/he has a native-likeaccent?

2.89

1.13

2.47

1.08

-0.42

67 How do you feel about your English accent?

2.18

0.73

2.53

0.69

0.34

68 What do you think about the American English
accent?

3.16

0.75

3.08

0.71

-0.08

69 What do you think about English with aJapanese accent?

2.39

0.75

2.74

0.69

0.34

2.71

0.65

2.71

0.73

0.00

70

What do you think about English with a NNS
accent?

48