International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

Language Learning Through Socialization: Diversified
Use of a Self-Access Center
Nathan P. Krug, Adriana Edwards Wurzinger, Leander S. Hughes, and Stacey Vye
those who sought it. Previously, at its inception, the ERC had
no fiscal support, depending at that time on generous
donations of English resources from instructors and people inthe community to build an alternative English learning
environment and support network. By the following year,
however, the ERC had grown rapidly and it had become an
obvious service for the university’s student body, relocating
at the same time to a larger portable structure on campus.
Following the CEED’s financial backing by the university,a state-of-the-art electricity and water-saving smart room wasdesigned for our learning community, and in 2006 the ERC
relocated to its current permanent site. Justifying the benefitsof establishing such a learning environment to the trustees ofour public institution was a significant accomplishment. To
some degree this was to be expected as it is known that
language learning centers involve a considerable amount ofplanning, organizing, and political negotiating, all of whichtake time, money, and effort [1]. Unfortunately, many
language programs around the world cannot afford to see
their planning nor efforts toward building resource-richcenters realized.
The creation of the current larger site has paved the way
for the Center to meet the increasing demand for supporting
various needs of our learners, who hail from diverse majors,interests, and backgrounds. Along with the growth, theCenter was able to retain important traditions—such asproviding beverages, light snacks, and having some spaces torelax and view art in the room—that have worked in ourcontext and which learners suggest are more relaxing and less‘institutional.’ Preservation of these features provide a basis
for supporting our students’ language learning whilecelebrating the diversity of over 350 Japanese and both nativeand non-native English speakers who have frequented the
ERC in the past two years alone.

Abstract—Through the establishment of interactionally richenvironments, conversation rooms and self-access centers
encourage attendees to be extremely competent and resourcefullanguage, cultural and social learners. The following paper
outlines four unique yet contrasting aspects of one suchself-access center—the English Resource Center at Saitama
University, Japan. In the first section, a brief history of theCenter is provided, outlining its socially situated learning
community. The second section details a special event occurringin the Center, which prepares students for formal academicpresentations in foreign institutions. The Center’s Drama
Workshop is discussed in the third section, focusing on the
linguistic and cultural growth that participants experience as
they each experiment with their own developing English
identity. Finally, the fourth section quantitatively analyzes
attendees’ English proficiency gains by comparing examination
results over time. All in all, the differing interactive contexts ofthis self-access learning center work together in unison,strongly supporting linguistic growth and culturaldevelopment.
Index Terms—drama, interaction,
proficiency, self-access center, TOEIC

languagelearning,

I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE ENGLISH RESOURCE CENTER ATSAITAMA UNIVERSITY, JAPAN
A. The Emergence and Development of the Center
The English Resource Center (ERC) was designed by theCenter for English Education and Development (CEED) at
Saitama University, Japan, to be a space where learners in theuniversity-wide community could further improve theirEnglish skills outside of their departmental curriculum andelective courses (i.e., those classes taught in English byvarious departments including the CEED). From its humble
beginnings, the ERC has continued to develop and grow as
the need and demand for suitable English resources increased
exponentially. In 2004, a general classroom was secured atwhich students could gather and at which full-time
instructors could provide linguistic support in English to

B. Supporting the Needs of Social and Global Interaction
in Our English Center
While noticing signs of language improvement in our coreprograms (cf. English for Academic Purposes, Academic
Lectures, Preparation for the Test of English for International
Communication (TOEIC) Test Programs, and The ERC
Drama Workshops)—as well as from the students who join
the ERC from 3-5P.M. on weekdays—we felt that making
additional improvements to meet the needs of our learners
was required. In February 2010, after analyzing the traffic
flow of students who participated in the ERC, obtaining
student feedback, and observing language centers atuniversities in Hong Kong via the Self-Access Centre Tour at
the Independent Learning Association 2009, the four authors
designed a floor plan. As a result, unneeded furniture andseveral shelves of excess resources, which did not fit the

Manuscript submitted for review on April 14, 2011. NB: A two-weekextension was granted by IJSSH Editorial Board on April 01, 2011, due todisruption to services in Japan occurring as a result of the mid-March
earthquake and tsunami.
N. P. Krug is with the Center for English Education and Development(CEED), Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama,388-8570, JAPAN (Phone: +81-48-858-9243; Fax: +81-48-858-9243;
E-Mail: <nkrug@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp>).
A. Edwards Wurzinger is with the CEED, Saitama University (E-Mail:<edwards@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp>).
L. S. Hughes is with the CEED, Saitama University (E-Mail:<hughes@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp>).
S. Vye is with the CEED, Saitama University (E-Mail:<vyesl@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp>).

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International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

students’ interests or language levels, were removed. This
simple re-envisioning and re-designing created much needed
space to accommodate the growing needs of our Center. It
should be noted that we work together with the learners toaddress their individual language needs (with questions orconcerns they themselves bring), however, we also support
authentic dialogue in the ERC so that more language
interaction can occur—benefiting a wider circle of learners.
This concept reminds us of Esch’s work on the conceptual
distortions and discursive dissonances between individual
personal learner autonomy (crash) and critical sociallysituated learner autonomy (clash) in language learning [2]. In
the ERC, the tension leans towards the clash side, not to
exclude the individual cognition of learners, rather so we canfocus more on the whole community approach of sociallysituated learning. In turn, this focus helps students andteachers to promote learning gains for all parties on their own
terms.

language learning and socialization. To narrow the focus fora moment specifically upon conducive environments forlanguage acquisition, former studies of interactions involving
learners in different activities and participant configurations
suggest that ‘ordinary conversation’ (the predominantinteraction occurring in the ERC) can be a particularly
productive context for language learning—the learning inconversational interaction being not limited simply to thenegotiation of meaning [3]. Importantly, both ‘ordinary
conversation’ and ‘institutional talk’ (such as classroom
interaction or formal speech events) offer differing—but
equally valuable—opportunities for language learning [4].
Thus, not only does the ERC serve as a conversation room,
but it also provides an ideal site for special and specific
events. One such event worthy of note here—bringing
together staff and students from a range of departments
across the university—includes an Academic Presentation
Symposium. The Academic Presentation Symposium is agathering held in support of students about to embark on
international study, an endeavor requiring high proficiency ina second or foreign language and a readiness to participate informal speech situations.

C. Typical Representation of What Goes On in the ERC
On a typical afternoon when the ERC is open, one author
at a time facilitates the daily two-hour session during theweek, where a consistent average of about 15 to 25 students
come to practice English communication. Others also seek
purpose-specific help, such as feedback on term papers,
assistance with scholarship applications, advice on English
aptitude tests (including the International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) test, the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL), and TOEIC), English job interview
practice, letters of recommendation, and support with study
abroad and homestay applications. The occasional request
may also be made concerning how to enter various foreign
institutions. Often during the two-hour period, attendees
come to borrow resources—including English DVDs, graded
readers, novels and books on various subjects (graded inlevels based on TOEIC bands), English study guides, English
language proficiency tests, and English games. We also holdspecial cultural events and concerts when possible. This year
we will hold the Eighth Annual ERC Drama Workshop andhave various symposiums—including visiting guest experts
and special events.
In short, this socially situated approach to running the ERC
seems to support more of the learners’ own language
community and helps individual members to consider theirown identity as a whole (yet exploring notions of ‘identity’and ‘self’ often in a language different to the learners’ native
tongue). The ERC environment also supports language
growth through formal presentations for academic purposes,
as described in Section II, and by allowing forexperimentation with identity and language construction
through theater, as detailed in Section III. All things
considered, the students are experiencing heightened English
language proficiency gains for those who attend the ERC, as
explained in Section IV.

B. Intention of the Case Study
Rather than looking directly at participants at this time, thegoal of this small case study was to evaluate the event by way
of examining the audience’s reaction(s) to an Academic
Presentation Symposium, held in the ERC space. Findings
will be added to participant self-reflections (in a future study)
in order to build a fuller picture of the ERC environment. Asa first step toward that end, the audience’s input is examined
here in order to better comprehend the interaction andlearning occurring in the ERC, and to better implement
subsequent gatherings.
C. Event in BriefStudent participants each prepared a 20-minutepresentation on a current real-world matter of personal
relevance. Topic choice varied considerably—from‘plagiarism,’ to ‘global arms issues,’ to the notion of ‘thesocial contract.’ Before a live audience, participantsdelivered their presentations and individually fielded
questions from the audience (which were spontaneous andnot pre-prepared in any way).
D. SignificanceFor those students eager to learn language(s), or for thoseseeking careers with strong multinational ties, international
study opportunities are of great consequence. Often, in orderto enter foreign study programs (in foreign institutions)students are obliged to come to grips with the academic skills
and standards required of the foreign educational
environment—those institutions often demand this and will
be working from such assumptions. Therefore, an Academic
Presentation Symposium provides a fine platform for thedevelopment and practice of the formal speaking qualities
and skills expected of students intending to study
abroad—being, for this particular case study, the skills of
research, academic rigor and formal public speaking (inEnglish for US-based universities). Such a gathering
provides students with a life-like experience—that is, real

II. ACADEMIC PRESENTATION SYMPOSIUM: AUDIENCE CASE
STUDY
A. Setting the Scene
The ERC promotes an interactionally rich setting for20

International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

to other departments and centers across the university, but
also—and especially—for social interaction and language
learning. To take but one example of its flexibility, theAcademic Presentation Symposium provided a fine platform
for the development of the qualities and skills expected of
students soon to study abroad—being the skills of research,academic rigor and formal public speaking. The ERC
environment provided students with a realistic experience ofdelivering a formal presentation—encouraging students to becompetent and resourceful. Crucially, from across theuniversity, both students and staff alike were able to reflect
upon performances, noting strengths as well as those
weaknesses in need of attention. In preparation for study
abroad, the Academic Presentation Symposium held in the
ERC provided a unique opportunity for students to workthrough all the processes necessary of preparing a formal
presentation
anddeliveringittoacriticalaudience—endeavors integral to academic development andlife-like social interaction for language learners.

practice of a formal presentation under naturalistic conditions.
In terms of preparation prior to the actual event itself,
participants are required to access authentic (research)
resources and media—such materials providing importantand realistic models for learners [5], [6]. During the event(held before a live audience of interested guests) participants
are provided with the opportunity to practice core skills
learned in class and to receive valuable feedback [7].
E. Procedure
To survey audience members’ thoughts and impressions, ashort questionnaire was administered following thecompletion of an Academic Presentation Symposium. The
gathered responses were examined and collated. A summaryof essential findings follows.
F. Principal Findings
The questionnaire analysis revealed the following:1) The Academic Presentation Symposium became
life-like—hence authentic—as student presentations
were made in front of an audience of interested guests(with ensuing open audience forum).
2) The audience indicated that the event made possible a
valuable and unique experience for the presenters,
providing them with opportunities for academic
improvement and linguistic development, along withpositive pressure to mature scholastically, and a chance
to practice a formal presentation under realistic
conditions before being required to do so abroad.
3) The attendees noted that the presentation event provided
opportunities for reflection—for audience members andparticipants alike—drawing attention to positive
characteristics of the event itself along with challenges
yet to be faced.
4) Respondents enjoyed hearing the opinions put forward
by the student presenters, they were impressed with thestudents’ efforts and display of confidence, and they
were eager to extend the topics covered throughexploratory questioning.

III. THE ERC DRAMA WORKSHOPS
A. Drama as a Strategy to Enhance EFL/ESL
Performance: Introduction
The benefits of using drama in early education have beenstudied extensively, but not much is available about theeffects of theatrical techniques on language learning
programs for young adults and adults [12], [13]. The simple
interaction and improvisation games can go far with young
adults, but not so far as to provide a firm basis for thedevelopment of clearer understanding of cultural differences.
Fortunately the social and cultural value of theater as alearning tool has been analyzed by sociologists like Ervin
Goffman, whose studies on the organization of experience
provide a fascinating insight on the effects of theater action
and language on the actors as well as on the audience [14].
Based on the experiences acquired during the seven ERC
Drama Workshops (2006 – 2010), we firmly believe that it isnecessary to achieve a better understanding of EFL/ESL
university students in Japan as a population with distinctive
and specific needs, and to acknowledge that these needs are
deeply connected to the challenging development of a higher
level of language competence and communication skills.

G. Ancillary Findings
Derived also from the questionnaire analysis,
supplementary findings include the following:1) Attendees found the ERC to be a suitable location forsuch an event.
2) On the whole, audience members attended the event
because of an existing personal connection with the
ERC—they were already acquainted with the ERC insome way and/or with its staff.
3) ERC staff members were able to collaborate with otheruniversity departments, better guiding future
developments of university courses, requirements anddirections.

B. Outline of the Research
1) Objectives and Development
This research combines the theoretical framework
obtained from drama studies sources with the availablesociological studies on language, performance, and behavior
to create an environment in which the participants have theopportunity to interact using a variety of ‘dramatic’ ortheatrical elements. This project is also contributing to thedesign of a more complete and efficient EFL/ESL curriculum,
where creative spaces may become key elements to develop a
new understanding of the meaning of ‘language
performance’ and the psycho-emotional implications ofsecond language development, both at the individual andgroup levels.
Sharing with the national and international community of

H. Case Study Conclusions
Today the focus of language learning tasks and assessment
items ought to be to prepare speakers for real-world languageuse [8]-[11]. The ERC and the Academic Presentation
Symposium do just that—all of the requisite social actions of
producing a formal presentation occur. The ERC proves itself
to be an extremely versatile setting, not only for reaching out
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International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

and cultures, we discover the sociolinguistic value ofgestures, and learn to understand and respect difference. Our
players (particularly those who participated in more than one
workshop) have demonstrated a clearer understanding ofsituational verbal and body language, in many cases beyond
the expectations of the researcher.
Their level of confidence in a ‘foreign’ situation increased
dramatically, and although further data needs to be obtained,
it is possible to say (based on follow-up meetings) that they
developed a deeper emotional connection with the language.
As they ‘act’ it out, they begin to ‘own’ it. The question is not‘what’ but ‘who else’ you can be, and those fantastic roles wewere taught as children to perform as part of the impossible
scenes of the life we would not have as adults, come back tothe stage we offer, and our players become the stars in arediscovered universe of shared language.

educators not just our findings, but also our methods,
expectations, and professional experiences in the search for amore comprehensive educational environment is vital to theWorkshops’ growth, and to its success as an educational toolthat aims at expanding beyond our institution.
2) Outline of the Methodology
As the great bard said: “Though this be madness, yet there
is method in it!” [15].
Simple activities, such as role-playing, dramatic reading,and story telling are used to introduce the participants to the‘other side’ of language learning. The plots and charactersthey read and learn about allow the players to comprehend,
identify, deconstruct and reconstruct situations and identities,
improving their skills to understand and communicate facts,
ideas, and feelings, and to ‘read’ the reactions of otherplayers.
During the workshops, participants are expected to growto know the characters they are responsible for bringing tolife by allowing the dialogue between the literary sources andtheir personal experiences in situations that provide a frameof identification. This dialogue is expected to help theparticipants to approach, identify, internalize, and finallyexperience some of the cultural elements that define thelanguage they are learning, and to establish a connection
between its structures and its ‘humanity.’
Through movement and improvisation, participants are
introduced to new ways of connecting their physical andemotional levels with their language skills. The physicalbarrier is one of the most difficult and challenging problems
we face during the process of theatrical interaction, since thestory lines and scripts have a definite ‘Western’ flavor, but
most participants find themselves at a loss when it comes toproviding the expected physical frame that contains andillustrates the actions of the characters. Getting ‘comfortable’
with their bodies appears, year after year, as the maindifficulty to overcome, and the most rewarding experience
once it has been achieved, especially because it clearlyreflects on the participants’ level of intercultural andinter-linguistic efficiency outside the domain of theWorkshop.
The structure of the sessions provides the frame to containthe natural fear that learners feel when attempting to use a
new language in a social situation. Participants face theirfears step by step, from the initial reaction towards the otherplayers to the eventual interaction with an audience. The
identification and resolution of fear leads to self-confidencebuilding and even to the manipulation of the new language torespond to personal needs [16]. Getting into the cultural
structure created by the plot of a play or by the drama
guidelines provided during a session requires that theparticipants learn to ‘jump in’ through a series of emotional,
intellectual, and physical exercises, which are gradually andcarefully guided at the beginning of our sessions, anddevelop towards a sidecoaching method [17], [18].

IV. TOWARD A QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE
BENEFITS OF ERC ATTENDANCE
A. Background
The quantitative investigation in our previous study
demonstrated that students who attended the ERC more thanonce during the period between their pre- and post-TOEIC
examinations experienced significantly higher gains in their
TOEIC scores than non-attendees with identical pre-testscores [19]. Although, this finding was very exciting, we still
do not know what caused those significant relative gains.
The body of literature investigating the factors that lead tosecond and foreign language proficiency gain continues togrow (see [20] for a lengthy review). One way of
categorizing this research is to break it into studies which
focus on external factors such as language program
characteristics on the one hand and studies which focus oninternal factors such as individual differences in student L2
motivation on the other. Saegusa’s study in the former
category found instructional time to be the best predictor of
proficiency gains as measured by the TOEIC, and based on
those findings concludes that a 150 point gain on the TOEIC
would require approximately 400 hours of classroom
instruction [21]. Boldt and Ross help to qualify Saegusa’sprescription with their findings that certain aspects of alanguage program—such as teacher qualification, use ofauthentic materials, and in-service training—also have asignificant impact on students’ gains [22].
Investigating internal factors related to language
proficiency gain, Gardner, Tremblay, and Masgoret foundempirical support for a causal model in which L2 motivation
combined with language aptitude led to gains in proficiency
as measured by a battery of proficiency tests (which did notinclude the TOEIC) [23]. In another study focused onlearners’ individual differences, Yashima and Zenuk-Nishide
found that students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) not
only predicted changes in proficiency as measured by
TOEFL pre- and post-tests, but also predicted changes ininternational posture and frequency of communication over a
two-and-a-half year study period [24]. In addition, andimportantly for the current study, Yashima andZenuk-Nishide noticed that students’ WTC seemed to predict

C. Closing Remarks: Language = Performance
Language is performance, and as such it allows us tocommunicate beyond words: we learn the rules of interaction
through communication, we learn about different mentalities
22International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

TOEIC gains than non-attendees who shared the same initialscore. Among the rest of the 2009 students for whom all
relevant data was available, 224 students shared identical or,in the case of two ERC attendees, near identical (within 40
points higher or lower) TOEIC pre-test scores with the 17
ERC attendees. Attendees’ initial scores ranged from 425 to
740 with a mean of 548.82 (SD=105.70). As with theprevious study, the ERC log book, in which attendees were
supposed to sign their names upon visiting was the only
record we had of who attended the ERC and how many times
they attended [19]. It is important to emphasize that students’failure to consistently sign the log book along with theresearchers’ inability to decipher students’ handwriting andmatch aliases to real names all but guarantees that the true
number of freshman for which the relevant academic data isavailable and who visited the ERC in 2009 was larger than 17
and also that the average frequency of attendance was higher
than the book would indicate. Thus, as is often the case ineducation research, this study makes due with imperfect data.

the choices they made when given the option to study abroad:
Students who chose to study abroad had a higher WTC thanthose who did not.
B. The Present Study
The current study employs newly available TOEIC scoreand academic performance data from 2009 combined withthe data used in our previous research to uncover clues as towhat accounts for ERC attendees’ significant TOEIC gains
relative to their non-attendee counterparts. The study has four
aims. First, it seeks to reconfirm that ERC attendees
experience significant TOEIC gains over non-attendees,
focusing on the 2009 ERC attendees for whom the otheracademic data used in this study was available. Second, thestudy compares the number of English courses attendees
enrolled in versus their non-attendee counterparts before
beginning their first semester at Saitama University.
Attendees’ enrollment in a significantly higher number ofEnglish courses than their non-attendee counterparts would
suggest a priori differences in their respective L2 motivationand WTC and indicate the possibility that the ERC simply
attracts those who would likely experience extraordinary
gains regardless of whether they attended the ERC or not. On
the other hand, a lack of significant differences would
support the possibility that attendees’ gains were due in largepart to ERC attendance rather than a priori individual
differences. The third aim follows from the second byinvestigating attendees’ versus non-attendees’ English
course performance. A finding of no significant difference
between attendees and non-attendees with regard to
performance would suggest that attendees’ higher
comparative TOEIC gains cannot be explained bygreater-than-usual efforts with regard to regular English
course work. Finally, this study seeks to uncover a significant
relationship between the frequency of ERC attendance andattendees’ relative gains on the TOEIC despite the imperfectrecords from which attendance data was drawn. If such a
relationship can be found, it would lend support to the
hypothesis that ERC attendance has a significant direct effecton English proficiency.

D. Analysis and Results
1) Reconfirming TOEIC Gains
To test if the target group of 17 ERC attendees experienced
significantly higher TOEIC gains compared to non-attendees,
ten t-tests contrasting attendees’ versus non-attendees’
post-TOEIC scores were performed pairing each attendee
with a randomly selected non-attendee who had a matching
pre-test score. Results showed that, whereas non-attendees’
post-test scores averaged 591.21 (mean SD=119.32), ERC
attendees’ post-test scores averaged 684.71 points (mean
SD=98.45). Thus, the 17 ERC attendees scored an average of
93.5 points higher than their non-attendee counterparts (witha mean standard deviation of 114.96 points, a mean lower
limit of 27.88 points and mean upper limit of 152.61 points at
the 95% confidence interval). This difference was significant
for all ten contrasts (p<0.05, one-tailed) with a mean t of 3.40,
thus reconfirming the findings of our previous study [19].
2) Contrasting First Semester English Course
Enrollment
To investigate whether attendees enrolled in significantly
more English courses before beginning their first semester at
Saitama University, ten more paired t-tests were performed
with the same attendee-non-attendee pairings (matching byinitial TOEIC score) as before, only this time contrasting thenumber of first-semester English courses in which thosestudents enrolled. Results showed that, on average, ERC
attendees enrolled in one (1.08) more first-semester English
course than non-attendees (with a mean standard deviation of
1.06, a mean lower limit of 0.53 and mean upper limit of 1.62
at the 95% confidence interval): Whereas non-attendees
enrolled in an average of about two (2.16) courses, future
ERC attendees enrolled in an average of about three (3.24)
English courses. This difference was significant for all ten
contrasts (p<.01, one-tailed) with a mean t of 4.19.
3) Contrasting Total Second-Semester English Course
Grade Points Earned
Before comparing attendees to non-attendees with regard
to academic performance, preliminary Spearman rankcorrelation analysis was performed on the entire set of

C. Sampling and Data Collection
Since our previous study, course enrollment and grade data
as well as additional TOEIC score data for the spring and fallsemesters of 2009 has become available for most of thestudents who entered Saitama University at the beginning ofthat year (N=1581) [19]. This study focuses on 17 ERC
attendees from this cohort who took their pre-TOEIC test
before beginning their first semester began and theirpost-TOEIC test immediately after completing their second
semester, while attending the ERC at least once during theperiod between the tests. These attendees were among the 21
students already found in our previous study to haveexperienced significant TOEIC gains over their non-attendee
counterparts [19]. However, because 4 of those 21 students
must now be omitted (either because they took their post-test
at a later date or because they had not yet attended the ERC
before completing their second semester), re-analysis of theremaining 17 students was deemed appropriate in order toreconfirm that attendees experienced significantly higher
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International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

first-semester English courses than their non-attendee
counterparts, suggests that they may have, from the
beginning, possessed a significantly higher L2 motivationand WTC than their counterparts, which Gardner et al. andYashima and Zenuk-Nishide, respectively, found to lead tohigher language proficiency gains [23], [24]. Although thisdoes not eliminate the possibility that ERC attendance has adirect significant effect on students’ proficiency, it doesmean that some of the credit for attendees’ extraordinary
gains must be given directly to the students themselves andwhatever prior experiences they had which led to their higher
apparent L2 motivation and WTC. Likewise, attendees’
earning significantly higher total English course grade points
than their counterparts suggests that a portion of their gains
must be attributed directly to the additional efforts they madewith regard to their regular English course work. For
example, if we take Saegusa’s conclusion to heart whileassuming attendees made similar additional efforts in theirfirst semester English courses, we may postulate that at least
17 points of attendees’ gains over non-attendees’ were due
directly to these extra efforts [21]. Again, this finding simply
means the ERC cannot take all the credit for attendees’
extraordinary gains; it does not eliminate the possibility that
ERC attendance leads directly to higher proficiency gains.
Indeed, we may hypothesize a spiral relationship in which
ERC attendance helps raise attendees’ L2 motivation, WTC,
and English proficiency, which in turn helps them makegreater and more effective efforts in their English courses
which further increases those attributes. Although testingsuch a hypothesis is beyond the scope of this study, thenear-significant positive relationship between attendees’
TOEIC gains and how early in the year they first signed the
ERC log book suggests that the longer one is a member of the
ERC community, the higher the proficiency gains one can
expect.

available enrollment and grade data for the 2009 student
body (N=1581) to determine what measurement of academic
performance (if any) best predicted TOEIC score gains.
Measurements included the number of English courses
passed, English grade point average, and total grade points
earned in English classes (the sum of all of the final scores
they received for all of the English courses they took). This
analysis revealed that the total grade points earned by astudent in second-semester English courses was the best
predictor of that student’s TOEIC gain, rs=.34, p<.001, withsecond-semester English course grade point average closebehind at rs=.32, p<.001 (interestingly, the correlations weremuch weaker for the same measurements with regard to thefirst semester: rs=.14, p<.001, and rs=.11, p<.001,
respectively).
Given the above findings, we decided to contrast attendees
and non-attendees with regard to their total second-semester
English course grade points earned using the same repeatedpaired t-test method employed in previous sections andmaintaining the same pairings as before. Results indicate that
ERC attendees earned an average of 101.10 more English
course grade points than their non-attendee counterparts orthe equivalent of taking one additional course and getting aperfect score in it (with a mean standard deviation of 102.20
points, a mean lower limit of 48.56 points and mean upper
limit of 153.65 points at the 95% confidence interval). Thisdifference was significant for all ten contrasts (p<0.01,
one-tailed) with a mean t of 4.12.
4) The Relationship between Frequency of ERC
Attendance and TOEIC Score Gain
Spearman rank correlation analysis was employed toinvestigate for a significant relationship between thefrequency of ERC attendance among the 17-member target
group during their first two semesters and gains in their
TOEIC scores. Although not significant, a positive
correlation was found between the number of times attendees
signed the logbook and their TOEIC score gains (rs =.25,
p=.17). Still, knowing that students often forgot to sign thebook, we decided to search further and looked for a
relationship between how early in the year a student firstsigned the book and that student’s TOEIC score gain,
postulating 1) that even if students often forgot to sign thebook, they probably at least signed it once upon their very
first visit to the ERC, and 2) that at least some of thosestudents probably visited several times during the semester
after their first visit without signing the book. Thus, we rankcorrelated attendees’ TOEIC score gains with the number of
ERC days left in the year on the day their signatures first
appeared in the log book. The resulting correlation of rs=.37
approached significance at p=.07.

V. FINAL COMMENTS
The ERC is a place of and for social action. Throughexamining four contrasting aspects of this self-access center,
this study enabled us to move deeper in observing, recording,and reflecting in order to have a more complete view of thisenvironment and its community of interactive learners.
Similar to the process outlined by Smith, the authors
consolidated their understanding of interaction in the ERC
through a reflective process in order to gain expertise in theCenter’s experiences and to learn—just as learners do [25].
The first section provided a holistic overview of the Center.
The second narrowed in focus, detailing a specific speech
event occurring within it. The third discussed the Center’s
Drama Workshop activities, and the final section analyzed
English proficiency gains by the Center’s regular attendees.
The four sections of this brief study combine to suggest thatboth the provision of support for learning and increases inlinguistic proficiency go hand in hand with interactive
learning contexts.

E. Conclusion
As in our previous study, ERC attendees were found in thisstudy to have experienced significantly higher gains in their
TOEIC scores than their non-attendee counterparts withmatching pre-test scores. Further analysis, though, revealed
important clues with regard to the underlying relationshipbetween ERC attendance and those proficiency gains [19].
First, the finding that students who would in the future attend
the ERC had enrolled in a significantly higher number of

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to24

International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

Saitama University, Japan, and to the learners and volunteers
in the ERC for all their unwavering support.
Further, in addition to the campus-based ERC, we would
like to thank all participants for their input and assistancewith building a virtual presence—especially over the past
three years. Details concerning all aspects of the ERC(including overviews of its objectives, structure, personnel,
events, as well as interactive activities and more) are freely
available at the Center’s website [26].

[20] S. Ross, Measuring Gain in Language Programs: Theory and Research,
Sydney: NCELTR, 1998.
[21] Y. Saegusa, “Prediction of English proficiency progress,” Musashino
Women’s College English Literature Society, 18, 1985, pp. 165-185.
[22] R. F. Boldt, and S. Ross, “Score changes on the test of English forinternational communication as a function of training time and type,”
TOEIC Technical Report, Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service,
1998.
[23] R. C. Gardner, P. F. Tremblay, and A. Masgoret, “Towards a full modelof second language learning: An empirical investigation,” The Modern
Language Journal, 81(3), 1997, pp. 344-362.
[24] T. Yashima, and L. Zenuk-Nishide, “The impact of learning contexts
on proficiency, attitudes, and L2 communication: Creating an imaginedinternational community,” System, 36(4), 2008, pp. 566-585.
[25] R. C. Smith, “Teacher education for teacher-learner autonomy,” inSymposium for Language Teacher Educators: Papers from Three IALS
Syposia, J. Golling, G. Ferguson, and H. Trappes-Lomax, Eds.
Edinburgh: IALS, University of Edinburgh Press, 2003, pp. 1-13.
[26] Saitama University. (2011, April). The CEED: The Saitama University
Centerfor
Education
andDevelopment.
Available:
http://www.saitama-u.ac.jp/ceed

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Nathan Krug is an Assistant Professor at the Saitama University CEED. He
has research interests spanning the fields of Conversation Analysis,
Discourse Analysis and CALL. Nathan is interested in the development oftasks and approaches which make use of the computer-mediatedenvironment, particularly in terms of guiding students to use language
productively, to negotiate meaning, and to extend critical reasoning skills.
Adriana Edwards Wurzinger is an Associate Professor at the Saitama
University CEED. As a historian and sociologist, she is focused on offering
academic lectures and speaking classes that provide the students with thepossibility of developing their English skills through the study of specificsubjects, such as Sociology of Identity and Ethnicity, European Culture in
the Middle Ages, and History of Myths and Folklore in the Early
Renaissance, among others. She created and directs the ERC Drama
Workshops.
Leander Hughes is an Assistant Professor of English Education at the
Saitama University CEED. He is interested in quantitative language researchmethods and in applying findings in current social psychology to thelanguage learning context. His other interests include computer assisted
language learning, learner autonomy, and communicative task effectiveness.
He also designed and maintains the Center’s website.
Stacey Vye is an Assistant Professor at the Saitama University CEED andhas been teaching English in Japan for 21 years. As a true people person, sheenjoys coordinating the ERC with her colleagues, students, and theadministration. Her taught classes are influenced by English as a second orother language, early childhood education, socio-political equality, andlanguage gains through empowerment, tutorials, and literacy. Her researchinterests include how reflection and learner and teacher autonomy contributeto language education, including the connections between both.

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