Teacher Preferences of Student Behavior in Japan

Page No.: 
229
Writer(s): 
Catherine L. Sasaki, Tokoha Gakuen University

The objective of this study was to learn more about the classroom-culture gap in
EFL classes taught by native speakers (NS) in Japan. A two-part questionnaire
was completed by 81 NSs teaching at Japanese colleges. On the first part, a list
of 25 descriptions of student behavior, respondents marked the frequency level
at which they prefer (TPret) students engaging in each behavior and the frequency
level at which they perceive (TPerc) each behavior occurring in their collegelevel
EFL classes. The second part invited respondents to supply additional
descriptions of undesired and desired behaviors. A multivariate significant
difference (p < .0001) was found between TPref and TPerc. A paired t-test
yielded a significant difference (p < .002) between preferred and perceived
frequencies on 24 of the items. Correlation analysis indicated teaching experience
had a significant effect (p < .05) on one item of preference and three items of
perception. Responses from the second part of the questionnaire underscore a
preference for positive classroom participation behaviors. These results, while
confirming a mismatch between NS-teacher preferences and Japanese collegestudent
behavior, point to a need for both parties to work towards minimizing
the classroom-culture gap.

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