Research Forum: Goal-Setting to Raise Speaking Self-Confidence

Page No.: 
269
Writer(s): 
Stephen A. Templin, Kakio High School, Kanagawa Prefecture

This research study hypothesized that goal-setting exercises raise self-confidence
in English speaking for adult Japanese learners. In this study, 21 freshman women
from a university in Tokyo rated their English speaking on a scale of 1-10. The
subjects were divided into three classes, with all classes receiving the same
instruction except that two classes were given S- to IS-minutes of goal-setting
exercises. After two weeks, all subjects re-rated their English speaking. Only
one of the experimental groups showed a statistically significant increase in
their self-confidence rating, which failed to support the hypothesis. Experimental
design recommendations are discussed.

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