著者

本田 勝久 小川 一美 河本 圭司

出版者

大阪教育大学

雑誌

大阪教育大学紀要 第5部門 教科教育 (ISSN:03893480)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.57, no.1, pp.13-30[含 英語文要旨], 2008-09

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小学校での外国語活動の必修化を目前に控えている現在,英語活動に関する多くの研究が行われているが,主たる授業者である学級担任の英語学習に対する考え方(ビリーフ)を調査したものは見られない。そこで,本研究は,まず(1)大阪府下における英語活動の実態を明らかにし,(2)小学校教員の英語学習に対するビリーフを明らかにし,(3)その結果から英語活動への提言を試みた。その結果,小学校教員の英語学習に対するビリーフが外国語活動の必修化に影響を与えていることが検証された。同時に,小学校外国語活動に関する「教員への啓蒙活動の必要性」が浮き彫りになった。English Activities has been implemented in many public elementary schools in Japan. According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology (MEXT, 2007), 95.8% of the public elementary schools in Japan have implemented English Activities in some ways. There is much research on English Activities such as curriculum, materials, teachers' training programs. More than 90% of homeroom teachers (HRTs) are in charge of English Activities in higher grades as a main instructor (MEXT, 2007). In addition to this, MEXT (2007) stated that Foreign Language Activities is to be a compulsory instruction in the near future and said that the language in the Activities is English with some exception. Moreover, it is said that the best way to implement English Activities is team-teaching included HRTs. From these situations, it is clear that the role of HRTs in English Activities become more important. There are many piece of research on issues about implementing English Activities but little research on what elementary school teachers think toward English. Considering these situations, it is necessary to investigate what elementary school teachers think toward English. Therefore, this paper will find this out from the perspective of beliefs. This paper conducted the research that tried to investigate university students and elementary school teacher beliefs toward English by using questionnaires called BALLI (the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory). The findings are various; 1) there are many differences between the beliefs of English majors or sub-majors students and those of elementary school majors students; 2) HRTs' role in English Activities will become more and more important; and 3) there are some differences among teachers' opinions about introducing English Activities as a compulsory instruction, and the results of this thesis imply that teacher beliefs have an influence on their opinions. The students who belong to English major or sub-major regard English as a really difficult language, but they think learning English is averagely easy. On the contrary, the students who belong to elementary school education major regard English as an average difficult language, but they think learning English is difficult. In other words, the students who belong to elementary school education major have higher affective filter toward English or learning English. English Activities will become a compulsory instruction sometimes soon, and elementary school teachers will insist on many issues concerning the current situation of English Activities such as the instructors, curriculum, and materials. Of course, these issues are important in order to implement English Activities effectively; however, as this paper found that teachers' beliefs, especially about speaking English, might influence their opinions toward English Activities. For that matter, increasing teachers' confidence in speaking English might liberate from their anxiety about implementing English Activities, which might reduce their resistances toward English Activities.