influence by eas of 2007 summer: deakin...
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Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 1
Running Head: INFLUENCE BY EAS OF 2007 SUMMER
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer: Deakin University
Mika Iwamoto
A graduation thesis submitted to the International Communication Course,
Department of English & International Interdisciplinary Studies,
Osaka Jogakuin College,
in partial fulfillment for degree requirements.
Advisor: Dr. S. R. Johnston
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 2
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to know about OJC students who participated in
English Academic Study (EAS) and how it changed their understanding of other
cultures and their thinking about English study. Participants of this paper were
seven OJC students. From the end of August 22 to September 23 in 2007, they
participated in EAS with me.
The purpose of EAS was to improve TOEIC scores. However, students had
different purposes and expectations. From the result, although it is difficult to say
TOEIC score was influenced by EAS, students could touch other cultures and
they improved some English skills like listening and speaking. Thus, we can say
this program was a good experience to understand other cultures and improve
English skills.
抄録
このリサーチペーパーの目的は、English Academic Study(EAS)により他国の文
化の理解と英語学習の考え方についてどのように変化したかを知ることです。このリ
サーチペーパーの調査の対象者は、2007 年の 8 月 22 日から 9 月 23 日までの間、私
と共に EAS に参加した学生の皆さんです。
EAS の目的は、TOEIC のスコアの改善でした。しかしながら、学生たちはそれ
ぞれに異なる目的と期待を持っていました。TOEIC スコアの変化が EAS の影響であ
ると断言することは難しいですが、生徒たちは他国の文化に触れ、リスニングやスピ
ーキングといった英語のスキルを改善できました。つまり、このプログラムは他国の
文化の理解や英語のスキル改善のための良い経験になったと言うことができます。
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 3
Introduction
Osaka Jogakuin College (OJC) has some programs for studying oversea.
There is semester abroad, field work, and English Academic Study (EAS). A lot of
students hope to study abroad by using these programs. Especially, EAS program
is one of the good programs for English study. Every February and August, there
are EAS programs in Osaka Jogakuin College. This program is one of study
abroad with home stay for about four or five weeks. The purpose of this program is
to improve TOEIC score. TOEIC means Test of English for International
Communication. TOEIC is universal test to evaluate communication skills widely.
It is practiced in about 90 countries. We can know our English level as world basic
by TOEIC (ETS, 2008). However, we can learn not only TOEIC skills, but also
culture and language skills through this program.
In 2008, students could choose two countries: one is New Zealand in February,
another is Australia in August. I wanted to go abroad and experience home stay.
Moreover, I tried to study English or other culture through this program. That is
why I participated in August program with 23 students.
The program was done through August 22 to September 23 and every student
studied at Deakin University. The students at OJC who have lower than 600
TOEIC score have the right going to EAS. In this research, I will examine what
students think they learned during the program.
Literature Review
To understand OJC students and their views about studying overseas, it
is important to know the literature on immersion, intercultural communication,
and English education in Japan.
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 4
Immersion in Different Cultures
According to Kondo (1981), the pattern of reaction of culture shock is different
by age, character, and experience. Moreover, there are Japanese features in
culture shock. Especially, it is thought that self culture principal, specific
communication patterns and human relationships are important. Japanese
people tend to think their culture is important and find it difficult to accept other
cultures because they withdraw into their own world (p. 3).
Students experienced similar situations like this by visiting other countries.
Cornwell (2002) and Johnston (2006) explain about situations in which students
feel trouble in other countries using the words “culture bumps” and “cultural
plunges”. Culture bumps are that “something happens that causes you to wonder
what just happened” (p. 254). Cultural plunges are cultural immersion
“conductive to students rethinking stereotypes” (p. 238). This time, “culture
bumps” can help explain the OJC students‟ experiences.
Intercultural Communication and English Study
According to Torikai (1996), one difficulty of understanding of cross cultural
communication is difference of thinking of “words” between Japanese and other
countries. There are differences of quantity of words and how to use silence.
Torikai says that all foreigners are “the culture fighting to make a good use of
words” and Japanese are “the culture thinking that silence is beautiful” (p. 31).
For example, when a foreigner and Japanese communicate in English, the
foreigner often speaks too fast and the Japanese speaks slowly because they think
about grammar in their heads. While Japanese think about grammar, they have
silence. Many foreigners do not like that silence. Therefore, they speak again
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 5
before Japanese begin to speak (Torikai, 1996). That is one reason why Japanese
cannot communicate with foreigners. Thus, one reason why Japanese cannot
speak English is related to English education in Japan.
English Education in Japan: Grammar
Torikai (1996) explains that Japanese people have difficulty speaking English
in other countries because Japanese education stresses grammar. Japanese
cannot speak English because they worry about mistakes in their grammar. This
is showed by students‟ real experiences. While Japanese often think about
grammar, foreigners feel silence. They do not like that silence. Therefore, they
speak again before Japanese begin to speak (Torikai, 1996). Torikai suggests that
Japanese need practical English exercises to communicate without thinking about
grammar. It will help us to become accustomed to not only reflective
communication which we do not stress grammar but also to listening to English.
Research Question
I want to know how OJC students change their thinking about intercultural
communication through EAS. Especially, I researched how students understand
culture and what were some troubles by international communication. In addition,
I examined the relationship between Japanese students‟ communication skills
and English study in Japan. Moreover, I want to know about changing of attitudes
to English study including any changes in TOEIC scores of EAS participants
before and after.
Method
Participants and Data Collection
I interviewed seven OJC students who went on EAS program to Deakin
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 6
University. It was unstructured interviews and qualitative research, so that I
could find out their thinking about the program.
I researched about how students understand other cultures and what was
trouble of international communication with host family or other country friend.
Moreover, I collected data of TOEIC tests score of EAS participants. I compared
the score before and after they went to EAS because I wanted to know how the
TOEIC scores changed through English life like a home stay and EAS
participation.
Comparison with Data Collected Last Year
Last year, Rina Suzuki wrote her graduation paper examining students‟ views
of learning at Lincoln College, New Zealand in spring 2006. My research
compares Suzuki‟s data with my data. Suzuki went in spring 2006 with 23
students and I went in summer 2007 with 17 students.
About English Academic Study
EAS program at Deakin University was done at the end of August 22 to
September 23 in 2007. The Melbourne campus of Deakin University is located at
Toorak. During the EAS program, we experienced home stay and one OJC student
per one family. Every student was given tickets for train or tram and went to
school by these vehicles.
On the first school day, students had to write an essay to test our writing
and reading skills. By this test, we were separated into classes and four or five
OJC students per one class. The class started at 8:30 and students had four
classes till lunch time. Different from Japanese college, there was morning coffee
time after we took two classes. We learned writing, reading and listening
including pronunciation. Then, students had one class after lunch time.
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 7
Sometimes, we went to the city for events, like a picnic and studied about
Melbourne. One particular aspect of EAS is having special class of TOEIC for only
OJC students on Tuesday and Friday.
EAS and OJC Students
I researched about why OJC students went to EAS and how they felt about
other culture. Moreover, I focused on what they learned from EAS. Then, I
compared with Suzuki‟s report in 2007.
Reasons to Go
In comparing 2006 date and 2007 data, we see differences in reasons to go on
EAS. The data below is my data and from Suzuki (2007).
Table 1
Why Students Go on EAS
2006 students 2007 students
Reasons Number
of Students
Reasons Number of
Students
Improve TOEIC 2 Home stay 4
Overseas 3 Knowing
culture
1
Cost 3 Cost 1
Improve English 1 Love
Australia
1
Improve
motivation
1
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 8
First, I will discuss reasons why OJC students went to EAS in 2007. This
EAS program is to improve TOEIC skills, but a lot of students have other reasons
and expectations. It is very different from 2006 students.
Four students strongly expect they can have a home stay in 2007 data.
Moreover, there was no one expecting to improve TOEIC or English skills. This
data is very different from 2006 data. As an interesting answer, there were
students who want to use school money in both my data and Suzuki‟s data. We
could use 400,000 yen which is given from OJC for several study programs
including EAS. We were able to receive monetary support. 2006 students felt
appeal about support money.
When I compared to 2006 and 2007, 2006 students had more motivation
related to study than 2007students. Like these results, students had each reason
to take part in EAS.
Culture
I reported how they felt overseas and how they changed thinking about other
culture or foreigners.
Table 2
Troubles in Oversea Lives
Transportation Home
rules
Shop
hours
Nothing
2 2 1 2
I asked what was the most troublesome for them in other country‟s life. Their
answers were different for each student or host family‟s situation.
Two students felt trouble about transportation. In Australia, we had to use
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 9
trams to go to school. A lot of students have never experienced this and felt
difficulty to memorize station numbers or stations they have to change the tram.
Moreover, students felt difference of sense of value about distance or food.
For example, host mother said “School is very near from house.” However, for
student, it was very far. Students felt difference of sense of value not only of
transportation, but also food. The size of food which host family felt small was
very big for students. That‟s why they felt it difficult to understand explanation of
transportation or size of food by natives. Students were confused by differences of
sense of value. We can call these experiences “culture bumps” (Cornwell, 2002). It
means something happens that cause you to wonder what just happened
(Cornwell, 2002).
Home rule also caused trouble for two students. One student said she could
use shower only three minutes. This connects with Australian environmental
problem of lack of water. Another trouble was that students could not use kitchen
freely. For example, students could not use kitchen except regular time host
mother decided. Therefore, students could not drink water at mid-night or make
their lunch early in the morning. Laundry was also a problem. As an example,
students could not get their laundry because host family did not do washing
regularly. Therefore, students had trouble with their underwear or clothes. This is
same as Torikai (1996) has indicated. Japanese tend to hesitate to ask when
speaking English.
Moreover, in strict families, students had trouble about using the bathroom.
One student said “If the bath room is a little wet, I was warned about it
persistently.” She felt stress about it.
One student answered shop hours as a difficulty. In Australia, a lot of shops
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 10
closed early. This student said it was difficult to shop at the time she wants to go.
In Japan, there are a lot of shops open until mid night like a convenience store.
Almost all streets are bright. However, in Australia, especially when we stayed,
there were practically no stores that were open at night. Moreover, almost all of
the streets turned down the lights. It was very different from Japan and students
felt inconvenience. It was culture bumps for students.
However, we have to understand other country‟s cultures. “Japanese people
tend to think their culture is important and can‟t accept other culture because
they withdraw into one‟s own world” (Torikai, 1996). We need to accept other
country‟s culture and adapt to other culture. Johnston (2006) says “Students need
to step outside their comfort zones in order to challenge their long held beliefs
concerning schooling, culture, and the world” (p. 238). We should enjoy learning
other cultures and get used to a different comfort zone.
I also researched how students changed their thinking about other cultures
or foreigners from these experiences (Table 3).
Table 3
Changed Thinking about Other Culture or Foreigners
Change Not change
3 4
Table 3 is result of changing or not changing about thinking of other cultures
or foreigners. Three students changed their thinking about other cultures or
foreigners. Two students answered the changes were influenced by host family.
Student B said, “I could learn difficulty of give and take balance about home stay.”
Also, she learned historical background of Japan and Indonesia from Indonesian
who had lived with her in Australia. They talked about trouble of war of Japan
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 11
and Indonesia. Students B did not know about war of two countries. However, she
understood what happened between Indonesia and Japan and how Indonesians
think about Japanese.
Student C understood several senses of value. Her host family believes
Catholicism strongly. Her host brother who was five years old played the piano at
the Mass because he was good at the piano. She actually experienced the life in a
family with a strong religious belief. There was no trouble with food and also no
different thinking by influence of religion for Student C. However, there was a
different problem. Student C‟s host family was father, mother, son and other
Japanese students. The son who was five years old had a cognitive disability. Her
host mother was very nervous about her son. She hated that relatives and friends
felt sorry for her son. On the other hand, sometimes, the mother and son
quarreled at dinner time. However, she could not stop the quarrel and felt
miserable. It was painful for her. However, Student C learned about the difficulty
of staying with other people and understanding not only other country‟s culture
but also family culture like a home rule.
In school life, student A found that each country‟s educational differences
from pronunciation while she was talking with other countrys‟ students. Each
country‟s pronunciation and accent was very different. Student A said “I felt it
difficult to understand about pronunciation of Asian students like a Chinese,
Vietnamese.” These students used accents at the different point with Japan.
Therefore, students felt trouble understanding words or conversation.
There were four students who answered that their views had not changed.
Student D and G said that they had no stereotypes about Australians. Therefore,
they could understand culture and did not feel trouble. Student E had image that
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 12
Australian is kind and merry and her host family was just like that. Student F
had been to Australia last year. Therefore, she did not feel fear about other culture
or home stay.
In Suzuki‟s paper (2007), one student said, “Throw away stereotypes and do
not compare Japan and other country. It is important to have fun and to accept
the other cultures.” Although Suzuki and I researched about different countries,
we found similar answers. We can say that students learned “understanding” on
each country. We have several differences of sense of values. It is important that
we understand each culture or lifestyle without stereotypes.
Affective Influence
OJC students experienced home stay life for one month. They felt trouble
communicating with host family. I researched how to relate the communication
trouble with openness of Japanese students.
Table 4
Communication Trouble
Student A, F Couldn‟t come up with words.
Student B, E Sense of value (difference of thinking about distance, size
and speed).
Student C, E Accent (Host family‟s accent was very different and difficult
to understand or the speaking was too fast).
Student D, G Nothing.
Students B and E felt sense of value was very different. For example, there
was food size or how to feel distance. Through host family felt the food size was
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 13
small, students felt it was big.
Students C and E felt difficulty listening to accents. The cause was different.
Student C‟s host family was not native Australian. She met very international
environment. Her host father came from Scotland and her host mother came from
China. Both father and mother were not native. Therefore, she felt difficulty
about understanding accents. Student E also could not understand accent because
her host family members spoke too fast. It was cause of listening knowledge and
experience.
There are native teacher who speak fast in OJC, of course. However, OJC
teachers speak slowly when we cannot understand in class. It was different with
real English life and class.
Student A and F couldn‟t come up with words smoothly. As the reason,
student A said she thought about grammar before talking, as Torikai (1996)
pointed out. For example, students once make right sentence in the head and
speak to people. Students cannot answer the question reflectively.
Moreover, “affective filters” may influence this (Torikai, 1996, p. 9). According
to Torikai, when we study other languages, our learning is influenced by
motivation, confidence and worry. Affective filter is a factor to prevent study
motivation. If the filter is low, we can absorb a lot of skill. On the contrary, if the
filter is high, we cannot absorb a lot of skills because the filter makes barrier for
language (p. 9). It is like an accepting door with a high filter opening a little and a
low opening a lot. If the door is a little open, we cannot accept several situations
because door is almost closed. However, if the door is open a lot, we can accept
several situations, even if they are poor situations because the door is almost
open.
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 14
An example of an affective filter is influence by a Japanese friend. There are a
lot of Japanese students in school. Students depend on each other. Moreover,
students compare their English skill with friends. If their skill is poorer than
friends, they tend to guard to use English. Thus, the accepting door with a high
filter opens a little and students are afraid of communicating with English. It is
same situation with EAS program. Therefore, students did not have active
motivation and feel the need to improve English skills at the school.
English Education in Japan
We have learned English since junior high school. However, we cannot use
English fluently when we meet situations in which we have to use English. It is
caused by Japanese educational system.
In my reports, every student answered English education in Japan is not
useful. Students found that they cannot come up with words smoothly when they
communicate with English. They think about grammar in their heads before they
utter words. “Japanese can‟t speak English because they worry about mistakes in
their grammar” (Torikai, 1996). Japanese education stress grammar. There are no
situations which students can communicate with English practically. Therefore,
students always think about grammar system. It is the same as Torikai‟s
research.
I interviewed seven students about how they think about English education
in Japan. Then, every student said it is very bad. A lot of students said there are
no practicalities in English education in Japan. Below are opinions of student A
and B.
(Student A)
Now I‟m teaching English to elementary students. Japanese education thinks
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 15
grammar is important. As a result, we couldn‟t speak fluently because we thought
about grammar before speaking. It is not useful when we meet situations in which
we have to use English.
(Student B)
Grammar is important. However, we do not have environment for improving
English (There are no situations to use English). Moreover, Japanese teachers‟
English knowledge is very low. Like student A‟s opinion, there are grammar
troubles in English education in Japan.
Like these opinions, students felt Japanese education system is not good for
English communication. Actually, students felt that their English communication
skill is low even though they participated in EAS. English education in Japan
must be reviewed for more practical education.
About TOEIC
Students could live in environment using English one month. Most important
goal of EAS which OJC expected was to improve of students‟ TOEIC score. Below
is the table of changing of TOEIC scores (Table 5).
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 16
Table 5
Change of TOEIC Scores
2007 students
Before After Now
Student A 580 550 _
Student B 580 450 760
Student C 420 535 520
Student D 595 600 620
Student E 485 470 _
Student F 495 480 500
Student G 610 635 _
Three students‟ scores were up after EAS, but four students‟ scores were down.
We couldn‟t find good influence of EAS result from this table. However, now, three
student‟s score improved. Especially, student B has high score now. She said this
is not influence of EAS. She loves Australia and EAS was second time going to
Australia for home stay. Moreover, she works at a hotel and needs to use English
communication and sometimes contact with host family. Therefore, her TOEIC
score is her study result and motivation to learn and use English and not directly
a result of study in the EAS program. However, the opportunity to live in
Australia for one month through EAS may have added to her motivation,
In Suzuki's (2007) paper, three students improved scores after EAS.
Especially, student 7 had most change (Table 6).
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 17
Table 6
2006 students and TOEIC Scores
Student Before After Recent
Student 1 580 580 610
Student 2 500 500 585
Student 3 580 550 _
Student 4 560 550 645
Student 5 580 600 _
Student 6 605 620 705
Student 7 525 575 645
Students 5, 6 had not big change and other four students had decrease or
same. Five students‟ recent scores improved. However, Suzuki said “it is very
difficult to say the increase is directly connected to the EAS program because
students might have studied more after returning from EAS (p. 13).” Especially,
2006 students, different from 2007 students, had motivation which they want to
improve TOEIC or English skills before they went to EAS. This difference of
motivation might have influenced the difference of recent TOEIC score of 2006
and 2007 students. 2006 students improved their TOEIC score remarkably
compared with 2007 students.
Students‟ Views of TOEIC
We had TOEIC class for OJC at Deaken University two days during a week.
From Table 5, it is difficult to say that TOEIC class is effective class for improving
TOEIC scores in the short-term. In my research, students answered TOEIC class
at Deaken was not useful and boring. Below are the reasons why they felt bored
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 18
about TOEIC class and some possible improvements.
(Student A)
Class time was too short. We had not enough time for description.
(Student B, D, G)
I felt bored. It was not useful for TOIEC. Level was very low.
(Student F)
Even though every student has different poor parts and level in TOEIC, we
had the same class both high and low level students.
(Student C, E)
I want a text book for TOEIC like OJC TOEIC seminar.
From these opinions, it is difficult to say the TOEIC score is directly
connected to the EAS program. There were big differences between students and
teacher about thinking of study quality. At Deaken, teachers tried to teach
English pleasantly. Every time, students played games like puzzles or reading
stories. However, students expected study which they use textbook for TOEIC and
learn about techniques to improve TOEIC scores.
Students might imagine class like an OJC TOEIC seminar which is held
during summer vacation or winter vacation. Therefore, students couldn‟t be
motivated about TOEIC. That is why students did not feel good effect. As a result,
EAS program for TOEIC couldn‟t connect to good results.
EAS Influence
I researched how students felt the EAS could be changed to improve their
English skills (listening, speaking, and writing) (Table 7). Moreover, I researched
how to relate to communicate with their host family.
* In the table below, active means students could communicate with host
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 19
family actively. Passive means students could not challenge communicating with
host family actively.
Table7
Communicating with Host Family: Active/Passive
A B C D E F G
Active
Passive
Passive
→
Active
Active Active Sometime
active
Passive
→
Active
Active Active
Improve
By EAS
Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
The Table shows that students communicated with host family whether
active or not. Moreover, it shows that students felt their skills were improved by
EAS.
Student C, who is active, felt she couldn‟t increase word knowledge because
she used only easy words. Therefore, she didn‟t feel that she improved her English
skills. Student A and E was nervous the first time. However, as days passed they
could speak with host family actively. Moreover, students, except C, said
especially their speaking and listening knowledge was influenced by EAS.
Students said they could improve their listening or speaking skills in
Australia, but after they returned their skill levels went back from before EAS.
The reason is that they do not have enough opportunities to use English compared
with oversea life. They need to use English more actively to keep English skill
which they got in Australia.
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 20
In OJC, there are a lot of native teacher compared to other colleges. We
should use the environment which we are given because we have chances for
communicating with native teachers. In Table 5, student B who kept using
English in her life improved the English skills and her TOEIC score. Thus, it is
very important to make use of our OJC environment to use English by ourselves.
School or Family
Moreover, I researched which situation was good for their English skill
improvement: school or host family. Four students of seven said they could
improve their skills by communication with host family (includes student who
answered both). There were more chances for using English at home than school
because students could speak to OJC friends at school. In the 2006 data, students
who chose host family was 6 of 7, and one student answered both school and host
family. 2006 students also said that “In the University, we may talk to OJC
students in Japanese too much, while in the home stay, we never use Japanese to
our host family” (p.11).
In this way, almost all of the students who answered active said they were
influenced by EAS. Especially, communication with host family helps students‟
English skills increase because almost all students could not use Japanese. Thus,
at school, there were too many OJC students. Also in class, there were four to five
OJC students. It was not a good situation to improve English. In the future, OJC
will need to think about the number of OJC students in class.
Motivation
Students were influenced not only by home stay and study, but also by the
psychological part. Student B said she learned that challenging is important to
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 21
communicate with people. Student E said she could have courage for speaking.
These opinions were the same with Suzuki‟s report. In her report, one student
said, “I was not afraid of speaking English.” Moreover, there are student who had
friends in New Zealand and they keep communicating with chat by PC.
After Returning to Japan
2006 students and 2007 students could get better English skills and good
experience. However, both 2006 and 2007 data indicate that some students said
they stopped speaking so much English and listening after they returned.
Students improved skills only in oversea life because they had to use English.
Unfortunately, students don‟t have chance to use English after they return to
Japan. That‟s why their TOEIC score was also down.
Actually, in Suzuki‟s reports, students 4, 6, 7 who kept studying English by
influence of by EAS improved their TOEIC scores (Table 6). Also in my research,
student B who kept using English improved her TOEIC score (Table 5).
Thus, how to improve their skills depends on what they do after they come
back to Japan. A lot of 2007 students were influenced by EAS in the part of
listening, speaking. However, they were not influenced by EAS in the part of
TOEIC after English study except student B.
Discussion
The reasons to go to EAS were very different for each student. In my research,
the 2007 students answered that improving TOEIC score or English skill was not
important for them. They expected to experience home stay or know other culture.
It was very different from 2006 students who expected to improve English skills.
This result was interesting to me because I expected answer that students went to
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 22
EAS to improve their English skills or study like a 2006 students.
Moreover, five students felt trouble in the other culture. It was from
transportation and home rules.
Concerning studying English, although students were satisfied with the
experience of the home stay, TOEIC class was not useful for students. Students
needed higher level classes. However, except for TOEIC class, six students felt
listening and speaking skills were influenced by EAS. It was from good time with
host family. Students could communicate with host family almost every day. As a
result, they could improve listening and speaking skill.
An unfortunately point is that some students felt their English level
decreased since returning to Japan because they stopped speaking so much
English and listening after they returned. It means that it is important to keep
using English. The result was similar to Suzuki‟s paper (2007) and only students
who kept using English improved their English skills.
Students‟ experiences and opinions about Japanese English education was
same as the Torikai„s report that Japanese can‟t speak English overseas. Japanese
strongly think about grammar. In EAS, host family is good situation to improve
English skills. We could spend good time with each host family when we eat
dinner or day life. It might help improving our English skills.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper was to research about EAS program in Australia
from August to September 2007. Moreover, I compared with Suzuki‟s paper
written about EAS on 2006. I researched how EAS influenced OJC students who
went to Australia and studied at Deaken University.
Through EAS, students learned difficulty of understanding other culture. It
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 23
was influenced by difference of sense of values. As for studying, we can say EAS
was not effective for improving TOIEC for students. It was the same with Suzuki‟s
report (2007). However, it may be a way to motivate students to study English.
In the future, EAS will need to improve because every student answered
EAS TOEIC class was boring. TOEIC class will need to give textbooks for
students. Moreover, it will also need to practice placement test for each student
who has different levels.
Students understood how difficult it was to communicate with English and
learned how important home stay family is to speak English. Students who
communicated with host family actively felt improvement of their English skills.
Therefore, students who will participate in EAS in the future should communicate
with host family actively because home stay is good chance to use English every
day.
Moreover, it is very important to keep using English after they return to
Japan because they cannot keep English skills without using English every day.
OJC is a good environment for keeping English skills. However, in almost all of
our classes, students can speak Japanese and even native teachers can
understand Japanese. Therefore, students do not need to use English. It is not a
good situation to improve English skills. Therefore, not only students but also
OJC will need to make good environment for students. Making exchange students
system is good for understanding other cultures. Moreover, it will need classes
which are focused on speaking. In addition, it might help students as practice for
oversea or home stay.
Every students answered EAS was very good experience. Students also said
they could attain each purpose. There are a lot of issues like review of TOEIC
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 24
class and better English environment at OJC. However, if we improve these
problems, EAS will be good program for understanding other cultures and
improving English skills.
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 25
References
Cornwell, S. & Nakamura. K. (2002). A Short-term home stay Program for
OJJC Related Schools. Osaka Jogakuin Tankidaigaku Kenkyuu Kiyou,
32, 247-260.
ETS, (2008). TOEIC Home Page. Retrieved December 17, 2008, from
http://www.toeic.or.jp/
Johnston, S. (2006). Taking American students for a cultural plunge into
Japan and avoiding the tourist experience & returning to Japan. In M.
Afolayan, D. Browne & D. Jules (Eds.), Current Discourse on Education
in Developing Nation (pp. 237-255). New York: Nova Science Publishers,
Inc.
Kondo, Y. (1984). Culture shock no shinri [Psychology of culture shock].
Osaka: Sougennsya.
Suzuki, R. (2007). EAS evaluation of Spring 2006.Unpublished
undergraduate thesis, Osaka Jogakuin College, Osaka, Japan.
Torikai, K. (1996). Ibunka wo koeru Eigo [English to get over cross-culture].
Tokyo: Marusen.
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 26
Appendix A
Interview Questions
1.EAS に行った目的は何ですか。なぜ参加しようと考えましたか。
2.ホームステイ先の家族構成を教えてください。
3.ホストファミリーとの会話は自分から積極的に行いましたか。
4.ホストファミリーとのコミュニケーションで障害となったものは何ですか。
5.生活する上で困ったことは何ですか。
6.外国人への印象、異文化への考え方は変わりましたか。それはどのように変わ
りましたか。
7.日本へ戻ってきた時どのように感じましたか。
8.EAS 参加前、参加後、現在の TOEIC のスコアを教えてください。
9.EAS での TOEIC クラスはいかがでしたか。改善点があれば答えてください。
10.EAS を通して自分の英語能力は上がったと思いますか。またそれはどの分野
においてですか。(リスニング、スピーキング・・・)
11.日本の英語教育についてどう思いますか。
12.EAS に参加して自分の目的は果たせましたか。
13.何か今後のアドバイスや改善点があれば聞かせてください。
Influence by EAS of 2007 Summer 27