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THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC, RELAXATION ANDSUGGESTION ON TERTIARY STUDENTS’AFFECT AND ACHIEVEMENT IN LEARNINGJAPANESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGEKuninori Shimbo, Monash University

Kuninori Shimbo obtained his PhD in Education from RMIT University and iscurrently a visiting research fellow of the Japanese Studies Centre at Monash Uni-versity. His research interests include psychological factors in learning and secondlanguage teaching methods.

Correspondence to Kuninori Shimbo: [email protected]

This study investigates the effects of the three major factors of Suggestopedia – music, relaxationand suggestion – on the students’ affect and development of communicative competence intertiary Japanese language classes. A review of literature on Suggestopedia, the original formof Accelerated Learning (AL), shows that its effects are controversial, surrounded by misunder-standing and lack of appropriate evaluation. There is a need to clarify the nature of AL and theeffects of its factors. Two existing classes were randomly assigned as a control group (n = 29)and an experimental group (n = 25). This quasi-experimental study lasted for 12 weeks with 3stages of 4 weeks each. The results of t-tests showed that there existed no major significantdifferences between the two groups. When differences between each stage were examinedcarefully, however, it was found that self-concept increased significantly with the introductionof suggestion. The findings did not support the general claims that AL has positive effects onlanguage learning, but it was found that among the three independent variables suggestion in-fluenced students’ affect positively. The finding implies that the teacher’s positive messages arepowerful tools to enhance students’ affect in learning a foreign language.

INTRODUCTIONAmong various factors that influence individual L2 (second/foreign language) learnerdifferences, affective factors have attracted increasing attention (Arnold et al., 1999;Dörnyei, 2003; Onwuegbuzie et al., 2000; Williams et al., 1997). Research on affectivevariables appears to offer the promise of enhancing students’ language learning, sincethey are more malleable than many cognitive variables, and better learning strategiescan be developed based on studies of them (Ellis, 1994). However, there has been relativelylittle research on them in L2 acquisition research. In particular, interventional studies

ARTICLES

16.1ARAL 31:2 (2008), 16.1-16.22. DOI 10.2104/aral0816 ISSN 0155–0640 / E-ISSN 1833–7139 © AUSTRALIAN REVIEW OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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on affective factors are scarce, due to the many difficulties associated with such researchdesigns. Such difficulties include various threats to validity and disagreements about thedefinitions of affective variables and the instruments to measure them (Bailey, 1983;Beretta, 1986; Dörnyei, 1998; Dörnyei, 2001; Long, 1984; Oxford, 1994). Nevertheless,recent research has advanced particularly in the area of motivation, anxiety and self-concept.

Motivation is generally regarded as the most important factor in determining students’success in L2 learning (Belmechri et al., 1998; Dörnyei, 2001; Gardner et al., 1993;Oxford, 1994; Samimy et al., 1992). The literature review shows that the works byGardner and his associates have been the most influential since 1960s. In fact, Gardner’smodel is still prominent in that it is based on and has been tested by empirical research(Dörnyei, 1998; Gardner et al., 1994a; Gardner et al., 1994b). Although some earlystudies suggested that the integrative motive is more positively related to L2 achievementthan instrumental orientation (Gardner, 1985; Gardner et al., 1959; Gardner et al.,1992), since the early 1990s a focus on learner attitudes towards the target language asthe prime source of L2 motivation has been criticised (Dörnyei, 1990; Noëls, 2001b;Noëls et al., 2000; Oxford, 1996). In attempting to redefine and expand L2 motivationalconstructs, research has shown that L2 motivation is related to relational, social andenvironmental variables include ethnic or cultural variables (Schmidt et al., 1996; Sunget al., 1998), classroom variables (Bacon et al., 1990; Clément et al., 1994; Dörnyei,1997; Tremblay et al., 1995) and teacher variables (Menec et al., 1994; Noëls, 2001a;Noëls et al., 1999).

In the research on language anxiety, Horwitz et al. (1986) defined it from a situation-specific perspective and developed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS). Much research thereafter showed that there exists an inverse relationshipbetween anxiety and language learning (Aida, 1994; Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre etal., 1991; Phillips, 1992; Saito et al., 1996; Saito et al., 1999; Young, 1986). It alsosuggested the importance of learning environments, particularly the role teachers playin reducing students’ language anxiety (Horwitz, 2001; Young, 1991; Young, 1999). Itis assumed that students learn an L2 more effectively from supportive teachers in stress-free environments.

Self-concept has been studied extensively in the area of educational psychology.Marsh developed influential self-report instruments based on the notion that self-conceptis formed through a person’s experience with his/her environment (Marsh and O’Neill.1984). It is generally agreed that academic self-concept is positively related to academicachievement (Anazonwu, 1995; Hattie, 1992; Marsh, 1987; Purkey et al., 1996). In ad-

THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC, RELAXATION AND SUGGESTION ON TERTIARY STUDENTS ARTICLES 16.2

dition, research suggests that self-concept is closely related to other affective variables,in particular, motivation (Clément et al., 1994; MacIntyre et al., 1997; Phillips, 1992).Further, it was found that environmental reinforcement and significant others can influ-ence self-concept (Williams et al., 1997).

The review of research on three major affective factors generally suggested that allof these factors are related not only to learning but also to various environmental factorssuch as teachers’ attitudes and teaching methods. It also showed the importance of mo-tivation in learning. It has become clear that the affective variables are related to eachother, but it is beyond the scope of this study to determine the nature of this relationship.

ACCELERATED LEARNING (AL)Suggestopedia, the original form of Accelerative Learning (AL), claimed to benefit thestudents in both cognitive and affective aspects of the learning process (Lozanov, 1978).Some research has found a significant positive effect of AL (Caux, 1995; Felix and Lawson1994; Kaplan, 1981; Schiffler, 1992; Whitacre, 1994), or a positive trend (Garcia 1984).However, despite its high reputation in popular publications, AL has attracted severercriticisms and more restrained recognition in academic fields (Scovel, 1979; Wagner etal., 1983).

Reviewing many different versions of AL, Felix (1992) and Schiffler (1992) concludedthat music, relaxation and suggestion were the most important elements of AL.

AL research has generally found that music facilitates recall of newly learned vocab-ulary (Medina, 1990; Quast, 1999; Schiffler, 1992; Schuster et al., 1982; Stein et al.,1982; Zeiss, 1984) or text (Wallace, 1994).

Although it was suggested that relaxation could help students reduce languageanxiety (Young, 1999), research simply does not support such a claim, failing to showa positive effect on memorisation or learning (Alexander, 1982; Kiselica et al., 1994;Render et al., 1984; Schiffler, 1992). While relaxation may create positive psychologicaleffects immediately (Krampen, 1997), it would be necessary to implement more efficientresearch designs to prove its effect on academic performances.

The research on suggestion is scarce and shows conflicting results within AL studies(Borden et al., 1976; Schuster et al., 1982). However, the definition of suggestion is socomprehensive that some suggestive intervention techniques proved to be effective outsidethe AL studies. These techniques included the teacher’s mediating roles to help the learnersto foster a positive self-image and motivation (Noëls, 2001a; Noëls et al., 1999).

THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC, RELAXATION AND SUGGESTION ON TERTIARY STUDENTS ARTICLES16.3

While AL was revealed to have the potential to enhance both affective and cognitivevariables in learning, L2 acquisition research using AL has many deficiencies. First, manystudies were relatively short-term based in the laboratory rather than the classroom(Alexander, 1982; Baur et al., 1981; Lozanov, 1978; Wagner et al., 1983). Second, veryfew studies have looked into affective variables. Although some researchers noticed theeffect of AL on such variables as group dynamics (Caux, 1995) and self-esteem (Garcia,1984), they were not evaluated appropriately using objective measurements. Third, manystudies have been concerned with only memory and linguistic competence (Borden et al.,1976; Kaplan, 1981; Schuster et al., 1982; Stein et al., 1982; Wagner et al., 1983; Zeiss,1984). An important exception was a study by Felix and Lawson (1994), who found asignificant effect of AL on a narrow aspect of communicative competence. However,their short-term quasi-experimental study with a small group lacked a separate controlgroup, causing its validity to be questioned. Fourth, some components of AL were gen-erally lumped together and very few studies have isolated each variable. As a result, it isdifficult to evaluate the effects of AL appropriately and to look into how it works withdefinitive data. Therefore, a quasi-experimental study, including analysis of one factoralone, and factors in combination, was carried out in order to investigate the effects ofAL in facilitating affective factors as well as acquisition of Japanese communicativecompetence in natural tertiary classrooms for a period of 12 weeks.1

RESEARCH QUESTIONThe main research question is: What effects do Accelerated Learning (AL) techniqueshave on students’ performance and affect in communication-oriented tertiary languageclasses in Australia?

THE STUDY

PARTICIPANTS

All students who were enrolled in a subject titled “Japanese B” at a university in Mel-bourne were asked to participate voluntarily in this study. All participants (n = 54)provided written consent to participate in the study. Japanese B is an elective subject anddoes not form a major study. It was designed for two types of students. One is thosewho have completed Japanese A, a 12-week introductory Japanese course (24 hours oflessons in total). Japanese A is only for beginners and excludes students with priorknowledge of Japanese. The other is those who have the equivalent level of Japanese tothose who have completed Japanese A. Japanese B is a semester-long course (12 weeks)


and students meet once a week for a two-hour session. The two pre-existing classes wererandomly allocated to either an experimental or control group. Distribution figures forgender, average age, non-native English speakers and overseas students are shown inTable 1. One of the overseas students was from a Pacific Island and all the others werefrom Asian countries. Only 3 students were native English speakers and local students.The majority, 42 students (78%) had completed Japanese A in the previous semesterand enrolled in Japanese B to continue their study.

Table 1 Breakdown of participants in experimental and control groups


PROCEDURE

The experiment lasted for 1 semester or 3 stages of 4 weeks each. The experimental classwas taught using communicative language teaching methods in conjunction with Accel-erated Learning (AL) techniques. At stage 1 music was used for the experimental group.At stage 2 a combination of music and relaxation, and at stage 3 music, relaxation andsuggestion, were implemented in the experimental group. The control class was taughtby communicative language teaching methods with no suggestion, music or relaxation(Table 2).

Table 2 Design of the studyNote:C = Communicative language teaching methodsM = MusicR = RelaxationS = Suggestion

Three treatments – music, relaxation and suggestion – were defined as follows.Music: Background music (Baroque music, e.g. Water Music by Handel, G.F.) was

added to the communicative approach. The music was played throughout the class atstage 1, 2 and 3 using a tape recorder. The volume was adjusted so as not to be too loud.

Relaxation: Progressive Muscular Relaxation exercises were conducted for 5 minutesat the beginning of each lesson at stage 2 and 3. Due to the short time available, theshorthand procedure suggested by Davis, Eshelman and McKay (1995) was adopted.

Suggestion: Suggestion was added to instructions at stage 3. At least one direct verbalsuggestion (e.g. “learning will be easy for you today”, Schuster and Gritton, 1986) wasused during each lesson. Also, when introducing a relaxation exercise, the positive effectsof the relaxation on learning were mentioned. A checklist revealed that generally sugges-tion was made at least three times in each class.

INSTRUMENTS

Since many of the instruments adopted in this study investigate students’ present or pastlearning experiences, it was not appropriate to use them before the experiment started.Lack of a pre-test caused some limitation to the interpretation of the results. However,


an Amotivation, Intrinsic, and Extrinsic Motivation Scale (AIEMS) (Appendix) was usedat the beginning of the course to provide supplementary information. AIEMS, adoptedfrom Noëls et al. (1999), assesses Amotivation (3 items; α = .81), Intrinsic Motivation(9 items; α = .82) and three types of Extrinsic Motivation: External Regulation (3 items;α = .78), Introjected Regulation (2 items; α = .67) and Identified Regulation (3 items; α= .79). Indicated in parentheses are the numbers of items measuring each factor and αobtained by Noëls et al. (1999). AIEMS uses a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from(1) “Does not correspond at all” to (5) “Corresponds completely”. A high score indicatesa strong correspondence between the proposed reason and the students’ reason forstudying a L2.

At the end of each Stage (4th, 8th and 12th week), the other three instruments, ForeignLanguage Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), The Self Description Questionnaire III(SDQ III), and Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) were used to investigate theeffects of independent variables. For all these measurements the suffix 1, 2, or 3 has beenadded. For example, FLCAS 1 means FLCAS measured at stage 1 (4th week).

FLCAS (Appendix) assesses the degree to which students feel anxious during languageclass (Horwitz, 1986). It has 33-items and uses a 5-point Likert type scale, ranging from“strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. Horwitz (1986) reported that Cronbach’s alphacoefficient was .93 and test-retest reliability was r = .83, p = .001. Aida (1994) foundthat Cronbach’s alpha was .94 and test-retest reliability was r = .80, p < .01.

The SDQ III (Appendix) uses an 8-point Likert-type scale, ranging from “DefinitelyFalse” to “Definitely True” (Marsh and O’Neill, 1984). It contains 136 items to measure13 factors of self-concept (SC). These factors include one general SC, three academicSCs, and nine non-academic SCs. The subscales relevant to this study are general SC (12items) and three academic SCs (10 items each). This short form of SDQ III, therefore,has 42 items and consists of General SC, School SC, Verbal SC, and Math SC. Marshand O’Neill (1984) reported high reliability of the 13 factors (median alpha = .89) andlow correlation among the factors (median r = .009). Particularly, the general and aca-demic SC facets have been found to be well defined and relatively distinct from eachother, with internal consistency reliability coefficients ranging from 0.79 to 0.95 (meanα = 0.90) and test-retest reliability coefficients ranging from 0.66 to 0.94 (mean γ = 0.86)(Byrne, 1988; Byrne et al., 1986; Marsh and O’Neill, 1984; Marsh et al., 1986).

AMTB (Gardner, 1985) (Appendix) consists of three composites measuring Motiva-tion, Integrativeness and Attitudes Toward the Learning Situation. One composite ofAMTB measuring Motivation was modified to suit to a Japanese learning situation. Itexamined the following three components of Motivation, and the number of items


within each measure is indicated in parentheses: Attitudes toward Learning Japanese(10), Desire to Learn Japanese (10), and Motivation Intensity (10). Attitude towardLearning Japanese is assessed using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from strong dis-agreement (1) to strong agreement (7). Both Desire to Learn Japanese and MotivationalIntensity make use of a multiple choice format and the score ranges between 10 to 30.A high total score of the three measurements indicates a strong motivation. Gardner,Tremblay and Masgoret (1997) found alpha levels of each variable to be .86 (Attitudestoward Learning French), .78 (Desire to Learn French) and .76 (Motivational Intensity).

LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENTSJapanese achievements were measured in the following three types of tests. These testswere determined by the course requirement and designed by the researcher. A ListeningTest was held at Week 7 (Stage 2), Written Tests were held four times at Weeks 9, 10,11 and 12 (Stage 3), and Oral Tests were held twice at Weeks 3 (Stage 1) and 12 (Stage3). All the tests used criterion-referenced measurements (CRM). Although it has beenargued that the use of CRM alone may lack external validity, it can provide internallyvalid indicators of syllabus-specific learning (Ross, 2003).

The Listening Test consisted of two parts. In part 1, students listened to three shortdialogues about three peoples’ trips. The discourses of dialogues were all similar, askingwhere they went, etc. The students had to answer the questions and translate their answersinto English. Therefore, this part tested both listening comprehension and linguisticcompetence. There were 7 questions with each worth 1 point. In part 2, students had tolisten to four short dialogues and identify 4 locations on the map. In each dialogue, oneperson asked where a specific place was and the other person gave directions. Competenceother than listening ability was minimal in answering in this section. Each answer wasworth 2 points with total of 8 points. All dialogues were tape recorded and played twicewith the necessary pause between them.

For the Written Tests, the suffixes 1, 2, 3 and 4 were added, with Written Test 1representing the test conducted at week 9. These four versions of the 20-item test weregrammar focused, measuring mainly linguistic and discourse competences. They wereconstructed in the same format, with each test reflecting the contents of different chaptersin the textbook. Each test was worth 20 points, consisting of three parts. Part 1, worth5 points, was a translation from English into Japanese using the alphabet. Part 2 wasworth 10 points and was made up of a short dialogue taken from the textbook. Thequestions included filling in gaps and putting several words in order. This part concerned


knowledge both within and beyond a sentence level grammar (discourse competence).Part 3, worth 5 points, was to check students’ knowledge of Hiragana.

The Oral Tests were conducted in week 3 (Oral Test 1) and week 12 (Oral Test 2).The two tests were one-on-one interactions with a native speaker. In Oral Test 1, thestudents were required to introduce their family. Compared to Oral Test 2, the interactionbetween the student and the instructor was rather limited and oral presentation tendedto be one-way from the student to the instructor. The focus of the test was linguisticcompetence and oral skills including pronunciation, intonation and fluency. In Oral Test2 the students were required to invite the instructor on outings. They had to negotiatewith the instructor to find out his likes, a convenient time, etc. To achieve the goal thestudents had to use communication strategies effectively. The oral interactions were taperecorded and rated by two Japanese teachers. The raters were the native instructor anda non-native Japanese teacher. Their inter-rater reliability for the Oral Test 1 was 0.96and that for the Oral Test 2 was 0.98. The criteria used for the rating were developedbased on the speaking assessment sheet in a Japanese textbook, Obentoo 2 (Fisher et al.,1999). The assessment includes the following four criteria: Pronunciation and Intonation,Fluency, Accuracy and Effectiveness. Each criterion was rated in a 6-point scale rangingfrom 0 (no attempt to complete task) to 5 (excellent standard). Each score was summed,with the total score ranging from 0 to 20.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

INDEPENDENT SAMPLE T-TEST

An independent sample t-test was chosen to investigate whether a significant differenceexisted between the control and experimental groups. No significant differences werefound in all variables measured with the exception of Introjected Regulation (t = 2.07,p = .043) and Written Tests 1 (t = -3.30, p = .004).

The former finding that there was a significant difference in one scale of a pre-testsuggests that there might have been some differences between the two groups from thebeginning. Given that the experimental group scored higher in Introjected Regulation,it was thought that this factor might affect other factors. In additional analysis, all thesubjects were recoded as being low (less than 3, n = 28) or high (great than or equal to3, n = 25) in Introjected Regulation (M = 3.43). The results on the t-test indicate thatthere was no significant difference between the high and low Introjected Regulationgroups. Therefore, the difference detected on Introjected Regulation is thought not tobe a confounding problem.


Although the experimental group scored significantly lower in Written Test 1, in thefollowing three Written Tests the differences were not significant. Rather than a temporalnegative effect of AL, it is more likely that other factors such as difference in coping witha new test format may have influenced the result. Once the students became familiarwith the test format, the differences disappeared.

The fact that there were no significant differences between the two groups in almostall variables suggests that the effects of AL on L2 achievements and self-reported affectivelearning experiences were negligible in this study.

PAIRED SAMPLE T-TEST

Paired sample t-tests were conducted to examine differences at each stage. Table 3 (ex-perimental group) and Table 4 (control group) show only pairs in which significant dif-ferences were found at the p <.05 significance level. Among four pairs where a significantdifference was found in the experimental group, significant increases in Verbal SC3 andWritten Test 3 were also found in the control group. The other two pairs, increase inFLCAS 2 and General SC3, need to be further investigated.

Table 3 Paired sample t-test for experimental group


Table 4 Paired sample t-test for control group

First, there was an overall pattern that both groups had a more negative learningexperience at stage 2 than at stage 1 and 3 in terms of affect. Typically, in the controlgroup, Motivational Intensity and Desire to Learn Japanese significantly decreased atstage 2 and increased at stage 3 (Table 4). In the experimental group independent variablesmay have functioned to stabilise motivational state. As to the cause of the negative trendat stage 2, it may be due to the contents of the course related to the listening test, althoughthis is not clear from the current data.

Second, significant differences between stage 1 and 2 in FLCAS (t = -3.487, p = .002)in the experimental group indicate that adding relaxation to the music condition increasedstudents’ classroom anxiety. Given that in the control group FLCAS 2 also increased,but not significantly, the increase of FLCAS 2 in the experimental group may not betotally attributed to the introduction of the relaxation. It is plausible that the negativetrend at stage 2 mentioned above might have had a more negative influence on FLCASin the experimental group than the control group. It has to be noted also that relaxation


during stage 2 was introduced without any verbal suggestion. Therefore, the studentsmight not have found the relaxation exercises relevant to their language learning andconsequently might not have really relaxed. If this was the case, it could imply that ap-propriate guidance or verbal positive suggestion is an essential pre-requisite for relaxationto be effective. Research has also shown that it takes time for the positive effects of re-laxation to emerge (Benson et al., 2000). The duration of four weeks might be too shortto assess the effects of relaxation appropriately.

Lastly, the most important finding is that General SC 3 increased significantly in theexperimental group (t = -2.939, p = .008). Although General SC 3 also increased in thecontrol group, the change was not significant (t = -.35, p = .73). Suggestion seemed toimprove General SC. As to the finding that at stage 1 and 2, no major improvementswere observed and at stage 3 a positive result emerged, the nature of General SC needsto be considered theoretically. It is hypothesised that self-concept is hierarchically struc-tured and that General SC is relatively stable, but descending self-concepts such as VerbalSC are less stable and become more situation-specific (Byrne et al., 1986; Marsh et al.,1985). In the experimental group, however, not only Verbal SC but also General SC in-creased significantly in four weeks. Although this finding initially seemed improbable,research has shown that general self-concept can be enhanced over a relatively shortperiod of time (Craven et al., 1991; Marsh et al., 1986).

Next, there is a concern whether the results were biased by a euphoric effect, a mo-mentary feeling of elation as a result of an intervention (Hattie, 1992). However, unlikea study by Hattie (1992), the subjects in this study were not constantly aware of suggestionas the intervention.2 In addition, since significant increases were found in General SC

and Verbal SC that are more relevant to the aim of the intervention, but not in otherSDQ III scales in the experimental group at stage 3, it can be concluded that there wasno major bias in this study (Marsh et al., 1986).

Lastly, ceiling effect does not seem to be a major concern either in this study. WhileSDQ III measures General SC with the score range from 12 to 96, the control groupchanged their scores from 70.19 (SD = 11.3) at stage 2 to 70.88 (SD = 10.8) at stage 3,and the experimental group changed from 64.95 (SD = 14.3) to 70.73 (SD = 14.2). Thesescores are not necessarily high compared with other studies using the SDQ III. For ex-ample, McInman and Berger (1993) reported a change in General SC from 75.12 (SD =12.87) to 75.84 (SD = 12.37).


CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONSThe goal of this study was to investigate the effects of major factors of AcceleratedLearning (AL) – music, relaxation and suggestion – on students’ affect and achievementsin L2 learning. It was found that only suggestion had a significantly positive effect onself-concept. The finding gives limited support to the claims that AL can positively influ-ence affective variables (Brändle et al., 1994) but not to the claims that AL can positivelyinfluence cognitive variables (Lozanov, 1978). Considering the role of self-concept inlearning, however, the implication is important.3

Nevertheless, there are limitations to the generalisability of findings in this study.The participants of this study were tertiary students studying introductory level Japaneseas a foreign language. Since over 80 percent of them were overseas students with mostlyAsian backgrounds, the conclusions drawn can be generalised only to similar participants.As Salili, Hwang, and Choi (1989) showed, positive feedback as a type of suggestionmay be perceived differently by students with different cultural backgrounds.

Further, the results should be interpreted with caution for several reasons. First, therehave been several possible threats to the validity in this study due to the fact that thiswas conducted in the natural classroom environment in which random sampling wasnot possible. Second, music and relaxation were implemented without any explanationsat stage 1 and 2 because such comments can function as suggestion. On the other hand,in other experiments such comments were usually given and they might actually play animportant role in producing positive effects. Third, suggestion was not introduced as asingle independent variable. Therefore, it is not clear whether suggestion alone produceda positive effect or whether this effect was partly attributed to music and relaxation im-plemented at previous stages as well as at stage 3. Since no significant positive effectswere found at stage 1 and 2, the importance of suggestion is undeniable. However, adifferent research design would be necessary to determine the exact role of suggestion.

This study indicates that students’ self-concept can be easily affected by the attitudeof the teacher. This finding is consistent with a lot of research on reattribution trainingsshowing short belief-changing interventions to be reasonably effective (Dweck, 2002;Horan, 1996; Wilson et al., 1982; Wilson et al., 1985; Wilson et al., 2002). These studiesincluding the current one seem to emphasise the easiness of changing self-concept.However, a comment by Bandura (1993, p. 145) that self-efficacy beliefs are the productof a complex process, and that simply saying that one is capable is not necessarily self-convincing, should not be ignored, and the same caution should apply to the study ofself-concept.


Considering that simple positive teacher’s messages affected student’s self-conceptin just four sessions, the important role the teacher plays in the affective aspect oflearning needs to be further emphasised. Future research should seek even better inform-ation on the types and frequency of messages and the teacher attitudes that improvestudents’ affect in learning. This would improve learning in general and such researchwould benefit teacher training programs in particular.

APPENDIX

SAMPLE QUESTIONS OF SOME OF THE TEST INSTRUMENTS

AMOTIVATION, INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION SCALE (AIEMS)

Why are you learning Japanese? Please rate the extent to which the following reasonsreflect your reason for learning Japanese.

a. In order to have a better salary later on.1: Does not correspond at all2: Corresponds only a little3: Corresponds moderately4: Corresponds quite well5: Corresponds completely

b. Honestly, I don’t know. I truly have the impression of wasting my time in studyingJapanese.

1: Does not correspond at all2: Corresponds only a little3: Corresponds moderately4: Corresponds quite well5: Corresponds completely

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ANXIETY SCALE (FLCAS)

1. I tremble when I know that I’m going to be called in my Japanese class.Strongly agreeAgreeNeither agree or disagreeDisagreeStrongly disagree


2. When I’m on my way to Japanese class, I feel very sure and relaxed.Strongly agreeAgreeNeither agree or disagreeDisagreeStrongly disagree

THE SELF DESCRIPTION QUESTIONNAIRE III (SDQ III)

I find many mathematical problems interesting and challenging.Definitely FalseFalseMostly FalseMore False than TrueMore True than FalseMostly TrueTrueDefinitely True

Overall, I have a lot of respect for myself.Definitely FalseFalseMostly FalseMore False than TrueMore True than FalseMostly TrueTrueDefinitely True

ATTITUDE/MOTIVATION TEST BATTERY (AMTB)

Learning Japanese is really great.Strongly disagreeModerately disagreeSlightly disagreeNeutralSlightly agreeModerately agreeStrongly agree


I think learning Japanese is dull.Strongly disagreeModerately disagreeSlightly disagreeNeutralSlightly agreeModerately agreeStrongly agree

ENDNOTES1

The original study, the author’s PhD thesis, combined quantitative research and qualitativeresearch so that the results of the former can be further explained by the latter. It was alsointended to develop a core model for the relationships between various affective and envir-onmental factors using structural equation modelling. However, this paper deals with onlythe results of quantitative studies. The author is grateful to his supervisors, Dr AnthonyOwens and Dr Ian Newbegins at RMIT University.

2The results of interview confirmed the students did not notice any change in the teacher’sattitude at stage 3.

3While the score decreased from Oral Test 1 (M = 13.03) to Oral Test 2 (M = 12.60) in thecontrol group (t = 1.10, p = .28), it increased from Oral Test 1 (M = 12.17) to Oral Test 2(M = 12.74) in the experimental group (t = -.87, p = .39). This positive trend may be relatedto the positive results in affective factors, in particular the significant increase of self-concept.If the experiment continued, a significant increase in language performance might have beenobserved in the experimental group.

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Cite this article as: Shimbo, Kuninori. (2008). The effects of music, relaxation and suggestion ontertiary students’ affect and achievement in learning Japanese as a foreign language. AustralianReview of Applied Linguistics 31 (2), 16.1–16.22. DOI: 10.2104/aral0816.


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