Foreign Language Learning Mode Preferences of Japanese University Students

Abstract

　　The present study aims to develop a practical and statistically sound inventory that helps in examining Japanese university students’ foreign language learning mode preferences (LMPs). LMP, like numerous other learners’ traits such as learning styles, beliefs, and motivation, is one of the behavioral and meta-cognitive variables that potentially moderate the variance of the learning outcome under a specific learning mode. The present study conducted a questionnaire survey, sampling university students who were learning English as a foreign language (N = 1,003) in a Japanese national university and developed a Foreign Language Learning Mode Preference Inventory (ver. 1), whose items (K = 12) were all written in Japanese. The inventory yielded three subscales with relatively higher reliability coefficient for each: (a) cooperative learning preference (α = .91), (b) e-learning preference (α = .90), and (c) face-to-face instruction preference (α = .70). The factorial validity of the inventory was tested using structure equation modeling. The results showed that the theoretical measurement model fit well to the observations. Furthermore, multiple sample analyses supported the measurement invariance with the constraints of equal loadings and equal intercepts across genders. Some practical applications of this inventory, specifically in the context of foreign language teaching in Japanese higher education, were discussed.