Abstract
The pressing need for internationalization in Japan has proven to learners of English the importance of acquiring intercultural communication competence, but they face numerous obstacles, one of which is ethnic stereotypes. Thus, based on our previous research (Ihara & Moriizumi, 1995), this paper explores the value dimension of stereotypes held by Japanese junior and senior high school and university students toward four ethnic groups of White Americans, Black Americans, Chinese and Japanese by employing the semantic differential. The survey divulged the following three points. First, stereotypes are based on three factors: personality, cultural background, and physical appearance. Second, those who have had direct contact with a specific group tend to hold more favorable images than those who have not. Third, Japanese students evaluate White Americans more favorably than the other three groups with some exceptions, while they exhibit ethnocentric attitudes toward the other three groups. Taking these into consideration, we propose several suggestions for improving English language education in terms of the subject matter of textbooks and classroom teaching.
