Abstract
The NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute (Bunken), conducted an online survey and online group interviews of research company’s survey panelists to study what kind of people are interested in language learning and what media they use in a changing media environment, collaborating with NHK Program Production Department’s Unit 1 Youth & Education—a section in charge of language program production. At the same time, we carried out a survey using NHK’s language learning website “Gogakuru” and textbooks for NHK’s language programs.
In this second report, the author analyzes the survey findings on the use of NHK’s language programs and learning materials (radio and TV programs, applications, websites, and textbooks) as well as the survey responses to the “Gogakuru” website and to the textbooks published by NHK Publishing Inc.
As to the publicity of NHK’s language programs and learning materials, the online survey of panelists finds that learning-English programs were known by about 60% of the respondents, and non-English programs by about 50%. Learning materials were known by about 25%. In either case, “television” had the highest percentage as a channel for the users to get to know them.
Impressions of NHK’s language programs and learning materials cited by many people were: “free of charge or inexpensive to start,” “can start using right away,” and “easy and simple to use.” Many of impressions overlap with reasons for usage, but, for print learning materials, many cited “easy and simple to use” and “easier for review and look back on.”
In a survey aimed at “Gogakuru” users, a common reason for their interest in learning/mastering foreign languages was “for cultural enrichment,” and that for self-motivated learning was “I can start studying free of charge or inexpensively,” showing the same tendencies found in the online survey of panelists. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that, among the needs for self-motivated learning, “fitting me” was less common than in the online survey.
