Continual English Speaking Instruction for Japanese High School Students: Providing Opportunities to Utilize Language Knowledge

Abstract

This is a two-part practical case study in which continual speaking instruction was given to first- and second-year high school students for a year. Study 1 comprised an intensive 45-minute instruction using picture description tasks given three times. We recorded students’ pre- and post-instruction speaking performance and used ANOVA for assessment and analysis. Results showed a significant increase only in the number of words uttered in the tasks. In Study 2, students were taught how to describe pictures and express opinions, with a focus on feedback. This was given for 15 minutes once weekly for 3 months. Using ANOVA to analyze students’ pre- and post-instruction speaking performance, it was found that there was a significant improvement in their picture description performance both quantitatively and qualitatively but only marginal progress in opinion-expression tasks.