抄録
This research focuses on the gap in the attitudes toward eTandem online international video chats between EFL learners and pre-service teachers. A total of 36 students preparing to become secondary school English teachers at a university in Tokyo, Japan, participated in online international video chats with 25 university students taking a Japanese language course in Melbourne, Australia. The data on the Japanese participants were collected through a questionnaire after the video chat and email comments after the reflection session held in class the following week. The statistical analysis shows a significant difference between the enjoyment they felt with the video chat exchanges and the willingness to adopt an international exchange in their future English teaching. They understood the importance of output opportunities and experiencing the excitement of successful communication in English, but they expressed concerns in their reflections about technical difficulties and managing an international exchange in their future English teaching. The results of this research point to the importance of training opportunities as well as technical and administrative support so that pre-service English teachers can be more willing to plan online international video chat exchanges in class and so give students the opportunities to communicate with peer students abroad.
