Cultural Products and Materials Development: Affectively Engaging Learners

Abstract

To explore the relationship between the time spent learning English as a foreign language (EFL) and developments in interest for culturally specific teaching materials that promote communication, this paper examines the attitudinal profiles of a group of Japanese EFL learners (N=156) over the course of more than five years of learning. Specifically, it looks at how interests in cultural products (movies, TV programs, and print media) associated with the foreign language being learned change after one, two, three, four, and more than five years of EFL learning. The results reveal that the more time EFL students commit to learning, the greater their need for cultural products becomes. Moreover, this paper demonstrates how important it is for teachers to use culturally specific materials or supplement their lessons with such materials so that the content and subject matter of teaching materials not only lead to affectively engaged learners, but also help students make connections between the classroom and realworld communication.