Abstract
This paper reports on challenges, problems and results of a classroom experiment in an attempt to introduce plurilingual education into a Japanese university. After discussing major challenges of diversifying foreign language education in Japan where English is overwhelming, this paper describes how the classroom experiment changed the students’ attitudes of learning a new language. The results suggest that even a short-term course of 8 weeks focusing on plurilingual education reinforced the interest, motivation and self-confidence of learning a new language. However, students continue to attach high importance to English. On the other hand, their sense of difficulty to learn a new language formed by past experience of learning English decreased.
