Long-Term Effectiveness of English Language Learning in Elementary Schools

(The Japanese Elementary School Context)

抄録

This study investigates the subsequent effect of English Learning in the Elementary School (ELES) on both the skill domain and the motivational domain. One hundred and forty five students in grades seven and eight participated in this study. Seventy two of them received English language instruction once a week in the elementary schools in tokku (special educational district), while the remaining 73 had not experienced any English language instruction before they entered junior high school. Research questions addressed in the study are: RQ 1: To what degree do ELES students and non-ELES students differ in terms of their English listening, speaking, reading, vocabulary, and grammar skills? RQ 2: To what degree do ELES students and non-ELES students differ on motivational variables? RQ 3: To what degree do the differences converge or diverge between grades seven and eight? A preliminary analysis revealed that the experimental group outperformed the non-experimental group to a statistically significant degree in listening skills and speaking skills measured in terms of the interview.