Abstract
In the field of the teaching of English as a foreign language there are a great many complicated factors which have made it difficult to establish a concrete basis for effective instruction. After a long history of more than one hundred years of the teaching of English in Japan we have still left various problems unsettled and our methods unimproved. But above all, the attempt to find the ways how to attract students to our English language classes and to maintain their interest is the most difficult problems that most of English teachers have been facing. Several factors have been considered and identified as important in the learning of a foreign language. It may be said that teaching and learning interact in the situation in which students, teachers, teaching materials and methods exist. We can see quite a number of variables involved in these factors as they appear, and which would influence the success of learning a foreign language. It would be no easy task to identify which factor is the most influential and significant for the success of foreign language learning. But in this paper, focusing on the teaching phenomena, especially of the interaction of the teacher and students in teaching-learning situations, I did the survey through questionnaires based on so called "PM Theory." The purpose of this survey is to find out the general tendency what kind of English teacher's attitudes and behavior are required by his students. Result and discussion: (1) Junior high school students: Most of those who like English language study answered that their English teachers should admonish students against being not serious. But most of those who don't like English study answered that their English teachers should not severely admonish students against being not serious. (2) Senior high school students: Those who want to enter university strongly required "performance function" of their English teachers, much more than those who want to get a job after their graduation. On the contrary, the latter type of students strongly required "maintenance function" of their English teachers. (3) Preparatory students: Most of them very strongly required "performance function" of their English teachers. Whether they like English or not, they study English in order to pass the entrance examination so that they are supposed to require a severe type of English teacher. (4) University students: None of them wants to take any English examinations. After entering university, students don't require "performance function" of their English teachers. Most of them strongly required" maintenance function" of their English teachers.
