A Statistical Analysis of Attitudes Toward English Education in Elementary Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the structure of positive and negative attitudes toward compulsory English lessons in elementary schools (CELES). Although general public acceptance on an early start of English education is often deemed as a driving force which encouraged the government to implement CELES, there is little evidence for what this public acceptance was like. This study, therefore, examines what factors promoted or inhibited positive attitudes toward CELES by analyzing a large-scale attitude survey of parents, which was conducted in autumn 2006, just before the official announcement of the implementation of CELES. A structural equation modeling analysis revealed that positive attitudes toward CELES were promoted by expectations of positive effects of an early start of English teaching, anxiety about a less favorable condition for the introduction of English teaching, and experience of a struggle for learning English, whereas they were inhibited by anxiety about side effects of early English teaching. Based on these findings, this paper discusses the structure and mechanism of public opinion on early English teaching and its implication for English education policies.