抄録
The New Course of Study emphasizes the importance of teaching English debate in the subject “logic and expression”, which Japanese high school students take with the aim of developing the ability to express themselves in English. However, few English teachers are familiar with debate education, and little is known about how to incorporate it into classes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore debate education in “logic and expression” classes based on the results of the investigation targeting 183 high school students. This study investigated the students’ experiences, perception and knowledge of debate, as well as their interest in it. The results revealed: (a) before entering high school, 134 students had experience of Japanese debate while 25 students had experience of English debate; (b) 175 students considered English debate as difficult or a little difficult; (c) 148 students had no or little knowledge of the flow of an English debate match; (d) at least 70% of the students did not know the meaning of basic debate terms; and (e) 24 students did not want to try English debate. These findings underline the significance of reduction anxiety for English debate by providing students with opportunities to experience English debate.
