Overcoming Shyness in the English Language Classroom

Abstract

In this paper, several reasons for the unwillingness of Japanese university students to actively participate in English classes taught by native speakers will be explored. One of the main reasons is that Japanese have a high level of a trait labeled uncertainty avoidance by Hofstede (1991). Results of a survey (n=275) conducted by the author at two universities showed that 85% of respondents consider themselves to have either a slightly shy or very shy personality. An even higher percentage (92%) feels this way when speaking in English. A matrix cross-check analysis conducted on individual participant responses to the two questions found that 44% feel shyer when speaking English versus only 8% who feel less shy. In addition, over half of all respondents (57%) either often or sometimes do not answer questions in English classes with a native speaker even though they know the answer, with the top three reasons for doing this all being related to the concept of uncertainty avoidance. Survey results suggest that students need to be encouraged to become more willing to take risks in the English classroom. Several possible ways to help students overcome uncertainty avoidance will also be presented and discussed.