The Effects of Individual Differences in Speaking Skills of Japanese EFL Learners: Aptitude (Phonological Working Memory) and Attitude (L2 Motivation)

抄録

This study investigated whether working memory capacity and L2 motivation have significant relationships with Japanese English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ speaking skills, and to what degree working memory capacity and L2 motivation respectively contribute to L2 speaking skills and their subcomponents (vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and pronunciation). Participants were 113 Japanese EFL students. They completed three assessments: The Versant English Speaking Test; a Japanese (L1)-based listening span test; and an L2 learning motivation survey. To investigate the relationships between variables (English speaking skills, phonological working memory capacity, and L2 learning motivation), a correlation analysis was conducted. L2 speaking test scores were found to be significantly related to both working memory capacity and language learning motivation. Furthermore, regression analyses showed that phonological working memory capacity and motivation significantly explained variance in L2 speaking skills, and indicated significant influences of predictors on four components of L2 speaking skills (vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and pronunciation); L2 motivation displayed stronger influence on speaking subcomponents, except speaking grammar. These results contribute to existing literature on the generalization of effects of individual differences, such as working memory and motivation, on L2 learning.