1. JALT CUE Conference 2011: Foreign Language Motivation in Japan
July 2–3, 2011, Tokyo Gakuen University
Foreign language motivation research in Japan:
An ‘insider’ perspective from outside Japan
Ema Ushioda
Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick
An ‘insider’ from outside Japan Foreign language motivation in Japan: Three areas of research
A Japanese born & educated in Ireland inquiry
Teaching English in Tokyo (1982–5) 1. Analysing demotivation, its definitions, causes, factors
Winchester Shoei College, UK (1985–90) 2. Investigating how motivation changes through different
Interest in affective side of language learning stages of education and learning experience
Graduate studies in Dublin (1990–95)
3. Exploring what English and learning English mean for
Primary interest in L2 motivation
students (self, identities, goals, values)
Foreign language motivation: Current a vibrant research field
Four books on L2 motivation within last five years: L2 demotivation
• Nakata 2006 Japan leads the field in this area of inquiry
• Dörnyei & Ushioda (eds) 2009 Teacher variables – complex perspectives
• Dörnyei & Ushioda 2011 Defining demotivation
• Murray, Gao & Lamb (eds) 2011 • External factors only (Dörnyei 2001)
& Ushioda (ed.) in preparation • Learner-internal factors as mediating influences (Sakai &
Impact of globalization and global English? Kikuchi 2009; Falout et al. 2009)
Pedagogical implications
Traditional concept of integrative motivation • developing a sense of purpose, inner resources, self-
L1 culture/community L2 learner TL culture/community regulatory strategies (Carpenter et al. 2008)
Globalization & impact of global English Students’ motivational trajectories
Impact on how we theorize L2 motivation: Elementary school
• Reconceptualizing integrativeness as an internal process of • Compulsory English from April 2011
identification within the self-concept (Dörnyei 2005) Junior & senior high school
Linking L2 motivation with self and identity: • English for exams
• Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self (Dörnyei & • Grammar, reading, vocabulary
Ushioda 2009) University
• Identity, Motivation and Autonomy in Language Learning • ‘leisure-land’
(Murray et al. 2011) • English communication skills
Pedagogical & educational issues Investigating motivational change
Impact of English on: Japanese students’ educational experiences and development
• Educational policy & curricula of L2 motivation
• High stakes gatekeeping exams • Nakata 2006
• Professional job market L2 motivation at different stages of education
• Other foreign languages • Ryan 2009b
L2 motivation and language learning histories
Impact on L2 motivation literature • Carpenter et al. 2009
Local issues of foreign language motivation in different • Shibuya 2010
educational contexts Longitudinal studies of L2 motivation
Growing empirical literature on L2 motivation and demotivation • Nitta & Asano 2010
from ‘problematic’ Japanese educational context Critical role of initial motivational states and learning
experiences
English language education in Japan
‘permanent sense of crisis’ (Ryan 2009a) What English & learning English mean for Japanese students
English in high school: Self, identities, goals, values
• Exam hell Transition to university:
• English for exams (juken eigo) • ‘Learning English for exams’ no longer provides obvious
English at university: rationale
• Four years of ‘leisure-land’ (Clark 2010) • Loss of learning purpose and disorientation
• ‘Motivational wasteland’ (Berwick & Ross 1989) (Warrington & Jeffrey 2005)

2. Historical & cultural legacy Focus on student voice & agency
Japan’s complex & ambivalent relationship with western world Teachers’ perceptions of student motivation and strategies for
Self-imposed isolation (sakoku) working with this motivation
Post-war westernization • Cowie & Sakui 2011
Internationalization (kokusaika) Student voice, agency and active participation in transforming
Discourses of Japanese uniqueness (Nihonjinron) educational practice
Resonates with current L2 motivation themes and • Murphey et al. 2009
perspectives (globalization, global English, self-and-identity
theories)
Concluding remarks
Foreign language motivation research in Japan: Contributing to
Globalization and global English
reshaping L2 motivation theory
• Retheorizing L2 motivation
Questioning the relevance of integrative motivation in the
• Local practical concerns for student motivation
Japanese context (Irie 2003)
Foreign language motivation research in Japan
Proposing alternative concepts
• Educationally grounded, problem-focused, locally driven
• international orientation (Nakata 1995)
research agenda
• international posture (Yashima 2000, 2002)
• Locally produced insights have global relevance for
Impact of Japan-based research on the development of
advancing current thinking
Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 Motivational Self System
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