Attitudes and Behaviors in Japanese Language Learning of the Low Proficient Japanese Students

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to 1) investigate the attitudes and Japanese language learning behaviors of the low proficient Japanese students, 2) to compare the differences among the students’ gender, the students’ major, and their achievement of Japanese learning, and finally 3) to gather and classify the students’ opinions and suggestions towards Japanese learning. The participants were 200 first-year students who enrolled in Business Japanese 1 at Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology  in the first semester, 2017 academic year. The data was collected by a questionnaire and the statistical analysis was descriptive statistics, Independent Sample T-Test, and an analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The results indicated that 1) the low proficient Japanese students had high level of positive attitudes towards Japanese learning (x̅  = 3.57) and their behaviors when learning Japanese were moderate (x̅  = 3.31) 2) there was a significant difference between students’ gender and their behaviors (p < .05), but there was no difference between students’ gender and their Japanese learning attitudes. More importantly, there were significant differences between students’ majors and their behaviors towards Japanese learning (p < .05). Two differences were found in students majoring in Multimedia and Production Engineering, and students majoring in Multimedia and Industrial Management respectively. However, the students who obtained different Japanese grades had no difference in Japanese learning attitudes and behaviors. 3) Based on the suggestions, the students revealed that they preferred learning with interesting and innovative teaching materials and other multimedia materials such as Japanese films and animations to increase their positive learning attitudes and have proper Japanese learning behaviors.