Paper short abstract:

This research clarify what factors inhibited spontaneous speech in a multicultural society. The result was that role-playing and shadowing set up in class were not enough to improve oral expression skills, without increasing spontaneous speech with TAs and others to reduce shyness.

Paper long abstract:

In Spain, there is a problem of insufficient conversational production activities, especially spontaneous speech, due to curriculum constraints. Mayuko Doi (2012) investigated the relationship between oral expression skills and emotional schemas such as 'I love Japan', but concluded that there wasn't any correlation.

The objective of this research is to clarify what factors inhibited spontaneous speech and show what is necessary to increase spontaneous speech (Nobuhiko Kato, 2021) in a multicultural society. The evidence is based on three oral tests and interviews with 17 students (learners) of the integral Japanese subject at a Spanish university, and interviews with Japanese TAs and teachers.

As a result of this research, the learners who improved the scores in the oral tests testified: "I was able to have spontaneous conversations in contact situations with the TA in class", "I actively engaged in spontaneous conversations outside class at social events with native speakers”, ”It was important to have a TA who was not a teacher but someone I could talk to easily and I felt comfortable with, in other words, someone like a friend”. Furthermore, a teacher who was in charge of the class testified that "Learners were able to express their opinions more actively when a TA was present".

As for factors hindering spontaneous speech, learners stated: "I couldn't speak because I didn't want to disrupt the rhythm of the class", "I was too shy to speak", and "I had not used Japanese for a while". Yukino Yamashita (2022) pointed out that reducing learners' anxiety, but shyness differs from anxiety. Shyness makes learners hesitate to speak in front of others.

Co-learning in Japanese language allows students to 'find commonalities rather than differences' with others (Kazuko Suematsu, 2014), thus, it is possible to expand human relationships that enable empowerment without hesitation even in a multicultural society.

In this study, it was found that role-playing and shadowing set up by a teacher in class, were not enough to improve oral expression skills, without increasing spontaneous speech with TAs and others to reduce shyness.

Paper Download (1.4 MB)