Abstract
Based on queries from students who frequently visit the English Resource Center (ERC) at Saitama University, this research team set out to examine what motivational factors encourage ERC attendees to participate for an extended period of time in the Center on a regular basis. Initial indications are that social collaborative learning amongst peers at the Center is the most significant long-term motivational factor for students to become involved with learning English in the ERC. More specifically, this study explores factors that encourage these learners to become regular and perhaps more autonomous center participants in terms of advising practices such as (a) what factors led students to their initial discovery of ERC, (b) what inspired that very first visit, (c) what encouraged learners to continue to attend the Center on a regular basis, (d) what attendees value about the ERC, and finally (e) what might be done to ensure that greater support is provided for students who come to the ERC for the first time.
Highlights
The English Resource Center (ERC) is an English self-access center for the universitywide community located at the Center for English Education and Development (CEED) at Saitama University, open during weekdays between the hours of 15:00 - 17:00
We explore the results of the survey, investigating their implications with regard the reasons why students attend the ERC, the advising practices they value, and the practices they desire more of
This paper examined what led participants to their initial discovery of the ERC, what occurred during that initial visit, what the attendees value about the ERC, and, what additional support could, or perhaps should, be provided to future first-time visitors
Summary
The English Resource Center (ERC) is an English self-access center for the universitywide community located at the Center for English Education and Development (CEED) at Saitama University, open during weekdays between the hours of 15:00 - 17:00. Instead of following suit in this review, we feel Thornbury (2011), summarizes the sentiments of Japan-based teachers who provide practical autonomous solutions with their learners in contexts not unlike our own, precisely: Autonomy, is less than a matter of the individual taking charge of his or her own learning (in Holec’s much cited formulation), this may well be the long-term objective. The following section details the data-gathering procedure of the study, the structure of the questionnaire given to regular attendees of the ERC (the participants of the study) These methods were utilized in order to establish what motivates attendees to come to the ERC, how they might participate during their stay—the most common factor conceivably being social in nature—and what suggestions the participants have to make this ever-growing center better serve their needs. To provide more depth and to help create a more detailed picture of the factors that encourage learners to become regular, autonomous center participants, additional studies involving wider, randomly selected samples are called for in the future
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