Empirical Research into Foreign Language Education Aiming at Multicultural Coexistence: Development of International Learning Communities through ICT

通过与澳大利亚布里斯班和日本秋田市的一项国际合作研究，考察了外语学习对学习者跨文化态度和多元文化共存意识的影响。前者的调查对象是秋田市的初中生和高中生，后者的调查对象是秋田大学和秋田市日本红十字会初级学院的一年级学生。这两项调查都表明，教学方法和语言学习活动影响了学习者的跨文化态度。合作调查研究的结果发表在题为《语言学习和跨文化态度：日本英语学生态度的国际研究》(Ingram、Kono、ONeill和Sasaki)的研究报告中。以多元文化共存为目标的外语教育以以下5种主要形式进行：日本和韩国学生的论文交流和合作、以多元文化共存为主题的口语交流教育、格里菲斯大学和秋田大学联合课堂的后续研究、战略互动的情景写作和以多元文化共存为主题的PowerPoint演示(发展为与夏威夷Kapiolani社区学院的远程教育交流)，以及与国际交换生和助理语言教师的社区参与学习。所有这些都表明，在每项研究结束时，学生都会变得非常有动力。

The present empirical research was intended to further develop foreign language education and intercultural education from a global perspective.The influence of foreign language learning on learners' cross-cultural attitudes and their consciousness of multicultural coexistence were investigated by an international collaborative research with researchers in Brisbane, Australia and a local research in Akita, Japan. The subjects of the former survey research were junior and senior high school students in Akita while the subjects of the latter were first-year students at Akita University and the Japanese Red Cross Junior College of Akita. It was revealed from both surveys that teaching methods and language learning activities had affected learners' cross-cultural attitudes. The results of the collaborative survey research were presented in a research report entitled“Language Learning and Cross-Cultural Attitudes: An International Study of the Attitudes of Japanese Students of English (Ingram, Kono, ONeill,& Sasaki)."Foreign language education aiming at multicultural coexistence was conducted in the following 5 major forms: essay exchange and collaborative work by Japanese and Korean students, oral communication education with a topic of multicultural coexistence, follow-up research on joint class between Griffith University and Akita University, scenario writing for Strategic Interaction and presentation with PowerPoint on the theme of multicultural coexistence (developed into distant educational exchange with Kapiolani Community College in Hawaii), and Community Involvement Learning with international exchange students and Assistant Language Teacheras. All of these indicated that the students became highly motivated at the end of each research.