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

本实证研究旨在从全球的视角进一步发展外语教育和跨文化教育，通过与澳大利亚布里斯班的研究人员的国际合作研究和日本秋田的本地研究，探讨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的初中生和高中生，后者的调查对象是秋田大学和秋田的日本红十字会短期大学的一年级学生。两次调查均显示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“语言学习与跨文化态度：日本英语学生态度的国际研究”的研究报告中（Ingram，Kono，ONeill，& Sasaki）。“旨在实现多文化共存的外语教育主要以下列五种形式进行：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程的后续研究，为战略互动撰写情景，并以多文化共存为主题，使用PowerPoint进行演示（发展为与夏威夷的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，学生们在每次研究结束时都变得非常积极。

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.