フィンランド英語授業視察記 : 授業観察・参加者調査を通して

Abstract

This study reports the results of classroom observation in Finnish high school English classes and the quantitative results of questionnaire administered to Finnish high school students as well as Japanese university students. Two of the authors visited Finland in order to find out how some features of Finnish education may be applied to promote extensive reading in Japanese university English education. Although extensive reading has been gaining popularity in Japanese universities as an effective way to improve English, motivating students to keep reading remains a challenge. Finland is known as a country of avid readers and some features of Finnish education such as the use of concept mapping have been reported as highly effective in improving reading comprehension. Classroom observation revealed, however, that Finnish reading instruction in English lessons are not vastly different from the Japanese counterparts, and neither extensive reading nor the use of mapping was observed. However, the questionnaire results showed that Finnish students have more positive orientation toward learning English compared to Japanese students, leading us to think that once again, motivation is the key to successful learning rather than specific features of reading instruction.