Developing a survey to investigate Japanese learners’ perceptions and awareness of globalization

Although the term globalization has quickly entered public discourse, its definition is opaque. Furthermore, how people perceive the term remains unknown. This paper outlines the development of a survey to measure Japanese university students’ perceptions and awareness of globalization. Short definitions of globalization written by professors and students were a starting point for developing items for the survey. Four themes evolved from the definitions: the predominance of English, employment, culture, and myths; and three general areas where these themes may be experienced: self, local and translocal dimensions. Participants (N = 719) at ten public and private universities in Japan completed the 60-item survey. Principal components analysis was used to identify nine underlying factors; seven of which had moderate to high internal reliability coefficients (.75 to .90). The nine factors were labeled: benefits of globalization for self, universal benefits, and benefits for Japan, negative impact of globalization, global spread of English, English in my community, cultural contact, converging cultures, and impact on future career. The survey presented here is intended as initial research in the perceptions and awareness of globalization in our learners.Articledepartmental bulletin pape