Japanese English Language Learners: Deficiency in Confidence

The following paper looks at the role of confidence in second language learning. Two sets of university students were questioned about their confidence in the four language skills. A comparison was made between 100 students from a private Japanese university studying English and 100 students from a California State University studying Japanese. The Japanese students showed lower levels of confidence though their length of study was over twice as long. The role teacher influence plays in building confidence in Japanese students is thought to be an important factor in the results of the survey