English classroom reforms in Japan: a study of Japanese university EFL student anxiety and motivation

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology (MEXT) are facing a plethora of pressures to become more global. This has led MEXT to draw up the ‘English Education Reform Plan Corresponding to Globalization.’ This education reform plan calls for a move away from grammar translation in favor of a communication based classroom. These reforms are to be implemented by 2020 to coincide with the Tokyo Olympic games. In the context of these MEXT reforms, the current study investigated anxiety and the L2 motivational self system in Japanese university students. In the study, it was discovered that ideal L2 self and L2 learning experiences are correlated with lower anxiety levels, which in turn led to positive learning results. The study also showed that ought-to self was found to be indicative of increased anxiety, yet was also a strong indicator of motivation overall. Based on these discoveries, classroom approaches for these new MEXT reforms are given in this study.