L2

Learners Percep-on and its Impact on Language Development

Yuya Suzuki, University of Hawaii at Mnoa, BA, Department of Second Language Studies

Primary MoBvaBon
My previous research about Japanese peoples percepBon towards
bilingualism found out the parBcipants tend to feel
unengaged in using English in daily life or the community
it is either very dicult or impossible for them to become bilingual

Previous Research
Plavenko (2003) points out the
importance of shaping L2 learners memberships in imagined
community
negaBve eect on L2 learners negaBve self-percepBon
Is there a rela*onship between L2 learners percep*on towards L2
learning and their development on L2?

Par-cipants
Students enrolled in ESOL 197 at Kapi'olani Community College

Non-naBve English speakers
No restricBon on Language background, age, ethnicity
At least 20 parBcipants
ESOL 197
Intensive English program for non-naBve
English speakers who wish to acquire
English skill to take classes that are
taught in English.

References:

Pavlenko, A. (2003). " I Never Knew I Was a Bilingual":

Reimagining Teacher IdenBBes in TESOL.
Journal of Language, Iden0ty, and
Educa0on, 2(4), 251-268.

Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Theres Grter,
Angela Haeusler, and friends in SLS 480R for all the
support.

Results

Method
Recruitment
Announcement at students orientaBon for ESOL 197
Consent form

Pre-test and Pre-quesBonnaire
ParBcipants will take an ELS placement test provided at KCC
ParBcipants will ll out an online quesBonnaire
Sample ques-ons (Scale of 1, not at all 5, very much)
How dicult do you think it is to be procient in
English?
How much can you imagine yourself speaking English
with internaBonal friends or (future) colleagues?

One semester of ESOL 197 program participation

Post-test and Post-quesBonnaire
ParBcipants will take an ELS placement test provided at KCC
ParBcipants will ll out an online quesBonnaire
(Same as the pre-test and pre-quesBonnaire)

Data Analysis
This study will look into the correlaBon of the par-cipants
improvement (from pre- and post-test scores) and the average
between their percep-on change (from pre- and post-
quesBonnaire).

Possible Results

Hypothesis
The more posiBvely the parBcipants think about L2 learning,
the beher performance they will show on their L2.



6


5

4

3

2

1

0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50

Improvement from pre- to post-test



Other Possibili-es
The more posiBvely the parBcipants think about L2 learning,
the worse performance they will show on their L2.
There is no relaBonship between the parBcipants
percepBon about L2 learning and their performance on L2.

PercepBon on L2 Learning

Background and Research Ques-ons

Conclusion

This study will examine the relaBonship between L2 learners development of their target language and percepBon towards L2 learning.
Previous research discussed the negaBve eect of L2 learners negaBve self-percepBon.
The result from this research is expected to help people who are about to give up on L2 learning because of their negaBve percepBon in the
future.
SLS 480R Poster Conference, December 7, 2015, yuyas@hawaii.edu