STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT TEACHER TALK IN JAPANESE-AS-A-SECOND-LANGUAGE CLASSES

Abstract

“Teacher talk” as the primary source of linguistic input in a second language classroom has been one of the most hotly debated topics for the last two decades. As a third phase of the author's triangulated studies on teacher talk in Japanese as a second language classes, which so far have comprised (1) an experimental study and (2) a survey study (exploring teachers' perceptions), this study investigated students' perceptions and attitudes about various aspects of teacher talk. In all, 66 students studying intermediate Japanese at American colleges and universities were asked to reflect on their perceptions about their teachers' classroom speech, focusing on (a) rate of speech, (b) lexical and syntactic familiarity, (c) visual information, and (d) use of English. Results showed that the majority of students prefer natural speed, use of appropriate amount of new vocabulary and grammar rules, and minimum but systematic use of English.