内発性に根ざしたコミュニケーション教育 : 「時事英語」の実践を踏まえて

Abstract

The word "communication" is frequently associated with "smooth conversation." This tendency is true of English education, where many learners devotedly yearn to be fluent speakers, and many teachers first and foremost put emphasis on encouraging students to be verbally expressive. This paper questions the authenticity of the "smooth conversation" approach, discussing the importance of considering the "internal" nature of human communication. In short, communication is a process in which people influence each other, internally and externally, by exchanging information. In this process, communicators' inner motivations play a critical role. Three factors--purposefulness, sociality, and creativity--are each examined to account for the value of inner-motivated communication. Through seven years of teaching the course "Media English" at Keiwa College, I had a chance to observe how students became deeply involved in communication once their inner motivation was effectively activated. Comprehensive data gathered in the course are discussed, integrating theory and practice.