Browsing by Author "Howe, Timothy"

EFL Education in Japan has the reputation of being ineffective in teaching students how to speak English. Despite that, there are Japanese who can use English proficiently. This dissertation seeks to answer the question: How do Japanese learners of English obtain language fluency despite numerous flaws in the Japanese EFL education system? The thesis takes a qualitative approach to the issue by interviewing Japanese students at the University of Helsinki to determine how they became so proficient in using English. The results of these interviews suggest that cram schools and university English classes had the most positive influence on the development of their English skills.