European Journal of English Language Teaching ISSN: 2501-7136 ISSN-L: 2501-7136 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.321540 SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Yuichi Todaka Miyazaki Municipal University, Japan Abstract: The present study employed both quantitative and qualitative analyses to better understand the causes of unmotivated and distracted behaviors among students. Furthermore, the essential development of a cycle of self-regulated learning (Ambrose et al., 2010) was focused upon to promote better learning strategies and to maintain motivation to study English. Our participants were 200 Miyazaki Municipal University freshmen in Japan. Based upon the quantitative and qualitative analyses, we found that (1) all the students except for advanced students made significant improvements on TOEIC during the first term.; (2) all the students except for intermediate II students made significant improvements on self-efficacy; (3) a positive correlation between English listening skills and self-efficacy was found; (4) the establishment of (new) concrete English study reasons have to be prioritized before English activities targeted to enhance self-efficacy can help Japanese college EFL freshmen sustain their motivation to study English; (5) much more consideration needs to be given to help Japanese college EFL learners understand the importance of study plans to carry out necessary tasks to improve their English listening skills; (6) time management skills to prioritize English study need to be taught to help distracted freshmen set a time to improve their English listening skills; and (7) individualized educational guidance sessions need to be re-implemented in our English curricular activities to help Japanese college EFL freshmen understand the significance of time management skills, and of self-regulated skills. Keywords: self-efficacy, English listening skills, college EFL learners, motivation Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 93 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES 1. Introduction This study is the third in a series of studies on self-efficacy of English listening skills in Japanese college EFL freshmen. In our 2013 study, we were able to help our students improve their English listening skills and have high self-efficacy of English listening skills during the first term of the academic year; however, non-significant improvements in English listening skills and self-efficacy in the remaining part of the academic year were also found. We attributed the cause of the non-significant improvements to the lack of specific reasons for continued English study. This is because most high school students in Japan study English to pass college entrance examinations and once students have entered college they perceive very little reason to continue studying English (see Hasegawa, 2004; and Kikuchi & Sakai, 2009 for demotivation in Japanese EFL learners past English studies). Interview sessions with four students revealed the significance of Japanese college EFL learners reestablishment of new and concrete reasons to study English in college. Thus, we speculated that our freshmen needed to rethink their new and concrete reasons for English study to appreciate the benefits of self-efficacy of their English listening skills. In our 2014 study, we focused our attention on the importance of reasons for English study as well as the four sources of self-efficacy (i.e. performance outcome, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological feedback). In addition, we included educational guidance sessions in our pedagogical approach. This is because Shirono (2004) found that providing high school students with feedback on their English study habits outside the classroom helped them boost their motivation to study English. Asko (2013) examined English study motivation at two proficiency levels in college students. She reported that low to intermediate Japanese EFL students required constant praise in order to retain their motivation to study English. Pajares (2000, 2006 cited in Rahimi and Abedini, 2009) and Wong (2005 cited in Sue and Duo, 2012) emphasized the importance of teachers frequent and positive verbal support to back the efforts of EFL learners. In our study, significant improvements in students English listening skills were found throughout the 2014 academic year. Thus, emphasis on concrete reasons for English study and on the four sources of self-efficacy helped our students improve their English listening skills throughout the entire 2014 academic year. However, much care is needed when creating the self-efficacy questionnaire items. Zimmerman and Cleary (2006 cited in Renzhi, , p. reported that self- efficacy percepts are not only context-specific but also domain and task-specific. Furthermore, Oettingen , p. reported that cross-cultural variations in efficacy beliefs are congruent European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 94 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES with differences in efficacy-relevant influences operating in each culture’s school context. For the study, our questionnaire items were adopted from Rahimi and ‚bedini s (2009) study, which were specifically designed to assess Iranian EFL learners perceived self-efficacy of their English listening skills. Because the utilized questionnaire was specifically designed for Iranian EFL students perceived self-efficacy of English listening skills, the negative correlation between perceived self-efficacy and English listening proficiency that we found in our 2014 study could be attributed to inappropriate question items. In the present study, suggestions made by Moriarty (2014) for designing research into self-efficacy were carefully considered. Moriarty (ibid) reported that there are four sets of caution that need to be taken into careful consideration when we investigate selfefficacy in performance on tasks and when formulating a self-efficacy questionnaire. As mentioned earlier, the significance of context-specific, domain-specific, task-specific, and culture-specific natures needs to be understood. Second, the alignment between measures of self-efficacy and measures of performance on the critical task needs to be carefully considered. Thirdly, it s importance to avoid delays between the administration of self-efficacy scales and related tests of performance. Finally, measures of self-efficacy should be administered before tests on the critical task. Thus, these sets of caution were taken into consideration in our 2015 study. The effectiveness of guidance counseling sessions was found in our 2014 project; however, no guidance counseling sessions were able to be conducted in this 2015 study because of time constraints and schedule conflicts. This project focused instead on teaching the process of learning by using the learning cycle proposed by Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman (2010). This is because instruction on goalorientedness (Greenstein, 2012 cited in Noguchi, 2014), action plans for improvement, and analytical skills (Noguchi, 2014) has been found important in autonomous learning. Our present study also employed qualitative analyses of: (1) the effectiveness of the establishment of new concrete reasons for English study; (2) the four sources of selfefficacy; and (3) an understanding of the cycle of self-regulated learning on students English listening skills. Usher and Pajares (2008) noted that research into self-efficacy has predominantly relied upon quantitative measures. 2. Methodology 2.1 Participants Our participants were 200 Miyazaki Municipal University freshmen. They were categorized into four groups according to their English placement test scores: (1) 47 European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 95 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES students were grouped as introductory level students; (2) 104 students were placed in two intermediate classes, (52 students in intermediate I class and 52 students in intermediate II class), and; 47 students were assigned to the advanced class. However, the mean TOEIC listening test scores in 2015 ranged from 315.9 to 326.5 among nine TOEIC tests that had been officially conducted in Japan. Thus, all of our students, regardless of this study s groupings, should be considered as low introductory to low intermediate level students. 2.2 Instruction Classes were taught for the 2014 and 2015 projects in the following way: (1) lectures on important suprasegmental features (e.g., Vance, 1987; Todaka, 1995); (2) various exercises specifically designed to teach phonetic features; (3) advice on various learning strategies for the needs of individual students; (4) shadowing training using DVD movies; and (5) evaluation of progress according to self-assessment checklist items. In both this study and the 2014 study, we also focused on the following: (1) The four sources of self-efficacy proposed by Bandura (1977). We ensured that each student gained confidence by having him/her experience an achievement in each class period. In particular, various strategies were employed to ascertain that all students would understand the listening materials they had studied in each class period so that they could get a confidence boost in their capability for English listening skills. (2) Positive role models. Six teaching assistants, juniors at the same university, participated in all the classes and functioned as role models for the participants. The instructor provided positive verbal feedback to each student to support each in their belief in their capabilities and to actively engage in each listening activity. Furthermore, the instructor ensured that participants were provided with positive physiological and emotional sensations to help them develop high self-efficacy in class. (3) The importance of establishing concrete, longer-term study objectives/reasons, as the effectiveness of short-term objectives/goals on sustaining motivation has already been reported (Bandura, 1977). Each student was asked to write down their own objectives/reasons for studying English for the spring semester, summer break, and fall semester. The study objectives/reasons for the spring semester were submitted during the second week of the term and those for the summer break and fall semester were submitted during the last week of the term. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 96 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES (4) The importance of understanding the learning process. During the first half of the term, students were taught and reminded what an effective learning cycle is in order to help them engage in actual tasks to improve their English listening skills. 2.3 Assessment Tools Students improvements in English listening skills were evaluated using the results of TOEIC. The listening portions of two different TOEICs were administered at the beginning and end of the spring semester in 2015. In addition, we formulated a ten-item self-efficacy questionnaire to assess our students English listening skills. ‚s mentioned earlier, because self-efficacy perceptions are both context- and task-specific (Maddux, 2002) and cultural context-specific (Oettingen, 1995), we specifically designed our selfefficacy questionnaire to examine the English listening skills of Japanese college EFL freshmen (see Appendix 1). In addition, a qualitative assessment of our students motivational level was conducted (see Appendix 2). We formulated a questionnaire consisting of five questions which investigated if students were able to sustain motivation to improve their English listening skills throughout the 2015 academic year. Finally, we examined how well students understood the importance of a learning cycle consisting of (1) study plans, (2) assessment, and (3) reflections on their progress. 3. Results and Discussion First, we examined their TOEIC scores from both April and July in 2015. The following table indicates the results. The maximum score for the listening test was 495. The numbers in parentheses indicate standard deviations. Table 1: TOEIC scores in April and July 2015 Times/Proficiency level April July P value / F value Introductory 219.3 (43.3) 242.1 (51.5) P<.0226 F=5.4 Intermediate I 223.0 (43.1) 257.5 (36.5) P<.0007 F=12.3 Intermediate II 247.8 (44.8) 276.7 (46.0) P<.0016 F=10.6 Advanced 291.6 (54.4) 303.9 (60.5) P<.2946 F=1.1 As Table 1 shows, students in all proficiency groups except for advanced level made significant improvements in their TOEIC listening scores. Next, we investigated students self-efficacy beliefs by examining the responses to the reformulated Questionnaire on EFL Learners Self-efficacy in Listening Skills (see Appendix 1). European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 97 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Table indicates the results of our students self-efficacy scores regarding their listening skills in 2015. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions, each scaled from 20 (totally disagree) to 100 (totally agree). The entire questionnaire produces results that range from 200–1000. Table 2: Self-efficacy scores in April and July 2015 Times/Proficiency level Introductory April July P value \ F value 690.8 (130.9) 806.5 (86.4) P<.0001 F=28.35 Intermediate I 761.8 (89.0) 801.3 (87.1) P<.0359 F=4.6 Intermediate II 729.4 (144.7) 790. 0 (113.2) P<.12 F=2.4 Advanced 719.1 (115.5) 795.5 (123.0) P<.0193 F=5.7 As seen above, self-efficacy scores at all proficiency level students except for students in intermediate II class improved significantly at the 95% confidence level. The correlation between both the pre-TOEIC listening scores and pre-perceived self-efficacy scores and the post-TOEIC listening scores and post-perceived self-efficacy scores are shown in the following table. The numbers in parentheses indicate coefficients of determination. Table 3: Correlation between 2015 TOEIC listening scores and perceived self-efficacy scores Correlation/Proficiency level Correlation Correlation (April) (July) Introductory .919 (.836) .972 (.945) Intermediate I .966 (.933) .971 (.943) Intermediate II .932 (.868) .949 (.9) Advanced .914 (.836) .944 (.891) As seen above, in all of the groups, the two variables were very positively correlated, which confirms the findings of previous studies that self-efficacy questionnaire items must be both context- and task-specific (Maddux, 2002) and cultural context-specific (Oettingen, 1995). In our study, we adopted Rahimi and ‚bedini s self-efficacy questionnaire which was intended to examine only the English listening skills of Iranian college freshmen. Since no consideration for our school s cultural context was given in the 2014 study, a negative correlation was found between TOEIC listening scores and self-efficacy scores. Thus, with this 2015 study, the significance and necessity of not only context-and task-specific factors, but also cultural context was reconfirmed for the formulation of a self-efficacy questionnaire. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 98 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Next, the motivation questionnaire items (see Appendix 2) were formulated based on the idea that learners need to take responsibility for setting goals, postulating learning plans, and reflecting on and assessing their learning strategies (Collins, 2009). Improvements during the first term on TOEIC and self-efficacy were found to be non-significant among advanced students and intermediate II students respectively. For this reason, we analyzed our questionnaire items with the focus on those two proficiency students. First, we examined the advanced class students survey results. Out of advanced class students, 17 students were able to sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year; however, 24 students (11 students whose TOEIC scores improved during the first term and 13 students whose TOEIC scores worsened during the first term) could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year. Table 4: Information about 11 advanced class students whose TOEIC scores improved during the first term, but who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year Students TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Comments Gain/Loss A1 305 320 +15 680 740 +60 A9 285 315 +30 820 800 -20 A2 205 245 +35 700 800 +100 Lost interest in English No concrete English study reasons A3 225 240 +15 600 800 +200 No concrete future goals A5 305 335 +30 560 860 +300 A4 420 420 0 620 900 +280 Found more interest in A11 300 325 +25 540 780 +240 Korean A6 205 360 +155 800 820 +20 A7 335 375 +40 720 860 +140 A10 260 265 +5 800 860 +60 A8 320 375 +55 640 800 +160 Started working part-time during the second term Cannot carry out necessary tasks Mean Mean Mean Mean 288 325 680 820 As indicated above, 11 subjects were able to improve their TOEIC listening scores during the first term, but they could not sustain their motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year. As self-efficacy scores in 10 subjects improved European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 99 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES during the first term, it can be speculated that they had difficulty sustaining their motivation during the summer and the second term of the academic year. The reasons for their inability to sustain their motivation to study English can be summarized as follows: (1) Lost interest in English (subjects A1 and A9). (2) No concrete English study reasons or future goals (subjects A2, A3, and A5). (3) Found more interest in other languages (subjects A4 and A11) (4) Started working part-time during the second term (subjects A6, A7, and A10) (5) Cannot carry out necessary tasks (subject A8). Out of students whose TOEIC scores worsened, improved or did not change, and students self-efficacy scores students self-efficacy scores worsened. Table 5: Information about 8 advanced class students who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year (TOEIC scores worsened, but self-efficacy scores improved or did not change) Students TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Comments Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Gain/Loss A12 270 230 -40 740 920 +180 No concrete future goals A13 235 230 -5 760 800 +40 Lost interest in English A15 260 252 -5 680 760 +80 No concrete English study A17 245 210 -35 620 620 0 A19 470 385 -95 800 820 +20 Cannot carry out necessary A23 335 310 -25 720 800 +80 tasks A22 360 270 -90 860 900 +40 Found interest in other reasons activities A24 405 350 -55 350 860 +410 Started working part-time during the second term Mean Mean Mean Mean 323 204 503 589 The following indicates the reasons for the inability to sustain motivation to study English among the 8 subjects whose self-efficacy either improved or did not change during the first term. (1) No concrete study reasons or future goals (subjects A12, A15, and A24). (2) Lost interest in English (subject A13). (3) Cannot carry out necessary tasks to improve English skills (subjects A19 and A23) (4) Found interest in other activities (subject A22) (5) Started working part time (subject A24) European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 100 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Table 6: Information about 5 advanced class students who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year (TOEIC and self-efficacy scores worsened) Students TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- SEB Comments Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy Pre-Post Gain/Loss Pre Post Gain/Loss A14 315 285 -30 860 800 -60 Started working part-time A18 270 260 -10 860 800 -60 during the second term A16 280 250 -30 700 680 -20 N0 concrete English study reasons A20 360 320 -40 860 780 -80 Found more interest in Chinese A21 265 245 -20 620 600 -20 Cannot carry our necessary tasks Mean Mean Mean Mean 298 272 780 732 The reasons for their inability to sustain their motivation to study English among the 5 subjects whose TOEIC scores and self-efficacy beliefs worsened during the first term can be summarized as follows: (1) Started working part-time during the second term (subjects A16 and A18) (2) No concrete study reasons or future goals (subject A15) (3) Cannot carry out necessary tasks to improve English skills (subject A21) (4) Found more interest in other languages (subject A20) As seen above, the subjects in both groups expressed similar reasons for their inability to sustain motivation to study English. In other words, their inability to sustain motivation to study English during the 2015 academic year cannot be attributed to selfefficacy scores. Rather their inability to sustain English study motivation is attributed to their inability to establish concrete study reasons/future goals or to not having adequate time management skills. In addition, one student stated that he had found more interest in Chinese or Korean. This is understandable since the educational curriculum at our college was revised two years ago to require current freshmen and sophomores to take at least two years of either Chinese or Korean in addition to English as part of graduation requirements. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 101 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Table 7: Information about 17 advanced class subjects who could sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year Subjects TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Comments Pre-Post Gain/Loss A25 285 300 +15 740 800 +60 A26 420 435 +15 540 760 +160 A29 330 375 +45 680 900 +220 A31 445 445 0 760 800 +40 A33 265 296 +30 920 940 +20 A34 350 340 -10 700 820 +120 A37 300 385 +85 780 800 +20 A38 230 310 +80 900 900 0 A41 290 295 +5 840 880 +40 A27 265 300 +35 720 960 +240 Have A35 270 290 +20 940 1000 +60 belief A36 360 430 +70 780 900 +120 A28 230 290 +60 620 720 +100 A30 245 210 -35 620 620 0 A32 275 260 -15 780 800 +20 A39 250 295 +45 480 460 -20 A40 305 260 -45 700 80 +100 Mean Mean Mean Mean 301 324 735 767 Have concrete Study reasons high self-efficacy Have concrete future goals As seen above, all the subjects who were able to sustain motivation to study English either had concrete English study reasons, future goals or high self-efficacy beliefs of their English skills. ‚dditionally, only of these subjects TOEIC scores and two of these subjects self-efficacy scores decreased during the first term. When we compare the above results with those of the subjects who could not sustain motivation to study English, the most prominent difference between the two groups can be attributed to whether they had or didn t have either concrete English study reasons or future goals. This is because there were no prominent differences in comments between students whose self-efficacy of English listening skills improved or worsened during the first term. Thus, as Todaka (2013) reported, it is very important to help Japanese college EFL freshmen understand the importance of concrete English study reasons and objectives so that they can appreciate the benefits of various English activities targeted to foster increased self-efficacy of English listening skills. In addition, many unmotivated students had difficulty managing and prioritizing their English European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 102 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES study. For example, some students expressed that they had started working part-time, so they were too tired to study English. Next, we will examine the survey results of students in intermediate II class because they were the only group with non-significant self-efficacy score improvements during the first term. Out of 43 intermediate II class students, 19 students were able to sustain their motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year; however, 24 students (7 students whose TOEIC scores worsened and 17 students whose TOEIC scores improved during the first term) could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year. Out of 7 students whose TOEIC scores worsened, self-efficacy of English listening skills in 4 intermediate II class students improved or did not change, and 3 students self-efficacy scores worsened. Table 8: Information for the 4 Intermediate II group students who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year (TOEIC scores worsened, but self-efficacy scores improved or did not change) Students TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Comments Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Gain/Loss I1(II) 280 270 -10 640 700 +60 I2(II) 260 250 -10 660 780 +120 Lost self-efficacy beliefs Too troublesome to study English I4(II) 290 270 -20 820 840 +20 Found more interest in Chinese I5(II) 215 125 -90 880 880 0 More fun taking part in other activities Mean Mean Mean Mean 261 229 750 800 The reasons for the inability to sustain motivation to study English among 4 subjects whose self-efficacy beliefs improved or did not change during the term are as follows: (1) Lost self-efficacy of English skills during the second term (subject I1(II)) (2) Too troublesome to study English (subject I1(II)) (3) Found more interest in Chinese (subject I4(II)) (4) More fun taking part in club activities, and playing with friends (subject I5(II)) European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 103 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Table 9: Information for the 3 intermediate II group subjects who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year (TOEIC and self-efficacy scores worsened) Subjects TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Comments Gain/Loss I3(II) 255 220 -35 900 880 -20 Spent more time playing with friends I6(II) 340 295 -45 900 740 -160 Lost concrete study reasons I7(II) 215 205 -10 880 720 -160 Found more interest in Chinese Mean Mean Mean Mean 270 240 893 780 The reasons for their inability to sustain motivation to study English among 3 subjects whose self-efficacy beliefs worsened during the first term can be summarized as follows: (1) Spent more time playing with friends (subject I3(II)) (2) Lost concrete English study reasons (subject I6(II)) (3) Found more interest in Chinese (subject I7(II)) As seen above, the reasons stated are similar in both groups. In addition, the above results seem to indicate that as a whole, the intermediate II group subjects whose TOEIC scores worsened during the first term actually had higher self-efficacy of English listening skills when they entered college. This could lead to the conclusion that our method actually negatively impacted the self-efficacy of English listening skills in those students. However, a careful observation of the above data actually shows only three of the seven students self-efficacy scores decreasing during the first term. And in two of those three cases, the self-efficacy scores decreased so drastically (-160 points in both cases) that they weighted down the entire mean. Out of students whose TOEIC scores improved, scores improved or did not change, and students self-efficacy students self-efficacy scores worsened. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 104 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Table 10: Information about 11 intermediate II students who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year (TOEIC and self-efficacy scores improved or did not change) Students TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Comments Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Gain/Loss I9(II) 210 245 +35 800 940 +140 I14(II) 225 275 +50 620 700 +80 I18(II) 210 220 +10 680 720 +40 I10(II) 205 260 +55 560 620 +60 I12(II) 325 375 +50 760 780 +20 I23(II) 225 245 +20 360 500 +140 I24(II) 225 270 +55 620 700 +80 I11(II) 235 280 +50 760 900 +140 No concrete English study reasons No (lost) interest in English Feel as if I were forced to study English I13(II) 195 235 +40 720 960 +240 I21(II) 250 265 +15 820 820 0 I20(II) 120 230 +110 480 700 +220 Started part-time job during the second term Lost self-efficacy belief during the second term Mean Mean Mean Mean 220 264 653 758 The reasons for their inability to sustain motivation to study English were as follows: (1) No concrete English study reasons (subjects I9(II), I14(II), and I18(II)) (2) No (or lost) interest in English (subjects I10(II), I12(II), I23(II)and I24(II)) (3) Being forced to study English (subject I11(II)) (4) Started part-time job during the second term (subjects I13(II), and I21(II)) (5) Lost self-efficacy of English skills (subject I20(II)) Table 11: Information about 6 intermediate II subjects who could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year (TOEIC scores improved, but self-efficacy scores worsened) Subjects TOEIC TOEIC Pre Post TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Comments Gain/Loss I8(II) 235 295 +45 800 780 -20 No (lost) concrete study I16(II) 300 305 +5 880 860 -20 reasons I17(II) 285 355 +70 640 620 -20 I22(II) 240 280 +40 800 440 -360 I15(II) 300 325 +25 680 620 -60 European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 Spent more time playing 105 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES with my friends I19(II) 235 270 +25 940 820 -120 Started working part-time during the second term Mean Mean Mean Mean 266 305 790 690 On the other hand, self-efficacy of English listening skills in 6 subjects decreased during the term. Their inability to sustain motivation to study English can be summarized as follows: (1) No concrete English study reasons (subjects I8(II), I16(II), I17(II), and I22(II)) (2) Spent more time playing with friends (subject I15(II)) (3) Started working part-time during the second term (subject I19(II)) The above reasons are not only similar in both intermediate II class groups, but they are also similar to those among the advanced class students who were unable to sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year. Table 12: Information for the 19 intermediate II class students who were able to sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year Students TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC Self- Self- Self- Comments Pre Post Pre-Post efficacy efficacy efficacy Gain/Loss Pre Post Pre-Post Gain/Loss I23(II) 300 310 +10 640 720 +80 I28(II) 325 360 +35 780 920 +140 I30(II) 245 240 -5 740 660 -80 I31(II) 265 340 +75 840 880 +40 I34(II) 275 315 +40 700 840 +140 I36(II) 265 250 -15 840 740 -100 I39(II) 200 210 +10 900 880 -20 I40(II) 165 280 +115 780 840 +60 I24(II) 260 305 +45 720 760 +40 I25(II) 165 210 +45 720 720 0 I27(II) 225 285 +60 860 900 +40 I29(II) 265 310 +45 820 880 +60 I32(II) 255 270 +15 820 920 +100 I33(II) 200 270 +70 720 940 +220 I35(II) 265 285 +20 840 820 -20 I37(II) 265 265 0 860 840 -20 I38(II) 260 255 -5 800 940 +140 I41(II) 225 230 +5 680 840 +160 I26(II) 225 290 +65 620 640 +20 Have concrete future goals Have concrete study reasons Have high self-efficacy beliefs European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 106 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Mean Mean Mean Mean 245 278 773 825 As shown above, all the students have either concrete reasons for English study or future goals. Out of students, students TOEIC scores and five students self- efficacy of English listening skills scores decreased during the first term. Taking the advanced and intermediate II class students survey results into account, it can be deduced that students who have concrete English study reasons or future goals are able to sustain their motivation to study English. Indeed, only out of seventeen students self-efficacy of English listening skills scores in the advanced class and out of students self-efficacy of English listening skills scores in the intermediate II decreased. Taking all the other survey results into consideration, English activities that are designed to foster high self-efficacy of English listening skills in Japanese college EFL freshman have a positive impact on students who have either concrete English study reasons or future goals. This is because students who don t have such reasons or goals, no matter how much self-efficacy of English listening skills improved during the first term, could not sustain motivation to study English throughout the academic year. The concrete study reasons stated by our students were as follows: (1) Want to be the best English student (2) Want to study abroad (3) Want to be able to watch English movies without Japanese subtitles (4) Want to understand the lyrics of their favorite English songs without reading. (5) Want to be able to communicate with people from different parts of the world in English (6) Understand the importance of English in the future, so I want to be good at English. Although the English study reasons expressed by our students vary from individual to individual, all of the vocations stated above involve a high command of English skills (Yashima, 2002; Ryan, 2009a). Thus, those students who do have concrete English study reasons are including English skills in their future goals (Miura, 2010). In other words, they do have concrete reasons for English study. Dornyei (2001), Gardner and MacIntyre (1991) and others term English study reasons as orientations , which can be either academic/career related or socially/culturally oriented. However, they differentiate orientations from motivation (Brown, 2007, p. 168). We feel that it is important to use the term reasons in our study because Japanese college EFL freshmen have lost their primary reason for studying English. As European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 107 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES mentioned earlier, their main objective to study English in high school was to pass college entrance examinations. Therefore, as they enter university, it is just as important to help Japanese college freshmen rethink their specific reasons for studying English as is developing high self-efficacy of their English listening skills. In other words, instructors should not only assist Japanese college EFL freshmen students in developing high self-efficacy of their English listening skills but they should also help establish specific reasons for studying English (Todaka, 2013). ‚s goal setting theory states much human action is purposeful, in that it is directed by conscious goal O Neli & Drillings, , p. . Furthermore, the two primary factors that help to enhance goal commitment are importance and self-efficacy (Locke & Latham, 2002). Importance refers to the factors that make a goal important, including the expected outcomes (Locke & Latham, 2002). Self-efficacy is the belief that one can attain their goal (Locke & Latham, 2002). Since this study focuses on goal setting, learning cycle, and self-efficacy of English listening skills in Japanese college EFL freshmen, we decided to use the term reasons instead of orientations in the present study. In addition, whatever students concrete study reasons were, they were able to have high motivational intensity to carry out necessary tasks to improve their English listening skills. Although many studies of motivation classify orientation/motivation into different types (i.e. instrumental, extrinsic, or intrinsic; see Brown (2007) for a review of motivation types), we speculate that intensity rather than type of orientations/motivation is more important, at least for Japanese EFL college freshmen. Lukmani (1972 cited in Celce-Murcia et al., 1996, p.19) too reports that the intensity of motivation can be just as important as the type of motivation. Our students had different reasons to study English, but all of those who had concrete English study reasons or future goals were able to sustain motivation to study English throughout the 2015 academic year. Next, we examined our survey results with respect to study plans. Contrary to our expectations, only two out of seventeen students in the advanced class and three out of nineteen students in the intermediate II class made study plans to carry out the necessary tasks to improve their English listening skills throughout the 2015 academic year. The main reasons why most students did not make study plans were because they had engaged in different activities such as club activities and part-time jobs from Monday to Sunday. They stated that they did not have time to improve their English listening skills. They simply tried to improve their English listening skills whenever they could find time to do so. However, those students constantly took official English tests such as TOEIC to assess their progress and modified their learning strategies to European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 108 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES accomplish their study goals. Since our students are college freshmen, and most Japanese students begin to work part-time while in college, time management skills need to be taught in order to help them understand how to prioritize their study. This assumption is supported by the fact that many of our freshmen who could not sustain motivation to study English had trouble managing their time for study. They indicated that they had so much free time in college to engage in various activities such as parttime jobs, club activities, and playing with friends that they found it extremely difficult to resist temptation and prioritize activities. For instance, many of them stated that their part-time jobs made them feel so tired that they could not make time for English study. Next, we examined the reasons for some students loss of interest in English after they entered college. As mention earlier, three students in the advanced class and two students in the intermediate II class indicated that they had lost interest in English after they entered college. In addition, the survey results for students in intermediate I class and introductory class were examined to see how many students lost interest in English after they entered college. We found that four students in the intermediate I class and none in the introductory class lost interest in English after they entered college. Table 13: The minute reasons for those students loss of interest in English after they entered college Advanced Reasons for the loss of interest in English class in college A1 There is a huge gap between actual college English classes and the college classes that I imagined. So, I lost interest in English. A9 Before I entered college, I was looking forward to improving English communicative skills, but the number of English classes was much smaller than I had expected. And, I can t find many opportunities to improve my English communicative skills. So, I lost interest in English. A13 Even though I didn t like English, I studied English in high school to pass college entrance examinations. So, I don t want to study English anymore. Intermediate Reasons for the loss of interest in English II class in college I12(II) I studied English in high school to enter college. So, I ve burned out and cannot think of any reasons to study English now. I23(II) I studied English in high school to enter college. So, I don t feel like studying English anymore. I24(II) I studied English in high school to enter college. I m now too busy with club activities and playing with friends. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 109 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Intermediate Reasons for the loss of interest in English I class in college I1(I) Too many assignments. So, I have forgotten how enjoyable it was to study English. I also found more interest in Korean. I2(I) I studied English in high school to enter college. So, I can t think of any reasons to study English anymore. I3(I) I studied English in high school to enter college. So, I m not interested in studying English now. I4(I) Before I entered college, I thought I could attend many English language related classes, but I have to attend many other classes such as Economics and History. So, I lost interest in English. As seen above, many of the students indicated that they studied English in high school to enter college. Thus, it was not college English language classes that led to their loss of interest in English. Those students could not find concrete English study reasons after they entered college, which in turn signifies the importance of concrete English study reasons. Nonetheless, much care needs to be taken to design our English Language Program in order to better meet the needs of individual learners, since some students indicated that their expectations of college English classes were different from what they thought they would be while in high school. Based upon the quantitative and qualitative analyses, our findings can be summarized as follows: (1) All of the students in all four proficiency groups except for advanced students made significant improvements on TOEIC during the first term. (2) All of the students in all four proficiency groups except for intermediate II students made significant improvements on self-efficacy. (3) A positive correlation between English listening skills and self-efficacy was found, which reconfirms the findings of previous self-efficacy studies. (4) Establishment of (new) concrete English study reasons and of concrete future goals must be a priority before English activities targeted to enhance self-efficacy can help Japanese college EFL freshmen sustain their motivation to study English. Since many of the freshmen are unable to think of concrete future goals during the first year of college, teachers need to remind them that it is important to constantly reflect on their English study reasons. Indeed, one student indicated that she/he lost her/his English study reasons during the second term. We might have been able to help them had we set short-term and/or long-term English study goals. Dornyei and Kubanyiova indicate the importance of students future visions as an effective way to assist them in a long-term, ongoing endeavor. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 110 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES ‛rown conducted research on Japanese university students motivation for English learning, and reported that the amounts of actual time students spent studying English depends on their reasons for taking action (i.e. English study). He also indicated that the key is not the specific nature of the reasons or attitude, but the intentions and actions that result p. . Thus, reasons for necessary English study to improve Japanese college EFL freshmen s English skills have to be clearly recognized and decided on by the freshmen themselves. (5) Much more consideration needs to be given to helping Japanese college EFL learners understand the importance of study plans to better improve their English listening skills. As mentioned earlier, only a few of our students who were able to sustain motivation to improve their English listening skills during the 2015 academic year actually made study plans. Noguchi (2014) contends that the desirable prerequisites to self-directed learning are goal-orientedness, action plans for improvement and analytical skills (Italics used for emphasis). Although this study does not focus on self-directed learning, it is nonetheless important for EFL learners to understand how to study English effectively. (6) Time management skills for prioritization of English study need to be taught to help unmotivated Japanese college EFL freshmen find the time to improve their English listening skills. ‚mmar , p. reports that poor time management has been correlated with school-related tensions and feelings that one is less in control of time than is desired Macan, . Indeed some of our freshmen couldn t sustain their motivation to improve their English listening skills because they were overwhelmed with college assignments. Ammar (2007) investigated the effectiveness of improving prospective EFL teachers time management strategies on their teaching performance and instructional self-efficacy beliefs and found that prospective teachers who were trained in time management strategies were more able to manage their classes so that student learning could be maximized (p.1). Roblyer (1999 cited in Lynch and Dembo, 2004) argues that students who are poor at managing time are likely to achieve less in distance courses. Furthermore, Lynch and Dembo (2004, p. point out self-regulated learners are proactive in managing not only their study time but also their study environment (Zimmerman and Martines-Pons, 1986). Time management skills have been found important to be one of the self-regulatory learning attributes that can help learners in classroom-based learning become effective autonomous learners (Lynch and Dembo, 2004, p. 4). Although their studies focus on EFL teachers and distance learners time management skills we can state that training in time management strategies can help EFL learners engage more efficiently in their English study. Garcia-Ros et al. (2004 cited in Ammar, 2007, p. 5) European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 111 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES investigated how well time management skills could predict the academic achievements of Spanish high school students. They reported that effective time management skills did lead to higher academic achievement of high school students. In addition, students with effective time management behaviors can indeed organize, prioritize, and budget their time in accordance with the requirements of the learning situations (Bidjerano, 2005; and Zimmerman, 200, cited in Ammar, 2007, p. 6). (7) Educational guidance sessions must be re-implemented in our English curricular activities in order to help Japanese college EFL freshmen sustain motivation to study English. This is supported by our findings that, unlike students in the present study, all of the students in all four proficiency groups in our 2014 study were able to improve their English listening skills during the academic year. As mentioned earlier, Shirono (2004) investigated the effectiveness of educational guidance on improving the motivation of Japanese high school students. He found that providing feedback on his students English study habits outside the classroom had helped them boost their motivation to study English. Asko (2013) examined English study motivation of two proficiency level college students. She reported that low to intermediate Japanese EFL students required constant praise in order to retain their motivation to study English. Pajares (2000, 2006 cited in Rahimi and Abedini, 2009) and Wong (2005 cited in Sue and Duo, 2012) also emphasized the importance of teachers frequent and positive verbal support to back the efforts of EFL learners. 4. Conclusion Many previous studies (e.g. Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002; Pajares, 1996, 2003 cited in Sina, 2015, p. 354) reported that students with high self-efficacy tend to set higher goals and exert themselves to achieve those goals. The findings of this study based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, however, show that the establishment of new concrete study reasons or future goals can also be an important prerequisite for self-efficacy activities to positively affect the improvement of our college EFL freshmen s English listening skills. ‚s mentioned earlier, it s not easy for college EFL freshmen to set future goals during the first year in college. Thus, it s important for Japanese EFL instructors to have Japanese college freshmen carefully re-think their concrete reasons to study English (Agawa et al., 2011; Yashima, 2000). As the findings of the present study indicate, it is important for EFL instructors to remind their students of the significance of concrete reasons throughout the academic year. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 112 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Furthermore, qualitative analysis was found to be effective in shedding more light on why some students have difficulty maintaining motivation to study English. However, caution must be exercised in the formulation of self-efficacy questionnaires. Among the reasons uncovered in the present study, time management skills were found to be essential for Japanese college EFL freshmen to acquire. This is because a drastic change in their learning environment (from high school to college) has created huge problems for them in how to deal with their daily activities. Brown (2007) summarizes various individual psychological and personality traits including learning styles/strategies, which affect how individual EFL learner tackles with EFL learning. Also, the manner in which EFL learners were exposed to English in the past and what their instructional preferences are do indeed affect whether those learners study or do not study English (Celce-Murcia et al., 1996). Those factors are also influenced by learning environment, EFL instructors pedagogical preferences, textbook materials and so forth. Thus, how individual differences in academic achievements can be predicted is one of the vital questions in educational psychology. Nonetheless, many studies of selfefficacy of various EFL skills in EFL learners have proved their effectiveness in EFL learner improvements on those English skills e.g. see Raoofi et al., for an extensive review). It seems however that very few articles (e.g. Ammar, 2007; Lynch and Dembo, 2004) associate self-efficacy with time management skills. In the present study, many of our unmotivated students were found to be overwhelmed with their new learning environment and thus had trouble managing their time effectively to pursue their study. Rashidi & Moghadam (2014 cited in Sina, 2015, p. 354) reported that student satisfaction with their learning can positively assist students to focus on their learning process. Lynch and Dembo (2004, p. 9) state that two important components of motivation in successful distant learner autonomy are one s self-efficacy beliefs in mastering a specific task and the personal goal orientation they bring to a course of study. The findings in previous studies of self-efficacy within ESL/EFL contexts are valuable in their own right; however, they might still lack a pedagogically relevant underpinning and have yet to generate advances in teaching/learning pedagogy that can become the foundation on which unmotivated individual learners can be assisted in L2 learning. Zimmerman (1989 cited in Lynch and Dembo, 2004, p. 9) defined academic selfregulation as the extent to which learners are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorly active in achieving their learning goals.” European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 113 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Zimmerman s (ibid) definition of self-regulated learning can be applied to our college EFL freshmen s lack of time management skills. In other words, if our college EFL freshmen had been equipped with time management strategies, they might have been able to focus on their learning in the face of distractions. Nonetheless, Many Japanese college EFL freshmen do not develop time management strategies intuitively so these strategies need to be taught explicitly to help students make use of their time to improve their English listening skills (or English skills in general). With this in mind, we contend that an emphasis on both, the establishment of new concrete English study reasons or future goals and the four sources of self-efficacy can indeed help unmotivated and distracted Japanese college freshmen focus on their English study so that they can have more choices in their future goals. Since it takes quite some time for individual EFL freshmen to be able to manage time effectively, individualized study guidance sessions must be implemented in our next study. We could not implement such sessions in the present study due to time constraints and schedule conflicts but we did find the effectiveness of study guidance sessions in our 2014 study. Furthermore, we found that time management strategies can be a key in assisting our college freshmen make use of a cycle of self-regulated learning to better improve their English listening skills (or English skills in general). If so, during any new term, EFL instructors should give motivation questionnaires and conduct weekly guidance sessions with those students who have yet to establish any new concrete English study reasons or imagine an English-using self (Sampson, 2016). Instructors should focus on helping these students and other unmotivated and distracted students understand and develop a statement of new and concrete English study reasons. At the same time, instructors can help them acquire the time management strategies they need to carry out the necessary tasks to improve their English listening skills based on a cycle of self-regulated learning. As found in previous studies Sampson, , p. , students’ perceptions of language learning experiences, and motivation are highly personal, individualised, and contextualised ; nonetheless, it is essential that we explore every avenue available for helping unmotivated college EFL freshmen in achieving their future goals so that they can eventually become productive members in an internationalized society. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 114 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES References 1. Agawa, T., Abe, E., Ishizuka, M., Ueda, M.,Okuda, S., Carreira-Matuzaki, J., Sano, F. and Shimizu, S. (2011). 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Development of a structured interview for assessing student use of self-regulated learning strategies, American Educational Research Journal, 23, 614-628. 53. Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning. Journal of Educational Psychology 81(3), 329-339. 54. Zimmerman, B.J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 64-72. 55. Zimmerman, ‛. J. and Cleary, T. J. . ‚dolescents development of personal agency: The role of self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulatory skill. In Pajares F. and T. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 118 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Appendix 1: ‚ Questionnaire on EFL Learners Self-efficacy in Listening Skills (1) I have the ability to improve my listening skills if I try hard. (2) I have the ability to concentrate on the content to which I listen. (3) I believe that my proficiency in listening will improve by practicing it. (4) I am sure that if I practice listening more often, I will be able to understand English movies without subtitles. (5) Sometimes the listening practice in the class is difficult and I cannot understand it completely. But I believe that I can understand it if I listen to it many times. (6) I can sustain my motivation to improve my English listening skills. (7) I believe in my own capabilities to overcome difficult listening tasks. (8) I won t be stressed out even if I make mistakes in listening tasks. (9) I know I can deal with any unexpected difficulties I may face in listening tasks. (10) I know I can improve my listening skills if I continue my study. Appendix 2: English study motivation questionnaire items Q1. Have you been able to sustain your motivation to study English since you entered university? Q2. If so, let us understand why you were able to do so. If not, let us understand why you weren t able to do so. Q3. For those students who were able to sustain motivation to study English, do you always make concrete plans to accomplish study objectives? Q4. For those students who were able to sustain their motivation to study English and always make concrete plans to accomplish study objectives, do you reflect on your study strategies to see if your learning strategies are working or not? Q5. For those students who have completely lost interest in English study, what caused you to lose interest in English study? European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 119 Yuichi Todaka SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN JAPANESE COLLEGE EFL LEARNERS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES Creative Commons licensing terms Authors will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. 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