The present paper reports the background of and the procedure for the development of a Hiroshima University English Can-Do List. Students at Hiroshima University take English courses as a part of their liberal arts education requirement, but the total amount of this course-based learning is not sufficient to achieve high-level English proficiency. Therefore, the Institute for Foreign Language Research and Education (FLaRE) at Hiroshima University has so far prepared English learning environments for students’ self-learning, such as online e-learning courses and extensive reading resources. However, given the fact that it is difficult for students to keep learning by themselves, some system of assistance that motivates them to keep learning is important. The Hiroshima University English Can-Do List was developed as a part of this system.

The participants of the present project were about 1,000 first-year students at Hiroshima University who are required to take eight credits for English in liberal arts education. A can-do list questionnaire, which was developed by the Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC), was used in this study. The questionnaire asks the participants to rate various can-do statements on a five-point Likert scale (1: cannot do at all to 5: can do without any difficulty).

Based on the results of the TOEIC®IP test and the questionnaire, the Hiroshima University English Can-Do List was developed. The participants were first divided into seven proficiency levels based on the TOEIC IP test score. Then, appropriate proficiency levels were decided for “can-do” and “can-do with difficulty” statements. This paper showed the first draft of the Hiroshima University English Can-Do List.

There are still some tasks remaining: First, the can-do list reported here should be revised with more data from high proficiency students; second, some better can-do statements could be added or inappropriate ones could be deleted in the future. Future refinement of the list is expected.