Measuring Faculty EAP Self-Efficacy for Super Global Purposes : Using Rasch to Establish a Hierarchy of Faculty Developmental Needs

文部科学省が創設した「スーパー・グローバル大学創生支援事業」のもと，各大学はこれまで行ってきた大学のグローバル化のための方策や取り組みを，より高い目標へと転換する必要に迫られている。これまで，各大学において実施されてきたグローバル化を目指すための主要な取り組みは，留学生や外国人教員の増員，英語による授業の開講，教員や大学院生による国際学会発表や海外の学会誌への投稿の奨励などであった。本研究では，日本のある主要大学の一学部において，大学のグローバル化を図る手段として実施された，学部構成員の学術英語に対する自己効力感の調査について述べる。調査では，ラッシュ（Rasch, G.）の方法論を用いて学部構成員の学術英語能力に関する喫緊の課題を特定し，学部は，その結果に基づいて一連のワークショップの企画に着手した。本研究で提示した調査結果は，何をもって学部構成員が学術英語を使える／使えないと判断したかという点を含め，調査の過程と方法の両面において限界性を持つ。また，大学全体を対象として同じ調査を展開する場合にも，改良する余地を残すと思われる。

Upon attaining the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology’s (MEXT) designation of the so-called “Super Global” university status, universities must necessarily shift their focus from merely setting aggressive goals to the actual implementation of policies and practices which will move them toward meeting those lofty goals. In many cases a significant portion of the benchmarks these universities are aiming to reach involve increasing the enrollment of foreign students, the number of foreign faculty, the courses taught in English, and the frequency with which their faculty and students present at international conferences and publish in international journals. The following research illustrates how one department at a major research university in Japan has taken the initial steps in this direction by developing and distributing a brief survey exploring faculty members’ feelings of self-efficacy in English for academic purposes (EAP). By employing a Rasch-based analysis to validate the items on that survey, the department was then able to begin taking the initial steps towards meeting their Super Global goals by designing a series of workshops targeting the academic English skills identified by the faculty as most critically needed. The focus of the research presented here, however, is limited to a discussion of the challenges involved in the process of designing and validating an instrument capable of quickly measuring what faculty members believe they can and cannot do academically in English. Possible improvements for the next iteration of this instrument, which may be deployed across the entire university, are also included.