Vol. 5. No. 3 A-1 December 2001
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Reported Belief Changes through Near Peer Role Modeling

Tim Murphey
Yuan Ze University, Taiwan
<mits@saturn.yzu.edu.tw>

Hiroko Arao
Nagoya University, Japan
<maochin@a4.shes.net>

Abstract

Near peer role models (NPRMs) are people who might be "near" to us in several ways: age, ethnicity, gender, interests, past or present experiences, and also in proximity and in frequency of social contact. In two previous quasi-experimental studies, learners in a Japanese university English department were shown an 8-minute video of four exemplary, slightly older, Japanese in the same department who were expressing beliefs and attitudes thought to facilitate SLA. A pre- and post-questionnaire revealed positive changes in viewers' reported-beliefs. In the present study, we wished to see the impact of the same video-speakers on non-English majors in obligatory English courses in a different university. The results show that many of these students' reported-beliefs and behaviors also change positively after seeing the video and they seem to remain more motivated through post observations. Interestingly, the experiment also changed the teacher's beliefs that made her class more interactive and possibly intensified NPRMing.

Keywords:ESL,EFL,Vygotsky,beliefs,attitude,awareness

 

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