The Development of a Self-efficacy Scale for Japanese Language Assistants and Its Validation through a Longitudinal Survey: Targeting “NIHONGO Partners” dispatched to Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to create a scale of self-efficacy (SE) for Japanese assistants. Focusing on Thai secondary schools which have a large number of Japanese learners in Southeast Asia, we conducted a questionnaire survey of “NIHONGO Partners” (NP), Japanese language assistants. Five factors were extracted: “positive communication,” “enthusiasm for the class,” “relationship with teacher,” “optimistic personality,” and “recognition of ones position as NP.” Moreover, as a result of conducting a longitudinal survey at the start, mid-term, and end of the dispatch to examine changes as the period of dispatch progressed, “positive communication,” “enthusiasm for the class,” and “recognition of ones position as NP,” dropped a little bit at the mid-term. But these factors increased in the end, while the category, “optimistic personality,” continued to increase from the start to finish. These factors suggest that SE increased due to experience. On the other hand, the “relationship with teacher” dropped significantly at the mid-term, and further decreased at the end compared to what it was at the start. Among the reasons, it was found that the average value of one of the subordinate items, “make a firm meeting with CP (counterpart, the Thai Japanese teacher) beforehand” was low. This scale is considered to be useful and versatile, satisfying the requirements of reliability and validity and shows a stepwise change.