Impact of International Postures on Willingness to Communicate During International Exchanges Using Skype

Abstract

Internet and Web-based communication tools, such as the Skype platform offered by Microsoft, enable us to communicate with other people worldwide at low cost. This provides a good opportunity for nonnative English educators to cultivate children's English skills. While most Japanese schools provide access to the Internet, Internet- and Web-based communication tools are underexploited; e.g., only a few teachers have registered Skype accounts. To introduce a new study program in a school, teachers should prove its benefits in advance. However, scales to evaluate skills obtained from these programs have not been developed. Thus, we attempt to develop a scale to perform this work. First, we developed a scale based on international postures. Second, we performed an empirical test using Skype to measure the scale in junior high school and high school environments. This study shows the results of the empirical test and discusses its contribution to the diffusion of information and communication technology in the educational industry.