Investigating Japanese EFL University Students’ Needs, Motivations and Perceptions of the New EAP Program

The School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences (SGHSS) at Nagasaki University introduced a new curriculum for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses in 2022. “The KEY Program: Academic English for Unlocking Futures” breaks with tradition; unlike the General English Courses at Nagasaki University, the courses in the KEY program explore innovative ways to build communicative competence, especially academic English competence in the target language. In addition to English classes that meet once a week, some of the core classes of the newly introduced KEY program meet twice a week for 90 minutes. The program is designed to empower SGHSS students so that they progress in their English to meet the language requirement to register for upper-level course subjects taught in English (TOEFL ITP 500 or equivalent). This paper, based on students’ progress and program experience, reports on the implemented KEY program, students’ needs, motivations, and perceptions of their first year in the Program. Pre-(n=101) and post-program surveys (n=84) have been conducted to understand students’ learning experiences, as well as to design, analyze, and assess the overall curriculum. The primary findings provide fresh insight into the current state of EAP courses in higher education. The results of the first-year program help identify areas for improvement so that SGHSS students’ learning experience in the KEY program is enriched as we take a several steps toward our goal of “unlocking futures.