4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
[G04-12] Integrating Foreign Language and Disaster Prevention Education to Enhance High School Students' Disaster Literacy
Keywords:Disaster Prevention Education, Foreign Language Education, Disaster Literacy, Earthquake Early Warning
1. Introduction
In recent years, Japan has experienced frequent natural disasters, increasing the importance of disaster prevention education. In compulsory education, cross-curricular disaster prevention education aligned with the national curriculum guidelines is encouraged. However, in higher education, although some cases incorporate disaster prevention as a research topic in the period of integrated studies, a nationwide survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) indicates that disaster prevention education within subject-based learning remains limited. This study aims to examine the impact of disaster prevention education utilizing a foreign language (English) on high school students’ disaster literacy and proposes an integrated curriculum that combines disaster prevention and foreign language education.
2. Curriculum Development and Implementation
An integrated curriculum was developed, building upon a previous earthquake disaster prevention program. Students created English scenarios to guide foreign visitors during earthquake early warning, simultaneously acquiring disaster knowledge and English communication skills. The curriculum comprised three phases:
1) Information Gathering: Students explore local disaster characteristics and the earthquake early warning system using English resources from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
2) Group Work: Students collaborate to create English scenarios explaining appropriate earthquake responses for foreign visitors, considering their unique perspectives and needs.
3) Group Presentation & Peer Evaluation: Students presente their scenarios and provided feedback, deepening their understanding through reflection and peer learning.
The curriculum was implemented with 360 first-year students at Niigata Prefectural High School during their "Communication English I" course (three 50-minute sessions) in June-July 2024. Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) and Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) team-taught the lessons.
3. Curriculum Evaluation
3.1 Disaster Prevention Education Analysis
Students completed pre- and post-curriculum self-assessment surveys (ten items, four-point Likert scale). A paired t-test on 127 valid responses showed statistically significant improvement (p<.01) across all items, indicating comparable learning outcomes to disaster prevention education.
3.2 Foreign Language Education Analysis
Step 2 (Group Work) outcomes were evaluated by ALT using a rubric (Table 3) with three criteria: “Accuracy of Information,” “Diversity of Scenarios,” and “Expressiveness”, rated on a three-point scale (Table 4). All students met expectations in “Expressiveness”, demonstrating proficiency in conveying disaster-related information in English. “Accuracy of Information” was also high, indicating strong communication skills. However, 25 students struggled with “Diversity of Scenarios”, suggesting room for improvement. A cross-tabulation analysis (Table 5) showed that students with higher Question 10 scores performed better in “Diversity of Scenarios”, but this trend was absent in post-assessment, emphasizing the need to strengthen image recall ability beforehand.
4. Conclusion
This study developed and implemented a disaster prevention learning curriculum integrating foreign language and disaster prevention education, examining its impact on high school students’ disaster literacy and language skills. The inclusion of English learning deepened students’ understanding of appropriate earthquake response actions and improved their ability to anticipate situations from a foreign visitor’s perspective, demonstrating the educational effectiveness of disaster prevention education. Furthermore, scenario-based evaluation activities in English contributed to both communication skills and disaster literacy enhancement. These results highlight the importance of scenario-based learning, where students visualize disaster responses from a foreigner’s perspective, improving both disaster literacy and communication skills. For future research, incorporating direct interaction with foreign visitors into the curriculum would provide a more practical learning environment, further clarifying the effectiveness of foreign language use in disaster prevention education.
In recent years, Japan has experienced frequent natural disasters, increasing the importance of disaster prevention education. In compulsory education, cross-curricular disaster prevention education aligned with the national curriculum guidelines is encouraged. However, in higher education, although some cases incorporate disaster prevention as a research topic in the period of integrated studies, a nationwide survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) indicates that disaster prevention education within subject-based learning remains limited. This study aims to examine the impact of disaster prevention education utilizing a foreign language (English) on high school students’ disaster literacy and proposes an integrated curriculum that combines disaster prevention and foreign language education.
2. Curriculum Development and Implementation
An integrated curriculum was developed, building upon a previous earthquake disaster prevention program. Students created English scenarios to guide foreign visitors during earthquake early warning, simultaneously acquiring disaster knowledge and English communication skills. The curriculum comprised three phases:
1) Information Gathering: Students explore local disaster characteristics and the earthquake early warning system using English resources from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
2) Group Work: Students collaborate to create English scenarios explaining appropriate earthquake responses for foreign visitors, considering their unique perspectives and needs.
3) Group Presentation & Peer Evaluation: Students presente their scenarios and provided feedback, deepening their understanding through reflection and peer learning.
The curriculum was implemented with 360 first-year students at Niigata Prefectural High School during their "Communication English I" course (three 50-minute sessions) in June-July 2024. Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) and Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) team-taught the lessons.
3. Curriculum Evaluation
3.1 Disaster Prevention Education Analysis
Students completed pre- and post-curriculum self-assessment surveys (ten items, four-point Likert scale). A paired t-test on 127 valid responses showed statistically significant improvement (p<.01) across all items, indicating comparable learning outcomes to disaster prevention education.
3.2 Foreign Language Education Analysis
Step 2 (Group Work) outcomes were evaluated by ALT using a rubric (Table 3) with three criteria: “Accuracy of Information,” “Diversity of Scenarios,” and “Expressiveness”, rated on a three-point scale (Table 4). All students met expectations in “Expressiveness”, demonstrating proficiency in conveying disaster-related information in English. “Accuracy of Information” was also high, indicating strong communication skills. However, 25 students struggled with “Diversity of Scenarios”, suggesting room for improvement. A cross-tabulation analysis (Table 5) showed that students with higher Question 10 scores performed better in “Diversity of Scenarios”, but this trend was absent in post-assessment, emphasizing the need to strengthen image recall ability beforehand.
4. Conclusion
This study developed and implemented a disaster prevention learning curriculum integrating foreign language and disaster prevention education, examining its impact on high school students’ disaster literacy and language skills. The inclusion of English learning deepened students’ understanding of appropriate earthquake response actions and improved their ability to anticipate situations from a foreign visitor’s perspective, demonstrating the educational effectiveness of disaster prevention education. Furthermore, scenario-based evaluation activities in English contributed to both communication skills and disaster literacy enhancement. These results highlight the importance of scenario-based learning, where students visualize disaster responses from a foreigner’s perspective, improving both disaster literacy and communication skills. For future research, incorporating direct interaction with foreign visitors into the curriculum would provide a more practical learning environment, further clarifying the effectiveness of foreign language use in disaster prevention education.