Global Issues: Japan: Learning English and Learning about English

Author(s): Rory S. Baskin and Zhao Shitai

Source: The English Journal, Vol. 85, No. 2 (Feb., 1996), pp. 82-84
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
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 GLOBAL ISSUES

Japan: Learning English and profit-orientedschoolssuch asjukus, Japanese who have the aim of
Learning about English yobikos, and eikaiwaswhich aid stu- speaking English attend eikaiwas,
RoryS. Baskin dents further in improving their Englishconversationschools. Eikai-
ShionJuniorCollege
communicativeEnglish or improv- was offerclasses for those of all ages
Hitachi-shi,
Japan
ing theirtest scores. and abilities, including pre-school-
There are millions of Japanese educationin is
Mandatory Japan ers, students, working adults, and
who have studied English for 6, 7,
completedupon graduatingfromju- senior citizens. Many students will
and 8 years without acquiringthe nior high school, which means that attend a juku or yobiko and an
abilityto communicate.Their stud- all high schools, public and private, eikaiwa.Eikaiwasrange from small
ies have been directed towards have entrance examinations. The schools held in the teacher'shouse
studying about English grammar Englishsection of the examinations, or apartmentto nationalchainsem-
and vocabularyin orderto pass en-
requiredat all high schools and by ploying thousands of teachers and
tranceexaminationsfor high school, most universities,demandsa knowl- supportstaff.
junior college, college, and univer- edge of vocabulary and grammar Almost every Japanese citizen
sity.Thereis little or no use of Eng- which is normallytaught in Japan- knows that English is the interna-
lish during this process-which is ese. The studentsmemorizethe nec- tionallanguageof travel,commerce,
sometimescomparedto attendinga information. almost and education.Theywant to be able
essary Although
lectureclassto learnhowto playthe all Japaneseattendhigh school, stu- to speak Englishand interactin this
piano.Imaginelearningto playthe dents want to enter the better high world. It is for this reason that
pianoby attendinglecturesforyears schools so they can later enter the Japanese of all ages and all walks
in whicha teacherexplainshow to bettercolleges. of life attend conversationschools
use the piano,showsyou the piano, and study communicativeEnglish
andevendemonstrates withit while JUKUS, YOBIKOS,
AND EIKAIWAS through one of the many other
you, the student, do not use it. Sud- sources available.
These students attendjukusand
denly,one day,you areplacedin a These sources include NHK,
roomwith a pianoand expectedto yobikos,supplementaryschools, in
order to improve their grammatical the Japanese equivalent of PBS
play Naturally,you cannot.Youfeel and National Public Radio. They
resentfulthatyouhavewastedmany knowledge and increasetheir range
of vocabulary. offer daily radioand television pro-
yearsstudying. for beginning, intermediate,
That is English educationin Juku students, from elementary grams
school through high school, go to and advanced students to study
Japan. Fortunately,Japanesestu- eikaiwa. Accompanying textbooks
dentsrecognizeEnglishas an inter- theirjukusin the evenings,on week-
ends, or during vacations. Jukus and magazines are on sale every-
nationallanguageof communica- where and at reasonable prices.
tion, and they are takingsteps to range from prestigiousnational in-
stitutions to small classes held in a There are also numerous bilingual
reducethestudiesaboutEnglishand television broadcasts of American,
to increasestudyingEnglishas com- spareroom at the teachershome.
The yobikosare "cram"schools British, and Aus-
munication. Thosearethetwomajor tralian television
aims of Japanesestudents:passing for students preparing for high
school and college entranceexami- programs and
examinations andcommunicating in movie.
nations.Rangingin size fromsmaller ,for -x-
English.
local schools to largenationalinsti-
ENGLISHSTUDYINJAPAN tutions, even the smallest ones em- Snet"eir
There are few Japanese today ploy at least three or four teachers.
under age 65 who have not studied The yobikos offer courses for stu- N ot and
mO
English, and almost all students dents still enrolled in school and for isaNsoOc
study English for 6 years in junior Ronin,studentswho have graduated c6#mpazied
high and high school. Studentscon- without successfully entering col- by a text-
tinuingtheireducationbeyond high book. For
lege. The former attend at night or
schoolnormallystudy even more.In inter-
during school vacations. The Roninr
addition to mandatoryand elective full time the to ested
study during day pre-
Englishclassesin the school system, pare for the entrance examinations
there are also numerous private the following year.

82 1996
February
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 students,therearea wide varietyof native speakers.Teamteachingis lectedwordsone by one: the pro-
resources. the most used method of non- nunciation,the partof speech,the
The unbridled enthusiasm of native speakingteachereducation meaning,andexamplesto showthe
the Japanese in pursuing commu- in Japaneseschools. In this way basic usages. This approach,of
nicative English has resulted in an Japanesestudentsand non-native course,keepsstudentspassiveand
eikaiwa boom. I live in a city of speakingteachersare exposed to not engagedin the languagelearn-
300,000 people. When I first came spokenEnglishand Westernideas ing process.
here in 1986, therewere threeeikat- aboutteaching.Curriculum reform However,with communicative
was. Now, in 1994, there are over has also been undertakenand has teaching,it is the students,not the
20. It does not seem right,however, resultedin thenewEnglishcurricu- teachers,who arethe centerof the
that students studying English at lum, which enhancesthe commu- class.Withthisapproachthe teach-
school need to go to eikaiwasto be nicative emphasis on English in ing activitiesare arrangedmainly
able to practiceusing English,espe- juniorhigh schooland requiresal- for the communication of the stu-
ciallygiven the many hours devoted most all high school students to dents.Theteachersprovidethema-
to English studies in the regular take a year-longoral communica- terialsforthe communication, take
school system. For example,junior tion class which meets twice a in
part the classactivities,supervise
high school students study English week.Unfortunately, manyschools thesituation,andevaluatewhatthe
for two or three hours a week for are using this class not to study studentsdo. In this way teachers
threeyearsand high school students communicative Englishbut to pre- not onlyimpartknowledgebutalso
for five hours a week for threeyears. pareforentranceexaminations. promotestudents'abilityto study
Eikaiwasseem even more question- Whiletherearestillmanyprob- on theirown.
able considering that, at economi- lemswiththe mannerin whichna-
A VOCABULARY PLAN
cally priced neighborhoodschools, tivespeakers' classesarescheduled,
the monthly fees for an hourly class includingdifficultywith the new To implementcommunicative
meetingonce a week can rangefrom curriculum andthehighcostof sup- teaching,we used the following
$60 to $70 a month. An important plementaryeikaiwaschools, com- planwithourstudents.
municativeEnglish education in Studentspreparethe required
question that must be answered is
new wordsand expressionsbefore
whyJapanese students arenot learn- Japanis improving.It is easyto crit-
classby usingdictionariesandother
ing communicativeEnglish within icize the regularsecondaryschool
theirregularschool system. reference booksandmakingnotesof
system,thejukus,andtheyobikosfor what
theiremphasison learningminute they think is importantand
LEARNINGENGLISH useful abouteachword.Thenin the
THROUGHNATIVESPEAKERS grammarpoints and study about
lesson,volunteersshow
The regular school system, Englishin Japanese,but they are vocabulary
on the blackboard what they have
which encompassesboth public and meetingthe currentneeds of their foundwithother
students.Changeis in sight,but it students
addingto
private schools, is slowly changing the information. The teacher's
roleis
towardseducatingstudents in com- will be a longanddifficultroad,in-
to sum makesome comments
municative English, although there volvingreformingthe entranceex- on whatup, the
aminations to focusuponEnglishas studentshavesaid,and
is still a greatdistanceto be covered. stress
Native speakers, who were once a livinglanguage,changingthe cur- importantpoints that have
been made.
only found in urbanareasor private riculum,andretraining teachers.
The followingexampleshows
schools, now number in the thou-
sands and are teachingjunior high Vocabulary Study: An Active how the plan was used for Lesson
Learning Process Four of IntensiveReadingIV of Col-
and high school students through-
ZhaoShitai legeEnglish,called "JimThorpe."
out Japan. Some teach their own MedicalCollege
Zhenjiang Students had prepared five
classesand see theirstudentstwo or Zhenjiang,
People's
Republicof China words for the firstperiod of the les-
three times a week. Others work
Improvingvocabularyteaching son. For the word await, a student
closely with non-native speaking and learningis an ongoing problem wrote on the blackboard:
teachersand team teach. They may for language teachers. The tradi-
see theirstudentseveryweek, once a await vt.
tional teaching method is for the
month, or simply once. 1. (of persons) wait for: I
teacher to pick out among dozens awaityour instructions.
Schools hire native speakers to of new words and expressions five
teach but also to preparetheir non- to ten importantones. After giving 2. be in store for,be waiting
native speaking staff to teach for:A heartywelcome
some background information for
communicative English through awaits you. Death awaits
the text, the teacherexplainsthe se- all men.
working with and observing these

EnglishJournal 83
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Obviouslythe studenthad looked moment"or "Waita moment."Ei-
themactivelearnersin the process.
up the words in The Advanced therwill do. Butthe transitivewait
Second, the teacherand the stu-
Learner's
Dictionary of Current
Eng- is an obsoleteword. dentsdo the teachingandlearning
lish.Whenshe finished,anotherstu- Next,studentsandtheirteacher
together.Third,the studentslearn
dent volunteeredsomethingmore connectedthe new wordwith one
to use multiplesources for their
abouttheword.Shecitedthe exam- studentsalreadyknew,such as an-
wordstudy Fourth,theyalsolearn
plesfromLongman ofCon-
Dictionary ticipate.Thus, studentscompleted
to selectwhatis importantabouta
temporaryEnglishto showthe usage the studyof thisword. word and what they need not at-
of theword:"Oneawaitsor waitsfor tend to at this point. Finally,more
someonewho will come or some- CONCLUSION
studentsairviewsinsteadofjustlis-
In whatway does this method
thing that will happen, perhaps teningto the teacher.Togetherwe
doing nothingelse but wait."She help both studentsand teachers? are
First,the studentsdo most of the languageusers.
citedotherexamplesandalsonoted
the difference between "await/wait work for the word study,making
for"and "expect." She ended with
the observation,"Waiting is a sort of
activity,while expectingis a state of EJ FFTEEN YEARSAGO
mind."
After that, the teachermade Visual Literacy
some summaryremarksaboutthe "In1978, CBSdid a three-part serieson the stateof theAmericaneduca-
word. The teachernoted that, first, tionalsystem.Needlessto say,it foundnumerousshortcomings, one of
the word awaitis used transitivelyIt whichwastheproliferation in oursecondaryschoolsof whattheseries
has the same meaning as "waitfor." called'fluff'courses.A DenverEnglishteacherinter.iewed aboutsuch
coursesmentionedan example,filmstudy,describingit sarcasticallyas
When one awaitsor waits,one usu-
watchingfilmsandeatingpopcorn,addingquicklythatthe studentstaking
ally does nothing else. But, the thesecourseswerestudentswho couldn'tevenwritea completesentence.
teacher continued, there still is a "Itis not as astonishing ... although of no less concern, that an English
slightdifferencein meaningbetween teacherin thisageof televisionand filmdominancewouldconsiderwritten
these two words.Awaitmeans "wait literacyas moreimportantthanvisualliteracyNevertheless, thesetwoatti-
for eagerly,"and it is a formalword, tudesarefairlytypicalof the statusof..isualliteracytodayIt is notheld in
highreputeeitherby the publicor by the Englishteachingprofession,for-
rarelyused in dailyconversation. merlyits mostvocaladvocate,'
Studentsand their teacherthen
studied the use of awaitin the con- BillO'Rourke.1981. "Whatever
Happenedto VisualLiteracy?"
EJ70.2
text of the selection about Jim (Feb.):71.
Thorpe:
Therailroadstationwas
jammed.Studentsfrom
Lafayette Collegewere AEPL CONFERENCETO EXPLORE
crowdingontothe train TEACHINGTHE UNCONSCIOUS
platformeagerlyawaitingthe
arrivalof the CarlisleIndian "Teaching the Unconscious: Re-forming.Classrooms, Theoriesandthe Self,
School'strackandfield a conference/sy-inposium forK-collegeeducators,.Will be heldat EstesPark
squad. Center,Colorado,Thursday, June6, throughSunday, June9. Featuredpre-
senterswillbeJeanBorysenko, authorof Minding theBody,Mending theMind
They talked about the sense of ea- andFounderandPresidentof Mind/Body HealthSciences;CarolPearson,
gerness and the formal tone. They authorof Magicat Work: A Gu'detoReleasin........I.o tat
also comparedthe words expectand andDeanof theCenterforWomenandWorkandCenterforAnalytical Psy-
awaitand decided that expecting is chologyat MountVernonCollege-CharlesSuhor,authorof Teaching Values
ln theLiteratureClassroon andDeputyExecutiveDirector-of the National
a state of mind, while waiting for is Councilof Teachers of English.Theprogram,sponsoredby NCTE'sAssem-
a sort of activity.
bly on ExpandedPerspectives on Learning(AEPL), willalsoincludesmall
The next part of the discussion group discussionsand sessions
participatory involvingmeditation,guided
dealt with wait as an intransitive imagery, bodywisdom,theroleof emotionsin teachingandlearning,and
verb when someone says "waitfor" othertopics.Totalcostof theconference is $329 (multipleoccupancy),$399
(doubleoccupancy),or $549 (singleoccupancy).Thisfeeincludesregistra-
somebody;however, it may also be tion,lodgingin a magnificent
used as a transitiveverb:we wait an RockyMountain environmentandallmeals.
Fora registrationformandfurtherinformation contact
Re.ina Foehr,
opportunity,a chance, a sign, or a EnglishDepartment,Illinois StateUniversity,
Normal,Illinois61790-4240
fine day.One might say, "Waitfor a (309/829-1493;FAX309/662-6984;e mail:[email protected]).

84 February1996
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