奈良教育大学学術リポジトリNEAR
On English Teaching Materials in Japanese
Junior High Schools With Special Reference to Teaching of Cultures through Language
著者 Yonekura Hiroshi, Sato Hideshi journal or
publication title
奈良教育大学教育研究所紀要
volume 19
page range 13‑20
year 1983‑03‑23
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10105/6536
On English Teaching Materials in Japanese Junior High Schools With Special Reference to Teaching of Cultures
through Language
Hiroshi Yonekura and Hideshi Sato
Department ofEnglish, IVara University ofEducation, Nara
O. The aim of this paper is to discuss English teachng materials intended forjunior high school students in Japan, starting with critical comments on the remarks made by the dis- cussants at the Symposium entitled "What Is Required of Language Education?" that was held at ICU Linguistic Society in the summer of 1978. The gist of the Symposium was pub- lished in the November and December issues of Modern English Teaching, 1978, Kenkyusha.
Mr. K. Nakamura of Seijo University made a remark to the effect that English teaching prevalent all oyer the world originally started as part of colonia1 education in India and that it is stil1 1inked with political power. He points out this political hegemony accounts for the reason why the contents of English textbooks in Japan are still largely based on Anglo- Arnerican situations or settings; there is even a danger of losing our identity in learning a dominant foreign language. He stresses the necessity of regarding English language education in Japan as an intellectual discipline and the study ofcomparative cultures. In short, he emphasized the power of 1inguistic imperialism achieved by the dominant language of the Anglo-Saxons.
No one can deny the fact that foreign lariguage teaching in any country starts with the purpose of learning higher culture or science of foreign countries. Mr. Nakamura's explana- tion of why the contents of our English textbooks should IVOTbe limited to English speak- ing countries is anythng but satisfactory. Yet it is worthy of note that his idea represents the tendency gaining on the hearts ofmany teachers in this country.
Mr. Y. Nishiyama of Keio University, another discussant at the Symposium, is ofthe opinion that teaching materials of English textbooks in Japan today are mostly connected with the United States and Britain. He is very critical of the textbooks in that the situations set in them are far apart from the students' familiar experiences or their daily lives. He stresses that the contents oftextbooks must be drastically changed into more familiar topics for Japanese students so that they can be provided with the circumstances in which they can be trained their ability to express themselves in English. He concludes that the situations of
textbooks must be entirely those of Japan Japanese climate, geography, historical
events, sports, social problems and politics.
It seems to us that Mr. Nishiyama completely ignores one of the fundamental objec- tives of foreign language education in Japan as stated in the Course of Study by the Ministry of Education in 1978. According to the Course of Study, teaching of English in Japanese schools has three main objectives:
1) To develop fundamental skil1 in understanding oral and written English and ability in expressing ideas in English in spoken and written form
2) To arouse and deepen the students' interest in human language by studyinga foreign language, thus making them reflect on, and giving them more understanding of, our mother tongue
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3) To help them understand the cultures, the ways of living speaking peoples, thus fostering international understanding
and thinking of English-
1.1. Mr. Nishiyama's remark reminds us ofEnglish teaching situations in People's Republic of China, where patriotism and ethnocentrism and political ideology are so conspicuously emphasized. Let us quote some passages from Book 1 (entitled English) published in Peking in 1978.
This is a Chinese book. It'sabook by Lu Hsun. It'sagood book. ...p. 15
'Ihis is a book, too. It isn't a Chinese book. It's an English book. It's by an American.
It's Red Star Over enina It'sagood book,too... p. 15 This is our classroom. It's on the first floor of the classroom building. There are
twenty desks in the room. The teacher's desk is in front of the blackboard. Above the black- board there are two pictures a picture of Chairman Mao and picture of Chairman Hua.
There are two maps on the walls. They are a map of China and a map ofthe world.
There are two slogans on the walls, too. One is between the doors. It says: "Study forthe revolution." The other is between the windows. It says: "Be red and expert." ....p.99 It's half past seven. Jack is going to the factory. He's going by car. He's goingwith
two ofhis workmates. They're going to have a meeting. They're talking about it.
It's half past eight. Now Jack is at the factory. There are alot ofworkers there.
They're standing in front of the factory gate. They're having a meeting. Jack is speaking.
The other workers are listening to him. He's saying: "Prices are going up, but we're still getting the same pay. Workers at some other factories are on strike. Let'sjoin them in the struggle."
The other workers are shouting, "Strike! Strike! Let's go on strike!" ... p. 154 A couple ofjunior high school English textbooks authorized by the Ministry ofEdu- cation have moved, as it were, into the limelight, with special emphasis on the Japanese scences since 1978. The appearance ofthese kinds oftextbooks seems to be in 1ine with the currents of the times when the Japanese people have regained confidence in themselves, getting away from the influence of the United States. We may well say that this is a re- actionary movement against total Arnericanization in al1 aspects of educational policies of the Japanese government.
We cannot agree to the ideas just 1ike those of Chinese textbooks quoted above. The following passages from ajunior high English textbook used in 1970's coincide with the idea of ethnocentrism, which might prevent the students from opening their eyes to the outside world.
"On New Year's Day after eating riceÅíakes we visited the shrine near our house. On January SecondI went to the Imperial Palace. The gate is usually shut,but not on that day.
I saw many foreigners there. After I came back from the Imperial Palace . . . ."
The textbook in which al1 the situations in foreign countries are excluded will fail to capitalize on the natural curiosity of the beginning foreign-language learner about al1 things foreign, and "deprive the class of the excitement that comes with novelty". (W. Rivers, 1968) Such textbooks might give the students the impression that the foreign lariguage is the native language in another dress.
Let us quote some other examples from junior high textbooks now in use in 1980's, which emphasize too much of the Japanese scenes.
The second year students went to Hakone. Everyone had a good time on the bus. They played games. They sang songs. They listened to the guide.
The students stopped at Lake Ashi for lunch. They saw Sakasa-Fuji in the water. Kimiko had some o-nigiri.
"Did your mother make those?" asked Akemi.
"Yes, she did. She made them early this morning. Did your mother make
o-nigiri for you?"
"No,she didn't. Ihave sandwiches."
"Here. Try one of my o-nigiri."
"Thanks. This is good! Your mother's o-nigiri is very gdod."
After lunch they went around the 1ake by boat. Then they got on the bus and went to Owakudani. There they got off and walked here and there.
[[hen Akemi laughed. "Look at Sadao. He's holding his nose."
"He doesn't 1ike the smell " said Tadashi.
'
Everyone laughed and went back to the bus.
... Total English Book 2 pp. 18 - 20
lhe students got on the Shinkansen for Kyoto. Akemi and Kimiko sat together.
They played some games. Akemi said, "Wil1 you change places with me? You have sat by the window for an hour. I want to look out of the window, too."
In Kyoto the students visited beautifu1 temples and shrines. They saw the golden Kinkakuji. They looked down at the city from the Kiyomizudera. They heard about
the green and yellow moss in the Kokedera. They stayed at an inn and enjoyed taking hot baths together.
After Kyoto they went to Nara. They saw the deer in Nara Park. "Have these deer lived here foralong time?" Sadao asked the guide. "Yes, they have. This shrine has kept deer for over 300 years."
On the last day they visited Iseshima Park. Their teachers gave them a little free time on Pearl Island. Kimiko found Akemi in the Pearl Museum. "Have you been here foralong time?"
"No, I haven't. I haven't been here long."
"How long have you been here?"
"About ten minutes. Look at this beautiful pagoda. It is made with ten thou-
sandpearls." ... Total English, Book 3, pp.8- IO
Kanii came to Japan from China. When did kanii come to Japan? Ido not know. You know something about the Manyoshu, don't you? The writers wrote the poems in Kanii only.
Our ancestors made hiragana and katakana from kanji. Hiragana and katakana are very simple ways ofwriting. You can learn them very easily. . . .
...77ie New Oown English Series Book 2, pp.51 -2 Paul: May I ask a question, Mrs. Mori?
Mrs. Mori: Yes. wnat is it?
Paul: What's a haiku poem?
Mrs. Mori: Shall I give an example?
Paul: Mease.
Mrs. Mori: IThis is a very farnous haiku poem by Basho.
The old pond;
A frog jumps in, ---
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lhe sound ofthe water.
---t---
We can not help wondering if the translated version of Basho's feeling ofthe original author and the tranquility he was in.
... Ibid. p. 53 haiku can convey the
1.2. Mr. Nishiyama repeatedly defies the objectives of English teaching in Japan stipulated by the Ministry of Education, maintaining that the aims proposed by the Ministry are too idealistic, and that we should give the students, first of all, the pleasures ofcreative self- expression in English. In order to attain this, the topics to be dealt with in the classroom should be limited to those closely related to the students' real life situations, he proposes.
The textbooks incorporating domestic topics have advantages of providing the stu- dents with some contents they want to talk about. When the students know how to express their daily experiences in English, they will have more chances to use English, and teachers, too, can save the time and energy for going over the previous lessons. We doubt,however, whether these advantages can compensate for those disadvantages of preventing them from being exposed to the different cultures and different ways of thinking, and of depriving them of the chances to foster tolerance for diversities of culture. If Mr. Nishiyama's pro- posal should take shape and our students should come to express themselves, though this is most unlikely to happen, as long as their daily experiences are concerned, the situation would become quite contrary to what Mr. Nakamura would expect it to be. The type of English teaching that Mr. Nishiyama designs would be teaching English as a second language, and NOT English as a foreign language.
1.3. As a teaching technique it is quite natural for the teacher to start with things familiar to the students. One of the most important features to be incorporated in textbooks, how- ever, is to meet the needs of international understanding by treating different aspects of cultures between Japan and English-speaking countries family life, school life, greetings, gestures, eating habits, and so on. We believe that the story of Rip Van Winkle is much more suitable than the story of Taro Urashima from this viewpoint. Therefore, Taro and Ellen are good friends is much better than Taro and Jiro are brothers.
A couple of good examples that appear in the junior high school textbooks now in use are given below from this point of view.
Every Friday night Mike's mother gives him some money. He sometimes has a date with Kathy at the drugstore. He pays for their food.
He usually has enough money for a week. But this week he has very little money. He bought some new records last Saturday. They were expensive.
When he was going to buy them, his mother said to him, "If you have enough money, you may buy them. I won't give you any more money till Friday night."
"That's all riglit with me," said Mike.
... IVew Horizon, Book 3, pp.5 - 6
(Comment: In this introductory section, dating habit anda small allowance on the weekly basis are introduced.)
What is the difference between human and animal communication?
The number of messages that animals can communicate is very limited. But man can create any message that he wants to communicate. Some people say that animals can only communicate something that exists here and now. We can tell our friends about something that we saw or heard long ago.
Language is not the only way ofcommunication. We have many ways which
we use for communication. There are sounds, pictures, colors, and so on.
We also use gestures. For example, `winking' in Japan is usually used as a friendly sign between a man and a womtin. English-speaking people wink to signal a lot more than 1iking. ...77ie New Oown english Series Book 3, pp. 60 - 1 Taro: I'm interested in gestures.
Ellen: Are you? Gestures are different from country to country.
T: Yes. Leaming about gestures isalot of fun.
E: I've noticed that Japanese women often cover their mouths when they laugh.
T: They don't think they are polite if they Show their teeth.
**********
Ellen: How do you gesture with your hand when you mean `Come here' in Japan?
Taro: We hold out our hand with the palm down, move it up and down.
E: It looks 1ike our `Sit down,' `Be quiet,' or `Get away.' When we mean `Come here,' we hold out our hand with the palm upward, and move our fingers toward our body.
... New Ptince English Course Book 3, pp. 33, 36 It is our belief that if the cultural background of the teaching material is peculiar to
English-speaking people and the wider its cultural gap for the Japanese people, the more difficult the material wil1 be for the students to learn, and the better material it wM be for them to understand foreign countries.
2.1. Teaching materials provide the students not only with topics, but also with linguistic materials with phonological, syntactic and semantic components. If the students are moti- vated to discover different and new cultures through 1inguistic elements, the problem at issue wil1 not be the choice betweeen domestic topics or foreign ones. In addition to teach- ing materials in terms of contents, the level of students, resourcefu1 methods, four skills, and many more factors should be taken into consideration for effective language teaching.
At the first stage of junior high school level what is most important is not teaching materials themselves as topic-providers, but how materials are presented to the students.
The teacher can not be too careful when he presents new teaching materials to his students.
Let us quote from H. E. Palmer (1921), who stressed the supreme importance of the ele- mentary stage in language learning:
It is the first lessons that count;it is the early lessons which are going to deter- mine the eventual success or failure of the course. As the bending of the twig deter- mines the form of the tree, as on the foundations depends the stability of the building, so also wil1 the elementary training of the student determine his subsequent success or failure.
It is during the first stage that we can secure habits of accuracy, that we can train the student to use his ears, that we can develop his capacities of natural and rapid assimilation, that we can foster his powers of observation. Good habits are easily formed (as also are bad habits); at the outset ofhis studies the learner, whoever he may be, educated or illiterate, child or adult, enjoys the advantage of a plastic mind; it can be shaped according to our will; we can train it to form good and sound habits oflanguage-study. At no other period shall we find such plasticity.
...H.E. Palmer: 7ViePh'nciples ofLanguage-Study p. 29 Even one word could be a key to bring the cultural differences, if its etymology, connotations, or its equivalent word in Japanese are carefully studied.
Junior high school teachers in Japan are faced with tremendous difficulties with fewer
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teaching hours per week; reduction of contact hours can be fatal to effective teaching. But even under such difficult circumstances as we are in, it is not impossible to improve our teaching, changing the material provided by the textbook into realistic, living speech, so that our students may develop communicative competence through creative class activities.
2.2 These days attitudes to language learning and teaching, as to many other things, are different from those of the past, and both linguists and psychologists focus primarily on the spoken rather than the written form. As is seen in the Course ofStudy,training in speaking ability has been emphasized for the past decades. But we should put more emphasis on listening and reading. Production in a new language can not be expected until after much passive reception. Perception is all-important in language, and there can be no dialogue with- out perception of what the other person is saying.
The chief function of English teaching in Japan as an integral part of national edu- cation is personal enrichment by developing fundamental skills in English, especially that of reading comprehension. It is not enough to expose the students with textbooks only. We
should teach them how to grasp the paragraph after having them listen to it. We should also guide them how to make fu11 use oftheir dictionaries that are full oftreasures ofwords.
We should also look for suitable foreign textbooks and magazines.
Mr. Dai Imakura of the Attached Junior High School, Osaka University ofEducation, gave a fine demonstration class in November, 1978 to show how his students were being trained in extensive reading, using about 1,OOO-word essay titled Tokyo (Longman Reading forAdults7 written by a British journalist.
Let us quote a paragraph in which the author humorously compares the public trans- portation situations in Tokyo and those in London.
"Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a London train you would see eyerybody reading a newspaper.
In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep. Some Japanese make a train journey of two hours to go to work, so they do their sleeping on the train. But ifa train journey
lasts only five minutes, and ifthey have a seat, they wil1 also go to sleep. They always wake when they arrive at their station."
Mr. Imakura's objectives in extensive reading are as follows:
(1) To let the students read the text with interest
(2) To expose them to a considerable length of English passages within a limited period of time
(3) To accustom themselves to the efficient use of English-Japanese dictionaries
(1) (2) (3)
(4) (5) (6) (7)
The procedure ofhis class as we saw it was:
To give out the printed material of Tokyo which the students never read before To let the students listen to the teacher's oral reading, paragraph by paragraph To explain briefly the structures and vocabulary that the students will find difficult to follow
To let the students give the gist of each paragraph in Japanese To let them say how they feel about the paragraphs To let them give their impressions of the whole essay
To let them pay attention to common, usefu1 expressions used in the essay
Mr. Imakura's carefu1 choice of reading materials is worthy of notice, so is his class-
room procedure. In his demonstration class we could see a good model ofextensive reading for ajunior high English class.
Summary
To sum up, we cannot agree with Mr. Y. Nishiyama and his followers who maintain that the contents of junior high textbooks must be drastically changed into more familiar topics for Japanese students. If the cultural background of the teaching material is peculiar to Englishspeaking peoples and the wider its cultural gap for the Japanese people, the better material it wil1 be for them to understand foreign countries. The materials of any foreign language teaching should be those which will enable the students to understand the culture ofthe people who speak the language as well as to use it as a means of communication.
References
Billows, F. L., 1961, 77ie Techniques ofLanguage Teaching, Longmans
Clark and Clark, 1977, jPlsychology and Language, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., N. Y.
Fries, C. C., 1945, Teaching and Lcarning English as a Foreign Language. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
Nord, J. R. "The Importance of Listening," in 77ie English Teachers'Magazine, XXIV No.
Taishukan, (Dec. 1975) pp. 34-9
Palmer, H. E., 1921, 77ieP)2'neiples ofLangttage-Study, Oxford University Press Rivers,WilgaM., 1964, 77iePsychologistand theForeign Language Teacher, The Uni- versity of Chicago Press
., 1968, Revised 1981, Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. The University of Chicago Press
Weaver, W. W., 1977, Toward a Psychology ofReading and Language, The University of Georgia Press
Nakamura et al., 1982, IVew (]rown English Series, Sanseido Publish. Co.
Ohta et al., 1982, ?Vew Horizon English Course, Tokyo Shoseki Publish. Co.
Oinoue et al., 1982, TotaIEnglish, Chukyo Shuppan Publish, Co.
Sato et al., 1982, IVewjP)'ince English Course, Kairyudo Publish. Co.
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