Friday, July 2, 2010

English education

English education is compulsory for all Japanese students from the first year of middle school through the end of high school. And yet, if you visit Japan, you'll find almost no one speaks English. Let's talk about why!

First--the education system. Most Americans are used to hearing about how the East Asian countries whoop our asses at math. It's true that students here are doing fairly sophisticated calculus that Americans might not encounter until college, if at all. (I dropped pre-calc halfway through my junior year of high school and never looked back.) The stereotypically Japanese method of rote memorization and practice, practice, practice is probably well-suited to math and science, and basically any subject where you can commit accepted facts, and how to apply them in accepted situations, to memory.

What I find troublesome is that this same method is used for language learning. I teach the first year reading classes, and their textbook consists of chapters that are basically stories or articles on a particular topic that also introduce certain grammar points. I teach them pronunciation of new vocab and phrases, reading comprehension, and some writing. There is very little speaking involved, and no creative work from them--they are not asked to apply the English they learn to making their own sentences or dialogues, for instance. Not to mention when an ALT isn't present, English classes are conducted almost entirely in Japanese.

The English exams are exactly what was covered in class--the stories are reprinted with phrases missing for the students to fill in, and basic questions about the content. So basically if they pay attention at all or do their homework, they should have no problems. In fact, the composition portion of their last test was an assignment I'd given them in class, corrected, and returned--so all they had to do to pass was memorize the corrected version of their homework and re-write it for the test. Now how on earth will they know what to do if they're approached by a foreigner who needs directions somewhere? Maybe one of their readings included a "giving directions" dialogue, but unless that dialogue is word-for-word what this random foreigner needs, they won't be able to help. Never mind actually going to a foreign country themselves and trying to navigate.

Second--the culture. It seems to me that it is unbearable for a Japanese person to make a mistake. They believe in practice makes perfect, never mind that what they are practicing might not be particularly useful or applicable to real life. Jonathan has told me about how the basketball club at his school will do the same drills ad infinitum until they are flawless, but are utterly unprepared for the chaos of an actual basketball game. So it doesn't matter how flawlessly you can do a particular maneuver on the basketball court, or how good your pronunciation of the word "ubiquitous" is, if you are unable to improvise in a random, real world situation.

This focus on very specific perfection means my students are mortified if I ask them a question they weren't expecting in class, because that means they haven't rehearsed the answer and so may make a mistake. It seems to me the bulk of language acquisition happens when you are verbally trying to express yourself, making mistakes, and learning from them. But if you are so humiliated at the idea of garbling grammar or mispronouncing a word, you're obviously too inhibited to speak naturally, right? Part of the aversion to learning this way may also be that most Japanese people are not used to interacting with foreigners with imperfect Japanese language skills. As a New Yorker I'm accustomed to communicating with people with heavy accents and broken English, both of us trying our best to understand. Whereas in Japan if you mispronounce a single syllable in a word you may get looks of total incomprehension. They're just not used to bridging that gap. The students here think it is the height of hilarity when I make a mistake; yesterday in my English club the kids were cracking up that I'd written けんど (kendo) instead of けんどう (kendou), the correct spelling. I was like, I didn't laugh at you when you spelled lacrosse "rakkros." (OK, I laughed in my head.)

Anyway, it is may be seen as ethnocentric for a foreigner who isn't a real teacher to criticize another country's methods... but the proof is in the pudding. Odds are that if you meet a Japanese person who can speak English, it means they spent some time living in a foreign country, NOT that they gained their fluency within the Japanese system.

13 comments:

  1. This may seem like a strange connection, but I saw an immediate parallel to the way Japan teaches English to how we often approach matters of religion and faith. Memorize a set of rules, feel guilty and terrified of imperfection, and not be able to apply in real life, with real people who are different than yourself. Not exactly what the Author intended...

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  2. Very interesting. You may become a pedogogist, yet!

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  3. Really fascinating, and I think you are right on the money. I am copying and forwarding this to Megan and to my friend who teaches in an international school. This is exactly what I experienced with my students in the int'l school - to the point of total paralysis in learning on the point of several of my students. Your ability to link the language learning to culture is very insightful.

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  4. You can work around the system though. When you talk to your students, try to encourage them to speak and let them know making mistakes is ok. And then give them positive reenforcement. You can't do much with the students who have no interest in the language (and study it for the sole purpose of passing their college entrance exams) but the students who actually have an interest in the language will try harder. And probably come looking for you just to speak to you. You may even get a duo: One that's good at listening and one that's good at speaking. haha. :P

    BTW: When I started learning Japanese, my classes were mainly in English as well. It's rather difficult to understand the grammar of the language you're learning in the language you're trying to learn. Connections will only click in the brain if you can fully understand it, which of course ends up meaning it'll be explained in your mother tongue.

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  5. Well yeah, but by the time they're HS ichinensei they've been studying English for three years already. By the time I'd been studying Spanish that long, the classes were taught mostly in Spanish. There's no reason the teachers need to do so much in Japanese.

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  6. The hilarious irony is that English education starts at the same age in northern Europe. Even BUMS in Finland are fluent English speakers.

    I don't think the fact that a lot of Japanese have such a Japan-centric worldview helps either. Like in the U.S. with English, seems like a lot of people here are confident they only need to know Japanese.

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  7. Yeah, the Europeans seem to have a good system for learning English; I wonder how it's taught there.

    I agree that Americans have a ridiculous attitude when it comes to learning foreign languages, but on the other hand, there is only one country in the world where Japanese is spoken! English is the official language in many places and at least commonly spoken in others. I hate to say it, but Americans have the luxury of not learning another language if they don't want to. If you're a Japanese person, unless you plan on NEVER leaving Japan, it's rather problematic to be monolingual.

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  8. You said it best here: "Anyway, it is may be seen as ethnocentric for a foreigner who isn't a real teacher to criticize another country's methods... "

    You are not there to teach English. You are there to make money and learn about J culture. Admit it. You are not a teacher. Period. But cool. Enjoy. AND: you are not there to teach English becase the J people do not care to learn English, it is all window dressing for their semi-police state semi-democracy where the people do not vote for the PM and have no say in society. English is NOT important to japan and never will be. Use your time there wisely, Grasshopper!

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  9. by the way, loved your anecdotes about the cute kids saying hi in the morning, nice touch, and the kanji asides re sky dream for day dream. and otona for adult. Loved this stuff, nice. I read your whole blog Sunday afternoon, lovely. just watch the we whites are superior to the space alien yellow Japanese stuff. Rise above that impulse. They are no better or worse than you. Just different. and less happy!

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  10. Did you know that most Japanese have hard time saying "work" in English? Yes, ask around. Try it out on a few people. They simply have a difficult time saying it correctly. I don't know why. Post on this one day....

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  11. uh... who are you? i also clearly never said american culture is in any way superior to japanese. they are both absurd in their own ways. and though i'm not a real teacher, we are supposed to be contributing to "internationalization," not just taking japanese money and screwing around, so i think it's fair to think about these things.

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  12. but... thanks? also they have trouble saying work because there isn't really an equivalent "wuh" sound in j-go. and their r's are more like something between r and l, so again, difficult.

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