Early Childhood English Education in Japan

Tomomi Tsuchiya
Yih Yeh Pan
Course 150-3
June 3, 2008

Early Childhood English Education in Japan

Introduction

English is a very important language not only in Japan but also in the world these days. According to a statistics survey which was done by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2006, there are 54 countries in which English is used as an official language or a second official language out of 192 countries in the world. Nearly 21billion people are using English. That is, about one-third of the countries and populations on the Earth use English. According to Benesse Education Study Development Center in 2008, Korea, which is a neighbor of Japan, already introduced the Early Childhood English Education system (ECEE) in 1997. With the tide of internationalization, MEXT mentioned that English should be one of the compulsory subjects in elementary schools in Japan by the spring of 2009. However, it is controversial to introduce English to fifth and sixth grade elementary school students once a week. According to a survey which was carried out by Kyodo News in 2006, nearly 80 percent of respondents think English-language education should start at an early age. They think that Japanese children would be able to use English effectively in the future if they start to learn English from elementary school. However, some people do not agree with this system. They do not think it would be effective for children to acquire English ability which is practical even if they started to learn English from elementary school. In addition, there are problems such as the quality of the teachers and how to teach.

From my point of view, I can not agree with the ECEE system in Japan at this point because of the following two reasons: 1) Critical Period for acquiring first language: a specific and limited time period for first language acquisition. However, it isn't applicable to second language acquisition. 2) Lack of suitably qualified teachers: there is presently a lack of suitably qualified educators among Japanese teachers and ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers).

1.Critical Period for acquiring first language

“There is a specific and limited time period for language acquisition” (Lightbown and Spada, 2003, p.19). This is called the critical period hypothesis (Lenneberg, 1967), this requirement is not necessarily absolute, so the term “sensitive period” sometimes substitutes for “critical period” (Lieberman, 1993). “It is just like an imprinting which happens to chicks and ducklings” (Hoff, 2005, p.59). The period starts from about five years old to around ten years old. There are some opinions that small children have to start to learn English because of this “critical period”. People who insist on this kind of opinion believe that students who are older than ten years old would not be able to acquire the second language completely (Tousu, 2002). Actually, in the realm of first language acquisition study, this hypothesis was proved by some cases in which children that got behind in their first language acquisition because of some reasons such as childhood aphasia, an acquired communication disorder caused by an injury to the brain that affect a person’s ability to communicate (Aphasia Institute, 2008), had various problems with their first language acquisition (Johnson and Johnson, 1999). Lenneberg said that he found big differences when he analyzed and divided the symptoms of childhood aphasia by children’s ages. As the child’s age advanced, the speed of recovery decreased. Then, it would be difficult for over twelve or thirteen years old to recover from childhood aphasia completely. (Fujinaga, T, 2003).

However, in the field of second language acquisition, no study shows evidence that people have a critical period when they learn a second language (Johnson and Johnson, 1999; Singleton and Alengyel 1995; Birdsong 1999). To put it the other way around, it doesn’t matter whether Japanese people started to learn English from elementary school or junior high school. There is no evidence to support the idea: “it is too late to start to learn English from junior high school.” It is not too late to learn the second language from junior high school. Moreover, the second language is not necessarily acquired, so the ability would differ from each person (Skehan, 1989). Even though it seems that little children understand each other when they are talking, they do not really understand the language itself (Fujinaga, 2001). “While it is believed that children need to learn a second language before their critical period in order to acquire a natural pronunciation in informal daily learning, it is also true that some children fail to acquire a native-like proficiency under the influence of their first language. Adult learners, on the other hand, can succeed in acquiring a native-like pronunciation with their efforts and artificial instructions (Nagai, 1997). Therefore, People would be able to master the second language even if they started to learn it after elementary school.

2.Lack of suitably qualified teachers

MEXT says that elementary school teachers and ALT should try to team-teach when they teach English to children. There are two big problems with this. One problem is Japanese teachers’ English ability. The other one is ALT’s teaching skill.

According to Yomiuri news paper research in the Saitama Area in 2007, most of the elementary school teachers are concerned about teaching English. According to a survey which was conducted by MEXT in 2005, 70 percent of parents approve the ECEE system, while more than half of the elementary school teachers disapprove of it. Thus, many elementary school teachers do not have the confidence and skill to teach English. Because they took the education which focuses too much on English grammar and reading but not on pronunciation, speaking or listening, they think that they cannot teach children speaking and listening. This would cause more problems such as difficulty of communication with ALT teachers. In 2007, the MEXT started to train only the teachers who would lead the ECEE. They trained for five days. Compared to Korea which implements 120-hours training for all of the elementary school teachers, Japanese training system is not yet comprehensive enough (Benesse, 2007). Without well-trained teachers, the new education challenge would not be successful.

ALT is also a key of ECEE in Japan because they will teach English to children with Japanese teachers. As I mentioned above, Japanese teachers still have a lot of problems teaching English in elementary school. However, is it a good idea to leave the English education up to ALT? It is also doubtful that leaving English class to ALT only would be effective and really helpful to make children’s English improved. According to the application guidebook of ALT in Matsumoto city in Osaka, the applicants have to fulfill only these three conditions: a). Must be born not earlier than April 2, 1948, b). Native speaker, has excellent pronunciation, rhythm, intonation and voice projection skills in the designated language, c). Be qualified as an English teacher or be strongly motivated in teaching the English language. As the last condition mentioned, ALT does not have to be a person who has a qualification of English teacher. They do not have to be able to speak Japanese either. Despite not having to speak Japanese, they have to do team-teaching with Japanese teachers. It might cause problems such as misunderstanding each other or lack of communication with the Japanese teachers. In addition, this situation might also cause a gap of education quality between an area which has an ALT whose teaching skill is high and another area which does not have a qualified teacher.

Recommendations

Since there are still some remaining problems such as teachers’ skill, the Japanese government should reconsider the English Education in Japan. Comparing the Japanese people’s TOEFL scores with other countries in the world, Japanese people’s scores are much worse than others at this point (MEXT, 2005). “Japan needs to revamp its entire system of English –language teaching” (Clark, The Japan Times, 2006). Because “Japanese have historically learned foreign languages for the purpose of absorbing advanced knowledge from abroad rather than for communicating with foreigners” (Tanikawa, The New York Times, 1996), Japanese English education programs in junior high schools and high schools focus too much on grammar and reading. In Japanese schools, teachers tend to focus on meticulous points of grammar (Tanikawa, 1996). Even if English words or grammar were taught to children, they would not really understand English. They would focus on structure or form of English rather than its function or meaning. English is not like math and science which are carefully analyzed, but it is a language which is a tool of communication. This English education style is not an effective way to improve Japanese people’s English ability. “…Simply changing the quantitative framework won’t bring about the desired results. In addition, what is important is how to change the content of the framework. In other words, we need to focus more on quality, rather than quantity, of knowledge taught” (Sasaki, Asahi News, 2008). Therefore, the ECEE system would not be effective as long as the present English education system in junior high schools and high schools continues.

Conclusion

It is not necessary to introduce English in the Japanese elementary school at this point. If the English education system in junior high school and high school were improved, people would be able to acquire English better than now. English would be useful for introducing other cultures to Japanese Children. However, there are still problems about teaching English in elementary schools. In addition, I don't think there is a pressing need for elementary English education due to the possibility that the idea of a critical period for second language acquisition may be a non-issue. Therefore, I believe that the ECEE should not have to be a compulsory subject in elementary schools in Japan. I think that the MEXT should concentrate on improving the English education system of junior high schools and high schools rather than introducing the ECEE system.

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