language education
Tony Jones (LHL0047@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU)
Wed, 20 Dec 1995 09:27:32 CST
Kohei-san,
I think that Japanese students' facility with English isn't all that
bad, speaking from my limited personal experience with Japanese people
in the US. I say "limited" because these Japanese people, by simple
virtue of the face that they're in the US, means that they've had
opportunities to expand their language acquisition beyond the
classroom.
Also, it's important to consider the various components of language
ability, such as reading comprehension, listening comprehension,
speaking ability, writing ability, etc. I've noticed that the
strength of Japanese students seems to be reading comprehension &
their particular weakness seems to be listening comprehension (and
pronounciation, to some extent). Do you think this is caused by the
particular manner in which English is taught in Japan? For my wife
Chigusa (not a particularly good example, since she has a BA degree in
English from a Japanese college), vocabulary is no problem: she knows
just about any word I can throw at her, *if I spell it out*. If I say
it, I sometimes have to say it several times & she still doesn't
understand.
All in all, though, I don't think you have too much to worry about.
You, like all Japanese of your approximate age, are a product of the
best educational system ever designed by the hand of humankind. If
only the US were willing to spend the vast amount of money for
education that Japan has! (Our journalists & others like to attribute
Japan's educational successes to Confucian ethical concepts in your
society, glibly ignoring the fact that no ethical stance can create
success unless the requisite resources are available). But, in
reference to your questions(s), I think maybe a little more emphasis
on listening comprehension & pronounciation might be all the fine-tuning
Japan's English classrooms need. Then again, the Japanese already know
this, which is why a native English speaker can make lots of money as
a tutor in Japan! :) Tony
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Since the English has become the global lingua franca, most of the
countries I've known are now trying to make thier people able to speak
English, and Japan is included. But the result isn't always what they
wanted it to be. Even though some of the people succeed in mastering
the language, this isn't because the education system is good enough
but they make necessary efforts to do so, or it is at least the case
here in Japan.
There seems to be, however, some countries I know that have succeeded
in establishing a good education system on which people successfully
get to speak English. I can think of Sweden as a good example. As far
as I know, people from Sweden usually speak high level of English, and
even 17-year-old high school exchange students speak it quite fluently
whereas the English level of Japanese students at the same age is
terribly low.
We hear quite often that the language education in Sweden is highly
sophisticated, but how sophisticated? and what is the key to success in
language education? I'd appreciate it if some of you could be of some
help on this matter.
************** Kohei Yoshida <koheiyos@msn.com> **************