What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?

Monday 09th February, 04:00 AM JST

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Zenpun at 08:17 PM JST - 14th February

Learning should have to be fun. Graphical display is more effective than using texts or lectures. English should be learn with Karaoke with the rock band. If the student can sing and memorise three songs a day, he or she is making the good progress.
cleo at 09:03 PM JST - 14th February

helloklitty -

I don't mark off for spelling mistakes. Because I teach "Oral" I imagine their written words on the paper as being spoken to me. If I can understand what they are trying to say, they get it marked "correct".

That's fine and probably helps your students be less afraid of making mistakes in class, and that of course is a very good thing. But when they sit an 'official' exam, such as a university entrance exam, all those uncorrected spellings are going to drag their marks way down.
okitokidoki at 09:49 PM JST - 14th February

@ the sicilian: you are absolutely right. An additional problem is that in elementary school Katakana transliteration from Japanese is taught according to the KunRei system. KunRei, required by the Monbusho, originated before WW2 to allow telegraph transmission of phonetic Japanese (in romaji, as there was no morse code for kana or kanji in international use). It is not designed for accurate representation of foreign sounds, or even for convenient and accurate representation of Japanese pronunciation for (Non-Japanese speaking-)foreigners.

Kunrei for example uses the following transcription for さ-し-す-せ-そ sa-si-su-se-so. Nice and consistent, easy to remember and obvious for Japanese speakers, who don't have the sound represented in English by the SI in sip, and it saves Yen at the telegraph office by skipping the h. Hepburn (mod)of course indicates the difference between shi and (the in Japanese non-existent phoneme)si: sa-shi-su-se-so As a result, a student (unfortunately) called "Shitsuko" will write her name in romaji as Sitsuko, and will pronounce the english word "Sit" as Sh.. well you get the picture. Elementary school teachers don't seem interested in making any waves over this... The key point is that learning any foreign language for a Japanese(Japanese being a language with fewer phonemes than most other languages), simply means one has to learn to make sounds that don't exist in the native language. This is essentially a type of combined cognitive and neuro-motor-skills type learning, and is best/easiest acquired at an early age. Which is why it would be much better to start teaching some proper pronunciation, rather than Japlish/WaseiEigo, at an early age.

Perhaps another reader would like to address the problems of most native Japanese English teachers being essentially incompetent to reproduce native English, while agitating politically against any initiative to hire English-speaking foreigners for a decent living wage and with proper insurance, job security or pension rights for any length of time (especially over three years). Hope I did not reveal any resentments there... M
helloklitty at 07:38 AM JST - 15th February

But when they sit an 'official' exam, such as a university entrance exam, all those uncorrected spellings are going to drag their marks way down.

I'm confident that none of my students will ever "take" an entrance exam.

I give them plenty of opportunities to learn spelling through crosswords, word searches and Hang 'em High hangman.

It's because I'm teaching "Oral" that I don't correct spelling mistakes.

I suppose I could use multiple choice and avoid the issue, but multiple choice is for retards.
helloklitty at 07:46 AM JST - 15th February

Teaching Katakana as the way to pronounce anything non Japanese. Try learning the language as its used.

What about using katakana to learn the pronunciation of foreign cities? It is often easier than looking at the English word.
helloklitty at 08:34 AM JST - 15th February

Graphical display is more effective than using texts or lectures.

This sounds interesting.

I saw a "Mighty Maze" on the website English Avenue. It was similar to a word web, but instead of endless brainstorming, it was more of a word choice drill resulting in a sentence.

Do you have other examples?
lordomni at 10:05 AM JST - 15th February

English as taught in Japan isn't English. Its a different hybrid language. The use of Katakana gurantees students will not be able to correctly pronounce the actual words. This practice needs to be abolished from ALL language teaching in Japan. Its just more tragic with English because of how much time the school systems put into it, then fail to actually teach the language they want to.

The other problem is that Japan is very reliant on old methods of language teaching. Teaching by translation instead of teaching by use. A language class should be 50% or more speaking and group work to practice. Many of the students I have actually posses excellent grammar knowledge, but are completely unable to use it. Those are likely the two biggest problems with Japanese language education.

Someone earlier mentioned the US and its language programs. However I'd say that in the time US students spend learning a language, often only two years, they are miles ahead of Japanese students who have been taught English for the better part of a decade. Japan invests a lot more time, but has far less success. Europe isn't a fair comparison because they have much more exposure to other languages and probably more opportunity to practice.
cleo at 12:06 PM JST - 15th February

helloklitty -

none of my students will ever "take" an entrance exam.

If you're not teaching to the senior high/university entrance curriculum, then both you and your students are very lucky. Most teachers and their students don't have that luxury.
the_sicilian at 03:36 PM JST - 15th February

HelloKitty:

What about using katakana to learn the pronunciation of foreign cities? It is often easier than looking at the English word.

Well, the issue is getting the correct sounds. Now before you say that there are English sounds that are not native, let me tell you about learning a different language. German.

When I learned German, there were plenty of sounds that were not native. Like the city Munich. Phonetically, you say Meun-chen, with the eu sound getting emphasis, as it is spelled with an umlau (the two dots over the u vowel). In Japanese, they will use Katakana and say Mu-hen. That is not correct. It's a bastardized way of teaching.

You want to learn English, hire a Brit. American English? Hire an American. German? Deutch (not Doi-tsu, as the Japanese pronounce it). If my dumb@$$ can learn alittle German, then Japanese could at least learn how to pronounce things correctly.

Okitokidoki

Perhaps another reader would like to address the problems of most native Japanese English teachers being essentially incompetent to reproduce native English

Like the TV commercial I see here in Okinawa. There's a young woman, obviously the teacher. She is singing to her kids in "Engrish" for the class called ABC Junior, but what does she say?

A B Shi Ju-ni-ah.......

Ruv-ry.

Ciao
rafraf128 at 06:48 PM JST - 15th February

a aw! there they go ( the japanese way in teaching english). When english terms are written in katakana, the pronunciation change ( a hundred percent), like when they say ra-bu (love),wotah- ( water ) mande-(monday),they sound funny ,as if they haven't gone to primary schools ( what a pity!)
globleone at 06:59 PM JST - 15th February

they are not hard enough?
helloklitty at 12:10 AM JST - 16th February

.

What about using katakana to learn the pronunciation of foreign cities? It is often easier than looking at the English word. Well, the issue is getting the correct sounds.

And Japanese is OFTEN more correct than English. Often doesn't mean every time.

Like the TV commercial I see here in Okinawa. There's a young woman, obviously the teacher. She is singing to her kids in "Engrish" for the class called ABC Junior, but what does she say? A B Shi Ju-ni-ah.......

You can find "Phonics" books with the word "phonics" written in katakana. フォニックス　or something. I find it amusing that they can't even say/write the word "phonics" correctly.
LoveUSA at 10:24 AM JST - 16th February

Nothing is wrong with the English education in Japan. The Japanese people just do not study. The few I have met speaking excellent English have studied really hard.
boitoi at 12:40 PM JST - 23rd February

japan should start hiring real english teachers with degree and experience and not just pick a touring gaijin that barely speaks japanese.
amerijap at 10:00 AM JST - 25th February

japan should start hiring real english teachers with degree and experience and not just pick a touring gaijin that barely speaks japanese.

Actually, there are increasing numbers of native speakers of English who are hired as English teachers at public schools or language schools in Japan. Native speakers teaching at JP public schools as ALT are well-qualified folks; they hold the BAs in 4-year colleges and universities in western countries; some of them even hold advance degrees(MA/MS) in social sciences or humanities. Even so, many JP students in public schools still have a lot of difficulty in improving their English, because ALTs are hired by JP schools as a contract employee, not as a tenured or permanent teacher. With JET program, they can teach at JP public schools no longer than 3 years. They have to renew their teaching contract annually, if they want to continue teaching in Japan. Also, they don't have enough opportunities to spend time with students for social interactions outside the classroom. The schools need to think seriously about their role that seems to be limited to teaching English to students in the classroom.

Nothing is wrong with the English education in Japan.

You mean English language education in JP public schools? Well, I wouldn't say it 'wrong,' but I would contend that JP has a very serious problem with her education policy in public school, due to cookie-cutter approach(rote-memorization) and lack of understanding in fundamental linguistic difference between Japanese and English. Many JP teachers who are teaching English at JP public schools are not only ignorant of the linguistic difference, but they are less enthusiastic about honing their sense of awareness in the discourse power generated from English language. That's why the students cannot learn English with enthusiasm; they end up cramming words and phrases picked up from(JP-Eng./Eng.-JP dictionary, a very notoriously UNPRODUCTIVE method most JP people rely on!) that are never used for communication. Typically, Japanese people start learning 'real' English at the age of late-teen or early twenties- mostly at college age. But, most of them get worn out after studying several years, because of life constraints they will have in juggling work and study simultaneously.