JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

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  DBozzJan. 10, 2012 - 05:28PM JST

  What's wrong will become all too obvious to anyone stepping foot in an English classroom in Japan: English isn't even used. Many of my university teaching friends ask me why their students can't speak English, as if 6 years would be enough. They should step into a classroom and see for themselves.

  Next thing is the way it is taught: it is still taught using the grammar-translation method. Kumiko Torikai, a Rikkyo University professor, seems to think that we are now teaching too much communication. Ms. Torikai, please step into an English classroom in high school or junior high and see for yourself. The same old paragraph is slowly taken apart until you want to rip your eyes out. My junior high students studied English every school day for 3 years. They learned it all in English, step by step. They get to high school and hate it! Not every student, and not every teacher of course. But when so many of my best students come to me saying they now hate English, that says something. They teach advanced grammar to these poor kids like it was a math problem. Cleo and others used the expression that it is taught as a subject not a language. Exactly.

  Another writer got it right when she said it was about input. They receive some good reading material. But then are expected to go over one paragraph, ad nauseum rather than move on to another story. They go into grammar/vocabulary that will be on the college entrance exam. Way too high for them.

  That's my opinion. 1. Use English. 2. Use a graduated approach, not grammar-translation. 3. Lots of input from a variety of sources. 4. As little katakana eigo as possible.

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

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