Globalization and Language Teaching

David Block, Deborah Cameron

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781134546381
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book considers the issues globalization raises for second language learning and teaching. Block and Cameron's collection shows how, in an economy based on services and information, the linguistic skills of workers becomes increasingly important. New technologies make possible new kinds of language teaching, and language becomes an economic commodity with a value in the global marketplace. This has implications for how and why people learn languages, and for which languages they learn.
Drawing together the various strands of the globalization debate, this rich and varied collection of contributions explores issues such as:
*The commodification of language(s) and language skills
*The use of new media and new technologies in language learning and teaching
*The effects of globalization on the language teaching industry
*New forms of power and resistance.

Part I
The global and the local

1 The impact of globalization on language teaching in Japan

Ryuko Kubota

Globalization implies increased local diversity influenced by human contact across cultural boundaries as well as speedy exchange of commodities and information. Japan is no exception to this trend: in 1999, over sixteen million Japanese people travelled out of Japan and close to five million non-Japanese people entered Japan (Ministry of Justice 2000a). The number of non-Japanese residents in Japan is larger than ever before. Reflecting an ethnic boom, a variety of ethnic foods is readily available at restaurants in Japanese cities.

While globalization projects the image of diversity, it also implies cultural homogenization influenced by global standardization of economic activities and a flow of cultural goods from the centre to the periphery. This tendency is related to Americanization, or ‘the diffusion of American values, consumer goods and lifestyles’ (Friedman 1994: 195). Cities in Japan have many American franchise stores and fast-food restaurants. These commodities could also arouse people’s desire to identify themselves with Americans (particularly with whites). This desire is manifested in a statement made by Den Fujita, President and Chief Executive of McDonald’s Japan, in the 1970s. He told reporters, ‘If we eat McDonald’s hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years, we will become taller, our skin will become white, and our hair blonde’ (Love 1986: 426). Furthermore, Americanization has been promoted by the discourse of kokusaika or ‘internationalization’. Fujita stated in the mid-1980s that hamburgers were the ‘international commodity’ and that the Japanese could initiate internationalization by eating hamburgers (McDonald’s Japan 2000). The transformation of skin and hair colours by eating hamburgers sounds quite absurd, but in fact, one can easily find blonde Japanese young men and women in the street at the turn of the century.¹

The other side of globalization is increased nationalism. More and more Japanese flags are displayed in public spaces. A 1998 bestseller, Yoshinori Kobayashi’s comic book, Sensôron (Theory of wars), justified Japanese military aggression in Asia during Japanese imperialism. The paradoxical nature of globalization is indeed recognized by globalization theorists. Appadurai (1990: 295) notes that ‘[t]he central problem of today’s global interactions is the tension between cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization’. Similarly, Friedman (1994: 102) states, ‘Ethnic and cultural fragmentation and modernist homogenization are … two constitutive trends of global reality’.

This chapter conceptualizes the tension of globalization in language learning and teaching in Japan as constituting three corners of a triangle: (1) ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity in the local communities; (2) the prevalence of English; and (3) nationalism endorsed by linguistic and cultural essentialism. These three elements can be conceptualized in different ways. The first and second dimensions tend to threaten national identity and stimulate the third dimension, nationalism, as resistance to Anglicization and diversity. The second and third dimensions represent a form of convergence to a certain norm, while the first dimension represents divergence from the existing norm. These three dimensions also present contradictions. For instance, the increased local diversity, which requires people to affirm pluralism, is not compatible with convergence to the American norm. Also, as discussed later, nationalistic views are sometimes promoted by using a Western mode of communication in the classroom. These contradictions, however, are resolved in a discourse of kokusaika (internationalization), which has become a popular economic, political and cultural slogan and has influenced education reforms since the 1980s. Kokusaika essentially blends Westernization with nationalism, failing to promote cosmopolitan pluralism. In other words, kokusaika tends to promote convergence to predetermined norms rather than divergence towards cultural and linguistic multiplicity.

This chapter will focus on language teaching in Japan and explore the threedimensional tension in relation to the discourse of kokusaika. First presented is demographic data that demonstrate growing ethnic and linguistic diversity in Japan. Then an outline of the discourse of kokusaika and education reforms is provided, followed by a critical examination of teaching English as a foreign language and teaching Japanese to speakers of other languages. Finally, the chapter outlines resistance to and criticisms of Anglicization.

Ethnic and linguistic diversity in Japan

Contrary to the stereotype, Japan is not an ethnically and linguistically homogeneous nation (see Noguchi and Fotos 2001). Whereas the population in Japan has always included ethnic minorities such as Ainu and Okinawans, Japanese imperialism from the late nineteenth century to the end of World War II brought Koreans and Chinese to Japan, many of whom had no choice but to stay after the war. Globalization, particularly since the late 1980s, has attracted a large number of foreign workers and students to Japan. Indeed, the data compiled by the Ministry of Justice (2000b) demonstrate that the increase in registered non-Japanese residents in Japan has been continuous since the 1970s. According to the Ministry of Justice, the total number of registered non-Japanese residents in Japan in 1999 was 1,556,113, or 1.2 per cent of Japan’s total population. This population increased at a rate of 58.1 per cent between 1989 and 1999. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 show these residents’ places of origin. The data indicate that Asians and South Americans constitute the majority of this population with Korean residents constituting the largest group, although a majority of Koreans are permanent residents and linguistically assimilated (cf. Ministry of Justice 2000b).

Table 1.1 Non-Japanese residents’ region of origin in 1999

Table 1.2 Non-Japanese residents by citizenship (country of origin) in 1999

These numbers, of course, represent only a part of diversity in Japan. As mentioned, Ainu and Okinawans have long been ethnic minorities in Japan. Other ethnic minorities, mostly Koreans, who have been naturalized are not included in the data either.

Table 1.3 illustrates the increasing ethnic and linguistic diversity in the nation’s schools. Between 1995 and 1997, the number of non-Japanese students in need of Japanese language support increased by 46.5 per cent. Again, these students are mainly from Asia and South America, as shown in Table 1.4.

As these figures demonstrate, ethnic and linguistic diversity within Japan certainly exists and is growing. Unfortunately, as discussed later, these diversities are not sufficiently reflected in language education.

Table 1.3 Number of non-Japanese students in need of Japanese language support and the number of schools these students attend in 1997

Table 1.4 Number of non-Japanese students in elementary, junior high, and senior high schools in need of Japanese language support in 1997 by native language

The discourse of kokusaika

The discourse of kokusaika (internationalization) became prominent as Japan expanded its economic power in the 1980s. As implied by the term, kokusaika aims to understand people and cultures in the international communities through various social, cultural and educational opportunities. It also aims to transform social and institutional conventions to adapt to the international demands. In the 1990s, the term kokusaika began to be replaced by gurôbarizêshon or ‘globalization’, which implies a borderless society in the age of the global economy and information technology (Nakamura 1999). Nonetheless, terms that include kokusai- (international) are still widely used. Despite its ideal, one notable aspect of kokusaika is its preoccupation with Western nations, particularly the USA, and its promotion of nationalistic values in educational contexts (cf. Kubota 1998a, 1999, in press). Kokysaika also parallels the discourse that regards English as the international language, influencing foreign language education. What political and economic circumstances generated kokusaika?

As Japan’s economic development peaked in the 1980s, trade imbalances between Japan and Western nations prompted criticism of Japan. Japan’s government and large corporations needed to avoid further economic conflict and possible world isolation, while continuing to develop economic strengths through international investment. The strategy adopted in order to contest the Western demand was to seek membership in the Western industrialized community rather than establish its own hegemony in isolation. This accommodation strategy was inevitable given the post-World War II military subordination of Japan to the USA and its allies.

The accommodation, however, does not imply total assimilation to the West. Juxtaposed to joining the Western community is an attempt to maintain Japanese identity and to communicate distinct Japanese perspectives to the rest of the world. This attempt to protect Japan’s identity while investing in the international market is demonstrated in a number of ‘cross-cultural manuals’ for Japanese expatriates and travellers (Yoshino 1992, 1997). These manuals, written in both Japanese and English, feature sociocultural characteristics that are perceived as uniquely Japanese vis-à-vis the West, mirroring and reinforcing nihonjinron – a discourse that celebrates the uniqueness of Japanese culture and people (cf. Dale 1986; Sugimoto 1997).

In sum, kokusaika reflects Japan’s struggle to claim its power in the international community through Westernization (Anglicization in particular) and to affirm Japanese distinct identity rather than local ethnic and linguistic diversity. To put kokusaika in the three-dimensional tension mentioned earlier, it balances a tension between the promotion of English and nationalism. However, kokusaika’s preoccupation with Anglicization and nationalism tends to neglect the domestic diversity which is constituted mainly by Asian and South American residents. Insufficient attention to domestic diversity is reflected in language education policies and practices as discussed below.

Kokusaika and education reform in the 1980s and 1990s

The impact of the discourse of kokusaika was particularly prominent in the education reform in the 1980s prompted by Rinji Kyôiku Shingikai, the Ad Hoc Committee for Education Reform, which compiled four reports on education reform between 1985 and 1987. In short, the committee’s reports promoted the acquisition of the communication mode of the West, especially English, to express and explain unambiguously Japanese points of view in the world while maintaining Japanese identity (Morita 1988; also see Kubota 1998a, 1999, in press). This trend has continued throughout the 1990s and into the present.

The education reforms influenced by kokusaika have envisioned the development of self-expression fostered through learning English for communicative purposes as well as focusing on the ‘expressive’ rather than ‘receptive’ mode in learning Japanese as L1. Also regarded as important is logical thinking, which is supposedly necessary in international communication. In learning Japanese as L1, logical thinking in speaking and writing is to be developed by learning the logical organization of paragraphs and arguments, as specified in the Course of Study, the national curriculum guidelines. In teaching English, logical thinking is to be developed through writing and cross-cultural understanding. Wada (1999) shows the diagram presented by Kaplan (1966) and states that English demonstrates a linear logic whereas Japanese has a circular logic and that Japanese students need to learn to think according to the English logic, despite recent criticisms of this view (e.g. Kubota 1997, 1998b; Pennycook 1998). Teaching English also affects the development of logical thinking in Japanese as seen in a suggestion that the principles of English writing be applied to Japanese L1 writing (Watanabe 1995). Furthermore, self-expression and logical thinking are combined into a pedagogical approach using ‘debate’, adopted from Western education, in various academic subjects.

Unambiguous self-expression and logical thinking, however, have not been emphasized at the cost of Japanese identity. The education reform promoted the acquisition of an English-based communication mode for the purpose of conveying Japan’s unique traditions and way of life to other people in the world. Thus, juxtaposed to the focus on self-expression and logical thinking is an emphasis on nationalistic values. The education reform stressed fostering love of nation and awareness of Japanese identity in the international community. The 1989 Course of Study mandated the use of the national flag and anthem in school ceremonies, despite oppositions to these nationalistic icons symbolizing Japanese imperialism.

The education reform in the 1990s followed a similar path. The most recently revised Course of Study (Ministry of Education 1998) continues to emphasize expressing one’s opinion logically in Japanese. Also emphasized is teaching and learning a foreign language, especially English. For the first time in the post-World War II curriculum, foreign language became an officially required subject in junior high and senior high schools. For junior high school, the Course of Study specifies English as the foreign language to be taught. Furthermore, the new Course of Study offers an option for offering foreign language (i.e. English) conversation in the elementary school, as discussed in the next section. Nationalism was intensified in the 1990s as seen in the establishment of the legal status of the national flag and anthem.

Nationalism is also seen in a reform movement in history education. Some scholars and critics formed a group called the Japanese Society of History Textbook Reform to advocate a ‘liberal’ view of Japanese history that legitimates Japanese military domination of Asia and the Pacific in the past (Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform 1998). However, a paradox of nationalism in globalization is demonstrated in their promotion of ‘debate’, a Western communication mode, to instil nationalistic viewpoints (see Kubota in press).

The above overview indicates that kokusaika has played the role of resolving the tension between Westernization and nationalism in education reform. However, the third corner of the triangle – increased domestic diversity – was not a major impetus in education reform. Although concepts of multicultural education were introduced to Japanese educational research in the mid-1980s (Fujiwara 1995), the push for self-expression, logical thinking, and learning English does not stem from the need to interact with an ethnically diverse population in Japan and the rest of the world. The following sections will further examine recent trends in foreign language education in Japan.

Foreign language education in Japanese schools

The discourse of kokusaika has emphasized teaching and learning a foreign language, particularly English, with a vision of fostering the ability to unambiguously and logically express oneself in the imagined international community. In this community, it is assumed that communication takes place mainly with people from the economic and military powers of the West, particularly the USA. Consequently, English, typically regarded as the international language,² has become the focus of teaching and learning. Kokusaika has produced the following premises in foreign language education: (1) ‘foreign language’ is ‘English’; (2) the model for ‘English’ should be standard North American or British varieties; (3) learning English leads to ‘international/intercultural understanding’; and (4) national identity is fostered through learning English. These premises demonstrate convergence towards English, so-called standard English, and Anglophone cultures as well as maintenance of national identity, while failing to promote linguistic and cultural pluralism.

‘Foreign language’ is ‘English’

Influenced by kokusaika, the Internet, and the discourse of English as the international language, ‘English’ has become synonymous with ‘the foreign language’ (Oishi 1990). Although there has been an increased attention to teaching languages other than English, the emphasis on teaching English has been intensified. The emphasis on English is observed in: (1) foreign language offerings in high schools; (2) the new initiative at the elementary school; and (3) the number of Assistant Language Teachers.

First, the Course of Study, except for the most recent junior high schools version, does not specify which ‘foreign language’ should be taught. However, English is de facto the only option in many secondary schools, although the number of high schools that offer languages other than English has increased significantly recently as shown in Table 1.5 (Ministry of Education 1999a; Shimizu 1999). Given that the total high school enrolment in 1999 was 4,211,826 (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 2001), high school students learning languages other than English account for less than 1 per cent of the enrolment. It will be interesting to see if local and global linguistic diversity will be more reflected in the future foreign language curriculum. A promising development is the plan to add Korean to the currently offered tests in English, French, German and Chinese in the national entrance examinations for universities (Asahi Shinbun, 24 September 2000).

Table 1.5 Number of senior high schools that offered languages other than English in 1999 (numbers in parentheses show the 1995 data)

Second, the equation of ‘foreign language’ with ‘English’ is clearly observed in the discussions of teaching a foreign language in the new elementary school curriculum to be put into effect in 2002. The Course of Study lists ‘foreign language conversation’ merely as an option for teaching ‘international understanding (kokusai rikai)’, which is itself one of the options for a newly created curricular area called ‘comprehensive study’. Nowhere in the curriculum is there a mention of teaching ‘English conversation’. However, ‘foreign language’ is usually interpreted as ‘English’ as seen in a teachers’ guide for teaching ‘English’ conversation prepared by the Ministry of Education. The public also interprets this development as introducing English, rather than a foreign language, into the elementary school (cf. Higuchi 1997).

Third, in 1987, the Japanese government initiated the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program and recruited young people from abroad to assist foreign language teachers in public schools. During the first year, all of the 848 Assistant English Teachers (AETs) were from the USA, UK, Australia or New Zealand. The title AET was later changed to ALT (Assistant Language Teachers) in order to lower the ‘English fellow’ status (McConnell 2000). However, about 98 per cent of the 5,096 ALTs in 1998 were still English teachers (Shimizu 1999).

The equation between ‘foreign language’ and ‘English’ is influenced by the conception that English is the international language ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Tables
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I The Global and the Local
• Part II Zones of Contact
• Part III Methods and Materials
• Bibliography