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We need to establish new qualifications for Japanese language teachers, ensure Japanese language classes are available in all parts of the country, and that there is cooperation between universities and companies to create and utilize educational programs for foreign students.

16 Comments

A spokesperson for the education ministry which has announced a comprehensive plan to improve Japanese language education for foreign children, following the launch of a new system for accepting foreign workers in April.

© Yomiuri Shimbun

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Two people mention famed linguist Krashen, but both get his name wrong, and one of them writes a whole article about the teaching of English in Japan despite the statement being about the teaching of Japanese to foreign children living in Japan who will, presumably, be going through the Japanese school system (though he gets back on topic at the end).

Anyway, I guess what is needed is more teachers who can teach Nihongo rather than Kokugo, that is, teachers with experience teaching Japanese as a second language, particularly in areas that have, or will have, higher than average foreigner populations.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Dr. Kreshen's natural approach is the only way to go. Japanese language teachers are horrible in teaching.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Dr. Krashen's natural approach is the only way to go.

It certainly is something that should be considered more carefully than it is.

I teach many would-be middle- and high-school teachers, but not in SLA (第二言語習得論) content classes directly. Rather, my contact with such students is in their graduation thesis preparation classes. They know about Krashen quite well and have to to pass the teacher's licence.

However in my years of discussions with students, I've witnessed a number of worrying phenomenon. Briefly:

--all of them have interpreted i+1 in terms of grammar acquisition to the exclusion of all other forms of acquistion

--no one (to date) has demonstrated any understanding of the acquisition/learning difference

--although they can spout the elements of the Natural Order hypothesis, they simultaneously espouse the value of multiple-choice grammar questions that target, for example, the third-person singular 's' in the early years of L2 English learning

And many more!

But until they stop learning Krashen as a set of items to be regurgitated in an exam and begin seeing it as an integrated and highly complex system of viewing the learning process, I don't hold out much hope.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Krashen’s outdated (c. 1983) theory of second language acquisition has been critiqued and put to rest mostly by SLA researchers working in the area of cognition (e.g., Schmidt, 1990). In addition, Krashen was attempting to address ESL, not EFL, with ideas he concocted absent research. Mistakenly, he wanted to build a theory of SLA based upon first language acquisition, which language researchers now realize is both inappropriate and simply wrong.

In addition, Krashen never made application to Japanese language learning. As Schmidt and many others, by now, have pointed out, you cannot omit consciousness with regard to language learning. Krashen’s idea of separating acquisition from learning sounded practical and was popular among ESL teachers in the U.S. and Canada (including myself). Yet we do not learn a new language unconsciously—the basis of Krashen’s personal theory.

However, Schmidt’s theoretical model of noticing, awareness, and attention underscored the cognitive deficiency of Krashen’s unproven idea.

For teachers of Japanese, a Japanese model of SLA must be formulated and tested. There are a number of non-English factors that make it a different type of language to learn, most prominently, its three syllabaries.

Interested parties should also read Ann Pakir’s approach to a non-Anglo SLA.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

ensure Japanese language classes are available in all parts of the country

I can not stress enough how important learning the Japanese language is for the whole integration process in addition to employment and respect for Japan's rules, norms and values.

I hope the Japanese government focuses heavily on this aspect so they need to make sure the framework is available for those willing to learn the language and also take measures against those who are not willing to do so.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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