Jim Smiley and Michiyo Masui

Materials in Japan: Coexisting Traditions

ELT materials in Japan are available through three sources:

those written overseas for global markets and distributed by international publishing houses;

those written by native speakers of English (NS) working in Japan, whose texts are published for the global, Pan-Asian or Japanese markets;

those written for indigenous publishing houses.

Introduction

Table 14.1: NNS and NS Role by Market Category

NNS NS

Educationlevel taught

Role and type of ELT Role and type of ELT

Primary:institutional

Basic introduction, simplestructures and lexis, focuson basic communicationstrategies, 'English for fun'

Supporting role to NNSsyllabus, focus on basiccommunication strategies

Primary:private

Preparation for middleschool, middle schoolpurposes

Basic introduction, simplestructures and lexis, focuson basic communicationstrategies, 'English for fun'

Secondary:institutional(to includemiddle andhigh schools)

Grammar and lexis based,locus on advanced readingthrough translation

Supporting role toNNS syllabus, focus onbasic communicationstrategies, prescribed oralcommunication texts'educational aims

NNS NS

Cram school Grammar and lexis based,locus on test preparation

Virtually N/A, but someoffer minimal eikaiwa classes

Tertiary: university An eclectic mix of primary and secondary methods weighted towards secondary methods

An eclectic mix of primarvand secondary methodsweighted towards primaryand eikaiwa methods

Tertiary:eikaiwa

Support role for NS,provide Japanese languagesupport for lower-levelbusiness classes usingsecondary methods

Various types: 'OnlyEnglish' rule dominant,'communicativemethodology' dominant

Private tutor(all ages)

Primarily primary methods

Primarily eikaiwa methods

Japanese-produced textbooks are quantifiably different from those produced by NS for the wider Asian or global market - even though they might be written by NS. A survey of materials in use in Japan must, therefore, account for both types separately.

Materials in Use

The context in which ELT materials are used must be understood within their socio-politically governed educational agenda. What this means is that the categories of NS-produced (NSP) and locally produced (I.P) create textbooks that require different handling in order to avoid culturally insensitive treatment of their underlying principles.

Materials in Use

A non-parametric test that compares the mean values of two samples. The Mann-Whitney test can be used to evaluate two different data populations, such as performance results from two separate production lines, or customer survey responses taken before and after a process improvement has been implemented.

Definition of Mann-Whitney Test

The Mann-Whitney test is useful for making inferences about the difference between two population medians where the sample sizes are small and do not have enough data to produce a standard bell-curve. If the final output figure is less than 0.05, we may assume that the two samples under question represent two different wider populations. In other words, they are different.

Mann-Whitney Test

Mann-Whitney test on NFS and LP medians

Table 14.2: NFS and LP Average Number of Activities per Unit

N Median

NFS textbook activity numbers

14 15.50

LP textbook activity numbers

14 11.00

The test is significant at 0.0253 (adjusted for ties)

At 0.0253, textbook activity totals in LP texts are significantly lower than those in NSP textbooks. This discrepancy may be based in the expectation Japanese students and teachers have that once a textbook is selected for a course, every activity in the unit is completed (Shearon 2007), whereas activity selection is the norm for teachers using NSP texts.

A common conception of LP textbooks is that they focus on grammar-translation activities. Chosen because pair-work is seen as a fundamental element of communicative language teaching (cf. Harmer 1982; Kumaravadivelu 1993; Nunan 1987) the ratio of discussions to activity numbers was checked. As the total number of activities in NSP texts is far higher than LP texts, the figure taken for measurement was the pair-work: total ratio per unit. (See Table 14.3.)

N Mean Min Median Max

NSP 14 0.3149 0.1053 0.3095 0.5000

LP 14 0.2033 0.0000 0.1667 0.4375

Table 14.3: Comparison of Pair-work Activity Numbers in NSP and LP Textbooks

NSP and LP pair-work activities to total

The means for LP are lower, and the minimum is zero. No listening or speaking NSP textbook contains a unit that does not have some kind of pair activity, whereas some LP books do.

Source DF SS MS F P

LP ratio 9 0.1460 0.0162 0.85 0.615

Error 4 0.0760 0.0190

Total 13 0.2219

Table 14.4: Comparison of the Number of Pair-work Activities in Each Textbook Type as Expressed as a Ratio

One-way ANOVA: Medians of number of pair-work activities in LP againstNSP textbooks

The resulting p-value is 0.615, which provides evidence that the number of pair-work activities in LP textbooks is not significantly lower as expressed as a ratio of the total number of activities in units. However, the real number is lower, and a teacher who wishes to focus on pair-work will find more opportunities in NSP textbooks.

There are a few other differences between LP and NSP conversation textbooks;

LP texts assume a far higher level of prior ability than NSP texts. The target vocabulary of combined Middle School and High School English programmes tallies tip to around 1,700 headwords, which are indicated by dictionary publishers who mark these words with a system of stars or in coloured typefaces. Textbooks for university students assume familiarity with these.

Typical language in NSP textbooks is innocuous. It displays no instances of usage that seem out of place or jar due to any perceived style or era mismatch. When Richards and Sandy's Passages (1998) demonstrates target language by saying that:

1. 'Most people in my country live at home until they get married. I'm 26, single, and live with my parents, so in that sense I'm average‘

and the related reply:

2. 'I don't think I'm average because my ideas are less conservative than everyone else's' (Unit 5: 38)

Textbook-ese

The sentences are accurate if viewed through the lens of writing grammaticalness. A characteristic of this 'textbook-ese' language is its plausibility in a vague sense, yet there are three aspects of spoken discourse that would indicate implausibility.

1- Spoken language is characterized by interlocutor interaction.

2- An aspect of language presentation that undermines learners' exposure (and therefore their construction of their L2 representation) to essential features of extended discourse.

3- The language is innocuous, but it is slightly unreal.

Nunan's Expressions (2001: 8), which was piloted mainly in Asia, begins by inviting learners to have the following conversation:

Ron: Are you Pat?Mary: No, I'm not. I'm Mary.Ron: Nice to meet you, Mary. I'm Ron.

Nunan's dialogue teaches learners the validity of omitting adverbial mood indicators and a questionable conversational pattern. Furthermore, Nunan provides no indication of the introduction's tenor.

Materials for LP conversation practice are typically co-authored by one or more NSs and at least one Japanese. Conversation texts tend to have the same kinds of non authentic textual features as NSP texts, i.e. they are grammatical, usually presented in full sentences, lack back-channelling and other interlocutor feedback and tend to show longer exchanges. In Akagi el «/.'s Basic English Communication forInternational Understanding(2002), the individual turns in dialogues in the latter half of the 22-unit textbook get progressively longer.

A closer look at the lexico-grammatical make up of the turns reveals patterns of discourse that are unlikely in realistic conversation. Take for example, page 44:

Takuya: f Spring is especially beautiful because of the cherry blossoms. 2 They start to bloom from the end of March to around mid April. 3 Autumn is also a good time. 4 It is cool 5 and the color of the autumn leaves such as the Japanese maple is wonderful.

The topic field is weather in Japan in a general sense, but there is an abrupt topic switch from spring to autumn in the middle. Organizing topics by temporality is a teaching point found in many writing textbooks, but is not a common feature of organizing textbooks that teach conversation.There is a semantic relationship between the months in 2 and the seasonal lexis in 3, which is sufficient to ensure a smooth transition in written material. However, in conversation, a number of devices may be placed between 2 and 3 before the new topic is established. The lack of conversational phrases such as 'you know', false starts and hesitations, repetitions and its sheer length makes this passage less conversationally authentic.

Alison's Reports on japan (Sawazaki and Shibayama 2005) ptirports to inform the reader about her experiences as an exchange student from the USA in Japan. Replete with True/False comprehension tasks, grammar questions, sentence matchings, short writing activities and fuller ones, this textbook follows the format of many reading skill books. The main texts are constructed carefully, keeping sentence lengths, grammar structures and lexis tightly controlled throughout, and there is not an obvious difference between each unit in those terms. However, the ratio of declarative sentence forms is high.

(Unit 1 p.10)'1 Japanese people love cherry blossoms. 2 The flowers are only in bloom for a few days in spring, 3 but this flower controls the schedule of the whole country!‘If the text were truly to be an authentic interaction between writer and perceived audience, we would suggest the following:

from1- Japanese people love cherry blossoms

Senser mental process complimentTheme Rheme

to1- I know how much Japanese people love cherry blossoms

Senser mental process manner phenomenon: mental

Theme Rheme

Textbook-ese' may be better defined as 'English without a context'. The language which learners are exposed to through reading materials is genre and register free; its tone and lexis used are presumed neutral; anyone from any age could use it. The downside to this is that learners never get exposed to other styles of texts, and with that, otherways in which meaning is created through the printed page. More subtly, particular relationships of lexico grammar to situation are avoided, leaving what is arguably an 'authenticity' gap in Japanese students‘ English knowledge. This feature applies far more to LP than to NSP textbooks.

NSP LP

Grammatical + + + +

Sociolinguistic + X

Strategic + X

Discourse X X

Table 14.5: Areas of Competencies Supported by Text Types

+ + = yes, + = questionably, X = no

The emphasis for NS teachers is Firmly on communication skills, which usually means speaking. The result is a 'general dumbing-down of English education' (Rebuck 2006).One area in which NSP textbooks do excel is in their international content. Butler's study of primary school teachers' goals for English shows that in both 'to stimulate interest in English-speaking cultures' and 'to stimulate interest in world affairs', Japan's perceived needs were higher than those for Korea and Taiwan (Butler 2004). Learners' interest is supported by having Asian protagonists in textbooks, the underlying acculturations' assumption that learners will relate positively to the characters and attempt to mimic their use of language.

How the Materials Are Typically Used

NSP conversation textbooks' language begins at a lower level than LP ones, featuring shorter sentence lengths, lexis that is deemed easy or supplied with graphic glosses and unchallenging themes. A typical example is seen in Synergy 1 (Tennant el al. 2006) which was piloted in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In Unit 6, learners are required to utter 38 clauses whose length ranges between 3 and 15 words.

'Hamburger English': a Critical View of NSP Materials

Phrases

Mean

Minimum

1stquartile

Median

3rdquartile

Maximum

Range

Synergy,Unit6

38 6.105

3 4 5 7 15 12

Table 14.6: Bite-sized English: Synergy, Unit 6

Clause length by word count

The median word length is 5 and the 3rd quartile is 7. This means that 75 percent of clauses are 7 words and under, and the majority of clauses are around the five-word length. Other units from this textbook and other textbooks have similar output expectations from learners.

Moteki is critical of what he sees as a continuing trend in English education in Japan, labelling this type of content, 'superficial, conversation-oriented "hamburger English'" (Rebuck 2006). This view, however, does not reflect the official governmental policy. Their plan to cultivate 'Japanese with English abilities' focuses primarily on conversational abilities. Classroom teachers in primary schools place a far greater emphasis on learners' ability to produce greetings and expressions and to understand greetings than do Taiwanese and Korean teachers (Butler 2004). Even at the university level, many students cannot produce a simple greeting, and this bias is found in the textbooks chosen by NS teachers.

Japanese teachers of English (JTE) who tend to use NSP textbooks often have had overseas experience (e.g. study at the Masters level) and, consequently, higher communicative competence in English. This higher ability permits more freedom in the language classroom than purely-Japan trained educators. This higher ability permits more freedom in the language classroom than purely-Japan trained educators.

JTEs often parrot from a textbook from beginning to end, giving explanations in LI. Such teacher activities fit better with LP textbooks as they tend to be shorter and contain fewer activities.

The textbook holds the paramount place in the language classroom.

It is the main focus of language education and is expected to provide a path that enables learners to become competent English users.

Learner to textbook or teacher to class are the dominant models of instruction.

Japanese learners typically follow textbooks according to their teacher's instructions for both NSP and LP textbooks.

LP textbooks rarely offer any opportunities for learner development, strategy training or even recycling of structure or lexis.

LP textbooks rarely offer chances for learners to reflect on their own development.

NSP textbooks often attempt to recycle language, build upon previous exchanges and ask learners to consider how they learn, yet how they are used is a teacher matter.

An accurate assessment of educational materials must include a description not only of their immediate pedagogical goals but also of the societal setting in which they appear.

The population of 127 million is amply served by the available English resources: no one is crying out for better and more language experts on the basis of need. Demands for change come from the West and from those Japanese who feel that six years of their lives have been wasted. These points have to be taken into consideration when arguing for change through the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses in materials.

Writer’s Evaluation of Materials

Ellis's framework of views on second language acquisition (1994) has two broad categories:

Cognitive views where language learning is seen, as the build up of skills in a similar way to any other learning, and mentalist views that focus on the separate 'black box' language module in the brain.

NSP texts available in Japan display characteristics of both cognitive and mentalist approaches. The sheer range of colours, photographs and graphics, typeface sizes, fonts and other design and physical aspects (e.g. Background page colour, paper thickness) make NSP textbooks visually very entertaining. It is presumed that t h i s entertainment is translated into learner engagement, for visual learners, at least.

LP textbooks, on the other hand, would Tail' the latter checklist tests. There has been little movement away from a cognitive view. Educational objectives are virtually always what would seem traditional to many now. Vocabulary memorization, grammar structure completion, translation, listening for gist and so on are the mainstay of most LP textbooks.

English is a compulsory subject for most university students in Japan irrespective of what they major in. Those less capable learners at tertiary level have often had unsuccessful experiences in learning English in the past and have difficulty in finding a way of dealing with situations on their own and need help. In reality, however, it is difficult to conduct a class, simultaneously giving generous assistance to those learners. At least, it would be helpful if a textbook showed students what to do or gave students advice when learners had difficulty in understanding a particular activity.

Writer’s Suggestions for Improvements

Most LP textbooks contain unambiguous follow-up activities to main reading and listening passages and target dialogues. These often come in the form of True/False' questions, fill in the missing word listening tasks, vocabulary matching tasks and correct the sentence word order activities. This would create a work that combines the excellence of NSP textbooks with the usability of LP ones (as seen by JTEs).

A final item on our wish-list is for pre- and post-tests for NSP textbooks. Many teachers pre-test with a standardized test such as the TOEIC or STEP and end their course with a similar test. Score increases of only a few points may demotivate learners, and norm-referenced testing runs the risk of reducing the value of course-internal properties that depart from the course-end test.