Part Two
Language Education

Contents

Opening Remarks
Here we will begin looking at the profession of teaching language. Specifically, we will concentrate on teaching English to non-native speakers. There are many names for specific areas of language teaching and I have tried to at least introduce most of the important ones. The term English as a Foreign Language (EFL) applies to situations like Japan were English is not taught as a national language. English as a Second Language (ESL) is used for situations were English plays a much more important role in the lives of most citizens. Except were noted, the terms EFL and ESL will be used to mean basically the same thing.

As mentioned earlier, the debate over the best way to teach English is not about to abate. I have attempted to give the reader a relative overview of the different phases that teaching language and specifically Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) has gone through. I have tried also to point out information that teachers in Japan may utilize in structuring their own teaching styles.

Trends in Language Education

1. Traditional Emphasis
Most of the research into language acquisition has been concerned with how we learn our first language and it is only recently that second language acquisition has come into its own. Traditional belief held that humans, as animals, could be trained to do anything. This is the idea of conditioning and was extended to include second language learning 1. There is believed to be a three-stage procedure that can be used to train animals to do most anything. The three stages are stimulus, outside sensory motivation, response, some reaction to the stimulus, and reinforcement, some positive or negative feed reward or punish the response.

Another term that is used for this idea is behaviourism, and some psychologist and educators believed that language fit into this scheme as a form of behaviour and could thus be taught or trained the same way. This audio-lingugual method, caught on in America at one time and is still used in some parts of the world. Actually, the method for teaching language in Japan can certainly be recognized as having behaviourism as a pillar2.

2. Historical Developments
Noam Chomsky, the famous linguist, and others reacted against this method and their argument can best be elucidated by asking, how is it that young children can say things that they have never heard before? In fact, how can we continue to say things we have never heard before if language is a form of conditioning.

Chomsky coined the term cognitivism which refers to a group of psychological theories that look at language as an intricate rule-based system which must be be learned. The belief is that their are a finite number of grammatical rules and based on these, an infinite number of sentences can be created. This theory goes a little futher in explaining how children, and adults for that matter, can continue to create new or original sentences.

Although there are no methodologies that limit themselves to cognitivist theories, many language teaching techniques and methodologies have been developed around the idea that we must first teach a rule and can then expect students to utilize it for creative output.

The next step in the progress of language teaching was to make a distinction between acquisition and learning. Basically, there were theorist who believed we should learn a second language like we learn our first language3. When we are children we hear and experience a great deal of language in situations where we are involved in communicating with adults, usually our parents. The theory suggests that the ability to use our native language strengthens as a result of many subconcious processes and the same should hold true for other languages as well. Why then is foreign language usually taught in isolated chunks?

Lately, there has been some consensus on the point that language is more effectively acquired as a result of some communicative experience than by rote memorization. In other words, language learning will take care of itself if the students are actively involved in solving communicative problems in the target language 4. What we are concerned with here is called Task-based Learning.

Another teaching methodology that has gained some interest is the humanistic approach which stresses the importance of focusing on the student's growth as a person as being integral to language development. Teachers develop lesson plans that make students feel good about themselves while learning the target language.

Other trends will be discussed in section four, but it may be useful here to introduce some of the vocabulary used in our science.

3. Terminology
This may be one of the more confusing parts of language education since many of the words used in our science are vague or have overlapping meanings or are used differently by different teachers, educators etc. Also, some of the vocabulary is used differently than we use it in daily language and may have a special meaning when used in our field.

I have included some of the more esoteric terms as well as very common and seemingly straight forward terms as well. This was done with the goal of giving an overall look at different areas of our science and to deepen our understanding of the meaning and how the different terms apply to teaching and the classroom. The following explanation both clarifies the important difference between the terms theory, method and technique and begins to show the precision necessary in our science5.

An approach to language is something that reflects a certain model or research paradigm--a theory, if you like. This term is the broadest of the three. A method, on the other hand, is a set of procedures, i.e., a system that spells out rather precisely how to teach a language. Methods are more specific than approaches but less specific than techniques. Methods are typically compatible with one (or sometimes two) approaches. A technique is a classroom device or activity and thus represents the narrowest term of the three concepts.

List of Terms
Accuracy The ability to produce grammatically correct utterances.

Acquistion The process by which a person "picks up" a language, rather than learning through "study." This term is mentioned earlier in this chapter.

Authentic Used to describe lessons or activities based on natural occurances of the language. Some examples of authentic material are those which use actual newspapers, magazines, radio or television programs, etc.

Backchaining A teaching technique in which students learn a word, phrase, or sentence by repeating the last part, then the last two parts, etc. until the whole utterance is repeated.

CALL computer assisted language learning

Chain Drills These drills are used to work on a variety of specific grammer points or structures and work something like this. The first person in the group or class says a sentence, "My name is Bill and I would like to travel around the world," The second person says, "His name is Bill and he wants to travel around the world. My name is Carol and I want to meet Harrison Ford." The third person repeats both Bill and Carol's hopes and adds their own. This continues until everyone has had a chance to add their own sentence in the first person and practice the third person sentence of the other students before him. As you can see, this practice focuses on the plural form of the verb when using the third person, but the focus could just as easily be shifted to another grammer point.

Choral Repetition This term probably doesn't need that much explanation. I included it because Japanese students are quite familiar with this form of drill in which the students repeat words or phrases in unison after the teacher.

Communicative Used to describe activities where students interact in the target language to share information, elicit opinions, etc.

Context The language setting in which a word is found. The context often helps elucidate the meaning of a word or phrase.

Controlled Practice This refers to practice where the teacher guides or limits the students' conversations by providing questions, pictures or other stimulus for the students to follow.

Discovery Activities These are activities in which the teacher introduces some activitity and the students find out for themself what the grammar focus is6.

ESP English for Specific Purposes refers to one branch of ESL/EFL where the students have a concrete aim such as occupational and includes English used in the fields of medicine, technology, tourism, etc.

Finely Tuned refers to the concious effort on the part of teachers to use materials or activities that are exactly at their students' level. This term is used in contrast to Roughly Tuned.

Information Gap Activities where information is known by only one or some of those present. Students use their language skills to bridge the gap by asking questions, giving information, etc. Often used for pairwork where students have two similar outlines with differing details.

Language Pedagogy This is the teaching, profession or science of language.

Lingua Franca A language used to communicate between persons who speak different languages.

Method A detailed set of procedures that trace how to teach a language.

Personalization and Localization This term refers to the practice of bringing a discussion or lesson around to focus on the students' lives and surroundings in order to help them understand it at a more personal level or make it more real or interesting to them.

PsycholinguisticsThe study of the mental faculties involved in the perception, production, and acquisition of language.

Roughly Tuned refers to the strategy of adjusting input to be at a higher level than the student is capable of using, but at a level that they are capable of understanding. In contrast to Finely Tuned language.

Task-Oriented Teaching A method which provides "actual meaning" by focusing on tasks to be mediated through language, and where success or failure is seen to be judged in terms of whether or not the tasks are performed7.

TEAL Teaching/Teachers of English as an Additional language. (used in Canada to avoid some of the connotations associated with the word "second" in TESL)

TEFL Teaching/Teachers of English as a foreign language.

TENES Teaching/Teachers of English to non-English speakers. (not in common use)

TESL Teaching/Teachers of English as a Second Language

TESOL Teaching/Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (used as a cover-term for teachers working in any of the other areas)

Total Physical Response Mentioned later in this chapter, this is an approach by which students are taught by acting out the language. Imperitives are probably the strongest point of this approach since the teacher can say pick up the pencil, walk to the door, or turn around three times and the students have something to aim for. One weakness is the inherent difficulty in expressing tenses or differentiating grammar forms. TPR is useful for teaching children and can be a nice supplement for other classes, but should not be used exclusively.

The above list is intended only as a beginning point and you will most certainly come across additional terms of increasing complexity as you progress in your teaching and research.

4. Recent Trends and Noted Authorities
Many of today's specialist agree that there is inherent value in content-based and communicative teaching curriculums. This shows there is a belief that students will naturally improve other areas of language through the study of other topics in the target language if they have a chance to internalize the material by discussion, etc. As mentioned earlier, it is now a fairly common belief that language is better acquired as a result of some exercise or experience than by rote memorization. Communicative activities will enhance or promote language learning in a way that a pure study of the language cannot and most teaching methodologies and techniques incorporate this idea.

The following three methodologies have been referred to as being humanistic in nature and focus on the students.

Suggestopedia, developed by Lozanov, is a methodology that takes the humanistic approach one step futher by focusing on relaxing the students to the point where the proponents believe the target language is absorbed. This relaxation is accomplished by comfortable furniture, loose fitting clothing and/or (baroque) music.

Caleb Gattegno developed a methodology termed the Silent Way which has the teacher participating as little as possible and modelling the language item only once and then indicating changes, variations or repetition through pointing or other silent means. In this way, the students get a maximum amount of practise and teachers signal them in an unimposing way.

Total Physical Response was developed by James Asher and uses the idea of roughly-tuned input by having students carry out movements or actions ordered by the teacher and only attempting to give orders after internalising the necessary language.

The Tapestry Approach is another recent trend and was originated by Robin C. Scarcella and Rebecca L. Oxford and is theme- and task-based. The authors hold that second language learning involves certain developmental processes in reading, writing, speaking, and listening and that overall communicative competence depends on the learner's effort, which in turn depends on the learner's clarity and strength of need to develop the target language.

As can be seen from this brief description, this method places greater responsibility on the student and the teacher's role is as a guide, motivator, counselor and analyst of needs. In this way, both the teacher and student have clear cut roles and collaborate to create beautiful individual tapestries, the metaphor that the authors use for target language competence.

Naom Chomsky is probably the most noted scholar of linguistics and has a huge following. Although he has stayed away from developing specific language teaching methodologies based on his ideas, others have incorportated his beliefs in the structuring of several recent approaches.

Stephen Krashen is noted for his distinction between acquisition, which he said was a subconscious process which results in the knowledge of a language, and learning which results only in 'knowing about' a language. His belief, and many would agree, is that acquistion of a language is much more effective for long-term retention. This point is important in that it incluenced the shift to learning a second or foreign language more like we learn our first language.

Celce-Murcia8 included a list of some of the other specialists in the field of teaching English as a second or foreign language with a brief description of their backgrounds, publications and interests in order to show some of the depth of the science. this is a good place to look if you are interested.

5. Japan Specific
Teaching English in Japan offers a unique twist in that most adult students will have had at least three or more years of formal English language study and further possess a great deal of esoteric knowledge about English due to their earlier preparation for the challenging English portion of university entrance exams, but have substantial gaps in their knowledge and use of everyday English9.

There was a time in the early twentieth century when the military gained tremendous strength in Japan pressured society to not use the English language. Of cuorse this was nearly fifty years ago and many people today use English in both business and private dealings. Also, with the increasingly difficult entrance exams has come a general profound knowledge of written English. These exams include English that is very formal, stilted and outdated. A most notable point is that neither spoken English nor the ability to express oneself in the written language is tested. The fact that most educated Japanese can read English with amazing skill but hardly speak a word follows from the nature of such exams.

Also, because of the tendency to demand conformity and other social and cultural factors, students have continued to be discouraged from excelling at spoken English in school. Students who have pronunciation that is too goo are sometimes kidded or even ostracized10.

For this and other reasons, Japanese have what can be described as a phobia for the English language as a form of communication. Teachers need to be sensitive to the unique situation, not expect great progress from the outset and design and apply material with the Japanese student in mind. Current research in language education in Japan take these points into consideration and most approaches will continue to utilize the knowledge of the unique situation here.

Conclusion
Language teaching has been approached from numerous angles and the debate remains heated over the best way to teach a foreign language. I hope the reader can see the merits and demerits of the different theories, methodologies and approaches. Also, it will be enlightening to try and decipher which strategy the author has picked up when working with a new textbook or certain activity. It will usually be obvious by looking at the table of contents, but a closer look may be required when the author has blended strategies. By understanding the author's motive, you may be able to carry the lesson further and make it more productive.

Notes
[1] Jeremy Harmer (1991) points this out on pages 31-32.

[2] Lewitt, P.J. (1995) The Means of Meaning: A Why and A How of Teaching Content. The Language Teacher. 19(11), 33-34.

[3] Stephan Krashen (1981, 1984) was one of the strongest proponents of this theory .

[4] This point was made by British applied linguist Richard Allwright in The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching, edited by Brumfit and Johnson in 1979.

[5] Marianne Celce-Murcia gave this definition on page 5 of her article Language Teaching Approaches: An Overview as editor of Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (1991).

[6] Harmer (1991) offers a good description of this on pages 78-79.

[7] Joan Morley gave this definition in her article Listening Comprehension in Second/Foreign Language Instruction, in Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language(1991) edited by M. Celce-Murcia.

[8] Marianne Celce-Murcia included an extensive list inTeaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (1991).

[9] This observation, while not unique, was offered by Jerry O'Sullivan in Teaching English in Japan (1994).

[10] Thomas P. Rohlen (1983) made a number of similar observations.

Part Three - Education in Japan