Second Language Acquisition Research in Japan
Chise Kasai
Hello, my name is Chise. David has asked me to write something about SLA in Japan. I got this request last summer, and ever since I’ve been thinking what I can write about it.
In Japan SLA is a popular issue at academic conferences. The Japanese conference season is from May to July, and nearly every weekend there is a conference held somewhere in Japan. I attended several of them, so I’ve decided to share my thoughts on SLA in Japan based on what I felt at these conferences.
For your information, English is taught as a second language in Japan. However, it seems that although we put so much effort into acquiring it, our results are not very successful. For example, recently an attempt was made to start English instruction at an earlier age than the traditional starting age of 13. Elementary schools all over Japan are introducing English as one of their subjects. Recently, Special high schools called “Super English High Schools” have been opened where all the subjects are taught in English. Traditionally, English is taught for 3 years in junior high school, another 3 years in high school, and, if one goes to university, an additional 4 years. In total, we learn English for 10 years. However, it is so common that university students are not confident when asked whether they are proficient in English. It is very unfortunate that their 10 years of English learning has not given students any confidence in their ability to use the language. This is a very serious problem.
At conferences many SLA issues relating to Japanese people learning English are presented. Academics and researchers present evidence of a particular phenomenon and try to prove what is causing it linguistically. School-teachers present cases from their classrooms and discuss how well or poorly their students are performing in acquiring English. The former tends to be experiment-based with data that are statistically analysed, while the latter is based on observations of students conducted in the classroom. This type of research does not necessarily present specific data analysis.
What I’ve noticed is that these two approaches seem to run parallel and do not interact at all. At a large-sized conference which I attended recently, there were hundreds of participants. However, there seems to be a clear separation between the two approaches, and the participants were hesitant to hear the other side of the story.
It is true that experiment-based research presents tendencies from neatly controlled subject groups. It’s important and useful to know what tendency a particular group of people displays, but in reality there are various types of students put together in one classroom, and the data cannot be used directly to meet all the needs in the classroom. On the other hand, reports from high school teachers do not always contain statistical analysis, so it is difficult to see how significant their findings may be. Some of the presentations do not even present quantifiable data at all, and what is reported is often only what the teacher saw and felt in his/her class.
I hope I don’t give you an impression that I’m criticizing what people do. While attending the conference I kept pondering what can be done about this situation. Why don’t teachers and researchers get together and share what they have? If we have a chance to interact with each other, things may change. As an academic myself, I sometimes have trouble collecting data from schools with young children because I do not have any connections with these schools. I would like to know what is done to teach English there, and I would like to know whether there is anything I can contribute through my research. There may be some school teachers who are seeking research findings to help their teaching. The data may not directly apply to all the students in the class, but it may be able to solve some problems. Or it may be able to suggest something such as ways of teaching English and why particular learning problems occur that the teacher has never even considered.
I’m not a dreamer, and I’m aware of the viewpoints of both sides. I can hear some school teachers object, ‘I don’t need any statistical analyses. I’m dealing with individual human beings’, ‘I don’t have any extra time to even think about it,’ and ‘My school doesn’t allow an outsider to collect data’. I can also hear academics say, ‘Experiments have to be done in a controlled situation’.
I may sound like a party animal (well, I am indeed), but how about creating real opportunities for both sides to come together? Yes, we’ve already got something called ‘a conference’. But do we, in fact, truly confer? I mean, do academics and school teachers really interact at these conferences? I don’t think so. Such interaction is vital, however. It can be as formal as a conference panel or workshop, but it can be a casual gathering with food and drink to just have a chat to exchange thoughts. Conferences in which both teachers and researchers come together to share information, experiences, and expertise would allow us to get to know what really needs to be investigated in school and how it can be done through experiments and data analysis.
I’m sure there are those who may have already started something like this. If so, please ignore my critique. To conclude this article, I’d like to introduce some of comments made by school teachers whom I met at the conferences, and who heard my dream project. They say that school teachers just don’t have any time at all to bring anything new to their teaching even if academics and researchers suggest something which may make their teaching more effective. Moreover, they add, teachers are responsible not only for teaching but other school activities, including extra- curricula activities such as sports and school plays, as well responding to students’ parents who call them to demand that their children receive more attention. They have to be superhuman to respond to all of these demands, and there is no time for research and the friendly gathering which I’ve suggested. But I continue to believe that if teachers are given the time, the situation of SLA in Japan can be improved dramatically.
Finally, I would like to thank those who provided me with so much valuable information at the conference. I wish we could exchange information like this with all the people who are dealing with SLA in Japan. Then something may happen to create students who can proudly announce that they are proficient in English in the future.