Ideology, Agency, and Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Stratified Look into EFL Education in Japan PDF
Preview Ideology, Agency, and Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Stratified Look into EFL Education in Japan
Intercultural Communication and Language Education Jeremie Bouchard Ideology, Agency, and Intercultural Communicative Competence A Stratified Look into EFL Education in Japan Intercultural Communication and Language Education Series editors Stephanie Ann Houghton, Saga University, Saga, Japan Melina Porto, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina Thisbookseriespublishestopqualitymonographsandeditedvolumescontainingempirical research that prioritises the development of intercultural communicative competence in foreignlanguageeducationaspartofinterculturalcitizenship.Itexploresthedevelopmentof critical cultural awareness broadly aimed at triggering and managing personal and social transformation through intercultural dialogue. Citizenship education and interculturally- orientedlanguageeducationshareaninterestinfosteringlearnerexploration,criticalanalysis andevaluation of other cultures within dynamic socio-political environments. To complement existing research on the development of intercultural communicative competence,thisbookseriesexploresthetechniques,processesandoutcomesofintercultural language pedagogy and intercultural citizenship inside and outside the classroom. It also exploresthenature,dynamicsandimpactofinterculturaldialogueoutsidetheclassroomin real-worldsettingswherevariouslanguagecodesareinuse,includingWorldEnglishesand English as aLinguaFranca. Further, this book series recognizes and explicitly attempts to overcome wide-ranging real-world barriers to intercultural dialogue and intercultural citizenship. This is especially important in the field of English language education considering the status of English as a global language and associated problems connected to linguistic imperialism, ideology and native-speakerism among others. To promote the development of deeper understandings of how suchsocialproblems connect tothe use offoreign languages ingeneral, contributions are also sought from disciplines outside foreign language education such as citizenship education, socialjustice, moral education, languagepolicy andsocial psychologythat shed lightuponinfluentialexternalsocialfactorsandinternalpsychologicalfactorsthatneedtobe taken into account. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13631 Jeremie Bouchard Ideology, Agency, and Intercultural Communicative Competence fi A Strati ed Look into EFL Education in Japan 123 Jeremie Bouchard Hokkai GakuenUniversity Sapporo Japan ISSN 2520-1735 ISSN 2520-1743 (electronic) Intercultural Communication andLanguageEducation ISBN978-981-10-3925-6 ISBN978-981-10-3926-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3926-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017933552 ©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2017 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinor for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:152BeachRoad,#21-01/04GatewayEast,Singapore189721,Singapore I would like to thank Dr. Joe Bennett (University of Birmingham, UK) for helping me in countless ways and for providing me withvaluableadvicethroughoutthisresearch project. My special gratitude to Dr. Alison Sealey (University of Lancaster, UK) who introduced me to social realism, particularly to Archer’s work on culture and human reflexivity, to the inner workings of critical social research, and to the central interrogation in this project: the complex relationship between what people say and what they do. Dr. Stephanie Houghton’s (Saga University, Japan) generous support has also been essential to the realization of this book. I am also very grateful to Lay Peng Ang and Lawrence Liu of Springer, who have been very generous with their time throughout the editing process. At no less a level of appreciation, I would also like to thank my co-workers at Hokkai Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan, who are always very patient and supportive. I am also greatly (if not hopelessly) indebted to the four devoted Japanese EFL teachers who took part in this study. Without their help, generosity and willingness to explore various aspects of their everyday experience as language learners and teachers, this book would not have been possible. Finally, I owe my deepest gratitude to my wife, Toyo. About the Book ThisbookisaboutEFL(Englishasaforeignlanguage)educationinJapaneseJHS (junior high schools), although its scope is wider. It is also a book about an important epistemological shift in the study of language acquisition and learning, from proficiency to criticality (Houghton and Yamada 2012), described by Oral (2015: 93) as “the recent explosion of interest in Applied Linguistics (AL) in theorizingandresearchingthecomplexrelationshipbetweenthemultipleidentities of language learners/users and their social contexts of learning.” This book is also about how Japanese secondary school language learners and teachers can better deal with ongoing policy changes and evolving linguistic, cultural and social realities shaping their everyday classroom experience. It is a book which explores questions related to culture in language education, identity and ideology, from the anglesofpedagogyandresearch.Inshort,itisabookwhichattemptstoprovidea sociological perspective into foreign language education, as observed in Japanese JHS. One of the undertakings in this book involves the integration of ICC (intercul- turalcommunicativecompetence)inEFLeducationinJapanesesecondaryschools, and greater understanding of possible impediments to this complex and ambitious project.Itisnotabookfilledwithadviceonhowtoimprovecurrentapproachesto EFL education; instead, it attempts to reframe the discussion on how to improve approaches to foreign language pedagogy, in line with ICC, by exploring theo- retical and methodological issues grounding both research and pedagogy. By sur- veyingthisbroadrangeofissuesastheypertaintotherealityobservedinJapanese secondaryschoolEFLclassrooms,andbyattemptingtodrawlinksbetweensecond language acquisition research, research on identity and ideology, and research on ICC,itishopedthatfurtherclaritycanbebroughttothefundamentalandcomplex changes currently taking place in the Japanese EFL landscape. Before defining ICC and developing a model for ICC appropriate to the JHS context, we first need to discuss why there is a need to integrate ICC-oriented education in the JHS English classroom. In fact, we need to go further back and explore the compatibility of ICC-oriented content to what actually goes on in the EFL classroom. Of course, many convincing arguments for doing so have already vii viii AbouttheBook been provided by researchers and writers, and some of these will surface in this section and at different parts of the book. However, what we need to remember from the onset is that this entire discussion is not as common-sensical to everyone as many might think, particularly to EFL classroom actors (i.e. students and teachers). It is perhaps best to start our discussion on the need for ICC-oriented education in Japanese JHS by asking ourselves for a moment what English edu- cationmightsignifytolanguagelearnersandteachersengagedinthe‘EFLproject’ across Japan, and to a large extent in other nations where EFL education is con- ducted as well. Throughout the book, I refer to ‘ICC-oriented’ EFL education—in contrastto‘ICC-driven’or‘ICC-guided’,forexample—outofconsiderationforthe possibilities and constraints in Japanese JHS EFL education. Stated differently, I believethattheterm‘ICC-oriented’issuppleenoughtosuggestarelativereshaping of current Japanese JHS English educational practices, in line with core ICC principles (common to numerous ICC models found in the literature) that are suitabletotheEFLsituationinJapaneseJHS.Inaway,theterm‘ICC-oriented’in thisbookreferstoatypeofEnglisheducationaimedatthelong-termdevelopment of ICC among Japanese EFL learners. Forthepast18yearsorso,IhavebeenworkingasanEnglishlanguageteacher inJapan,teachingtostudentsofvariousages,socialbackgrounds,languageability, motivation and interests. One of the questions I had most difficulty providing a convincing answer to came from a few secondary school students seemingly dis- illusioned with their English language learning experience: Why do we need to study English? I’m Japanese. Why do I need English? For long, I tried to provide some answer which would satisfy my audience, although very few of my attempts weresubstantialenoughtoencourageachangeinattitudeontheirpart.Forone,the questions themselves were difficult for me to grasp because they were based on a conflationbetweennational,cultural,ethnicandlinguisticidentities.Bylumpingall these features of identity into a single one—‘being Japanese’—these students ostensibly made foreign language learning difficult and unnecessary to their lives, and in theprocess effectively rejectedpossibilities to embody alternative orhybrid identities.Answeringtheseproblematicquestionsthereforeinvolvedagreatdealof ideological untangling and unpacking on my part. Also, I was not fully convinced that my tentative answers were ideologically-free. Why indeed do all young Japanesepeoplehavetolearnaforeignlanguagemanyofthemareunlikelytouse in their everyday life? At times, I would simply avoid these questions altogether, makingitsoundasiftheentireproblemwasduetolackofmotivation.Whydowe needtostudy English?Becauseweall doit; because it’spartofwhatyouhaveto do as a student. Why do we learn music or math? I don’t know. It’s what we’ve always done,andIdon’tseeanygoodreason tochange thewaythingsare.Once formulatedandexpressed,theselazyandsomewhatinappropriateanswersnotonly highlight the complexity involved in understanding both identity processes and ideological discourses in the real world: they also underscore the centrality of identity issues and processes to ICC-oriented education. AsaFrenchCanadianhavingspentmuchofmyyouthinamonolingualFrench environment and having had to learn English just like my Japanese students, the AbouttheBook ix reasons for learning English were not always clear to me either. In retrospect, however, I learned English for many reasons, and the fact that I did so has deter- minedtoalargeextenttheplacewhereIcurrentlyliveandthewayinwhichIearn a livelihood. Yet, not everybody I teach will follow the same path, which means thatmyexamplecannotserveasbenchmarkforallmystudents.Formost,English will remain at the periphery of their life, and much like some of my friends and relativesbackinQuébec,someofmyJapanesestudentswilllookbackontheirEFL learning experience over time as an unsuccessful and dubious pursuit. To some extent,thesepossibilitiesaredifficulttoescapewhenforeignlanguageeducationis part of a highly centralized education system such as the one found in Japan. SowhydoyoungJapaneseJHSstudentsneedtostudyEnglish,especiallywhen thelargemajorityofthemwillnotbecomeEnglishteachersorworkinajobwhich requires some knowledge of English (Kubota 2011)? The most readily available answer, at least the one found in EFL textbooks approved by MEXT (Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and reproduced bymoststudentswhenaskedpointblank,isthattheylearnEnglishtocommunicate with foreigners. But where are all the foreigners in Japan? They only constitute roughly1.7%oftheJapanesepopulation,andobviouslynoteveryoneofthemisa fluent English language speaker. Still, did all the 6,855,822 secondary school students in the 15,609 junior and senior, public and private high schools across Japan in 2013 learn English in order to speak with the 2,066,445 foreign national residing in the country that year (Japan Statistic Bureau 2015), roughly 96% of whomcamefromcountriesoftheouterandexpandingcirclesofworldEnglishes? Ofcourse,therewere10,363,904foreignvisitorstoJapanthatyear(JapanTourism Marketing,Co.2015).However,mostofthemwereshort-termtourists,andalmost all foreign visitors stayedinthe country for afew daysatthemost. Some students dogoabroadforextendedperiodsoftimetolearnEnglish.In2014,therewereonly 69,869Japanesestudents,mostofthemattheuniversitylevel,whowentabroadto study (JASSO 2015). Therefore, we are only talking about a limited potential for youngJapaneselearnerstointeractinEnglishwithEnglish-speakingnon-Japanese individuals. As such, what are the valid reasons for all JHS students to invest so much time and energy in learning a language they are unlikely to use on a daily basis?IfthemainjustificationforallJapaneseJHSstudentstolearnEnglishresides in the somewhat unlikely chance that one day they might be called on to com- municatewithforeigners,weshouldnotbesurprisedthat,overtime,manyofthem becomedisillusionedwiththe‘EFLproject’.Unfortunately,theratherdarkpictureI havejustpaintedoftenservesasgroundsforexplainingthestateofEFLeducation in the country. The argument I am making here is that language learning for real-life language use offers an insufficient basis from which to justify the existence of the massive EFL system in Japanese schools (and of course the massive EFL industry which operates in parallel to it). Government-run language programs which force all school children within a country to learn a particular language are, in this sense, inevitably producing contradictions, one of which is the very basic fact that not everyone who learns a foreign language at school will use it in their life. At the
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