1English the medium of instruction

QUACH THANH DATL9920918H71307B

STEVEN FAIRCLOUGH AND RACHEL WOOD

JAPANESE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

2

Introduction

• Education & Economy conditions

• Purpose

Findings

• Capability in English

• Internationalization

• Monolingual system

Recommendations

• Policy extent• Suggestions

Conclusion

• Challenges• Solutions

Contents

3

The education system established 1890s in Japan

Japanese believes English is only needed overseas

Japanese people are unable to speak English fluently

16800 public schools teach English as compulsory subject

Teaching in English may not be too hard to be adapted in Japan

Introduction Japan is one of the strongest nations with highest level of technology

Attracting many talented international students

English as the language of instruction is essential in

tertiary education’s context

Figure 1. Reproduced from: NHRDC 2012

4

Analyze the

situation

PurposePotential challenge

s

ProposalsFigure 2. Reproduced from:

St. Charles Consulting Group n.d.

5

Students’ capability in using English

Internationalization of higher

educationMonolingual

system

Findings

6

Capability in using English

Japanese is distinct from English

Over 100 million Japanese do not speak English (Inoguchi 2010)

Unbalanced testing system, does not focus on speaking skills

Students find it hard to learn

Students have a huge detriment in

communicating with lecturers

Figure 3. Reproduced from: Libia 2002

7

Capability in using English

‘The majority of Japanese English teachers are unable to help their

students with listening skill, conversations or pronunciations’

Martin 2004

Policy problemsforeign

teachers are forged

into assistant

role

Misconception about the use

of EnglishDamage students’

standard of English

Foreign teachers are not treated

fairly

Figure 4. Reproduced from: OCAL 2010

8Internationalization

of tertiary education

The development of higher education has a strong impact on technological advances

Japan ranked as the second strongest nation of technology (Florida 2011)

Current decline in number of overseas students

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012110,000

115,000

120,000

125,000

130,000

135,000

140,000

145,000

123,829

132,720

141,774

138,075

137,756

Total number of international students in Japan

Total number of interna-tional studentsFigure 6. Reproduced from: JASSO 2013

Global 30: aim to attract 300,000

international students to Japan by 2020

Apply English as the language of instruction to

remove the barrierFigure 5. Reproduced from: Tennant 2011

9

Monolingual system

Sorry, Japanese

only

Japan has reflected itself to be a monolingual community (Gottlieb

2008)

Affect its language policy and residents’ perspective

Japanese people do not consider the need of learning other

languages as an importance Japan’s translation and publishing industries are two of the world’s largest

Most information is readily available in Japan not long after being published in other languages

Japanese is ranked as the 4th in the top ten languages being used on the Internet

EnglishChineseSpanish

JapanesePortuguese

GermanArabicFrenchRussiaKorean

0 100 200 300 400 500 600536.6

444.9153.3

99.182.5

75.265.459.859.7

39.4

Top ten languages on the Internet

Million of users

Figure 8. Reproduced from: Internet World Stats 2010

Figure 7. Reproduced from: Julia 2009

10

Students’ capability in

using English

Internationalization of higher

education

Monolingual system

RecommendationsProvide compulsory English

programs for university students and lecturers to reduce communication breakdown

Reconstruct current education system with promoting the use of bilingual books and courses

Legislate new policy to keep foreign teachers

Provide more support for international studentso Scholarshipso Reduce resident

feeso Tuition fee loans

Run campaign to raise Japanese individuals’ awareness

Change monolingual perspective

11

Advantages and Threats

Benefits and drawback

Recommendations

Conclusion

Extent

• Focus on important fields

Receive feedback

• Further proposals

12

Martin, A. 2004, "The 'katakana effect' and teaching English in Japan", English Today, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 50-55. Mcveigh , B. J 2004, ‘Foreign Language Instruction in Japanese Higher Education The Humanistic Vision or Nationalist Utilitarianism?’,

SAGE Journals, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 211-227.  National Human Resources Development Council (NHRDC) 2012, 'Scholarships for Studies in Japan', image, NHRDC, 7 May, viewed 18

September, <http://www.nhrdc.sc/news/scholarships/scholarships-studies-japan>. OCAL 2010, 'Teacher Silhouette', image, Clker.com, 22 August, viewed 18 September, <

http://www.clker.com/clipart-teacher-silhouette.html>. Oxford Analytica Ltd, 2008, JAPAN: English language tests the nation, Oxford, viewed 12 September 2013, Proquest Central database,

<http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/docview/192328272/140915EDF781C3B4B85/1?accountid=13552 >.  Rogers, W.A, &Mynati, E. D 2003 ‘How Can Technology Contribute to the Quality of Life of Older Adults?’The Technology of Humanity:

Can Technology Contribute to the Quality of Life?, pp. 22-30, viewed 12 September 2013, <https://research.cc.gatech.edu/ecl/drupal/sites/edu.ecl/files/BC.3-Rogers-2003.pdf>. 

St. Charles Consulting Group, n.d., ‘About Us’, image, St. Charles Consulting Group, viewed 20/08/2013, <http://stcharlesconsults.com/about.html>.

Tennant, R 2011, 'Internationalization Social Media', image, Cleantech Media Solutions, 19 February, viewed 18 September, <http://www.cleantechms.com/services/internationalization/internationalize/>.

Tolbert, K 2000, English Is the Talk of Japan; Fears of Stagnation Spark Crusade to Teach the Language of the Internet: [FINAL Edition], Washington Post Digital, 29 January, viewed 12 September 2013, Proquest Central database, <http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/docview/408588814/14051AAF932815B8B1/3?accountid=13552>.

UWG Media 2011, '"What Are We Saying? Communicating Across Cultures"', image, University of West Georgia, 2 March, viewed 18 September, <http://uwgmedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-are-we-saying-communicating-across.html>.

References

13

 Florida, R 2011, ‘The World’s Leading Nations for Innovation and Technology’, The Atlantic Cities, 3 October, viewed 12 September 2013, <http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2011/10/worlds-leading-nations-innovation-and-technology/224/>.

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3, pp. 363-383. <https://login.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/login?url=http://rel.sagepub.com/content/36/3/363.short>. Howitt, P 2013, “How university research can boost economic growth’, Global University Venturing, 30 August, viewed 12 September

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References