Read Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program Online
Authors: David L. McConnell
The Teaching of English as a Foreign Language
Why was team teaching so threatening to JTLs? Certainly, deficiency in
English conversational ability led many to fear loss of face in the classroom
and in the teachers' room. While JTLs often claimed that they were too
busy with other school affairs to spend time in preparing and evaluating
team-taught classes, in fact language skills were the biggest roadblock.
Truly cooperating on a lesson plan and its implementation requires a willingness to engage in the give-and-take of mutual criticism, and most JTLs
found it difficult to convey what they really thought about the ALTS' ideas
under these circumstances-particularly in light of the widespread tendency to refrain from criticizing foreigners.
The JTLs also resisted because team teaching required that they partially surrender their autonomy in the classroom. Reformers have been
relatively unsuccessful in making team teaching integral to American public education for precisely this reason. And in Japan, the interaction was
even more complex: each member of the "team" brought a different cultural model of what constitutes a "successful" classroom to the joint enterprise. The traditional method of teaching English in Japan fits with a cultural theory of learning and motivation that draws heavily on Confucian
values. While recent studies of preschool and elementary classrooms in
Japan have found, somewhat surprisingly, that play is central and students'
contributions drive classroom learning, by junior high school a very different pedagogical model is in effect, one that is much more teacher-centered.
According to Thomas Rohlen and Gerald LeTendre, "Secondary-level teaching employs a pedagogy almost entirely dependent on teacher-centered lectures to large classes of students engaged in note-taking for the purposes of
passing exams. The use of small groups for instructional purposes is extremely rare, and student presentations are limited. Classroom proceedings
center on the teacher, who elaborates at length on a fixed lesson."" The important elements in this approach are the idea of learning as a serious enterprise requiring hard work and sacrifice, the importance of repetition and
memorization of a model, and the fixed roles of the major actors: the
teacher as imparter of knowledge and the student as attentive but unquestioning learner. All of these features coincide nicely with accounts of Japanese patterns of learning outside the school, such as the apprenticeship
model John Singleton describes in becoming a potter.22 Academic study at
the secondary school level in Japan is a sober business.
In observing English classes with the ALT absent, I found that they were
taught primarily in Japanese, with English being used only when reading
passages from the text or introducing new words. Third-year students
often spent much time reviewing past exam questions and perfecting testtaking strategies. There was little variation in teaching methodology:
teachers rarely strayed from the front of the room and students answered
questions only when called on. An examination of students' English notebooks and homework also proved revealing. Many students spent a considerable amount of time studying English, but their time was spent on four
primary tasks: copying the model dialogue into their notebooks word for
word, translating this dialogue into English, memorizing and orally reciting the dialogue, and answering grammatical problems. Yoshie Aiga confirms that English classes today are still largely spent on reading, translation, and explanations of new words and grammar points in Japanese.23
The assumptions underlying the English as a foreign language (EFL)
methodologies in which the foreign teachers are "trained" at the Tokyo
and prefectural orientations run directly counter to those of the above
model in many ways: they see as ideal the student as active learner; the
teacher as facilitator; focus on content of language, not form; curriculum
that is interesting and relevant to students; and classes that are marked by
liveliness and spontaneity. ALTs generally believed that English classes in
Japan are in need of livening up, and they therefore often tried to use
games and other "fun" activities in their team teaching. From playing the
guitar to turning the class into a dramatic scene to playing hangman and
twenty questions, the ALTs seemed willing to try anything to energize the
class, use "living English," and produce evidence, in the form of critical
thinking and self-expression, that "real" learning was taking place.
The ALTs' approach also implied a specific theory of motivation. If students are viewed as naturally having a weak will, then it becomes the responsibility of the teacher to try to spark their interest and nurture it
through incentives. At conferences and workshops for the ALTs in the late
i98os, for instance, the problem of how to motivate Japanese students was
a central issue. ALTs were enormously frustrated by what they perceived
as the lack of responsiveness or shyness of Japanese students, complaining
that just to get a student to answer a question about his or her favorite food
was like pulling teeth. The students, of course, viewed their hesitation not
as a deficiency but as an accomplishment. Japanese students whom I interviewed repeatedly stressed the importance of not performing in such a way
that would make them stand out. Both at home and at school, they learned
that they must listen and that conformity demonstrated inner strength; it
was difficult to ask them to set aside these values for one English conversation class per week.
Nevertheless, ALTs seem determined to do just that. At one conference
held for renewing ALTS in 1989, a workshop on motivation attracted 130
ALTs; fewer than a dozen attended concurrent seminars on how to adapt
existing textbooks to the team-taught class. One speaker at the workshop
showed off a freewheeling English text not approved by the Ministry of
Education and urged ALTs to buy copies, since "technically, we're only required to have Mombusho-approved textbooks at the school, not to use
them." Another described his philosophy for motivating Japanese students: "I believe in rewards and punishments. Every time a student raises
his hand and asks a question voluntarily I give them a $i,ooo bill with my
face superimposed on it and a lottery number on the back. Each month I
have a small lottery and give out a pencil, but then I have a big lottery for a university T-shirt. Sometimes I read in a Donald Duck voice, though I
have to warn the JTL beforehand. If a student mentions a singer, I'll start
singing a song. I'm very spontaneous."
Though the philosophy of "education through play" may have warmed
the hearts of a whole cadre of Western educators, beginning with John
Dewey, it finds few adherents among secondary school teachers in Japan.
They assume that students begin with a strong will, and their task is to
strengthen that willpower by frustrating it and putting hurdles in front of
it.24 Even though Japanese teachers may give the ALTs great leeway in
class, in private they usually described the sessions led by the ALTs as
"classes without rigor" (kejime no nai jugyo), or as "just a playtime" (tan
no asobi ni natte shimau). One JTL reported his first encounter with the
motivational theories of the ALT: "I remember on the very first day of
team teaching, the ALT asked me if I could find a volleyball to bring to
class. I said, 'A WHAT?" It turned out he would throw it to students who he
wanted to call on. That one really threw me for a loop! " Tellingly, JTLs will
routinely mark the shift from conversation practice or a game led by the
ALT to work in the textbook by saying, "Now it's time to get down to
studying" (soredewa benkyo ni hairimasu).
Moreover, the lessons in conversational English so enthusiastically supported by the ALTS (and publicly endorsed both by the Ministry of Education and by prefectural ETCs) are viewed as largely irrelevant to preparing
for entrance exams, which require the memorization and manipulation of
discrete lexical items. Teachers that do focus on conversational English in
team-taught classes note that they have to work extra hard in solo classes
to compensate for time "lost" from studying the textbook.
The Reactions of Students
The wild card in this struggle of cultural mind-sets is the overwhelmingly
positive reaction of Japanese students to the ALTs and to team teaching.
For many, this program offers the first chance they have ever had to interact with a native speaker; though they express a great deal of nervousness
about the encounter, they see the benefits to the team-taught class as far
outweighing the drawbacks. Team-taught classes usually represent a break
from the routine of teacher-centered instruction and thus are a welcome
relief. Some team-taught classes seem more like entertainment than like
study. There is the added plus that the ALTs usually do not give them
grades. Though on occasion I did witness students taking the JTL's side and
complaining, "Not games again," more often they begged the JTL to allow
them to play a game during the ALT's class visit. Furthermore, students are thrilled to be able to hear native pronunciation; and for a generation whose
prospects of traveling abroad at some point in their lives are high, it is reassuring to learn conversational styles that may actually be of use in the
future.
Asked to write essays on their opinion about English education in
Japan, one class of high school students in Kyoto almost unanimously described school English as exam-oriented and useless in real life and welcomed the ALT system. One student wrote, "It was wonderful to hear live
English from the ALT and to be able to have a conversation in English.
But, with such infrequent classes, we can't expect much effect, and it's
hard on the ALTs too. I hope the program can be improved to its full potential so that we can learn from ALTs on a regular basis." In an Osaka
school, 170 seventh-grade students were informally surveyed after they
had experienced several team-taught classes: 87.6 percent of the students
approved of the ALT coming to their school (the remaining 12.4 percent
were indifferent), and fully 78.8 percent said that they preferred teamtaught classes to those taught solely by the JTL (17.6 percent were indifferent). When asked about their impression of the ALT who had recently
visited their school, 68 students used the term "interesting" (omoshiroi),
48 said she was "fun and easy to get to know" (tanoshiku shitashimiya-
sui), and roughly 1o students each described her as "good at English,"
"cheerful," "kind," and "big and tall." One student described her reaction
to the ALT's visit as follows:
When I heard the words, "An American teacher is coming!" I couldn't
even imagine what she would be like. I was eager to find out if she
would be a strict, scary teacher, an interesting teacher, or a kind teacher.
When she arrived, I thought, "So this is the teacher from America,"
and I went to class eager to see what she was like. She was very animated and interesting. She let us hear real English pronunciation and
taught us things that weren't in the textbook. When we played games, I
couldn't understand her English sentences; it was real difficult. But I
was happy that she could come to our school even for a short time. I
want to hear real English again!
The positive response of Japanese students and the capacity on the part of
some ALTs to forge meaningful relationships with them are a key source
of the JET Program's transformative potential.
Team Teaching: The Mixed Results
Although most JTLs are not thrilled by the prospects of changing their approach in the classroom, in a fascinating contradiction they tended to see team teaching and internationalization as a cause. Again and again I was
struck by the seriousness with which JTLs took to the task of learning how
to team-teach. Workshops and books on the how-tos of team teaching burgeoned in the late 198os and early 199os, and English societies all across
the country took up this theme in meetings and seminars. JTLs did not give
up, and many talked frankly about the need to master team-teaching techniques. Workshops on team teaching were often very well attended. In one
district I visited in which teachers were allowed on an in-service training
day to choose between focusing on a traditional-style class and a teamteaching class, the seminar on team teaching attracted five times as many
teachers as the other.
At the same time, it is possible to see the enormous number of seminars
and publications devoted to the "how-tos" of team teaching since the start
of the JET Program as signifying the desire of Japanese teachers for some
"foolproof" method, an agreed-on form that will somehow render the unpredictable predictable. One book is particularly noteworthy in this respect. Just like the Ministry of Education-approved English textbooks, it
gives a model dialogue, new words, and key phrases for a myriad of potentially embarrassing or conflict-laden situations, such as how to talk with an
ALT on the phone, what to say if you bump into the ALT in the hall, how
to introduce ALTs to students, and what to do if the ALT doesn't like the
rainy season or complains that Japanese ask too many private questions."
In spite of the continual efforts of JTLs, however, the transformation of
English education remains limited by the extent to which the team-taught
class is conceptualized as a distinct entity, something apart from their regular English classes. As of yet, there is little carryover between the two.
Even at a school as enthusiastic about the program as Minami High School,
by the admission of JTLs themselves, the teaching of basic classroom English was untouched by the ALTs' influence. Powerful notions about when
it is appropriate for Japanese to use English are at work here: when I asked
one JTL if he'd tried to use English in the classroom when the ALT was not
present, he responded: "I tried using English in the classroom at our ALT's
urging, but I gave up after a few tries. Most of the students couldn't follow
me, and they would say things like, 'Sensei, you act just like a foreigner.' It
felt really strange." Another JTL put it this way: "I think of the ALT as a
motivator. For Japanese, it's very strange to speak only in English with each
other. But if I have an ALT, it's much easier for me to speak in English." For
these JTLs, solidarity with students who shared the same cultural heritage
continued to be a far more powerful force than identification with the goals
of the ALT.