Kobayashi The Evolution of English Language Learners in Japan

Crossing Japan, the West, and South East Asia
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-1-351-80456-1
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 162 Seiten

Reihe: Routledge Research in Language Education

This book seeks a better understanding of sociocultural and ideological factors that influence English study in Japan and study-abroad contexts. The discussion is based not only on learners’ and educators’ voices but also on English language policies and commercial magazines that rest on their own representation of ‘Japanese learners of English’. The book addresses seemingly incompatible yet theoretically rational findings on Japanese learners of English: (i) native English preference in at-home Japanese EFL contexts vs. Asian-Asian solidary in western study-abroad contexts; (ii) Japanese college women’s dream of using English for career vs. Japanese working women’s English study for self-enrichment, (iii) Japanese society’s obsession with globalization through English study vs. Japanese economy sustained by monolingual Japanese businessmen, (iv) native English teachers’ resistance against Japan’s ELT vs. non-English teachers’ resistance against ELT dominance. The final chapter provides an image of learners affected by the chain reaction of national changes: student population decline, the economy’s and universities’ survival crisis, and increased official pressure on humanities departments to offer more English-medium courses in contents of national interest.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kobayashi, Yoko

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Mehrsprachigkeit
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Lehrerausbildung, Unterricht & Didaktik Allgemeine Didaktik Literatur, Deutsch, Fremdsprachen (Unterricht & Didaktik)
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Lehrerausbildung, Unterricht & Didaktik Methoden des Lehrens und Lernens

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part 1: Japanese learners of English in Japan and abroad: Friendship, model, and ideologies

1. Japanese students’ friendship with Asians in western ESL class: De-discrimination?

2. Japanese students’ re-construction of English model in English-speaking ASEAN

3. Japanese students’ struggle with English ideological divisions in Japan

Part 2: Japanese women and English study at school, work and home

4. Female students’ socially constructed association of English with globalization

5. Female adults’ socially re-constructed feminization of English in the real world

6. Japanese women’s magazines’ empowering yet feminized discourses on language study

7. Japanese men’s struggling transition from demotivated EFL students to business English users

Part 3: English and other language study needs at school and work

7. Japanese business magazines’ discourses on English and Mandarin study needs

8. Japan’s poor English education in a world-class economy

9. English supremacy and resistance from other languages: the case of Japan and beyond

Part 4: Gloomy but hopeful future for research on Japanese learners of English

10. Japan’s decline and a chance for change

Über Autor(innen)

Yoko Kobayashi works at Iwate University, Japan. Since the completion of her doctoral dissertation in 2000, she has published her research papers mainly in international journals, and this book aims to raise her research discussion to a new level.