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The contradictory effect of the ‘global’ on the ‘local’: Japanese behaviour and attitudes towards English use in local contexts
Abstract
This paper aims to establish that globalised social and linguistic changes have a more complicated impact on local behaviours and attitudes than is believed. Based on statistical analysis of nationally representative surveys in Japan, the paper presents evidence against the following two propositions: (1) globalisation increases local demand for English use and (2) local enthusiasm for English-education reforms is a direct outcome of globalisation. The findings of the study suggest a significant disconnect between these discourses and reality. Therefore, this paper discusses the power of discourse in constructing images of globalisation and the global spread of English.
... One of the most tangible counterexamples is the decline in English use frequency in Japan in the late 2000s. Terasawa (2018aTerasawa ( , 2018b analysed data from the 2006 and 2010 versions of the Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) and found that during these years, English use frequency (defined as the proportion of people who had used English at least once in the past year) had declined in most contexts, as shown in Table 1. This result can be attributed to the financial crisis of 2007-2008, which caused the plummet of the number of foreign visitors to Japan by over 15%, as well as international transactions (Japan's overseas trade fell by over 30%). ...
... As seen in the previous section, this would explain the situation of afflicted accommodation sector workers. Indeed, this is also consistent with the backdrop of the decline in English use in Japan after the 2007-08 financial crisis (Terasawa 2018a(Terasawa , 2018b. In this sense, the state of the economy may be a much more powerful predictor of English use frequency in business than human mobility or other indicators. ...
... Further, as Japan has a particularly low level of trade dependency (35% in 2019, compared with 58% for both the OECD and World averages 15 ), only a tiny fraction of the worker population is engaged in international communication using English. These characteristics might function as a buffer to stabilise the impact of global changes on the social condition on English use within the country (Terasawa 2018b). By contrast, if a similar study is carried out in another region, especially one with higher trade-dependency (in OECD members, for example, Slovakia, Belgium, and South Korea 16 ), the impact of the pandemic on English use might be observed more dramatically. ...
This study aims to reveal the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the necessity of using English as an international language. For this purpose, this study conducted a web survey of Japanese workers, and statistically examined the extent to which the use of English increased or decreased after the outbreak. The findings are as follows. First, although some types of use decreased or increased, the majority did not show substantial changes. Second, the changes in English use were largely influenced by worker factors, such as types of occupation and employment (e.g. it declined typically among sales workers but not among the self-employed and freelancers), the degree of remote working (e.g. not being allowed to work remotely reduced it), and industry (e.g. it declined among workers in accommodation and real estate sectors but increased among public servants). These findings suggest the following implications: (1) non-decline in English use would suggest its resilience as an international language, the necessity of which could endure even in such a global upheaval; and (2) the frequency of using English (and other modes of international communication) is relatively independent of reduced human mobility, but it is largely affected by the economic climate.
... While this emphasis on English is reinforced by government rhetoric surrounding globalization (文部科学省、2002; 2013), the idea that English is the only important foreign language is becoming increasingly less relevant in Japanese schools. While some researchers argue that emphasizing English alone is potentially dangerous, in that it creates a dependence on English language sources for international information (e.g., 木村、2016), and advocate for diversifying compulsory foreign language education in order to develop the pluralistic critical thinking necessary in the globalized era (e.g., 森住・古石・杉谷・長谷川、2016), others (e.g., Terasawa, 2017) point out that the majority of the Japanese population has no practical need for functional English ability beyond the aforementioned entrance examinations. Still others have argued that there is a greater need to develop language awareness (in the Hawkins, 1984, tradition) in light of a plurality of foreign languages entering the school system (清田、2016; section 1.2). ...
... English," and recall that Yuki-sensei mentions the "pressure to do what other schools are doing," see also Terasawa, 2017). This reconciliation allows them to move from a transmissive posture traditionally favoured at schools to an approach to the classroom in which students interact to coconstruct knowledge and situate themselves as co-investigators, where reflexive experience and experimentation form the central nodes of learning. ...
... Nevertheless, the presence of these languages belies a flaw in the English(-only)-for-globalization rhetoric: Globalized Japan is demonstrably not English-only. Furthermore, the lack of genuine need for English ability in the Japanese population (Terasawa, 2017) also weakens the position of English-only advocates. ...
In the 21st century, early foreign language education has garnered much attention around the globe, both in highly multilingual societies, as well as more typically ‘monolingual’ contexts (西山・大木、2015). Japan is no exception, and, in the 2020 school year, foreign languages (外国語) as a fully evaluated subject became compulsory for the upper grades of elementary schools, while the previously established foreign language activities (外国語活動) were brought forward to the third and fourth grades. Although the implementation of the subject aims to foster high-level productive English language ability (文部科学省、2013), sufficient financial or structural resources have not been invested to achieve this.
While much of the impetus for the formalization of the foreign language subject was a perceived need for an English-speaking populace in response to globalization, there has been considerable resistance to early English(-only) education in the scholarly community (e.g., 鳥飼・大津・江利川・斎藤、2017), and even amongst policy makers (寺沢、2019), particularly in light of a linguistically diversifying Japan. Alternative approaches to foreign language teaching, including plurilingual approaches, have been proposed, although related research remains largely theoretical, and there has been little investigation of plurilingual education in practice in the Japanese context. Exceptions include approaches such as Awakening to Languages (L’éveil aux langues: 大山、2016), inclusive of multiple language varieties, however the majority of these studies, too, have been researcher-initiated endeavours. More thorough examination of plurilingual education as implemented by practitioners themselves is necessary.
On the other hand, teacher training in Japan for foreign languages at the elementary-school level has typically been devoted to English(-only), likely due to a perceived deficit in Japanese teachers’ English language ability (cf. Machida, 2016). Despite the possibilities that the elementary context affords for interdisciplinary learning, and for drawing connections with locally important languages (including immigrant languages), foreign language teacher training, as well as the bulk of policy documents (including the nation-wide Course of Study) treat foreign language in isolation from the rest of the curriculum.
In this thesis, I endeavour to explore plurilingual education in the Japanese context from an emic (participant-relevant) viewpoint, examining grassroots (practitioner-initiated) plurilingual pedagogies in elementary schools, and their implications for training a new generation of teachers. To this end, I engaged in long-term qualitative ethnographic studies, in which I employed various analytical tools to examine the broad questions of what motivates teachers to pursue plurilingual education in a context dominated by traditional language teaching approaches, how they implement their pedagogies, and what learning takes place. While my main focus was on fully-fledged, licensed elementary school teachers, I also devote a chapter to assistant language teachers (ALTs), given the large role they play in foreign language education in Japan.
This thesis is divided into seven chapters. In the Introduction, I establish the context for the studies by giving a brief outline of trends in Japanese foreign language education as well as shifts in the nation’s linguistic demographics. In Chapter 2, I consider the theory behind plurilingual education, including the concept of plurilingual and pluricultural competence (Coste, Moore & Zarate, 2009[1997]), and raise my broad research questions. Chapter 3 follows by outlining my general research stance as well as specific methodologies that I apply across the subsequent studies.
In Chapter 4, I employ visual linguistic autobiographies to examine the personal and professional histories of two elementary school teachers (Kana-sensei and Yuki-sensei) who have come to engage in plurilingual practice. Through an in-depth examination of the teachers’ experiences, this chapter discusses the value of plural approaches and the didactics of plurilingualism in/for teacher training, including topics such as the reintroduction of languages that are present in the landscapes of children, such as Chinese or Korean. For the teachers, the question is how schools can reflect on the place of other languages alongside Japanese, the language of schooling, and English, the primary foreign language in policy and in the classroom.
In Chapter 5, I turn my attention to ALTs, a diverse group of language teaching assistants who are described in policy and teacher training documents as monolingual native speakers of English. I employed a demographic survey and conducted classroom observation and interview research with plurilingual ALTs. While the demographic study found that the majority of ALTs have ability in languages other than English and Japanese, and the interviews showed that plurilingual ALTs wish to include a greater range of their repertoires in the classroom, many with sound pedagogical reasons, analyses indicated that representations of ALTs as monolingual native English speakers pose a barrier to this being realized. I argue that there is an urgent need for representations of ALTs to be updated in order to accurately reflect their plurilingual and multicultural realities, so that teachers may be better prepared to capitalize upon them in their classes.
In Chapter 6, I examine the everyday plurilingual practice conducted by Yuki-sensei and Kana-sensei. As for an example of Yuki-sensei’s practice, I take up an ongoing plurilingual project centred around school lunches, in which the children experience various international cuisine, after having engaged with related languages and cultures through plurilingual videos and museum-like exhibits of cultural artefacts. In Kana-sensei’s case, long-term classroom observations were conducted of her plurilingual practice, and how it tied into her school’s ongoing peace learning. Analyses of video recordings, photographs, researchers’ field notes, learners’ journals, and semi-structured reflective interviews demonstrated how both teachers (one a self-described Japanese monolingual) employed plurilingual education to promote transferable skills and nurture a deeper awareness of language and openness to diversity, foster reflexivity, and encourage multidisciplinary engagement through dialogue, hypothesizing, and storying.
In Chapter 7, I carry out a general discussion that considers the sociolinguistic realities of Japanese elementary schools and society as a whole, the plurilingual realities of ALTs recruited to help teach foreign languages, and grassroots plurilingual practice as implemented by elementary school practitioners. The discussion is tied together by the relevance of the studies to teacher training. I come to the general conclusion that macro-level language education policy (in particular, the Course of Study and attendant commentary) in Japan too readily ignores the multilingual reality of the world, as well as the plurilingual realities of practitioners at the meso- and micro-level, and thereby the potential for multiple languages to contribute to the plurilingual repertoires of children as ‘global citizens.’ With respect to the participants in this thesis and their practice, I argue that there is a small but demonstrable shift starting, from ‘plurilingualism for the elites, to plurilingualism for the masses’ (Nishiyama, 2017), and that greater recognition of plurilingualism in teacher training, in macro-level policy, and in research, has the potential to prepare the Japanese populace for a more globalizing world, and for language learning in the world at large.
... This study focuses on Japan, where English has achieved almost no substantial status (Seargeant, 2009(Seargeant, , 2011, and a tiny minority of the population speaks English (Bolton & BaconShone, 2020; Terasawa, 2012, 2018a. These facts suggest that Japan has a social/institutional 'buffer' (Terasawa, 2018b) against English permeation. Even in this least 'Englishised' society, however, English use might become prevalent at a noninstitutional level, such as in business or daily settings. ...
... There is considerable evidence indicating that the demand for English use in Japan tends to be overestimated compared to the actual level. Such an overestimation can be observed in some policy documents by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (see Terasawa, 2014Terasawa, , 2018a, papers authored by English language teaching researchers (see Terasawa, 2018b) and business discourses (see Naruke, 2011). This observation appears plausible given that current globalisation (or, more precisely, the exaggerated image of globalisation ) has boosted the perceived demand for English use. ...
This paper presents the general findings of ‘The Survey of Japanese Workers’ English Use: Second Wave’, conducted by the author in March 2022. The results are as follows: (1) The frequencies of international communication behaviour (English use, Japanese use with foreigners, and use of translation tools) ranged from an average of 0.6 to 16.0 times per year and from 3.7% to 33.9% in terms of the ratio of experience. (2) Despite the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on international mobility, the frequencies of international communication generally remained at the same level or increased slightly from 2019 to 2021. (3) Japanese people were inclined to overestimate the number of Japanese users of English and the frequency of communicating with native speakers of English. This suggests the workings of globalist and global language ideologies as well as native-speakerist ideologies. (4) The average TOEIC score among Japanese workers as a whole (including non-test-takers) was estimated at approximately 440 via a multiple imputation method. (5) Behaviours and perceptions about the English language (e.g. English use frequency, positive attitudes toward English learning and the view of English use among Japanese people) were influenced by various demographic, behavioural and attitudinal factors. For example, English proficiency and pro-globalisation attitudes showed straightforward effects, whereas age, gender and education level exhibited some complex effects. Key Words: Japanese workers, international communication, web survey
... Although these two orientations can sometimes be the cause for dissonance (as observed in the Cultural Revolution in China, for example, see Gil, 2016 ), they seem well coordinated in the recent trend of English language teaching (ELT) as a foreign lan- E-mail address: terasawat@kwansei.ac.jp guage ( Terasawa, 2018b ). As English proficiency has increasingly been seen as a vital skill for global competition, fostering it within national curricula is considered beneficial both to individuals who will be engaged with international activities and nations as a whole that seek to compete in the global market and international politics. ...
... This paper has explored the intricacies of the EEPS policy process in Japan considering local political/historical conditions such as the historical trajectory of policy formation, rather than amorphous macro factors such as the demands of global economy. As has already been thoroughly studied ( Terasawa, 2018b ;J. Blommaert, 2010 ;J. ...
This paper aims to examine the policy process of implementing English education in primary schools in Japan, focusing on two reforms: (1) the introduction of a mandatory subject in 2011, emphasising cross-cultural experiences (rather than English skill development) and (2) the introduction of English as a formal subject in 2020. The paper investigates the underlying reasons for these policy changes through the two policy-process theories: windows-of-opportunity theory and historical institutionalism. Analysis of governmental documents revealed that (1) the 2011 reform can be considered a consequence of the path dependence effect accelerated by a peculiar reform in the 1990s, and (2) the 2020 reform can be attributed to a change in the political power balance within the government, originating from the late 1980s. These findings indicate that even some globally orientated policies like English education reform can be determined by historical/political conditions that are largely characterised as domestic, rather than global.
... Terasawa's [56] study revealed the rate was slightly increased to approximately 28.6%, and the percentage of people who used English five times a year or less was 20%. Although these findings indicate that English usage has experienced a gradual surge in the past two decades, Terasawa [57] argues that English does not play a market role due to Japan's linguistic homogeneity. ...
This chapter investigates the role of Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) scores within Japanese corporations and scrutinizes the resulting linguistic hierarchies that could foster linguicism and linguistic imperialism. The prominence of English proficiency, as reflected in TOEIC’s widespread use in hiring and promotion criteria, not only privileges certain linguistic groups but also enforces inequalities that affect individuals from diverse linguistic backgrounds. This chapter acquaints readers with the cultural norm of prioritizing TOEIC scores in Japan and its implications for both multilingualism and the professional mobility of non-native English speakers. Through a comprehensive analysis, this chapter elucidates the dichotomy between the need for English proficiency in a globalized business realm and the potential discrimination stemming from over-reliance on standardized English tests. Furthermore, this chapter discusses the pivotal role of TOEIC in Japan’s educational and professional sectors and how it shapes the socio-economic landscape, influencing salaries and career progression. Finally, the chapter advances recommendations for Japanese corporations to shift toward more equitable linguistic practices. The goal is to foster a multicultural work environment that values multilingualism and respects the linguistic diversity of all employees. By reevaluating the emphasis on TOEIC scores, Japanese corporations can take meaningful steps toward combating linguistic inequality, linguicism, and the impact of linguistic imperialism.
... The globalised economy, the globalisation of finance and commerce, the increasing mobility of people across borders, and the transnational circulation of information and ideas augmented by technological innovation are all likely to have a relatively direct impact on the proliferation of English use, both positive and negative. Indeed, as has been revealed in empirical studies (Terasawa, 2018a; see also Terasawa, 2018b), English use frequency in Japan declined by around 5 per cent in the late 2000s as a result of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the consequent stagnation in the mobility of people, capital, and business (this study will be discussed in more detail later). ...
This study sought to determine the extent to which English has spread in Japanese society. It analyses large-scale web panel-based questionnaire survey data and estimates English use frequency using a bias correction method. The results show that for most types of English use investigated, the average frequencies were less than five times a year, the proportions of English users were less than 20%, and these frequencies varied according to the type of language use and workers’ attributes. These findings suggest that English use in Japan is limited to a small specific group of workers. Furthermore, the use of English productive skills was shown to be less than 10%, whereas the use of English receptive skills and other cross-linguistic behaviours were more common. Based on these findings, this study discusses the scale of the spread of English in Japan from the perspective of English use frequency.
... A typical example of antiglobalization in recent years is the global financial crisis of 20072008, during which global trade and migration stagnated. In addition, as I statistically revealed (Terasawa, 2018a(Terasawa, , 2018b, this led to a decrease in the necessity for Japanese people to use English. Moreover, Brexit and the election of a US president that is hostile to free trade (both emerged in 2016) reflect some sorts of antiglobalization. ...
The paper aims to systematically organize the debate surrounding English education in elementary schools (EEES) that has taken place since the late 1990s and to provide implications for future discussions. Through a qualitative content analysis of the literature, the following findings were obtained. (1) Pro-EEES arguments can be classified into six patterns that are mutually different in terms of premise (i.e., perception of social situation, effectiveness of EEES, and educational goals). (2) Anti-EEES arguments can be classified into two broad categories, namely, “EEES is ineffective” (categorized into 9 types) and “EEES is harmful” (categorized into 10 types). (3) Despite the numerous issues raised in the debate, only a few issues have been enthusiastically discussed. The other issues have received little attention, in spite of the fact that some of them are highly problematic. (4) The conflict between the proponents and opponents of EEES frequently stems from a lack of empirical data rather than an irreconcilable difference in values. This finding suggests that researchers can, and should, play a more central role than previously expected in studying EEES by providing empirical evidence and rendering the discussion productive.
... Kariya & Rappleye, 2010;Rappleye, 2012;Shibata, 2010;Takayama, 2011), only few studies have approached foreign language education policies in a broader context (cf. Aspinall, 2012;Kubota, 2015;Terasawa, 2018). The current paper attempts to bridge the research gap by providing an empirical analysis of the complex interconnections between global education trends and the politics of foreign language education policy in Japan. ...
This paper aims to show the complex overlapping and interaction with exogenous influences in the processes of national policymaking by analysing a case of policy borrowing in Japan. Specifically, it explores the political circumstances under which the Council of Europe Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was introduced to foreign language education policy at the national government level in Japan. The results suggest that the CEFR was borrowed selectively as a practical solution to achieve prolonged educational and political agendas promoted by multiple actors such as academics, the Ministry of Education (MEXT), and a group of politicians and business associations. This study moreover shows that the CEFR borrowing occurred under manifold interplays between multiple global education trends and domestic needs for Japanese citizens to acquire a practical communicative command of English to strengthen their international economic competitiveness.
... Learning to speak the language was encouraged in order to propagate Japanese values in the international community and maintain Japan's economic success (Hashimoto, 2007;Kubota, 2002Kubota, , 2011cToh, 2019). However, Japan generally failed to produce competent English speakers (Butler & Iino, 2005) since English was not widely used in daily life and work in the country (Seargeant, 2009;Terasawa, 2018). Therefore, MEXT set a target for nihonjingakkō as an ideal education institution to foster students as 'global human resources' who have high levels of English competency (Kojima, 1999;Sato, 1997). ...
This thesis critically examines the language ideologies underpinning the language curriculum and language teaching practices in a nihonjingakkō, a full-time day school for children of Japanese expatriates, in Belgium. By drawing on the theoretical frame of ideology of authenticity and ideology of anonymity (Woolard, 2016), I investigate what language ideologies the school, principal, and language teachers hold and how these influence the school’s language curriculum and language teachers’ pedagogy. The research adopted an ethnographically-oriented case study approach. The data consisted of semi-structured interviews with the principal and language teachers along with questionnaires, classroom observations, and analysis of policy documents from the school. Using qualitative content analysis, the study illustrated the complexity and multiplicity of language ideologies manifested in the school’s policy and practice. The findings indicate that the language ideologies operating in the school influencing the language curriculum and pedagogy are primarily monolingual and homogeneous, and largely influenced by the dominant language ideologies of Japan’s Ministry of Education and Japanese society. Consequently, the school positions itself as if it were a mainstream school in Japan despite its location in the multilingual setting of Belgium. This was manifested through Japanese and English occupying the dominant role in the language curriculum, while French was marginalized, and no other languages were offered. Furthermore, a monolingual approach to pedagogy was adopted that emphasized keeping language separate, disregarding students’ and language teachers’ rich multilingual repertoire. The idea of developing students to be multilingual speakers is missing from the school curriculum and pedagogy, since the school do not conceive their multilingual abilities as a resource. In conclusion, this study proposes a critique of the language education policy of the nihonjingakkō operated in non-Anglophone settings such as Belgium. By setting this research in a nihonjingakkō in Belgium, I argue that these schools have the potential to provide an excellent model for multilingual education for Japanese children and for Japan since the majority of nihonjingakkō students will eventually return to Japan (Sato, 2019). The study also calls for a change in the monolingual language ideologies which shape the equation of ‘foreign language is English’ (Erikawa, 2018; Kubota, 2019; Seargeant, 2009) pervasive in the Japanese schooling context.
This study is an initial attempt to assess the impact that MEXT Scholars alumni have in the means of the internationalization of Japan and how this is ensured and measured by the involved parties. Data for this research was gathered through literature review regarding scholarship, migrations and globalization trends together to specific analysis about the Japanese case regarding the internationalization of the tertiary education and employment opportunities for foreigners in Japan. Small survey to MEXT alumni together with some in deep interviews were used as a guide to get a perspective of what happens with MEXT Scholar after they finish their programs. Together with data based on personal experience as a MEXT Scholarship receiver, this paper shows reasons behind people either staying or leaving Japan, and the struggles that most of them have during their scholarship period due to the lack of information and overall communication between the receivers Universities and MEXT.
There are six sections in this article. In section 1, I summarize views on discourse as a facet of globalization in the academic literature, and then introduce an approach based upon a version of ‘critical discourse analysis’ (CDA) and ‘cultural political economy.’ In section 2, I discuss different strategies of globalization (and regionalization) emanating from governmental and non-governmental agencies, and the different discourses that constitute elements of these strategies. In section 3, I discuss how processes of globalization impact upon specific spatial ‘entities’ (nation-states, cities, regions, etc.) in terms of the idea of ‘re-scaling,’ i.e., changing relations in processes, relationships, practices, and so forth between local, national, and international (including ‘global’) scales. I focus here upon the national scale in its relation to the global scale and the scale of international regions (in particular, the process of ‘European integration’). In section 4, I deal with the media and mediation. In section 5, I discuss people's ordinary experience of globalization, and its implications for and effects upon their lives. Section 6 deals with war and terrorism.
Hoping to achieve the current Japanese administration's goals of decentralisation and privatisation, the Japanese government has granted substantial latitude to local governments and individual schools as part of its recent reform of foreign language education. In introducing English at elementary schools, micro-language policies have been actively enacted at the local level along with slow but somewhat tactical top-down policies. The driving force behind the implementation of English in Japanese elementary schools is not simply a desire to prepare students for a global economy but also a result of multiple social and political factors. The most fundamental challenges that EES in Japan currently faces relate to issues of equity and growing diversity.
Taiwan, like many other countries in Asia, introduced considerable changes in English education policy in response to the
need for English communication in the global market. During the process of implementing the new English education policy,
the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Taiwan encountered several problems. Although researchers have examined other issues concerning
the implementation of the English education policy, such as the shortage of trained English teaching personnel, the selection
of textbooks and the difficulty of teaching a class of heterogeneous learners, parental attitudes toward or expectations for
the English education policy itself remain unexplored. Parental opinions about English education and the extent to which parents
support English education reform play a large role in the success of the implementation of the policy and are important factors
for the government to consider when shaping future education policies. The perspectives of parents, therefore, should be included
in a research-based examination. This study surveyed the opinions of Taiwanese parents on current English education policy
and practice.
In this book, the authors set forth a new model of globalization that lays claims to supersede existing models, and then use this model to assess the way the processes of globalization have operated in different historic periods in respect to political organization, military globalization, trade, finance, corporate productivity, migration, culture, and the environment. Each of these topics is covered in a chapter which contrasts the contemporary nature of globalization with that of earlier epochs. In mapping the shape and political consequences of globalization, the authors concentrate on six states in advanced capitalist societies (SIACS): the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany, and Japan. For comparative purposes, other states—particularly those with developing economics—are referred to and discussed where relevant. The book concludes by systematically describing and assessing contemporary globalization, and appraising the implications of globalization for the sovereignty and autonomy of SIACS. It also confronts directly the political fatalism that surrounds much discussion of globalization with a normative agenda that elaborates the possibilities for democratizing and civilizing the unfolding global transformation.
This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies - drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history - inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language’s symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of ‘English as a global language’. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a ‘global’ language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world.
A much-cited and highly influential text by Alastair Pennycook, one of the world authorities in sociolinguistics, The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language explores the globalization of English by examining its colonial origins, its connections to linguistics and applied linguistics, and its relationships to the global spread of teaching practices. Nine chapters cover a wide range of key topics including: international politics colonial history critical pedagogy postcolonial literature. The book provides a critical understanding of the concept of the ‘worldliness of English’, or the idea that English can never be removed from the social, cultural, economic or political contexts in which it is used. Reissued with a substantial preface, this Routledge Linguistics Classic remains a landmark text, which led a much-needed critical and ideologically-informed investigation into the burgeoning topic of World Englishes. Key reading for all those working in the areas of Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and World Englishes.
Human language has changed in the age of globalization: no longer tied to stable and resident communities, it moves across the globe, and it changes in the process. The world has become a complex 'web' of villages, towns, neighbourhoods and settlements connected by material and symbolic ties in often unpredictable ways. This phenomenon requires us to revise our understanding of linguistic communication. In The Sociolinguistics of Globalization Jan Blommaert constructs a theory of changing language in a changing society, reconsidering locality, repertoires, competence, history and sociolinguistic inequality. • There is great interest in the issue of globalization and this book will appeal to scholars and students in linguistics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics and anthropology • Richly illustrated with examples from around the globe • Presents a profound revision of sociolinguistic work in the area of linguistic communication
Around 9:30 on a chilly Thursday night in 2007, I was sitting at a booth in Denny’s Restaurant in Hasu (pseudonym), a mid-sized city in rural Japan with a growing migrant population mainly from Brazil, China and Peru. Across the table were two participants of my research — Saori, a woman in her twenties and Kazuo, a man in his thirties.1 They had come right after their eikaiwa [English conversation] class. This was the second time I interviewed Saori and Kazuo at Denny’s.
David Crystal’s classic English as a Global Language considers the history, present status and future of the English language, focusing on its role as the leading international language. English has been deemed the most ‘successful’ language ever, with 1500 million speakers internationally, presenting a difficult task to those who wish to investigate it in its entirety. However, Crystal explores the subject in a measured but engaging way, always backing up observations with facts and figures. Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this is a book written by an expert both for specialists in the subject and for general readers interested in the English language.
The English language is spreading across the world, and so too is hip-hop culture: both are being altered, developed, reinterpreted, reclaimed. This timely book explores the relationship between global Englishes (the spread and use of diverse forms of English within processes of globalization) and transcultural flows (the movements, changes and reuses of cultural forms in disparate contexts). This wide-ranging study focuses on the ways English is embedded in other linguistic contexts, including those of East Asia, Australia, West Africa and the Pacific Islands. Drawing on transgressive and performative theory, Pennycook looks at how global Englishes, transcultural flows and pedagogy are interconnected in ways that oblige us to rethink language and culture within the contemporary world. Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows is a valuable resource to applied linguists, sociolinguists, and students on cultural studies, English language studies, TEFL and TESOL courses.
This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies - drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history - inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language's symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of 'English as a global language'. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a 'global' language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world.
This article presents the results of an investigation into the place of English in the curriculum in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The study indicates that the emergence of English as a global language is having considerable impact on policies and practices in all countries surveyed. However, it also reveals significant problems, including confusion and inconsistency, at the level of policy, particularly regarding the issue of age of initial instruction, inequity regarding access to effective language instruction, inadequately trained and skilled teachers, and a disjunction between curriculum rhetoric and pedagogical reality.
From 2011, the new curriculum for introducing English to Japanese primary schools will be fully implemented in the form of ‘foreign language activities’. This innovation forms part of the government's plan to cultivate ‘Japanese with English abilities’, a development based on the awareness, particularly in the business sector, that equipping Japanese citizens with English skills is imperative if Japan is to remain competitive in the international market. Although Teaching English as a Foreign Language has been a key element of Japan's internationalisation and one of the most hotly debated educational issues in Japan since the 1980s, the new curriculum is not a straightforward matter of early education in foreign language acquisition. Using critical discourse analysis as a methodological tool, this study analyses language policy documents, including the Course of Study for primary schools and junior high schools, to argue that it is rather an elaborate scheme to foster a particular attitude towards communication with foreigners by emphasising the differences between foreign languages and cultures and Japanese language and culture in the name of international understanding.
English is often assumed to be a key to material success and social inclusion, and this belief commonly works to justify the global dominance of English, glossing over and rationalizing broader social inequalities. This paper extends the discussion of this fallacy of ‘the promise of English’ to the domain of the South Korean job market, where skills in the English language play a major role in determining one's access to white-collar jobs. Since the 1990s, different modes of English language testing have emerged as popular means for evaluating job applicants for Korean corporations, constantly upgrading the criteria for ‘good English’. Through a discussion of how such changes are linked with the conception of self in the neoliberal workplace and how evaluation of linguistic competence is always a matter of social and ideological interpretation, this paper demonstrates why, in the Korean job market, the fulfillment of the promise of English is constantly deferred.
This article analyzes “success stories” of English language learning in the Korean conservative press as tales of neoliberal personhood, locating the stories within South Korea's neoliberal transformation and its concomitant “English frenzy.” In these texts, the semiotic process of leveling—the simultaneous work of erasure and highlighting—naturalizes the successful learner's competence in English by grounding that competence in the subjective, human qualities of the speaker. By obscuring class-based constraints on access to English that determine the structure of the Korean linguistic market, this process ultimately rationalizes and justifies the neoliberal logic of human capital development. [English, South Korea, language ideology, competence, neoliberalism, media]
'Globalization' has become one of the defining buzzwords of our time - a term that describes a variety of accelerating economic, political, cultural, ideological, and environmental processes that are rapidly altering our experience of the world. It is by its nature a dynamic topic - and this Very Short Introduction has been fully updated for 2009, to include developments in global politics, the impact of terrorism, and environmental issues. Presenting globalization in accessible language as a multifaceted process encompassing global, regional, and local aspects of social life, Manfred B. Steger looks at its causes and effects, examines whether it is a new phenomenon, and explores the question of whether, ultimately, globalization is a good or a bad thing.
In response to growing criticism that Japanese do not have sufficient communicative skills in English, the Japanese government proposed a five-year Action Plan to Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities in 2003. This paper examines the context and content of this plan as well as the initial reactions to it in various educational settings. The Action Plan itself reflects a number of conflicting ideological orientations, including: (1) whether Japan should pursue a policy of multilingualism or one favoring the spread of English; (2) whether Japan should emphasize international understanding or simply English education; and (3) promoting egalitarianism versus allowing for individualized education. Despite the challenges that these conflicting goals present, the Action Plan gives greater autonomy to teachers and local governments and thus may improve English education by enabling them to become active participants in the development of language education policies rather than simply being passive consumers of such policies.
This paper examines the formulation of China’s foreign language policy on primary English education issued in 2001, specifically
exploring factors contributing to the formulation of the policy and problems in its formulation. Drawing upon official documents,
newspaper archives, publications, and an interview with an education official, it identifies five contributing factors and
six problems in relation to policy formulation. The paper argues that the policy, jointly shaped by social, economic, educational,
linguistic, and political forces, was the outcome of top-down, assumption-based, and hasty policymaking. The Chinese case
exemplifies the impact of the global spread of English on foreign language policy in non-English speaking countries.
Nanette Gottlieb’s comprehensive study considers the role of language in Japanese society, particularly in relation to the formation of national and personal identities. It covers important questions such as multilingualism, language and nationalism, language and technology, and literacy and reading habits. Written by a leading authority in this field, Gottlieb's work is essential reading for students and scholars wishing to know more about the Japanese language and the society in which it is spoken.
China's Ministry of Education issued a foreign language policy in 2001, mandating that primary school students start to learn English as a compulsory subject in the third grade. This study adopts a layered case study design to examine the formulation and implementation of the policy. Data were collected from educational agencies at four hierarchical levels and four public primary schools of different types. Findings show that five factors--ever-increasing demand for English in China, basic education reform, pre-policy primary English education, belief in benefits of an earlier start, and the Vice Premier's involvement--contributed to the formulation of the policy, indicating that social, economic, educational, linguistic, and political factors jointly shaped the policy. With regard to policy implementation, analysis of local official documents found that the national policy document, before reaching schools at the grassroots level, was interpreted and modified by the local educational agencies in accordance with local economic and educational conditions. In the school settings, the reality of implementation is determined by the interplay of various factors, including a school's geographic location, size, administration, availability of teachers, and funding. The implementation of the policy in the four schools shows disparity among them, particularly with striking gaps between the more privileged schools and the less privileged ones almost in every aspect. The findings suggest that the policy was the outcome of top-down, assumption-based, and hasty policymaking, which may consequently have unintended impact on educationally disadvantaged students, poorly-resourced schools, ELT at the junior secondary school level, and social stratification in China. The study illustrates the rationale behind a foreign language policy as well as multilayers and multifactors involved in the implementation of the policy when it moves from rhetoric to reality in a centralized education system. It also exemplifies the impact of the global spread of English on foreign language policy and practice in non-English speaking countries.
The Aging Society: Current Situation and Implementation Measures FY 2014
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Shogakko Eigo Kyoiku, Gengo Seisaku, Taishu” [English Language Education at Elementary Schools, Language Policy, and the General Public
- Minoru Wada
The Local Politics of Global English: Case Studies in Linguistic Globalization
- Selma K Sonntag
Sonntag, Selma K. 2003. The Local Politics of Global English: Case Studies in Linguistic Globalization. Lanham, MD:
Lexington Books.
Nihonjin to Eigo no Shakaigaku
- Takunori Terasawa
Terasawa, Takunori. 2015. Nihonjin to Eigo no Shakaigaku [Sociology of English Language and the Japanese]. Tokyo:
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Japan's Challenge of Fostering 'Global Human Resources': Policy Debates and Practices
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Yonezawa, Akiyoshi. 2014. "Japan's Challenge of Fostering 'Global Human Resources': Policy Debates and Practices."
Japan Labor Review 11 (2): 37-52. http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/307883.
The Frontier within: Individual Empowerment and Better Governance in the New Millennium
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Eigo ga Tsukaeru Nihonjin" no Ikusei no tameno Kodo Keikaku
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Kokusai Kyotsugo toshite no Eigoryoku Kojo no tameno Itsutsu no Teigen to Gutaiteki Shisaku [Five Proposals and Specific Measures for Developing Proficiency
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“ [Action Plan to Develop “Japanese with English Abilities
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Five Proposals and Specific Measures for Developing Proficiency in English for International Communication
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