Why are there so many bad English teachers in Japan?
After training, recruiting, observing and chatting with English teachers and students in Turkey, Thailand, Spain, Italy, the UK (meaning teachers and students from everywhere) and spending 4 years in Japan, I have come to the conclusion that the average level of teaching ability of native English speaking teachers is lower in Japan than almost anywhere. Evidence:
- The lack of materials written by teachers based in Japan published by international publishers, compared to say teachers based in Spain
- Lack of progress and high drop out rate of Japanese students
- My language school in London had a system of taking ten points off the written test score of only Japanese students before they placed them in classes, as they had a special lack of ability to turn theoretical knowledge into a practical ability to read, write, listen and speak. Other nationalities lacked some of these skills, but rarely all four!
- Classes I have taken over in other countries have often known the basics of how to do pairwork, classroom language in English, the phonemic script, word and sentence stress, listening and reading micro-skills, and/ or understanding unstressed forms. That is rarely the case in Japan.
- When I have done teacher training INSET workshops in other countries I have always had to add an original twist, such as “How to use songs in new ways” about not always doing gap fills. When I tried that in Japan, I always had to go back to absolute basics- using songs at all is the original twist!
- The comparative lack of interest in learning Japanese, shows a lack of understanding of what the students are going through trying to learn a language and means the teacher can give no advice to students on how a language can be learnt well
- Student comments such as “You are the first teacher in this school to use the phonemic script, I haven’t seen that since high school”.
- Lots of other subjective feedback and feelings
Am I wrong? Do you know other countries where it is just as bad? And if it is true, why is it so? (Have just realised that is my original question which I haven’t answered at all, coming up in Part Two…)
Originally inspired by this post on My So Called Japanese Life blog.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:32 am
Do you think it has to do in part with student expectations? Or just the EFL context in the country? Even when I compare the countries in Eastern Europe I’ve worked in, I do notice a difference - sometimes native speakers do have essentially the same job as their local counterparts. But I’ve been in other situations where people who would have been my colleagues (had I taken the job) were stunned when I contributed some simple but good activity in a workshop.
I guess my idea is that sometimes students or schools have a sense that they want conversation, and that means a native speaker talking, not teaching, and the situation is not really set up to encourage development. Of course some people will do it on their own initiative, but others will coast.
But I don’t know Japan - could this be?
August 10th, 2007 at 8:55 am
I think you have a point about student expectations, which I will be dealing with in Part Two. Or could be Part Three, depending on how much of a rant it turns into…
August 26th, 2007 at 5:53 am
Hey, Alex, your experience sounds really different to mine. I have been teaching in Japan for almost 10 years and I work with a great bunch of teachers, all are qualified in some way, usually an MA in TESOL. Maybe you are just focusing on the conversation school ghetto. True that CELTA is not as recognized in Japan as it is in Europe, but PPP isn’t really all that. I was confused by your statement that there is a lack of materials written by teachers based in Japan published by international publishers since there are a great deal and many major publishers work with Japanese universities when they do pilots of the materials. Rod Ellis for example teaches at Temple in Japan as do a few other “big” names. JD Brown also teaches a class in the summers at Temple. Also you talked about the lack of progress and high drop out rate of Japanese students . What do you mean? At the school where you work?
Anyway, if you want to move out of this ghetto and meet some people who really care about teaching in Japan (and get a more accurate low down on the teaching scene here), join JALT and attend some of the events. Also if you don’t already have one, get an MA in TESOL so that you can get a better job!
August 26th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Hi Josh
Yes, you’ve figured me out. I have always worked for conversation schools or as a Business English and other outside contracts teacher and I’m afraid neither MAs nor universities are really my thing. In fact, from what you say I guess you would think it would be a waste of time taking an MA while still working for a private English school (sorry if I am putting words in your mouth!), which certainly wouldn’t be a common attitude in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
I am very happy that you have a positive image of your part of the English teaching world in Japan, but it is obvious you do not feel the same about other sectors that everywhere else would be considered to be full of “English teachers” and still make up the majority of the contact Japanese people have with “Eigo no sensei”s. Still, I am pleasantly and genuinely surprised if people have a generally high opinion on the level of English teaching (rather than just level of qualifications or lecturing ability) by native speakers in Japanese universities. (I am a big Rod Ellis fan, btw, and unless Temple is the exception maybe Japanese universities are more progressive than I thought). I bow to your inside knowledge. If you do have to time to give me some more information, I would love to know:
I was being a bit vague when I said materials. What I really meant was Headway-type major textbook courses. Do these also get written and tested in Japan?
Do you students learn a lot of English in university classes, because I have plenty who seem to have learnt little or at least forgotten it all quickly?
Genuine questions both…