Issues in ELT in Japan-Syllabus

SE: Issues in English Education in Japan

Mark Christianson, ILC-273, (0422) 33-3497, markc@icu.ac.jp, Email for appointments

Why do all Japanese students have to study English? Why not Chinese? Do you feel it is reasonable to start English language classes in Japanese elementary schools? Why not start in college? Also, why do many Japanese students who study English intensively for several years still feel a lack of confidence in their ability? What are some of the main difficulties that Japanese learners of English face? What is MEXT’s policy of English language education in the first place? How should Japanese society perceive the role of English as a foreign language and what actions should educators and government leaders take in the next decades?

The goal of the course will be for you to develop your ideas regarding the above issues based on reading various viewpoints and analyzing the various arguments. The class will include discussions and debates, a reading journal, opinion essays, and a final presentation. The ultimate, most important goal is the development of your ability to use English for academic communication in speaking and writing. For each issue, we will try to have a cycle of Read, Discuss, Research, Write, Debate, Reflect.

Date	Homework Due	Class Activities (Can change by mutual agreement)
1. 9/9 W	Welcome!	Intro, ice-breaking, brainstorm topics of interest
2. 9/14 M	Moodle No.1	Your personal "Issues of English Education in Japan"
3. 9/16 W	RJ No.1	Issue 1: Is Japan’s English education a failure?
4. 9/21 M	Moodle No.2	Issue 1: Debate Skill Basics, Preparation
*9/23 W	Holiday
5. 9/28 M	Debate Prep	Issue 1: Debate Day
6. 9/30 W	RJ No.2	Issue 2: Should English education start from 1st grade?
7. 10/5 M	Debate Prep	Issue 2: Debate Preparation
8. 10/7 W	Opinion No.2	Issue 2: Debate Day
9. 10/12 M	RJ-Reflection	Mid-term reflection, make presentation groups
10. 10/14 W	Research	Group Work Day
11. 10/19 M	RJ No. 3	Issue 3: How should Japan’s language policy be changed? (tbd)
12. 10/21 W	Debate Prep	Issue 3: Debate Preparation
13. 10/26 M	Opinion No.3	Issue 3: Debate Day
14.10/28 W	Group Outline	Group Work Day
*11/2	Holiday
15. 11/4 W	Visual Aids	Rehearsal tutorials with Mark (11/4 or other day)
16. 11/9 M	Practice!	Presentation Day
17. 11/11 W	Final Reflection	Presentation Day, Final Summary

Participation 20%, Moodle Tasks/Writing 30%, Presentation 30%, Reading Journal 20%

Basically, A Excellent= 91%+, B Good=81%+, C Satisfactory=70%+, D=60%+, E=59% or less, but final grades will follow the criteria given in the ELP Student Handbook p.11-13.

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Key Assignments

Participation 20%

Participation means how well you attended and participated in classes, on time, with sufficient preparation. Here are some guidelines for penalities related to participation:

Absent with no explanation = -2% per class

Absent with explanation = -1% (If you have a good reason, it may be no penalty, too.)

Late with no good reason such as official train delay = -1% per class

Not prepared or not actively participating in class = -1% per class

Moodle Tasks/Writing 30%

We will also have a class website on Moodle, you will be evaluated on how well-written your opinions or ideas were and also how well you responded to your classmates’s ideas. Each week, your teacher will give you specific instructions for Moodle, and most tasks will be to write your opinion and reasons prior to the debates or discussions, and to write comments to your classmates ideas. Some guidelines will be:

Submitted/Essay Moodle posting is late, short, or unclearly written with many mistakes = -1%

Did not write any reactions to other students’ Moodle opinions = -1%

Final Group Presentation (30%)

The class will be divided into four groups, and each group will make a presentation of 20-30 minutes on a topic of your choice. Each person must speak for at least 3~4 minutes. A detailed outline or the presentation and PowerPoint slides must be submitted by the group in advance. Each person will be graded by individual performance and also the contribution to the group effort. We will make groups around the beginning of October.

Reading Reaction Journal (20%)

Each of you must submit a Reading Reaction Journal on designated dates during the term. Your Reading Reaction Journal should be a well-organized record of your reading notes, questions, reactions, vocabulary learning, and other learning in this course. Also, if you prefer to do an "e-Journal" using a blog or other format, that is also welcome, but you will need to print it to bring it to class to use for discussions.

Each Journal entry will be evaluated as Excellent 4pts(wow! beyond criteria) , Good 3pts(=meeting all criteria well) , Mostly Good 2pts (meeting most criteria), or Need to do more! 1pt.

I'll give more details on each assignment step by step, so please ask me about any unclear points.