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Title:
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Intercultural Teaching and Learning: English as a foreign language education in Finland and Japan
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Author:
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Mike Garant
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Jyväskylä
, Organizational Communication
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Degree Date:
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1997
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Applied Linguistics
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Subject Language(s):
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English
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Director(s):
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Liis Salo-Lee
Jakko Lehtonen
Mutsuko Takahashi
Sauli Takala
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Abstract:
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In Finland and Japan, as in all countries, cultural assumptions and norms underpin pedagogic decisions which determine the outcome of foreign language teaching and learning. This study was undertaken to offer a framework for studying how teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is planned and executed in relation to the educational culture present in specific learning environments. The focus extends the use of Hofstedes (1980; 1986, 1990) model of cultural difference and examines how collectivism vs. individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity vs. femininity as well as aspects of context (Hall 1976) and politeness (Scollon and Scollon 1983; 1995) influence TEFL and to what extent there are cultural similarities and differences between Japan and Finland in the specific junior high school educational cultures studied. The research model was applied to language planning and textbook design, testing, learner and teacher attitudes, transcribed classroom discourse and lesson segmentation data gathered in the two countries over a five-year period. Results provide an overall perspective of phenomena, including the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Program. While communication in English was an expressed goal in the Japanese setting, entrance tests were a major motivational factor. In the Finnish setting, test taking was only a minor factor in English education and communication was paramount. Classroom teaching methods, lesson segmentation and teacher-student/ student-student interaction in both countries were found to be influenced by textbook design and curriculum goals as well as cultural factors. The Finnish setting reflected a more learner-centered teaching approach in which teachers encouraged pupils to interact with themselves and each other. This was conducive to communicative language teaching. The Japanese educational culture in the TEFL classroom tended to be more teacher-centered with an emphasis on test training and structural teaching approaches. The Finnish TEFL methods at the junior high school level appear successful in establishing communication in the classroom and could prove useful in other settings, including Japan, that seek to provide pupils with the necessary language skills to become successful participants in the emerging English-speaking global community.
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Page Updated: 27-Nov-2009
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