Japanese Learners' Reactions To Communicative English Lessons

Abstract

Active student oral participation, a cornerstone of communicative approaches to language instruction, runs counter to certain japanese cultural norms. A summary of pertinent findings in the literature on japanese and American classroom interactional styles is presented. An exploratory investigation of japanese students' reactions to communicative English lessons taught by a Western teacher revealed: (a) that students perceived Western and japanese teaching approaches to differ in fundamental ways, (b) that students wanted to become more active class participants but felt inhibited about doing so, and (c) that students reported making progress in overcoming their inhibitions after a month of communicative lessons. Factors contributing to these gains may have been: (a) students' belief that japanese people need to become more expressive; (b) the teacher'S sensitivity to the interaction styles of his students; (c) explicit descriptions concerning sOciopragmatic norm differences; and (d) positive reinforcement of students' attempts at speaking.