Innovation in Language Learning
The Potential Negative Impact of the Institutionalisation of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) Teaching
Nobumi Kobayashi, Snow Monkey and Bee (SMAB) (United Kingdom)
Abstract
Anime is considered one of the main reasons students study JFL. However, many formally trained Japanese teachers do not endorse its use as a good learning tool. As a rule, they adhere to the curriculum driven by the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Their reservations about anime and social media stem from the common belief that students should focus on learning 'proper' Japanese: grammatically correct and polite Japanese, rather than informal language and slang (1). This paper examines this view critically and highlights the intriguing situation in which conventional teaching materials avoid using authentic resources, including anime. This issue is closely related to the strict criteria of the grammar-driven approach, which focuses on a specific type of Japanese. This approach neglects spoken Japanese, as it's considered not to adhere to grammar. Instead, it teaches a 'formal' constructed version that closely resembles written Japanese but is presented as a spoken language through dialogues. It can be misleading for students, especially beginners, who would not know the difference, and indeed, many beginner students talk as if they were reading from written text. It's fascinating to learn that written Japanese has a relatively recent history, emerging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with significant grammatical influence from European languages, particularly English (2). Remarkably, the development of Japanese grammar alongside this has sparked debates about its fidelity in accurately representing the Japanese language, as it was shaped alongside Western linguistic concepts (3) This may mean the problem with spoken Japanese is not that it does not follow grammar but is culturally more Japanese than the written variety since it has remained largely uninfluenced by foreign languages. The main issue here is that conventional materials following the JLPT curriculum, including textbooks and courses, don't cater for students who wish to learn to speak and understand spoken Japanese, but they are unaware of this fact.
Keywords: The Japanese Language Proficiency Test, authentic materials (anime), spoken language, one-size-fits-all approach and alternative approach
REFERENCES
[1] Toyozato, S. (2016) Japanese For Beginners,Second Edition, Hong Kong, Tuttle.
[2]Miura, A. (1979) ‘The Influence of English on Japanese Grammar, The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol.14, No1: pp.3-30.
[3] Kuginuki, T. (2007) ‘Nihongo Kenkyu no Kindaika to Seiyou Tetsugaku,
HERSETEC, 1,2 (27): pp. 39-55.
