There is awareness and concern in Japan that
the process of teaching and learning English as a
foreign language in the school system does not produce
students who can communicate in the target language.
This is especially true of communication in the spoken
mode.
Attempts have been made to move towards more
communicative language teaching, despite constraints
such as large class size, compulsory use of
structurally-organized textbooks, and grammar-based
university entrance examinations. However, such
attempts do not seem to have been particularly
successful.
The purpose of this study is to suggest
modifications to the teaching of English in upper
secondary schools in Japan which could enable students
to develop their communicative competence and also to
consider implications for the assessment of spoken
communication.
Chapter I describes the scope and background of
the study.
Chapter II looks at the teaching of English in
upper secondary schools in Japan, discussing aspects
such as the place of English in the total school curriculum and constraints on the introduction of
spoken communicative activities.
Chapter III discusses the theory and practice of
the Communicative Approach to Language Teaching in the
English teaching context in Japan.
Chapter IV offers suggestions for incorporating
spoken communication in English lessons at upper
secondary school level.
In Chapter V, the problem of assessing oral
communicative performance is considered in practical
terms.
The final chapter highlights major constraints
and points to recent developments which may give an
impetus to a move towards more communicative teaching
of English as a foreign language in Japanese schools.
It is intended that this Study Report will
provide guidelines for the feasible introduction of
spoken communicative activities in large classes at
upper secondary level and that it will offer
practical suggestions for assessing students'
performance in such activities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218767 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Ando, Kimihito, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Kimihito Ando |
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