Ferthelanguage
Pr1less11na11n
Higher
Educau1n

INTHISISSUE
CUE
SIGNews
Call for contributions to''Projects for the Wniversity Classroom"
CUE Conference 2000 Preview
Bulletin Boan

2
3
4

Features
Ford: Promoting Autonomous Lang11age
Use in the Uapanese University
EFL Classroom
Rausch: University Student Readiness for
Language Learning Strategies Instruction:
Teacher-Directed versus Learner-Directed
Approac es
12
ulvey: iThe Recent Monbushou Reform
Rroposals: Ramifications and(f)pportunities

18

Fron,
1111
Clialkface
Chambers: Literature and Dr.ama:
A Rractica/ Applicatiem for English
Language Learnimg

24

Cvbern111111e
Snyder: Academic Research Soumes on
the Internet
26

OpinionandPers1ective
Pappier on Guest: Is This Really as Good
as it Gets?
28

Right
toReplv
Guest replies to Pappier

30

BookReview
Snyder on Language and Thought:
Interdisciplinary Themes

32"lve educale

I.he senses,

I.he ima_yinalion, I.hesocial hein_y, I.he mus,.,cfes, I.he nervous sys,.,fem, I.he inluilion, I.he
sense of heaul_yas
meff as memory andinleffecl. 7/nymay, me
fry!"fro01 "liJ001anon I.he Cdye of:Ji01e"hy !.JJ(ar_ye:Piercy

RetailPricetorNon-Members:¥100/$1
Japan
Associatton
torLanguage
Teaching
CollegeandUniversllV
Educators
SpecialInterestGroupMagellan K.K.
Magellan K.K. are Independent International Investment Advisers. We
advise the long stay Educational Professional working in Japan, of
whatever nationality, whether Language Teacher, Lecturer or University
Professor on how best to use their privileged expatriate status to achieve
their long term financial objectives.
As an Educator living and working in Japan you have joined the ranks ofthe long stay Educational Professionals who choose to live and workoverseas. The motivations to do so are many and complex but common tomost is the opportunity it provides by way of an income higher than could
be enjoyed at home to accumulate some sort of wealth. One of the pricesthat all expatriates pay for the benefits of living and working overseas isthat they lose the advantages of the Retirement, Medical and Healthcarearrangements that their domestically based counterparts continue to enjoy.
Magellan, commercial members of JALT, specialize in the Off Shore
Saving, Investment and Insurance schemes that all expatriates need toreplace those they have chosen to leave behind. Whether your need is tofill the hole in your retirement planning, save to buy a home or simply to
enjoy the benefits of off shore banking, we can help. With access to thewidest possible range of products in the international market place, adetailed knowledge of the complex rules relating to off shore taxation,
current and future residence / domicile issues, we can help you design anappropriate, tailor made solution. To discuss the expatriate solution tothese, or indeed any other financial matter, contact in the first instance,with no obligation, Jim Neufeld, Magellan's Country Manager for WesternJapan at:Magellan K.K.
Grand Palace Bldg. #705
2 - 2 - 18 Nagai Higashi
Sumiyoshi-ku
OSAKA
558 - 0004
Tel-: 06 - 4700 - 3158

Fax: 06 - 4700 - 3159

Email: mo ' 'gol comSpring
2000:v11um1
a.1ss1111

OnCUE

( On

Calltorpapen)

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-

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s
TVPIS01AniclesSought:aFeatures

Reviews

APA referenced articles with a focus on language
education and related issues at tertiary level of
up to 2,000 words.

reviews of books, textbooks, videos, presentations/ workshops, TV shows, films, etc. Maximum 600 words, 1500 words for scholarly review essays.

Criterifir featurearticles

Cvberpipeline• considera tion of issues likely to be perceived by college and university educators as relevant to language teaching inJapan.
• well designed and well reported empirical research.
• writing that situates issues within the context of relevant previous work, while refraining from quoting for the sake of quotmg.
• thought-provoking theoretical papers, provided clear practical implications are foregrounded.

descriptions of websites that might prove usefulfor language teaching and professional development; length depends on how many sites are reviewed.

Focus
onLanguage
a column in which the writer may ask/answer
common questions about language that are ofinterest to teachers and learners. 250-600 words

Approximate
Publicadon
Dates:
July 31, Nov. 30, March 30(Deadlines June 1, Sept. 1, Feb. 1)

From
theChalkface
classroom applications, techniques and lessonplans, usually up to 1000 words.

Aims: to provide a forum for the presentationand discussion of research, ideas andcurriculum activities of broad interest to
Collegeand University
Language
Educators.

Research
Digestsummaries of research, published in university
in-house publications, of broad interest to college and university educators.

OpinionandPerspective

Contact& Submission
Details:

650 words max.; longer, coordinated, pointcounterpoint articles are possible.

Editor: Michael Carroll, michael@kyokyo-u.ac.jp

Category bending and innovation are also possible. Length guidelines are flexible.

OfficerContact
Information
IOr2000:
Feel free to contact board members about your SIG
Executive
Board:
Alan Mackenzie, CUE SIG Coordinator: Keisen University; Riverside Heights 2a, Yaguchi 3-12-12, Ota-ku, Tokyo 146-0093 Tel/Fax: 033757-7008 E-mail: <asm@typhoon.co.jp>

Hugh Nicol Membership Chair: Miyazaki Koritsu Daigaku, 1-1-2
Funatsuka, Miyazakiishi 880-8520 Tel: 0985-22-8812 (h) 0985-20-2000,
ext 1306 (w) Fax: 0985-20-4807 (w)E-mail: <hnicoll@funatsuka.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp >Steven Snyder, Treasurer: Miyazaki Women's Junior College; 1415
Hei, Kano, Miyazaki-gun, Miyazaki-ken 889-1605 Tel: 0985-85-7161(h) 0985-85-0146 (w) Fax: 0985-85-7161 (h) 0985-85-0101 (w) E-mail:<tornobear@m -surf.or.jp>

Michael Carroll, Publications Chair/On CUE Editor: Kyoto University Of Education; English Dept.,! Fujinomori-Cho, Fukakusa, FushimiKu, Kyoto 612-0863 Tel: 075-723 - 1275 (h) 075-645-1734 (w) Fax: 075644-8240 (w) E-mail: <michael@kyokyo-u.ac.jp>

OnCIEEditorial
Allvisorv
Board:

Eamon McCafferty, Program Chair: 439-52-201 Utouzaka, Shimizushi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan, 424-0873; (h) Tel/Fax: 0543-48-8299; (w) Tel:
0543-48-8299, Fax : 0543-34-9837; E-mail: <eamon@gol.com>

Susan Phillippoussis <sphilipp@miyazaki-mic.ac.jp>; Joseph Tomei <jtomei@kumagaku.ac.jp>;
Debra Pappier (Opinion and Perspective Editor) <nomadl@gol.com>; Mark Weinkle<to onomads@hotmail.com>;
Lisa MacLeod <macleod@gol.com>; John Mclaughlin<jmcl@gol.com>; Steve~ Snyder (Reviews Editor) <tomobear@m -surfne.jp>

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Suring2000:v11ume
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811CUE-i
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Call181'
PapersandGuidelines
torClnbllUIOrs
to"Pro;11cts
torthtJUni1111rsit1
Classroom:
lost11ring
Motivation
andPromoting
111arn11r
lnd11p11nd11nc11
through
D11111l11arning"
Edited by Keith Ford and Eamon McCafferty
for the CUE SIG of JALT
PurposeandAudience

Deadlines/
Additi1na1
intormalion:

This book is intended for tertiary-level EFL
educators who meet classes regularly and wantaccess to ideas and materials that promotelearner independence and deep learning. Successful projects that motivate students to continue their learning beyond the classroom areinvited to be shared with other EFL professionals. We wish to provide a publication that is of
immediate practical use to teachers. Rather thandescriptive pieces, projects will be reproducedin their entirety for teachers to copy and use.
Although many teachers may want to adapt materials to fit their own contexts, contributors are
asked to provide hard copies of everything theyuse, including, for example, student instructions,readings, and assessment sheets.
Projects should take a minimum of six and amaximum of twelve classes/weeks to complete,and should include the following elements: arationale for other teachers (limited to 500
words), possibly including advice from thewriter; an introduction for students that can serveas part of the classroom material or homework;some form of qualitative assessment allowing
for student reflection/closure (self assessment
might be particularly appropriate).

For definitions of terms, specifications formanuscript preparation, and other general inquiries please contact Eamon McCafferty<eamon@gol.com>. An initial 250-500-word
description of your project should be sent to thesame address by June 15th 2000. Final projectsubmissions by January 25 2001, for publication in April/May 2001.

PUBllCI
2

Spring2000:v111me
a,Issue1

In CUE(t conlerence
2000Preview
Al an Mac kenzie, Conference Chair
TheCUEmini-conference,"C1ntentinlan- focus on integrating real and appropriate lanre"prom- guage into the material you produce and the language
Educauon:
lookinat theFutu
guage used in class.
All of the presentations and workshops will
be conducted by, and aimed at teachers in college and university situations.
CUE is also providing a varied program ofpresentations investigating issues in contentbased education, content not covered in the main
theme rooms, and successful courses and programs.

ises to be a focused, practical event with emphasis on how to increase the type, quality, andamount of content in your teaching.
Some believe that the job of a tertiary educator is simply to teach language. However, there
are a growing number of teachers interested indoing much more. They want to use language
and language teaching to enable students to examine aspects of life: their own and others thatthey might not otherwise give time to.
Although we cannot hope to cover all of theways in which language educators are attempting to broaden the perspectives of their students,
we have planned a program that will examinesome of these themes in detail.

FullHost Involvement
One of the programs to be highlighted is theCommunicative English program set up by ourhost, Keisen University. Conference attendees
will have a chance to hear from the coordinators, teachers and students in the program about
its structure, achievements and issues involvedin running a communicative, content-based English program across the university curriculum.
Attendees should hope to leave the conference with a plethora of ideas that they can takedirectly into the classroom on Monday morning, and a head full of issues to stimulate theirintellects.
Pre-registration is now open at the CUE
website. Please take advantage of this to savetime on the day. The deadline for pre-registration is May 1st.

Cross-SIG
Cooperation
In order to keep the conference intimate andcreate a sense of community, it has been divided
into five content areas, each of which has one
room set aside for it and a program created byother SIGs in JALT.
GALE (Gender Awareness in Language Education) SIG has a two-day series of workshops
and presentations on the content area of genderissues. Interested attendees should bring ideas
to share with others on themes of the history ofpolicy and political activism, gender and language, gender and family, sexuality, and genderand the workplace. The aim of the program isfor participating teachers to walk out of the roomat the end of the weekend with a whole collaboratively developed gender issues course.
Global Issues (GI) SIG has a series of presentations and workshops related to creating global
citizens. A broad range of topics dealing with
development, global and local perspectives aswell as specific issues oriented lessons andcourses will be discussed.
Materials Writers (MW) SIG is providing
speakers who will focus primarily on issues involved in developing content-based lessons andcourses while the forming Pragmatics SIG will
3

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OnCUE

Bulletin
Boardews,
Announcements,
I CallsforPapers--'
caCompiled and Edited byAlan Mackenzie

CALLS
FOR
PAPERS(Note: For the contact details of some calls forpapers, see the corresponding conference listed
under "Conferences and Boolifairs ".)titioners within any of the various
s:pecialitiesof the discipline to address a broadof the profession. Appropriate subjec ·are not limited to: the dissemination oceived analyses , studies, application o theories,
research reports , material develop rnen revi ews,
critical theory, rhetoric, and pedagog y. . attempt
is made to maintain a balanced coverrure... of Ianguage, literature and teaching issues· no area isless welcome than any other, as long as the topic isof general interest within the profess ion.
More info: <http ://facutly.petra.ac.id>
Contact: <ka ta@ peter.petra.ac.id>

RELC NEWSLE TTER Authors Sought forEnvironmen tal Education Book, A South East
Asian versio n of a Philippines-based environmental educa tion/E nglish textbook is being
planned. Writers from SEAMO countries arewanted.
Contact: William Wang, RELC Publications
Manager, at <purelc@m box4.singnet.com.sg>.
(For free subsc riptio n to the Newsletter, contact<pure1c@mbo x4 .singn et.com.sg>)

March 31, 2000- NEW SOUNDS 2000-THE
4th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON
THE ACQUISITION OF SECOND-LANGUAGE SPEECH
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 20minute presentations or posters on any topic related to SL speech acquisition. 200-300 word
abstracts to: Secretariat, New Sounds 2000; Department of English; University of Amsterdam;
Squistraat210, 1012 VT Amsterdam, The Netherlandsorbye-mailto<newsounds@hum.uva .nl>

CONFERENCES
DBOOKFAIRS(Note: some conferences have corresponding
calls for papers- be sure to cross-reference.)

March 31, 2000-LANGUAGE
IN THEMIND? IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCHAND EDUCATIONNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
More Info: <http:/ /www.fas.nus.edu.sg/ell/langmind/index.htm>
Contact: <ellconlk@nus.edu.sg>

April 1-2, 2000-SECO m I:\'TERNATIONALCONFERENCE O T PRA CTICAL LINGUISTICS OF JAPA.' fESE
San Francisco State Univ ersit} U SA hosts a
number of presentations worksho ps and poster
sessions including in v it e d lectures from
Masayoshi Shibatani and Yasuhiko Tohsaku.
More info: <http://userv-rwv, .sfsu.edu/~yukiko /
conference/main.html >Contact:
Yukik oSasakiAlam<yukiko@sfsu.edu >1March 31, 2000-LANGUAGE ACROSSBOUNDARIES: 33rd ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR
APPLIED LINGUISTICS (BAAL)
Homerton College, Cambridge, UK<http: //www.BAAL.org.uk/baalr.htm>
Contact: <Andy.Cawdell@BAAL.org.uk>

April 3-6, 2000-THE EVOLUTION OFLANGUAGE
Ecole Nationale Superieure desTelecommunications, Pari s, France.
Concerned with the origins and development oflanguage. Includes contributions from linguists,
anthropologists, computer- and neuro- sciences.
More info: <http://www.infres.enst.fr/confs/
evolang/>
Contact: evolang@infrs.enst.fr

KATA, IS A REFEREED JOURNAL published twice a year in December and June by the
Faculty of Letters, Petra Christian University,
Surabaya, Indonesia. It presents articles on the
study oflanguage and literature. Its overriding objective is to provide a forum for scholars and prac4

Spring2000:v11um1
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OnCUE

April 12-14, 2000-Sth TCC (TEACIDNG INNCOMMUNITY COLLEGES) ONLINECONFERENCE. A VIRTUAL ODYSSEY:
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN LEARNING?
More info: <http://leahi.kc c.hawaii.edu/org/
tcon2000>
Contact: James Shimabukuro<j amess@hawaii.edu>

June 9-12, JALTCALL 2000: DIRECTIONSAND
DEBAT ES AT THE
NEWMILLENIUM.
Tokyo University of Technology
The annual national conference of the compuer
assisted language learning SIG of JALT
More info:<http://jaltcall.org/conferences/call2000/>
Contact: <campbell@media.teu .ac.jp>

April 27-29, 2000-SOCIOLI NGUISTICSSYMPOSIUM 2000: THE INTERFACEBETWEEN LINGUISTI CS AND SOCIAL
THEORY.
·mversity of Bristol, UK. Intercultural communication langua ge and gender, ethnicity, discourse analysis, local languages, language developm ent.
More info : <http://www.uwe.ac.uk/facults/les /research/ sociling2000 .html>
Contact : <ss2000@uwe.ac.uk>

June 15-18, 2000-PEOPLE, LANGUAGESAND CULTURES IN THE THIRDMILLENIUM: 3RDFEELTA (FAR EASTERN LANGUAGE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION) CONFERENCE.
Far Eastern State University, Vladivostok, Rus- .
Sta.

Contact: Stephen Ryan <RXIS-RYAN@asahinet.or.jp>

July 29-August 1, 2000-FLEAT IV IN KOBE
Kobe, Japan The 4th International Conference
on Foreign Language Education and Technology: 'Language Learning and Multimedia: Bridging Humanity and Technology'. Not limited totechnology in language learning and teaching,
but also cognitive processes of language skills,
cross-cultural aspects oflanguage learning, first
and/or second language acquisition, and relatedareas. Papers from Asia, in English or Japanese,
especially welcomed. Deadline: 20 January 2000
More info: <http: // www.hll.kutc.kansaiu.ac.jp:8000/fleat4.html>
Contact: <fleatsnb@kobeuc.ac.jp>

March 30-April 1, 2000-THE BILINGUALBRAIN:THE BIANNUALGASLA(GE NERATIVEAPPROACHESTOSECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION)
CONFERENCE
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
More info: <http://web.mit.edu/fl l/www/news/
Conf.html>
May 4-6, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITYROUND TABLE ON LANGUAGES AND
LINGUISTICS (GURT) 2000 Georgetown
University, Washington, D.C. "Linguistics, Language, and the Professions"Contact: <tana@gusun.georgeto wn.edu> OR<alatisj@gusun .georgetown.edu>

September 4-6, 2000-LANGUAGE IN THE
MIND? IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCHAND EDUCATION
National University Of Singapore
More info: <http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/ell/langmind/index.htm>
Contact: <ellconlk@nus.edu.sg>

May 20-21,THE CUE CONFERENCE 2000:"CONTENT AND FOREIGN LANGUAGEEDUCATION: LOOKING AT THE FUTURE"
Keisen University, Tama Center, West Tokyo. A
two-day investigation into the possibilities forcontent-based education in university and college settings.
Contact: Eamon McCafferty <eamon@gol.com><http://www.wild-e. org/cue/conferences/
content.html>

September 4-7, NEW SOUNDS 2000-THE 4m
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE
ACQUISITION OF SECOND-LANGUAGESPEECH
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Contact: <newsounds@hum.uva.nl>

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September 7-9, 2000-LANGUAGE ACROSSBOUNDARIES: 33RDANNUAL MEETING
OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR
APPLIED LINGUISTICS (BAAL)
Homerton College, Cambridge, UK
More info: <http://www.BAAL.org.uk/
baalr.htm>
Contact: <Andy.Cawdell@BAAL.org.uk>

Attention
On
Readers:
Join
theDiscussion!
We are looking for opinions and feedback for an upcoming article about distanceeducation.
Please e-mail general comments or answers for any or all of the following questions
to
Debra
Pappier
attoonomads @hotmail.com (include On
CUE in the subject heading).

September 15-16, 2000-SECOND SYMPOSIUM ON SL WRITING
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
More info: <http://icdweb.cc.purdue.edu / --silvat/
symposium/>Contact: Paul Kei Matsuda<pmatsuda@purdue.edu><http://omni.cc.purdue.edu /~pmatsuda/>

What di VI I ,i Ill aboutdistance
eduCatilIt
ceddegreelevel?

November 2-5, JALT 2000: TOWARDS THE
NEW MILLENNIUM
Shizuoka, Japan
More info: <http://www.jalt.org> (Note: CUE
SIG will hold its Forum and its AGM as well as
be a part of numerous related presentationskeep a look out in the pages of On CUE and on
CMN-Talk list for more details).

•
•

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OFFERSPAPYRUS NEWS PN is a distribution list devoted to the global impact of information technology on language, literacy, and education. To
subscribe: send the message "subscribe papyrusnews Yourfirstname Yourlastname" (without thequotation marks, and substituting your own namefor YourfirstnameYourlastname)to<listproc@hawaii.edu>.
For further information,see: <http: //www.lll.hawaii.edu/web /faculty/markw / papyrus-news.html>.
Contact: Mark Warschauer<markw@hawaii.edu><http://www .lll.hawaii.edu/markw>••

What is your image of a distanceprogram?
What are the advantages
anddisadvantages of distance degrees ascompared to on-campus degrees?
Are distance degrees as good as theiron-campus counterparts?
If on-campus and distance students dothe same coursework and meet thesame standards, is there a difference
between their qualifications?
How are distance learners different
from their on-campus counterparts?
Why do people chose distance degrees?

Whal do vou thinll ab1utdistanceeducation
forEFUESL
students?
••••

What are the advantages
anddisadvantages for students?
Is it feasible to learn a language via
distance?
What about on-line language programs:
Can they or will they replace language
teachers?
What role will they play in language
learning?

WhataretheadVantaues
anddisadVan1a1es
fornon-native
speakersofEngllshinpursuingdegreesbVdistancerromEnglish
language
uniVersitiesil
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Spring1000:v11ume
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OnCUE

PromotingAutonomous
language
UseintheJapanese
Universitv
EFL
Classroom<·,' .;, : ;'('\.Keith Ford, Tokyo Woman's Christian
University
any educational)nstitutions and EFL pro- from teacher control, and increased peer interfessionals continueto:explor~ .practical ways of dependence, learners coming from a traditional
implem enting instructional systems which pro- teacher-fronted, lock-step classroom will require
mote the development aµd expression of learner considerable nurturing, confidence-building andauton omy. Thi~ is.a'festllt ofthe growing recog- awareness-raising. A language learning environnitio n of the importance in the language learn- ment that involves learners in the decision-making proces~ o:fprinciples such as choice, respon- ing process allows greater freedom of choice,sibility an1 apco%1tabllityfor one's actions. The but it also demands greater responsibility andaccountability. Therefore, a systematic programpro moti9n ofa~qt~nomy takes its justificationfrom the Jtrgl.lllle1lfthatself -dett!pp.ination leads of orientation is essential for learners' adjustRyan 1985), ment to this new environment. The nature of suchto intrinsic motivat~9n ..'(I>eqi
and therefote;.JQ more :effective ,learn,ing. So, a program will depend on such factors as thewh at doescautonomyand autondm6uslanguage learners' previous learning experiences, sociouse invqlyei11theco:µt~xtofJapanese Freshman
Engl is~ 1a~~ua9e classtodms?
g loo£ al promolin!J learners'
Autqf?Qm~i~,certainly not an all-or-nothingaulonomous use of I.be 82 byraisin!Jconcept Ucah occur in various contexts and tovarying ·iiegt.ees ·( for detailed definitions see
I.heir awareness of I.be imp orlance of a
Benson.1and foller 1997), from learners worknumber of alhluchnal anding very ind~pendently in self-~cpess.facilities,
behavioural faclors Involved In
to lean'rers interacting ' in' a classroom situation
independent 'ofteach~r control. , EitUewood
mown!/ ftom a leacher~dependenl( 1999) l1as observed ;;that due to sociO-"CUltural
lan!JUa!Jelearnin!J environmenl lo one
influences and pre\'ious 1¢arningexperiences, exofachueindependencel
pectations for autonomy' in Asiari contexts mayvary significtmtly lfomthose it1Western educacultural influences, the resources available, intio nal contexts. ;' H~ distinguishes between
proa ctive and reactive fonns ·•of a,11tonomyor stitutional demands, and the experience of the's elf-regulation.' · Proa,ctive ·autononiy ~involves teacher.
Most proposals for learner development, parlearners establishing 'their own personal agenda
for leammg. Reactive \a,Utonomy'does not cre- ticularly in ESL, have tended to concentrate on
ate its own directions but; once a direction has the question of 'strategy training' in cognitive
been initiated, enables learners to organize their and metacognitive skills (e.g. O'Malley &resources autonomoli~ly in order to ·reach their Chamot 1990; Oxford 1990). However, my fogoal' (p. 75). It isthis latter type, initially teacher- cus here is on the .interpersonal, social and indirected, that is m<;m~appropriate for Freshman teractive side of language learning rather thanlanguage classes in Japan. In this context, the the intrapersonal (van Lier 1996). I look at profollowing autonomous learning goals can be moting learners' autonomous use of the L2 byachieved: 'the learner accepts responsibility for raising their awareness of the importance of ahis or her learning' (Little 1995:175); she/he number of attitudinal and behavioural factors
learns 'how to function in a group and take de- involved in moving from a teacher-dependentcisions often indep~ndent of the teacher
language learning environment to one of active
and ... how to negotiate 'arid articulate opinions independence / interdependence.
and feelings ' (Legutke and Jhbmas J 991: 296).
In order to establish increased).n.d~pendence~4

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OnCUE

Spring2000:v11ume
8,Issue1

From
Teacher-Dependence
toActivelearnerIndependence/Interdependence-......
=...
uu

tonomous language use: peer relations and positive classroom dynamics, group and pair work,
mode of teacher /learner interaction, process-oriented language learning, self-discovery in language development, an emphasis on fluencybuilding, and the use of the target language as
only medium of classroom communication.

Making a transition from a passive andteacher-dependent role - which the majority ofJapanese high school learners have experienced- to one of active independence is fundamental
to the way in which learners will perceive their
future contributions and responsibilities in the
rel1ti1ns
language learning process. As one learner com- Peermented, reflecting an increasing awareness of
It seems that most Japanese Freshman, given
accepting such a role in a more autonomous
the option , will sit with the same classmate(s) inlearning environment, 'We have to move by our- the same part of the classroom. This is usually
selves in this class' (Ford 1997).
due not only to friendships but
So, what does this 'moving by
also percep tions of belonging to'Jopromole liiJ'li levels ofcertain cliques or circles deterourselves' actually involve? Interms of learner activity, increas- inleraclion, parlicipalion and mined by such factors as fashion
aulonomous lanJ'UaJ'e use,
preferences, appearances, anding independence can be recognized by such hallmarks aslearner s mus! J'el Ifie sense
degree of proficiency in the L2.
learner-initiated interaction, willThis is not conducive to estabilia! iliey all liaue anlishing a highly interactive class,ingness to interact in the target
language both in and out of the inueslmenl and a par/ lo playas clique formation may result in
instructor's earshot, volunteering,in ilia! cufiure, sliarinJ' Ifs
negative peer pressure, competirules, alliiucles and iypes oftion rather than cooperation, andwillingness to undertake spontaneous communication, active andrr
possibly reluctance to participate.
oenauior.
willing involvement in group forThus, the instructor must makemation, and seeking teacher adclear early on the importance ofvice when needed. We should keep in mind that making an effort to get to know and work withthese learners have been used to being told what all one's classmates. Constant recombining of
to do, how and when, rather than using their own groups and pairs must be a feature of the early
initiative, and so they must be steadily nurtured
classes.
in the right direction for them to make this tranA transition to a dynamic, highly interactive
sition.
classroom will involve establishing a common
In addition to developing active independclassroom 'c ulture ' (Breen 1985). To promoteence, learners will need to develop their social high levels of interaction, participation and auinteractive skills and their ability to work inter- tonomous language use, learners must get thedependently with their peers. The term 'positive
sense that they all ha e an investment and a partinterdependence', which is linked to Cooperato play in that culture , sharing its rules, attitudes
tive Learning (e.g. Johnson & Johnson 1992), is and types of behavior. In this way they will comeoften used in this context. Usually, it involves
to feel comfortable in interacting with their peers
the idea of small groups of learners working in- in the L2. The importance of the socialization
terdependently on a common goal-oriented task. process cannot be underestimated, as inherent
Consequently, it is one way of maximizing learn- in the rationale behind promoting cooperationers' opportunities for speaking practice and flu- and interdependence.in the language classroom
ency-building. At the same time it has an im- is the view that social interaction is the driving
portant affective value, particularly in the case force behind interlanguage development. It is,of Japanese learners. Group work does not in- as van Lier notes, 'the 'engine' that drives thevolve the pressures associated with being called learning process' (1996:145).
on individually by the instructor, as is the case
PairarGraup
Worll;tin a more teacher-fronted, whole-class scenario.
While group work is an important aspect ofFurthermore, because it encourages consensuschecking and group-mindedness, features inher- cooperative learning, I suggest pair work should
ent in Japanese culture, cooperative learning is be considered as the dominant pattern of intersomething that Japanese learners tend to adapt action in the first semester. Not only does it allow more students to communicate at the same
to easily.
Now I would like to consider more closely time, but it can have a very useful affective value
the following areas involved in promoting au- for students who feel cautious about using their8l • CIE

Spring2000:v111m1a,Issue1

English in front of others. We must always keep That is, one where the instructor relates to learnin mind that for some of these students it really ers in small groups rather than from the front ofis the first time they have been pushed to use the the class in a transmission mode of instruction.
language commllilicatively. Working in pairs ap- They must come to recognize the instructor as
pears to be a much more comfortable form of resource, facilitator, and counsellor who is thereinteraction for Japanese students in the early part to assist and advise, but not to intervene andthreaten the independent/interdependent interof a course than group work.
Allwri ght & Bailey ( 1991 : 164) have pointed action of the group. In terms of the instructor's
own role perception, the key is recognition of
to th e problem of' communication apprehension'in the language classroom. That is, where some the move away from an emphasis on grammatical knowledge to management skills and creatlearners are naturally reluctant to communicate,ing ripe conditions for commueven in their L 1, and prefer tonicative language use.
take the, role of passive listener.
Teachers need to be sensitive to
In managing this change, one
gn lerms of /he ins/rue/or'sof the main challenges for thethis issue. Each learner may havetheir own preferred learning style, own role perceplion, /he £ey is instructor is to create a learningand some may consider that the recoymiion of !he moue away
environment and classroom culture where learners feel comfortmost appropriate way for them tofi-om an emphasis onable, confident and relaxed about
learn a language is as listener
yrammalicaf £now/edge lo
seeking teacher advice and asrath er than speaker. However, insistance, and about initiating thisput alone is insufficient for demanayemenl skills andinteraction whenever required.
veloping speaking skills, and recrealiny ripe condrlions forThis may involve seeking teacher
search on this may well be preopinions on content, advice on
sent ed to learners to justify the communicaliue lanyu<Z!Jeuse.
comm unicative nature of thegrammar and vocabulary, or advice on management tasks.
classroom. Furthermore, while
rationalizing the need to practice oral skills, in- Learners must be clear about the fact that learner
structors should give learners as much opportu- independence should not mean less teacher connity as possible to do this out of the public eye tact time but actually more time spent interactas they steadily adapt to the classroom's de- ing in small groups with their instructor. They
must not feel they are being deserted but that
mands.
there is support and advice at hand. In a fully
1deofTeacher/learner
lmeraclionfunctioning learner-centred classroom of autonoMost Japanese high school classes, and tra- mous language users the instructor will be conditional FL classes, are conducted with an IRF stantly in demand as groups are regularly call(Initiation-Response-Feedback) type of interac- ing for advice and offering progress checks.
tion, with the teacher seen as source of knowlAt the same time, if the teacher is to dropedge and controller of proceedings. Van Lier back into the periphery of interaction rather than(1996: 156) summarizes this type of interaction be its pivotal centre, then she/he must not conas follows:
stantly intervene to check on progress or to be"the IRF sequence, while it is effective in seen nudging along the interaction of the group.
maintaining order, regulating participation, This is likely to weaken the long-term independand leading students in a certain predeter- ence and interdependence of the group for themined direction, often reduces the student's sake of short-term goals.
initiative, independent thinking, clarity oflanguagelearning
expressi on, the development of conversa- Process-Oriented
Michael Lewis has defined process as 'a detional skills (including tum taking, planningahead, negotiating and arguing), and self- veloping, dynamic concept. In this it contrasts
with the static nature of product' (1993:18). It
determination. "involves organization, planning, discussing andClearly, this pattern of interaction is not ap- negotiating how to get things done. Lewis points
propriate for developing learners' autonomous to the link of product-process to the teachinglanguage use. With learners making the transi- learning dichotomy, suggesting learning is proction to working more independently and inter- ess-oriented: 'it is cognitive involvement, strugdependently they need to get used to a very dif- gling, trying, hypothesizing, revising, and otherferent form of learner/instructor relationship.
activities of this kind which are the basis oflearng

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oneuEing' (p.18). In a process-oriented classroom
to language learning , and as su ch it contrasts
learners will be involved cooperatively working
with the more traditiona l pres ent-practice-proon real-world tasks, project work, contributing
duce paradigm that is tea cher -controlled andinput and ideas, and on language development
based on a prescriptive gra ded lingui stic syllaas an ongoing process of self-disco very. Theybus. It should be remembe red that our learners
need to realize that they will be using the L2 for have already experienced su ch a llabus durgenuine communication rather than seeing it as ing their previous six years of languag e educaan end product. Learners will be developing lin- tion.
This, of course, can be seen as a Yery useful
guistic, social and procedural skills.
A process-oriented classroom is likely to be experience, in that they come to their univera sharp contrast to the experience of the vast masity language classes with a strong grammatijority of Japanese high school students. As a cal and lexical foundation on whi ch th ey canbuild. There is thou gh a need formeans of getting first-hand ima shift in emphas is from studypressions and experiences of'Jhere is lhouyh a need/or a
ing language usage to prac tisinglearners' high school education,
shiJi in emphasis fromlanguage use. Le arn ers should
Ford (1997) interviewed sixty
sludyiny lanyuaye usaye lo
now be encourage d as much as
Freshman after one year of procpraclisiny lanyuaye use.
possible to expe rim ent in their
ess-oriented learning, and asked
Bearners should now belanguage use and to feel free tothem to compare it to their previencourayed as much as
make mistakes with de eloping
ous language learning experipossible lo experimenl in /heir
fluency being emphas ized.
ences.
Though there was some genu- lanyuaye use and lo feel free lo
Fluencv-Building
ine variety of experience, the ma.he mis/a.hes w1fh de velopiny
An emphasis on flu ency
overwhelming reaction to highfluency beiny emphasized.
rather than accuracy is a key asschool English classes was negapect of process-orien ted lantive, the general picture being oneof a traditional, teacher-fronted, lock-step classguage learning. These learners have bee n used
to focusing on form and accuracy at the exp ense
room with the medium of instruction being Japaof developing their speaking fluency. This imnese, the focus of attention being grammaticalstructure and translation to the Ll. Activities
balance needs to be redressed with learners
were limited primarily to in-class reading andgiven plenty of opportunities to use the target
language creatively and spontaneous ly w ithout
vocabulary list learning, with a distinct lack of
the restrictions of practising gramm atical orpair and group work.
This situation is on the whole maintained by functional items predetermined by an externallya system of education that continues to put maimposed syllabus. As a key aspect of the comjor emphasis on examinations above all othermunicative classroom and of developing autonomous language use , group work, and interacteducational considerations. The language learning of these students was thus highly producting in the L2 with one 's peers can be rationaloriented. As one interviewee pointed out: 'In our ised to learners on the basis that language dehigh School days I studied for the exams and so velopment, particular ly fluency, does not necessitate interaction with an L2 native speaker.
that after the exam we forgot what we
An emphasis on fluency, however, should notlearned ...because it's the ...err .. .it's the study forthe exam, but now I study for my life' (ibid).
imply a complete desertion of form-focusedThis comment clearly shows recognition of study, but it should be more learner-centred.
the restrictive nature of a product-oriented style Learners should be encouraged to look at theirof teaching and learning that the speaker expeown weaknesses through self-correction, monitoring, taping interactions, and other communirienced at high school, and a growing awarenesscative grammar activities such as 'dictogloss'
oflanguage learning as part of a life-long ongo(Wajnryb 1990); In fact, when done in the L2
mg process.
cooperatively these activities can combine both
SeH-discoverv
inlanguage
learning
meaning and form, and therefore a dual focus
In terms of language development, learners
on fluency and accuracy.
in a process-oriented classroom should be encouraged to follow an observe-hypothesize-experiment language learning paradigm (Lewis
1993). This encourages a self-discovery attitude

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Spring2000:v11ume
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way, learners will be involved in a systematic
et-lanuuaue
asOnlvMediumprocess
of explanation/rationalisation, awaremCommunication
ness-raising,, and willingness to participate as
Another important process aspect oflanguage
development is the need to understand the importanc e of using the target language as medium
of classroo m communication. Being involved inreal -world tasks and group negotiation, learners
must develop the willingness to struggle to extend their interlanguage and vocabulary, and notjust fall back on their Ll when communication
becomes difficult.
Often, in language classrooms learners use
the L2 orally only for pedagogic tasks such as
information exchange gaps and prescribed dialogues. Learners need to realize the importanceof using the L2 for pragmatic, real-world communication as well. As Little, following Swain,
argues, 'all learners must strive to express meanings in the target language if their communicati e competence is to develop' (1995:177).
Of course, this kind of demand is very difficult for learners whose previous experience inusing the target language for the purposes of oral
communication has been extremely limited. In
addition, most high school language classes appe ar to be conducted in the L 1. A transition to
an English -only policy is understandably difficult but should not be balked in favor of easier
options. Many teachers may perceive a teacherfronted mode of interaction as the only way ofmaking sure all interaction is in the L2. However, with training (in terms of attitude and communication strategies), the presentation of a clear
rationale, and incorporating it as part of constant
gra ding criteria, maintenance of an L2 only
po licy in a learner-centred, communicative,
pro cess-oriented EFL classroom can be a realistic goal.

lusionIn this paper I have outlined some key areas
wh ere Japanese Freshman learners' awarenessneeds to be raised in terms of attitudinal andbehavioral aspects of the language learning process. I suggest that they should be promoted in
two ways. First, they should be presented at theoutset to learners as explicit objectives /expectations with learners being given a general introducti on to the instructional system and its rationale.
Second , learners should be involved in implicit orientation activities that aim to exemplify
these requirements. Throughout the course there
should be a review of its rationale and constantevaluation by learners and instructors. In thisthey move towards developing greater autonomy
in their use of the L2.

References
Allwright, D. & Bailey, K.M. (1991). Focus
on the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Benson, P. & Voller, P. (1997). Autonomy andIndependence in Language Learning. London:
Longman.
Breen, M. (1985). The Social Context for
Language Learning - a Neglected Situation?
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 7, 135158.
Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic
Motivation and Self-determination in Human
Behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
Ford, K. (1997). Unpublished transcripts
taken from video interviews of 60 Kanda University Freshman on completing one year of theirprogramme.
Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R. T. (1992). Positive Interdependence: The Heart of Coopera tive Learning. Minnesota: Interaction Book
Company.
Legutke, M. & Thomas, H. (1991). Process
and experience in the Language Classroom.
London: Longman.
Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach.
Hove:LTP.
Little, D. (1995). Learning as Dialogue: The
Dependence of Leamer Autonomy on Teacher
Autonomy. System, 23, 2, 175-81.
Littlewood, W. (1999) Defining and Developing Autonomy in East Asian Contexts. Applied Linguistics 20, 1, 71-94.
O'Malley, J. M. & Chamot, A. U. (1990).
Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. San Francisco: Academic Press.
Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language Learning
Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know.
New York: Newbury House.
van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the Language Curriculum : Awareness, Autonomy andAuthenticity. London: Longman.
Wajnryb, R. (1990) . Grammar Dictation.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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SI · 12000:v11um1
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Universitv
Student
Readinesstorlanguage
Learning
Strategies
Instruction:
TeacerDirectedversuslearner-Directed
APr achesby Anthony S. Rausch, Faculty of Education,
Hirosaki University
This paper reports on a preliminary in- cifically to provide self- acce ..... elf-direcvestigation undertaken to assess student
tion, self-instruction, an d - -as essment
readiness to language learning strategiesof various strategies use d b_- tude nts on
instruction on the basis of various ap- the basis of the materi al . he t ask, or
proaches in the Japanese university set- their personal learning style .
Hajer, et al (1996) pain ou th at : (1)ting. The investigation consisted of a writprint materials for strateg y i.n:::,""'tructi
on do
ten survey assessing the characteristics
of Japanese university students in terms
exist in various forms, in cluding str ategies embedded in langua ge extb ooks,
of study management, orientation towardlearning,
conception of teacher andlearner guidebooks, and self-directi onal
strategy training material s; (2 ..'.lat print
learner roles, and means of improving
materials can ha e effects
learning and providing lanon language skil:. de\-elop'JJ(osf approaches lo slrafe!Jy
guage learning strategies
ment; and (3) tha print mainstruction.
ins/rue/ion are leacherterials
can mak e p or theInstructional
Approacheschreclecf andin slru cliongaps in teach erowle dgeb ased. .. an a.liern ali ue can be
toLanguage
leami gof language le arnino- tr atjouncf in sludenl - direcled,
Strategies
egies and langu age earnin g
Oxford (1990) defines
strategies ins truc ion andlearniny - based approaches ...
language learning strateprovide the means or stugies as "steps taken by students to self- acce~" landents to enhance their own learning " (p. guage learning strategies, direct eir own
1). Cohen (1998) adds the element of instructional
approaches to angu age
choice, defining strategies as "learninglearning strategies, and self- guide theirprocesses which are consciously selected
eventual use of language le arning tr ateby the learner" (p. 4).
gies. They close by asserting that "u se of
Most approaches to strategy instrucprint materials for strateg}- instru ct ion
tion are teacher-directed and instructiondeserves greater research attentio n andbased, undertaken by teachers who 'teach'practical consideration" (p. 140).
strategies to learners during a language
Highlighting
the contra st bet ween
class. In such approaches, strategies in- teacher-directed,
instruction- ,bas ed andstruction is integrated into the existing
student-directed, learning-ba se d, Oxford
curriculum at the discretion of the teacherand Leaver (1996) point out th a t "stratand with teachers having the responsiegy instruction involves acti e learningbility for introducing, explaining, andand growth on the part of each individualmodelling the strategies, necessitating
student. It does not involve helping all stuadditional teacher training on language
dents to use the very same strategies. In
learning strategies.
fact, that would defeat the purpose, which
An alternative can be found in studentis to help learners become more active,
directed, learning-based
approaches,more autonomous, more self-directed, andundertaken directly and independently by more discerning of what strategies are
students using materials developed spe- best for them as individuals. Strategy in12

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8,Issue1

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struction involves helping students know
more about themselves, so they can try
out, test, and become experts in using thestrategies that help them the most" (p.
228). This statement, I believe , poin ts tothe importance of consideri ng learner
readiness to language learnin g strategies
approaches, particularly studen t -direc ted,learning-based approache s.

ThePresent
StudV
The present stud y examines student
readiness for language learning strategies
instruction
by means of a survey ofHirosaki National University students
enrolled in English language classes(N=93). The survey was co-written in
Japanese by myself and a Japanese highschool English teacher and pre-tested by
six graduate students at Hirosaki University. The results are reported in English
on the basis of back translation with comparisons to working notes.
Survey respondents
were predominantly first-year (40%) and second-year
students (3 7%), followed by third year students (23%). The majority of respondents
were from the Faculty of Education (75%),
followed by the Faculty of Humanities(13%), the Faculty of Science and Technology (6%), and the remainder from theFaculties of Agriculture and Medicine.
The survey considered: (1) learning
management (study planning, classroom
learning, and grading preferences); (2)educational orientation (teacher-centeredversus learner-centered and teacher-dependent versus learner-independent);(3)
the respective roles of the teacher andlearner; and (4) means for improving
learning and introducing language learning strategies.
All questions are based on a five -poin t
Likert scale with five indicating the positive response (e.g. impo rtant , frequen t,
agree), three indicating a neutral re sponse, and one indicating the negative
response (e.g. not important , not frequen t,
disagree). The figures reported indicate
means.

survev
Findings
llearnlnuManauement
The top elements cited in the planning oflearning were:
professorial guidance (4.50),
self-designed study planning (4.06),
department -based curriculum (3.99),
textbook or reference-book derived study
plan (3 .44) ..
The it.em consid ered of most importancein cla -based lear ning were:realia, (4 .24)
educationa l material s such as OHPs
and handouts (4.11)
professor-supplied textbook (4.03)
self-supplied texts or materials (3.6 0)
student produced materials (3.38).
The most important aspects for being
graded were:class participation (4.56)
evaluation of communicative ability(4.31)
multiple quizzes (3.98)
student-produced
study materials(3.92).

2.lducatlona/Orlentat/on
Using an attitude-scale format based on
12 contrastive statements, the survey revealed:(1) Six indicators which pointed towardvarying degrees of a learner-centered ,learner-independent
orientation:a) It is important to be flexible and respond to student needs (4.42) versus It
is important to follow the curriculum
and approved textbook (2.58);b) The effort of the learner deter mines
stude nt success (4. 31 ) vers us The
knowledge of the teacher determines
student success (2.86);c) Class time should be used for learnin g interacti on/ study and practice(4. 13) versus Class time should be used
for teacher -led instruction and explanation (2.57);
13

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OnCUE

Spring2000:v11ume
8,Issue1d) Student-c entered, indepen den t study
is impo rtant for effective learning (3.98)
versus Teacher -based instruction is impor tant for effective learning (3.20);

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a,

e) There are m any individual ways tosucceed in learning English (3.95) versu s The teacher is the final authority ofthe best way to learn English (3.16);f) Observat ion is the best measure of students' learning progress (3.66) versus
Testing is the best measure of students'
learning progress (3.28).

(2) Three indicators showing neutral educational centeredness and dependence/
independence:a) Instruction & explanation by teacher
is required for successful learning (4.08)
versus Self-discovery by the learner isrequired for successful learning (4.06);

organizing and coordinating student
learning activities (3.65),
explaining the content of the course andtextbook (3.21),
correcting students' mistakes (3.12),
assigning homework and developing
tests (2.22).
The principal student roles were identified as being:developing effective learning behaviors(4.51),
learning to study on one's own (4.4 7),
seeking feedback and help from theteacher (3. 73),
correcting mistakes and seeking perfection (3.38),
listening and tak in g note s in class(3.22),
completi ng the homework and passing
th e tests (2.93).

languag11b) Th e m ost important thing to teach isthe fundament.als of the language 3.56
versus The mo t i [XJrt
teach hou· to s ud_ &(3.5 4);

rtant means by which stu, · dered hat general learning, co d be imp roved was seen in~~ · g atti tudinal approaches to: • o- (4.4 1),· essin g fundamental processes ofing (4.34),
p annin g and management of learning-!.02),
mem orization of content (3.89).

c) Even with good ma e ·do not kno w how to lea o : .
(3.23) versus Given proper
students can learn on their o·(3) A learner-centered, learner -· .e
ent educational orienta tion mea:r:.:::of 39.28 (s.d.=4.31) and a ea-·
centered, teacher-depe nden ea cational orientation attit udinal mea
score of 30.36 (s.d.=4.66 ), where t escore is the mean of the cumulatiYemean scores for each ori entation·
maximum score = 50.

The elements seen by students as mostim portant for improving foreign language
ntu dy were:student attitudes about learning (4. 70),
class curriculum and management(4.49),
student understandingof learning(3.70),
design and quality of textbooks (3.67),
teacher training (3.62).

3. 111acher's
Ro/11sandStudent's
The principal teacher roles were iden t i fied as:
identifying and addressing student difficulties (4.36),
developing appropriate learning strategies and materials (4.01),

The perceived importance of learning
strategies (following a brief definition of
language learning strategies) was weakly
positive, at 3.66 (s.d. 0. 70) and the mostpractical means of incorporating language
14

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learning strategies in the English language curriculum was seen in:language learning strategies teacher
training sessions (3.86),
instructional-based curriculu m (3.57),
instructional materials for teacher s(3.56),
instructional materials for learne rs(3.49),
textbook insertions (3.54).

Student
ReadinessBasedontheSurvev

expertise or the quality of learning materials.
Finally, students saw instruction andexplanation as being as important as self
discovery in learning and doubted theirown ability to learn independently. In additi on , the introduction oflanguage learnin g str ate gies was seen by students as being be st achieved through teacher training , rather t han through instructional
materials for students or textbook insertions.

I
j
I
w.

The responses seemed to Jhe survey resul!s may serve summarv
andDiscussion
The objective of the surpoint to a tension between a as a preliminary indicalor of
vey was to assess a group oflearner-centered, learner-inlhe polenlia/ for success ofJapanese
university
studependent orientation held
dents
in
terms
of
their
readiby students on the one hand lhese conlrasling slralegies
ness for language learningand a lack of confidence on inslruclionaf approaches.
strategies instruction on thethe part of these same stubasis of either of two apdents regarding their own
proaches,
described
herein as teacher-dilearning capabilities and a reluctance torected, instruction-based and student-ditake control of their own learning on therected, learning-based.
other.
The survey results may serve as a preMost students appear to have a learnerliminary indicator of the potential for succentered, learner-independent
orientacess of these contrasting strategies intion, as seen in their recognition of thestructional approaches.
inherent individuality in learning and the
The results seem to indicate a relaimportance of student effort in learning
success together with the view that the tively high degree of readiness for teacher
directed, instruction-based
approaches.
teacher's role includes responding to stuRespondents report preference for profesdents' learning needs and addressing
sorial guidance and exhibit lack of confilearning difficulties, as well as theirdence
regarding an independent role inevaluation of the effectiveness of independent study and learner interaction in the learning process.
Students see teacher training sessions
learning.
However, this orientation appears to be as the most practical means of introducing language learning strategies to thetempered by responses regarding study
English language curriculum and see immanagement
and improving learning,
provements
in learning as an outcome ofwhich reflect an apparent desire for a balance between teacher-guided and self- improved attitudes about learning asofguided study, confirmed by responses in- much as increased understanding
learning
or
any
other
means
such
as
condicating that students stressed the imporcrete planning and management oflearntance of teachers acting to provide learning materials and organize learning ac- rng.
This would point to the need to investivities.
tigatethe feasibility of such teacher diFurthermore, students indicated that
attitudes about learning were at leas t as rected, instruction-based approaches directly, in terms of both institutional conimportant as an understanding of learnstraints, such as curriculum objectives
ing on behalf oflearners themselves, planning and management of learning, cur- and teacher education, as well as current
teaching practices and the acceptance of
riculum and course management, teacher
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strategie s instructio n by teachers.
in East Asian settings should initially focus on reactive autonomy, that "which
Cohen (1998), in prefacing the strategies-based inst ructional approach to lan- does not create its own directions but
guage lear ning strategies instruction, re- (which), once a direction has been initifers to th e fact that "in order for strateated, enables learners to organize theirgies-based instruction to reach the sturesources autonomously in order to reachdents, the teachers need to know how to their goal" (p. 75). Littlewood predicts
deliver it" (p. 96). He also notes the neces- that, provided the purpose is made clear,sity for a "shift in teacher roles from thatstudents will be able to organize givenof being exclusively the manager, controlresources independently towards achievler, and instructor to that of being a ing a goal.
change agent" (p. 97), with teachers beFinally, efforts to improve student ating diagnosticians, learning -- -- --'---- ---titudes
about language
learning in the abstr act
trainers, coaches, coordina- e/forisloimprovesludenl
tors, language learners, andsense would be much imal hludes abouf f anauaaedb
researc h ers.
JJ
prove•
generatin g motiStudent readine ss for stu- learnmy in ihe ab.slrac sense·a tion o learn by giving
dent-directed, learning-ba sed a,ou/c/£e mud =p.rou!d £_ylearner~ ~tra tegi es to adapproaches
on the other yeneraJ.inyz=: · -hn.,;; ec..-n dre~: he actual process ofhand, appears to be relatively byyi uiny learn~
learning autono mously. The
low. As above, student deno ion that we must im0
pendence on teacher guid- aclk essiheaclua/
i prove attitudes to improveance and a student preoccu- learn myauiono=ou ~learning must be reintropation with attitudes about
duced as we can improvelearning English over the actual fundaattitud es by improving learning with one
mentals oflearning itself constitu te obstaway being teacher-initiated,student-dicles to such approaches.
rected learning-based strategies instrucHowever, in addition to improving Ian - tional approaches
guage learning, one of the corollary goals
for student directed , learning-based ap- References
Cohen, A. D. (1998). Strategies in learnproaches is to initiate a shift in the balance of learne r -teacher roles, from de- ing and using a second language. London:
Longman.
pendence on the teacher towards dependDadour, E. S., & Robbins, J. (1996).
ence on language learning strategies, andUniversity-levelstudies using strategy inultimately to learner independence. The
structiontoimprove
speaking ability indegree oflearner-centeredness
characterEgypt and Japan. In R. L. Oxford (Ed.),izing students points to the potential they
Languagelearning strategies around thehave for self-instruction and effective use
world:
Cross-cultural
perspectives (pp.
of strategies learning strategies, albeit
157 -166). Honolulu: University of Hawaii
within the construct of what Littlewood
Press.
(1999) calls reactive autonomy.
Hajer , M., Meestringa, T. Park, Y. Y.,
Littlewood points out that while&
Oxford, R. L. (1996). How print mateEast Asian students have the same latent
rials
providestrategy instruction. In R.
capacity for autonomy as Western learnL. Oxford (Ed.), Language learning straters, they have likely not experienced
egies
around the world: Cross-culturallearning
contexts
which encourage
perspectives (pp. 119-140). Honolulu: Uniproactive autonomy, the Western concept
versity of Hawaii Press.
in which learners take charge of their
Littlewood , W. (199 9). Defining and delearning, determine their objectives , seveloping autonomy in East Asian conlect methods, and evaluate what has trantexts. Applied Linguistics, 20, 1, 71-94 .
spired.
Nyikos, M. (1996). The conceptual shift
Therefore, efforts to increase autonomy
to learner-centered classrooms: Increas-=

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ing teacher and student strategic awareness. In R. L. Oxford (Ed.), Language

learning strategies around the world:
Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 109-118).
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learn-ing strategies: What every teacher should
know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Oxford, R. L., & Leaver, B. L. (1996).
A synthesis of strateg) instru ction for language learners. In R. L. Oxford (Ed.), Language learning strategies
around theworld: Cross-cultural
perspectives (pp.

227-246). Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press.
Rubin, J. (1996). Using multimedia
for learner strategy instruction. In R. L.
Oxford (Ed.), Language learning strategies

around the world: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 151-156). Honolulu: Universityof Hawaii Press.
Wenden, A. (1991). Learner strategies for learner autonomy. London:
Prentice Hall.

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TheRecent
Mo houRelorm
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Ramilications
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Bern Mulvey, Fukui UniversitymCDThis paper provides a summary in English of theThis past summer, the Japanese government
proposedreforms and examines the reasons bemade public the specific details (and proposedhind the opposit ion of many Japanese national
timetable) of its plans to reform the national
university system. Referred to in Japanese as university employees to their implementation.
"Dokuritsu
Gyousei Houjinka"
and/orWhatExacttv
Areme"Dokurnsu
Gvousei"Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjin Tsuuzoku Hou,"
Houiinka"
nns?
lnote
11
these reforms would result in sweeping changes
Beginning as early as the spring of 2001,2
to the way national universities are organizedeach national university will become "independand administered . Indeed, if fully implemented,
ent" (hence the use of the term "dokuritsu") [notethese proposals would effectively end the privi2]. In other words, they will noleged status of these institutions,longer be directly under the juplacing them under the care of.. . universify
risdiction ofMonbusho, gaining
overseers with broad powers mana!Jers rmff. . replace
greater say in, for instance, setincluding the ability to cut fundIfie !Jakuchou ( anc/) w.1//
tingcurriculum and deciding aring to wayward schools and/or
have bolh !/realer powers
eas of specialization [note 3].
remove ineffective teachers.
and more du lie s ... incfudrn!J
However, this new-found inAs is perhaps to have been
Ifie responsibilrly for ... adependence will come at a stiff
expected, the government's promore "resufis ~or.tenlaledposals have sparked strong
price: each university will still
efficiency" ... .1nIfie
be administered by someone
negative reactions from faculty.1nsl.tlulions under
and administrators throughoutwith ties to the Japanese govern/heir conlrof
Japan. Anti-reform webpages
ment, in this case a manager (re(over 100 so far) have appeared on the Internet,
ferred to as "houjin no chou") to be chosen by
while protests of the more traditional variety
an as yet unnamed cabinet minister. Furtherhave occurred (according to documents distribmore, a national advisory committee (with theuted at the Zengaku Setsumeikai held at Phoesomewhat Orwellian-soun ding name of"Hyouka
nix Plaza in Fukui on October 22) at every na- I-In Kai · or standards committee") will also betional university in this country. Furthermore,established at this time, with the responsibility
it is becoming increasingl y apparent that these of evaluating both the performance of these vari. protests are neither isolated incidents nor aber- ous manager s and the institutions under theirrations; on the contrary, and in fascinating con- control.
trast to the commonly held conception that JapaThese university managers will in a sense renese seek to avoid confrontation at all cost, it is place the gakuchou (school president) at eachclear that many national university faculty mem- university . They will have both greater powers
bers and administrators have joined together into and more duties than the current gakuchou, inan increasingly organized protest movement , the cluding the responsibility for, among other things
goals, strategies, and actions of which are be- ensuring a more "results orientated efficiency"
coming more and more confrontational.
(kouritsuteki katsu koukateki ni)[note 4] in the
The issues involved in this debate will have running of the institutions under their control.
a direct impact on all teachers, foreign and Japa- Indeed, the government's desired emphasis on
nese, working at national universities in Japan.
efficiency (and hence a better return on its fi18

Spring
2000:Valume
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OnCUE-ncial investment) is readily apparent througheven a cursory examination of the Dokuritsu
Gyousei Houjin Tsuusoku Houan - the Japanese term "kouritsu" is repeated therein no lessthan 20 times in the 7-page document.
However, by far the most important responsibility of these university managers will be theirensuring that the institutions under their control
satisfy mid-term goals ("chuuki mokuhyou") set
for them by the cabinet minister after consultation with the standards committee. Specifically,
universities will be asked to produce 3- or 5year plans for achieving improvements in the following areas (condensed to three categories below for sake of brevity):

power to fine (and even terminate) employees
and/or cut funding to schools [note 8] - would
mean a sharp broadening of the government's
powers vis-a-vis the various national universities. Indeed, despite Monbusho's assurances thatany actions taken would seek to respect the
newly granted "independence" of each institution (kaku daigaku no jishuusei/jiritsusei ni toku
ni hairyo suru), both the Jokoukai Nyu-:-su(aHokuriku-area faculty newsletter) and the Dai
Ichi Jouichi I-In Kai (a committee made up ofpresidents and senior faculty members from national universities across Japan) predict that, at
a minimum, both funding and faculty cuts arelikely (okonawareru koto ha yousou sare you)under these new provisions [note 9].
1) education and research [note 5]
Finally, the determination of individual
teacher salaries, heretofore solely a factor of age,2) community service3) spending (by far the longest
will under these new laws also
section, with many sub-cattake into account the skills, duties,
egories denoting specific arand accomplishments of each em'J.£e issue seas to be improved)
ployee as well. Individuals judged
involved in fhis debaie
as not producing adequately wrfl .£a ue a direc f impacf
and then achieve tangible results on alffeachers , jorerjn and even if they can avoid job termiin a cost-effective manner. Performnation - will still face the possi:Japanese, a;orbin!J alance with respect to the above obbility of lower salaries and/or denafional uniuersrlies injectives will be evaluated at the end
creased opportunities for promo:Japan.
of each 3-5 year period by both thetion as compared to their more
standards committee and the cabiproductive colleagues [note 10].
net minister, who will take appropriate action In many ways, the proposed changes delineated(shoyou no sochi wo kouzuru) where necessary, above mirror similar reforms already enacted inincluding possibly issuing direct orders for Britain and in Australia. The motives i.e. thechange (henka meirei) [note 6].
Japanese government's desire to control univerThis idea of greater accountability - i.e., sity spending and gain a greater say in personnel
requiring universities to satisfy mid-term (i.e., decisions - behind these new proposals are
3-5 year) achievement objectives in order to similar as well. In exchange for greater freeavoid possible penalties - is a central element dom with regards to research and curriculumof the proposed reforms. As delineated quite development.
clearly in the introductory sections of the proJapan's national universities will instead beposals, Monbusho is hoping that the implemen- placed under various new constraints. As caretation of these periodic checks will help stimu- ful budget maintenance becomes more and morelate universities to a renewed commitment to prioritized under these new laws, faculty and adworld class research (seikaiteki suijun no ministrators will be forced to become more "botkyouiku kenkyuu wo tenkai suru), as well as prod tom-line" conscious,juggling research and eduthem to be more cost-effective and results-ori- cational priorities with the need to reduce overentated (kouritsu teki katsu kekka teki ni all costs. When one factors in the government's
okonawaseru koto) in their efforts [note 7].
additional education, research, and community
While the exact form any punitive actions service objectives, the challenges posed by thesemight take is still under discussion, some of the new reforms should be clear.
possibilities suggested so far - including the19-...-..=CDCDHOO:v11ume
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WhvJapaneseTea
areAgainst
These

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despite the gov
e ·s stat ed commitment
to nurturing and p mo · g greater school andIn order to understan
e reasons for Japaresearch inde pe e e and autonomy
nese teacher and administr ator opposition to(daigaku no kyou · rn · · huusei to j iritsuseithese propo sals it is necessary to understandwo tanpou suru) the final result will be an
the recen t histori cal context in which these lateducation system where all must bow to theest guidelines were laid down. Back in 1997,
authority of gove rnmen o ·erseer s - not to
Monbusho announced that, because of the low
mention a standard s committ ee and, ultinational birthrate (and resultant decrease in themately, a cabinet minister. Furt hermore, benumber of applicants for univercause all national universities
sity entrance), it would seek awill have to satisfy mid-term'J.£isidea of
10% reduction in the number ofgoals set by the cabin et minister
yrealer
accounlalnfily
full-time faculty over a ten year
and/or the standards committee,- i e.' reruiriny
period beginning in 2001. This
these institutio ns will, in effect,
universilies lo salis/y mid-directive initially met with resisthave to give up their independlerm (i e., 3~5 year)
ance, but once it was realized that achievemenl ob/ecli ves in order ence and individuality in order tothese reductions could be carried lo avoid possible penaliies survive.
is a cenlral elemenl of I.heout without mass-firings (i.e .,proposed reforms.
through natural attrition as Ja2) What exactly is to be the compan's aging faculty finally begin
position of the so-called standto retire over these next ten years),
ards committee? In other words,
these new policies were reluctantly accepted.
who will be entrusted with the all-important
However, in the summer of 1999, Prime Minpower to judge the institutions? Also, withister Obuchi announced that he wou ld prefer toregards to these judgements, will the universee an additional 20% reduction (i.e., on top ofsities in question be allowed feedback into
the initial 10%) to the faculty workforce overthe process? Indeed, if there is a common
this same ten-year period. Moreover his cabi thread to the above objections, it is the shared
net recently came out with an even more drastic
distrus in the go ernment's intention s. Ifcall for a 35% (total) reduction - i.e., far morethese e ·posa.ls become law, ask many
than could possibly be satisfied by natural attriJapanese faculty
administrat ors, what willtion. In other words, suddenly Japan's national
happen to their traditional privil eges as Japauniversity professors and administrators are benese nation al e · - (under the Roudou
ing confronted with something most thought they
Jouken Kan ren
i ei and the Koukka
would never face in their lifetimes: the possibilKoumuin Hou ? Are not these "reforms" justity of layoffs and even mass-terminations. As
an excuse for the governm ent to close poorly
the Jokoukai Nyu-su (Mori, 1999, p. 2) asks,
attended schools an or fire unneeded instrucwhat will happen to their rights (to guaranteed
tors?
raises, lifetime employment, etc .) as national
employees?
3) Regarding the mid-term objectives - why
Given this background, it is easy to underare so many of them non-education and/or
stand the opposition to these latest proposals.
non-research-related? Also, how realistic is
Below is a summary of the most important obit to expect institutions of higher learning tojections:
satisfy short- and mid-term "efficiency" goals
anyway? Aren't such goals antithetical toeducation and research, the fruits of which
are often not recognizable outside the longterm, if at all?

1) As written, the proposals will drasticallyreduce the independence of national universities, as well as deaden creativity and effectively end regional specialization. Indeed,
note Japanese educators, despite the use of"independence" in the title to the reforms, and

4) With regards to the selection of the university managers (houjin no chou), why is ex-

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perience in education not listed as an essen- tional. At Fukui University, on "Open Campus
tial prerequisite for hiring? As now written, Day" (a day when parents and young children
only "superior knowledge and experience in are invited onto campus to attend various exmanagement" (Jimuu to jigyou ni kansuru hibits and activities designed to show the university in the best light possible), hundreds ofkoudona chishiki to keiken wo yuusurumono), as well as the ability to run an institu- gaud ily colored posters were plastered to walls,
tion properly and efficiently Gimuu to jigyou trees , wind ows demanding the rescinding of the
wo tekisei to kouritsu teki ni unei dekiru dokuritsuhou reforms. In November, preparamono), are considered necessary. How can a tions for the 5G1"anniversary of the founding of
Fukui University were disrupted
person lacking experience inby the placing of huge banners
education possibly understand
...
sudde
nly
in protest of the reforms , anthe needs of educators and/or:Japan's na lion al
nouncing the faculty's resolve to
run a university successfully?
uniuersif_y profes sors andr esist their implementation
Indeed, if there is a common
adminislralors ar e beiny
thread to the above objections, conµ,onled roil.£som elhmy OXJSI {th ese banners remained up
thr oughout the 5-day celebrait is the shared distrust in the l.£ouy.hl I.hey rooufdne 1,er ~einI.heirfrjelimes:lbetion).
Requests for money and/government's intentions.
possibilif_y of lay offs ano ·or notices announcing additional
euenmas s/
meetings regarding this issue
If these new proposals become
lerminali ons.
appear in boxes of the Japaneselaw, ask many Japanese faculty
faculty twice a month. Finding
and administrators, what will hapyers strewn about (obviously dispen to their legal rights as Japanese citizens (un- anti-refi
der the Roudou Jouken Kanren Kitei) and as na- tribute ro students by the preceding instructor)
e one's classroom is not unusual, nor
tional servants (under the Koukka Koumuin
I to hear a loud speech (delivered byHou)? Are not these "reforms" just an excuse
e from directly outside the school caffor the government to close poorly attended illlcro
eteriaough one's office window.
schools and/or fire unneeded instructors?
Ir o ·call · a major slogan of the Japaneseproti _ rs is one that will seem very familiar to
HowTheUniversities
AreResistingThese
mo oreign readers of this article: the inhumanReforms
In response to the government's proposals, ity of lacing people on a short-term contract
national universities in Japan have formed vari- s ·stem ·here workers may be abruptly termious study groups (such as the ponderously named nated - regardless of performance - at the end"Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka Mondai ni of a fixed contract period. The unfairness of
Kansuru Kentou Sho I-In Kai") researching ways such a system is emphasized over and over again.
to best resist the proposed reforms. Meetings A poster hung up on Open Campus Day in Fukui,
between different regional groups (such as the for instanc e, suggests that this would be akin to
one in Fukui in October) have also been held, at tre-atingpe ople like animals or like garbage. Anfirst secretly (out of fear of retribution - see o er asks about the long-term effects of this typeDai Ichi Jouchi I-In Kai, 1999a, pp. 1-3), and of system on educational quality, suggesting that
more recently openly to discuss opposition to resultant job insecurity - not to mention thethese reforms. Actions taken so far include dis- inevitable staff turnover - would invariably disrupting important events with posters and fly- rupt the formation of student-teacher relationers, holding public rallies ( complete with ships, as well as put a cap on curriculum develspeeches) on campus, conducting fund-raising opment.
Indeed, it is ironic that our Japanese colon campus for an aggressive ad campaign (to beleagues,when faced with the possibility of belaunched in the spring of 2000), and distributing flyers and giving anti-reform lectures to stu- ing placed under similar constraints as foreign
instructors, have responded with the same argudents at the beginning of classes.
ments- and similar tactics - as PALE activThe protests can be extremely confronta-

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only con · e. Hen ce, the biggest selling point- the comparariYely high salaries - to this polladicalionsanlllPPDllllillesfll'ftlllglfadV sition no o · _·la cking (with its standard onePerhaps in anticipation of faculty and admin- month no · e erminati on provisions and no ree· long-termprospectsandjob
istrative protests, the Japanese government re- tirement
appear to have been removed.
cently moved up the desired starting date for security ·oStill. iril
rop osed new laws would
these proposed reforms. Originally schedu led
ese and (to a lesser extent)
to begin April 2003, some of these new direc- seYere •· im_ - _tives may be instituted as early as April 2001,-. - -· all national universities inwith the time allocated to the various national~ e against their necesuniversities to raise objections
1 . ·ears of experience in
and/or come up with counter- pro· auth or has seen reform -min ed schools (names posals being correspo ndin g ya.her.
faced
a,.itbI.heth ere ar e sev eral - have beenshortened as well. Indeed, acpossibility of beiny pla ced
deleted ) hamstrung by their incording to Joukoukai 1yu-su, theunder similar consfrainfs asability to terminate t,eachers (inJapanese government hopes toforeijn ins/rue/ors, .have
cluding
one memorable caseend all debate on this issue by the
responded {]JJ/£I.be same
where a teacher had been absent
summer of the year 2000 (Mori,
ar!lumenfs - andsinufar
1999, p. 1).
from class for over 10 years after
faclics - as JJJl/30
aclivisfs !.
being institutionalized for schizoConsidering the nature andphrenia). This author has seen
extent of protests so far, whether
the Japanese government will get its way in this teachers who consistently fail to show up foror not is still unclear. However, for foreign fac- classes, who pad their research records by plaulty, the years 2001 and 2003 stand out as being giarizing (including one individual who copied
especially important. Regular full-time employ- an essay I'd read in high school and submitted itees (e.g., sennin koushi, jokyoujuu, etc.) whose as his own work!) or by having their names atcontracts (or visa renewals) come up in either of tached to studies in which they'd never particithese two years face a stronger than usual possi- pated (a Chinese student at one school I've
bility of non-renewal, as their terminations would worked at once came to me with a paper he'dcount towards the 10-35% faculty-cuts sought written in English which had the names of 11
Japanese faculty - none of whom had assisted
by both Monbusho and Prime Minister Obuchi's
cabinet. Moreover , due to these cutbacks, na- or even met the author - attached to it as cotional university-level full-time positions for authors), and who use government funds forforeigners - already at a premium - will nec- dubious research purposes ( only to return withessarily become even scarcer ; in other words , extensive picture travelogues depicting theirthose who lose their jobs will have an e en harder various overseas adventures).
These people are, of course, exceptions; bytime than usual finding new emplo ym ent elsewhere.
far the maj ority offaculty (whether they be JapaGaikokujin kyoushi, historically immune to nese or n.on-Japanese) and staff at Japanesethese kind of issues (they are not considered full- universities are extremely diligent and profestime faculty, so their termination would not count sional, pas sionately committed to helping their
toward the required faculty cuts), have their own students and working together with them towards
problems. Already at some schools, they are a better future for the Japanese people.
However, the problem remains that, as the
being asked to take pay cuts (at this university,laws stand now, there is little the government
almost 15% ), as well as accept greater administrative scrutiny over the usage of their already can do regarding those few malingerers whose
meager (usually less than half that of "regular"presence saps both the financial resources andfaculty) research allowances. Considering the the morale of the universities in question. The
government's emphasis on greater financial re- reforms proposed would change this situation,straint and/or spending efficiency, this trend will forcing universities to become more budget-conists!

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scious and results-orientated in the process.
Indeed, if anything, the implementation of 5. Interestingly, there is no direct mention of researchand/or education-orientated goals in the original Hoan
these reforms would result in a more level play(an oversight which has led to its criticism - seeing field, for Japanese professors would, for the
Jokoukai Nyu-su, pg. 1; Dai Ichi Jouichi I-In Kai 1999a,first time, be placed under the same constraints,
1999b). The supplementary documents later provided
and receive the same level of scrutiny, that forby Monbushou (Monbushou [b] and Monbushou [c])eign professors now receive as a matter of course.
redress this oversight.
While the current proposa ls as now written
place too much emphasis on budgetary concerns 6. Monbushou (1999c), pg. 4. See also, Monbushou(expecting national unive rsities to tum them(1999a), dai 34-35 jou .
selves overnight into profit-orientated businesses
7. Monbushou(1999b),pg. 2;
is unrealistic) to be ideal, they
Monbusho(1999a),
dai
1
jou
(2).
represent a good first-step towards finding a solution to the
8. Monbushou (1999a), dai 23 jou (2),problems described abo e.
(/orerjners and :/apanese#1 & 2; dai 46jou; dai 66 jou;Indeed, considerin g the resistnalionafs) wor.k loyelher
Monbushou (1999c), pp . 6-9.
ance of many Japanese nation als
in order lo achieve a moreto the governmen t's proposed re9. Jokoukai Nyu-su, p. l; Dokuritsu
balanced cfeal wrlh /heforms, an opportunity would also
Gyousei Houjinka Mondai ni Kansuru
yovernmenf, /hereby
seem to exist: could not we (forIken Oyobi Shitsumon, pp. 1-7.
improviny lony~lermeigners and Japanese nationals)
prospecfs forwork together in order to achieve
10.Monbushou(l999a),dai57,59jou;Mon
bushou (1999b), p. 4.
a more balance d deal with theeveryone.?
government , thereby improving
11. The following discussion is a distillong-term prospe cts for everyone?
lati
on
of
arguments
presented in the following:
Now, wouldn't that be a novel idea!

~"Kokuritsu Daigaku no Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka
Mondai ni Kansuru Zengaku Setsumeikai no Kansei ni
Tsuite•· and -Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka Mondai ni
Kansuru Iken Oyobi Shitsumon" (both handouts prepared and distributed by the Dai Ichi Jouchi 1-Inkai),and "Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka ni Hantai Suru"(Jokoukai Xyu-su [faculty newsletter]).

lclmowledm ms. Thanks go to Minashima Hiroshi, Tachi
Kiyotaka, and Mulvey Eiko for checking myJapanese, and to Charles Jannuzi for looking over
my English. All mistakes are my own.

NOTES

Reier ces

1. The discussion in the following sections is a distillationof information from the following sources: "Dokuritsu
Gyousei Houjin Tsuusoku Houan," "Kokuritsu Daigaku
no Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka ni Tsuite," and"Kokuritsu Daigaku no Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka
no Kentou no Houkou" (all three from Monbusho),"Kokuritsu Daigaku no Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka
Mondai ni Kansuru Zengaku Setsumeikai no Kansei ni
Tsuite" and "Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka Mondai ni
Kansuru Iken Oyobi Shitsumon" (both handouts prepared and distributed by the Dai Ichi Jouchi 1-Inkai),and "Dokuritsu Gyousei Houjinka ni Hantai Suru"(Jokoukai Nyu-su [faculty newsletter]). To avoid thereadability problems associated with multiple citations
for each sentence , specific citations are included only
for points where there is some disagreement among
these 6 sources.

Dai Ichi Jouichi I-InKai. (1999a) . Koukuritsu daigaku
no dokuritsu gyousei houjinka monda i ni kansuru zengaku
setsume ikai no kaisai ni tsuite (About the all-university
meeting regarding national universities and the concerns
they have \\ith the dokuritsu gyousei houjinka). Handout.
Dai Ichi Jouichi I-In Kai. (1999b). Dokuritsu gyousei
houjinka mondai ni kansuru iken oyobi shitsumon (Opinions and questions regardi ng problems with the dokuritsu
gyousei houjinka). Handout.
Monbushou. (1999a). Dokuritsu gyousei houjin tsuzoku
hoan (The dokurits u gyousei houjin amendment proposals). Explanatory mailer provided to all universities by
Monbushou.
Monbushou. (1999b ). Kokuritsu daigaku no dokuritsu
gyousei houjinka ni tsuite (About national universities andthe dokuritsu gyousei houjinka). Explanatory mailer provided to all national university employees by Monbushou.
Monbushou . (1999c ). Kokuritsu daigaku no dokuritsu
gyousei houjinka no kentou no houkou (The dokuritsu
gyousei houjinka at the national universities: An examina tion of directions). Explanatory mailer provided to all national university employees by Monbushou.
Mori, Touru. (1999). Dokuritsu gyousei houjinka ni
hantai suru (Opposing the dokuritsu gyousei houjinka).
Joukoukai Nyu -su, 4, 1-2.

2. See Jokoukai Nyu-su, p. 1.
3. Monbushou (1999a), dai l jou (2), dai 3 jou (3), dai 5jou, dai 8 jou (2); Monbushou (1999b), p. 3;
Monbushou (1999c), p. 1.
4. Monbushou (1999a), dai 2 jou. See also, dai 14-26
jou for a more detailed description of responsibilities.

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Edited by 111/ichaelCarroll andu

Andrew Obenneier
literatureandDrama:. :'.
:;;APractical
APPlication-or'Enulish
Language
Learning~,I:u

Jim ~orbett, Pusan Teacher Training Center,
S. Korea

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Literature and drama can be combined to gen- tury England, the teacher can elicit informationt',erate meaningful and memorable discussions in
an English language class. Since most Korean
students have few or no opportunities to talk tonative English speakers, using drama is the n~xt
best way to expose them to the real world ofEnglish. This lesson provides suggestions forusing a section from Oliver Twist as a vehicle
for interactive learning. ,··-"·-Bacqround:by asking questions .

warmupandlistening
Activities
The students talk about emotions felt in theirchildhoods and then listen to the story and speculate on Oliver's emotions.
Warm UpIn groups describe a time in your childhood
when you felt:
a.happyb. sadc. confusedd. afraid
e. disappointed
f. shocked
g. excitedh. bored

I did this lesson with middle school English
teachers and a high school class to ·demonstrate
how literature and drama could be used . The
English teachers, ranging from intermediate toadvanced in English proficiency, needed fresh
ideas for motivating their students to learn English. When the high school dass of intermediate
learners expressed an intere~l ·in exploring ~uropean history to advance -their English compe·- First Listening Activity A
tency, I was 1inspired to prepare a CO!llI11unica- A. Listen to the tone of the story and circle
tive lessori using written work by Charles Dick- the adjectives that you think describe Oliver's
ens, one of my favoi;ite writers. 0 liver Twist was feelings.
my first cp:oice because many high school stuhappy
dents could relate to the challenges and strugsad
gles that children face in an adult society. In adconfuseddition to stimulating an appreciation for Engafraid
1Jish literature,. the activities in this lesson also
disappointed
created enthusiasm for studying other subjects
shockedlfke history and social studies.
excited
The text for this lesson is from pages 2 to 5
boredof the Longman Classics version of Oliver Twist.
This· version also comes with a cassette. The First Listening Activity B
scerie ,istheworkhouse where Oliver Twist lives.
The students discuss their choices in groups.
In this scene, Oliver and many other boys in the• Are there any differences or similarities?
workhouse are eating in a big hall . After dinner,• Why did they choose these adjectives?
many boys pressure Oliver into asking the master for more food. When Oliver humbly apIn the second listening activity the students
proaches the master, he is verbally scolded, listen to samples of dialogue from the text andphysically beaten in front of all the other boys try to identify the speaker. They then consider
and locked in a dark room for several days.
other more idiomatic possibilities:r

l8SSII Plan:
The te,achef begms by explaining the situation of many children laborers during the time;of Charles 'Dickens. If the students are alreadyfamiliar wi!}ithe story or the history of 19th cen-Second Listening Activity A
A. Who is talking? These are spoken statements from the text. Listen and place an "X"
next to the appropriate speaker.
a. He asked for more?
24

OnCUE( ) Oliver ( ) master ( ) Mr. Bwnble
b. What?
() Oliver () master ()Mr.Bumblec. Please sir.
( ) Oliver ( ) master ( ) Mr. Bumble
d. I can hardly believe it.
( ) Oliver ( ) master ( ) Mr . Bumble
e. I want some more.
( ) Oliver ( ) master ( ) Mr. Bumble

Secondlistening
Activitv
B
A. Here are some other statements . Whowould probably say each line : Oliver , the mas ter, or Mr. Bumble? Discuss your choice s in ·ourgroups.
a. I really hate this place!
b. You will keep your mouth shut!
c. You little brat!
d. I want out of here!
e. Here is your food.
f. I will teach that kid to be good!
g. Please, don't hit me!
A third possible listen.in~ activity for lower
and intermediate level students might be a cloze
exercise that foc uses on a particu lar vocabula ry
list or gramm ar poin .

Drama tic Interpretation
After all the listenin~ activities have been
completed, the teacher divides the class into
groups of five to eight depending on the num bers.
Each group will practi e and perform thisscene in the form of a small s ·1. The groupmembers must select th e foll°' ing roles: 0 li er,other boys, the master and Mr. Bumble. All th egroup members must spea k in the skit witho ut
looking at the written text. After each presenta tion, the teacher may check comprehension b
asking specific questions abou t the eYents andthe dialogue.
Further groups discussions can focus on the
feelings portrayed by the different characters inthe skits. Discussing similarities and differencesin the skits appealed to many groups; especially
Oliver's responses the various situation s.

s1r111u2000:v11ume
8,Issue1

Feedback
andResuns
Most of the high school students respondedCD
positivel y to this lesson through active participa- ution and discussions. When some middle school
teachers argued that their students did not know 'i&enough about drama to do this lesson, I challenged
them to ask the students about their favorite televi- CDsion shows, commercials, songs or even stories. 5
All of these forms of communication contain an E
element of drama. I also stressed that drama is not I!
only a stage presentation nor is it only found in .._literature ; it is a real way of interpreting information and events in daily life. Although many originally questioned the notion of using literature in
an English conversation class, most doubts had vanished before completing the skits.
Most women did not object to playing male rolesin the skit. If there were objections, they were allowed to use different names in their presentations.
Finding time to cover all the essential informationin this lesson was a bigger challenge for teachers.
To overcome this challenge, many teachers suggested completing the listening activities in classand have each group prepare a skit as a homeworkassignment. If there are many groups in the class,
the teacher may prepare a schedule of presentations.
The dram a activity challenged the students toapply the vocabulary they had learned from thevariou s activities and select important points of thestory to present in the skit. This generated practical discussions of key words and decision making
and cooperation in a group. Even the shy and quiet· students participated in the drama activity. Further
discussions related to various themes like making
polite requests, colloquial expressions and historical changes heightened interest in using drama withother forms of written text. Although many students and teachers were reluctant to participate in
an unfamili ar activity related to drama and literature initial discussions on familiar childhood experiences helped them feel comfortable and enthusiastic . M any teachers expressed enthusiasm
about applying similar techniques in their classes.

:B&

conclusion

Follow Up

This lesson was an experiment for me in employing drama activities beyond rehearsed roleplays. From my experiences in Canada, Japan and
Korea, I knew that students feel challenged whenusing language spontaneously. In addition, drama
makes language learning fun for both the teacher
and the students. I am now preparing English drama
lessons about Korean folk tales and Canadian history to use in future classes.

The students and the teacher discuss what theylearned and why they did this activity. They may
also brainstorm using other written material like
fables and newspaper articles for drama. One
student suggested using drama to learn about
famous historical personalities.

25

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~i,
!ll ,:,
Research
Sources
ontheInternet

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Steven Snyder; Kyushu University
of Health and Welfare

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, ...... .·•asfissue of Cyberpipeline ended
with r~oIIlelink:s to new booksellers. In thislike to begin with a reference
e:diti(jh,tcrgetting used books on the web.

Cambridge University Press offers alerting onjournals through their UK webpage, or at:tat·,·,,.:,.

.

.

Advanced
BaolEXchanae... ·/r·.~http: //www.abe.com>

What <l<i':fi(O,o?

1

Fonhose 9f):'()Uwho Haven't used this service befoi:¢, .the".Aqvanced Book Exchange is a
mark1;::!
where Illany use,<,ibookshops can lists thebool<f~he~]lave'.Book listings usually include athe book, the price andnote on[the quality
how you can purchase it. All you need to do is
go to the Advanced Book Exchange site, findYO'tf
pesired "book through their search engine,chqp~~a yendel' that has what you want and thenplace an·orde,rwith
yourcredit card.
\_,.
.

< http: //www.journals.cup.org/owa dba/
owa/alerting?sjid =eol.>

Alerts for journals by Oxford University Press
can be obtained through:<http://www3.oup.co.uk/jnls /tocmail/>
Another exce llent alerting service is Scholarly Articles Research Alerting (Sara), which
gives advanced information from the Taylor andFrancis journals group:<http://www .tandf.co.uk/journals />.

of

'

/

Why ,,,iftJip,n,Qrtant?.
Res.earch ' funds ..don'f g9 very far on new
books, but you can get a pile of used books forthe same money. Also, some books are not available ~p.y.
._other way. Recently I found a computation,aIJinguistics book that I couldn't find forover a, ye,arand got it in perfect condition for"·' . . ..·! ' ...
10% pf the: original price!
c· . ·c.i

~y1.,
....
.:..;r:·....

Th'.~se,),a~e reset:,(t~hfunds can only get
you so nian'yjourna.l subscriptions. Hereis a way't<>findo:o:tabout newly publishedarticles.
'''AlerJi11.Servicas

There are probably others that I haven't
found yet; certainly , most publishers will be
providing this service in the future.

Why are they important?
Besides keeping you informed about new articles in your primary field, alerting services cankeep you current on titles in related areas. A great
range of fields can be accessed, but here are justa few examples of Alert titles related to language:
ELT Journal, Literary & Linguistic Computing,Comparative Education, Perspectives (Higher
Ed), Open Learning, Psycholinguistics, Language in Society, Applied Psycholinguistics, andmany, many more. Once you find things of interest you can obta in the articles throughinterlibrary loan.
Over time you begin to see which journals
have the articles you 're looking for and you can
subscribe to them. You save time, money andyou get information on the journals before they
are released.

Wh~f
6re.they?

Here are some sites that will help you
to find large numbers of published articles in specific fields.

So~e publishing houses give advanced announceme,µts, .,or }~Alerts/' of new books andjourn,ls, usua:lly
tly'pugh ~ e-mail listserve. You
can eve1rspedfy the categories which will besen{tp yqu, by either group or specific title.
ffe)ftoni' time to.fime,.yo'u'll receive an e-mail9~ntai,ning,tlle.ti,tleaqd'.contents page of a jour.,' 'ri ·f qesftipt,i9n 1of a new book or arti-

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ArticleSearches

Neduture
bvSteve
Talbott

Nonhernlights<http://www .oreilly.com/~stevet/netfuture/><http: //www.northemlight.com/>uncover<http://uncweb.carl.org/>

NICISIS
Webcat<http: //webcat.nacsis.ac.jp/webcat.html>

What are they?
Northern Lights is a company that provides access to thousands of articles, andmany can be purchased for less than
through interlibrary loan. Web-based articles are usually free.
UnCover is a catalogue of books andjournals among associated libraries in theUSA. For the researcher in Japan its mainuse is as a search engine for finds titles.
NACISIS Webcat is a similar serviceof associated university libraries here in
Japan and the service is offered in both
English and Japanese languages.

Why are they important?
Using a search engine to find article s
is the most powerful and efficient way tofind titles of interest. Combined, the sethree search engines provide access to thelargest database of scholarly articles (an dbooks) in the world.
Many university librarians in Japa n
are happy to get an article for you, bu t
you usually have to know the complete citation, including the issue and pages numbers.
If you only have part of a reference, you
may be able to find the complete citat ion
through these articles searches.
Depending on what you are looking for,using Northern Lights or UnCover ma y
be the most effective way of obtaining thearticle.
I'd like to close this installment of Cyberpipeline with a candidate for "one of
the best things on the web." Some of mycolleagues make of game of finding the"best" things in cyberspace, and I'd like toinvite you to suggest some too- send mean e-mail with your choice. Please include
the address of the site and why you think
it is important.

Wha t is it?
Thi s site ar chives issues of the newsletter " etfutur e: Technology and Human
Res ponsibility," that is devoted to_ reasses sing comp ut ers and technology m huma n termsusually in a critical way.
Tal bott · ope nl y skeptical of technologica l promise, yet there is a del_ic_i~usiro~yin hi.., commu nicating his criticisms via
t he Internet .
There are a lot of people critical of the
optimism sur rounding technolo~cal development but a couple of Talbott s newslette ~ are r emarkable for their juxtaposition of tec hnological claims with books
abou extra ordinary human experiences .
Do -..ourself a favor and check out twoof e:e new sletters : issue #92 and issue
102. I su e #92 pits Ray Kurzweil's The...-tgeo, Spi ritual Machines _a~ainst And
The e ·was Light and The Living and theDead. bo th by Jacques
Lusseyran.
L ,:en·a n was the teenaged leader or the
Res· ~ranee Movement in France-andhea - bli nd . As the story unfolds,
LU:S-eyran's blindness is more of an asset
than a h andicap . In issue #102, Talbott
con rasts the potential uses of genetic science wit h Expecting Adam, by Martha
Beck. Talbott' s threading of Beck's taleo rais ing a Down Syndrome child with~n
our social agenda to eliminate such children is masterful.

Why is it important?
. .
Technology, and its attendant thmking,~ be an inevitably larger influence on
our liv es. The articles on this site are predicta bly anti-tech, but they provide m~terial for reflecting about a part of our hveswhic h is rarely examined. Besides being
enj oyable and informative,these two
newsletters speak directly to the consequ ences of being smug about the i1~.teracti on of values and systems, without
pr eaching. This is writing t~at ~tten~st o the subtle connections. You 11fmd thisa very different experience from much ofwhat is on the web.
21

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Debra Pappieruol

to students being able to use the fruits of thoselessons on a daily basis in society? No! So whythen is it expected that students who have studied English are expected to maintain a functional,
or even expert, native-level of skill in society?"First, I think it's fair to say that few English
teachers (if any) expect "native-level" skill fromhigh school graduates. I think it is, however, perfectly reasonable to expect a student who's studied En g lish for six years to do more than

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9 aminnoway SU!J!J
esfin!J Iba/
uniuersify is a bad I.bin!/,bu/ 01.benclr'cl
cofle!le become
I.beplace for real learnin!Jand .bi<J.bschool I.beplace for"/earnin<J .£001lo learn".

that educators who critis stem of high school English
asonable expectations, outions in other subject areas.
!Yhigh school subjects leadrudimentarily introduce themselves. I'd expect
a teenager who'd studied math for six years to
be able to do more than add and subtract. Few
adults use any subject, not fundamental to theirchosen profession , on a daily basis and those of
us who believe that English education in Japanneeds improvement don't expect that kind ofskill from students . Mr. Guest seems to believethat expecting better skills from Japanese students is akin to asking a high school math student to design a bridge.
The point of junior and senior high school,as I always understood it, was to provide equal
educational opportunities to everyone. Those
who choose to go on to college were furthering
their education or specializing. To suggest themain purpose of junior and senior high school
education is to prepare for real learning later inlife is to reduce these institutions to a preschoollike level; they become places where students
learn to sit still, get along with their classmates,and draw between the lines.
A high school graduate used to be consideredan adult, able to get a decent job and raise a fam-21

Spring2000:v11um1
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ily. Increasingly, university degrees are becom- internationally is to waste what are perhaps theseing necessary to make a decent wage. I am in no students' peak years for learning. Mr. Guest
way suggesting that university is a bad thing, but seems to be saying this is as good as it gets sowhen did college become the place for real learn- leave it alone; however, this does a grave dising and high school the place for "learning how service to students.
to learn". Perhaps, if high school education
A rela ted point that Mr. Guest brings up is(which is more readily available to the finan- that English scholars are re-stressing the needcially disenfranchised) were improved, there for grammar in the classroom. He seems to sugwould be less need for "real" learning at univer- gest that refo rming the current system meanssity. Frankly, it's an insult to young people to favoring communi cation skills over gramma rteach them a subject if the exstudy. As a firm believer in grampectation is that they can't or
mar based activities, I am often
won't learn it. Ifl studied a lanconfused by the grammar vs.
guage for six years and all Ia ma/or reason Iba/
communicat ion debate. As far as
cou ld do was hesitantly reciteI
am concerned, the two are fun:/apan ese sludenfs can 'I
three or four basic sentences
damentally inseparable. Grammar
express l.bemsefues
about myself, I'd be furious atis the tool for accurate and comsuccessfo//y:whatever system had wasted soplex comm unication. Yes, a childmuch of my time.
is lbai I.beyare no/ reallyand a beg innin g student can comYoung people aren 't tendermunic
ate with one-word utterexpecledlo.
fruits waiting to ripen . They'reances but they cannot communiintelligent human beings capacate detaile d information . It' s theble of incredible learning. Am I mistaken or don't difference betwe en being able to say, "Tummy
language experts believe the younger the child, hurts" and "I think that the cheese sauce on thatthe easier the language? I think a major reason Eggplant Parmesan is giving me indigestion."that Japanese students can't express themselves
Daniella 's success at verbal communication
successfully, is that they are not really expected is not at the expense of her grammar ability.
to. Mr. Guest suggests that expecting more than Japanese students do not do better on standard
the skills currently demons trated by high school written tests of Engl ish than their European andgraduates is unreasonable . But ifmy ·elve year Asian count erparts . If they did , one might be
old German cousin, Dan iella can speak (and able to say that grammar and communication
write) more English than mydents and she were separable and th at Japanese studen tscan), doesn't it follo w that whateYer system she lacked only communicati on ski lls. This is, howis being taught by is better at fos ering language e er, is not th e case and as someone who advocompetency?
cates reform in jun ior and senior high school
Certainly Daniella has some ad ·antages over English classes, I am not suggesting abandonher Japanese peers. Ma be he doe better be- ing grammar.
cause she 's got more reasons o learn English,
As I' e said before, I agree with Mr. Guest's
maybe it's easier for her because English and overall point. Jap anese teachers cannot andGerman are relat ed or maybe she got more role should not be indicted for problems within Jamodels. But rather than just listing all her ad- pan's langu age program but arguing that thisvantages and saying, oh, well'· sbould:n t edu- program, wh ich fails to produce competency, iscators be trying to replicate as many of those successful, does nothing to improve it. Open disadvantages as possible . And do the ad1;antages cussion of strong and weak points of a systemthat European students might ha e o er Japa- with out over-generalizing to assign blame seems
nese students explain why Japan ranked 18th out to be a good first step towards improving it andof21 Asian economies in TOEF L scores (Japan improvement is always possible.
Times, Feb. 18, 2000)?
I agree that, in general, Japanese studen ts are
fairly familiar with the basics. I don't think, however, that the familiarity they demonstrate takes
six years to achieve. To perpetuate a system that
doesn't provide a path to mastery and leaves
Japanese students woefully behind their peers

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MikeGues
t repliestoDebr
a PappierFirst I'd like to congratulate Debra Pappier for her sonnets or Latin conjugates have beyond stirring mensuccessand achievementsas a high school student. She tal discipline? In fact most of her argument is a confucertainlyappears to have been more conscientiousand sion of constant shifting between admitting that highadept as a high-schooler than I was. However, to be school education has no practical real-life use and yet
sure, my best students here in Japan are able to per- arguing that it is in fact something more than mental
form at levels similar to that of Ms. Pappier while the disciplining,while alternatelydriftingbetweenprescriprabble, such as myself, fall below these lofty ideals. tive (what it should be) and descriptive(what it is) modes
I'm sure that her scholarly performances were not in- of rhetoric.
After both affirming and denying my descriptions
dicativeof the run-of-the-millstudentin her home country's high schools, nor are my best students indicative of the goalsofhigh schooleducation,Ms. Pappiermakesof the average Japanese. Actually, what Ms. Pappier a rather absurd statement. She says that, ''the point of
may be inadvertentlydemonstratingis that there is lit- junior and senior high school...isto provide equal edutle difference between Japanese students and the stu- cationalopportunitiesfor everyone". Whateverthe goalof an educationmaybe, it is certainly
dents in her native country.
not this. In fact Ms. Pappierdisplays
But, so what! I'm not sure why
Y!G.'Yapp/er's
somecategoricalconfusionhere. We
Ms. Pappierhas chosento recounther
hi!Jh~schoofsuccesses
may play tennis for health, for fun,scholastic achievements. Ms. Papfor money or to defeat an opponent,
pier's high-school successes in no in no way drscredri my ar!lumenl
butsurely no one plays it in orderway discreditmy argumentthat highl.halhi!Jh~schooleducahon'to provide equal opportunities toschool education serves primarily to serves primarily lo provide eiiher
win'. This may be an honourable
provideeitherbasiccognitivegroundbasic CO!Jnifive!Jroundr"n!Jmeans to an end but it is surely noting or a grounding for future study.
O!R
Her high-school education seems toan end in itself. After waffling on
a !lroundr"n!Jforhave not translated directlyintopracmy earlierargumenton the purposes
tical real-worldskills,just like that ofof high school education, is this all
fulure slue(,;.
our students.The factthat Ms. PappierMs. Pappier can offer of her own?
As for her comment that my dedid well at it does nothing to alter
these facts. Yet for some reason she expects that our scription of high school as a place to prepare for real
students should be able to do more, namely display learning later in life "is to reduce these institutionsto a
fruitful real-time applications of those skills learned in preschool-likelevel";it seems to me to be deliberately misleading. Stirschool. My argument is that since most high school
teaching in any subject is not for productive real-life ring students' intellectswith challengesthat presumeto
usage but as cognitivediscipliningwe shouldnot meas- developtheir cognitivecapabilitiesis not somethingthat
ure English education's success or failure by real-life stops after pre-school. In fact, if90% of the study I did
in high school was not purely for this type of cognitive
yardsticks.
But Ms. Pappier seems to be tying herself in rhe- exercise I have no idea what it was for (the other 10%
torical knots here. She takes issue with my description was useful as groundingfor universitystudies).I'm cerof the purposes of high-school education but, I won- tainly not using sonnets or Latin in my daily life now.
der, how did her ability to recite Shakespearean son- As for her comments that I am implying that highnets or conjugate Latin verbs aid her in real life? And schoolswouldthen become''placeswhere studentslearn
she readily admits that her algebra studies provided a to sit still, get along with their classmates, and draw
grounding for further studies in statistics later in uni- between the lines" all I can say in response is that Ms.
Pappier shows a very superficialunderstandingof what
versity.
Wasn't Ms. Pappler's high-school education then intellectualor cognitive discipliningmeans.
Ms. Pappier goes on to state, "If I had taken Latin
servingeitheras cognitivedisciplineor,as with her studyof algebra, as a basis for further academic study? Ms. again in university I would not have started in Latin 1',
Pappler's rather vapid argument ("They were not pre- arguingthat she does have to return to such basics withparingme for real learninglater in life,Theywere teach- her 1st year Japanese English students. First, the analing me something") simply begs the question. Teach- ogy is invalid in that Latin is not taught conversationing you what for what? If it wasn't for future real-life ally whereas the shift from formalized to communicausage isn't Ms. Pappier in effect echoing my basic ar- tive English is precisely the crisis point for Japanese
gument? What purpose does learning Shakesperean Englishstudents.A faireranalogywould arguethat Japa-

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formance. It is certainly not that they have failed tonese English students would also not be doing juniorhigh school level English if they were pursuing further learnedtheir conjugation charts after six years of study.
Finally, Ms. Pappier serves up a series of speculastudies of formal English grammar and translation. I
also treat Ms. Pappler's musings here as purely specu- tive "this seemsto say..." claims.So let me addresstheselative because I studied Biblical Greek and Hebrew as points and add what I really do say. First, she claims
a graduate Theologystudent.And althoughI was com- that I am implying some dichotomy between grammar
petentenoughto recognizeminutegrammaticalnuances and communicative English. This claim, however, isin translatingBiblicalscript and althoughI could do all completelywithout foundation.The reality is that gramthe verb conjugations on a formal test or quiz, had I mar has become something of a dirty word for many
been sent via a time machine back to Greece or the teachers espousingthe virtues of communicativemethMiddle East of Biblical times I wouldn't have had a odology and an artificial separation of grammar andclue how to greet someone or order a meal or, more communication has ensued. For Ms. Pappier to imply
precisely, which forms of the verbs (or other parts of that I am encl,orsingthis dichotomy in my argument is
speech) to use in these interactions. Sounds a bit like absurd. As it stands, I am in complete agreement with
our students doesn't it? The fact is they can do all the the importance of understanding grammar primarily as
parsing or conjugationsin a formal situation.After all, a communicative mechanism, hence my mention of
to enter university they have had to
McCarthy, Lewis et al in the original
pass a demandingand intricateEngarticle. It is clearly the present unbalanced focus upon the anti-grammatilish entrance exam that could chalgaminlenge a lot of native English speakcal tenets of so-calledcommunicativeers. Our students do know how to
Englishthat I was opposing.
complele ayreemenl
construct a present, past, participle
Secondly,Ms. Pappier claims that
wil.h I.he im_porlance ofor perfect form in vitro. In fact, they
I am in effect arguing that we should
underslanclrny yrammar
may have learnedgrammartoo well,
expect no more than the current levelsuch that a rigid translation formalof success in terms of student Eng_primarily as a
ism has set in. So when Ms. Pappierlish skills, that ''this is as good as it
communicaliue
mentionsthat students "do not havegets". Thereby,I am caricatured intomechanism ...
a firm grasp of the present tenses" ittaking something of a non-reformist,
seems to me to be either a grosscomplacent position which is a "dismisdiagnosisor sheer naivity.
serviceto our students".My actual arPerhaps she is confusing formal grammar with the gument is that given the current lack of clear educacommunicativeconventionsof grammaticalchoice.The tional goals towards recognizing English's value as aproblem is that students don't know when to deploy productiveskill,plus the pedagogicalmechanismswhich
certain verb forms. The deployment of English and echo this reality, the result (lack of active, productive
Japanese tenses simply do not match. English actives English skills) should come as no surprise. Thus, myare oftenrenderedin Japaneseas passives.StativeJapa- furtherargument:that criticismsof Japanesehigh-schoolnese forms are often realized in the past in English. English teachers are largelyunfounded.
Now, if there were a clear and consistent effort on
Continuous forms in Japanese can translate to almost
any verbal pattern in English. This is why after 12years behalf of the powers-that-be to make productive realin Japan I can conjugateJapanese verbs perfectly on an life skills the goal of English education and provisions
isolated test but will still make some rudimentarymis- made to create a framework suitable to alter the pedatakes in real-life deployment.When a student says "I gogy I would certainly expect greater productive Engcame from Osaka" as a response to "Where do you lish skills from our students. This, incidentally,is why
come from" their formal grammaris perfect in that that Ms. ·Pappler's German 12 year old cousin has better
they have completed a formal grammartranslation.
performance skills than most of Ms. Pappler's students.
The linguisticconventionofEnglishwhich demands But this raises the more fundamental question, should
the present tense in such a situation is often unknown such 'vocational' training be the goal of high schools?
to them because it is a social linguisticconventionmore If yes, then let's set up a systemthat supportsthese goals.
than a rule of grammar. In other words, it is not that Then, and only then, if our students do not display prothey don't know the presenttense. Theyare merelyover- ficiency can we legitimatelythrow some blame around.
applyingwell-learnedgrammarrules! In short, one can But until then, wagging the finger at students or teachknow an entire verbal systemperfectly as a closed ma- ers for failing to accomplish something that the system
trix. But, it is familiaritywith the mannerin which verbs was not designed to do and also ignoring the validity ofare deployed,along with their pragmatic,interpersonal, English learning as purely cognitive training is unbalsociolinguisticvariationsand other conventionalquali- anced and inconsistent.
ties that students lack and affects their real-time per-31

Siring2000:v11ume
I, Issue
1

OnCUE.

Lariuuaue
andthought:lnterdisciplinarv
Themes
~

·,

• •J,

·,

_c:-('[/

W ,I . .·.

•:,

Peter
Carruthers
andJillBoucher,editors.
Cambridge
I
Prass,
1998.PPxiv+316[including
reterencesJ.
·5 Univea:s-.

.-.

ISBN
C
l-521-63108-4aaReviewed by Steven Snyder;
Kyushu University of Health and Welfare

Ill

Steven Pinker, bless. hisheart, popularized
what ihany people thought was the killing argument for the so--calledSapir-Whorfhypothesis the ar~111entpf mentale·se. Mentalese (actuallycoined byJetry Fodptin 1983) was the name of
the tltird .chapter of his best; selling book The
Lang~age,lnstinct, ·an.dit"is a term that refers to
the mental "l~guage'' o,four thoughts. "People
do not;think.. in English or Chinese or Apache;they thinl(in ,aJanguage >ofthought." (Pinker,
1994) Later, Pinker: even goes so far as to associate Sapir-Whorf with behaviorism. I was recently told by one linguist that the question of
the relationship between thought and language~~ov~r; Been solved; Nothing more to talk about.
...
~ book which reo;, "A.;}\'eek later i eD,:~Oµn!er
p~ns' tharquestfon ·ip a fu1,ldamentalway. Between.1Q94@d 1996fiv:eworkshops were heldat the University of Sheffield which invited
scholars from variety of fields to look again at
the relationship of language"and thought. The
resulting book represents the often conflictingview~of fifteen ofthose scholars, with their carefulanalysis of the many threads involved.
~.\!.:,~p,gµage·and T/1,pught.starts off with a superb introdµctory, essay _and is then subdivided
into to/ee _sect~ons: Language? development andevolubon; Language, ,reasonmg and concepts;
and Language andconsciousreasoning. Withineach section the articles are cirranged to present
counter arguments and counter evidence. Itsorgani~a.tionplacesthevarious positions on cognitioq:_'irl ~~!~torical perspective an_d serves tointroc:luplth.e ''ra:ther daunting terminology in adigestible \seq~e~ce, ·Cognitiy~ :Scie.n9"ejs universally acknowledgedto be a mix:of lll,l~uistics,psychology, phil?s"oijpy1:~~~9;~C,it:~ce,~ifi~i?l intelligence, an~~,;!i~l?l~;JJJ' rytl!fli_pfitheJt~rature,of c?gm, ..,,. ,
as,.pe~n-,~ <.,em,pµ~s1sonthe
science;·. · , -<~.-1J
ii~1-. ~~-;f(~atjs!t'iin.:9e one of the more
Y@UlJl_mgs:abgut £,anguage and Thought,~.'-' ;.>L ''.··•·:>i '· ,, ·

.

,. ·.

yet one of the more challenging, is that there is a
noticeable philosophic perspective throughout
the book. This has a sobering effect on thereader, as it is always salient in the text that it is
our interpretation of the available evidence, notjust the evidence per se, which is crucial when
discussing the relationship oflanguage and cognition. Unfortunately, parts of the book also teemwith acronyms, such as LAD, TOM, SAM, LF,
SLI, GAM, ALS, LOT, as well as lots of Xs andY s. And there is the inevitable precise defmingof concepts, which occasionallyseem
counterintuitive (e.g. the "communicative concept oflanguage" and the "cognitive concept oflanguage" are not what you might expect). Given
the scope and the complexity of the topic, this isan enjoyable and highly readable book.
For those who enjoy seeing how things areinterconnected, this book will be a treat. Anthropological evidence is weighed along side
psychological experiments, logical arguments
are pitted against field observations of animal
language. In one beautifully enlightening article, Andy Clark of Washington University, St
Louis, talks about how language acts as an extension of our cognitive abilities, much like atool extends the functions of our body. Is there
extra-corporal thought? If there is, then it certainly would be conducted in natural languages.
This is just one of several incisive approaches
to the questions oflanguage and cognition which
I had not previously encountered. If you're a
student of cognitive science, a language researcher, or even just wanting to start learning
about cognitive science, this is a book you will
want to have. If you've read Pinker, you knowhow entertaining and persuasive he is. A lot of
people have bought into what he has said, eventhough his writing is heavily informed by evolutionary psychology. Besides the other rewards
in Language and Thought it is a good antidote
for Pinker.

32

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