The Role of English Teaching in Modern Japan examines the complex nature of Japans promotion of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). In globalized societies where people with different native languages communicate through English, multicultural and multilinguistic interactions are widely created. This book takes the opportunity to look at Japan and examines how these multiple realities have affected its English language teaching within the domestic context.
The myth of Japans racial and ethnic homogeneity may hinder many Japanese in recognizing realities of its own minority groups such as Ainu, Zainichi Koreans, and Brazilian Japanese, who are in the same EFL classrooms. Acknowledging a variety of English uses and users in Japan, this book emphasizes the influence of Japans recent domestic diversity on its EFL curriculum and urges that such changes should be addressed. It suggests new directions for incorporating multicultural perspectives in order to develop English language education in Japan and other Asian contexts where English is often taught as a foreign language. Chapters include:
Social, cultural, and political background of Japans EFL education
Race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism
Representations of diversity in Japanese EFL Textbooks
Perceptions of English learning and diversity in Japan
The role of EFL education in multicultural Japan
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