EduCareer StaffBlog"Rinjin Blog" | "EduCareer"Supporting your career in English teaching in the Japanese school system

Early Exposure Always Best?

2010/05/18

In 2004 Britan scrapped testing requirements for foreign language at secondary school. Students are no longer required to be tested at the national level in French, Spanish, or German. Instead, the focus switched to introducing foreign language into primary schools, in the hope that students would become interested in and self-motivated to learn foreign languages and chose the subject as their elective in secondary school.

Sound familiar? Japan had a similar idea (though not to the point of scrapping exams) when it sought to introduce Eigo Note into its elementary schools. However, it seems likely Japan will face the same problems as Britain- a lack of firm regulation means elementary schools have vastly different programs and resources for foreign language teaching, meaning that when students enter secondary school some will be far ahead and quickly become bored and give up on language, whereas others will have gone through a shoddy program and have lost interest in foreign languages already.

Japan would be wise to take note- while the government goes back and forth on whether foreign languages should be introduced in elementary school, if it wants primary school English to be successful the program needs structure and support. Having students go through a patchwork system of classes and expecting them to develop enthusiasm and interest on their own can do more harm than the early exposure to foreign language does good.

For more information, see this article from The Times Online: Language Crisis is Threatening a Generation.

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