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

English Use in OC Classes Decreasing

2010/12/07

The goal of an OC class is to improve students' communication abilities. They were implemented in 1994 with the goal of raising Japanese students' abilities in speaking and listening, as previously English classes focused only on grammar translation. With the classes having now been in place for 16 years, it would seem that they would be continuously improving. As a recent survey shows, however, in some cases students are using less English in their OC classes than before.

According to a MEXT survey, less than 20% of schools use "mostly English" in their OC classes, and only 32% report using "more than half English". This is actually lower than reported in the previous survey conducted in 1997. Additionally, the number of Japanese teachers qualified to teach OC classes (having a score of 730 or higher on TOEIC or having attained Eiken pre-1 level) fell to under 50%, also down from 2007.

But what about the foreign teachers? Considering the number of foreign teachers in Japan, most of who use English for the entirety of their classes, shouldn't these percentages be higher? Since it is unlikely that the native teacher is teaching OC class mainly in Japanese, the issue could be budgeting. With school boards strapped for cash, foreign teachers are being spread out throughout a district, and some have as many as 10 schools to be responsible for. This means the majority of the OC classes are conducted by a Japanese teacher...who then falls back on Japanese. Budgeting also prevents Japanese teachers from pursuing continuing education classes that could help them improve their English.

From 2013 MEXT guidelines will make OC classes mandatory, and require they be taught in only English. However, unless they are willing to offer both Japanese and foreign teachers more support, both financially and by enforcing their regulations, it seems unlikely the situation will improve much.

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