Japanese Learners' Reactions To Communicative English Lessons

Active student oral participation, a cornerstone of communicative approaches to
language instruction, runs counter to certain japanese cultural norms. A summary
of pertinent findings in the literature on japanese and American classroom
interactional styles is presented. An exploratory investigation of japanese students'
reactions to communicative English lessons taught by a Western teacher revealed:
(a) that students perceived Western and japanese teaching approaches to differ
in fundamental ways, (b) that students wanted to become more active class
participants but felt inhibited about doing so, and (c) that students reported
making progress in overcoming their inhibitions after a month of communicative
lessons. Factors contributing to these gains may have been: (a) students' belief
that japanese people need to become more expressive; (b) the teacher'S sensitivity
to the interaction styles of his students; (c) explicit descriptions concerning
sOciopragmatic norm differences; and (d) positive reinforcement of students'
attempts at speaking.