The Language Teacher
September 1999
Bilingual Support in English classes in Japan: A Survey of Student Opinions of L1 Use by Foreign Teachers
Michael P. Critchley
Josai International University
In a learner-centred framework, teachers base their choices of program and method upon data that they collect from their students. Although such data are best collected locally through needs and wants analyses, teachers with relatively homogeneous student groups can make informed decisions by referring to published research. In Japanese contexts, there are abundant content and methodology studies of a great variety of clearly-defined homogeneous groups of learners: junior and senior high-school students in preparatory or vocational programs, junior college, senmon gakko, and university students, further subdivided among various majors, levels of ability, background, sex, and so on.
To be sure, no two teaching situations are alike; we all know that a single class varies enough from day to day to make generalizations risky. The conscientious teacher, however, can reasonably assess the applicability of the results of others' studies: If the teaching situation is quite similar, and the results point overwhelmingly in one direction, then we would be foolish to ignore them. On the other hand, to the extent that the resemblance is slight and the results inconclusive, we should look further for applicable evidence to inform our judgments.
Within this line of inquiry, few writers have raised questions concerning Japanese-language support by foreign EFL teachers. Of the studies that have been done, most approach the issue from a needs perspective, that is, the studies seek to explain how bilingual support might objectively benefit students. I was curious, however, to explore the question from a wants perspective: What do students want from their teachers in terms of Japanese-language support in EFL classes?
To elicit student attitudes on this topic, I asked a group of first and second year students at Josai International University, "Do you believe you need bilingual support from native-speaker English teachers, and if so, why and for what purposes?" The answer provided was clear: Of the 160 students replying, 91% indicated a preference for some degree of bilingual support in class, with strong agreement that teachers should limit their use of Japanese, and use it primarily in support of activities that are pedagogical in nature.
The Survey:
I conducted the survey using the bilingual questionnaire in Figure 1. I asked two closed questions to identify the amount of Japanese-language support that students prefer, and two open questions to identify where and why bilingual support should be given. In constructing the questionnaire, I obtained feedback from several colleagues on the original questions, translated the revised questions, and then piloted the bilingual questionnaire on a sample group of 25 students. After administering the pilot questionnaire, I interviewed several students to get further feedback on the clarity of the questions.
After a final analysis and revision, I asked three colleagues to conduct the survey in their English classes. I decided to limit the scope of this study to foreign, native-speaker English teachers to control for possible differences in student expectations of foreign and Japanese EFL teachers' classroom behaviour and teaching styles (Ryan, 1998). Two of the three participating teachers were non Japanese speakers, and the one teacher who does speak some Japanese does not use it in class. I also ran the survey in one of my own classes, in which Japanese is used.
All classes participating in the study were left intact, and there was no attempt to randomise or match groups, although the male to female ratio was approximately 1:1 in all classes. Six of the seven participating classes were required conversation-based courses, and were higher level classes (Levels 1 and 2 in a range of nine) as determined by the results of the Michigan placement test, which is taken by all students at JIU. None of the students were English majors; however, they were all in the Faculty of Humanities. Learners in these classes generally have a speaking proficiency of lower-intermediate to intermediate and are quite motivated to study English. While these students could be considered slightly higher than the "typical" Japanese university student, no further quantitative data could be gathered as the university administration did not release the Michigan scores that year.
Figure1: STUDENT SURVEY
We are doing some research about what Japanese students think about teachers using Japanese in conversational English classes. We would appreciate your cooperation in answering the following questions. pb̎ƁiႦApPBAQBApbjɂĐ搶{gp邱ƂɂāAF̈ӌ̂ŁAȉ̎ɓĂBȂÃAP[ǵAF̂̎Ƃ̐тƂ͊W܂BOLKv͂܂B 1. If you have a foreign teacher who can speak Japanese, do you think that the teacher should (Please check one):@ A: Never use Japanese S{gȂB B: Use Japanese occasionally Ƃǂ{gB C: Use Japanese often 悭{gB D: Use exclusively Japanese {ꂾgB 2. If you chose either B, C, or D, please tell how much Japanese you would like the teacher to use: (eg. 20% Japanese / 80%English). 3. If you chose either B, C, or D, please write some examples of when you think Japanese is necessary in class. BACAD̂ꂩIĺAƒ̂ǂ̂悤Ȏɓ{gĂقA̓IɏĂB{ŏĂłB 4. If you have any reasons or explanations for your opinion in Question 1, please write them here. |
I also chose to include one lower level class to contrast the results from the higher level classes. As it turned out, the contrast was not as significant as I had anticipated, but this will be discussed further on.
A total of 161 surveys were collected, of which only one was unusable due to incorrect math on Question 2. The results of Questions 1 and 2 were tabulated and are illustrated in graphical form below. For Questions 3 and 4, surveys were coded until it became clear that there were no further major categories to be found, after which a total of four classes (88 respondents) were used as a representative sample.
Results of Survey:
Question 1: If you have a foreign English teacher who can speak Japanese, which language should they use is class?
Of the 160 surveys analysed, 87% of respondents indicated that they preferred the teacher to use Japanese occasionally in class (response "B" to Question 2). Only 4% preferred a significant amount of Japanese use in class, while 9% expressed a preference for an English-only environment. There was no support for a Japanese-only environment. These student preferences appear in Figure 2, with class levels and the total number of surveys collected per group indicated.
Figure2: Student preferences concerning bilingual intruction
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Levels 1, 2, & 6 from a (descending) range of 9 levels for entering students, based on Michigan test scores. Class 1-2A and 1-2J were mixed level classes. All A and B Classes were taught in English only. In the 1-2J class some Japanese was used. |
Responses to Question 1 were similar in most of the classes. The only exceptions was the Level 6 class, in which no respondents favoured an English-only environment, and the Level 2B class, in which 5 individuals chose the English-only option. Although the 100% preference for Japanese-language support in the Level 6 class is not surprising, there is no way to explain based on the available data why one third of the Level 2 class chose the English-only option, compared to an average of 8% in the remaining higher level classes. One possible explanation is that their teacher is highly successful at providing English-only instruction, so a greater percentage of respondents were able to follow the course content. An alternate explanation is that the linguistic level of the course content was not as challenging as those of the other Level 1 and 2 classes, resulting in a slightly higher-than-average percentile of students who did not feel the need for bilingual support.
Question 2: If you indicated that you would like the teacher to use Japanese in Question 1, please indicate how much Japanese they should use.
As virtually all students who indicated that they preferred some Japanese-language support chose option "B" in Question 1, the remaining analyses will focus entirely on these 140 respondents. As can be seen in Figure 3, the preferred English-to-Japanese ratio was similar for all of the "B" respondents in each group, with the average ratio being 4:1, English to Japanese.
| ||||||||||||||||
| Mean responses of those answering "Some Japanese" in Figure 2. |
Of a total of 83 questions answered from 88 surveys analysed, a total of 97 responses were coded into 6 categories:
1. "When we just can't understand" (29)
2. "To teach difficult words, grammar, sentences, and so on" (24)
3. "When giving important information about tests, homework and so on" (22)
4. "When giving long or difficult explanations about English" (12)
5. " When explaining lesson content or in-class activities" (8)
6. "When telling jokes" (2).
With the exception of Categories 1 and 6, all of the categories specifically referred to what Lin (1988) calls pedagogical interaction, instruction and explanation, as distinct from para-pedagogical interaction, anecdotes, jokes, or other language functioning to promote social proximity with students. The teaching of specific linguistic items, explaining about English, and explaining about tests, homework, and classroom activities and objectives accounted for 68% of all responses coded. With the exception of two responses specifically mentioning the teachers jokes, there was no explicit indication of students wishing teachers to use Japanese during para-pedagogical interactions. Perhaps this is because students do not perceive this kind of classroom interaction as being testable. It is, of course, possible that the 30% of students who would like teachers to use Japanese "when we just cant understand" were considering para-pedagogical classroom interaction, but this conclusion can not be drawn from the data at hand. In fact, all we can infer from this non-specific response is that these learners were not comfortable with classroom discourse that they could not understand.
Question 4: Do you have any reasons or explanations for your choice in Question 1?
Of 88 surveys in the sample, only 50 students gave an answer for Question 4. Most of these 50 responses fell into two broad categories: 44% of responses commented on the ideal amount of English or Japanese that should be used in class, and 54% of responses expressed the need for Japanese-language support to increase general comprehension.
With respect to the first broad category, student opinions could be summarised as "We would like the teacher to use only English, with just a little Japanese when we cant understand." One student wrote:
This is an English class, and an English class with no English has no meaning. Theres definitely a difference between a teacher who uses English and one who doesn't. It helps our listening, so it's best if a class is all in English. Of course, it's a problem when we just can't understand something, so at those times a little clarification in Japanese is helpful.
The other broad category is well represented by the following two comments: "It bothers me as there are times when I just can't understand the teacher's explanations."
"When we are told things in English and we can't understand, and then we are tested on it, it's a problem, so a little Japanese is helpful."
That is, these respondents expressed concern that without some Japanese-language support they sometimes can't understand what they consider to be essential aspects of the lesson, for which they are held accountible.
Issues of validity
As I pointed out earlier, this survey was meant primarily as a qualitative study of if and when students prefer bilingual support. There were, however, some validity concerns. The first, which became apparent following the data collection, was the potentially leading effect of the example percentages given in Question 2. As can be seen, the mean percentages given by respondents was 80% English to 20% Japanese exactly the same as the example. Although my first thought was that students had been led by the question, there was adequate evidence that this was simply a coincidence. First, quantitatively, the range of responses provided by students in Question 2 was large: The lowest mean ratio was 66% English to 34% Japanese. The highest mean ratio was 94% English to 6% Japanese. The average standard deviation for all classes was 8.41. That is, student responses varied considerably within the range that one would expect from students who chose answer "B" to Question 1. Second, qualitatively, students wrote comments such as, "It's best [for the teacher] to use as much English as possible, but when there is an insurmountable problem, it's OK to use Japanese," which reflected the low to moderate amount of bilingual support desired. That is, these qualitative results were consistent with the quantitative results mentioned above.
I was also concerned that external validity might suffer from students' choosing answers in order to please their teachers: that my students might strongly support Japanese use because I normally use Japanese in class, or the students of the remaining teachers might strongly favour the English-only option as a reflection of their teachers' English-only approach. In fact, the results of Questions 1 and 2 do not show any apparent differences between my class (1-2J) and the other classes. This does not, of course, mean that no reactive effect was present, and a more controlled study could reveal some pattern. As far as this small-scale, qualitative inquiry reveals, however, any reactive effect, if present at all, was minimal.
Implications
The results of this survey indicate the amount (quantity) of bilingual support that these university students feel they need to make EFL instruction more comprehensible (quality) in areas involving pedagogical activities (condition).
Quantity: Students prefer teachers to provide bilingual support, provided the primary language of instruction is English. This may even apply to students who indicate that they prefer an "English-only" environment.
Both relatively high level and low level students prefered some degree of bilingual support in EFL classes. There was, however, a very clear message from each that such language support should be limited.
There was also ample evidence that student conceptions of an English-only classroom are different from the definition commonly understood by teachers. For teachers, "English-only" means that all instruction and classroom language is in English, with an emphasis on strategies to eliminate the need for Japanese. For many students, however, "English-only" seems to mean something like "English-only except when we can't understand." For example, one student surveyed checked "Never use Japanese" in Question 1, and then went on to explain:
Of course it depends on the level, but if we know our teacher understands Japanese, we stop trying to use English, but when we cant understand a word, or if there is something which is difficult to express in English, at those times I think a little Japanese is OK.
Thus, I believe for students who have come from a Japanese-based high school English program, a class which is conducted primarily in English is, for all intents and purposes, an English-only environment.
Quality: Teachers should use Japanese to help scaffold student understanding.
That is, to make existing input more comprehensible. As Weschler (1997) points out, the time a student spends in class is only a fraction of the time necessary for a person to gain even a moderate degree of fluency in a second language, and that "this is especially true if the teacher wastes half that time by limiting input to incomprehensible messages in the target language" (p. 2). The results of this survey reflect Weschlers argument: Students indicated a need for limited support to help them understand classroom language. It would seem that the students were aware that being in an English-only environment is a waste of time if they cannot follow what is happening in the class. Timely use of Japanese-language support can help students "tune-in" to the message of the class when they are lost, and therefore make a greater percentage of the input they are receiving comprehensible.
Condition: Bilingual support should be aimed first and foremost at pedagogical activities.
When asked to identify areas where Japanese-language support is most needed, the majority of respondents specifically indicated the need for support during interactions such as explaining specific language points and making sure that students understand what is expected of them on tests and homework. Almost no specific mention was made para-pedagogical uses of Japanese (cf. Lin, 1988). This does not necessarily mean that students always want non-pedagogical interactions in English, but it does mean that students consider pedagogical interaction as being most in need of bilingual support. The students mentioned the following specific areas where teachers could provide bilingual support either through timely use of Japanese or bilingual handouts:
- to make lesson objectives, and the criterion for success in the unit of work clear to all learners.
- to support new vocabulary to be introduced in class.
- to support linguistic or cultural explanations.
- to explain any points concerning tests or homework where non-comprehension would cause a student to be disadvantaged.
It is important to stress here that students only request bilingual support within a class which is conducted primarily in English. This balance can be difficult to achieve, particularly for bilingual teachers who have little difficulty code-switching themselves. One way of maintaining this balance is to tape oneself during a class and then use the tape as a source of feedback. Teachers may be surprised to find that they spend more time in the L1 than they would care to admit.
Conclusions
This study was a first step in understanding the attitudes toward bilingual support of the participants, and by extension, the attitudes of similar groups of Japanese university-level EFL learners. More experimental research will need to be done, however, to elucidate the effects of level, gender, major, type of university, class size, etc. on attitudes toward bilingual support in university contexts, as well as for other learner groups.
For this particular group of learners, the results were unambiguous: 91% of students indicated a preference for some degree of bilingual support in English classes, with a majority specifying pedagogical interaction as the most appropriate place for that support. This means that while non-native Japanese teachers who can speak Japanese should feel confident that their bilingual support is appreciated, they also need to be conscious of the quantity and conditions under which that support should be given. For teachers who cannot speak Japanese, the qualitative results offer guidance as to the most effective classroom activities where bilingual handouts should be provided.
Finally, for teachers who currently advocate an English-only classroom environment, the results published here, as well as the findings of other available studies, indicate that the English-only paradigm may not be entirely appropriate for Japanese contexts. At least, thats what many of our students are indicating, which should be the primary voice we turn to when evaluating our own classroom practices.
Lin, A. M. Y. (1988). Pedagogical and para-pedagogical levels of interaction in the classroom: A Social Interactional Approach to the analysis of the code-switching behaviour of a bilingual teacher in an English language lesson. Working Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 11. Language Centre: University of Hong Kong.
Ryan, S. M. (1988). Student evaluation of teachers. The Language Teacher, 22 (9), 9-11 / 43.
Weschler, R. (1997, November). Uses of Japanese (L1) in the English classroom: Introducing the Functional-Translation Method. The Internet TESL Journal. www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/
Related works of interest
Cole, S. (1998). The use of L1 in communicative English classrooms. The Language Teacher, 22 (12), 11-13.
Eldridge, J. (1996). Code-switching in a Turkish secondary school. ELT Journal, 50, 303-311.
Izumi, K. (1995). Translation-aided approach in second language acquisition. JALT Journal, 17, 225-237.
Roberts Auerbach, E. (1993). Reexamining English Only in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 27, 9-32.
Yamamoto-Wilson, J. R. (1997). Can a knowledge of Japanese help our EFL teaching? The Language Teacher, 21 (1), 6-9.
Note:
Michael Critchley can be reached by email at: mike@jiu.ac.jp
All materials on this site are copyright © by JALT and their respective authors.
For more information on JALT, visit the JALT National Website