The Language Teacher
August 2002
CALLing Japan: A Survey of Professional Opinion
Nathaniel Edwards
Kanazawa Institute of Technology
Introduction: Background and Questionnaire Data Collection
Last year, I had the opportunity to travel across Japan, giving CALL presentations as a feature guest speaker at JALT Chapter meetings in Kagoshima and Nagasaki in the south, Fukui in central Japan, and Akita in the north. The purpose of this lecture/workshop series was threefold: to raise CALL awareness among language educators across the country, to share creative ideas and to demonstrate practical CALL classroom applications, and most importantly to assess the current state of CALL across Japan by analyzing firsthand the attitudes of both teachers and their students in a broad range of teaching environments (primary, secondary, tertiary, private language schools, and business). The workshops introduced lesson plans which covered the use of such varied CALL tools as global "live" webcams and Internet Relay Chat (for published versions of my lesson plans, see Ryan, 2000).
The key issues of CALL barriers and incentives, as well as personal teacher experiences in the language classroom, were also examined in the extended follow-up discussions that I guided in which teachers responded to a questionnaire. For the questionnaire I took a very broad definition of CALL, meaning it to include any form of language teaching that made use of the Internet or computers, ranging from printing materials or pictures as handouts, to video conferencing, to the use of computer laboratories.
Presentation Follow-Up: The CALL Questionnaire
Listed below are the questions that appeared on the questionnaire. Teachers were asked to write and then discuss/compare their responses in groups and in general class discussion. Questions used were formulated based on the results of a discussion of CALL at a Fukui JALT Chapter Meeting in December, 2000 (please email me at edwardsn@neptune.kanazawa-it.ac.jp for detailed responses to the questionnaire):
- Do you sometimes use CALL in your language classroom? If so, what kind of specific activities do you use or design? Please be as specific as possible. Share your personal CALL experience with fellow group members. (Briefly describe the type of school where you work and the kind of students that you teach).
- If you never use CALL in your lessons, please discuss frankly the reasons why with fellow group members.
- Please discuss some of the pros and cons of using CALL applications in your language classroom with fellow group members. Try to list at least five advantages and five possible disadvantages or potential problems/barriers.
- The United States and Canada have the highest per capita Internet use in the world, in the classroom, at work and at home. What is the situation in Japan?
- Which of the four CALL ideas presented today are you most interested in? Why? When and how would you like to use it in your classroom?
- Are you a member of the JALT CALL SIG? If not, then why not join us today?
Summary of Japan CALL Survey Results and Conclusion
The questionnaire results revealed several common points and widespread perceptions shared by educators about the current state of CALL across Japan, regardless of the region and the particular teaching environment, from north to south. At every meeting I attended, native speaker teachers (American, Canadian, British, and Australian) all actively used the Internet for a wide variety of personal and work-related purposes (email, research, music, news, etc.) far more than their Japanese colleagues, reflecting the popularity and widespread use of the Internet in daily life in their own countries. This is in sharp contrast to Japan where most people use some email features, and limited Internet access is available through popular cell phone services. However, in Japan most teachers and students are only now waking up to the enormous benefits of CALL.
The list of such potential benefits is impressive; Cummins (1998) maintains that computer-assisted text scaffolding gives students a wide range of learning options, allows them to work at their own pace and gives them access to authentic texts. Bicknell (1999) writes that web publishing can be used as a powerful motivational tool, giving students a global audience for their writing, combining four skills, research, and computer literacy. Healey (2000) insists: "One of the greatest advantages of technology in language learning is direct and immediate communication between peers while using genuine language as best they can to talk about things that they 'relate' to." These are all persuasive arguments for the use of CALL.
However, most school administrators--the key decision-makers in allocating school resources--seem less than enthusiastic. Grant and Silva (1999) report: "Japan's educational leaders have been late to include the Internet in educational policy." This is evidenced in the general lack of hardware, software, and CALL teacher training at virtually every level of language education, something which seems surprising to anyone who has taught in North America.
There are of course some exceptions to the rule, but they are few and far between. Gallian and Maggard (2000) note that in 1994-1995, the founding year of their college, schools in Japan with computerized classrooms and campus-wide computer networks providing students with Internet access were "a rarity." They still are, as evidenced by Allan (2001) in a Nagasaki JALT Chapter Report: "It was evident from the responses during the meeting that many schools [in Japan] are not set up for mass student access to the Internet."
It is truly a paradox that in Japan, one of the world's most technologically advanced nations, and a major exporter of computer equipment, computer skills in general, not just CALL, appear to be given such a low priority in schools across the country and at all levels of education. Cultural and traditional factors explain this in part; for example, handwritten, not typed, essays are still the norm in most university courses, and only handwritten resumes are accepted for most job applications. Memorization, in the words of one survey participant, is still valued more in schools than autonomous learning or the ability to conduct independent research (using the Internet, for example). Kitao and Kitao (1995) predicted the following: "English instruction in the future will be much more varied than it is now...computers are useful in fulfilling the need for individualizing instruction" (p. 563). Seven years later, the widespread use of CALL in Japan, despite its great promise, has yet to become a reality.
Obviously, economic factors pose a significant barrier to CALL in the language classroom, and are perhaps even the single greatest obstacle. The incredibly high costs of phone calls, and high speed Internet service in Japan have had a negative impact on education, presenting a significant barrier to information on the Internet and to international communication using Chat, Video Conferencing and Webcams.
An astounding variety of powerful new learning technologies, free plug-in software programs that are widely used and are now simply taken for granted in North America at home, at school, and at work, are being under-utilized in Japan due primarily to high access costs. This perception was clearly voiced in each of the discussions at JALT Chapter Meetings across Japan I attended. It was even suggested by several Japanese educators that schools should be given a special discount on Internet access and phone call charges in order to promote the use of CALL and other important information technologies in Japan.
JALT CALL 2002: Local Decisions, Global Effects
As part of JALT's continuing effort to promote CALL, the JALT CALL SIG's annual conference was held at Hiroshima Jogakuin University, May 18-19, and was a resounding success, attracting participants from over a dozen different countries. With my colleague Michael Depoe, I gave a presentation on EFL applications of instant messenger services. The follow-up discussion with the audience, including both native and non-native English speakers, both beginner and expert computer users, was truly stimulating, and generated new ideas and directions for future research.
I was also impressed by the enthusiasm for CALL and energy exhibited by all of the presenters and participants from across Japan and abroad. Included in the long list of conference supporters were no less than five JALT Special Interest Groups: CALL, Global Issues, Other Language Educators, Pragmatics, and Eikaiwa. The conference team headed by Timothy Gutierrez, Fujishima Naomi, and Iwai Chiaki did a fantastic job, along with all of the hardworking volunteers, making an invaluable contribution to language education.
Clearly, with so much growing support, reflected in the increasing size and scope of the annual JALT CALL conference, and steadily rising membership of the JALT CALL SIG, CALL in Japan has a bright future indeed. It is important to remember that CALL is not a panacea for language learning; it comes complete with its own unique problems, obstacles and frustrations, all painfully, embarrassingly familiar to anyone who has ever used a computer. However, based on the random nationwide sampling of opinions that I conducted, it would seem that the vast majority of language teachers in Japan, both Japanese and native-speakers, are at least curious about CALL, would like to learn more, and would use it if given adequate time, support, and resources to enhance their regular classroom lessons. Indeed, as Vaughan (2000) states: "Freedom (for language teachers in Japan) to opt out of the technological revolution may in future become more limited."
As interest in and awareness of CALL resources increase steadily in Japan, and the very recent, revolutionary new competition between phone companies and ISPs intensifies, finally bringing exorbitant telecommunication costs down, the importance of CALL will undoubtedly grow rapidly in the years ahead. JALT is doing a great deal to support CALL through a wide range of excellent publications and through its annual CALL SIG conference. For more information on how to join the JALT CALL SIG, participate in CALL related events, and receive exciting new publications for all levels of computer users, projects, papers, and the annual conference, please visit http://jaltcall.org/.
References
Allan, T. (2001). Nagasaki JALT chapter report May 2001. The Language Teacher, 25(9), 62-63.
Bicknell, J. (1999). Promoting writing and computer literacy skills through student authored webpages. TESOL Journal, 8(1), 20-26.
Cummins, J. (1998). E-lective language learning: Design of a computer assisted text-based ESL/EFL learning system. TESOL Journal, 7(3), 18-21.
Gallian, J., & Maggard, J. (2000). Getting IT to work in Japan. C@lling Japan, 9(2), 28-31.
Grant, P., & Silva, T. (1999). Bringing computer English to Japan's universities and colleges. In P. Lewis (Ed.), Calling Asia: The proceedings of the 4th annual JALT CALL SIG conference (pp.102-104). Nagoya: JALT CALL SIG.
Healey, D. (2000). Computer technology: Is it worthwhile in TESOL? TESOL Journal, 9(1), 44-45.
Kitao, K., & Kitao, S. K. (1995). English teaching theory, research and practice. Tokyo: Eichosa.
Ryan, K. (Ed.). (2000). Recipes for wired teachers. Tokyo: JALT CALL SIG.
Vaughan, R. (2000). Multimedia: What it is and what it can do for our students. C@lling Japan, 9(1), 14-16.
All materials on this site are copyright © by JALT and their respective authors.
For more information on JALT, visit the JALT National Website