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
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We are doing some research about what Japanese students think about teachers 1. If you have a foreign teacher who can speak Japanese, do you think A: Never use Japanese ëSÇ≠ì˙ñ{åÍÇégÇÌǻǢÅB B: Use Japanese occasionally Ç∆Ç´Ç«Ç´ì˙ñ{åÍÇégǧÅB C: Use Japanese often ÇÊÇ≠ì˙ñ{åÍÇégǧÅB D: Use exclusively Japanese ì˙ñ{åÍÇæÇØÇégǧÅB 2. If you chose either B, C, or D, please tell how much Japanese you 3. If you chose either B, C, or D, please write some examples of when 4. If you have any reasons or explanations for your opinion in Question |
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
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| 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.
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| Mean responses of those answering "Some Japanese" in Figure 2. |
Question 3: When do you think that the teacher should use Japanese
in class?
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 teacher’s 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 can’t
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 can’t understand." One student wrote:
This is an English class, and an English class with no English has no
meaning. There’s 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 can’t 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 Weschler’s
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, that’s 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