Date:
May 2000
Page No.:
183
Writer(s):
David L. Greer, Tosa Women's Junior College
This paper suggests that Japanese students' sensitivity to hito (person, people,
group), or the third-person "other," can result in a disengaged student in the EFL
classroom, one who resists communicative language approaches. It explains
how hUo is enculturated in the Japanese self and monitors the self's behavior
and suggests ways that the foreign EFL teacher, aware of hifo's influence on the
student, can conduct classes with sensitivity to the cultural issues described in
this paper.
