Abstract
In these two decades, ELT in Japan has been shifting from teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to teaching English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in theory. Since the language is believed to be indispensable for international competition and coexistence with heterogenous others, ELT is now expected to develop students’ global mindsets as well as proficiency in English for international communication. However, this paradigm shift does not stem from clear awareness of differences between EFL and ELF but from two general educational trends, resulting in incompatible practice in the classroom—that is, native English speakers-centred teaching. Such teaching necessarily affects students’ ideas of English. This chapter investigates the gap between theory and practice in ELT mainly by looking into documents of ELT policies and argues the importance of a multilingual approach in ELT for the development of students’ English for international communication and of global mindsets.
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Risager has a sceptical view of teaching ELF, maintaining “the ultimate goal of language learning must be a variety (or several) used by native speakers or near-native speakers” (2007, p. 179) because of her view of cultural relationship of target languages and target language communities. Baker (2015) discusses in detail similarities and differences between Risager’s and ELF researchers’ views of the intercultural relationship.
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It was later re-named Partnership for twenty-first century learning in 2007. See http://www.p21.org/index.php.
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ALTs are hired by local government or schools through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program or educational agents. Those employed through the JET are usually Inner Circle “NESs.” In 2018, about 90% of 5044 ALTs were from Inner Circle countries (http://jetprogramme.org/en/countries/).
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Suzuki, A. (2020). ELF for Global Mindsets? Theory and Practice of ELT in Formal Education in Japan. In: Konakahara, M., Tsuchiya, K. (eds) English as a Lingua Franca in Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33288-4_4
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