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East Asian Educational Settings

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Teaching English in East Asia

Part of the book series: Springer Texts in Education ((SPTE))

Abstract

This chapter looks at the prevailing attitudes and cultural mindsets which have led to the development of the modern educational systems existing throughout the East Asian region. First, the development of Confucian thought, as well as the dissemination of classical Chinese culture throughout the region is described as the foundational philosophy which both unites the region, providing a universal educational culture which transcends national and linguistic boundaries, and also still plays a large role today in modern educational theory and practice in East Asia. The histories of English language teaching in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are each briefly surveyed, taking note of how the present-day public educational system’s foreign language curricula came to be. Finally, commonalities in educational philosophies are discussed, and the seemingly antithetical nature of East Asian educational philosophy to modern Western pedagogy is illustrated through the case of Hong Kong’s Target-oriented Curriculum initiative and the difficulties it encountered in reconciling Western and Eastern educational ideals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Political boundaries certainly can exert a great deal of difference in day-to-day teaching realities.

  2. 2.

    While such bureaucratic incompetence is indeed breathtaking, and I’m sure the program provoked much eye-rolling by Chinese teachers at the time, unfortunately, the early PRC government doesn’t have a monopoly on such nonsense, as I’ve witnessed similar attempts to “use” teachers beyond their area of professional expertise being perpetrated by administrators at both local and regional levels in various countries across the globe.

  3. 3.

    Sadly, these lengths even include surgical alteration of the tongue—known as frenectomy—with the hope that it will help them to be able to more accurately pronounce foreign language sounds (Choe 2004, January 18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Akita International University, Akita, Japan

    Clay H. Williams

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  1. Clay H. Williams
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Correspondence to Clay H. Williams .

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Williams, C.H. (2017). East Asian Educational Settings. In: Teaching English in East Asia. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3807-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3807-5_2

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