“Perceptual Mismatches” and the Place of Culture and Politics in Teaching English: Perspectives of Six U.S. EFL Teachers in Japan

摘要

Colonialism has defined the past two centuries of English Language Teaching. Within the past half-century, researchers have identified this trend as problematic and have explored a number of new language teaching methods and approaches. The dominant approach used in the recent past and present is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Researchers have argued, though, that this approach still has remnants of a colonial mindset creating divisions and mismatches between teachers and their students, especially within EFL contexts (Holliday 1994, 2005; McKay 2002). This environment neglects local knowledge and studentsu27 autonomy - two important pieces of effective teaching in the rapidly globalizing world. In this global context, the emergence of English as an International Language and World Englishes is gaining traction with researchers and teachers alike (Kachru 1986, 1992, 2006; Matsuda 2009, 2011; Sharifian 2009). English teaching in Japan can help contextualize these arguments. Currently, Japanu27s Ministry of Education employs many native-speakers of English (Assistant Language Teachers - ALTs) to teach alongside Japanese Teachers of Language (JTL) in the school system. ALTs are often encouraged to utilize the CLT approach, yet they experience `perceptual mismatchesu27 with their students due to linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical reasons. These views were reflected in the interviews of 6 ALTs who were part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Through these interviews, the ALTsu27 anecdotes support researchersu27 and methodologistsu27 call to create a more inclusive pedagogy and an increase in cultural awareness for more effective English language teaching.