Language Awareness and Language Variety: Ways to Utilize Tacit Knowledge in Language Classrooms
Saeko Urushibara,
So English is not so different from Japanese-- nor other languages either? Urushibara proposes that "Language Awareness" be the basis for English education in Japan, particularly when it is introduced at the primary level. She maintains that while vocabulary is arbitrary and must be explicitly "learned", grammatical knowledge is universal and therefore comes cost-free in principle. She supported this notion with many examples and some technical terms-- explained to us in very accessible language.
Urushibara stresses that English is not Japan's second language, but a foreign language—and should be taught in the context of Japanese. After discussing language's shared properties, she showed ways of expressing them in various languages and then how to recognize and hence utilize our tacit knowledge of them coupled with our first language to support understanding of the target language. She noted that unique aspects of grammar, such as word order and agreement can best be handled in terms of contrast.
After some discussion of the relative roles of teachers and computers in language instruction, Urushibara fielded questions and remarks about our classroom experiences with and reflections upon the interrelationships of languages.
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