English as an international language for Japan: historical contexts and future prospects

Abstract

This article first reviews the history of English as an international language (EIL) in Japan, divided into nine periods since the mid-nineteenth century, which exhibits several features of Japanese attitudes toward English. Among them is the fact that the need for de-Anglo-Americanized and indigenized English for self-expression has long been felt in Japan despite its Expanding Circle status. Second, based on the historical contexts, future prospects for EIL in Japan are briefly discussed, particularly with respect to the development of Japanese English for international communication. It is hoped that the present study will help determine the direction of EIL education, aiming for the construction of multicultural and symbiotic societies where a diversity of values peacefully coexist.

Keywords:

• English as an international language
• World Englishes
• English as a lingua franca
• Expanding Circle
• Japanese English

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Mr Simon Yu for help with proofreading.

Notes

1. The learning of English in Japan itself started earlier, right after the Tokugawa Shogunate realized the need when a British navy vessel, the HMS Phaeton, broke into Dejima port in Nagasaki in 1808, while an Englishman William Adams who served for Shogun Ieyasu in the early seventeenth century apparently did not trigger much learning of English in Japan.

2. See http://www.jafae.org/plan.html (retrieved 16 November 2017).