English as a multicultural language: implications from a study of Japan's junior high schools' English language textbooks

Abstract

Applying Kachru and Nelson's model of English spread and their categorisation into Inner/Outer/Expanding Circles, this content analysis of English as a Foreign Language textbooks used in Japanese junior high schools investigates which countries were introduced and further studies how Japan's domestic diversity was constructed in those textbooks. Furthermore, to scrutinise representations of Japan's domestic diversity, this study examines what types of individual located in Japan were represented in the textbooks. The concepts of race and ethnic relations in a global context will be discussed to understand representations of individuals. Drawing upon the concept of English as a multicultural language, this study suggests that this multicultural perspective would not only promote understanding varieties of English use in Asian contexts but would also help educators and students recognise the internal diversity of Japan where multilingual and multicultural communication takes place.

Keywords:

• EFL
• cultural diversity
• Japan
• globalisation
• education

Notes

1. This study was funded by the 2008 Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Research Grant. The early version of this paper was presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP).

2. Among a number of scholars discussing the conflict and contradiction between Japanese nationalism and the desire of internationalism during the 1980s and 1990s, Schoppa (1991, 70), for instance, states that Japan's international education is ‘designed to train an elite but compartmentalised corps of workers able to work in the English language and in Western culture’. Therefore, Japan's early emphasis of kokusaika focused on its communication through westernisation and, more specifically, Americanisation.

3. According to Yamada (2006), many pictures and drawings used in Japanese junior high schools' EFL textbooks are cartoon-like and even black and white. Unless texts offered specific terms that would determine one's race and ethnicity, physical characteristics were not even identifiable. Therefore, to be as precise as possible, I only focused on textual indicators of race and ethnicity for this analysis.

4. As of 2007 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare 2010), the countries of female spouses for the Japanese international marriage were ranked as: (1) China; (2) Philippines; and (3) both South and North Korea, while the countries of male spouses were: (1) South and North Korea; (2) the USA; and (3) China. These data indicate the marriages officially registered in Japan but does not necessarily include international couples living overseas. Therefore, the textbook representation still projects some of the realities in Japan and overseas in countries such as Australia and Canada.

5. Given the concept of post-racial and -ethnic conditions (Healey2010; Hollinger 1995; Maher 2005), a key research inquiry in the field of EFL education is to examine how learning English influences individuals’ views and experiences of diversity involving other cultures and languages (Kubota and McKay 2009). In addition, a new emerging concept of ‘metrolingualism’ theorised by Otsuji and Pennycook (2009) will be helpful to further investigate how one construct and negotiate identities through contemporary language practices.