New publication: "English Education and Bilingual Education in Japan." Bilingual Japan, 33(1), 9-13.
The Japan Times quoted the author extensively in a recent article on bilingual education. The reporter agreed to share the full interview. Asked why the level of English in Japan remains low, the author goes well beyond the standard explanations to diagnose deep cultural barriers. Then the author defines bilingual education, cites a successful example in Japan, and suggests balancing the input and opportunities for communication in Japanese and English. Next, the author touches upon current trends stemming from parental and societal recognition of the value of becoming bilingual. Finally, the author tackles the populist slogan that the Japanese do not need foreign languages, presenting individuals with a choice of lesser or greater freedom.
My new article "English Education and Bilingual Education in Japan" is now a Research Spotlight article at ResearchGate, such that members may add comments or questions -- after reading the article -- at https://www.researchgate.net/spotlight/66797ca826fd1df03709c0d1
Shorter ABSTRACT: The Japan Times quoted the author extensively in a recent article on bilingual education. This full interview with references briefly defines bilingual education, cites a successful example in Japan, and gives deep insights into the changing society as well as cultural barriers to English education.
Good news on open access to my works on bilingualism, the research area related to my teaching, child-raising, and using Japanese for over 40 years. I was interviewed by The Japan Times on #bilingual#education for a forthcoming paywalled article. It was a long interview, and usually a newspaper article uses only short passages from one individual. However, the #Japan Association for #Language#Teaching Bilingualism Special Interest Group (#JALT#Bilingualism SIG) would like to publish the full interview in its newsletter Bilingual Japan. Everyone should be able to read that as I back it up in research repositories. The tentative title is "English Education and Bilingual Education in Japan."
My publications on bilingualism have been backed up mostly at Academia Edu, which is not so easy to access anymore [any comment?], so I've added links to the original sources of articles, which are open access, at https://japanned.hcommons.org/bilingualism