Figure 1. Three circles of English usage as suggested by Crystal (1997)
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MEXT-authorized English textbooks: Designing a junior high school text series by Thomas Hardy (Keio University) |
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Abstract Keywords: junior high school textbooks, EFL textbook development, MEXT-approved textbook structure, educational textbooks in Japan |
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The focus of this paper is on design, which can be understood as the vision informing a textbook. Strunk, White & Kalman (2005, p. 101) express
the importance of design in general terms:
Before beginning to compose something, gauge the nature and extent of the enterprise and work from a suitable design. Design informs even the simplest structure, whether of brick and steel of or prose. You raise a pup tent from one sort of vision, a cathedral from another. (p. 101)
In educational textbook construction, design has a significant impact on the curriculum development process. In one formulation (Nunan 2003, p. 5),
curriculum consists of three main parts: syllabus design, methodology, and evaluation. Of the three, syllabus design is the most concerned with
issues of design and is addressed in this paper.
A major focus of syllabus design is on content and the questions related to it. What content should be taught, and in what order? What are the
justifications for selecting this content and order? Syllabus design can provide reasoned answers to these questions.
The present paper focuses on discussions among a team of junior high school textbook writers in Japan related to the over-all structure of a
textbook series; syllabus design and related issues, such as the composition process and the relative influence of other text stakeholders will
be considered.
Two main constraints emerged from the directed discussions among the writers and editors concerning the textbook's design: first, the requirements
of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Technology (MEXT); second, the pedagogical constraints of Japanese junior high school classrooms. In
addition, economic issues, including market constraints and sales positioning come into play. For the sake of clarity, this paper concentrates on
matters related more directly to educational matters; the role of the market in textbook writing and design deserves its own paper.
| "The [Japanese Ministry] requirements . . . are complex, detailed, and, based on the comments of writers and editors, more than occasionally opaque." |
The Course of Study lists a set of grammatical structures that must be included in MEXT-authorized English language texts. However, MEXT offers
no guidance as to the order or means of presenting them. The Course of Study and the Outline of Textbook Policy by MEXT (2003c) also offer only
general guidelines concerning content and approaches to content. Sample exhortations include the importance of impartial judgments, respect for
Japanese culture, and awareness of Japan's place in the world (MEXT 2003a: I.II.3.2: a-c).
[ p. 13 ]
Japanese junior high school teachers also have requirements which must be built into the design of any successful textbook. In discussions,
the writers and editors noted the following major points about Japanese junior high school teachers:
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Textbook design: approaches and responses
Within these constraints, the writers and editors discussed a number of different approaches to use in designing the textbook series as a whole,
(as opposed to the content or format of individual chapters or sections, which methodological issues were decided at subsequent stages).
The process of the discussions and decision-making was rarely focused or neat. In many ways, it resembled a wide-ranging dialog, with ideas
raised, considered, tabled, and then raised again in following meetings, with the process sometimes extending over months. General design
issues dominated meetings for 24 months. The first meetings focused on reviews of sales and the responses of teachers to the
newly-released edition of the textbook. Over time, the focus of meetings shifted to the issues discussed in this paper. By the
thirty-second meeting, nearly two years into the process, near-final decisions on issues of overall design had been reached and the focus
shifted to methodological issues – the structure of materials within lessons – and the beginning of the writing process.
Many teaching methods, such as The Silent Way, and Suggestopedia, were briefly mentioned and as quickly dropped. This paper focuses on
three sets of designs and approaches that received extended comments in the editorial meetings. One set of designs deals with the views
of stakeholders concerned with the textbook series. Another set focuses on the use of language-based centered concepts and approaches.
The last is concerned with content- and narrative-based issues. Each approach, its applicability to the perceived context, and the writers'
responses, is considered in turn.
A long series of discussions centered on the stakeholders of the textbook – MEXT, politicians, special interest groups concerned with
content-based materials, boards of education, principals, teachers, parents of students, and students. Also, omnipresent, though usually
unmentioned, were the commercial interests of the publisher: an important matter warranting a separate study. From among these stakeholders,
most of the writers' discussions centered on two groups: students and teachers. Regarding students, one set of issues focused on their likely
existing knowledge of English. Due to changes in educational policy, some students will be taking junior high school English after having
learned English in elementary school; other students will not. With student background no longer reasonably uniform, new issues are emerging
regarding junior high school language learners in Japan, and the writers spent a great deal time discussing these issues.
A second set of discussions focused on students' likely uses of English. In response to perceived needs, some of the writers wished to place
the textbook series in a country where English was a native language, such as Australia, Great Britain, or the United States. For examples,
these writers drew on European Union textbooks set in the country of the target language (Italy for Italian, France for French, etc.).
Other writers wanted to place the textbook in Japan. They argued that Japanese students would be most likely to use English in Japan talking
with visitors to Japan, who cannot speak Japanese, about aspects of life in Japan.
A third design that was considered organized the series around the globalization of English as a native, second, and foreign language.
In discussions, this slowly grew to a consideration of the use of English in inner, outer, and expanding circles of linguistic influence
(Kachru, 1989; Crystal, 1997; Yamanaka, 2006).
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The final decision set the series in Japan, with occasional trips overseas or e-mail friends to enlarge the range of English speakers that
students would encounter. It was also decided to include core characters, visiting characters, and settings from all three circles of
linguistic influence. In short, the series became a pseudo-narrative with at least some story-like elements.
The writers considered a number of language-centered approaches, including functions (i.e. doing something in the target language, such as
greeting, saying good bye, asking for help, and expressing an opinion) and notions (including abstract categories denoting dimensions of
thought and meaning. such as time, space, and ways of classifying ideas). The use of lexical structures, as suggested by Willis (1990) and
Lewis (1993), was also discussed. However, discussions inevitably returned to grammar and the ways grammar could be presented in a logical
way to take learners from simple to the more complex forms.
Ultimately, a design based on grammar was adapted, moving from easier to more complex forms, since it most directly met the demands of MEXT
and the expectations of teachers. This decision led to further discussions on what order to place the grammatical forms, and it was discovered
that, as Ellis (1994) notes, the ordering of grammar forms is far from self-evident. Eventually, the ordering of grammar structures from previous
editions was retained, though with some minor modifications.
Notions and functions were retained, but only as special one- or two-page supplements to be used as needed. Notional sections dealt with
materials such as cardinal and ordinal numbers, and colors. Functional supplementary conversations were proposed, based on situations and
functions such as asking for and giving directions and inviting.
Four major content and narrative designs approaches were considered. One dealt with the rituals and activities of the school year, such as
entrance ceremonies, public holidays, and vacations. Another focused on travel requirements, such as obtaining a passport, using an airport,
making host family introductions, and traveling around in a foreign country. A narrative approach envisioned the text series using story lines,
with recurring characters who would change and grow over the course of each school year and the three years of the textbook series. Finally,
the writers considered the possibility of shaping the text cognitively, moving from topics closest to the personal lives and knowledge of
students to increasingly distant and abstract levels over the three years.
Among the content-based approaches, the final cognitive development option was chosen. The first book deals with issues concerning students'
immediate life (such as family, friends, and school life); the second with issues of community and the place of students within it;
and the third with wider social matters, including the world, the environment, war and peace, and abstract concepts such as courage.
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A basic question was asked: Where should the dialogs take place? An English speaking country was considered, since the use of English is natural
in that environment. This would also provide opportunities for students to learn about another culture. However, that option seemed problematic
because setting it in a specific foreign country was also an endorsement, at some level, of that country's life, culture, and politics. The
writing team therefore chose to set the textbooks in Japan, with the further reasoning that Japanese junior high school students are most
likely to use English in Japan and thus parallel the real world use that students will encounter. It was argued that this would replicate
the everyday use of English by normal junior high school students. This decision was based in part on focused discussions with and questionnaires
from teachers currently using the textbook, in which a general preference for the familiar was voiced. The decision was also motivated by a
desire to contribute to the construction of a more international and multi-cultural Japan. And finally, the writers noted the desire of MEXT
to encourage respect for Japanese culture and awareness of Japan's place in the world (MEXT 2003a: I.II.3.2: b-c).
After discussing the role of English in the world, based in part on the writers' understanding of Crystal (1997), it was decided to consciously
make use of the three circles of English usage as depicted in Figure 1.
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It was also decided that the country of origin of characters in the textbooks would be distributed evenly among these three circles of language
use. The writers felt that including such speakers would be particularly useful for native Japanese teachers, who could take advantage of their
non-native English speaker status and develop it as an educational resource (Seidlhofer, 1991, p. 240).
In deciding which nationalities should be included, some writers wanted a near global cast of characters with all continents and all major
regions represented. Others suggested focusing on countries that shared a level of development with Japan, as they would share first-world
cultural features and hence be easier for students to learn from and for teacher to teach. As a compromise, the writing team decided to focus,
as far as possible, on Asian countries, supplemented by characters from other regions (notably Africa and South America) as the occasion permitted.
The core writers were fairly sophisticated about issues of identity, language, and culture and the conflicts therein. They knew the works of
Pennycook (1998) and Fairclough (2001) and brought their insights into the discussions. They were also responsive to the everyday realities of
Japanese textbook writing and publishing and the nature of Japanese junior high school education (see LeTendre, 2000). These everyday realities
set limits on how the global issues could be communicated in this Japanese context.
Similarly, the textbook depicted a range of Asian-Pacific characters living in Japan. Discussions of these matters started and ended with
observations along the lines that, "we are all neighbors in Asia and should live peacefully together." Controversial topics, such as international
political clashes over such issues as visits to Yasukuni Shrine visits and domestic responses the wartime experiences of Okinawans, were not broached.
Nevertheless, the writers, in good faith, attempted to raise global themes in the context of Japan. They created characters who came from a range
of Asian and Pacific countries and attended a local Japanese school. By doing this, they worked on the edge of the possible to meet the competing
claims of MEXT, school administrators, and politicians on the one hand, the interests of committed teachers and educators, the needs of students
in a globalizing world, and the requirements of the publisher as a profit-making entity. The precise alignment of these stakeholders into various
camps shifted, depending on the specific issues involved.
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| "design is the backbone on which successful language textbooks are built" |
The author has suggested reasons that design is the backbone on which successful language textbooks are built. A well thought-out design reassures
learners and teachers that they are in the hands of a writer who knows where the textbook is going. Further, design provides the comfort of form
and control while learners encounter unfamiliar sounds, lexical items, grammar patterns, and cultural expectations.
Within the limits of the MEXT guidelines and pedagogical constraints, the writers and editorial staff decided that each of the three major forms
of structure they discussed – stakeholder-based, language-based, and content-based – would have a place in shaping the overall design
of the textbook. They recognized that these simultaneous structures would occasionally be in conflict and that some of the conflicts could not
be resolved and hence compromises and partial solutions were the best that might be expected.
For educational material writers, one basic point has emerged: The importance of design in composition. From this follows the need for writers
to be open to the wide range of designs available and to consider each in terms of its appeal to the various stakeholders of the textbook.
With these considerations in mind, writing even something as circumscribed as a MEXT approved text for junior high school English students can
become an intellectually challenging and rewarding experience.
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Topic Index
Author Index
Page Index
Title Index
Main Index
Topic Index
Author Index
Page Index
Title Index
Main Index
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