Date:
November 1980
Page No.:
31
Writer(s):
James Baxter
This paper focuses on the teacher
of English, especially the Japanese
teacher. Central to the teaching
process is a secure identity as an
English-speaking self, as well as
an accurate perception of the presentday
functions of English in the world.
For many reasons, Japanese teachers
find it difficult to assert, "I'm an
English speaker." . Superficially,
teacher vulnerability would appear
to be the cause, but the fundamental
source of the difficulty lies in the
EFL/ESL distinction and in the axiom
that in an EFL situation, the most
appropriate pedagogical model is a
native-speaker one. For the Japanese
teacher, this model conveys the
message, "English is not your language."
An examination of the status
of English in Japan reveals that
Japan is not an EFL country, and
that the most appropriate teaching
model is one based on the proficient
Japanese speaker of English. This
does not mean, as is sometimes argued,
that there is a ,Japa~ese
English variety. Rather,' a Japanese
will speak English Japanese-ly, just
as an American speaks American-Iy.
In lieu of IIEFLII and "ESL," a more
adequate conceptual label is "EIILII:
"English as an International and
Intranational Language" (Smith,
1978). The challenge to the Japanese
teacher is to speak English
Japanese-ly as well as internationally.
The challenge to the
Ll-speaker teacher is to accept
the many manners of speaking English
and to realize that it is no
longer possible to assume, even
ideally, that students will speak
"as I speak."
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