Mombusho Approved Textbooks

When my high school English department decided to change the textbook for Aural/Oral Communication A (A/OCA), the new text disappointed me, particularly because it lacked communicative activities. To inform myself and become more involved in selecting textbooks, I formulated and resolved to answer two questions: "Which are the Mombusho-approved textbooks and how do teachers select among them?" and "How do the texts rate?"

Approved Texts & Selection Process

Each year, the Mombusho sends the Koutougakkouyou Kyoukasho Mokuroku [High School Approved Textbook List] to public high schools, and teachers in each high school English department select their textbooks from this list, usually by consensus (which may or may not satisfy everyone), so that everyone teaches with the same text. I administered a survey to 43 high school teachers from three prefectures: Kanagawa, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka. The survey asked teachers if they read the KKM for Oral Communication texts and if they helped select the texts. Six teachers did not complete the survey.

The results are summarized in Table 1 below. Fourteen teachers, fewer than half, both read the list and participated in selecting the texts. Twelve teachers did not read the list but helped choose the texts, three read the list but did not help choose the texts, and eight did neither. Some teachers commented that they chose from publishers' samples or relied on the advice of other teachers instead of reading the list of approved books. Some teachers were not involved because they had recently transferred to a new school黍thers gave no explanation.

Table 1. Teachers Who Read the Mombusho's List of Approved Books and Participated in Selecting Texts for Their Schools

 

Teachers who . . .	read the list of approved books	didn't read the list of approved books
helped choose the text	14	12
didn't help choose the text	3	8

 

*6 teachers did not complete the survey

After making their selection, high schools notify their boards of education and the publishers, who print the number of texts needed for the upcoming year. Finally, the English department gives students, via their homerooms, the list of textbooks they must buy -- whether teachers actually use them or not. Of the thirty-seven teachers who completed the above survey, five said they did not use the Mombusho-approved textbooks their students purchased. The same teachers were asked, "In Japan, how many Oral Communication teachers do you think use Mombusho-approved Oral Communication textbooks?" They responded as follows: 0-25% [1], 25-50% [15], 50-75% [18], 75-100% [3]. Although these figures do not represent actual teaching practice, they do show that teachers do not necessarily believe their peers all use Mombusho-approved texts.

Next, the teachers commented on why they think teachers do not use the approved Oral Communication texts. (Some teachers made no comments while others made several.) Teachers complained that Mombusho-approved texts are boring [15], impractical [7], and too difficult [6], supplementing their deficiencies require too much time[6], and they are incompatible with team teaching [5]. Teachers also said that the demands of university entrance exam preparation left little time for A/OCA [4]: "I think in Japan, high school students study English mainly for entrance exams, so we have to teach them such English. We have little time to do oral communication." Finally, teachers said the texts lack authentic language [3], communicative activities [2], and contain too many stereotypes [2].

Table 2. Monbusho-Approved Textbooks for Public High School Aural/Oral Communication A Classes (A/OCA), 1997

*Irregular size **Irregular size with durable cover

Year refers to the year the Monbusho approved the text

Ranking Textbooks

Students, high school teachers, the Mombusho, and textbook creators can benefit from public discussion of textbook evaluation with specific examples from A/OCA texts. Skierso (1991) says that teachers "need to know on a daily basis how to evaluate the text in order to utilize its assets and compensate for its limitations in applying it to the needs of the students and the objectives of the class" (p. 432). I did not examine cassettes, teachers' manuals, and accompanying materials.

List of Approved Textbooks

The 1997 KKM approves 17 books for A/OCA in public high schools (Mombusho, 1996). Table 2 lists the books by title in alphabetical order. Teachers can rapidly examine the texts and narrow their choices to five or ten which they can examine more closely.

Communicative Skills

In selecting a textbook, one concern is how well the texts teach communicative skills. Canale (1983) divides communicative competence into grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence. Although he classifies pronunciation as part of grammatical competence, the particular problems pronunciation creates for Japanese students warrants its separation. Pennington (1987) cites studies in which "Japanese learners were found to have the poorest pronunciation of all the native language groups included in the research surveyed. Related to their problems in pronunciation is the fact that Japanese students in the United States report having great difficulties learning to decode fluent English speech" (p. 1).

Grammar

I found no major problems in the treatment of grammar in any of the approved texts.

Pronunciation

On the other hand, many textbooks treated pronunciation inadequately. Ten books give no instruction in pronunciation: Active English, English Street, Evergreen, Expressways, Laurel, Mainstream, New Start, Interact, Select, and New Age Dialog. Hello, There! provides a vocabulary list with a pronunciation key (pp. 92-96) which mixes British received pronunciation (r-less theull for example) with vowel representations of r-ful varieties in words such as ask, class, dance, and example. Such inconsistency confuses students and teachers. In contrast, Speak to the World and Lighthouse teach both suprasegmentals (rhythm, stress, and intonation) and segmentals (individual sound units).

Discourse

People do not speak in isolated sentences; they discourse by putting sentences (or clauses) together coherently. None of the texts directly teach discourse, but samples of dialogue from each text vary considerably in employing discourse markers: conjunctions, topic development, and proposition markers. Active English, Birdland, Echo, Expressways, Hello There!, Laurel, Select, and New Age Dialog used almost none of these markers in the samples I analyzed. Below is part of the sample from Active English.

A: I've been looking forward to seeing you.

B: We have too. We're happy to have you with us.

A: Thank you. Here is something I brought from Japan.

B: Oh, thank you. You shouldn't have.

A: This is a beautiful house.

B: Thank you. Let me show you around the house. Are you ready?

A: Sure. (Follows B .) (p . 52)

In line three, A suddenly jumps from a greeting to offering a gift. She could ease the shift by saying, "Thank you. Say, before I forget, here's something I brought from Japan." In line five, A jumps from offering a gift to complimenting B on her beautiful house. Instead, A could say, "By the way, this is a beautiful house." The absence of discourse markers (Richards, 1983) in the previous passage produces a disconnected effect.

The following example from Lighthouse uses more such discourse markers. The italics are added to highlight discourse markers.

Jane: Hi, Kenji! How are you?

Kenji: Oh, hi, Jane! I'm fine, thanks, and welcome back. You look so good. Did you enjoy your trip?

Jane: Very much so. I had such a good time in Hokkaido, and I have so much to talk about. But before that, look, Kenji. Here's a little something for you.

Kenji: Is this for me?

Jane: Sure.

Kenji: You shouldn't have. May I open it?

Jane: Yes, please. I hope you like it. (p. 53)

Kenji and Jane connect clauses with and and but. Also, Jane changes topics from her Hokkaido trip to her gift with before that, look, as a development marker. Overall, conversation flows more smoothly in the second example.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge

Sociolinguistic knowledge entails sensitivity to cultural references, register, naturalness, and variety (Bachman, 1990). Select and New Age exhibited some of the most obvious problems with sociolinguistic knowledge. In Select, Ken meets his high school teacher, Ms. Brown, for the first time:

Ken : Hello. My name is Ken. What is your name, please?

Ms. Brown: Mary Brown. Hello, Ken.

Ken : I like horoscopes. What is your sign? (p. 29)

"What is your name, please?" might be something a hotel clerk would ask someone confirming reservations. Ken's question about horoscopes is inappropriate for introductions on the first day of class.

The following dialog from New Age exhibits sociolinguistic problems, too. Beth, on her first morning in Japan, talks with the father of her host family:

Mr. Hara: Good morning, Beth. Did you sleep well last night?

Beth : Good morning, Mr. Hara. Yes, I had a very good sleep. Now I'm fine.

Mr. Hara: Good. Now, you've gotten over jet lag Listen, Beth. There's one thing I'd like to ask of you.

Beth : Yes. What is it?

Mr. Hara: Don't call me "Mr. Hara." As long as you're with us, I'm your father. "Mr. Hara" sounds too formal.

Beth : OK, I see what you mean, Dad.

Mr. Hara: Fine. Now let's go to the dining room (p. 11)

In this dialog, Mr. Hara tells Beth that she has gotten over her jet lag without finding out if she really has. Although Mr. Hara probably wants to create an informal relationship, he commands Beth, "Don't call me 'Mr. Hara.'" Beth does not ask Mr. Hara how he would like to be addressed; instead, she calls him, "Dad." Other texts exhibit similar problems with sociolinguistics.

Interact and Expressways displayed more sensitive to sociolinguistics. Interact gives direct instruction about the varieties of English via "A Trip to India" (Chapter 12),"What's Being International?" (Chapter 16), "Language in Indian Daily Life" (pp. 24-25), and "Six Languages in the World" (inside of the back cover). Expressways presents both British and American English throughout the book although it does not always make clear where British English ends and American English begins.

Strategic Competence

None of the A/OCA texts teach communication strategies (Bialystok, 1990) or learning strategies (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).

Other Factors

Bibliographical Data and Accompanying Materials

Teachers will also want to find out as much as they can about accompanying materials: workbook, teacher's manual, audiovisual aids, tests, etc. (Ariew, 1986; Skierso, 1991).

Goals and Objectives

Textbooks should have an introduction to the student that explains the language goals of the text regarding grammar, pronunciation, discourse, sociolinguistic knowledge, and strategies. (Teachers can evaluate how well the text delivers its stated goals.) The introduction might also explain the text's organization. Supporting the introduction's stated goals, each chapter needs to outline what objectives students should expect to achieve. Key points from each chapter should be presented in a summary for students to review. Textbooks might also provide an index so students can use them for reference inside and outside of class.

New Age has no introduction, chapter objectives, summary, or index. Hello, There! and Mainstream show better organization than the other texts; however, they could explain their language goals in the introduction, give complete chapter objectives, and provide fuller summaries.

Motivation

It is difficult for teachers to motivate students to study language with boring textbooks. Sixty-eight first year students in their second semester at an urban, mid-to-upper level high school in Kanagawa Prefecture examined all texts to see which might encourage them to study oral conversation. The texts they liked least were Lighthouse, Living Encounter, and New Age Dialog. (Again, some students made no comments while others made more than one comment.) Students mostly complained of small typefaces [16], too many words per page [14], and boring content [14]. Students also said that the texts are unattractive [13], words are crammed together on the pages [9], there are not enough pictures [5], and the content is difficult to understand [4]. It can be argued that students are more interested in being entertained than in learning language, but texts should help to make language learning as interesting as possible. The students liked Expressways the most because it has lots of pictures [9], is attractive [5], has a big typeface [5]' and is easy to read [4]. These evaluations only represent first impressions of the texts虐tudents may experience different levels of motivation when they actually use the texts.

Communicative Activities

Students cannot speak English unless they speak English, but there are different kinds of speaking. Some speaking exercises are pre communicative while others are communicative (Littlewood, 1981, pp. 85-87). Pre communicative activities tend to focus on isolated parts of language: grammar drills, etc. Communicative activities should give students a chance to use the whole language: they should provide information gaps and needs for communication, focus on content rather than form, and allow for improvisation with as little teacher interference as possible (Ellis, 1990). Expressways, Evergreen, Sailing, Active English, and New Start provide pre communicative, but no communicative activities. Other texts provide communicative activities varying in quantity, quality, and language level. Evaluating these differences requires analysis beyond the scope of this study.

Intercultural Appearance

The Mombusho states that one overall objective of teaching foreign language is "to heighten interest in language and culture, deepening international understanding" (Ministry Of Education, Science, and Culture, 1994, p. 108). Textbooks should reflect this objective in their appearance. Active English, Birdland, English Street, Evergreen, Hello, There!, Laurel, New Start, Sailing, and Select only represent Caucasians and Japanese in their pictures and illustrations. Echo, Speak to the World, and Interact show the most people from other cultures.

Evaluation of Textbooks Selected in Japan: 1994 - 997

The periodical Naigai Kyoiku [Inside and Outside Education] (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997) ranks textbooks selected by teachers from 1994 to 1997. Even if teachers' schools do not receive this publication, their Boards of Education probably do. Table 3 ranks the texts in order from most to least selected.

Hello, There has remained at the top, and Lighthouse at the bottom since the beginning of A/OCA. Living Encounter was a latecomer, entering near the bottom in 1995 and staying there. Active took the biggest dive, from 8th in 1994 to 13th in 1997.

Table 3. Monbusho-Approved Textbooks Selected 1994-1997(Naigai Kyoiku, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997)

Rank	1994	1995	1996	1997
1	Hello, There 141,100	Hello, There ﾅ@227,000	Hello, There 249,800	Hello, There 248,90
2	Interactﾅ@70,500	Expresswaysﾅ@85,800	Select 118,200	Select 102,400
3	Expresswaysﾅ@63,300	Select 79,700	Interact 86,400	Interact 81,700
4	Select 51,400	Interact 77,200	Expressways 81,000	Echo 72,800
5	English Street 35,400	Echo 42,900	English Street 66,600	Expressways 71,700
6	Echo 31,600	English Street 41,500	Echo 62,800	English Street 60,500
7	Speak to World 28,500	Speak to World 37,100	Birdland 43,000	Birdland 42,100
8	Active 19,400	Birdland 35,000	Speak to World 37,800	Speak to World 36,200
9	Birdland 18,200	Evergreen 20,800	Evergreen 30,200	Evergreen 30,400
10	Evergreen 18,100	Active 18,300	Mainstream 19,600	Sailing 19,700
11	Mainstream 13,300	Sailing 15,100	Sailing 19,400	New Start 18,800
12	Sailing 11,700	New Start 12,500	New Start 1 8,900	Mainstream 17,800
13	New Start 11,600	Mainstream 12,100	Active 15,700	Active 9,500
14	Laurel 3,300	Laurel 6,000	Laurel 8,200	Laurel 8,100
15	New Age Dialog 1,800	New Age Dialog 1,900	New Age Dialog 1,900	New Age Dialog 2,400
16	Lighthouse 1,100	Liv. Encounter 1,600	Liv. Encounter 1,300	Liv. Encounter 1,100
17		Lighthouse 300	Lighthouse 800	Lighthouse 800

 

Year indicates the beginning of the school year (starting in April), when textbooks have already been selected. The numbers indicate the total number of textbooks sold.

General Suggestions for Selecting Textbooks

First, gather some background information on the students, instructors, course syllabus, and institution. Useful background information on students includes age, sex, socio-economic level, English proficiency, attitude towards English, reasons for studying English, what English they will need to use in the future, and what they are interested in (Skierso, 1991, p. 433).

Next, nonnative instructors may require more authentic examples of English while native instructors (who are experienced in real-life examples but less experienced in analyzing English rules) may need more help with explaining rules (Ariew, 1986, p. 18; Skierso, 1991, p. 433). A teacher should also consider the course syllabus and the institution. Will the course teach a balance of skills for communicative competence: grammar, pronunciation, discourse, sociolinguistics, and strategies? If there is a particular teaching method to follow, what is the method? Will the syllabus be structural, functional, notional, topic-based, some combination of these, or something else? How will students be tested? Does the institution value receptive, productive, or both skills (Littlewood, 1981, pp. 79-82)? Will the medium of instruction be English? How many students make up one class? (Skierso, 1991, pp. 433-434).

Conclusion

Teachers should inform themselves by finding out what texts are available, by establishing their own guidelines, and by evaluating the texts. Both teachers and the Mombusho need to work together so students are not required to buy texts they will not use. Texts should improve their attention to communicative skills (pronunciation, discourse, sociolinguistic knowledge, and strategies), goals and objectives, motivation, communicative activities, and intercultural appearance. Publishing a textbook requires much time and energy on the part of authors, publishers, and others involved in the process. All should be commended for their efforts, particularly in such a new art as A/OCA. I hope that teachers, the Mombusho, textbook creators, and others will continue striving to enrich students' learning experiences.

Acknowledgments

I thank Steve McGuire, editor of The Language Teacher, for his detailed comments on preparing this manuscript. For their discussion of the issues and/or comments on earlier versions of this article, I am grateful to Noel Houck, Temple University Japan; Thom Hudson, University of Hawai'i at Manoa; Huw Oliphant, Mombusho; Kenneth Schaefer, Temple University Japan; and the anonymous reviewers. I also appreciate the invaluable assistance of numerous high school teachers and students. Any errors are my own. Correspondence should be addressed to Stephen A. Templin, Kakio High School, Ohzenji 303-1, Asao-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken 215.

 

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