Culture & Language

Pedagogical theories should be based on the culture in which they are applied, but there seems to be none originated in or adapted to Japan.

Unfortunately, college teachers tend to talk only about the definitions of some technical terms in the field of foreign language teaching which are directly imported from other countries.
I asked a certain professor, “Why do you quote only foreign theories? You said ‘individual oriented western societies’ and ‘group oriented Japanese society.’ I think the Japanese barrier against foreign languages is nothing but the Japanese culture. Furthermore, pedagogical theories should come from deep inside their cultural backgrounds and social situations.” He did not give a clear answer and just said, “To introduce foreign information can be meaningful.” Then, I asked, “At least they should be arranged for the Japanese people. Who is in charge of that?” “School teachers are,” He said. “Theories are somehow arranged for the classroom use, but it is college teachers who should adapt foreign theories to Japanese ones.” He made a forced smile, “Yeah, both of us should do so….”
All the language teachers say “Culture and language have close relationship,” but very few attach importance to overcoming cultural barrier. Japanese people have a tendency to prefer emotions and feelings to words and logics, that is, we place less significance on languages. This is the very barrier.
The phrase which symbolizes the Japanese culture might be “read / sense the atmosphere (空気を読む).” The sentence “Read the atmosphere!” sounds like a death sentence to Japanese ears! Wise people sense the atmosphere and only the fool speak out like me….

Active Learning & Multiple Intelligences

Concerning “Active learning”, John Holt was against school education. He said, “... the human animal is a learning animal; we like to learn; we are good at it; we don't need to be shown how or made to do it. What kills the processes are the people interfering with it or trying to regulate it or control it.” “Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.”
Then he advocated home schooling. As he said, at institutional school, students learn both what the society requires and what the students want, however, Holt put too much emphasis on the former, I think. I still believe as a school teacher that we can facilitate students’ learning and improve their academic abilities.

The theory of multiple intelligences might be helpful in understanding multifaceted academic abilities of students. Most teachers are already aware of that and not always written-test-centric. As for me, I sometimes feel in the classroom, “She is not good at written tests but has very good ears for English!” or “What a good mimic he is!” It might be safe to say that teachers “do” and scholars only “name.”
Based on the multiple intelligences, Gardner points out that the most effective pathway to learning is different from person to person and suggests five entry points; the Aesthetic, the Narrative, the Logical/Quantitative, the Foundational, and the Experiential.
Practically, teachers should try to connect their teaching materials as much as possible with;
words, stories (linguistic intelligence),
numbers or logic (logical-mathematical intelligence),
pictures (spatial intelligence),
music (musical intelligence),
self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence),
a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence),
and a social experience (interpersonal intelligence).
The notion of entry points will help teachers deeply understand the teaching materials and find effective ways to teach them.