Practical report of instruction methods for developing self-expression and critical thinking skills in junior high school english classrooms

Rapid changes in society have created the need for schools to foster in their students, in addition to the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills, the academic abilities to think independently, to make decisions appropriately, and to express oneself effectively. The revised Courses of Study emphasizes the enhancement of these academic abilities through language activities in all subjects. In foreign language education, the goal is set at improving communication abilities through integrated activities incorporating listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with language knowledge, such as vocabulary and grammar, and cultural background knowledge. The English department at Kamakura Junior High School affiliated with the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences at Yokohama National University addressed the need to develop effective instruction methods for enhancing these academic abilities in 2012. This paper presents the methods developed and the procedures implemented in the English classes there. This paper consists of three parts. The first part describes the reasons for the necessity of fostering these academic abilities at schools and the recent revisions in the educational laws and Courses of Study. The second part explains the instruction and tasks utilized in the first-year classes to develop the students' ability to express themselves effectively. The third part discusses the debating activities conducted in the third-year classes to develop the students' ability to think independently and make decisions appropriately. 1. Background and Purpose of This Study Japanese society has been rapidly changing due to the advance of globalization, the development of information technology, the decline in the birthrate and the aging of the population. Children, who will be the future leaders of the country and society, need to acquire abilities corresponding to these changes. 52 斉田 智里,ステビンズ・アントワーヌ,亀山弘二郎 The results of OECD-PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2003 reported that Japanese children at the age of fifteen ranked among the top in science and mathematics but were no longer ranked among the best in the world in reading literacy (National Institute of Educational Policy Research, 2004) . The results of PISA and national academic achievement tests conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2007 shed light on the particular academic abilities that Japanese children need to improve. One of these is an ability to make use of acquired knowledge and skills to cope with problems in real-life situations. The assessment results also revealed the problems of Japanese children’s low motivation and lack of desire to learn. Accordingly, the Central Council for Education (Chuo-Kyouiku Shingikai) began discussing and looking for effective policies to enhance the academic abilities of Japanese children in 2005. In addition, the Basic Education Law was amended in 2006, and then, correspondingly the School Education Act. Article 30 of the School Education Act formulated that the goal of education was to foster academic abilities, “richness of mind”, and a sound healthy body. The academic abilities were defined as: 1) acquiring basic knowledge and skills 2) fostering the abilities to think independently, make decisions appropriately, and express oneself effectively using acquired knowledge and skills to solve problems 3) promoting attitudes which foster autonomous learning Notably, numbers two and three of the above closely correspond to the educational reform demands that arose from the results of the national and international assessments. Based on the amended education laws and advice from the Central Council for Education mentioned above, MEXT revised the Courses of Study in March 2008 for kindergartens, elementary schools and lower secondary schools, and in March 2009 for upper secondary schools and schools for special needs education, etc. The revised Courses of Study set the goal of education as fostering a “zest for life” (ikiru chikara in Japanese) (MEXT, 2009). According to the Courses of Study, a “zest for life” consists of three components: academic ability, “richness of mind”, and a sound healthy body as formulated by the School Education Act. Academic ability is called “tashikana gakuryoku” in Japanese and is defined as follows: Ability for steadily acquiring the basics, identifying issues independently, learning and thinking independently, and voluntarily making judgments, taking action, and finding better solutions to problems. The definition of academic ability in the revised Courses of Study reflects the amended School Education Law and the discussions of the Central Council for Education. The Courses of Study for lower secondary schools has been implemented in all three grades of junior high schools since 2012. The school education conducted under the revised Courses of Study needs to emphasize the second component of academic ability as defined above. To foster this academic ability, the revised Courses of Study requires the enhancement of language activities in every subject. 53 思考力・判断力・表現力を育成するための中学校英語科における授業実践 The revised Courses of Study set the goal of foreign language education in junior high schools as: developing the students’ basic communication abilities in integrated activities of listening, speaking, reading and writing, to deepen their understanding of language and culture, and to foster a positive attitude toward communication using a foreign language, namely English. The first part of the goal, “to develop communication abilities using language knowledge and skills”, coincides with the second component of academic abilities (to foster the abilities to think independently, make decision appropriately, and express oneself effectively using acquired knowledge and skills to solve problems). In foreign language education, to achieve the goal, the development of selfexpression and critical thinking skills were identified as being most vital and it was deemed that these should be fostered in communication activities using the skills and knowledge of English. Kamakura Junior High School affiliated with the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences at Yokohama National University (Kamakura J.H.S) set the goal of their education as: to foster the abilities to think independently, make decisions appropriately, and express oneself effectively (Kamakura Junior High School, 2011). They conducted educational research to seek effective instruction methods to develop these abilities in the English classes conducted there. This paper reports on the core of the research conducted in the English department there in 2012, the first year that the revised Courses of Study were implemented in junior high schools. Considering the development of foreign language abilities, an emphasis was placed on fostering the ability to express oneself in the first-year classes and the ability to think independently and to make decisions appropriately as critical thinking skills in the third-year classes. The following sections present the kinds of instruction the English teachers developed, discuss how they were implemented in their classes, and discuss the points which need to be considered. 2. Instruction for Developing Self-Expression Skills: First-Year English Class 2.1 Purpose of this section The first-year English classes conducted at Kamakura Junior High School aim at developing the students' self-expression ability in English. In these classes, self-expression is defined as, not simply the output of English, but rather the output of the students' own ideas in English. That is to say, English is perceived to be a practical means of communication. The Course of Study for foreign languages revised in 2008 formulates that schools need to focus on cultivating the students’ skills of thinking independently, making decisions appropriately and expressing oneself effectively (MEXT, 2008). In English classes, these skills are mainly related to the abilities of expression and understanding in English. For the first-year students, the Course of Study emphasizes developing the students' speaking and listening abilities. 2.2 Goal and curriculum for first-year students in 2012 At Kamakura Junior High School, the speaking ability goal for first-year students had been set as “a student can continue talking with others about him/herself and the things around him/her for one minute in English” (Kamakura J. H. S, 2011). This was to be done without preparing a skit. It was to be simultaneously created in interactive communication. All first-year English classes in 2012 were designed to achieve this goal. One performance task 54 斉田 智里,ステビンズ・アントワーヌ,亀山弘二郎 was set in each term, which corresponded to the speaking goal of that term. Table 2-1 shows the three performance tasks for that year. Table 1 Performance tasks arranged in an annual curriculum for first-year students 1 term 2 term 3 term Goal of Speaking Can introduce oneself Can explain others or things around oneself Can talk with others for 2 minutes Name of Performance Let’s introduce yourself at a school abroad. Let’s talk about your favorite stories. Let’s talk with your friends whose dreams come true.