A Study on the History of English Language Education in the Taisho and Early Showa Era: With a Focus on Palmer's English Teaching Methodology

1999 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 09680273
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 教科教育
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: OZASA Toshiaki Hiroshima University, Faculty of School Education, Professor, 学校教育学部, 教授 (30041007)
• Project Period (FY): 1997 – 1999
• Keywords: History of English Language Education / History of English Teaching Methodology / Taisho Era / Showa Era / Palmer

Research Abstract

The present research aims (1) to investigate the overall picture of English teaching methodology in the Taisho and early Showa era in connection with Palmer's methodology, and (2) to investigate the interinfluence between Palmer's methodology and English education circles in Japan To achieve aim ( l), a journal was made with a focus on the activities of Palmer's methodology and the English education of the period. This means a necessary condition was satisfied for evaluating Palmer's methodology from the historical perspective- To achieve aim (2), Palmer's textbooks and seven authorized textbooks used were qualitatively analyzed using common criteria. The textbooks are as follows.
(1) Charles J. Barnes, National Readers : (1883, 4), (2) Ministry of Education, Seisoku Monbusho Eigotokuhon (1889), (3) Yoshisaburo Okakura, The Globe Readers (1907), (4) Kenjiro Kumamoto, New English Drill Books (1907), (5) Tonosuke Masuda, The International Readers (1915), (6) Naibu Kanda, Kanda Crown Readers (1916). (7) Tsuneta Takehara, The Standard English Readers (1932), and (8) Harold E. Palmer, The Standard English Readers (1926). The criteria for the analysis were (1) Goals and construction of the books, (2) the contents and their construction of each book, and (3) Overall evaluation. The main findings are as follows. (1) The main theme of the books gradually shifted from literary subjects to information-oriented expository ones. Among them Palmer's is the most conspicuous. (2) Emphasis shifted toward a plain spoken English style. Palmer's is also conspicuous in this respect. (3) Palmer's former materials had over emphasized plain oral English. In contrast, palmer's contained a great quantity of difficult reading passages, which might have been influenced by the Japanese context.