2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Developing a Practical Pre-service Teacher Training Program for Teaching English at Japanese Elementary Schools
| Project/Area Number |
18530677
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Education on school subjects and activities
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| Research Institution | Miyagi University of Education |
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Principal Investigator |
SASAKI Yuri Miyagi University of Education, Miyagi University of Education, Department of Education, Associate Professor (00361212)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Keywords | English Instruction at Elementary School / Pre-service Teacher Training / Communicative Competence |
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| Research Abstract |
This research strived to establish a practical pre-service teacher training program in order to provide communicative English instruction at elementary schools in Japan. Prior to development of the program, how communicative competence is acquired as well as how young learners learn was examined. It was found that in order to enhance communicative ability, learners need to be involved in interaction where they use the target language with necessity and purpose. When the learning processes of young learners were examined, on the other hand, it became clear that: 1) they actively explore ways to participate in the social environment, 2) they interpret situations and learn by interacting with the environment, 3) they learn what is within their learning potentials, and 4) their learning is assisted by scaffolding provided in the environment. Therefore, communication-based English instruction involves two drastic shifts from the conventional English education in Japan: a shift in content/st
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ructure of English instruction, and a shift in teacher role. It was devised that the shift in content/structure be realized by three schemes: providing learners with ample aural input, providing learners with opportunities to put the language to use, and creating a context that is meaningful to learners. Educating pre-service teachers thus becomes of prime importance since they are the agents who will implement the new approach in their everyday instruction. Taking these findings into consideration, curriculum was developed around a project work structure where each small step in the project was presented in three stages: first introduced by songs/chants, then practiced in small-group activities, and finally reinforced by games. Pre-service teachers were included in the instructional team to support the young learners with thorough practice and follow-up small-group activities. This program was successful not only in providing the young learners with a learning context in which necessity and purpose of language use was naturally interwoven, but also in providing the pre-service students with a practical training where they can experience the new approach both as a student (learner) and a teacher (assistant). Less
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Research Products
(3 results)
