2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Two Styles of Communication : The French Model of Civic Education and Language Arts as a New Alternative
| Project/Area Number |
16530558
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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 |
Sociology of education
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| Research Institution | International Research Center for Japanese Studies |
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Principal Investigator |
WATANABE Masako Ema International Research Center for Japanese Studies, The Office of Research Exchange, Associate Professor, 海外研究交流室, 助教授 (20312209)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2006
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| Keywords | Styles of Communication / Education for Communication / Civic Education / Language Arts Education / Value Education |
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| Research Abstract |
The faculty of communication is considered to be one of the critical abilities for the 21st century. A variety of programs for communication training have been experimented with in schools in many countries. France is no exception to this trend. However, this research revealed that what is practiced in the classroom is to promote traditional French methods of refining expressiveness by integrating "emotion and logic" in language arts and developing problem-solving skills by combining "induction and deduction" in classroom discussions in civic education.
In civic education, rules for the classroom are strongly insisted upon, but at the same time, the principle that "rules should be changed according to the situation," which has prevailed since the French Revolution, is practiced through routine classroom debates. The debate starts from the definition of the language (the problem at hand), then examples of the problem are sought in history and the origin of the problem is defined. By proc
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eeding in this way, students reach a consensus on definition of the problem conceptually, and only after this is the problem itself finally discussed. This process is used for the examination of whether current political systems and laws are fair or not. In other words, following the conventional steps, the problem is first defined inductively and then discussed deductively. The students learn a logical procedure of debate, but the emphasis is put on the creation of communal culture which is shared by the definition of the problem and the spirit of "resistance" against injustice.
Language arts differs from civic education in that all the elements of the course are pointed toward "expressiveness" of inner emotion. That is the reason why poetry and drama are regarded as the perfect media for this subject.
Schools in districts that have different socio-economic characteristics share these two fundamental methods in common, but a school with many immigrant children put emphasis on more concrete and emotionally charged subjects such as drama. In short, styles of communication cannot be separated from values and social conditions of the community. Thus a partial adoption of effective reasoning and debating skills as those are exemplified by the International Achievement Tests does not work for the development of communicative faculty. Less
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Research Products
(8 results)
