Language minority students in Japanese classrooms
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{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2020 Minority (non-
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
) students can be found throughout the entire Japanese education system. An incomplete list of possible cultural and or language minorities represented in Japanese schools include: *other Asians, particularly
Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply refe ...
,
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
,
Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...
,
Nepalis Nepalis (English: Nepalese ; ne, नेपाली) are the citizens of Nepal under the provisions of Nepali nationality law. The country is home to people of many different national origins who are the descendants of immigrants from India, K ...
, Thais,
Mongolians The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
and
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
*Europeans *North Americans *
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n, particularly Brazilian and
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...
vian * Returnee children *
bicultural Biculturalism in sociology describes the co-existence, to varying degrees, of two originally distinct cultures. Official policy recognizing, fostering, or encouraging biculturalism typically emerges in countries that have emerged from a histo ...
children whose parents are from separate cultures and/or who speak separate languages *
Ryukyuan people The Ryukyuan people ( ryu, 琉球民族 (るーちゅーみんずく), Ruuchuu minzuku or ryu, どぅーちゅーみんずく, Duuchuu minzuku, label=none, ja, 琉球民族/りゅうきゅうみんぞく, Ryūkyū minzoku, also Lewchewan or L ...
*
Ainu people The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
ns and Ainu are considered to be speakers of
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
, and as a result are not considered language minorities. Descendants of Koreans and Chinese who have lived in Japan for many generations also speak Japanese as their
first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. However, other non-Japanese-speaking children, such as the children of Japanese World War II orphans raised in China, who have been returning to Japan in the past decades, have introduced an element of language minorities to schools in Japan since the late 1970s.


Policy


Obligations

The
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families is a United Nations multilateral treaty governing the protection of migrant workers and families. Signed on 18 December 1990, it e ...
from the 69th plenary meeting of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in 1990 states the following: *State of employment shall pursue a policy ... aimed at facilitating the integration of children of migrant workers in the local school system, particularly in respect of teaching them the local language. *States of employment shall endeavor to facilitate for the children of migrant workers the teaching of their
mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
and culture. *States of employment may provide special schemes of education in the mother tongue of children of migrant workers.


Reality

Despite the presence of large numbers of non-Japanese or non-Japanese speaking students in the Japanese school system, the education system is designed to teach all students equally, despite their abilities, in what is known as the '' assimilationist'' model.
Education in Japan Education in Japan is managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Most students attend public schools through the lower ...
is compulsory for Japanese students up through the ninth grade. All children of Japanese parents automatically receive notification when they are about to begin school. However, for children of foreigners living in Japan, only those children whose parents have informed the local town office that they want their children to be enrolled in school receive a notification. As a result, the onus for educating language minorities in Japan falls on the local school or school board and not the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...
(MEXT). A 1996 MEXT study group decided: "there is no need for anguage minorities'native language education" (Vaipae, p. 199 in Noguchi and Santos).


Students


Numbers

Noguchi (in Noguchi and Fotos) wrote that the number of language minority students in Japanese schools "surpassed 17,000 in 1998" (p. 15). Of these students, the majority speak Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese or English (in descending order). According to a MEXT survey that Vaipae studied, 39 other languages are represented in Japanese public schools (p. 187). Most of these students are concentrated in industrial centers and urban areas; however, all prefectures had language minority students.
Akita is a Japanese name and may refer to: Places * 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid * Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan * Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan * Akita, Kumamoto, ...
had the lowest number of these students, while
Gunma is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima P ...
had the highest concentration.


Needs

The language needs of these children vary from student to student, and are dependent on a number of factors, including: length of stay in Japan; contact with Japanese prior to, during and after school; their parents' own ideas about the Japanese language and Japanese schooling; and services available to them in their
first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
(L1) and in Japanese - the
second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
(L2) - at their schools. Cummins and Swain (1986) argued that by not allowing for L1 support in the L2 environment of a minority-language-student will significantly affect the student's linguistic, cognitive, social and psychological development. In the Cummins & Swain model,
bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
within each bilingual child must be seen as complementary languages. Providing support to the L1 will allow for cognitive transfer to the L2. (In
immersion Immersion may refer to: The arts * "Immersion", a 2012 story by Aliette de Bodard * ''Immersion'', a French comic book series by Léo Quievreux * ''Immersion'' (album), the third album by Australian group Pendulum * ''Immersion'' (film), a 2021 ...
programs, the opposite has also been shown: as those majority-language students are together learning in their L2, the L1 also improves significantly.) Yet, for minority language students in an L2 classroom situation, learning in an L2 does not imply that knowledge transfer will occur. It is possible that instead of having bilinguals or monolinguals, schools could produce half-linguals - half-literate in one or two languages. Early research by Cummins (1979) has shown that an ability to use the L2 in the playground does not imply that the student has the academic language to perform in the classroom. A distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) needs to be made therefore by educators and administrators to assist minority language students in the classroom. Furthermore, Japanese children learn a writing system that involves both phonetic
syllabaries In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (option ...
(
hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...
and
katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
) and a pictographic writing system (
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
). Minority students who enter Japanese schools are starting with a large deficit in reading skills. The student must catch up and then keep up without the prerequisite knowledge-base of the spoken language. Cook (1999) writes: " e moral for teaching is to make the L2 non-threatening and to allow the learner to persevere long enough to feel the benefits." However, Cummins (cited in Fujita, p. 17) writes: " hools reflect the societal power structure by eradicating minority students' language and identity and then attributing their school failure to inherent deficiencies."


Goals

Fujita (2002) argues there is no goal to maintain the L2 in "returnee" children because Japan as yet has no clear "consensus as to the purpose of learning English in Japan ..Returnees were once thought to be able to trigger a change in monolithic Japanese educational system by introducing diversity however it seems that this has not happened." (Fujita, p. 19) Since there is no goal for maintaining either the L2 of returnee children nor the L1 of minority language students, with the exceptions of a few schools, immersion (or bilingualism) is not a Japanese educational reality. However, for the majority of minority language students in Japan, ''submersion'' is more appropriate (see
Language immersion Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including math, science, or social studies. The languages used for instruction ...
for more information on submersion in the classroom). With much linguistic support from society, school, and the family, returnee children are able to at least make the transition to the L1 (Japanese) channel, with various shades of ease and difficulty. For non-Japanese students, the situation is much different.


Consequences

Noguchi and Fotos (2001) studied bilingualism and bilingual education in Japan in which many authors commented that schools reflect the
First language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
(L1) culture and in doing so have a tendency to minimise minority language students' home language, culture and identity. Decisions to ignore the home culture and language of minority students, or of the
Second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
(L2) of returnee children, create a number of problems within the language minority student related to self, including
cognitive development Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult bra ...
and
language proficiency Language proficiency is the ability of an individual to use language with a level of accuracy that transfers meaning in production and comprehension. There is no singular definition of language proficiency: while certain groups limit its scope to ...
. (See also Richard, 2001.) Vaipae discusses an American junior high school student who is without any language support from his school. The student was a bilingual (Spanish and English) and biliterate eighth grader when he arrived in Japan. Unfortunately, the school provided no Japanese as a second language instruction. She writes: " onically, he received a failing grade in English because he could not read the Japanese instructions on the term test. Although his parents had requested that the readings of the Chinese characters be provided in the easily-mastered
hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...
syllabary, the apaneseEnglish teacher refused to provide this linguistic support, pointing out that it would be unfair to other students if the tests were not identical." Another struggling minority student in Japan, a Peruvian sixth-grader, tells Vaipae: " my country I had a good life... everything goes as I like, for instance, soccer, volleyball, swimming, running, talking and studying. I was really good at these things and I also had many friends. Now I am good at nothing." Hirataka, Koishi, & Kato (in Noguchi and Fotos) studied the children of Brazilian workers in and around Fujisawa in
Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...
where they lived with their laborer parents. The parents of the children from the study speak L1-
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
and have little to no Japanese language ability. The schools that the subjects attend provide very little L1 language support. Portuguese remains the L1 at home, but the students' productive abilities in Portuguese has attrited in varying degrees depending on among other things, age of arrival in Japan and parental support. Japanese is the language of the school and the surrounding community. As a result, children are shifting from Portuguese to Japanese. Communication between parent and child is increasingly difficult. Cummins & Swain write: "there may be threshold levels of linguistic competence which a bilingual child must attain both in order to avoid cognitive disadvantages and to allow the potentially beneficial aspects of becoming bilingual to influence his cognitive functioning" (p. 18). Richard (2001) argued that as Japan welcomes unskilled laborers for the menial 3K jobs: kitsui, kitanai and kikenna—in English,
Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning "Dirty, dangerous and demeaning" (often "dirty, dangerous and demanding" or "dirty, dangerous and difficult"), also known as the 3Ds, is an American neologism derived from the Asian concept, and refers to certain kinds of labor often performed by ...
—not to mention the thousands of foreign female sex workers, that Japan also has a legal and moral obligation to welcome those workers' children.


See also

*
Education in Japan Education in Japan is managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Most students attend public schools through the lower ...
*
Ethnic issues in Japan Racism in Japan comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in Japan, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including violenc ...
*
Demographics of Japan The demographics, demographic features of the population of Japan include population density, Ethnic group, ethnicity, education level, Population health, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects regardi ...
*
Koreans in Japan comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...
*
Chinese in Japan Chinese people in Japan include any people self-identifying as ethnic Chinese or people possessing Chinese citizenship living in Japan. People aged 22 or older cannot possess dual-citizenship in Japan, so Chinese possessing Japanese citize ...
*
First language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
*
Language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...
*
Language attrition Language attrition is the process of losing a native or first language. This process is generally caused by both isolation from speakers of the first language ("L1") and the acquisition and use of a second language ("L2"), which interferes with ...
* Minorities *
Multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
*
Second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
*
Knowledge divide The knowledge divide is the gap between those who can find, create, manage, process, and disseminate information or knowledge, and those who are impaired in this process. According to a 2005 UNESCO World Report, the rise in the 21st century of a glo ...


References

*Cook, V.J. (1999) "Bilingualism". In K. Johnson & H. Johnson (Eds.), ''Encyclopedia Dictionary of Applied Linguistics''. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Blackwell may refer to: Places ;Canada * Blackwell, Ontario ;United Kingdom * Blackwell, County Durham, England * Blackwell, Carlisle, Cumbria, England * Blackwell (historic house), South Lakeland, Cumbria, England * Blackwell, Bolsover, Alfre ...
. *Cummins, J. (1979). "Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters". ''Working Papers on Bilingualism'', No. 19: 121–129. *Cummins, J & Swain, M. (Eds.) (1986). ''Bilingualism in Education: Aspects of theory, research, and practice''. London:
Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...
. *
The Daily Yomiuri The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...
(2001). Attacking the Mono-Ethnic Myth. Tokyo: Yomiuri, 28 October 2001. *Fujita, M. (2002). ''Second Language English Attrition of Japanese Bilingual Children''. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Tokyo, Japan. *Noguchi, M.G. & S. Fotos (Eds.)(2001). ''Studies in Japanese Bilingualism Bilingual Education''. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Ltd. *Richard, J-P. (2001). ''Language Minority Students in Japan''. Unpublished paper, Temple University, Tokyo, Japan.


External links


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(English) Education in Japan Japanese-language education Japanese education