Innovative curricula in tertiary ELT: A Japanese case study

Since the Japanese Ministry of Education took its historic decision to do away with tertiary-level general education requirements, new and innovative ELT curricula have begun to surface in colleges and universities across Japan. This paper examines some of these new curricula, and considers a number of issues which may need to be addressed if the current educational trend in Japan is to thrive well into the next century. The effect of the 1991 educational reforms was to give each university a measure of freedom to choose the nature and focus of its general education curriculum. Schools could continue with a programme similar to that already in place, change the curricula as deemed necessary, or do away with certain subjects and academic departments altogether. In Japan, most ELT falls within the domain of general education. This meant that after the Ministry's decision it was thrown into the same turmoil as many other foreign language departments. During the subsequent period of restructuring , Wadden (1994) suggested several scenarios and trends for the late 1990s, and now that the dust has settled, many of them are beginning to emerge. Of these, the most notable is the increase in the number of universities developing innovative EFL curricula. Some of the issues raised will be of particular interest to change agents in other Asian countries such as Taiwan and China, who share many of the same educational concerns, and face similar challenges to Japan (Holmes and McLean 1989: 232-5). It is also felt that educators involved in language curricula reforms in countries whose educational and cultural dynamics differ from Japan will also find relevance in this study's examination of the forces which can work for or against the process of ELT reforms. In reviewing the significance of these factors, it is hoped that a wider audience will gain additional insight into the issues surrounding their own particular teaching situation. The term 'innovation' as denned in this paper means a new idea or practice that is designed to improve a specific educational setting. It will also refer to language curriculum reforms, whether they are top-down or bottom-up in nature (Slater 1987). Innovation should not be equated with change which, though sometimes the result of innovation, can also be regressive, or come about as the result of unintentional actions.