CAN-DO List Clarifies English Objectives for Japanese Elementary School Pupils and Teachers
by Yuki Otsuki (Meiji University, Japan)
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English became a school subject in Grades 5 and 6 in Japanese elementary schools starting in 2020. Although the English curriculum is designed to foster communication ability, teachers have limited experience in teaching English and a number of concerns about teaching have been raised (e.g., Machida and Uchida, 2015; Matsumiya, 2013). Otsuki(2020) addresses the fact that teachers are particularly anxious about teaching "communication skills" and calls for clarification of what content should be taught and using what skills. This study aimed to create a support tool enabling teachers to share clear achievement goals with pupils and to implement lessons promoting the development of communication ability. Dialogic activities in which teachers set and continuously adjust achievement goals according to the actual conditions of the children are based on sociocultural theory.
The descriptive scale of each skill appropriate to the Japanese context was adopted as a supportive tool. A tentative descriptive scale was created with reference to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001, hereafter CEFR), Companion Volume with New Descriptors (Council of Europe, 2018), Japanese version, CEFR-J (Tono, 2013), and teaching materials (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,2018). The descriptive texts are stated as what learners can do. These positive statements are collectively called the CAN-DO list which allows visualizing the phases and progress of the instructional content.
The present research was conducted in three steps. In the first step, the author created a specific "CAN-DO list" for "listening," "speaking (interaction, presentation)," "reading," and "writing." In the second step, in August 2019, 49 in-service teachers at public elementary schools were asked to rearrange each descriptive text in order of difficulty. In the third step, in December 2019, 4 participants from the second step were interviewed to remove ambiguities in the level of difficulty and the wording of the statements, and a CAN-DO list for each of the four skills was thereby completed.
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References:
The Council of Europe (CE). (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Retrieved from rm.coe.int/16802fc1bf.
The Council of Europe (CE). (2018). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Companion volume with new descriptors. Retrieved from rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with new-descriptors-2018/1680787989
Machida, T., & Uchida. H. (2015). Kyoshi no gaikokugofuan no keigen wo mezashita kyoinkenshu no kaihatsu. [Development of an in-service training course focusing on alleviating teachers’ foreign language anxiety]. JES journal, 15(01), 34-49.
Matsumiya, S. (2013). Shoggakogaikokugokatsudo kyoin no jugyoshidoufuan ni kakawaru kenkyu: jugoshidofuan moderu no tankyu to kensho. [A study on teacher concerns and teaching anxiety for primary school English education: An analysis and discussion of the issues (construction and verification of English teaching anxiety models)]. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 97, 321-338.
MEXT. (2018). Shin Gakushushidoyoryo ni taio shita shogakko gaikokugo shinkyozai ni tsuite. [New Materials for Foreign Language Education in Elementary Schools in Accordance with the New Courses of study] Retrieved from: https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/shotou/123/houkoku/1382162.htm
Otsuki, Y. (2020). Shogakko eigokyoiku wo ninau kyoino no ishikichosa to shien no hokosei. [Survey of elementary school teachers’ attitudes toward English pedagogy]. Bulletin of Global Japanese Study, Meiji University Graduate School, 12, 65-78.
Tono, Y. (2013). CAN-DO risuto sakusei・katsuyo eigotoutatushihyouCEFR-J gaidobukku [CEFR-J guide book]. Tokyo: Taishukanshoten.
