English is one of the world’s most common languages and is spoken by 1.75 billion people. As the language of technology and entertainment, it has increasingly become the operating system for global conversation. What makes English as a global language is because of its vast selection of English resources to learn from including tv shows, songs and movies and it also has a simple grammar system. In today’s globalized society, English is vital to international communication and cooperation. Therefore, English education holds a central spot in education systems worldwide. In this report, we will be focusing on how English is used in education in Japan and Malaysia and we will look at the history of the English education by analyzing how English language was introduced to the education system of those countries. Next, we will highlight the present education system, about what has changed since English was introduced to their education and lastly, we will find out what are the challenges with English education in Malaysia and Japan.
English as a foreign language in Japan
English as Foreign Language (EFL) corresponds roughly to the Expanding Circle described by linguist Braj Kachru in ‘Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle’ (1985). It refers to teaching and learning of English in a setting in which English is neither widely used for communication among the nation, nor is it used as the medium of instruction. Most Japanese citizens has had about 3 or 4 academic years of English study before graduating high school. Unfortunately, after entering college or the workforce, almost all of them forget a good portion of what they’ve learned, but most will still remember basic written English. Other than that, Japanese people are also reluctant to speak English most of the time because they tend to have zero confidence in their conversational skills. “According to the most recent English Proficiency Index, the English level of Japanese is ranked 35th out of 72 countries” (Otomo, 2018, p. 10). This shows that English is still a foreign language to most of the Japanese because they want to preserve their language and traditions.
English as a second language in Malaysia
As we all know, Malaysia is one of the country that is included in the outer circle in the circle of World Englishes. The English language has been widely spoken and used in Malaysia for many years, so much that it has automatically become the second language of the country. However, according to Jantmary & Yunus (2014) unlike Chinese dialect and Indian languages, English were never referred to as one of the Malaysians language. English is only accepted as a second language, secondary importance in the ranking of languages in Malaysia. The English is widely used until nearly every household in Malaysia uses English, even if it is not the first language of the house. Malaysians are very particular when it comes to language. They want to uphold their language which is Bahasa but when English was introduced to them, they started to learn it and master the language. They put up in mind that English is a modern and prestige language and not learning and practicing it will make people look down to them. Besides, in this Internet and Information age, in order to achieve international stature, it is important to know the English language as English is the lingua franca of the internet.
History of English language education in Japan and Malaysia
Hosoki (2015) states that “English language education as a system in Japan started in 1854 when Japan concluded the Treaty of Peace and Amity with the United States and opened its doors to the west” (p.1). Then, in the second half of Meiji period, nationalism started to emerge and the interest for English decreased that affect the education policies until the end of Second World War. During the American occupation of Japan right after the war, the interest for English once again increased and it has kept spreading until today. 20 years after the end of World War Two, English language curriculum in Japanese schools was still examination-oriented, but after the Tokyo Olympics 1964 took place, students are more motivated to learn English and it also motivated the teachers to try new approaches in teaching English because before that English education in Japan has often been accused of placing too much focus on word for word translation and memorization of words and phrases, neglecting the communicative aspects of foreign language learning. Only in 2002, Japanese Ministry of Education started to implement English language activities in elementary schools to encourage pupils to learn basic English, such as becoming familiar with the alphabet, singing children’s songs and playing simple English games (Fujimoto-Adamson,2006).
English was introduced in Malaysia during the colonization of British from the late eighteenth until the mid-twentieth centuries. The colonization included both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak). And when they go back to their country, they left us with some of their marks such as culture and language. But, during the early learning of English language, it was introduced as the medium of instruction in the primary and secondary schools only. Every children that went to the school are obligatory to learn English. Gaudart (2001) states that the British are paying close attention to the education which is why they started the English education in school and not in village. English medium schools were among the best organized and the most develop school during those days. There are two types of English medium school which are missionary schools and government schools. Success in these schools meant better job opportunity rather than being a labour. However, after Independence, nationalistic sentiments arose and in 1970, Bahasa Malaysia was introduced as the medium of instruction in the school. Even though English had dropped during the resurrection of Malays, the advancement in science and technology and the advert of globalization , English regained part of its lost status. With the emergence of science and technology, people started to use English again as to communicate with other people from other country.
Present English education in Japan and Malaysia
In this era of globalization, Japan is beginning to realize the importance of improving the English skills of its population. They spend an extensive amount of time studying English as a foreign language. This period usually exceeds eight years, as students engage in language activity classes starting from the fifth grade of elementary school and take compulsory English classes in junior high school. Then, they continue their learning in high school and often, in college and university. Although there are no formal requirements for foreign language education at university level, most universities do require their students to take two foreign languages, with English being the most popular. Løfsgaard (2015) emphasizes that most of the time, Japanese people are reluctant to speak in English unless they know it is absolutely correct, both grammatically and vocabulary and this reluctance to make mistakes in front of others can be seen as a ‘cultural trait’ of Japanese people and that can be a challenge in reforming English education in Japan.
In this 21st century, English language were fully used in international school and private college. English are not only taught in primary and secondary school but also in kindergarten. It is because we realise the important of learning English since they were small. Our Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir stated that he acknowledge that Malaysian students have a poor commands on the English language. Therefore, he promised that he will look back at the education of English not just in university level but also in kindergarten. English language are not used only in learning English but has been upgraded in Mathematics and Science subject. Students learn Mathematics and Science in English language. The usage of English in other subjects can enhance the students language fluency and improve their usage of English. However, in Rahman Talib report 1960, educators and ministers back then want to have a bilingual (Malay language and English language) as medium of education in the schools. It was hoped that this would help to unite the different races in Malaysia. And until now, bilingual were used in education such as in examination.
Challenges with English education in Japan and Malaysia
Although the quality of English language education in schools has been blamed as the main cause for the failure to cultivate students’ communication skills in English, there are many obstacles with English education in Japan, for example most student’s main purpose of learning English is only to pass the entrance examinations into universities and test-based classes. As a result, reading and writing skills were prioritized over communicative English skills by both students and teachers. Next, the teaching methods in school only require students to translate from Japanese to English (the ‘grammar-translation method’). It was found out that this method is heavily teacher-centric classroom where students does not have many opportunities to practice their communicative skills and that learning dull grammar rules and lots of vocabularies will not prepare them to communicate in real-world situations. Lastly, lack of opportunities for the students to use English inside and outside of classroom is a challenge with English education in Japan. Japanese people till these days are not open to change and still see English as a threat to their traditions and culture.
In English language learning, there are few challenges that we have to bring attention to. The first one is English only brought into attention during English lessons only. Exposure to the language become limited. Due to this, Malaysian students facing an impasse in learning this language. Students learn English during English lesson but does not practicing it practically outside the class. Therefore, some of them are still having problems in speaking and understanding the English itself. Not mastering in English language make the students rely too much on the multilingual dictionary which sometimes does not provide the correct translation for them. Thereby, it advocates the weakening in their proficiency and competency level of English language (Kavirajan, 2018). Besides that, kids from rural areas does not receive the necessary English education as their parents feel that the language is trivial and irrelevant. They take English as a language of communist and does not encourage their children to learn English. Kavirajan (2018) further emphasizes that only few of the kids were brought up to learn proper English even sometimes their English often tainted with the Malaysia-English (Manglish) terms.
Conclusion
To conclude, we can see that there are huge differences between the usage of English in Malaysia and Japan. Japanese people used English mostly in education and things that are related to work but Malaysians use English almost all the time especially those who live in the city. But we can see that these two countries are aware of the importance of learning English. English language had been a global language and it is very important for every people in the world to learn English so it will be easier to communicate with other people, English also unite everyone in the world. English has its own status in Malaysia and Japan. The importance of English are not just for education but it will also benefit the development of the country and for the sake of future generations. Malaysia should encourage the students to master in English language while Japan should be more vulnerable in accepting English as a global language. Both country should take English as a language of opportunity. The opportunity to develop their countries, to build a business relationship with other countries and to bring their country in the eyes of the world.