Articles

Factors associated with the notion that native

speakers are the ideal language teachers: An
examination of elementary school teachers in
Japan

Yuko Goto Butler

University of Pennsylvania

Recently, there have been a number of studies focusing on the qualifications of

native and nonnative language teachers. The notion that native speakers consti-
tute the ideal language teachers appears to be widespread among teachers and
students. This concept has been particularly influential in English teaching, al-
though its validity has been questioned. This study aims to identify perceptional
factors that are most likely to be associated with the notion held among many
nonnative English-speaking teachers in East Asia that native English speakers are
the ideal language teachers. This study focuses on Japanese elementary school
teachers who have been asked to introduce English activities in their classes.
Based on a detailed questionnaire, completed by 112 Japanese elementary school
teachers, a number of perceptional factors were identified. These include: (a) their
self-assessed English proficiency levels, (b) their attitudes towards nonstandard
forms of English, and (c) their sense of pride in their own language and cultural
heritage.
近頃、ネイティブ、ノン・ネイティブの教師の資質に関する議論が多くなされている。
ネイティブ・スピーカーが理想の語学教師であるという考えは、教師や学生の間で広く
浸透しているようだ。この考えは、英語指導に影響を及ぼしてきたといわれるが、その妥
当性は疑問視されている。本研究は、英語を教える東アジアのノン・ネイティブ教師の間
で、どのような認知要因が、ネイティブ・スピーカーが理想の語学教師であるとする考え
に結びついているのかを見極めることを目的としている。本研究では、最近英語活動を行

JALT Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, May, 2007


 JALT Journal
うことになった日本の小学校教師をケースとしてとりあげた。112名の小学校教師に記入
してもらったアンケート調査の結果より（1）自己評価による英語力のレベル、（2）スタ
ンダードではない英語に対する態度、（3）自らの言語（日本語）や伝統文化に対するプ
ライドの3つの要因が、ネイティブ・スピーカーが理想の語学教師であるという考えに結
びついていることがわかった。

Through English activities, what we need to teach to our students

is how much fun communication is. ALTs (Assistant Language Teach-
ers, namely native English speakers in this context) are so much better
at explaining things to our students than we are. They are good at
talking. Because they are masters of dialogue under the Socrates
tradition. . . they are good at talking, communicating. . . unlike us
Japanese. That’s why students can learn that communication is
fun through communicating with ALTs. (A male 6th grade teacher,
Japan, July 2003, original in Japanese, italics added by author)

There has been a heated debate over the relative qualifications of na-
tive speakers (NS) and nonnative speakers (NNS) as language teachers.
Many observers feel that the notion that NSs are ideal as language teach-
ers has had a substantial influence on English teaching pedagogy and the
recruitment of teachers (Braine, 1999; Cook, 1999). At the same time, as
we will see below, the validity of this notion, both linguistically and peda-
gogically, has been questioned in recent studies. Phillipson (1992) sees the
notion that NSs are “ideal teachers” or “better qualified” than nonnative
teachers as false, and has labeled this notion the “native speaker fallacy”
(pp. 193-194). The present study aims to examine if this notion exists
among elementary school teachers in an English-as-a-foreign-language
(EFL) context and to identify what perceptional factors are most likely to
be associated with these notions.

The idea that native speakers are ideal language teachers

The validity of the idea that NSs are the ideal language teachers has
been challenged in applied linguistics literature. Linguistically, it is not
clear what constitutes a “native speaker” in the first place. Chomsky’s
(1965) notion of a native speaker, namely, an “ideal speaker-listener, in a
completely homogeneous speech community, who knows its language
perfectly” (p. 3), is considered as being at “the heart of the discourse that
promotes the superiority of the native speaker teachers” (Canagarajah,
1999, p. 78). However, such an idealized abstraction does not reflect re-
ality (Braine, 2004). Davies (2003) defines NSs as those who acquire a
Goto Butler 
given language in childhood, have intuitive knowledge about the lan-
guage, have control over the language, and have a special ability to use
the language creatively. But he considers the identification of NSs as es-
sentially a matter of self-description. Kachru and Nelson (1996) see the
labeling of individuals as NSs and NNSs as problematic in and of itself,
because such labeling is inevitably value laden and subject to individual
attitudes towards what these concepts mean. According to Brutt-Griffler
and Samimy (2002), the construct of nativeness itself is “a non-elective
socially constructed identity rather than a linguistic category” (p. 100).
While Medgyes (2001) considers NSs and NNSs to be mutually exclu-
sive entities (“two different species” according to Medgyes [p. 434]), the
dichotomy of NSs and NNSs also has been the subject of criticism. Cook
(1999, 2005), for example, indicates that L2 users are qualitatively differ-
ent from monolingual L1 users in their knowledge and processing of L1
and L2, and that they should be considered as multicompetent language
users in their own right “rather than as deficient native speakers” (1999,
p. 185). Rampton (1990) argues that nativeness is neither static nor inher-
ited, and suggests that one should focus on understanding the concepts
of language expertise and language loyalty instead of nativeness. Recent
studies on NS-NNS interaction also have indicated that expertise is con-
text dependent and is subject to change at any minute during the course
of interaction (Hosoda, 2006; Kurhila, 2001, 2004).
The notion that NSs are the ideal language teachers has also been
questioned from a pedagogical point of view. Widdowson (1994) argues
that NS teachers have an advantage in the “context of language use” but
not necessarily in the “context of language learning” (p. 387). Medgyes
(1992), while maintaining that NS teachers have an advantage because of
their high proficiency in the target language, argues that NNS teachers
also have an advantage in serving as a good learning model. He also ar-
gues that NNS teachers, in addition to speaking the learners’ L1, are able
to share the difficulties they experienced and their learning strategies
with learners. Liu (1999) finds that the advantages and disadvantages of
NS and NNS teachers are complex and context dependent. Furthermore,
Astor (2000) argues that there are no scientific grounds to distinguish NS
and NNS language teachers; instead he argues that differences among
language teachers exist in their levels of professionalism (defined as the
possession of knowledge of pedagogy, methodology, and psycho-/ap-
plied linguistics), but not in their nativeness.
Despite the lack of linguistic and pedagogic evidence needed to vali-
date the notion that NSs are the ideal language teachers, the native model
10 JALT Journal
has “remained firmly entrenched in language teaching and SLA research”
(Cook, 1999, p. 188). The term native speakers, despite the ambiguities in its
meaning, as discussed in the literature, is widely used in daily discourse
in relation to teachers’ qualifications. We often find references to native
speakers in media, advertisements (such as for conversational English
schools), job descriptions, and various other types of documents in many
regions (Cook, 2005). And indeed, a number of reports have indicated
cases where teachers and learners themselves are beholden to the notion
that NSs are ideal language teachers (e.g., Amin, 1997; Tang, 1997). This
also has been found to be the case among learners’ parents (Takada, 2000)
and administrators of English language programs (Mahboob, Uhrig,
Newman, & Hartford, 2004).
However, support for the notion that native speakers possess an advan-
tage as language teachers appears to differ among students and teachers
depending on the learning/teaching context. Mahboob (2004), for exam-
ple, did not find a strong preference for NS teachers among college-level
ESL students. Mahboob suggests that students’ preferences towards NS
teachers may possibly differ depending on instructional settings (ESL
vs. EFL). Llurda and Huguet (2003) compared teachers’ perceptions at
the elementary school and secondary school levels in Spain. They found
different preferences among teachers within the EFL setting they exam-
ined. Elementary school teachers showed a stronger preference towards
having NSs rather than NNSs as language teachers when compared with
secondary school teachers. Such dissimilarities in preferences may be due
to differences in program goals, teachers’ own proficiency levels, the level
of proficiency needed to teach in a given context, and a number of other
attitudinal factors towards the target language and language teaching.
The present study, therefore, aims to identify those perceptional vari-
ables that are related to the belief held among many teachers that NSs
are the ideal language teachers. The study will examine the impact of
variables such as the perceived goals of instruction, perceived profi-
ciency, and various attitudinal factors. The present study focuses on a
specific case in an EFL instructional setting: namely, the case of Japanese
elementary school teachers who have recently been asked to introduce
English activities in their classrooms.

English Teaching as a foreign language at the elementary school level

A growing number of countries, including East Asian countries such
as China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, have recently begun intro-
Goto Butler 11
ducing English at the elementary school level in various forms. Such
East Asian nations have been teaching English as a foreign language for
a number of years (at the secondary level and beyond), but historically
English has never been a major means of communication within their
societies. As English has continued to grow in importance as a language
of international communication, governments in East Asia have come to
see English language education as an important factor in meeting their
political, economic, and societal goals. This recognition recently led vari-
ous East Asian states to introduce English at the elementary school level
in order to improve the English proficiency of their citizens in general
and their oral communication skills in particular.
In 2002 the government of Japan began to allow local governments
and individual schools to introduce “Foreign Language Activities” at
their discretion as part of the broader goal of developing international
understanding. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science, and
Technology (referred to as MEXT hereafter) indicated that as of 2004, 92%
of elementary schools had already introduced some form of foreign lan-
guage activities and that these had been conducted almost exclusively in
English (MEXT, 2005). However, the type of English instruction and the
number of hours varies significantly from school to school. The Japanese
government currently does not offer standardized curricula, approved
textbooks or materials, or comprehensive in-service teacher training to
those teachers who are supposed to be responsible for conducting English
activities.1 Elementary school teachers are overwhelmingly homeroom
teachers; they have been teaching multiple subjects and although they
were asked to conduct English activities, they are not English language
teachers by training. At some schools, Japanese teachers of English (JTEs)
assist in teaching English activities. Japanese teachers of English include
individuals who hold a teaching certificate in English at the secondary
school level as well as individuals who have simply expressed an inter-
est in teaching English at elementary schools and who are hired by local
governments or individual schools to serve in various capacities. Many
of the JTEs are novices when it comes to teaching English to elementary
school students, and the number of qualified teachers still remains very
low (Butler, 2005).

Native English speakers in English education in Japan

In order to assist elementary school teachers who are new to the
English teaching profession, East Asian governments, including Japan,
12 JALT Journal
have made plans to invite or are currently inviting a large number of
native speakers to assist with teaching in elementary school classrooms.
However, the purpose of hiring NSs and the benefits they might bring to
English language education at the elementary school level in East Asian
countries have yet to be clearly delineated. The qualifications that NSs
must possess in order to be hired as English teachers also have yet to be
clearly specified (Butler, 2005, in press–a).
Despite the lack of clear understanding regarding the role of NSs in
English education at the elementary school level, the Japanese government
plans to dramatically increase the number of NS teachers in classrooms in
Japan. The Minister of Education stated in a July 2002 speech that his goal
was to have one out of three English activities and lessons at the elemen-
tary school level taught by NSs of English, among schools that include
English in the curriculum (MEXT, 2002a). According to a questionnaire
about NSs that was distributed by MEXT to 350 elementary school vice
principals in 2001, 84.5% of the respondents said they wished to increase
the number of NSs at the elementary school level (MEXT, 2001a).
Japanese elementary schools that have chosen to introduce English
into their curricula are aggressively recruiting NSs. It is estimated that
as of 2004, 60% to 70% of such elementary schools were working with
NSs in various capacities (MEXT, 2005). NSs are recruited at both the
local government level as well as the national level. In addition, there
are many private agencies that specialize in the placement of NSs, and
such agencies also send NSs to schools upon request from local govern-
ments and/or individual schools. English-speaking individuals from
local communities also may be invited to conduct English activities at
certain schools. At the national level, the Japan Exchange and Teaching
(JET) program is a government-organized program that has been recruit-
ing foreign personnel to work in Japan as Assistant Language Teachers
(ALTs) since 1987 (McConnell, 2000). The JET program has an annual
budget of approximately U.S. $500 million and has begun sending some
of its participants to elementary schools as well as to secondary schools.
The qualifications that such NSs hold, however, appear to vary greatly
with respect to their education, teaching experience, and motivation for
becoming teachers. Even among the ALTs in the JET program, which may
well incorporate the most systematic recruitment of NSs in Japan, only
3% to 10% of the participants in the past few years were reported to have
teaching certificates of any sort, not to mention TESOL certificates (Benoit,
2003). The demand for NSs has been increasing faster than the availabil-
ity of qualified candidates, leading one selector for the JET program to
Goto Butler 13
express his concern that the program ends up “getting some people with
no talent for teaching and little real interest in Japan” (Stoffman, 1997).
Japanese elementary school teachers in general wish to work with
NSs and MEXT encourages elementary school teachers to team teach
English with NSs (MEXT, 2001b). However, it has also been reported that
NSs’ lack of pedagogical qualifications and limited knowledge of the host
culture and educational system could be a source of misunderstanding
between NSs and local NNS teachers, thereby creating difficulties in
working together (Kan, 2002). Homeroom teachers that work with NSs
have often been observed to be either marginalized in the classroom or
overly dependent on NSs during English activities (Butler, 2005; Matsu-
kawa, 2001).
In observing six team teaching classes with Japanese homeroom teach-
ers and NSs, Aline and Hosoda (2006) identified four roles that home-
room teachers play during team teaching. These are: (a) “bystander,” (b)
“translator,” (c) “co-learners of English,” and (d) “co-teacher” (Aline &
Hosoda, 2006, p. 5). While the patterns of interaction between homeroom
teachers and NSs appear to be nonstatic and complicated, more atten-
tion needs to be paid to the ways in which Japanese homeroom teachers
interact with NSs while conducting team teaching with NSs in order to
improve their teaching, as the authors have suggested.
Not only Japanese teachers but also NSs themselves have reported
some difficulties in effectively teaching English in Japan under the current
system. This has been said to be partially due to their limited Japanese
proficiency as well as Japanese teachers’ limited English proficiency. An-
other factor that has been mentioned is insufficient cultural training and
social guidance for NSs working in Japan. Some former JET participants
have requested that the government change the program to recruit only
those who have relevant teaching certificates or to ensure that partici-
pants receive sufficient training in English teaching methodology along
with Japanese language lessons upon arrival in Japan (CLAIR, 2005).
Given these circumstances, concern has been expressed over the extent
to which NSs should be invited to teach in elementary school classrooms
in Japan as well as over how best to utilize the resources they provide.
Concerns also have been voiced regarding whether NNS elementary
school teachers in Japan have sufficient English proficiency and knowl-
edge of English teaching pedagogy to conduct English activities (Butler,
2004).
14 JALT Journal
Research Questions
The research questions addressed in the present study are as follows:
(Q1) Do Japanese elementary school teachers who conduct English activi-
ties believe that English is best taught by NSs?, and (Q2) What are the
perceptional factors that are related to such beliefs (or lack thereof)?
One could expect Japanese elementary school teachers may be be-
holden to some degree to the notion that NSs are the ideal language
teachers, even though the research community has questioned the valid-
ity of such a notion. In Japan, as in many other parts of the world, the
term native speaker often appears in daily discourse in relation to teachers’
qualifications. For example, a document sent by MEXT to elementary
school teachers stated, “The ALT, as a native speaker, is a source of authen-
tic English” (MEXT, 2001b, p. 137; italics added by the author). This is but
one example of the messages that Japanese teachers receive in the course
of their professional communications as well as through the broader me-
dia’s use of such terms.
Since the notion of NSs is often associated with “ownership of the lan-
guage” (Amin, 1997; Higgins, 2003; Norton, 1997), one may hypothesize
that teachers’ proficiency levels in the target language and their attitudes
towards the target language and culture (as well as their attitudes to-
wards their own language and culture) may be associated with the notion
that English is best taught by NSs. One may also hypothesize that the
role of NSs may vary depending on how high teachers set their goals for
English language education in a particular context.
In previous research, questions concerning the notion that “native
speakers are ideal teachers” have been operationalized differently: Al-
though they may carry slightly different connotations, “NSs are better
qualified as language teachers,” “NSs are better language teachers,” and
“NSs had better be hired as language teachers rather than NNSs” have
been utilized. Phillipson (1993) also used “NSs are the ideal teachers” and
“NSs are better qualified than NNSs” interchangeably. The present study
framed its questions around the notion of “At elementary schools, Eng-
lish is best taught by NSs” because this way of addressing the NS/NNS
issue has more direct relevance to current English education policy at the
elementary school level in Japan.
Goto Butler 15
Method
Participants
Three questionnaires were distributed to elementary school teachers
at two teacher training programs organized by private institutions in
Tokyo and at a conference on elementary school English in Japan. All
of these events were held in the summer of 2002. Since Japan had not
yet officially introduced English as a required academic subject at the
elementary school level, the data were collected from teachers who are
working at schools that had chosen on their own to introduce English
activities on a regular basis under the current system. In other words, the
present data should not be assumed to be representative of all elementary
school teachers in Japan. Rather, the sample consists of Japanese teachers
who already have conducted English activities in various forms at their
schools in urban areas.
Out of the 160 questionnaires distributed, 112 were returned, yielding
a response rate of 65.9%. The majority of the participants were homeroom
teachers, though responses from Japanese teachers of English (11.6% of
the participants) were also included in the data. The majority of the teach-
ers were female (77.7%) and 45.5% were in their 40s (with the rest being in
their 20s and 30s). The frequency with which they taught English or con-
ducted other English classroom activities was as follows: 28.6% of them
taught a 40-minute lesson once per week or a 20-minute lesson twice per
week; 20.5% taught a 40-minute lesson or an equivalent amount twice
per week; 15.2% taught a 40-minute lesson twice per month; and the
rest taught a 40-minute lesson either once a month or less. Reflecting the
growing trend of inviting NSs to work with elementary school teachers in
Japan, the overwhelming majority of teachers (80% in the present study)
had worked with NSs, although the frequency and the ways in which
they worked with NSs varied.

Instruments
The teachers were asked to respond anonymously to three question-
naires: (a) a self-evaluation of their own English proficiency levels; (b) a
questionnaire on the perceived short-term and long-term goals of English
education in Japan; and (c) a questionnaire on their attitudes towards
English language and culture, Japanese language and culture, and Eng-
lish education. All of the items on all of the questionnaires were written
in Japanese (see Appendix A). The translation from English to Japanese
16 JALT Journal
was conducted by the researcher, and back-translation was conducted by
a Japanese-speaking research assistant in order to ensure the accuracy of
the original translation.

(Questionnaire 1) Self-evaluation of English proficiency

The first questionnaire employed items from the Stanford Foreign Lan-
guage Oral Skills Evaluation Matrix (FLOSEM) (Padilla, Sung, & Aninao,
1997) in order to obtain information on the teachers’ self-rated English
proficiency levels. Using FLOSEM, the teachers were asked to rate their
own oral proficiency in five domains (listening comprehension, oral flu-
ency, vocabulary in speech, pronunciation, and grammar in speech) by
responding to prompts based on a scale from 1 to 6,2 with 1 indicating a
very low level of proficiency and 6 indicating the highest level. The teach-
ers who participated in this study were given the full rubric for FLOSEM.
For more detailed information about FLOSEM, please see Padilla, et al.,
(1997) and Butler (2004).
Since FLOSEM was designed to measure oral proficiency only, items
for reading and writing were added by the author, using scales equivalent
to those employed in FLOSEM. The teachers were also asked to indicate
the minimum levels that they thought were necessary in order to conduct
English activities in their schools, again using FLOSEM. Three variables
used in the present study were taken from this questionnaire: namely, the
teachers’ self-rated current English proficiency levels (Perceived Current
Proficiency); the perceived minimum levels of proficiency that the teach-
ers thought were necessary in order to conduct English activities (Desired
Proficiency); and the gaps between the two proficiencies (Perceived Gap).

(Questionnaire 2) The goals of English education

The second questionnaire examined the teachers’ attitudes toward
the perceived goals of English language education, namely, the degree of
importance teachers attached to achieving different goals established in
local curricula in English language education in Japan. Two types of goals
were examined: the questionnaire-solicited responses on 12 potential
goals of English activities at the elementary school level (Short-term Goals)
and 9 potential goals related to English attainment among Japanese high
school graduates (Long-term Goals).
A number of elementary school reports were referred to when con-
structing the items for the Short-term Goals and the goals set by MEXT in
its “Strategic Plan to cultivate ‘Japanese with English abilities’” (MEXT,
Goto Butler 17
2002b) were considered when constructing the items for the Long-term
Goals. The goals of the Strategic Plan are that average high school gradu-
ates should reach the 2nd or pre-2nd level of the STEP (Society for Testing
English Proficiency) test. The first item (to acquire native-like pronuncia-
tion) was not indicated in any of the school reports nor in the MEXT plan,
but since Japanese learners tend to place very high value on studying
certain types of native speakers’ English (Tanabe, 2003), this item was
included in the present study.
The teachers were asked to respond to each item using a 7-point scale
(where 1 indicated “not appropriate,” 4 indicated “50% of the students
should achieve this goal,” and 7 indicated “all students should achieve
this goal.” The items in this questionnaire on goals can be found in Ap-
pendix B.

(Questionnaire 3) Attitudes toward English/Japanese language and

culture
The third and final questionnaire consisted of 18 items that were de-
signed to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards English and Japanese
language and culture, as well as towards English education in general.
Although there are a number of studies which have investigated learners’
attitudes towards language learning and motivation, including LoCas-
tro’s (2001) study of Japanese college students, do not appear to be in
any other formal assessments of attitudes among foreign language teach-
ers at the elementary school level. Therefore, while the author reviewed
items that were designed to assess learners’ attitudes in previous studies,
the items used in the present study were constructed specifically for this
study in order to be more relevant to elementary school teachers.
Two items were based on the items included in LoCastro (2001),
though the wording was changed for clarity. One of the two items re-
ferred to a native speaker and the other referred to English education at
elementary schools. The first item, “If it were possible, I would prefer to
have been born an English speaker” (the original form in LoCastro), was
changed to “If I were born again, I would rather have English as my first
language,” in order to make the item better imply that the responders
do not have English as their first language while keeping the question as
close to the original as possible. The second item, “It will cause problems
if English is introduced into primary schools,” was changed to “It is good
to introduce English at the elementary school level.”
18 JALT Journal
Again, the teachers were asked to indicate the degree to which they
agreed with each statement using a 7-point scale (where 1 indicated
“strongly disagree,” 4 indicated “neither disagree nor agree,” and 7 in-
dicated “strongly agree”). In addition to these 18 attitudinal questions,
the teachers were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed with
the statement that English (or English Activities) at the elementary school
level is best taught by a native speaker of English, using the same 7-point
scale. The items in the questionnaire on attitudes can be found in Table 5
in the Results section as well as in Appendix C.

Results
Q1: Teachers’ responses to the idea that English is best taught by NSs
The teachers were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed
with the idea that English is best taught by NSs at elementary schools
(this item is referred to as the “NS Item” hereinafter). The results are indi-
cated in Table 1 below. In the group of Japanese elementary school teach-
ers tested herein, approximately 60% supported this statement to some
extent, while 13% of them somewhat disagreed. One in four teachers
indicated that they “neither agreed nor disagreed” with this statement.

Table 1. Frequencies of responses to the idea that English is best

taught by native speakers at elementary schools (N = 111).

Strongly Neither agree nor Strongly agree

disagree disagree

Scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Frequency 1 5 9 30 23 25 18
(.9%) (4.5%) (8.0%) (26.8%) (20.5%) (22.3%) (16.1%)

Note. Missing = 1 (.9%); Mean = 4.95; SD = 1.43

Q2: Perceptional factors related to the notion that English is best taught
by NSs
Perceptional factors that were likely to be related to the notion that
English is best taught by NSs were investigated in four steps. First, de-
scriptive statistics were examined based on the results of questionnaire
1 (Self-evaluation of English proficiency) and questionnaire 2 (The goals of
English education). The results are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively.
Goto Butler 19
Part of the data shown was reported in Butler (2004).
Table 2. Teachers’ self-evaluated English proficiencies
(on a 6-point scale)

Current Desired Gaps (Current

proficiency proficiency –Desired)
Average 2.67 (1.07) 3.76 (.82) -1.10 (1.19)
Listening 3.14 (1.26) 4.22 (1.01) -1.07 (1.41)
Oral fluency 2.53 (1.18) 3.66 (.93) -1.12 (1.33)
Oral vocabulary 2.27 (1.15) 3.47 (.96) -1.19 (1.27)
Pronunciation 2.65 (1.36) 3.86 (1.04) -1.20 (1.50)
Oral grammar 2.50 (1.09) 3.92 (.96) -1.40 (1.23)
Reading 3.12 (1.08) 3.85 (.86) -.72 (1.18)
Writing 2.51 (1.08) 3.34 (.94) -.82 (1.22)
Note. The standard deviations are indicated in parentheses.

Table 3. Short-term and long-term goals of English education

perceived by the teachers
Short-term goals M SD Skewness
11) To become interested in English-speaking cultures 5.44 1.44 -0.11
and people
2) To be able to listen to and understand greetings and 5.31 1.41 -0.83
standard expressions in English
12) To increase interest in foreigners in the community 5.31 1.52 -0.93
and in world affairs in general
4) To be able to greet and say some standard expres- 4.98 1.5 -0.46
sions
3) To be able to listen to and understand simple sto- 4.36 1.55 -0.26
ries
5) To be able to carry on a simple conversation in 3.53 1.79 0.19
English
6) To sound out English words accurately (i.e., acquire 2.96 1.76 0.48
basic decoding skills in English)
20 JALT Journal

7) To be able to read and comprehend some words and 2.87 1.64 0.52
phrases
8) To be able to read and comprehend simple short 2.37 1.5 0.95
stories
1) To be able to acquire native-like pronunciation 2.05 1.66 1.39
9) To be able to spell some words and phrases 1.98 1.25 1.1
10) To be able to write simple short stories 1.62 1.03 1.54
LONG-TERM GOALS
2) To listen to and comprehend basic daily conversa- 4.86 1.26 -0.59
tion
3) To carry on basic daily conversations 4.53 1.19 -0.37
5) To read and comprehend simple/informal email 4.14 1.36 -0.11
messages
6) To chat on the Internet or to exchange simple/infor- 3.82 1.3 0.07
mal email messages
7) To read English newspapers and comprehend much 2.84 1.29 0.29
of them
4) To acquire sufficient oral communicative skills in 2.72 1.2 0.17
order to conduct business and other professional
meetings without much difficulty
1) To acquire native-like pronunciation 2.6 1.39 0.38
8) To negotiate competitively in business or other pro- 2.51 1.25 0.38
fessional matters by email
9) To acquire sufficient writing skills to write opinion 2.12 1.11 0.72
letters to English newspapers or magazines
Note. Teachers were asked to rate the goals above on a scale from 1 to 7,
where:
1 = Not appropriate
2 = Approximately 10–15 % of students should achieve this goal
3 = 30–35% of students should achieve this goal
4 = 50% of students should achieve this goal
5 = 65–70% of students should achieve this goal
6 = 80–85% of students should achieve this goal
7 = 100% of students should achieve this goal

The coefficient-alpha reliability for Perceived Current Proficiency, Desired

Proficiency, and Perceived Gaps was .97, .94, and .96, respectively. Aggre-
gated scores (i.e., mean scores) were computed for each variable. As Table
Goto Butler 21
2 indicates, the average scores for Current Proficiency ranged from 3.1 to
2.5. These roughly correspond to the intermediate levels in productive
skills (speaking and writing) and the advanced levels in receptive skills
(listening and reading) as set forth by the ACTFL (American Council on
the Teaching of Foreign Languages) guidelines, which describe five levels
in listening and reading (novice, intermediate, advanced, superior, and
distinguished) and four levels in speaking and writing (novice, interme-
diate, advanced, and superior) (ACTFL, n.d.). Approximately 85 percent
(85.3%) of the teachers indicated that they felt their current proficiency
level did not reach the minimum level needed to conduct English activi-
ties. Accordingly, the average Perceived Gap between Current and Desired
Proficiency was negative 1.20 in the oral domain.
In questionnaire 2, the coefficient-alpha reliability for Short-term Goals
and Long-term Goals was .91 and .91, respectively. Again, aggregated
scores were computed for each of the potential goals and were used in
the analyses below. As can be seen in Table 3, the teachers thought that
enhancing cultural understanding (items 11 and 12) and basic oral skills
(items 2, 3, and 4) are important Short-term Goals. For Long-term Goals,
they saw basic conversational skills (items 2 and 3) as well as basic read-
ing skills (item 5) as being important goals to achieve.
Second, a factor analysis was performed on the responses to the 18 at-
titudinal questions in questionnaire 3 in order to identify the underlying
dimensions of the ratings. Before conducting the factor analysis, the Kai-
ser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure for sampling adequacy was employed.
This measure is a statistic which indicates the proportion of variance in the
variables that might be caused by underlying factors. The measure ranges
from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating the variables have a greater pro-
portion of shared variance. In the present study, KMO was .60, suggesting
adequate commonality to conduct a factor analysis (Sharma, 1996).
Principal Axis Factoring (PAF), followed by Varimax rotation, yielded
seven factors, which accounted for 68% of the variance. The rotated factor
patterns are indicated in Table 4. Table 5 categorizes each item accord-
ing to the seven factors: Factor 1, Admiration towards English language
and English speakers; Factor 2, Support for the early introduction of
English; Factor 3, Merit of learning English for Japanese students; Factor
4, Pride in their own language and culture; Factor 5, Concerns regarding
the spread of English; Factor 6, Negative attitudes towards nonstandard
English; and Factor 7, Support for instruction through the medium of
English only. Aggregated scores for factors 1 to 7 were used to perform
additional analyses.
22 JALT Journal
Table 4. Rotated Factor Matrix
Item # Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 Factor 6 Factor 7
14 .74 .10 -.01 -.03 .10 .18 -.10
13 .73 -.02 .17 -.12 -.03 -.11 .28
5 .71 .01 .12 .17 -.15 .06 -.17
6 .59 .12 .24 .19 .21 -.14 .17
2 .12 .88 .16 .00 -.07 -.05 .17
1 .08 .88 .13 .06 -.10 -.02 -.10
8 .12 -.56 .06 .27 .56 -.15 .08
17 .03 .17 .73 .02 -.25 .02 .04
10 .18 .02 .72 .07 .21 -.15 .02
11 .37 .16 .65 .15 .09 .20 -.22
9 -.04 .01 -.13 .83 .19 -.04 .10
7 .33 -.17 .25 .66 -.09 -.14 -.08
12 -.01 .13 .21 .63 -.13 .31 -.12
16 .00 -.07 -.03 -.05 .80 -.10 -.05
15 .01 -.08 .02 .03 .65 .31 -.06
4 -.06 -.19 .15 -.06 .03 .75 .10
3 .16 .21 -.27 .14 .06 .73 .10
18 .02 .03 -.05 -.01 -.09 .17 .92

Table 5. Factor analysis on items tested in the attitudinal section

of the questionnaire
Factors M SD Skewness
Factor 1: Admiration towards English language and English 3.74 .91 -.56
speakers
If I were born again, I would rather have English as my 3.88 1.45 -.16
first language
I like the sounds of the English language better than 3.62 1.05 -.57
those of the Japanese language
The English language is more logical and analytical than 4.06 1.34 -.47
the Japanese language
English speakers are more logical and analytical than 3.45 1.35 -.47
Japanese speakers
Factor 2: Support for the early introduction of English 5.26 .93 -.36
It is good to introduce English at the elementary school 5.17 1.38 -.60
level
Goto Butler 23

We should increase the number of hours for English at 5.93 1.10 -1.66
the elementary school level
Early introduction of English may lower a student’s 2.91 1.34 .21
Japanese identity (negatively correlated)
Factor 3: Merit of learning English for Japanese students 4.51 .92 -1.27
By learning English, students can become more aware of 4.95 1.31 -.88
their own language and culture
English can be a better tool for Japanese students to de- 3.67 1.12 -.43
velop logical/analytical thinking than Japanese
The structure and writing system of the English language 4.92 1.22 -.87
is more suitable for IT (information technology) commu-
nication than Japanese
Factor 4: Pride in their own language and culture 4.77 .79 -.52
The Japanese language is the most beautiful language in 4.54 1.26 -.21
the world
More people outside of Japan should learn the Japanese 3.49 .98 -.16
language
Japanese students should be more proud of their lan- 5.82 .99 -.94
guage and culture
Factor 5: Concerns regarding the spread of English 2.84 1.14 .38
The early introduction of English may negatively affect 2.96 1.36 .31
students’ Japanese learning (including reading and writ-
ing)
I’m afraid that English will eventually take over the Japa- 2.72 1.37 .59
nese language in Japan
Factor 6: Negative attitudes towards nonstandard English 4.68 .98 -.07
Once students have a certain accent in English, it is al- 4.04 1.29 .04
most impossible to correct/change it
At the elementary school level, schools should strictly 5.32 1.17 -.71
teach students so-called “standard English” (“standard
English” is defined as a certain type of English that is
spoken by educated native speakers of English, such as
that spoken by BBC and ABC news anchors)
Factor 7: Support for instruction through the medium of Eng- 4.16 1.37 -.28
lish only
English language instruction should be conducted only 4.16 1.37 -.28
through English
Note. Factor loading: > .4
24 JALT Journal
The third step in the analysis performed herein entailed using Pearson
Correlation Coefficients to examine the relationship between the teachers’
responses to the NS Item and the following measures: the three variables
related to the teachers’ English proficiency levels from questionnaire 1;
the two variables related to the teachers’ perceived goals of English edu-
cation from questionnaire 2; and the seven factors identified in question-
naire 3 above. The correlations are shown in Table 6.

Table 6. Correlations of variables

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. NS Item
2. CP -.45**
3. DP -.06 .21*
4. Gaps -.35** .76** -.48**
5. Factor 1 -.06 .10 .11 .04
6. Factor 2 -.26** .20* .03 .16 .13
7. Factor 3 -.13 .14 .08 .09 .37** .41**
8. Factor 4 .22* -.05 .08 -.11 .16 -.05 .24*
9. Factor 5 .12 -.19 .07 -.21* -.06 -.33** -.03 .09
10. Factor 6 .48** -.16 .16 -.24* .05 -.07 .05 .14 .13
11. Factor 7 .12 .19 .25* .01 .01 .09 -.07 -.02 -.07 .19
12. Short- -.10 .16 .33** -.19 .18 .14 .17 .31** -.05 -.05 .03
term Goals
13. Long- .02 .12 .41** -.10 .21* .02 .12 .20* -.07 .03 .07 .48**
term Goals
Note. * p <.05, ** p <.01 CP=Current Proficiency; DP=Desired Proficiency

Negative correlations with the NS Item were found between Perceived

Current Proficiency, Perceived Gaps, and Factor 2 (Support for the early in-
troduction of English). Positive correlations were found between Factor 4
(Pride in their own language and culture) and Factor 6 (Negative attitudes
towards nonstandard English). Namely, teachers who perceived their cur-
rent English proficiency to be lower, and teachers who perceived wider
gaps between their current English proficiency level and the minimum
level needed, tended to support the NS Item more. In addition, teachers
who showed less support for the early introduction of English tended to
think that English was best taught by NSs. In addition, teachers who took
greater pride in Japanese language and culture tended to show stronger
support for the NS Item. Finally, teachers who indicated stronger nega-
Goto Butler 25
tive attitudes towards nonstandard forms of English tended to believe
that English is best taught by NSs. Other perceptional factors such as “ad-
miration towards English,” “the merit of learning English for Japanese
students,” “concerns regarding the spread of English,” and “support for
monolingual instructional policy” did not show significant relationships
with the NS Item. Neither the Short-term Goals nor the Long-term Goals
showed significant correlations with the NS Item.
In the fourth and final step of the analysis, a multiple regression was
employed to examine the extent to which the independent variables
(Perceived and Desired Proficiencies, the 7 factors discussed above, and
Short-term and Long-term Goals) predicted belief in the idea that English
is best taught by NSs, when correlations among the variables are taken
into account. Prior to employing the multiple regression analysis, as-
sumptions of independency, normality, homoscedasticity, and linearity
were examined; scatterplots of residuals against predicted values were
drawn in order to test the first three assumptions, and these were met.
The possibility of multicollinearity among the independent variables was
also a concern and was therefore evaluated. Not surprisingly, when all of
the independent variables were entered into an equation, a collinearity
diagnostic test (Variance Inflation Factor, or VIF) showed high values for
Current Proficiency and Perceived Gap. The Variance Inflation Factor is a
means of detecting the existence of multicollinearity. VIFs “measure how
much the variances of the estimated regression coefficients are inflated
as compared to when the independent variables are not linearly related”
(Neter, Wasserman, & Kutner, 1990, p. 408). Typically, if a computed VIF
value exceeds 10, it is considered as being a sign of severe multicolline-
arity. Therefore, Perceived Gap (the highest VIF) was eliminated and the
rest of the variables were reentered into the equation. The VIF values
became reasonably low. The results are shown in Table 7. Factor 6 (Nega-
tive attitudes towards nonstandard English) showed the highest degree
of predictive value (positive), followed by Perceived Current Proficiency
(negative) and Factor 4 (Pride in their own language and culture).

Discussion and Conclusion

Approximately 60% of the Japanese elementary school teachers who
were conducting English activities in the present study somewhat agreed
with the idea that English is best taught by NSs at the elementary school
level. This study suggests that this belief was associated with (a) the
teachers’ perceived English proficiency levels, (b) their attitudes towards
26 JALT Journal
Table 7. Summary of simultaneous regression analysis for variables
predicting teachers’ responses to the NS Item
Variable B SE B β
Perceived Current Proficiency -.46 .13 -.33**
Desired Proficiency -.11 .18 -.06
Factor 1 (Admiration towards the English lan- -.06 .14 -.04
guage and English speakers)
Factor 2 (Support for the early introduction of -.21 .16 -.13
English)
Factor 3 (Merit of learning English for Japanese -.09 .17 -.06
students)
Factor 4 (Pride in their own language and culture) .50 .18 .25**
Factor 5 (Concerns regarding the spread of Eng- -.03 .11 -.03
lish)
Factor 6 (Negative attitudes towards nonstandard .53 .13 .36**
English)
Factor 7 (Support for instruction through the me- .12 .09 .11
dium of English only)
Short-term Goals -.13 .14 -.09
Long-term Goals .01 .15 .01
Note. * p <.05, ** p <.01. R = .42 B indicates raw (nonstandardized) regres-
2

sion coefficients and β indicates standardized regression coefficients

nonstandard forms of English, and (c) their own sense of pride in their
language and cultural heritage.
The teachers who rated their English proficiency lower tended to sup-
port the idea that English is best taught by NSs at the elementary school
level. The ACTFL Guidelines suggest that foreign language teachers
(referring primarily to teachers at the secondary and college levels) need
to have the “advanced plus” level in listening, speaking, and reading
and the “advanced” level in writing (ACTFL, 1988). Since a self-evalua-
tion measure was employed in the present study, it is difficult to obtain
an objective sense of what the teachers’ proficiency levels actually are.
Moreover, it remains unclear as to what the minimum proficiency level
needed for teaching a foreign language at the elementary school level
is. However, the average perceived levels of English proficiency among
the elementary school teachers who participated in the present study ap-
pear to be far from sufficient for teaching English (or conducting English
Goto Butler 27
activities). The teachers themselves identified gaps between their current
proficiency and the minimum level of proficiency needed to conduct
English activities. Such perceived gaps may in turn lead to feelings of
insecurity or lack of confidence in teaching.
The current English language education policy in Japan strongly em-
phasizes oral communication in English language instruction. A strategic
plan (the “Action Plan to Cultivate Japanese with English abilities”)
was proposed by MEXT in 2003 and contains a number of strategies for
improving Japanese citizens’ English abilities in general and their oral
communication abilities in particular. The introduction of English ac-
tivities at the elementary school level is one such strategy (MEXT, 2003).
Although MEXT has stated that the primary purpose of English activities
at the elementary school level is to enhance children’s international un-
derstanding through English conversation, the current policy essentially
asks English teachers to have “sufficient” oral communicative proficiency
and pedagogical skills to conduct oral communicative activities in Eng-
lish. In fact, MEXT (2003) has indicated its support for a number of plans
designed to ensure a high level of proficiency among individuals who
conduct English activities in Japan. These plans include placing ALTs
and secondary school English teachers in elementary schools, placing
local residents with high English proficiency in elementary schools as re-
sources, and providing select elementary school teachers with intensive
teacher training.
In such a policy climate, as Seidlhofer (1999) has pointed out, com-
municative competency is often considered to be one of the leading
qualifications for teaching language. Elementary school teachers who feel
they lack proficiency may not be confident in teaching English to young
learners. They therefore may believe that NSs’ communicative compe-
tency can compensate for their own lack of proficiency, and may believe
that NSs are better suited for the job.
There is no doubt that Japanese elementary school teachers urgently
need help to improve their English proficiency and/or develop more
confidence in their proficiency. This is particularly true given the fact
that a growing number of local governments have been granted status
as “Special Zones for Structural Reforms” as part of the central govern-
ment’s structural deregulation policy and have begun teaching English as
an academic subject at the elementary school level. One has to remember
that the overwhelming majority of elementary school teachers in Japan
currently are not English teaching specialists by training. Moreover,
comprehensive in-service training has not yet been available for these
28 JALT Journal
teachers. The current policy encourages elementary school teachers to
incorporate team-teaching with NSs to some extent in their instruction.
However, conducting team-teaching itself may not compensate for ele-
mentary school teachers’ lack of sufficient proficiency and/or confidence,
and it is increasingly apparent that teachers need systematic assistance in
order to improve their English proficiency.
It is also important to identify the minimum level of proficiency that
is necessary to teach English at elementary schools. As Nunan (2003) sug-
gests, native-like proficiency may not be necessary for elementary school
teachers. Importantly, while helping teachers improve their proficiency,
teacher training also should increase awareness of the fact that compe-
tency in the language is only one of many important qualifications for
successful language teaching.
With regards to the second factor noted above, teachers’ negative at-
titudes towards nonstandard English were also found to be associated
with the notion that English is best taught by NSs. In the present study,
in order to try to control the teachers’ notion of what exactly standard
English refers to, standard English was defined as the type of English that
is spoken by educated native speakers of English, such as that spoken by
BBC and ABC news anchors. Although this definition is common among
the general public, one may argue that it offers a narrow view of standard
English.
There is a substantial amount of discussion regarding standard
English, and what it refers to is still unclear. Some researchers, such as
Lippi-Green (1997), go so far as to argue that standard English is a myth.
Regardless of whether standard English refers to certain types of exist-
ing varieties of English or is merely a myth, Japanese English language
education essentially promoted British English before World War II and
has promoted American English as the standard to be learned since after
World War II. Professors specializing in British and American literature
have often wielded influence over decisions regarding English language
education policies. English teachers at the secondary school level and
up typically have majored in either British or American literature at col-
lege in Japan (Suzuki, 1999). According to Suzuki (1999), these English
teachers have been advocates of certain varieties of English (what Suzuki
calls “native English”) as the model to be emulated at school; namely,
they have argued for teaching the types of English that emanate from
“the Centre” (Phillipson, 1992) or “the Inner Circle” (Kachru & Nelson,
1996). Many Japanese also have developed subjective criteria to judge
their own and others’ fluency (or disfluency) in English as well to judge
Goto Butler 29
the deviation of pronunciation from what they perceive to be standard
English (Tanabe, 2003).
The Japanese government’s preference towards certain varieties of
English from Centre regions can be seen in the JET Program. In 2001, 5,676
new ALTs were recruited; 2,526 of them were from the USA, 1,233 from
the UK, 95 from Canada, 364 were from Australia, and 368 from New
Zealand, collectively comprising 96% of the new ALTs (MEXT, 2002c).
The remaining 4% includes individuals who teach foreign languages
other than English such as Korean, Chinese, French, and German, as well
as individuals who teach English. More recently, there have been some
efforts to invite more individuals from non-Centre regions to work as
English teachers (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, 2004);
however, the number of such individuals remains very small.
At the elementary school level, native speakers with more diverse Eng-
lish backgrounds appear to have been hired by some local governments
and schools, though no statistics are available to confirm this observa-
tion (Butler, in press–b). At this point, it also is not clear how Japanese
elementary school teachers define native English speakers. An important
topic for further research would be to investigate more thoroughly what
teachers actually perceive to constitute a native speaker. In any case, as
long as teachers are beholden to the idea that the English their students
are exposed to should sound a certain way, it will be difficult for them to
gain confidence in their own English, and they may be inclined to depend
on native speakers.
Lastly, teachers’ sense of pride in their own language and cultural
heritage was also found to be associated with the idea that English is
best taught by NSs. This seems in some ways to be counterintuitive at
first glance. However, it may be the case that teachers who demonstrated
greater pride in Japanese language and culture in this study also felt that
native speakers “own” not only their language but also their culture; this
in turn could lead them to believe that native speakers are better teachers
for their own languages, including English.
The present study was designed to serve as a first step in understand-
ing the perceptional factors that are related to the notion that English is
best taught by NSs. Although this study sheds some light on the factors
associated with this notion, it is limited in that it takes a largely unitary
approach in terms of defining and examining the notion. A number of
important issues remain to be investigated. For example, as we have seen
it is not clear how English NSs are defined by the NNS elementary school
30 JALT Journal
teachers. How might such definitions affect NNS teachers’ perceptions
towards NS/NNS teacher qualifications? How do teachers’ perceptions
influence their teaching practices in various settings, including in team-
teaching contexts? How do local NNS teachers perceive other NNS teach-
ers who are teaching in Japan (e.g., Chinese teachers of English who teach
in Japan)? The role of non-Japanese NNS teachers as well as NS teachers
might be of particular interest in light of the current goals of English ac-
tivities at elementary schools in Japan, namely, enhancing international
understanding through English conversation. Another question that
remains is how teachers’ perceptions might influence students’ learning.
While the present study employed only quantitative methods, integrat-
ing both quantitative analyses with in-depth qualitative analyses based
on interviews and classroom observations could greatly enhance our un-
derstanding of these questions. As it focused on a relatively specific object
of study, namely, NNS elementary school teachers in Japan who already
teach English or conduct English activities, it is unclear to what extent
the present study’s findings can be applied to other teaching contexts.
Although the limitations of this study and its applicability must be kept
in mind, it is hoped that the present study will encourage further investi-
gation of NS/NNS teachers’ qualifications in various teaching contexts in
order to develop our understanding of this topic and to ultimately foster
a better educational environment for students and teachers alike.

Acknowledgements
The study presented herein was partially supported by a Postdoctoral
Fellowship from the National Academy of Education and the Spencer
Foundation during the 2004-2005 academic year. An earlier version of
this paper was presented at the 6th Annual International Conference
of the Japanese Society for Language Sciences in Nagoya in July 2004. I
would like to thank the editor and four anonymous reviewers for their
helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Yuko Goto Butler is an Assistant Professor in Language and Literacy

in Education at the Graduate School of Education at the University of
Pennsylvania. Her most recent project examines various issues that have
arisen in conjunction with the introduction of English language educa-
tion at the elementary school level in East Asia.
Goto Butler 31
Notes
1. On March 27, 2006, the Subpanel on Foreign Languages within MEXT’s
Central Council for Education (CCE) recommended that English be
mandatory for upper grade students (MEXT, 2006), though the CCE did
not specify any timeline for implementing this policy recommendation.
In the meantime, as part of the current administration’s “localization”
policy, a growing number of local governments have received permission
from the central government to become “Special Zones for Structural Re-
form in Education.” As such, more and more local elementary schools
have started offering English instruction as a subject, deviating from the
National Curriculum as set forth in the National Course of Study.
2. For example, the descriptions of Level 1 and Level 6 in the Listening
Comprehension domain are as follows: “I can understand a limited
number of high frequency words and common conversational, fixed ex-
pressions such as ‘How are you?’ or ‘My name is. . .’” (Level 1) and “I can
understand everything at normal speed like a native speaker” (Level 7).

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Appendix A
Questionnaires in Japanese

日本での小学校での英語学習の目的
以下のそれぞれの項目について(現実的な目標として)、あなたの教えている
クラスの小学生は小学校卒業までにどの程度英語ができるようになっているべ
きだと思いますか？ １から７までの数字で答えてください。

1． 該当せず。（目標として適切でない）
2． クラスの10–15％程度がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
3． クラスの30–35％程度がレベルに到達すべきだと思う
4． クラスの50％程度がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
5． クラスの65–70％程度がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
6． クラスの80–85％程度がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
7． クラスのすべて(100%)の児童がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う

該当する数字をそれぞれ丸で囲んでください
1．英語のネイティブ・スピーカーにほぼ匹敵す
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
るほどの発音を身につける
2．英語の短い挨拶や決まり文句を聞き、理解で
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
きる
3．短くて簡単なお話を英語で聞き、理解できる １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
4．短い挨拶や決まり文句を英語で言うことがで
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
きる
5．簡単な日常会話を英語で行うことができる １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
6．英語の単語をみて、声にだして読むことがで
きる（基本的な英語の綴りと発音との関係を １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
理解する）
7．簡単な単語や句を読み、意味を理解すること
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
ができる
8．短くて簡単なお話を英語で読み、理解するこ
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
とができる
9．簡単な単語や句を英語で綴ることができる １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
10．短くて簡単なお話を英語で書くことができ
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
る
11．英語圏の人々や文化に興味を持つ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
36 JALT Journal
12．地域に住む外国人や世界の出来事一般に興
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
味を持つようになる

日本での英語学習の最終目的
高校を卒業するまでに、以下のそれぞれの項目について(現実的な目標とし
て)、日本人全体としてどれ位英語ができるようになっているべきだと思います
か？ １から７までの数字で答えてください。
1． 該当せず。（目標として適切でない）
2． 10–15％程度の日本人がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
3． 30–35％程度の日本人がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
4． 50％程度の日本人がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
5． 65–70％程度の日本人がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
6． 80–85％程度の日本人がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う
7． すべての日本人(100%)がこのレベルに到達すべきだと思う

該当する数字をそれぞれ丸で囲んでください
1．英語のネイティブ・スピーカーにほぼ匹敵す
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
るほどの発音を身につける
2．基本的な日常会話を聞き、理解できる １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
3．基本的な日常会話程度の英語を話すことがで
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
きる
4．ビジネスや学会などの交渉・会議をこなせる
だけのオーラル・スキル（聞く話す力）を身 １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
につけることができる
5．友人から英語で送られてくる簡単な電子メー
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
ルを読み、内容を理解することができる
6．友人とインターネット上でチャットができた
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
り、簡単な電子メールを英語で交換できる
7．英字新聞を読み、内容がほとんど理解できる １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
8．ビジネスなどの交渉を英語で電子メールで行
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
うことができる
9．英字新聞や英字雑誌などに政治・社会・経済
事情について自分の意見を投稿できるほどの １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
英語を書く力がある

英語と日本語、英語教育に関する以下の記述にどれくらい賛成か反対か、１
から７の数字で答えてください。

１ 強く反対
２ 反対
３ 少し反対（どちらかというと反対）
４ 反対でも賛成でもない
Goto Butler 37
５ 少し賛成（どちらかというと賛成）
６ 賛成
７ 強く賛成

該当する数字をそれぞれ丸で囲んでください
1．英語は日本語より論理的・分析的な言語であ
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
る
2．英語を学習することで、子供たちは日本語や
日本の文化に対する認識を深めることができ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
る
3．日本以外にいる人たちのもっと多くが日本語
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
を学習すべきである
4．日本でも徐々に日本語が英語にのっとられて
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
しまうのではないかと思う
5．ひとたび英語になまり（アクセント）が身に
ついてしまうと、もうほとんど直すことがで １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
きない。
6．小学校では、いわゆる「標準英語」（「標準
英語」とはBBCやABCニュースのキャスター
が話すような英米の教養あるネイティブスピ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
ーカーの話すある種の英語と定義する）だけ
を教えるべきである
7．私にとって日本語は世界で最も美しい言語で
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
ある
8．英語の表記システムは英語よりもITコミュニ
ケーション(コンピューターをはじめとした
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
情報化時代のコミュニケーション)を行うの
に日本語より優れている
9．早期に英語を教えると子供の日本語の学習（
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
読み・書きを含む）に悪影響が及ぶと思う
10. 早期に英語を教えると子供の日本人としての
１ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
アイデンティティーが脅かされる恐れがある
11．日本人の学生は日本の文化や言語に対し、 １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
もっと誇りを持つべきである
12．英語を話す人は、日本語を話す人よりも論 １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
理的・分析的な思考ができる。
13．日本人の学生にとって論理的・分析的思考 １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
を高める訓練を行うには日本語より英語のほ
うが適している
14．日本語の音より英語の音のほうが好きだ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
15．もし生まれかわることができるなら、今度 １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
は英語を母語（第一言語）に持って生まれた
い
38 JALT Journal
16．英語の授業は英語のみで行われるべきであ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
る
17．英語を小学校で導入することは良いことだ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
と思う
18．小学校での英語の時間数をふやすべきであ １ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７
る

Appendix B
Short-term and Long-term Goals of English Education Questionnaire
Short-term goals
1. To be able to acquire native-like pronunciation
2. To be able to listen to and understand greetings and standard
expressions in English
3. To be able to listen to and understand simple stories
4. To be able to greet and say some standard expressions
5. To be able to carry on a simple conversation in English
6. To sound out English words accurately (i.e., acquiring basic decod-
ing skills in English)
7. To be able to read and comprehend some words and phrases
8. To be able to read and comprehend simple short stories
9. To be able to spell some words and phrases
10. To be able to write simple short stories
11. To become interested in English-speaking cultures and people
12. To increase interest in foreigners in the community and world
affairs in general

Long-term goals
1. To acquire native-like pronunciation
2. To listen to and comprehend basic daily conversation
3. To carry on basic daily conversations
Goto Butler 39
4. To acquire sufficient oral communicative skills in order to conduct
business and other professional meetings without much difficulty
5. To read and comprehend simple/informal email messages
6. To chat on the Internet or to exchange simple/informal email mes-
sages
7. To read English newspapers and comprehend much of them
8. To negotiate competitively in business or other professional matters
by email
9. To acquire sufficient writing skills to write opinion letters to English
newspapers or magazines

Appendix C
The Goals of English Education
1. We should increase the number of hours for English at the elemen-
tary school level.
2. It is good to introduce English at the elementary school level.
3. At the elementary school level, schools should strictly teach stu-
dents so-called “standard English” (“standard English” is defined
as a certain type of English that is spoken by educated native speak-
ers of English, such as that spoken by BBC and ABC news anchors).
4. Once students have a certain accent in English, it is almost impos-
sible to correct/change it.
5. The English language is more logical and analytical than the
Japanese language.
6. English speakers are more logical and analytical than Japanese
speakers.
7. More people outside of Japan should learn the Japanese language.
8. Early introduction of English may lower a student’s Japanese
identity (negatively correlated).
9. The Japanese language is the most beautiful language in the world.
10. English can be a better tool for Japanese students to develop logi-
cal/analytical thinking than Japanese.
40 JALT Journal
11. The structure and writing system of the English language is more
suitable for IT (information technology) communication than
Japanese.
12. Japanese students should be more proud of their language and
culture.
13. I like the sounds of the English language better than those of the
Japanese language.
14. If I were born again, I would rather have English as my first lan-
guage.
15. I’m afraid that English will eventually take over the Japanese
language in Japan.
16. The early introduction of English may negatively affect students’
Japanese learning (including reading and writing).
17. By learning English, students can become more aware of their own
language and culture.
18. English language instruction should be conducted only through
English.