November 10, 2004

The more I think about the more I am of the opinion that the key to improving Japanese students' ability in English is in setting homework. Homework is however, the sore thumb of tertiary education in Japan; it is not set at levels required to ensure a educational effect, especially in the English education field. English requires a lot of study.

The factors influencing the lack of homework at Japanese universities may perhaps be divided into four of five groups: the three types of "customer" that universities service, and the two divisions within Japanese universities themselves. The three types of customer are: students, employers, and the Japanese government. One might add parents to this list, but it is my impression that students have a large say in the dispensation of parental funds. It is my impression that it is rare that a Japanese parent insists that their offspring attend any particular university upon the basis of the quality of service that it provides. Parents deserve to be in a fourth category of customer and perhaps they hold the key for improvement. I will deal with them at the end.

Of the main three customers that Japanese universities service, only one overtly encourages a level of homework sufficient to ensure an educational effect.

Customer Number 1: The Japanese Government
The Japanese Education Department funds most of the universities in Japan and lays down guidlines for universities to become "Japanese education department approved"

The Japanese educatioin department has a policy that for every class hour, students should perform an hour of homework.

The Japanese Education Department also has a policy, I believe, that teacher perform at least as much time outside of class in preparation and marking as they do inside of class. (I may not be correct in this second assumption.)

In theory then, for each class that a Japanese university teacher teaches she should be setting at least 90 minutes, ideally 2 hours of homework.

The other two main customers of Japanese universities - students and graduate employers do not express a strong hankering after higher levels of extra-curricula study.

Customer Number 2 The Students themselves
There are a variety of reasons why Japanese students would find performing homework at the ideal level.

Most Japanese students attempt to end their education by the end of their third year in order that their fourth year be free for job-finding activities.

Student grants not in great supply while the demand for low paid student labour is. This means that many students spend a great deal of their time at university earning money.

Students like to take part in student clubs ("circles") that are often, but not always very time consuming.

The rate of progression of high school students to university students is now about 60%. This is probably an indication of the fact that university has become a hurdle on the way to full time employment by a Japanese company rather than a place where young peole that want to study go. Perhaps university always was a hurdle, a means to an end, but in the past (in the UK when I went to university) it was accepted that only those that were hard studying would go onto university. Now that universities are just another stage in the education process, it is entivable that students are less intrinsically motivated, and that universities must now provide the sort of student administration that was once provided by high-schools. Students might be treated as adults that do not need to be force to study by virtue of the fact that they have "chosen," to come to university. In present day Japan, as many other industrial nations, the move to university is less one of choice but of competative necessity. Students do not choose to come to university. They are forced to do so if they want to achieve a reasonable standard of living.

Many university teachers do not do set homework at this level. Partly because they are overworked, partly because they wish to do research, and partly because they do not feel the deman from two of their three customers.

Customer Number 3: Graduate Employers
As institutions that output gradutes with the qualifications and skills to become part of the workforce, employers are an important customer. The level of integration and impact of employers upon Japanese universities is, however, neither direct nor large. Japanese universities are increasingly keen however to produce graduates that are attractive to Japanese employers but this attempt is often fraught. Endeavours to ensure that graduates appeal to employers often take the form of proving job-hunting support, more rarely in surveying the requirements that employers place upon graduates. This is not entirely the fault of universities. There are indicators that Japanese employers do not place emphasis upon requiring graduates to performed extensive "tertiary level" study. The following is largely based upon discussion with the employment support staff of my university,

The majority of employers do not appear seek students that are particularly proficient in any academic subject. There is less emphasis upon grade point average. There are fewer levels, and less recognition of the levels of graduate. In the UK one may graduate with: first, second (upper or lower), third class honours, or with no honours at all. Graduation certificates have thus five levels, like an exam with grades A to E. In the UK it is only those with upper second class honours (a B or above) that can hope to be empoyed in a larger company. In the US the grade point average (marked out of 5) is an important determinant in the path that students can take post-graduation. In Japan, while there is grade point average, employers seem to place less emphasis upon it.  

A majority of employers expect students to be involved in job-seeking activities during their third year of university. As mentioned previously, students attempt to obtain the credits required for graduation in the first three of the hour years that they are at university. This effectively reduces the amount of study-time that students have by 24% percent. The fact that employers hold introductory seminars and interviews during the fourth academic year of university, suggests that employers are not hoping to recruit students that are using their time at university to study academically.

Employers are said to state that while they are interested in students that have studied while at university, they are also interested in students that have participated in and gained from extra curricular activities, to an approximately equal degree. Few employers say that they want students that have studied any particular subject or have any particular academic skill. Rather they look for students that have shown themselves to be intrinsicallly motivated towards self-improvement, academic or otherwise, during their four years at university.

These policy reflects the fact that Japanese employers do not usually employ their staff as those who hold a particular skill but rather as alll round contributors to the enterprise. Graduates how make the best "all-rounders," are not those that have been forced to aquire particular academic skills, but those that have invested time and effort into any challenging endeavour, from playing the trombone, holding positions of responsibility in university festivals, working in a bookshop, to learning English. Academic subjects are only one of the ways that a student might demonstrate their intrinsic motivation, and desire to learn, contribute and conform. Since academic subjects are not financially rewarded (unlike part time jobs) and often less fun (than student "circles"), they do not often come top of the list of ways of impressing Japanese employers.

The Universities themselves: Japanese University Teachers

Japanese University teachers usuallly have more classes per week than university teachers in the US for example.

Apparently US universities are divided into "research universities" and those that emphasise teaching, and teachers in research universities have lower teaching requirements while those in educationally focused ("less prestigious") universities have more. I am not sure how well defined this distinction is in the US, but it is even less well defined in Japan. The upshot (result) of this is that even quite prestigious Japanese university teaching staff have teaching workloads above those of American Universities at the a similar domestic rank. Consequently a lot of Japanese university teachers at various (appropriate and inappropriate) levels, hope to spend their time on research while having extensive teaching workloads.

The Universities themselves: Japanese University Administration Staff
Unlike at some Western institutions, it is rare to find administration and secretarial staff support educators. It is not clear whether administration and secretarial staff are subordinate to those in the front line -- educators -- or whether educators are subordinate to those administrators who form the structural framework of the university and who are often at the front line when it comes to dealing with and accepting payment from the customers (students, parents, governments and even employers alike).  

All these factors addup to a situation which has been called "The Myth of Japanese Education," where the number of hours studied, the number of books read, the level of interest and commitment towars academic subjects is often strikkingly low.

In order that Japanese university students learn to speak English, en masse, they will need to study at much higher levels than they do at the present time. In order to encourage them to study, teachers, employers and the Japanese government will need to think of ways of ensuring that they are given homework. Intrinsic motivation to study, however inventively stimulated, does not seem to be at a level to ensure that students achieve.

Social antropologists have noted that Japanese parents often outsource the socialisation of their students to educational institutions. While one may hope that parents take a greater responsibility for ensuring that the university tuition fees that they pay are going towards ensuring that their offspring are recieving a high level of academic education, it is unlikely that parents are going to do more than react passively to moves made by education service suppliers. Those institutions that provide a level of supervision in loco parentis, by setting homework and making sure that students do it, are likely to be those that achieve higher levels of academic achievement in the future.

Above all, perhaps, Japanese society needs to decide whether it needs tertiary academic education. Perhaps, due to cultural differences, pursuing academic excellence is less valuable than the service, or period of intensive socialisation, that Japanese universities currently provide.