What do you think of this series of letters in The Japan Times about using English textbooks by native speakers versus non-native in Japan?

Most recent is here, then each link within leads to the previous letter: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/r...126a6.html

I'll just pick some points.

- It's the "teacher's job" to motivate? That strikes me as a little dysfunctional. Of course, I agree with the writer's point: it's not the textbook's job either. I'd say it's the job of the student to take care of motivation.

- I'm not sure if monolingual or bilingual textbooks are under discussion, but I suspect bilingual. That distinction seems more important than the native language of the author. Bilingual resources are stepping stones: you step on them and move on.

- Foreign students coming aren't going to improve Japan's English. If that were how things worked, I'd speak Korean now.

The core problem, I think is that language is not very teachable. It's not like X hours of classroom time equals fluency. Since language is so strongly memory-based, you need calendar time for your brain to grow into the new language. There are some effective classroom programs, but they require a lot of classroom time and a low student/teacher ratio, and are thus extremely expensive. (The US military's Defense Language Institute is a good example.) Once you take the school format out of the equation and substitute native media, near-free international communication, and memory software, the entire game changes.

If anglophones can acquire Japanese to surprisingly high levels over the Internet, there's no reason Japanese can't do the same with English, or why more anglophones can acquire a second language. The resources are there. But, I think in both cases cultures that grant a monopoly on education to schooling make those opportunities hard to see.

wildweathel Wrote:- I'm not sure if monolingual or bilingual textbooks are under discussion, but I suspect bilingual. That distinction seems more important than the native language of the author. Bilingual resources are stepping stones: you step on them and move on.

From my understanding, gleaned from the article, the only contention is who the English textbook is written by (an English native or not). Personally, I don't think it matters at all. Just because English maybe the authors native language that does not automatically heighten the quality of the textbook. I'm sure there are Japanese textbooks written by non-natives that are as good as those made by natives.