Use Of Communicative Methodology in Teaching English in Japan

Abstract

The thesis entitled Use of Communicative Methodology in Teaching English in Japanaims to examine the extent of the use of Communicative Approach and hindrances to this approach in some ofthe colleges in Japan. Communicative Approach is one of the current approaches in teaching second language. If the use of the Communicative Approach is going to continue to improve in Japan, there isa need to discover to what extent it is being used and what is hindering the approach.In an effort to discover the actual situation, both native and non-nativeEnglish teacherswere asked to complete the questionnaire. Thirty-six,out of forty-two, teachers at the universities and junior colleges in the prefecture (i.e. prefecture is geographical division similar to Zone in Nepal)ofSaitama, Japan returned the questionnaire on the return rate ofeighty-sixpercent.Twenty-nineout of thirty-sixteacherswereJapanese teachers of English. The data was collected using aseries of statements evaluated on a Likert attitude scale. Based on the responses, it is apparent that there is broad use of most of the elements of Communicative Approach, but role play is not universally accepted. The study also discoveredsome obstacles that hinder theuse of Communicative Approach. Hindrances that are discussed include the students’ lack of confidence in their speaking ability, the students’ embarrassment, and the inability of students to express their opinions, to ask questions, and to be innovative during conversation practice. This thesis comprises of four chapters. The fist chapter deals with the introduction of the topic in which general background of the study, definition of the terminologies, literature review, objectives of the study,and significance of the studyareincluded. The second chapter includes the research methodology, dealing with source of data collection, population of the study, research tools,process of data collection and limitations of the study. The third chapter covers the analysis and interpretation of the collected data. This is the body part of thesis which explains the details of data analysis and interprets the results. Similarly, the last chapter presents the findings and recommendations of the study.Basically, the recommendations are made on the basis of the findings of the study. References and appendices are included in the final part of the report.