Primary English Language Teaching: A Comparison of Japan and Croatia

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Nastava engleskog jezika u osnovnoj školi: usporedba Japana i Hrvatske
• Author: Marija Juratek
• Mentor: Marija Andraka (mentor)
• Mentor: Silvija Hanžić Deda (sumentor)
• Committee member: Ivana Cindrić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Marija Andraka (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Silvija Hanžić Deda (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Teacher Education; Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2022-09-29, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Interdisciplinary Humanistic Studies; Teaching Methods in the Humanistic Sciences

Abstract

Many nations realised the benefits of teaching English from a young age. In addition to ensuring the quality of their basic education, they strive to make English accessible to their citizens, each country in its own way. The main objective of this thesis is to compare foreign language policies and practices in the context of primary education in Croatia and Japan. Both countries invest a lot of effort in teaching English, and they both have a mandatory foreign language course in their primary schools. In Croatia, students choose which foreign language they will learn when they enrol in the first grade of primary school, and English is the most popular choice, English being the most popular choice. In addition, both countries also have foreign language schools that provide language teaching services outside the regular school. However, interesting differences can be noted in between the English teaching practices in the two countries, and some indicators of their English education are remarkably different.
Teaching materials and textbooks are the most obvious differences, along with insisting on having native speakers as English language teachers. However, there are some other issues when it comes to learning English in Japan, such as culture bumps and language unawareness. Moreover, Japan’s national language differs from English in numerous ways, while Croatian at least shares the same script. Nevertheless, English words are not infrequent in Japan, which makes even the children become aware of the language and leaves room to familiarise themselves better with it. That familiarisation only recently became the task of the Japanese educational system, which has recently started to implement English language courses in the curriculum of primary education.

Abstract (croatian)

Mnoge države spoznale su prednosti poučavanja engleskog jezika od rane dječje dobi. Glavni je cilj ovoga rada usporediti obrazovne politike i praksu poučavanja engleskoga kao stranoga jezika u Hrvatskoj i Japanu. Osim što veliku pažnju posvećuju kvaliteti osnovnog obrazovanja, obje države na svoj način nastoje svojim građanima osigurati kvalitetnu nastavu engleskoga. Obje zemlje ulažu puno truda u poučavanje engleskog jezika, i obje imaju obveznu nastavu stranog jezika u svojim osnovnim školama. U Hrvatskoj učenici biraju koji će strani jezik učiti upisom u prvi razred osnovne škole, a engleski je najpopularniji izbor. Osim toga, obje države imaju i škole stranih jezika u kojima je moguće učiti engleski. Međutim, mogu se primijetiti zanimljive razlike u njihovim praksama, a neki pokazatelji njihovog obrazovanja na engleskom izrazito su različiti. Primjerice, prošle godine je Hrvatska na međunarodnom testu znanja engleskog jezika postigla mnogo bolji rezultat od Japana..
Nastavni materijali i udžbenici jedna su od najvećih očitih razlika, uz inzistiranje na tome da učitelji engleskog jezika budu izvorni govornici u Japanu. Međutim, postoje neki drugi problemi kada je riječ o učenju engleskog u Japanu, kao što su kulturološke razlike i potpuno nepoznavanje jezika. Štoviše, japanski nacionalni jezik razlikuje se od engleskoga na više razina, dok hrvatski s engleskim barem dijeli isto pismo. Ipak, engleske riječi nisu rijetke u Japanu, što čak i djeci osvještava jezik i ostavlja prostora da se bolje upoznaju s njim. To upoznavanje tek je nedavno postalo zadaća japanskog obrazovnog sustava, koji je tijekom zadnjeg desetljeća počeo implementirati nastavu engleskog jezika u kurikul osnovnog obrazovanja.

• Keywords: English language; Croatian primary education; Japanese primary education; English language teaching; cultural differences
• Keywords (croatian): engleski jezik; hrvatsko osnovnoškolsko obrazovanje; japansko osnovnoškolsko obrazovanje; poučavanje engleskog jezika
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:147:087290
• Study programme: Title: Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Programme of Study of Primary Teacher Education and Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Programme of Study for Primary Teacher Education with English and German Language; Study programme type: university; Study level: integrated undergraduate and graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra primarnog obrazovanja (magistar/magistra primarnog obrazovanja)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2023-02-23 11:19:38