Learning In Japanese Classroom Research

The Japanese society, more specifically the classroom is an interesting place to be. Regardless of the level of schooling, a minute or two before the bell chimes, the students are seated and attentive, ready to learn. The student in charge of calling the class to order says “Ichigi-kan me no Eigo yoroshiku onegai shimasu” which loosely translates to “We are going to start 1st period English class, thank you for your time.” Consequently, they would substitute the word “Eigo”-English to “Rekishi”- History and so on. The Teacher would then greet the class and they would begin with warm-up activities so as get the student’s minds prepared for English. Frequently during the class there is a struggle to remember the English vocabulary, therefore the vocabulary from the previous class is reviewed. In Eastern countries like Japan, language is learned through rote memorization. “Rote learning or memorization is a learning process that involves repeating information until its remembered verbatim” (Firestone). The theory states one quickly remembers the material the more one repeats it. Japanese students learn their language and other subjects using this inert technique. One can imagine the struggle of learning the English language in a Japanese educational setting. Often times in the classroom when a conversational dialogue is being taught, students are encouraged to practice the conversation with a partner to cement the sentence structure and the use of verbs. However, in this educational culture, it extends to memorization of not only the sentence structure but also the sentence itself. Therefore the understanding or meaning of the sentence is lost and students find it difficult to make proper connections with the sentences and their meaning if one or two words are changed. This fosters the students’ inability to take the knowledge and skills taught in the classroom to the “real world” where conversations aren’t a textbook approach. The disconnect is evident whenever I would see a student outside of the classroom, I would ask them similar questions to what they learnt in their English classes but there would be a moment of confusion that often results in giving prompts to the students to help them to answer my questions. It was through this experience that I became keenly interested in how we learn. It became apparent that learning and teaching are dependent on where we are from. Thus, the theory of how knowledge is passed on from teacher to student became of interest to me. In western cultures, language is understood and while there are instances in our language where rote memorization is necessary, for example, ABCs, bones of the body or the periodic table, most of what is taught in the classroom is presented in a format that requires the student to employ reason. Analytical skills are nurtured and encouraged because cognitive development is important. In the book Instructional Leadership, Hoy purports that “Students must first understand and make sense of the material (constructivist); then they must remember what they have understood (cognitive-information processing), and then they must practice and apply (behavioural) their new skills and understanding to …show more content…
Learning often constitutes the acceptance of new knowledge and skills that help to form the basis of our behaviours, attitudes, and comprehension. Learning “occurs when practice or experience causes a relatively permanent change in an individual’s knowledge, behaviour or attitudes. The change may be deliberate or unintentional, for better or for worse” (Hill, 2002). Thus learning encompasses three main approaches mentioned above behavioural, cognitive and constructivist.

According to Gredler et al “Behavioural psychologists emphasize observable changes in behaviours, skills, and habits”(Gredler, 2005; Swartz & Wasserman, 2002). Cues, prompts, reinforcement and punishment are significant in the behavioural explanations of learning. According to Hoy (2009), cueing refers to the provision of antecedent stimulus before a particular behaviour occurs. Presenting nonjudgmental cues helps to counteract negative confrontations in the classroom (Hoy, 2009, p. 98). Prompting provides the stimulus for the student to answer questions appropriately. However, the student should not rely heavily on prompting, in the classroom students should learn to respond to cues instead of relying on prompts. Teachers often use these antecedents in the classroom, especially when introducing a new topic that they believe students would have previous knowledge about. These serve as stimulus to elicit specific responses from the