AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE POTENTIAL OF A CORPUS-INFLUENCED SYLLABUS FOR PRIMARY ENGLISH LITERACY EDUCATION IN JAPAN by ERI HIRATA A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham March 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The research presented in this thesis investigates the feasibility of a corpus-influenced syllabus for primary literacy education in Japan. It achieves this with reference to two aspects of the context within which such an initiative might be developed. One is the cultural context; that is, the demands of primary ELT in Japan. Therefore this research explores policy makers’ and teachers’ views, the texts frequently used in primary ELT classrooms, and some aspects of teacher training. The other focus is from a linguistic viewpoint, concerned with the identification of linguistic features which pupils need to learn for the development of their English literacy. This thesis describes an innovative method for identifying such features. The cultural context was investigated by means of three surveys, the first of which was used to inform the choice of texts to include in the corpus. The surveys reveal a lack of attention to literacy teaching and teacher education in primary ELT in Japan, but also point to some potential for syllabus development. The research offers support for a corpus-influenced syllabus for teaching English literacy, while concluding that there is a need for incorporating it into teacher education and developing teaching methodologies which suit the pedagogic context of the Japanese primary school classroom. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my beloved grandfather, Ryuichi Hirata (29th May, 1918 - 2nd July, 2009), who always loved his family, and encouraged my study in the UK and supported me in times of difficulty. “ - life is an endless learning” as he always said to me, therefore I continue to learn. Thank you, Ojiichan. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and most importantly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Alison Sealey, for all her valuable guidance, inspiration, and kindest support throughout the period of my study. Without her thorough constructive criticism and moral support in my difficult times, this thesis could not have been completed. I owe her greatly. I would like to show my deepest appreciation to all the members of academic and administrative staff in Birmingham who provided me warm, kind and valuable support throughout my study. Especially, Dr Pernilla Danielsson, for the surgery sessions patiently and kindly provided; Professor Susan Hunston for her support throughout my study at Birmingham - it was the meeting with her at Westmere in March 2004, that I decided to study my MA at Birmingham. I am also truly grateful for her original idea of the topic in this study and her guidance when I was lost. I am also greatly in debt to Dr Crayton Walker, who was a lead supervisor for MA study at Birmingham in 2004-5, and who always had time when I had questions. Dr Ann Darnton, Dr Suganthi John and Dr Nicolas Groom for their friendliness and warm support. I am most indebted to publishers and copyright holders who gave me permission to study the copyrighted materials, and also teachers and students who participated in surveys. Without their understanding and cooperation, this study could not have been completed. I am also grateful for the scholarship granted to me in 2008-9 from the Faculty of Humanities. I am also truly grateful for the support from administrative staff, especially Ms Marilyn Washbrook, Ms Michelle Cullen, Ms Sheila Bradley and friends I met in Birmingham - Yoko (a special friend who was also like a mother to me, and who is now peacefully in heaven), Tess, Caroline, Anne, Rachel, Juliet and Gary who were so helpful and supportive when I was acting as postgraduate representative in 2007-2008. Now that I am far away, I miss you all and the time we had at and outside the PG-tips meetings. I must also thank my colleagues in Japan, who were always understanding about my situation and encouraged my continuation of this study. These past few years have been the most challenging years of my life, for losing close friends through sudden death, and seeing the most important person in my life suffering from illness. A very special thanks must go to my parents and my family for their unfailing love and belief, and especially to my fiancé, for his love, patience, support and constant encouragement (plus chocolate and coffee supplies) that enabled me to complete this study. CONTENTS Chapter One Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 General aims of this study................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research context: Primary English education in Japan ............................................... 1 1.2.1 The background of the study ....................................................................................... 1 1.2.2 The benefits of corpus linguistics to syllabus design .................................................. 3 1.2.3. The benefits of storybooks in learning to read ........................................................... 5 1.2.4. Aims and scope of the present study .......................................................................... 6 1.3. Outline of the thesis ......................................................................................................... 8 Chapter Two Context and Culture..................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Primary English language teaching in Japan............................................................... 11 2.3 Action Plan 2003 and Course Guidance 2008 in primary education ......................... 12 2.4 Conflict of ideologies in the Action Plan and its implementation............................... 15 2.4.1 International understanding or simply English education? ....................................... 15 2.4.2 Promoting egalitarianism versus individualised education ....................................... 17 2.4.3 Classroom orientation................................................................................................ 19 2.5 Current teaching context and additional issues in primary ELT............................... 22 2.5.1 In relation to teaching syllabus and materials ........................................................... 22 2.5.2 Cultural contexts and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)........................... 26 2.5.3 Teacher Education ..................................................................................................... 28 2.6 Cultural education and literature.................................................................................. 32 2.7 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter Three Corpora in the Classroom............................................................................................ 39 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Syllabus design ................................................................................................................ 40 3.2.1 Definition of syllabus - syllabus as a part of materials design .................................. 40 3.2.2 Type A syllabuses...................................................................................................... 41 3.2.3 Type B syllabus ......................................................................................................... 52 3.2.4 Summary: Integrated syllabus and teacher training .................................................. 56 3.3 Learning and teaching of vocabulary ........................................................................... 58 3.3.1 Learning of vocabulary.............................................................................................. 58 3.3.2 Teaching of vocabulary ............................................................................................. 65 3.3.3 Selection of vocabulary items for a syllabus............................................................. 69 3.3.4 Lexical syllabus ......................................................................................................... 72 3.4 Teaching and learning grammar................................................................................... 81 3.4.1 Noticing ..................................................................................................................... 82