Post #13

            The article by Kubota discusses the idea of globalization and the effects it has on language teaching in Japan. The author states how the idea of globalization “implies increased local diversity influenced by human contact across cultural boundaries,” and also the idea of “cultural homogenization.” The term ‘Americanization,’ a term I never knew existed until reading this article, is defined as the “diffusion of American values, consumer goods, and lifestyles.” The American franchise stores and fast food restaurants in Japan are examples of globalization and Americanization. The idea of Americanization/globalization also demonstrates people’s desire to identify themselves with Americans. I’m not sure if I agree with what this statement is saying. I don’t think that people have a choice as to what different American chains are started in their country, nor do I believe that they secretly want to be American. The article includes a quote from the CEO of the McDonald’s in Japan that I thought to be very interesting: “'If we eat McDonald's hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years, we will become taller, our ·skin will become white, and our hair blonde.” I know that this quote isn’t actually saying that the Japanese believe that eating McDonald’s will make them physically look American, but is the only reason they eat the fast food because they want to seem more American? I find that to be sad. Another part of globalization is increased nationalism. The article gives the example of how there are more Japanese flags displayed in public places. So to me, it seems that there is a fear that the Japanese will begin to become too wrapped in all of the parts of the American culture that are being placed in their country. The author goes on to discuss the discourse of kokusaika, which “aims to understand people and cultures in their international communities.” This discourse includes many different ideas, some of which are: the preoccupation with western nations (the US in particular) and emphasize teaching and learning a foreign language (English). I thought it was interesting that the premises of the discourse of kokusaika determine the North American and British varieties of English as being the standard/model. There were many other points that were discussed in this article that I found to be interesting. Another is the ‘native speaker myth,’ which is the “idealization of a native speaker as someone who has perfect, innate knowledge and culture and thus is the best teacher of English.” As we have discussed earlier in class, this idea is very limiting as to who will be allowed to teach. Furthermore is the idea that learning English “enables understanding of the world and cultural diversity” since it is considered the international language. I have seen this point of view come up in other readings that we have read during the semester and I find this view to be very problematic and incorrect. Just because someone is able to speak and communicate in English doesn’t necessarily mean that they are capable of understanding diversity.

            The article by Matsuda discusses a completely different idea, how world Englishes affect the teaching of writing. Some of the topics in the article reminded me of that short documentary we watched in class called Writing Across Boarders. When grading writing assignments written by non-native English speakers, it is difficult to know what to correct, what not to correct, and what to deduct points for. I think that an overall rule to live by when grading papers is to make sure that you are able to understand and comprehend what the person is trying to say. And that even if there are mistakes, the mistakes don’t interrupt being able to understand what is being said.