中川 洋子

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process that English language education focused on communication skills has gradually been accepted as "English conversation" (Eikaiwa), and established as a central power in ELE, and explicate how the "Eikaiwa" education has affected the Japanese views of English and their communication by applying the theoretical framework of "reduction of complexity" developed by German Sociologist, Niklas Luhmann. The paper examines the instrumental view of English by defining it as the false assumption that "being able to speak English will make communication easy." First, the paper analyzes the reports from Ad Hoc Council on Education (Rinji Kyoiku Shingikai), and the Course of Study for Foreign Languages, as well as English textbooks and argues that ELE has placed great importance on communication skills and "Eikaiwa" has become dominant due to "reduction of complexity" (being forced to choose among limited alternatives). Second, the paper argues that there is a confusion between an aspiration for "Eikaiwa" and a need for "Juken eigo" (English for an entrance examination) in the classrooms based on the analysis of a TV drama, "Doragon zakura". Based on the above analyses, the paper concludes that there are indeed a lot of problems in the conversation-centered ELE backed by "the instrumental view of English." The problems include the following: (1) "Eikaiwa" has come into power as a result of the dominance of "the instrumental view of English"; (2) "the instrumental view" prevents the students from actively using English; (3) using English as a tool is not as easy as expected. The examination of the problems of "the instrumental view of English as a tool of communication" will provide educational implications when we consider the idea of "fostering a positive attitude toward communication" proposed in the Course of Study for Foreign Languages (2009) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).