Educational Practices and Problems of Japanese Elementary Schools with Foreign Students

Abstract

This paper is intended as an investigation of how Japanese schools should accept foreign students from an analysis of the educational practices of Japanese public elementary schools.
The survey was made in Moka City, Tochigi Prefecture, and Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Through a comparison between these two areas, three perspectives of analysis were considered, with the following comparisons between 1) the areas: Moka and Tsukuba, 2) the characteristics of foreign students and their parents: who are from South America with Japanese background and from East Asia, Europe, and North America, 3) the types of schools: those with a large number of foreign students and a small number. The survey was made through interviews and questionnaires to foreign students, their parents, Japanese students, and teachers. Also, observation of intensive Japanese language classes and regular classes was made.