The Global Perspective: A Future Direction for International Education Found in "Foreign Affairs" Classes

Abstract

It is often pointed out that, in the past, international education in Japan lacked a global perspective. Recently, however, there has been a growing trend to introduce world issues from a global perspective into English textbooks authorized by the Japanese Ministry of Education for junior and senior high school students. The present research examines whether the above-mentioned trend can also be found in "Foreign Affairs" classes, for which there are not yet any English textbooks authorized by the Ministry of Education. The ultimate goal of "Foreign Affairs" classes is to cultivate students' international understanding. Nation-wide research was conducted by sending questionnaires to English teachers who were in charge of "Foreign Affairs" classes in 210 senior high schools. It was found that teachers tried to use teaching materials emphasizing a global perspective, and to introduce global issues as topics by using presentations, discussions and debate techniques to cultivate students' international understanding, even if they didn't have authorized textbooks on which to base their classes. From this result, it may be said that the global perspective suggests a future direction for international understanding within English education in Japan.