Nobuo Ishimori’s Language Education Thought: A Study on the Process of Compilation of the Course of Study for Teaching the Japanese Language in 1947

Abstract

This study examines Nobuo Ishimori’s place in the history of Japanese language education, focusing on the process of establishing the Course of Study for teaching the Japanese Language in 1947 (“COS”). Conventional research indicates that Ishimori was unable to establish the “COS.” Thus, we analyzed a historical documents written by Ishimori regarding the curriculum of Japanese language education. This study elucidates Ishimori’s philosophy of Japanese language education.

This research established the following points. First, the historical document analyzed was written at the same time as the “COS.” Second, its content was somewhere between the pre-War and post-War trends in Japanese language education. Although the historical record was inadequate, it had novel aspects —for example, it emphasized children’s experiences and viewing language as a means of facilitating social life. Ishimori prepared a new Japanese language course based on this perspective of the Japanese language education and his experience in pre-War Japanese language education. Additionally, he followed the American trend in language education. It was the pre-history of the establishment of the “COS.”