Paradigm Lost? A Belated Reply to Jarvis and Atsilarat from Japan
Paradigm Lost? A Belated Reply to Jarvis and Atsilarat from Japan
Keywords: paradigm, methodology, context-based, communicative, learner centeredness
Anthony Fenton
Tokyo, Japan
Yuji Terasawa
Mawin Legal & Business Consultancy Co., Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand
Bio Data
Anthony Fenton has been living and teaching in Japan for fourteen years at a private university high school and university. Anthony holds a bachelor of physical education, a bachelor of arts, a certificate in TESOL and a master degree in education. He has recently applied to undertake a doctorate in education.
Yuji Terasawa has been living and working in Japan and Thailand for a number of years. He is fluent in several languages and was educated in both Japan and Europe. Yuji holds a bachelor of law, masters in business administration and an accounting designation. He is currently working as a consultant.
This submission examines and challenges the preconceived and often ill-informed notions held by instructors of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in many Asian settings. It was Jarvis and Atsilarat’s earlier publication in Asian EFL Journal, which took issue with the suitability of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methodology for the Asian context, that prompted this undertaking of a reflective review of the literature coupled with our own research. While it is one matter to disavow any paradigm, theory or set of theories, and corresponding methodology, it is indeed quite another to dismiss such a paradigm outright on the basis of some vague findings with an ill-equipped instrument. This initial paper provides a detailed review of the literature which takes stock of a range of theory and related topic discussion, situated in the broader heuristic paradigm that lends credence to the position that, CLT – if correctly interpreted and adequately integrated – is no less appropriate for modern Asian cultural settings, than it is in so many others.
Category: Main Editions, Volume 8 Issue 1
