Non-Verbal Communication : A First Step for Intercultural Learning

A drastic change took place in the public elementary schools when the strategy to "foster Japanese who can use English" became an action plan in 2002 which triggered the start of English conversation activities in almost all schools in Japan. In spite of on-going discussions whether English should be or should never be taught in elementary schools, the Ministry of Education and Science has just announced that English will be a part of the curriculum in two years. Although the results of the testing in model schools have been published, what needs to be taught at the elementary school level is still in question. I would propose here, that intercultural communicative competence as one of the vital components in language teaching, that some aspects of intercultural communication should be and can be taught at an early stage of education. This paper is two-fold. First is to briefly discuss the importance of teaching culture in language classrooms and review the background of English language education during the Sogo-Gakushu in elementary schools. Second is to analyze the results of a survey conducted on the college junior year students (n=159) to find which aspect of intercultural communication is applicable in elementary school education. The introduction of some aspects of communication and culture will demonstrate that they will form vital components in foreign language teaching.6KJ00004435320departmental bulletin pape