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JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES: PROFILE OF

LEARNERS, MOTIVATION, ISSUES, AND PROSPECTS 1

Conference Paper · February 1997

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JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES:

PROFILE OF LEARNERS, MOTIVATION, ISSUES, AND
PROSPECTS1

Richard DLC. Gonzales, Ph. D.

Program Coordinator, Japanese Studies Program
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Abstract

This paper attempts to present the profile of Japanese Language

Schools in the Philippines in terms of programs, activities, and
student – teacher characteristics. It also clarifies the motivation of
students and their reasons for learning Japanese Language.
Lastly, it tries to determine the problems and issues and the
prospects and vision of Japanese language in the Philippines.

Introduction
In recent years, the number of foreign students enrolled in Japanese Language
courses has been growing in Japan and other parts of the world. The 1993 Survey
Report on Japanese – Language Education Abroad by the Japan Foundation
highlights the significant increase of students of Japanese language from 127,167 in
1979 to more than 1.6 million in 1993. It is not only the number of students that
increased but also the number of Japanese Language Schools. The schools
numbered 1,145 in 1979 to 6,800 after 14 years.

The Philippines is not out of the picture in this situation. From handful of Japanese
language students from the University of the Philippines in 1920 (Saniel, 1994) to more
than 6,300 in 1993. The growth in the number of Japanese language learners may not
be as significant in comparison with those in other countries but it is safe to say that
the increase is remarkable.

Historically, the learning of Japanese language in the Philippines came very much
earlier than Japanese invaders during the World War II. As Saniel (1994) puts it,
interest in the study of Japan was spurred by the series of lectures on Japan by the
Japanese visiting professors at the state university of the Philippines in 1920. The
lectures ranged from Japanese politics and government lighter subjects such as

1
A paper presented at the First National Conference of Japanese Specialists and
Educators held at Ateneo de Manila University on February 7-8, 1997.

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Gonzales @1997
Ikebana. However, it was observed during those days that one of the added tasks of
the visiting professors was to introduce the Japanese Language to Filipino scholars.
Of course, the more remarkable reality of Japanese military occupation in the country.
During this period, the Japanese educational system was also introduced in the
country and some members of the elite families went through the system (Saniel,
1994, cited in Gonzales, 1996). Moreover, during the same period of the Japanese
occupation in the Philippines, the Japanese government promulgated that Japanese
would be the official language in the country and hence, Japanese was taught in all
the schools in the Philippines and it was made compulsory for those working for the
Japanese government. The rest remain in our history books and in memory of older
Filipinos.

Obviously, the Japanese language is not new in the Philippines when it was re-
introduced after the war. There is significant in number of scholars who went to Japan
and came back to the country introducing not only the things they learned in their field
of disciplines but also the languages and culture. This reality became more entrenched
as Monsbusho scholarships and other grants were awarded to Filipinos up to the
present. Hence, the Japanese language can now be considered one of the more
popular foreign languages being taught in schools today.

This paper attempts to present the profile of Japanese Language Schools in the
Philippines in terms of programs, activities, and student – teacher characteristics. It
also clarifies the motivation of students and their reasons for learning Japanese
Language. Lastly, it tries to determine the problems and issues and the prospects and
vision of Japanese language in the Philippines.

Profile of Japanese Language Schools in the Philippines

The latest edition of Japan Foundation’s Japanese language education abroad lists
almost 50 institutions offering Japanese language education. On the other hand, the
list of the Japan Information and Cultural Center of the Embassy of Japan in the
Philippines include more than those listed by Japan Foundation. The discrepancy of
the numbers may be attributed to the fact that opening of schools offering Japanese
language happen every now and then.

School Type and Location.

In this paper, Japanese language schools (JLS) are divided into two categories. The
first category includes schools that are based in either government recognized
colleges or universities – school – based JLS. The second, re those JLS that were
put up specifically for foreign language learning – non-school-based JLS. Examples
of the latter are those privately-owned or company-based JLS.

The data shows that 30 or sixty percent (60%) of JLS in the country are school-based.
Out of this number, 18 JLS or 60% are located in Metro Manila’s colleges and
universities. The rest are scattered outside Metro Manila, in Northern and Central
Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Visayas and Mindanao.

The non-school-based JLS are mostly located in Metro Manila. The only non-school
based JLS is that in Davao by the Nikkei-jin Kai.

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Gonzales @1997
Date of Establishment.

Formal JLS was first established in 1961 at University of the Philippines, Linguistic
Department College of Arts and Sciences followed by Ateneo De Manila University in
1966. The first non-school based JLS is the JICC’s Japanese Language School that
was established in 1968.

There are only 4 school-based JLS that were opened in the 70’s – UP Asian Center
and PUP in Metro Manila and Xavier University in Mindanao non-school-based were
established during this decade – the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Philippines-Japan Cultural Institute, both are located in Metro
Manila. For period of two decade, only 7 JLS were established in the country.

The decades of the 80’s and 90’s marked the growth of JLS in the country. Colleges
and universities began to include Japanese language into their curricula and private
companies and other entities started to put up Japanese Language Learning Centers.
To date, there are more than 50 institutions offering the language to Filipinos.

Type of Curriculum and Programs.

For the school-based JLS, Japanese Language courses are either offered as major or
minor courses in the undergraduate levels and as foreign language requirement in the
graduate levels – Masters and Doctorate. The non-school based JLS offers Japanese
language courses to varying types of students who study the language for specific
purposes – college and university students, businessmen, language enthusiasts,
aspiring and senior diplomats, flight attendants and even tourist guides. Obviously,
because the school-based JLS offers the language as part of the curriculum for a
degree, their curricula are more systematized and well-programmed.

The Japanese language curriculum among the school-based JLS is divided into 3
levels – elementary or basic, intermediate, and advance. These levels further
subdivided into two such as elementary 1 and 2, intermediate 1 and 2, and advance
1and 2. However, in most schools, only elementary level is offered and taken by the
students both undergraduate and graduate students. These curricula of Japanese
language are likewise offered by the non-school based JLS. However, special classes
such as Business Japanese and Conversational Japanese are offered to meet the
more specific needs and demands of their varied clienteles.

School-based JLS supplement their language programs with various activities such
as lectures on Japanese Culture, Japanese Economics, Japanese Business and
Labor, Japanese Politics and Government and even demonstration of Ikebana, sushi,
and Japanese Martial Arts. These activities cannot be offered by the non-school based
JLS because classes are usually held in the evenings or during weekends.

Activities sponsored by the Japanese Embassy and the Japan Foundations often
times bring all JLS together. The annual Nihongo Speech Contest is always
participated in by both schools and non-school based JLS. The Drama Festival that
was held for three consecutive years at DLSU was likewise participated in by both
types of JLS. However, participation was limited to Metro Manila schools.

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Gonzales @1997
Teacher and Student Profile.

The 1993 survey shows that three are 177 teachers of Japanese language in the
country. Out of 177, 61 or 35% are teaching full-time. The survey also shows that 36
or 20% of 177 are Japanese nationals and rest are Filipinos.

In the school-based JLS, the average teacher-student ratio is 1:40 while in the non-
school based JLS is 1:17.

It is noteworthy to mention that majority of the Filipinos who are teaching Japanese
language have studied at least one year in Japan. Most of them obtained their
knowledge of the Japanese language through the Intensive Japanese Language
courses they took as part of the scholarship grants they enjoyed in Japan. However,
there are only less than 20 of these Filipino teachers who were trained formally to
teach Japanese as Foreign language. Most of these teachers have undergone short-
term training program under a Japan Foundation grant.

As to the profile of students, 75% of the Filipinos who are studying the Japanese
language are college and university students enrolled in courses such as Japanese
Studies, Asian Studies, Tourism, Hotel and Restaurant Management, Business
Administration, Linguistic, Political science, Education, Business, and Engineering.

The students of non-school based JLS are composed of employees, business

persons, government officials, cultural entertainers for Japan, language enthusiasts,
and students.

Motivation of Japanese Language Learners

The next part deals with the question s to why Filipinos are studying to be able to
speak, write, and read Japanese.

The concept of motivation in relation to foreign language study has been investigated
extensively. To date, it has been studied in different perspective – linguistic,
sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and education environments (Spolsky, 1969; Gardner
and Lambert, 1972, 1985; Clement and Kruidenier, 1983 Dornyei, 1990; Machida,
1995). The findings of these studies pointed out that motivation to learning a foreign
language seems to be interconnected with other variables such as attitude, aptitude
personality and educational environments (Machida, 1995).

The motivation to learn the Japanese language is tackled in this paper following the
proposed dichotomy of the motivational orientations – instrumental and integrative
motivation, developed by Gardner and Lambert (1972). According to them, the
instrumentally oriented by Gardner and Lambert language as means to a practical
purpose, whereas the integratively oriented learners want to learn the language to
become acculturated to the target language community.

In local studies by the author (1995) and Lim, Merencilla and Ong (1995), motivation
to learn the Japanese language is influenced by the factors namely, personal, home
and schools factors. This categorization seems to jive with the classifications used by

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Gonzales @1997
Biggs (1987) where motivation could be surface, deep, and achieving considering the
learning opportunities of the learners.

In this paper, date gathered from 7 school-based JLS are presented. These data were
taken from the study done by Lim et al (1995) and the survey done by the author. The
data show that the five primary reasons why Filipinos study Japanese are as follows:
1) interested in the language; 2) needed for future career; 3) requirement for a degree;
4) interested in the culture; and 5 better chance for employment.

Furthermore, students reasoned out that they are studying Japanese language
because they think that their knowledge of Japanese language will be helpful in their
future careers and when they travel abroad, specifically, Japan.

The students are also motivated to the study the language because of the perception
that their parents are proud of them when they know a foreign language. Also, they
are interested to learn the language because they want to communicate to their
Japanese friends.

Lastly, motivation to learn the language is also influenced by school factors. Students
reported that they chose to take Japanese as their foreign language elective because
they believe that they can make good grades in Japanese course because they are
challenged to study well. In addition to this, they enrolled in Japanese because most
of their classmates are taking or have taken the course. Besides, they gave the
observation that “Japanese language teachers are more lenient and accommodating
than the teachers of other foreign languages”.

Obviously, if the dichotomy of motivation in language learning is used to explain the

findings, it can be said that Filipinos as more instrumentally motivated than
integratively motivated to learn Japanese. Filipinos think that the Japanese language
is as useful language for their future career in addition to genuine interest in Japanese
culture and society. Needless to say, Filipino business connections with Japan.

Although, the data were only taken from school-based JLS, it can be safely said that
students in the non-school based entities have the same motivations and reasons for
studying the language. In fact, their reasons learning the language maybe more
directed to practical use – that is, needed in their present or future activities and
careers.

Problems and Issues of Japanese Language Education

The next question that is tackled in this paper is: what are problems, difficulties, and
issues associated with Japanese language education in the country?

Like any other foreign language taught in the country, Japanese language education
is confronted with many issues and difficulties. While most of these issues and
difficulties are surmountable, they inevitably occur every now and then.

The issue as whether Japanese language is necessary in the curriculum of colleges

and universities remains a question to many learners. Among the many foreign
languages, why Japanese in particular? While there are schools that offer the

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Gonzales @1997
language as part of a major or minor program such as De La Salle University, UP,
Ateneo de Manila, and Trinity College of Quezon City, there are also schools offer it
as an elective or foreign because there are teachers who know the language and are
willing to teach. Hence, availability of people who can teach the language is another
consideration in offering the course. Besides being a management prerogative to offer,
it becomes were not properly trained to teach it. Hence, the shortage of foreign
language teachers is solved by allowing teachers to teach a language they learned
simply out of convenience and interest but with proper training. Hence, the issue as
whether only those who were trained to teach should be allowed to teach, is still in
limbo when comes to Japanese language education in the country.

Secondly, there is marked death of Japanese language learning materials available in

Philippine bookstore. Schools offering Japanese language have rely on the donations
given by Japan foundation and on the materials bought by teachers when they studied
language in Japan resorting to photocopying without considering copyright laws.
Hence, one of the issues that need to be resolved is for Filipinos to develop local
teaching-learning comparable with those published aboard. Oftentimes, even if there
are materials available in some libraries, they are not readily available to students
because these materials are limited for teacher’s use.

In addition to lack of teaching materials, most schools do not have a place designed
for use as a language laboratory. Students are taught the language using traditional
lecture and recitation method. Very seldom are students given opportunities to listen
to tapes and watch videos that are believed to have more impact in the learning
process of a language.

Another issue that is raised is lack of venue and occasions for students to hone their
skills in Nihongo. This problem was mentioned in the study done by Evaria, Ong and
Sia (1994). The study reported that one of the reasons why students felt that they are
not progressing much in their Japanese language proficiency is because of the fact
that there are limited opportunities for them to practice the language. The study further
reported that even if they have attained a certain level of proficiency, as shown in their
high marks in the language course and proficiency examinations, they found it difficult
to communicate orally outside the classroom. The proficiency they manifest inside the
classroom seems forgotten after taking the course. This is especially true to Japanese
Studies majors and minors, they feel inadequate to interact with other people using
the language especially with Japanese nationals even if they have learned the
language.

In summary, it can be said that the pressing issues and problems in Japanese
language in the country are 1) the lack of trained teachers of the language, 2)
inadequate teaching-learning materials developed locally, and 3) lack of venues and
occasions where students can practice the language.

Prospects and Vision of Japanese Language in the Philippines

After going through the profile of the learners of Japanese language and their
motivation to learn the language, as well as the issues and problems, the last question
that is tackled in this paper is what are the prospects and vision of Japanese language
education in the country?

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Gonzales @1997

The vision of having Japanese language included into the curriculum of higher
education seems to be difficult to achieve because of certain limitations, more often
than not, political in nature. It is a fact that among the South East Asian countries, it is
only in the Philippines where Japanese is not offered as foreign language in the
secondary levels, but it may be perceived as unpatriotic to push for its inclusion in the
curriculum.

The progress of Japanese language education in the past two decades seem to be
impressive. From a handful of institutions offering the language in the 60’s to close to
a hundred to date. This situation will still improve especially now that Japan has
invested sizeably in the country and Japanese companies are sprawled all over the
country. In addition to this, Japanese become one of the favorite places of study for
Filipino scholars, setting aside the fact, that Japan is offering various scholarship
grants, thus, it is not farfetched if it may become the next most popular foreign
language after English and Spanish. It is the imperative to develop a more relevant
and responsive curriculum for higher education. However, this should be followed by
evaluation studies on the effectiveness of such a curriculum.

The other factor that was raised as an issue is on the training of teachers. While the
office of Japan Foundation in Manila has started embarking on Teaching Skills
Seminars and Discussions among the Japanese language teachers in the country,
this program is limited to a certain locales in Metro Manila. Training and teacher’s
development program should be done periodically especially for those teachers who
have not undergone formal training in teaching the language.

Aside from training teachers, it may be good idea to have an organization among all
Japanese language teachers in the country. This idea surfaced because of a desire to
standardize Japanese language programs and to encourage the members to share
with each other their teaching strategies to help enhance teaching competencies.
Furthermore, if the language teachers will organize themselves, more ideas for
research on language and learning can be spawned and conducted. Materials for
language teaching can be developed cooperatively and shared among those engaged
in teaching the language. Thus, teaching-learning materials provided by the Japanese
government can be augmented.

The prospects Japanese language learning and teaching are bright. With increasing
number of students interested in it and teachers moving towards filling the gaps in
terms of teaching materials and teaching competencies, there is no other direction it
can take but up.

Concluding Remarks

The conscious effort to improve the methods and ways to teach Japanese language
to Filipino learners is reflected in the substantial changes that some institutions have
implemented in the past 10 years. It is very encouraging to note that most teachers of
the language are not only teaching the language but also, it cannot be helped that
propagating the culture of the country is also addressed.

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Gonzales @1997
In closing, increasing the level of awareness of the many things that we have done so
far in the country in the aspect of Japanese language education, we have also
increased the level of awareness of the many aspects that still need to be improved,
but areas for mutual cooperation among institutions offering the language have been
identified. Collaborative effort will make a world difference.

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Ebarvia, S., Ong, M. J., and Sia, Pi. (1994). Profile of Japanese Studies Program in
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