cessary instrument of survival in a world which no longer tolerates isolation.
Tamai discusses the Bunkyo Language Education Center's English-language program, in which she participated as a teacher and as a researcher. She points out that the first and major requirement for any program is the "establishment of clear goals" (p. 19). She believes that this is more important with children than with adults, because "children's progress is not so remarkable, or even satisfactory in the short-term, as compared with adults" (p. 19). This is not a posture adopted by perhaps most educators today, including Ritsuko Nakata (1991), who are of the opinion that what characterizes children's learning is precisely their high rates of acquisition--given appropriate teaching methods and supporting environment. As to the need to set clear goals for teaching young children--or anybody else for that matter--a language, few people would contest that any activity ought to have a goal. Where one might disagree in the case of teaching language to children is in the clearness or precision of goals. Modern language teachers tend to believe that once general and reasonable goals have been set in terms of didactic methodology for a specific population (whether individual or group), objectives ought to be elastic and follow the acquisition pattern and stages of that population, rather than impose a school or teacher-determined set of objectives. Thus, Tamai seems to be still attached to the traditional teacher-centered school of pedagogy, which is rapidly giving way to the learner-centered school.
Tamai looked into parental expectations regarding children's acquisition of English. Given the near-pathological stress the Japanese place on passing exams and entering the best schools, one would have expected parents to express this concern as a priority. Yet, she noted, 46% of the parents questioned emphasized the importance of English as an international langua...