Comparative Study of the 'Shonan Plan' and the 'Fukushima Plan'

Abstract

In the early Showa period, until World War II, there increasingly arose opinions of abolishment of English teaching in schools and even against the use of English words and phrases in public, but contrary to such a trend there were several trials on the part of English teachers to improve the teaching system and the methodology itself.Fortunately the period saw a couple of unique methods being successfully introduced in Middle School Education -one was called the 'Fukushima Plan' at Fukushima Middle School and another the 'Shonan Plan' at Shonan Middle School. And these two good teaching examples of the Oral Method began to influence the front scene of English teaching in middle schools and prevail in Japan, though with a touch of modification.As far as the 'Shonan Plan' is concerned, we have scarecely seen a research work published so far except one I did last year, while the 'Fukushima Plan' was well studied by Tetsuo Konno and a bit by myself. I was also very lucky to be able to consult the research paper by Konno.These two plans had a common origin in terms of applying the Oral Method proposed by Harold E. Palmer who, in 1922, was invited to Japan by the Ministry of Education as an adviser. Needless to say, however, each plan had its own characteristics deriving from its unique educational environment including each principal's ideas on teaching, the traditions of the schools, teachers' abilities and personalities, students' learning abilities and so on. I thought of comparing these two plans in an attempt to make clear the differences and the identical aspects between the two. I am hoping this kind of work will help scholars make further studies concerning similar teaching methods prevailing at that time.