Learning to read in Japan

Abstract

Japanese and American reading programs in kindergarten and the primary grades differ extensively. This is partly because the Japanese written language makes initial learning easier and later learning more difficult. In addition, bolstered by a long history cf literacy, Japanese parents provide more uniform support for their children's academic progress than do parents in the United States. From classroom observations and discussions with school principals and teachers about their programs and their instructional goals, it is apparent that Japanese kindergarten programs feature social development and cooperative group activity rather than academic skills. Finally, unlike reading instruction in American classrooms, Japanese primary grade classrooms are organized for whole class reading lessons and are paced slowly to emphasize reading fluency and deep interpretation of text information. (One table is included, and 35 references are appended.) (Author/MS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READING A READING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER REPORT Technical Report No. 449 LEARNING TO READ IN JAPAN Jana M. Mason, Richard C. Anderson University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Aldmichl Omura Tokyo University Nobuko Uchida Ochanomizu Women's University Mutual Imai University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign January 1989 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign SI Gerty Drive Champaign, Illinois 61820 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY ,NNaos..ts TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC). U DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in INS docu ment do not necessarily represent official OEM position or policy The work upon which this publication was based was suprted in rt The to the second author from the Japan Society for Promotion ofSciencepa. e grant publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the agency supporting the research.