The Anti - ALT

I thought it would be interesting to provide a negative view on my job here. I found this on another ALT's blog (thanks Dave) and find it very intriguing. It's taken from an English written newspaper in Japan.

Speak Up / Time to end the use of ALTs

James W. Porcaro Special to The Daily Yomiuri

The Jan. 25 "JET Connections" article profiling former JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program participant Michael Auslin typifies the uncritical paeans to the use of ALTs (assistant language teachers) in English classes, through its principal agency, the JET program, which have appeared in "The Language Connection." In fact, the remarks of Mr. Auslin on his work as an ALT in 1991-92 reveal the actual nature of the performance of ALTs, which has changed little from that time.

He had few responsibilities in his work, but simply enjoyed himself, all the while realizing that he was essentially useless with regard to adding to the English-language abilities of the students in his classes. Furthermore, the kind of fun and games he engaged in with the students in order at least to have a good time are, in fact, detrimental, as they merely reinforce the impression that learning English is not an important and serious endeavor and, in the end, unproductive.

Now a total of about 9,000 ALTs supplied by the JET Program (about 5,500) and private ALT dispatch firms (more than 3,000) continue to demonstrate the same lack of educational value as did Mr. Auslin--at an annual cost of about 50 billion yen to Japan's taxpayers.

Detailed data on the academic and professional background of ALTs seem to be entirely lacking. However, it seems fair to say that the vast majority of them are recent college graduates with little or no experience as teachers of anything, let alone English as a foreign language (EFL). Most are in Japan for the first time. A majority stay just one year, while some renew for a second or third year.

As most of their counterpart Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) at middle and high schools receive almost no formal teacher training and inadequate in-service training and rely almost exclusively on yakudoku (grammar-translation) as the only known instructional methodology, the classroom work of paired teams of JTEs and ALTs is often much like the blind leading the blind insofar as implementing effective communicative English-language instruction.

In the very limited number of schools, such as some SELHis (Super English Language High Schools), where JTEs have advanced their teaching expertise, the ALTs are little more than an encumbrance whom they must try to train and put to some use during their brief stay. The circumstances at primary schools, where a terribly misguided venture of introducing English-language instruction or activities is now widespread and an increasing number of ALTs are being placed, are even more fruitless and fraught with failure.

There seem to be no comprehensive studies with valid empirical evidence to show that the presence of ALTs in middle and high schools over the past 20 years has effected any notable advance in students' English language proficiency levels or the quality of communicative language teaching (CLT) on a widespread scale. Anecdotally, my observations of about 20 ALTs in high school classrooms and discussions with scores of JTEs over the past two decades lend support to these characterizations.

I have taught at college level in Japan since before the arrival of ALTs and have seen no evidence of any impact by ALTs on the overall level of students' English language proficiency or their attitudes, strategies, and expectations toward English-language learning.

Given the staggering annual cost of all the ALTs in Japan, a cost/benefits analysis would certainly conclude that their employment involves a wasteful expenditure of massive funds for, at best, very limited and unproven gains. The use of ALTs in English classes should be terminated and the money used for long-term, intensive training of JTEs in workshops, seminars, and courses throughout the year, including the long-term presence of master teachers, both Japanese and native speakers, as mentors in the schools. At the same time, it is imperative that the Education, Science and Technology Ministry mandate the practice of CLT and terminate yakudoku instruction. Other measures, such as reduction of class sizes and an increase in the number of trained teachers, should be funded in place of the current expenditure on ALTs.

The presence of ALTs in English-language classrooms often marginalizes and diminishes the role of JTEs in front of their own students at a time when more than ever they need to assert themselves as models of English-language use in order to motivate and support their students in productive efforts. The presence of ALTs retards the necessary professional growth and development of JTEs, who need and deserve massive assistance and support if they are to deliver effective English-language instruction across this country.

The existence of ALTs in English classes has been a severe distraction from working toward the goal of "cultivating Japanese with English abilities" as set by the ministry. It is time to terminate the use of ALTs while recognizing and addressing the essential role and acute needs of JTEs.

Porcaro is a professor of English as a foreign language at Toyama University of International Studies. His full paper, "Abolish the ALT Program," is in "Explorations in Teacher Education," 14 (2) and available online at http://jalt.org/teach/Newsletter files/PDF files/Summer2006.pdf.

(Feb. 9, 2007)


Article Here