The introduction of English activities at Japanese elementary schools is an
important development for English education in Japan. The term ‘English
activities’ implies not the teaching of English as ‘knowledge’, but getting students
to experience communication through various tasks and activities. The term ‘soji’
(meaning ‘foundation’) has been used to describe what is expected of English
education in elementary schools, and ‘kiso’ (meaning ‘basics’) to describe English
education in junior high schools. The difference is in the use of English for the
purpose of practical communication—without the need to analyze the structure
of the language—in the case of ‘soji’, to the learning of the structures and forms of
English for the purpose of higher cognitive levels of communication, in junior
high schools. It is also mentioned that one of the major problems with English
education in Japan is that English is the only subject not taught in the
elementary schools, and therefore students have no basic experience of English
before entering junior high school, where the emphasis is more on the teaching of
English as ‘knowledge’ than as ‘communication.’