27 April 2009

Setting the record straight on JALT language policy

In the book, Non-native educators in English language teaching (Edited by George Braine) both George Braine (in an overview piece) and Masaki Oda claim that I supported an English-only language policy in JALT in the 1990s.

First, in the 1990s JALT (the Japan Association for Language Teaching) was run by a bunch of alcoholics, so you were never certain what exactly you were supporting or against anyway.

Second, I recapitulated a position set forth earlier by Richard Marshall (who was a national officer in JALT at the time)--that is I summarized his position--in order to make my own.

Third, my own position was for a bilingual policy, but with the additional thought that an English-Japanese bilingual policy still had exclusive elements to it.

I have never yet been able to get Braine or Oda to acknowledge that they misrepresented or misunderstood my positions.

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