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Paper short abstract

This study examines the increasing use of katakana for personal names in English-language textbooks in Japan, arguing that it signals shifting perspectives. While this shift may empower learners, it also risks reinforcing an inward-looking orientation in their learning experience.

Paper long abstract

This study examines the relationship between script choice and foreign-language education in Japanese society, with particular focus on the script used for personal names in English-language textbooks employed in compulsory education. In doing so, it demonstrates how script mediates shifting perspectives in language-learning experiences. Enhancing English-language skills among the Japanese population has long been a key objective of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Over the past several decades, MEXT has implemented a series of reforms to the foreign-language education curriculum guidelines. These reforms have included a greater emphasis on communicative competence, increased classroom hours, and an expanded vocabulary syllabus. Changes have also been introduced to the English-language textbooks used in Japanese schools, all of which undergo a certification process by MEXT. It has been observed that these textbooks are increasingly incorporating stories set in Japan and enhancing the representation of Japanese people. Alongside this transformation, the use of Japanese scripts has grown, particularly on introductory pages where main storylines are presented alongside lists of key characters. Non-Japanese names are now rendered in katakana, the Japanese syllabary used for the transliteration of foreign words, whereas previously all names were presented in English spelling using the Roman alphabet. This study scrutinises why katakana has replaced the Roman alphabet and how this shift emblematises broader changes in English-language education in Japan. Through critical discourse analysis, it argues that Japanese scripts represent a Japanese voice, positioning the narrator of the story as Japanese. The script change therefore reflects a shift in English-language discourses in Japan, with greater emphasis on Japanese self-expression directed towards a non-Japanese audience within Japan. While this shift may empower learners by giving them a voice, it also entails an inherent risk. The primary users of these textbooks, both learners and teachers, are envisioned as Japanese, meaning that the shift in perspective occurs exclusively within a Japanese context. Consequently, the use of katakana can be interpreted as a manifestation of an increasingly self-focused and inward-looking orientation in Japanese English-language education.