宇都宮大学国際学部研究論集 2022 第53号, 103−116 103

An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary

School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1

YUZAWA Nobuo

1. Introduction this is one of the most important areas, especially for

In Japan, English officially started being taught as young learners.
a subject in Grade 5 in the academic year of 2021.
It is expected that physiologically students in the 2. Data
5th and 6th grades can learn English better than The following seven publishing companies in
older students, including even junior high school Japan have published MEXT-authorised textbooks
students, especially spoken English. In this sense, the for elementary school students. They are shown in
introduction of English education in elementary school alphabetical order, followed by the name of their
is understandable and promising, though some people textbooks.
disagree with this idea, stating, for example, that
◦ Gakko Tosho – Junior Total English
learning Japanese should be prioritised in elementary
◦ Kairyudo – Junior Sunshine
school.
◦ Keirinkan – Blue Sky Elementary
Globally, English is an indispensable language in
◦ Kyoiku Shuppan – One World Smiles
many fields, such as business, politics, science and
◦ Mitsumura Tosho – Here we go!
technology. Many people in the world use it every day
◦ Sanseido – Crown Jr.
as a lingua franca for communication. It is also used
◦ Tokyo Shoseki – New Horizon Elementary
extensively on the Internet. In Japan, however, many
English Course
Japanese people do not feel that English is necessary
to lead an everyday life, and this may be one of the This paper chooses two textbooks for 5th graders:
reasons why many of them are reluctant to learn Kairyudo’s Junior Sunshine 5 and Tokyo Shoseki’s
English. Despite this domestic reality, the international New Horizon Elementary English Course 5. In what
role of English will grow year by year. follows, these textbooks will be shown as Junior
If this international prospect is seriously taken into Sunshine and New Horizon for short. There are two
consideration, it is natural that English education in accompanying CDs in Junior Sunshine and four CDs
Japan should be improved further, and the introduction in New Horizon.
of English into elementary school subjects is a
significant step to achieve this goal. Since all school 3. Results
subjects are taught with textbooks authorised by The following list shows information in each
the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, lesson or unit which is related to teaching English
Science and Technology) in Japan, the role that these pronunciation in the two textbooks. Here, in addition
textbooks play cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is to individual segments, words are also used to retrieve
worth examining how they are compiled and what this information because they are small units and can
ideas are in them to teach English in elementary be used to improve the pronunciation of segments as
school of Japan. This paper focuses on how English well as word stress. Notes written in the teacher’s book
pronunciation is taught in these textbooks because are also added in the list.
104 YUZAWA Nobuo

two letters are given (e.g. ‘t’ and ‘d’, ‘c’ and ‘g’)
Junior Sunshine and students are asked to decide which consonant
Lesson 1 is included in each of five words given (e.g.
1. ABC song, with a note that the consonant for the ‘table’, ‘desk’, ‘tomato’, ‘door’, ‘tea’). A useful
name of the letter ‘C’ should not be pronounced in expression for this exercise is noted: ‘Listen.
the same way as the consonant of the Japanese ‘shi’ Table. Table. Is it /t/ or /d/?’ To have students pay
attention to the difference in each pair, it is advised
Lesson 2 to compare // with // by changing the
1. Names of months with music word-initial consonant. The difference between
2. Ordinal numbers with no music hard C (meaning /k/) and soft C (meaning /s/) is
also added.
Lesson 3
1. Names of subjects with music, with a note Lesson 5
that the word-initial /m/ (e.g. ‘music’) should 1. Place names with chants
be highlighted by inserting a pause before the 2. Daily items as chants
following vowel 3. Same as No. 4 in Project 1
2. Names of days of the week with music 4. Choosing words which include word-initial /b, f, t,
3. Name of each letter of the alphabet, followed by p, m/
an example word and a sound represented by that 5. Choosing words which the teacher says
letter, with chants (e.g. ‘A’ is for ‘ant’, /, , /)
4. //, each of which is Lesson 6
pronounced three times 1. Same as No. 4 in Project 1

Lesson 4 Lesson 7
1. Verbs of action with chants 1. Animals in the Zodiac as chants
2. Same as No. 3 in Lesson 3 2. Individual phonemes followed by a word that
contains them repeated twice (e.g. //, ‘bat’,
PROJECT 1 ‘bat’)
1. Numbers 11 to 20 with music 3. //, each of which is
2. Names of months with music pronounced twice
3. Names of days of the week with music 4. Listening to individual phonemes and thinking of
4. ABC song, with a typical sound of each letter (e.g. a word that contains them, (e.g. from /m/ to
/ ‘mat’. A note is added: when students write ‘tap’
5. Comparison of word-initial consonants by after they hear /:/, teachers need to have them
listening to two or three words, such as ‘cow’- pay attention to the difference between /:/ and
‘box’, and ‘rock’-‘leg’-‘lemon’. Notes are added: // and have them be aware that the latter vowel
(1) to insert a pause after each word-initial tends to be spelt as ‘a’
consonant to distinguish one from the other. (2) for
consonants which do not exist in Japanese (e.g. // Lesson 8
vs. /l/), they should be pronounced slowly, clearly 1. Food names as chants
and emphatically with enough pause before the 2. Numbers 100, 200, …, 900 with music
following vowel. 3. Same as No. 4 in Project 1 and same as No. 2 in
6. Comparison of word-initial consonants, where Lesson 7
 An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1 105

4. Word practice stress in two-or-three-syllable words, using the

5. The teacher says a consonant and his/her students word list on page 94, and (3) identification of the
think of words which begins with that consonant same word-initial consonant (e.g. ‘bird’, ‘bat’,
‘gorilla’, ‘butterfly’, and ‘horse’), using the word
Lesson 9 list on page 95
1. Food names as chants
2. Words of contrast with no music Unit 6
3. Same as No. 4 in Project 1 and same as No. 2 in 1. In Sounds and Letters: (1) dictation for the lower-
Lesson 7 case letters: a, b, etc., (2) identification of the same
word-initial consonant, using the word list on
PROJECT 2 page 95, and (3) identification of the same word-
1. Words whose pronunciation is different from final consonant (e.g. ‘can’, ‘pan’, ‘ship’, ‘fan’, and
Japanese, with a note that a vowel should not be ‘cat’), using the word list on page 95
added at the end of such words 2. Sentence stress: ‘I go to school’ with a dot above
2. A n o t e t h a t s t r e s s e d s y l l a b l e s s h o u l d b e ‘go’ and ‘school’; and ‘What do you like?’ with a
pronounced longer rather than strongly dot above ‘what’ and ‘like’
3. Intonation for a statement and listing, which is 3. Linking: ‘stand up’, ‘sit down’ and ‘nice to meet
marked with arrows you’, where, in each case, the final sound of the
first word is linked with the first sound of the
New Horizon second word
Unit 1
1. In Sounds and Letters: how to pronounce capital Unit 7
letters: (1) A-Z, (2) A-G and H-N, (3) O-T and 1. In Sounds and Letters: a typical pronunciation
U-Z, and (4) capital letter bingo of each letter of the alphabet is learned with
illustration of animals, using the list on page 96,
Unit 2 for example, // with ‘ant’
1. In Sounds and Letters: how to pronounce lower-
case letters: (1) a-z, (2) a-g and h-n, (3) o-t and Unit 8
u-z, and (4) lower-case bingo 1. In Sounds and Letters: a typical pronunciation
of each letter of the alphabet is learned with an
Unit 3 illustration of a food, using the list on page 96, for
1. In Sounds and Letters: letters that look similar: C example, // with ‘apple’
and G, a and o, I and i, etc
Picture Dictionary
Unit 4 1. Words (words describing feeling, numbers, words
1. In Sounds and Letters: (1) dictation for capital describing weather, etc.) with music
letters: A, B, etc., and (2) location of the primary
stress in two-or-three-syllable words (e.g. ‘baby’ 4. Analysis and Discussion
and ‘butterfly’), using the word list on page 94 This section analyses major features about teaching
English pronunciation which are found in the two
Unit 5 textbooks.
1. In Sounds and Letters: (1) dictation for the lower-
case letters: a, b, etc., (2) location of the primary
106 YUZAWA Nobuo

4-1. Overall process of teaching pronunciation some English consonants which are non-existent in
Neither of the textbooks has specific pages devoted Japanese are presented, but there is no explanation
to teaching all General American phonemes. Only the as to how they can be pronounced. Project 2 presents
teacher’s book in New Horizon has a list of how to useful advice to learn English pronunciation: (1) do
pronounce some phonemes, which corresponds to the not add any vowel after a word-final consonant, and
letters of the alphabet. Both textbooks use chants and (2) length is a more important factor than strength for
music extensively to help students learn words and stressed syllables. The second point is counterintuitive
expressions. for many Japanese because they know English is a
New Horizon deals with English pronunciation stressed-timed language and, for this reason, they
in a stylised way with similar exercises in each think strength is the most important factor for making
lesson, but they are not specifically focused on a syllable stressed.
pronunciation. They are more concerned with the The Course of Study mentions four key points in
sound-letter relationship. On the other hand, Junior teaching English pronunciation in Grades 5 and 6:
Sunshine includes various kinds of pronunciation
exercises though they are not systematic. It also gives A) Current standard accent
some useful hints for practicing pronunciation in its B) Sound changes in connected speech
teacher’s book. In Lesson 3, practice of individual C) Basic stress patterns in words, phrases and
phonemes is given, but this is based on the ABC sentences
song, so it cannot include all English phonemes. In D) Basic intonation in sentences
this lesson, nine phonemes are selected separately to
practice. In Project 1, the ABC song is sung with a The first point is obvious. To learn English as
typical pronunciation of each letter, which is selected a foreign language, a current standard accent is
in Lesson 3. This is a unique exercise and is repeated naturally selected. There is a question as to which
in Lessons 5, 6, 8 and 9. Word-initial consonants standard accent should be selected. In Japan, this has
are practiced in Lesson 3, Project 1 and Lesson 5. A been General American after World War II, and the
noteworthy point in this practice is to have students two textbooks choose this accent as their model of
make a pause before they pronounce the following English accent. As for the second point, The Course
vowel. This makes the target consonant prominent, of Study gives three cases: (1) CV linking, as in ‘I
but it is doubtful whether this is effective because the have a pen’, (2) elision, as in ‘Good morning’2, and
CV structure is strong and not easily separable. If a (3) coalescent assimilation, as in ‘Nice to meet you’.
word-initial consonant is the /m/, as presented in the These three points are explained on a half of a page
teacher’s book, it can be pronounced long and be a in New Horizon. Examples of the CV linking are
good example for this practice. However, this does not used frequently in both textbooks. A good example of
work for plosives as they are instantaneous sounds. In elision is ‘I can’t read English well’, where the /t/ of
Lessons 7, 8 and 9, an interesting exercise is given, in ‘can’t’ is elided (Lesson 4 of New Horizon). As shown
which the relation between a word and its phonemes below, coalescent assimilation is also sometimes used.
is practiced. From a given set of phonemes, students Since the speech rate is low in the two textbooks,
are supposed to think of a word that contains them. sound changes are less likely to occur. In the case
A similar exercise is introduced in Lesson 8, where of the third and fourth points, Junior Sunshine uses
the teacher says a consonant and then his/her students two pages to explain them. New Horizon gives many
think of any word which begins with this consonant. examples of word stress. It gives two examples of
These exercises are useful because they help students sentence stress on a half of a page. These four major
become aware of phonemes in words. In Project 1, points are included in both textbooks, but are treated
 An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1 107

lightly. an exercise to practice pronouncing all American

English phonemes systematically. However, students
4-2. Phonemes and allophones should have a chance to learn all these phonemes to
All English phonemes should be taught at an early understand the sound system of English. Use of a
stage of learning because they are fundamental in figure or a table is helpful to achieve this purpose. It
spoken English. Failure to pronounce them reasonably is not necessary to introduce phonemic symbols to
well will prevent speakers from making themselves elementary school students, but the so-called lexical
understood in English and cause communication set, which was devised by Wells (1982), is helpful
breakdown. It is understandable, however, that not to learn the vowel phonemes of General American.
all learners can pronounce all English phonemes well However, his lexical set includes words difficult for
enough, but this is not a good reason for treating these beginners, such as FLEECE5 for //. So, to make his
phonemes lightly. In fact, many Japanese learners lexical set more practical to beginners, they should be
of English fail to achieve reasonably good English replaced with easier words. Illustrations displaying
pronunciation. them may be added for practical use. FLEECE, for
3
In General American, there are 17 vowel phonemes example, can be replaced with TEA. Yuzawa (2014)
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  came up with the following lexical set for elementary
and 24 consonant phonemes /, , , , , , , , , , school students:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , /, and students in
elementary school should have a chance to learn all of PIG, HEAD, CAT, SUN, FOOT, TEA, BIRD,
them before they become junior high school students. ARM, ALL, MOON, FACE, LION 6, TOY,
However, at least in the two textbooks for Grade 5, HOUSE, PHONE, A (THE)7
this is not made possible.
In Lesson 3 of Junior Sunshine, some phonemes are Occasionally, teachers should refer to this lexical
practiced by using the ABC song, where each letter of set to practice the vowel phonemes. This is useful to
the alphabet is pronounced as its sound used in a word both teachers and students when they want to identify
given. For example, the letter ‘A’ is pronounced // as a particular vowel about which they want to talk. As
used in ‘ant’. The 26 phonemes learned with the use for the consonants, spelling is good enough to achieve
of this song are: /, , , , , , , , , , , , , this purpose, as many phonemes can be equated with
4
, , , , , , , , , , , , / . Immediately after letters of the alphabet.
this practice, the following phonemes are provided for Some phonemes are particularly difficult for
practice: /, , , , , , , , /. In Lesson 7, after the Japanese learners of English, especially those which do
ABC song with the above phonemes, each phoneme in not exist in Japanese, such as /l/, /r/, //, // and //. In
‘mat’, ‘map’, ‘cat’, ‘cap’, ‘top’ and ‘ten’ is pronounced. Unit 1 of New Horizon, the first two consonants appear
Then, the following selected phonemes are presented in a single short utterance ‘I like rice’. It may not be
for repetition: /, , , , , , , , /. This works necessary to teach the accurate way of pronouncing
well in practicing phonemes, but it is not known why them at this stage, but it is advisable for students to
these phonemes are selected. In New Horizon, such be aware of some perceptual difference between /l/
practice is not given, but in the teacher’s book, there and /r/ and between them and the Japanese flapped /r/
is a list of phonemes displaying typical realisations of (i.e. []). These two English phonemes are difficult to
these letters of the alphabet with illustrations of how both produce and perceive for Japanese. From time to
to pronounce them, their phonemic symbols and some time, the production and perception of them should
notes to pronounce them. be practiced. They should also be compared with the
Neither Junior Sunshine nor New Horizon presents Japanese /r/. This will help students learn how this
108 YUZAWA Nobuo

Japanese phoneme is pronounced. In relation to this differently. It is pronounced differently in ‘ten’, ‘city’,
topic, it is noticed that Japanese names such as ‘Sakura’ ‘stay’ and ‘meet’. In Unit 1 of New Horizon, both the
and ‘Hiroshi’ are pronounced with the Japanese /r/, not voiced /t/ and the word-initial /t/ with aspiration are
the English /r/. It is debateable whether these Japanese heard in ‘exciting’ and ‘teacher’, respectively. The two
names should be pronounced in the Japanese way or in realisations of the /t/ are very different from each other.
the English way, but it is worth practicing pronouncing Students who notice this fact may wonder why the
them in the English way. Another difficult phoneme for same letter is pronounced differently and be puzzled.9
Japanese learners of English is schwa. Since this is the Their puzzlement should be solved before it is too late.
most frequently used vowel in English, it is advisable During this lesson or sometime after, teachers can ask
for them to pronounce this well. Even at an early stage them if they are aware of the mismatch between the
of their learning, there is a chance for them to be aware letter and its sound. When their answer is positive,
of this vowel and its qualitative difference from strong it is a good chance to explain this. Once they have
vowels. In Unit 1 of New Horizon, for example, this learned this reality, they may have no problem in
vowel is used in words such as ‘Lisa’ and ‘American’. pronouncing words, such as ‘total’ in Unit 6, which
If they understand the sound quality of schwa, this will have these two different realisations of the /t/. Another
also help them learn the English stress-timed rhythm. example of this kind is noticed in Unit 7, where the
The voiceless dental fricative appears in an early /t/ in ‘visit a shrine’ is pronounced differently by two
lesson in both textbooks: in Unit 2 of New Horizon speakers in the same dialogue: the plosive /t/ and the
and in Lesson 2 of Junior Sunshine, where a birthday voiced /t/. Demonstrating a variety in recording is
is a topic of conversation. This is an unfamiliar understandable, but at this very early stage of learning,
phoneme for Japanese because it does not exist in the /t/ in the same phrase should be realised identically.
the Japanese phonological system. Since they cannot Among speakers in the recording studio, there should
easily distinguish this phoneme from the /s/, they be common understanding about which pronunciation
should spend some time being familiarised with it. should be used before recording, and the recording
However, there is no specific note to explain how to itself should be monitored carefully outside the studio.
teach this phoneme in the teacher’s book. Teachers
should teach their students how to pronounce this by 4-3. Words and expressions
8
telling them to place their tongue between the upper Practice of word pronunciation is helpful in
teeth and the lower teeth or to put it behind the upper making students aware of the stress-timed rhythm in
teeth. The latter way may be easier. Roach (2009) English words. Correct stress placement is one of the
states that this way is normal rather than the other. In significant factors in making spoken communication
practicing this voiceless dental fricative, it is effective successful. Practice of word stress also helps students
to use a minimal pair drill by comparing it with /s/. It understand the notion of syllables. In both textbooks,
is not necessary for Japanese learners to compare it words are not simply pronounced. They are almost
with /f/ or /t/ as this difference is not problematic to always accompanied by music or chants10. This is an
them. However, teachers need to keep in mind that effective way of helping students not only remember
some people in the world use either of them. During these words and but also learn the English stress-
this practice, its voiced version // should also be timed rhythm. In New Horizon, many words, which
introduced, with example words, by comparing it with are collected per category in a booklet called Picture
/z/, as in ‘then’ and ‘Zen’. Dictionary, are pronounced with chants. Some of these
Mastery of the English phonemes is important, categories are feelings, numbers and colours.
but it is not enough. Some allophones should also In Junior Sunshine, the model pronunciation of
be learned. The phoneme /t/, for example, is realised words is recorded with chants first, and then only the
 An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1 109

same chants are recorded to have students pronounce as a compound. Immediately after this noun phrase,
these words by themselves. In New Horizon, in an utterance ‘It’s a summer color’ is heard. This is a
learning expressions for asking someone his/her name compound, but unlike the general rule, ‘color’ attracts
and answering its spelling, not only a key expression the main stress.13 Students should learn to pronounce
‘How do you spell your name?’ but also all 26 letters one word more strongly than the other in phrases and
of the alphabet are presented with chants. Since each compounds to make themselves familiar with the
letter of the alphabet is basically made up of simple stress-timed rhythm of English. Teachers need to know
11
monosyllables , this will help students focus on the fundamental rules controlling stress placement
12
individual phonemes. in phrases and compounds, including well-known
In addition to chants, music is used to have students exceptions, though they do not necessarily have to
learn expressions, such as ‘Hello. How are you?’ teach them to beginners accurately.
in both textbooks. First, students listen to these In an utterance, such as ‘a red pen and a blue pen’,
expressions with music, and second, they listen only to the main stresses fall on ‘red’ and ‘blue’ for the sake
music. This use of music also helps students not only of contrast, not ‘pen’ as expected from the general
remember these expressions, but also learn the English rule. Contrast overrides the general rule. There are
stress-timed rhythm and intonation. It is worth noting many such examples in both textbooks. Emphasis can
that Junior Sunshine has four types of recordings: slow also be a trigger to change the position of the main
recording with expressions and music, slow recording stress. However, in Unit 7 of New Horizon, the phrase
with music only, faster recording with expressions and ‘New Year’s Day’ is pronounced differently by two
music, and faster recording with music only. Naturally, speakers in different dialogues, both of which do not
the faster version is more challenging to students, include contrast or emphasis: one with the main stress
which may raise their motivation to study English. placed on ‘Day’, which is the standard pattern, and the
When stress in words and phrases is practiced in other placed on ‘New’. This may be because of each
Junior Sunshine, there is a useful note in the teacher’s speaker’s idiosyncratic features, but since this different
book which states that stressed syllables should realisation of the same phrase in this case makes
be pronounced longer rather than strongly. Many beginners puzzled, it should be avoided by attentive
Japanese learners of English believe that strength is monitoring during recording.
the most important factor in English stress. In reality,
however, duration is more important than strength. At 4-5. Connected speech
least, teachers should know this fact. They should also Words are not always pronounced in the same
know that pitch is the most important factor in stress. way as found in a citation form. In Unit 2 of New
Horizon, there is an utterance ‘Come to my house
4-4. Phrases vs. compounds at about three’, where the /t/ of ‘at’ is pronounced
In English, proper word stress is essential in differently from the /t/ of ‘about’. In the former, it
effective communication, and proper stress placement is pronounced as the voiced /t/, which is one of the
in phrases and compounds is also important. English major features in General American, but in the latter,
has a general rule that the main stress falls on the first it is unreleased. Teachers may not have to explain this
word in compounds and on a noun in noun phrases. In different realisation of the voiceless alveolar plosive
Unit 1 of New Horizon, compounds such as ‘English to beginners, but they need to know this and to be
teacher’, ‘English books’ and ‘library card’ have the prepared to explain this when students become aware
main stress on the first word. In Unit 2, a noun phrase ‘a of it. In this example, linking also occurs between ‘at’
yellow T-shirt’ has the main stress on the second word, and ‘about’. This feature is used frequently when a
which is a noun, and ‘T-shirt’ has the main stress on ‘T’ word ends in a consonant and the next word begins
110 YUZAWA Nobuo

with a vowel. It is one of the important features that connected speech. They can be released or unreleased,
The Course of Study points out for 5th and 6th graders. especially when they are followed by a word whose
Stress-shift is also an important feature in connected initial phoneme is a consonant. When ‘hundred’
speech. In Unit 5 of New Horizon, when a phrase and ‘thousand’ are introduced in Lesson 9 of Junior
‘Japanese map’ in ‘I only have a Japanese map’ is Sunshine, the word-final /d/ before a word-initial
pronounced, ‘Japanese’ has the primary stress on the consonant is released in one case and unreleased in
first syllable, not on the third syllable as found in its another. There should be some explanation about this
citation form. This change of stress placement occurs free variation in the teacher’s book. In Unit 5 of New
to avoid a sequence of stressed syllables in English. Horizon, the phrase ‘the first corner’ appears twice.
Without stress-shift, two primarily-stressed syllables It is pronounced with the final /t/ of ‘first’ released
‘nese’ and ‘map’ come next to each other, but it is not in both cases. In normal speech, this word-final /t/ is
14
rhythmically good in English. Therefore, the general likely to be elided. However, when the speech rate is
tendency is to change the stress pattern of ‘Japanese’, low, it will not be elided. Teachers should get ready to
and thereby the third syllable is downgraded to the explain this free variation when students are puzzled
secondary stress. As a phrase, the noun ‘map’ receives about the different realisations of word-final plosives.
the primary stress and the adjective ‘Japanese’ In Unit 6 of New Horizon, three phrases are cited as
15
receives the secondary stress, as in ‘Japanese map’ . examples of connected speech. They are ‘stand up’,
Immediately after this utterance, there is an utterance ‘sit down’ and ‘meet you’, and the two words in each
‘But I can’t read Japanese’, where ‘Japanese’ has a example are linked with the same symbol. It looks as
stress pattern of its citation form. Some students may if they showed the same feature. In reality, however,
be aware of this difference in stress placement and be this is not the case. ‘Stand up’ is spoken with linking.
puzzled, and teachers need to be prepared to explain ‘Sit down’ is spoken with the /t/ either released or
this when they are asked. unreleased. ‘Meet you’ is spoken with or without
In Units 3 and 6 of New Horizon, there is an assimilation (i.e. // or //). Careful explanation
utterance ‘How about you?’, but it is pronounced should be added here, and teachers need to have
differently in terms of assimilation. In Unit 3, accurate knowledge of these differences. Among the
coalescent assimilation is not applied, but in Unit 6, three examples, ‘sit down’ should be treated carefully.
it is applied and the // is used between ‘about’ and Many textbooks published in Japan explain that this
‘you’. The // is used in ‘Tell me about your school’ /t/ is elided, but this is misleading. Even when it is
(Unit 3), ‘Don’t forget your recorder’ (Unit 3), ‘Tell inaudible, it is there and spoken as an unreleased stop.
me about your town’ (Unit 4). In Unit 1, when ‘Nice to Elision is completely different from an unreleased
meet you’ is heard, this assimilation is used. At some stop, but such textbooks do not distinguish between
time of learning, teachers should make students aware the two. An interesting pair can be shown here: ‘paint
of both realisations of the sequence of two phonemes colour’ and ‘pain colour’. When the /t/ in ‘paint colour’
/t/ and /j/. Otherwise, some students may be puzzled is pronounced as an unreleased stop, these two phrases
to find the difference in pronunciation between the may sound the same to many Japanese, but there is an
citation form of each word and the combination of important difference: the vowel // of ‘paint’ is shorter
these two words. Since the speech rate is slow in both than that of ‘pain’. Not only do teachers need to know
textbooks, assimilation of place is rare. One example this fact, which is known as pre-fortis clipping, but
found in New Horizon is ‘card game’ (Unit 7), where also they need to be able to perceive the difference.
/d/ is realised as //. This does not have to be taught in
class, but teachers should be aware of this fact. 4-6. Intonation
Word-final plosives pose a difficult problem in Intonation is also an essential factor in learning
 An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1 111

English. Good intonation helps a speaker make highlighted word is changed to ‘your’ because of the
himself/herself better understood in English. Tonality, change in important information. The same feature is
tonicity and tone are three major important elements in found in a question ‘When is your sports day?’ (Unit 3).
English. In the case of tone, a fall and a rise are most When this is asked for the first time, the highlighted
frequently used, followed by a fall-rise. Learning these word (more preciously, the highlighted compound) is
three tones is good enough in Japanese elementary ‘sports day’, but for the second time, it becomes ‘your’
school, and at an early stage of learning, learning the for contrast. Other examples are ‘Let me try’ (Lesson
two most frequent tones is adequate. Junior Sunshine 4 of the listening sheet in Junior Sunshine) and ‘a
uses these two basic tones extensively in every lesson, big lunch’ (Lesson 8 of the listening sheet). In ‘Let
and a fall-rise is not heard in earlier lessons. me try’, the first speaker highlights ‘try’ as a default
Practice of intonation should be introduced stress pattern, but the second highlights ‘me’. In ‘a big
systematically by using two or three pages of a lunch’, ‘lunch’ is highlighted as a default pattern for
textbook at an early stage of learning, with an the first time, but ‘big’ is highlighted as emphasis for
illustration of pitch directions. Adding such a page the second time. Teachers should make students aware
after some lessons in textbooks for Grade 5 two or of this use of tonicity whenever such examples appear
three times is practical and beneficial. However, the in textbooks.
two textbooks do not have such pages, except for a Many textbooks begin their lesson with greetings.
single page in Junior Sunshine near its end under the Both Junior Sunshine and New Horizon adopt this
title ‘Pronunciation Clinic’. It introduces a fall and a approach. In Unit 1 of New Horizon, ‘Good morning’
rise, and explains two intonation patterns: a statement is pronounced with a fall when it is followed by a
spoken with a fall, and a listing spoken with a rise for vocative, which is spoken with a rise, as in ‘Good
16
each item before the final item, which is spoken with morning, | class’. When students respond to
a fall. Here, it should include a fall-rise as it is used in their teacher’s greeting, however, they say ‘Good
this textbook. As for the intonation pattern for listing, morning’ without any vocative and use a level
there are examples which deviate from this pattern. tone. This may reflect that this response is a routine
Two examples found in Lesson 3 are: ‘I have moral activity to them. However, it is not suitable to use this
education, Japanese, math, English, social studies, relatively minor tone at the very beginning of this
and PE.’ and ‘I have moral education, Japanese, math, textbook. If the teacher’s name is used in responding,
English, social studies, and PE.’ They are spoken by such as ‘Good morning, | Mr Tanaka’, the same
different speakers and recorded on different tracks of intonation pattern can be used, and students will
an accompanying CD. In the first example, the first find it easy to follow this model intonation pattern.
item (‘education’) is spoken with a fall, and in the At an early stage of learning, the same intonation
second, all items are spoken with a fall. It is true that patterns should be used as often as possible for sets
this pattern is not observed all the time, but at least in of expressions like greetings. Teachers should also
Grade 5, where English is learned as a subject for the be aware that in the case of ‘hello’, both this greeting
first time in school, it should be strictly observed. word and the following vocative are more likely to be
An intentional highlighting should also be learned spoken with a rise, as in ‘Hello, | John’.
with many examples. This is an issue of tonicity. In addition to this use of a level tone, a fall-rise is
In Unit 2 of New Horizon, an expression ‘When is also introduced in early units of New Horizon. In Unit
your birthday?’ is a target sentence. It is natural that 1, an utterance ‘You can get a library card here’ is
‘birthday’ should be highlighted when it is uttered recorded by dividing it into two tone-units (i.e. ‘You
for the first time, but when this question is asked can get a library card’ and ‘here’), with ‘a library card’
to another person for the second time or after, the spoken with a fall-rise and with ‘here’ spoken with a
112 YUZAWA Nobuo

fall: ‘You can get a library card | here’. In Unit there.

2, ‘And a special present from Grandma and Grandpa’ There are some errors in the transcription of
is spoken as ‘And a special present | from phonemic symbols in Junior Sunshine. In Review
Grandma | and Grandpa’. The use of a fall-rise Lesson 7, the STRUT vowel is transcribed as /u/, but
sounds natural, but for the sake of students’ learning it should be //. In Review Lesson 9, the TRAP vowel
process, it is advisable to stick to the two basic tones is transcribed as /a/, but it should be //. It appears
in these early units. ‘You can get a library card here’ that in both cases, the letters of the alphabet are simply
can be spoken as ‘You can get a library card here’, used there.
where ‘library card’ is spoken as non-tonic because In transcribing phonemes, slant brackets should be
this phrase is used immediately before by another used, not square brackets. The use of square brackets
speaker, as in ‘I want a library card’. In addition, ‘And is noticed in Project 1 of Junior Sunshine and in
a special present from Grandma and Grandpa’ can be the teacher’s book of New Horizon, for example. In
spoken as ‘And a special present | from Grandma the latter, slant brackets are used for spelling. Some
| and Grandpa’. reference books published in Japan still use square
brackets to transcribe phonemes, which is misleading,
4-7. Others though this usage is becoming less common. Square
Elision is a natural process in English especially brackets should be used for the transcription of
when the speech rate is high and/or the speech style allophones.
is informal and casual. In a phrase like ‘next week’, It is known that some American speakers pronounce
the word-final /t/ of ‘next’ can be elided to make the the TRAP vowel with their tongue placed higher
pronunciation easier. A sequence of many consonants than the standard pronunciation, which makes this
disrupts smooth pronunciation. Elision occurs between phoneme sound more like /e/. In Review Lesson 9
neighbouring words when the following conditions of Junior Sunshine, this pronunciation is used. This
are met: (1) when there are three or more consonants is not recommendable for practice for beginners. In
between them; (2) when the final consonant of the Review Lesson 5, an orthodox type of pronunciation
first word is /t/ or /d/; and (3) there is at least one is used for the vowel of ‘cap’. The use of varieties
consonant before this /t/ or /d/. The /t/ in ‘next week’ is understandable, but a pronunciation that is
meets these conditions. Elision also occurs word- educationally more advisable to foreign learners
internally. For example, ‘facts’ has a sequence of three should be used particularly for beginners like Japanese
consonants //, and it can be pronounced // by elementary school students.
eliding the middle /t/. At the very beginning of New In Pronunciation Clinic of Junior Sunshine, dark /l/
Horizon, ‘picture’ is pronounced / / , with the is explained by using ‘ball’ as an example. It explains
middle /t/ of // elided. It is understandable that this this allophone as an ambiguously pronounced /l/,
is also a standard pronunciation together with //, but this is misleading. This allophone of the /l/ is
but it is not desirable to use this pronunciation at this pronounced by raising the back of the tongue toward
place in the textbook. It should only be used at least the soft palate. Ambiguity is not the difference
in later units if it is used at all. A pronunciation that between clear /l/ and dark /l/. The writer of this section
is more acceptable to foreign learners should be used may have tried to explain the /l/ vocalisation in simple
particularly at an initial stage of learning. Careful terms, where the dark /l/ can be replaced with the
monitoring during the recording is highly required. /w/, but this way of writing may confuse teachers
Moreover, there should be a special note about elision especially when they are not familiar with this fact.
for Japanese learners because they are more likely to The final point is weak forms. It is widely known
use epenthetic vowels to pronounce all consonants that some English words, such as ‘that’, ‘can’, ‘are’
 An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1 113

and ‘of’, have two different realisations: a strong form strong forms is important to avoid this unnecessary
and a weak form. For example, ‘are’ in ‘You are right’ misunderstanding.
is pronounced differently from ‘are’ in ‘Yes, you are’:
the former is pronounced as a weak form and the latter 5. Conclusion
is pronounced as a strong form. Even an utterance like Japan started teaching English as a subject from
‘I think that that that that that student wrote should Grade 5 in 2021. To analyse how it is going, it is
be deleted’, which has five successive occurrences of important to examine MEXT-authorised textbooks
‘that’, can be understood well when these two forms because they play a major role in teaching. Seven
are properly used. In Unit 1 of New Horizon, ‘from’ publishing companies published English textbooks
is pronounced in two different ways by using these for 5th and 6th graders. In this paper, as a first attempt
two forms appropriately: in ‘I’m from America’, the of this analysis, two textbooks for 5th graders were
vowel of ‘from’ is spoken as a weak form, while in selected (i.e. Junior Sunshine and New Horizon)
‘Where are you from?’, it is pronounced as a strong and major features related to teaching English
form. Students may not be aware of this difference, pronunciation were analysed. It was found that neither
but teachers should have the knowledge of it and of them deals with English sounds exhaustively and
be careful not to pronounce these two prepositions systematically. By making use of music and chants,
identically. It is worth noting, however, that in the however, it is inferred that the writers of these
utterance ‘I’m from Mexico’, the vowel of this textbooks tried to help students get interested in
preposition is pronounced as a strong form. This is English including its sounds.
probably because of a pause made between ‘from’ This paper discussed the following major features of
and ‘Mexico’ to pronounce this sentence slowly for teaching English pronunciation: (1) overall process of
beginners. Slow speech rate is likely to make native teaching pronunciation, (2) phonemes and allophones,
speakers sound unnatural and artificial. A similar case (3) words and expressions, (4) phrases vs. compounds,
of fluctuation of pronunciation is noticed in Lesson 4 (5) connected speech, (6) intonation and (7) others.
of Junior Sunshine, where a model auxiliary verb ‘can’ The overall process of teaching pronunciation is
is introduced. In the same phonological environment different between the two textbooks: one uses a
in which no special contrast or emphasis is expected, stylised approach, focusing on a letter-sound relation,
some speakers use a strong form in utterances, such and the other offers a variety of exercises. Both
as ‘I can walk’, ‘I can run’, while others use a weak textbooks use the ABC song to teach the pronunciation
form. Since the difference between weak forms and of the letters of the alphabet and their typical
strong forms is important to make polarity clear, it sounds in words. This is useful to learn the English
should be realised carefully in recording, especially in phonemes, but it cannot encompass all of them. The
General American, not only because this accent uses introduction of the phonemic symbols is not relevant
the same vowel // for both ‘can’t’ and a strong form for elementary school students, but Wells’s idea of a
of ‘can’, but also because the word-final /t/ in ‘can’t’ lexical set can be utilised with some modification, such
can be unreleased when the following word begins as the one devised by Yuzawa (2014). Some English
with a consonant, as in ‘I can’t read English well’ (Unit phonemes which are unfamiliar to Japanese should be
4 of New Horizon). An important aspect of the word- taught carefully and attention must be paid to major
final /t/ when it is unreleased is that it is inaudible. differences between a phoneme and its allophones.
In a case like this, students may mistake ‘can’t’ for Model pronunciation of words and expressions are
‘can’ if they do not know the fact that a weak form presented with music and chants in the two textbooks.
is used in a positive statement unless a contrast or This helps students not only remember them but also
17
emphasis is involved. Knowledge of weak forms and learn the stress-timed rhythm of English. Presenting
114 YUZAWA Nobuo

models with both slow and fast reading is an effective major features found among them will be presented
way. Fast reading may raise students’ motivation to and suggestions for the next edition will be made. It
study English further. Phrases and compounds have is hoped that what was found in this paper and what
different stress patterns, and students should learn at will be found in these next studies will be beneficial in
least the fact that one word in each of them is spoken improving English textbooks for elementary school in
more prominently. Sound changes in connected Japan.
speech need some consideration. Since the speech
rate is relatively low in these two textbooks, examples
of assimilation of place are quite rare. However, 1
This research is supported by the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Scientific Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
coalescent assimilation is more frequently used. Stress
(C) 21K00672.
shift is noticed frequently in these two textbooks. 2
This example is irrelevant. The /d/ can be inaudible, but it is
Sometime later in their study, students should learn the not deleted. This can be an example of assimilation of place or
assimilation of manner.
difference in stress placement between a citation form 3
There are some different ideas in the classification of American
and a phrase. There are various forms of intonation, English vowels. Some regard vowels found in ‘hear’, ‘fair’,
‘sure’ as diphthongs, but in this paper, they are counted as a
but two basic forms (i.e. falls and rises) should be
short vowel followed by the /r/. Therefore, they are not
presented and taught in the initial stage of learning. regarded as phonemes. The r-coloured schwa can also be
Students should also be aware of differences in tonicity analysed phonologically as schwa followed by the /r/.
However, it is interpreted as a phoneme, following the idea of
and their intended meanings in communication. A
Jones et al. (2011).
little more attention should be paid to recordings in the 4
The /k/ appears twice and the /ks/ is a combination of two
studio, such as pronunciation of segments, the stress phonemes.
5
This representation of a word in all capitals focuses only on a
pattern of phrases, the intonation pattern, and the use vowel that is included in this word. This is a useful way to
of weak and strong forms. To make better recordings, explore what quality of a vowel each person uses for a given
word, but the present paper does not go into this topic much
speakers should have common understanding about
further, as this is not related to the present topic.
these items beforehand, and monitoring during the 6
Instead of LION, SKY, for example, may be better because it
recording should be conducted very carefully. In is monosyllabic.
7
If A is too soft to be identified easily, THE can be used instead.
addition, teachers should have enough knowledge
Since THE includes an initial consonant, it is identified as
about English pronunciation so that they can answer schwa more easily. In the lexical set for Japanese elementary
all questions asked by their students at any time. school students, the /r/-coloured schwa is not included because
once the quality of schwa is recognised, all they need to do is
They also need to observe their students’ progress to add /r/ to it.
attentively and decide properly when certain learning 8
Some say ‘to bite’ instead, but this is misleading.
9
In a case like this, the BBC accent or RP is more straightforward.
points should be taught. The two textbooks are well 10
In Junior Sunshine, when numbers are taught, no music
written with colourful drawings and pictures, but accompanies.
some corrections should be made in the next edition
11
The exceptional case is ‘w’, which is trisyllabic.
12
The consonant phonemes that are included here are /, , , ,
concerning some explanations and the use of some , , , , , , , , , , , , , / and the vowel phonemes
symbols. are /, , , , , , , /. Naturally, they do not include
all of the phonemes in General American.
This paper analysed two textbooks for 5th graders, 13
Wells (2006) explains five cases of double-stressed
but there are five other textbooks published by compounds, and one of them corresponds to compounds in
different publishing companies which are also used. which the first element names the place or time.
14
It is also a fact that there are native speakers of English who
A comparative analysis of these textbooks will be
do not use stress-shift.
conducted shortly to find major similarities and 15
Then, the third syllable of ‘Japanese’ receives the tertiary
differences among them. The same analysis will also stress, but the use of this stress is not utilised as it presents
unnecessarily complexity.
be conducted for seven textbooks for 6th graders. 16
This vertical line indicates a tone-unit boundary, which is
After all fourteen textbooks have been analysed, related to tonality.
 An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation1 115

17
Another useful clue to differentiate ‘can’t’ whose /t/ is Wells, J. C. (2006) English Intonation: An Introduction.
unreleased from a strong form of ‘can’ is that the rhyme in the
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
former is shortened because of the word-final /t/ but this does
not occur in the latter. Also, when a strong form of ‘can’ is
used in this case, the pitch of this word becomes higher.

References
Allen Tamai, Mitsue., et al. (2021) New Horizon
Elementary English Course 5. Tokyo: Tokyo
Shoseki.
Allen Tamai, Mitsue., et al. (2021) New Horizon
Elementary English Course 5, Teacher’s Book.
Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki.
Allen Tamai, Mitsue., et al. (2021) New Horizon
Elementary English Course 5, 4CDs. Tokyo: Tokyo
Shoseki.
Allen Tamai, Mitsue., et al. (2021) New Horizon
Elementary English Course 5, Picture Dictionary.
Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki.
Jones, Daniel., eds. Roach, Peter., Setter, Jane., Esling,
John. (2011) Cambridge English Pronouncing
Dictionary, 18th Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology. (2017) https://www.mext.go.jp/
component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__
icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/03/18/1387017_011.pdf.
Accessed on 15th October 2021.
Roach, Peter. (2009) English Phonetics and Phonology:
A Practice Course, Fourth Edition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Suzuki, Hiroyuki., et al. (2020) Junior Sunshine 5.
Tokyo: Kairyudo.
Suzuki, Hiroyuki., et al. (2020) Junior Sunshine 5,
Teacher’s Book. Tokyo: Kairyudo.
Suzuki, Hiroyuki., et al. (2020) Junior Sunshine 5,
2CDs. Tokyo: Kairyudo.
Yuzawa, Nobuo. (2014) ‘Shogakko Eigo Kyoiku deno
Hatsuon Shido (Teaching English Pronunciation in
Elementary School)’, Specific English Phonetics
and Studies in Its Related Areas, Chubu Branch of
the English Phonetics Society of Japan, pp. 77-87.
Wells, J. C. (1982) Accents of English 1: An Introduction.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
116 YUZAWA Nobuo

An Analysis of Two English Textbooks for Elementary

School in Japan: Focusing on Teaching Pronunciation

YUZAWA Nobuo

Abstract
Japan started teaching English as a subject from Grade 5 in the academic year of 2021. Since all school subjects
are taught with textbooks authorised by the MEXT in Japan, the role that these textbooks play is significant.
Therefore, it is worth examining how they are compiled and what ideas are in them to teach English in elementary
school of Japan. Seven publishing companies published English textbooks for 5th and 6th graders. In this paper, two
textbooks for 5th graders were selected and major features related to teaching English pronunciation were analysed.
It was found that neither of them deals with English sounds exhaustively and systematically, but they use music and
chants extensively. This paper discusses these features in seven points: (1) overall process of teaching pronunciation,
(2) phonemes and allophones, (3) words and expressions, (4) phrases vs. compounds, (5) connected speech, (6)
intonation and (7) others. The two textbooks are well written with colourful drawings and pictures, but they could be
improved by incorporating ideas mentioned in these points into the next edition.

（2021 年 11 月 1 日受理）