ABSTRACT
In the last two decades, the movement toward a communication-oriented approach or communicative language teaching (CLT) has been a remarkable phenomenon in the contexts of both English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL). However, it has been suggested that in some countries where EFL is taught, teachers find it difficult to implement communicative language teaching in their contexts (Li, 1998). Japan is not an exception. Over the last 15 years or so, it has not been easy for Japanese English language education to move from a traditional grammar-translation method to the communicative language teaching approach (Gorsuch, 2000). Nonetheless, change is taking place in Japan, helped by strong government initiatives that involve teachers, teaching methods, and curricular reform. In this study, I examine a context of change initiated by the implementation of two reform initiatives in English education as seen by a case of one high school in Japan.
