ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the sociohistorical legacies that have contributed to contemporary language attitudes and beliefs in context rather than the term native-speakerism. It is important to note how the ideological conceptualization of native-speakerism is English Language Teaching-specific. The chapter discusses how "ideology operates to make people forget that their world has been historically constructed". Language attitudes within Japan were first shaped by native speakers of other foreign languages such as Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch. Moreover, ideological native-speakerism is based on an acceptance of conditions originating in the English-speaking West that have not been proven reliable or shown to have had the universal impact suggested. While in the decades previous English had been seen as the language of the enemy, with World warII over and with an occupying English-speaking force, many Japanese believed that English skills would become a necessity to survive in the new post-war Japan.
