ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a synthesis of the literature on eikaiwa English language teaching, so as to build up a picture of what eikaiwa is, and what those involved in it do. In taking a dialectical approach to defining eikaiwa the chapter argues that much of the discussion of what eikaiwa is, has excluded or marginalised many of the people and practices which take place within it. The chapter explores how eikaiwa is defined, both implicitly and explicitly within the literature, through its relation to its Other ̶ ‘formal’ language teaching. The chapter explores how many of the characteristics deemed definitional both to each of eikaiwa, and to formal education, which define each other through opposition, are contradictorily present in their Other, in an interpenetration of opposites. The chapter then turns its attention to the student-teacher relation within eikaiwa, and expands upon discussion of non-native English speaking and female teachers within eikaiwa, by addressing the power relations between three of the main stakeholders within eikaiwa schools: the student as customer, the teacher as labour, and the eikaiwa school or corporation in the role of capital.
