著者

田畑 きよみ

出版者

東京大学大学院総合文化研究科言語情報科学専攻

雑誌

言語情報科学 (ISSN:13478931)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.10, pp.91-107, 2012-03-01

---

The objective of this study is to investigate the situations of English teaching at the early stage of the Meiji era, analyzing existent historical materials. Although only a few parts of the books we employ in this thesis describe English education for pupils, I gleaned the fragments to certify the existence of English education for the primary school students. The traits common to the schools which have evidence of English education, discovered through exploration of the circumstances of school foundations are as follows: 1) The schools were established in the early period of the Meiji era. 2) The contents of the class were determined by the textbooks available, rather than by the predetermined curricula. 3) The schools received financial aid for their administration. 4) The schools were contributed to by some intellectuals who devoted themselves to establishing the schools. In conclusion, taking all the various factors into consideration, it is evident that a number of public primary schools did indeed teach Japanese pupils the English language at the beginning of the Meiji Era, and that the styles and contents of the classes were varied according to the situation.