Abstract:
Japan is a highly ethnocentric and male-dominated society, and this fact plays a crucial role in language education. It has been recognised that there is a problem about the education of English as a Foreign Language in Japan, as most students are not capable of oral communication in English. However, many strategies to produce a more effective way of teaching English have been unsuccessful since there is a lack of perspective on the relationship between language education, the society and the individual. For example, the current language education in Japan does not incorporate the process of language learning which can be the social field where people, particularly women, can realise an independent self. This paper is an attempt to examine how the problem of language education reveals the social structure and gender relations that enter personal life.