企業内英語教育と地域社会 : 社員教育から外国人人材受入れの地域貢献へ(試論)
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概要
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The main purpose of this paper is to reconsider in-company English education from the viewpoint of Japan's increasing foreign human resources and illustrate its future possibility of this education. This in-company training system for workers to engage in globalized corporate activities, aims to improve English proficiency, and provides workers with various programs including English lessons, e-learning, and even an original reward policy. The need for and importance of systematic and coordinated in-company English education is currently recognized; however, it is slow to respond to globalization within the country. Recently, the number of foreigners working for Japanese companies has been increasing and is expected to increase further. How does in-company English education confront the increased number of foreign workers and problems related to them? What I discuss in this paper is the use of in-company English education to realize a multilingual and multicultural society. Some concrete ideas are as follows: 1. Companies open in-company English education to the public. Citizens improve their English with foreigners and help them adjust to their new circumstances, without mentioning that they study Japanese. 2. In-company English education intends to contribute to creating "a foreign people-friendly society," which would be praised as one of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. 3. Making the most use of systematic and coordinated in-company English education programs and companies' financial and personnel support, the government could cope with the societal challenge of accepting foreigners and offer assistance with the social adjustment and settlement in Japan. This paper only illustrates a future possibility for in-company English education; however, it also suggests a new developmental approach, which will be the first step toward the empirical study of the social responsibility of in-company English education in the creation of a multilingual and multicultural society in Japan.