Difficulties that prevent the communicative competence of Spanish as a foreign language, to Japanese students

Abstract

In a globalized world, the academic and scientific exchange, the migratory flow, the interest in the knowledge of the language and the cultures of the American and European continents have motivated the universities of different countries to establish the Spanish language in their institutions, as is the case of Japan; however, there are limitations that prevent the communicative competence of said language from developing in students. Therefore, the general objective of this text is to analyze what these limitations are in Japanese universities, with the intention of offering viable solutions as a result of the investigation. To achieve this objective, under the interpretative paradigm, the qualitative analysis method was used, through the case study, which offers the experience of teachers, as well as the bibliography consulted about the limitations faced by said students. As a result, it was possible to detect that there are three fundamental obstacles: the tendency to prioritize the grammar-translation method in ELE (Spanish as a Foreign Language) classes, physical spaces with large groups, and finally, the position of Japanese education, regarding the preference for evaluation through exams. As conclusions, proposals for international exchange, greater use of technology, as well as changes in the paradigm of teaching ELE, as a foreign language, in Japan were evaluated.