Economic globalization and the concomitant prominence of English as a global language (EGL) have had a considerable impact on educational policies and practices worldwide. The widespread belief in the economic benefits that individuals and societies can attain from greater English proficiency has created a global trend of early English language teaching (ELT) (Copland, Garton & Burns, 2014; Enever, Moon & Raman, 2009). In line with this global trend, Japan, as an economically advanced nation, has also gradually lowered the age at which English is introduced at school. Previous studies have explored the development of national ELT curricula, critically examining the discourses behind these official language-in-education policies (e.g., Kubota, 1998, 2002; Seargeant, 2009; Shiroza, 2020). However, obvious to the keen observer is that early ELT is often implemented more extensively and vigorously in Japan's rural communities than in urban areas, despite the latter's image of being only remotely affected by globalization.

经济全球化和随之而来的英语作为全球语言 (EGL) 的突出地位对全世界的教育政策和实践产生了相当大的影响。人们普遍认为，个人和社会可以从提高英语熟练程度中获得经济利益，这催生了早期英语语言教学 (ELT) 的全球趋势（Copland、Garton 和 Burns，2014 年；Enever、Moon 和 Raman，2009 年）。顺应这一全球趋势，作为经济发达国家的日本也逐渐降低了在学校引入英语的年龄。先前的研究探索了国家 ELT 课程的发展，批判性地审视了这些官方语言教育政策背后的话语（例如，Kubota，1998 年、2002 年；Seargeant，2009 年；Shiroza，2020 年）。然而，