Transformational Experience during Study Abroad: The Case of a Japanese Pre-service Teacher

Abstract

Although there is a growing recognition of the importance of pre-service teachers’ experiences abroad, scant research attention has been paid to the lived study-abroad experiences of pre-service language teachers of English in non-Western countries. It is vital to shed light on the experiences of this particular group of teachers because of their linguistic and cultural particularities (i.e., non-native speakers of English from the non-Western world) and the characteristics of their future students (i.e., largely monolingual and monocultural) differ notably from those of their counterparts in Western countries. This study examines, though the use of narrative interviews, the transformative learning of a pre-service language teacher of English at a Japanese university who participated in a study-abroad program in Sweden. Findings suggested that the participant experienced interrelated, but successive, phases of transformation processes: from having increased confidence to experiencing a disorienting dilemma, and from engaging in critical reflection to performing new roles. Practical implications and research recommendations associated with study-abroad programs for pre-service teachers are also included.