Japanese Teachers Of English Research Articles

Assessing Japanese teachers\u2019 classroom English \u201cinternationally\u201d: implications for the development of classroom English language benchmarks in Japan

BackgroundThis study aims to develop a low-stakes assessment tool to establish a classroom English language benchmark that Japanese teachers of English can use for their own professional development purposes. To start with, we describe the differences between CLA (Classroom Language Assessment) in Hong Kong and the IDS (Integrative Diagnostic Scale) in Japan with regard to agenda, characteristics, and implementation. Then, we report findings made from both of these assessment types and from a group discussion we had in order to clarify the rationale behind the CLA experts’ assessment.MethodsThe participants of the present study consisted of two groups: (1) four project members of the IDS in Japan and (2) two CLA raters in Hong Kong. Following an initial assessment of videotaped performances by the IDS developers (based on the IDS benchmark) and assessment of the same videotaped performance by the CLA experts (based on the CLA), a follow-up focus-group discussion between the IDS developers and the CLA experts was held.ResultsThe results of the study offer some evidence to support the thesis that a classroom English benchmark helps capture aspects of classroom English language proficiency that are indispensable for students’ language acquisition. Accordingly, on the basis of the findings, suggestions for further revisions of the IDS were made.ConclusionThe study showed that, with some revisions, the IDS can be an apt professional development tool through which Japanese teachers of English can improve their classroom English proficiency. It also suggested that more research is needed to contextualize the IDS as such a professional tool more fully.

The Expected Oral Proficiency Level for Japan's Secondary School English Teachers: Analysis of the Eiken Pre-1st Grade Interview Exam

This paper aims to clarify the expected oral proficiency level for secondary school English teachers in Japan. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (hereafter MEXT) encourages public secondary school English teachers to reach a threshold level of the Pre-1st Grade of Eiken (an English proficiency test). However, the number of teachers attaining those levels has yet to reach MEXT’s target. An analysis of the Pre-1st interview tests can give an indication of what MEXT expects Japanese English teachers to be able to do in oral communication. In this paper, a brief history of Eiken is reported, and the proficiency level of the Pre-1st Grade and the test contents are summarized. Then, features of the picture cards and questions used for the second-stage interviews from 2007 through 2015 are analyzed: (1) a series of four pictures for story narration (in total 54 cards), and (2) four questions to be asked afterwards (in total 216 question items). Some unique linguistic features are found as well as popular test topics. Also, interview questions have several featured sentence patterns and many basic-level words, as well as topic-related vocabulary items. This research will be of some help for understanding the threshold level of speaking abilities for secondary school English teachers in Japan.

英語科教員に求められる異文化理解に関わる資質・能力 : Team Teachingにおける諸問題を基にして

英語科教員に求められる異文化理解に関わる資質・能力 : Team Teachingにおける諸問題を基にして

LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ON MATERIALS USE AND THEIR LOCUS OF CONTROL: CASE-STUDIES FROM IRAN AND JAPAN

Teacher belief research has gone a long way to understand the complex mental lives of language teachers with regards to different aspects of the teaching profession. Little, however, is known about the teachers’ beliefs on the use of language teaching materials. Similarly, attempts to find literature on EFL teachers’ actual use of the materials based on systematic observation meets with great difficulty. The present case study research was therefore designed to contribute to the literature on teacher beliefs and materials use utilizing data from five Iranian and five Japanese teachers of English as a foreign language. Based on questionnaires, observations (50 sessions) and stimulated recall interviews (around 13 hours), it was found that while the Iranian teachers’ beliefs were rooted in their learning and teaching experiences besides the syllabus and context imposed standards, the Japanese teachers’ beliefs were mediated by their learning and teaching experiences, self-developed theories, SLA informed theories and colleague inspirations. The results of stimulated recall sessions making use of the construct of locus of control as interpretive lens also suggested that while the Iranian teachers mostly held other parties responsible for their pedagogic decisions, the Japanese teachers took responsibility for most of their decision on materials use.

Japanese English Teachers’ Beliefs About Codeswitching in Their Classrooms

Japanese English Teachers’ Beliefs About Codeswitching in Their Classrooms

日本人教師2名によるTeam-Teachingの学習者要因に関する研究 : 日本人教師2名によるTeam-Teachingに対する中学生の意識傾向

日本人教師2名によるTeam-Teachingの学習者要因に関する研究 : 日本人教師2名によるTeam-Teachingに対する中学生の意識傾向

The transition from L2 learner to L2 teacher

While newly employed teachers may begin their career with certain ideas and beliefs, these are influenced by different stimuli, encounters and constraints which lead to the ongoing recalibration of their L2 identity. This longitudinal case study explores the L2 journey of a Japanese teacher of English through narrative inquiry using a dynamic approach. Drawing on interview data, the study documents the participant’s transition from L2 learner and pre-service teacher to L2 teacher, focusing on the interconnectedness of the L2 learning and teaching environment and extended socio-educational environment, and the effect of educational, geographical, professional, social, and temporal factors. The study provides a holistic view of the complex interplay between the continuing L2 learner identity and emerging L2 teacher identity, as experienced from the perspective of the novice teacher. The complexity of establishing a professional L2 teacher identity in Japan is highlighted, including discovering one’s own teaching style, finding ways of adapting teaching to national educational directives, meeting the challenges of motivating students, feeling a sense of responsibility for examination preparation, encountering cross-cultural and power issues in team teaching, contemplating future career options, and coming to terms with employment practices. Based on the findings, the study concludes by offering some suggestions for taking not only the challenges faced by the L2 learner, but also the L2 teacher into account, and ways of encouraging meaningful dialogue between researchers, teacher educators and teachers.

英語教師が自らの実践を書くということ(1) : 日本語/公開ライティングと英語/非公開ライティングの事例から

英語教師が自らの実践を書くということ(1) : 日本語/公開ライティングと英語/非公開ライティングの事例から

Developing classroom language assessment benchmarks for Japanese teachers of English as a foreign language

IntroductionSince the Japanese government has called for English to be taught through English (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2003), there has been increasing interest in English language classrooms in upper secondary schools. The government has proposed English proficiency scores that Japanese teachers of English should attain, but has not yet specified clearly what English language use should be like in the classroom.Case descriptionThis case study describes the theoretical aspect of the development of a benchmark assessment for use in English language classrooms with Japanese teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study first defines teacher language proficiency, the use of the foreign language in the classroom, with particular attention to teacher language awareness (Andrews, 2007) as a bridging mechanism between pedagogical content knowledge and the foreign language proficiency of Japanese teachers of EFL. This definition of teacher language proficiency is further elaborated in terms of the legitimate use of benchmark assessments in English language classrooms in Japan with a thorough literature review of L2 benchmark assessments in other parts of the world.Discussion and EvaluationThe present case study examines the ideal assessor conditions after thorough review on assessor bias from the language testing/assessment research, while the development of assessment benchmarks for use in Japan is discussed based on a high-stakes benchmark assessment for teachers of EFL in Hong Kong. The proposed benchmarks acknowledge the complexity of classroom English use, thus employing four different scale types to accommodate the multifaceted characteristics of teacher language proficiency.ConclusionsThe current case study concludes with the exploration of tasks remaining for the future development of our benchmark assessments for use in ongoing professional development.

Challenges Experienced by Japanese Students With Oral Communication Skills in Australian Universities

Due to ever-increasing demands to acquire effective communicative abilities in the English language, increasing numbers of international students choose to study in Western tertiary institutions; however, they frequently encounter difficulties in performing satisfactorily in English. This study aims to identify specific challenges that Japanese students face with oral communication skills while studying in Australian universities. Results from questionnaire data collected from 33 undergraduate and postgraduate Japanese students in Australia and interview data from five TESOL postgraduate students indicate that Japanese students have greater difficulty with speaking than with listening and pronunciation. It also sheds additional insight into two areas of major concern in Japan education: inadequate practice of oral communication skills in the Japanese education system and Japanese English teachers’ difficulties using English in class. The article concludes by proposing several potential solutions for improving Japanese English education based on the recommendations of Japanese postgraduate students in a TESOL program.

Foreign accentedness of English sentences spoken by Japanese EFL learners and Japanese teachers of English: A first report

This study reports the results of a foreign-accented-rating experiment that investigate the foreign accentedness of spoken English sentences by two Japanese groups, Japanese EFL learners and Japanese teachers of English. This study aims first to investigate whether spoken English sentences by Japanese teachers of English are judged less foreign-accented than those by Japanese EFL learners, and second to investigate whether American-English listeners rate spoken English sentences by Japanese speakers more severely than Japanese listeners do. The stimuli were five sentences adopted from Flege, Munro, and McKay (1995) spoken by 33 Japanese EFL learners and 33 Japanese teachers of English. Ten American-English speakers and ten Japanese speakers were asked to rate the stimuli presented visually and auditorily by clicking along a line on the computer screen for their ratings. The participants’ original responses were converted to 10 scales and were submitted to the analyses. The results showed that spoken English sentences by Japanese teachers of English were rated significantly less Japanese-accented than those by Japanese EFL learners. The results further revealed that as in the previous studies, the American-English speakers rated spoken English sentences by two Japanese groups significantly more severely than Japanese speakers. [Work supported by JSPS.]

Characteristics of speaker models for Japanese university students

In the research area of English as an international language, there are numerous studies about appropriate language norms and language models, but few investigations of attitudes about people whom students consider models as speakers of English (henceforth, speaker models). And, most studies of speaker models dealt with the linguistic characteristics of the speaker models. To extend this research, the present study investigated students' attitudes about what characteristics led students to see someone as a speaker model. Nine Japanese university students participated in semistructured interviews, and their comments were analyzed. Results show that although the participants were learning English as a foreign language and their goals for learning English were to achieve native-like competence, they mainly had Japanese teachers of English in mind as speaker models. Although it is not necessary to have native-like English in order to be seen as a speaker model, it is necessary for students to observe the speaker model using English for communicative purposes. These findings suggest that further studies need to investigate characteristics of speaker models without limiting their scope to accent and grammar, and need to investigate what other non-linguistic characteristics are important for speaker models.

Teaching English in English, ‘in principle’: The national foreign language curriculum for Japanese senior high schools

AbstractResearch in language-in-education policy and planning (LEP) rarely examines how language teachers negotiate official policy statements on teaching methodologies. In this study, I investigate the current upper secondary school foreign language national curriculum in Japan that requires English classes to be conducted in English, implemented since 2013. I conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with three Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) to determine how they respond to the new initiative. I find that the JTEs struggle to make sense of the initiative’s feasibility due to the vagueness of the policy directives, their perceptions of the disconnection between the recommended methodology and current national assessment mechanisms, and JTEs’ own personal beliefs about first language use in the foreign language classroom. In order for teachers to feel empowered and supported in LEP delivery, it will be contingent on policymakers to provide consistent and coherent messaging, as well as sustained gu...

Perspectives: The Impact of the New National Senior High School English Curriculum on Collaboration Between Japanese Teachers and Native Speakers

In this paper I discuss the impact of the Ministry of Education’s new national senior high school Course of Study for Foreign Languages on collaboration between Japanese teachers of English and native speakers of English. In consideration of the new curriculum’s request that classes be conducted in English and its reorganization of all English subjects, I draw upon frameworks in language-in-education policy and planning (Kaplan & Baldauf, 2003; Liddicoat, 2004) and highlight potential issues concerning its implementation at the local level. 本研究では文部科学省の新しい外国語学習のための指導要領が日本人教師と英語母語話者との間の連携に与える影響について議論する。新しいカリキュラムの全体目標と全英語科目の再構成に鑑み、本研究では教育における言語政策・計画の枠組み（Kaplan & Baldauf, 2003; Liddicoat, 2004）から現場レベルで実施する際に起こりうる問題を明らかにする。

Beyond the rhetoric: Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of student learning in team-teaching classes

Team teaching by local Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) and foreign assistant language teachers (ALTs) through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program has received high acclaim for its role in promoting foreign language education and enhancing cultural exchange. However, we need to critically examine the realities of team teaching beyond the prevailing rhetoric as team teaching affects hundreds of thousands of people and costs a considerable amount of money. I recruited two pairs of team teachers and their students from two public high schools in Japan to explore their perceptions of student learning in team-teaching classes. Data were collected from December 2011 to March 2012 using multiple qualitative methods. The participants had complex, idiosyncratic interpretations of the rationale behind team-teaching classes, the learning goals involved, and approaches taken. The article concludes with a discussion of practical implications arising from this study and of how acknowledging the particular contexts of individual teachers and students can improve team-teaching classrooms in Japan. 日本人英語教諭(JTE)とJETプログラムによって招聘された外国語指導助手(ALT)によるティームティーチングは、主に語学指導と国際交流の分野において各方面から高く評価されている。しかしながら、本論ではその常套句に捉われず、多くの人々に影響があり、多額の費用もかかることを考慮して、現場の教師と生徒達のティームティーチング授業における学習活動に関する認識の実態を深く追求した。データは様々な質的研究手法を利用し、2011年12月から2012年3月に渡って2つの公立高等学校の2組のティームティーチング教諭とその生徒達から収集された。その結果、教師、生徒が抱くティームティーチング授業の学習活動の認識は、複雑多岐に渡り、それぞれが特有の根拠、目的、学習様式を抱いていることが示唆された。本論では最後に、個々の教師、生徒の境遇に重きを置いた、実践的な提言を行う。

TEAM TEACHING IN JAPAN FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF THE ALTs, THE JTEs, AND THE STUDENTS

This case study explores team teaching in Japan from the perspectives of JTEs (Japanese English Teachers), ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers), and students. Special focus is attributed to teachers and students’ perceptions of ALT and JTE roles. To determine the perspectives of all three participants, 112 students, 4 JTES and 2 ALTs from a Japanese high school in Chiba Prefecture were surveyed. Fieldwork was conducted over a ten-day period at the research site in 2009 to collect data in the form of questionnaires, interviews, and class observations. The findings indicate more of a mismatch between students’ perceptions of their teachers’ roles than between teachers. The results also reveal the students prefer a combination of both teachers and find team-taught classes more beneficial to developing their English skills.

'Real English' in Japan : team teachers' views on nativeness in language teaching

In Japan, English is often taught by teams composed of a local Japanese teacher of English (JTE) and a native English speaking assistant English teacher (AET). This form of team teaching is typically assumed to be beneficial as it provides the students with exposure to models of native English which they would otherwise not encounter. Research has found that students and JTEs approve of team teaching as it provides students with motivation to study a language that would otherwise have little relevance to their daily lives. Less research has been done to explore how team teaching affects the JTEs with regards to their feelings about their own skills as English language users. In this paper, based on interview research with JTEs, I argue that team teaching reinforces the dichotomy between native and non-native speakers to the detriment of both Japanese teachers and their students.

An Analysis of Assistant Language Teachers' Perceptions of their Working Relationships with Japanese Teachers of English

日本の外国語教育(英語教育)の改善,地域レベルの国際化の促進を意図して1987年に始まったJETプログラムには,近年二つの大きな変化が表れてきている。一つは,このプログラムによる外国青年(その大半は外国語指導助手,ALT)の招致人数の漸減であり,今一つは改訂された学習指導要領による小学校における外国語活動の必修化の流れによるALTに対するニーズの高まり,である。 こうした環境変化の中で,ALTと日本人教員(英語科教員及び学級担任)との相互理解という問題は,これまで以上に重要となってこよう。筆者らは,過去においてALTと日本人英語科教員の相互理解に関わる課題を質問紙調査等を通して行ってきた(Tsuido 1997, Otani & Van Loh 1998, 築道2000)。いずれの調査からも10年以上が経過した。そこで,過去の質問紙調査における主要な質問項目と上述の新たな変化要因を質問に取り込んで,中国地方のA県のALTに質問紙調査を2010年11月に実施した。68名のALTのうち,38名から有効回答を得た。本稿では,ALTの役割,仕事への満足度、10の葛藤場面に対するフラストレーションの程度、小学校と中学校との違いに関する認識等を中心に質問紙調査に対する回答を分析する。また,自由記述にみられる問題や解決策を質的に検討し,教員研修等においての改善策を提案する。

Revealing Shifts and Diversity in Understandings of Self Access Language Learning

This study has traced the growth of a new facility intended to promote independent language study in a Japanese university. The study traces this Self Access Learning Center (SALC) from its inception through the first two years of its development. It has revealed how key qualitative insights from an archive of semi-structured interviews, conversational narratives and questionnaires with students, teachers, center staff and university management are marked by their shifting and diverse nature. Findings related to language policy for the center show how initial ‘English only’ regulations have been opposed and amended by stakeholders. Findings focusing on the center stakeholders’ metaphors of self access language learning have changed or been supplemented and show great diversity. Importantly, SALC’s positioning in the wider university has experienced problems with diverse evaluation expectations and, despite considerable financial backing, remains marginalized. Finally, SALC’s integration with university curricula has seen mixed results; the center is connected closely to the English curriculum as taught by non-Japanese, but not to curricula taught by Japanese teachers of English or content subjects. This indicates that integration of university-wide curricula with autonomous modes of learning remains a hurdle. This study may inform other centers seeking to gather data on the diverse voices impacting upon their development.

A case study of how beliefs toward language learning and language teaching influence the teaching practices of a Japanese teacher of English in Japanese higher education

Japanese teachers of English in Japanese higher education are an under-researched, yet a highly influential group of teachers. A yearlong case study with one teacher, a literature specialist who is relatively new at teaching English, was conducted. Through multiple interviews and classroom observations, it was found that the teacher’s beliefs toward language learning and language teaching are deeply rooted in how she successfully learned English and are shaped by her love for literature. The paper concludes with a call for more qualitative and quantitative research investigating the teaching practices and the English pedagogical beliefs of Japanese university English teachers in order to deepen our understanding of English language education in Japan. 日本の高等教育機関における日本人の英語教師の役割は大きいにもかかわらず、これまで十分に研究の対象になって来なかった。文学が専門の比較的経験の浅い1人の教師を対象として1年間、ケーススタディを行った。数回のインタビューおよび教室での観察を通じて、その教師の言語学習・言語教授についての本人の信条が、自分の英語学習における成功体験および文学への愛情に少なからず影響されていることが判明した。本論では、日本における英語教育の理解を深めるためには、大学教師がどのような教育を行っているか、どのような教育上の信念を持っているのかを、質的にも量的にもさらに研究する必要性があると結論づけている。