Title: Role of Study Abroad in the Path to Teaching English in English Among Japanese Teachers
Stream: Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
Presentation Type: Virtual Presentation
Authors:
Mitsuyo Toya, University of The Ryukyus, Japan
Abstract:
Even with the newly issued and implemented Course of Study by the Japanese Ministry of Sports, Education, and Science and Technology (MEXT), the use of English in English classrooms at junior high and high school levels is far from 100 percent. The current project investigated the professional development of English teachers at public schools in Okinawa, Japan, using the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA, Valsiner & Sato, 2006) based on individual interviews. In this presentation, the TEA charts of two junior high school and six high school teachers are compared focusing on the impacts of their study abroad experiences in achieving the Teaching English in English (TEE) stage (i.e., equifinality point). The results revealed that the nature of their overseas experience led to differences in the acquisition of practical means to pursue TEE. More specifically, majors other than TESL enhanced the participating teachers’ English command significantly. Still, they did not provide practical ideas for conducting TEE, while studying TESL worked as the psychological base for not giving up TEE even when the students’ proficiency levels were not high enough to understand the teachers’ English use. TEE is considered essential in developing students’ proficiency in class and teachers’ study abroad experience is often believed to be desirable. However, the effect of such experience needs to be carefully examined in the course of professional development.
Virtual Presentation
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