Creating and sustaining a local research community in a Japanese context (original) (raw)
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This article focuses on the description of an innovative academic program implemented in the Masters Program in Applied Linguistics to TEFL at Distrital University in Bogotá, Colombia that aimed at facilitating EFL teachers' undertaking of research in schools in Bogotá. The process of working collaboratively included identifying teachers' feelings related to their research capabilities. The program allowed students to develop awareness de Caldas. She leads an advanced seminar on Literacy and is the main researcher of a project titled: "Teachers' Innovative Practices in Language and Literacy Curricula " funded by COLCIENCIAS and Universidad Distrital.
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This descriptive study aims to investigate tertiary EFL teachers’ perceptions and practices of doing research. The study was conducted with the participation of 67 EFL teachers from tertiary institutions in Cantho of Vietnam. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered via the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to provide insights into how Cantho tertiary EFL teachers perceive the benefits and challenges of doing research as well as their current status of practices as researchers. The study revealed that (1) Cantho tertiary teachers held positive perceptions of conducting research in the field of English language teaching, and that (2) their practices as researchers were reported to be at a high level. Understanding these is an important part of the broader process of attempting to resolve research challenges teachers are facing and thus to encourage teacher research engagement among EFL teachers. Article visualizations:
Language Teaching Research, 2019
This study examined how secondary teachers (junior and senior high school teachers) of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan participated in collaborative action research and engaged in their professional development over four years. In particular, little is known as to how EFL teachers challenge their beliefs and implement innovative practices based on communicative language teaching (CLT) through teacher learning processes. Using a mixed methods design, the study identified three developmental stages regardless of years of teaching experience: (1) Challenging teacher beliefs through TESOL classes and modeling teachers who have done similar action research (AR) through trial and error teaching as they practice communicative activities; (2) Making sense of teaching through adapting and modifying theories of CLT; and (3) Building confidence in teaching by actually seeing students change. These stages overlap and are not mutually exclusive, depending on teacher and teaching context. The study reveals teachers' dynamic learning processes and professional development.
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ETAS Journal, 2018
Handing the chalk over in Mongolia: A cultural teaching "Aha!" • Amy D. Jost 18 From IATEFL 2017 to the refugee crisis in Athens • Lindsey Clark 20 Why do we lose students in India? The importance of tuning into students' ZPDs • Tara Ratnam 23 The challenges of teaching and learning English in Algeria • El Hadj Moussa Ben Moussa, Dave Burnapp, Janet Wilson, and David Simmons 25 'If it isn't in your body, you haven't learned it' • Juliet du Mont 27 Task-Based Language Teaching in Japan • Marc Jones 29 Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in Germany • Clare Maas 31 Tips for teaching real English with TED Talks: Accent, cultural agility, audience • Lewis Lansford VOICES OF EXPERIENCE 34 Speaking? Yes, please! Low-tech and low-prep activities which will get your teenage students speaking • Hana Tichá SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Research literacy Part 3-Supporting teacher research in English Language Teaching 37 Foreword • Daniel Xerri INSIGHTS 38 'Generating knowledge for themselves': Kathleen Graves on teacher research • Daniel Xerri SUPPORTING TEACHER RESEARCH IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 40 Improving the feasibility of teacher research • Simon Borg 42 Supporting teacher-researchers: Some issues • Amol Padwad 45 Supporting 'quality' in novice teacher research: Data collection and data analysis • Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel 48 Supporting language teachers as they engage in research • Judith Hanks VOICES FROM ETAS: TEACHERS TALK RESEARCH 51 On 'Supporting teacher-researchers through the development of research literacy': Teachers' reactions • Ben Hoyt 51 Re+search: New teachers looking for new input • Lynn Williams-Leppich 52 What do 20 years of teaching experience amount to? • Susanne Oswald 53 On Daniel Xerri's plenary, 'Supporting teacher-researchers through the development of research literacy': A humble teacher's reaction • Rachael Harris 53 Reflecting through teaching journals • Gemma Lunn PERSPECTIVES 54 A conversation about supporting teacher research • Willy A. Renandya and Flora D. Floris
Promoting EFL Teacher Research Engagement through a Research Support Programme
RELC Journal, 2017
Existing initiatives purporting to promote teacher research are often found to be inadequate to encourage EFL teachers to engage in research due to the fact that they impose a top down, expert model approach to research engagement. This study reports on a pioneering programme at Sultan Qaboos University Language Centre in the Sultanate of Oman which has adopted a bottom up, practitioner-based approach to research. Drawing on questionnaire and interview data, the article examines the teachers’ perceptions of their experiences in initiating and carrying out teacher research using this programme. The findings indicate that whilst contextual constraints similar to those cited in the literature remain unyielding, the research support programme has been effective in supporting teachers to initiate and lead their own research studies. This success is discussed in relation to the programme’s basis in a practitioner practice to theory model versus expert theory to practice models of teacher ...
The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (known as MEXT) has repeated announcement of plans to reform English language education in recent years. These movements show the government’s desire for an urgent improvement of Japanese students’ English ability, this puts considerable pressure on many Japanese English teachers. In 2013, MEXT announced the latest plan, identifying specific levels or scores in external English proficiency tests both as the goal of Japanese secondary level students and as the minimum requirement of English proficiency for Japanese English teachers. Moreover, in 2014, MEXT convened a number of English Education Promotion Leaders (known as LEEPs), one from each of the Japanese municipalities, and began a series of training courses for the LEEPs with the support of British Council. This instrumental approach to education, its focus on outcomes and its ‘monolithic’ conceptualization of English goes against my values. These values include a commitment towards authentic communication through the development of communicative competence and a ‘plurilithic’ approach to the conceptualization of English (Hall, 2013, p.211). In this context, this paper aims to answer these questions: What is the impact/are the gaps in English teacher education programs conducted by an ‘external professional expert’? What does communicative competence mean? How could a plurilithic understanding of English have impact on the English language education context of Japan? The findings from the following qualitative data analysed by means of content analysis are provided and discussed: the questionnaire responses from 10 LEEPs who participated in the second British Council-led teacher education program in October 2014, the questionnaire responses from 15 teachers who participated in a LEEP-led teacher education program in August 2015 and the feedback from 15 workshop (Wicaksono and Kondo, 2014) participants.
2011
The author presents the outcomes of a survey which was conducted in Japan between September and November 1991 in co-operation with Takekazu Ehara, professor of Kyoto University, department of education. Whereas the author conducted intensive interviews at 15 universities and three research institutes and sent a questionnaire to 169 professors, assistant professors and lecturers at various universities in Japan, "the basic design of the survey was to find out about the attitudes of Japanese higher education teachers (professors, assistant professors and lecturers) towards their material and non-material work conditions and about their views on some acute problems and strategies in the face of present changes." Here the chapter about the outcomes of the survey is finally divided into four parts which focus on a) personal data, b) personal work conditions, c) organizational and financial conditions of research and teaching and d) prospects of university's role and conditi...