Japanese English teachers' experiences of learning and teaching English: A phenomenological case study

Learning how to teach is strongly affected by the teachers' learning experiences as students. Examining teachers' learning experiences and teaching experiences will help us to understand the nature of learning and teaching.;In the Fourth Report on Educational Reform by the National Council on Educational Reform, submitted to the Japanese Prime Minister in 1987, foreign language educators were urged to shift their teaching methods to more communicative approaches. This methodological shift has caused a gap between the way Japanese English teachers were taught as students in school and the way they are expected to teach in today's classrooms. It is obvious there is the need of research in this Japanese context to provide effective pre- and in-service training of teachers.;This research project is designed to fill the need for research on how this shift affects Japanese English teachers. In this study, two Japanese English teachers' perceptions of learning and teaching English in the Japanese context were investigated. The research questions are: (1) How did Japanese English teachers experience learning English as students in Japan? (2) How have their learning experiences affected their teaching? and (3) How have their experiences influenced their beliefs about foreign language education?;This research project is a phenomenological study. The methodological approach consists of conducting three ninety-minute, in-depth interviews to investigate the teachers' perceptions of their learning and teaching experiences. The interviews were intended to explore the three target areas of this study: the participants' general experiences of learning English, their teaching experiences, and their beliefs about learning and teaching. All interviews, conducted in Japanese, were tape-recorded and transcribed. When this report was written up, all the excerpts in Japanese were translated into English.;The significant events in each participant's experiences were analyzed. After the analysis of each participant's experiences, the common elements in the two participants were compared and contrasted. There is a clear gap between the instruction they were given as students and the instruction they are expected to give their students. It is illustrated through the participants' words that while they were learning at school as students they shaped their pedagogical value system about learning and teaching. The reasons why the implementation of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is difficult in Japan are rather in the Japanese education system, school culture and the teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning English. The need for more effective and complete training sessions for successful implementation of the new policy is pointed out as well as expanding the role of university in teacher education and support.