Special Feature
The Power of Perceptions: A Look at Professionalism in
Private Language Schools in Japan
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
The Study
Context
The participants in the study consisted of two Japanese managers and three foreign
teachers from five different language schools (see Appendix A for a brief biography of
the participants). All the schools are large (i.e. over 1000 students enrolled) and located
in Sapporo. Responses were elicited using an oral interview method (See Appendix B),
with each interview lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. I chose to use a
flexible questioning format, allowing respondents to introduce and explore relevant
topics (and also allowing me to develop "unanticipated lines of enquiry" (Weir and
Roberts, 1994, p.143)) and later provided structure to the responses through content
analysis (Cohen, 1986, p.35). The interviews were conducted in Sapporo, Japan, and all
the participants consented to going on record (either recorded or written). The two
Japanese managers were interviewed in Japanese and the responses were later
translated into English. I was able to record one of the Japanese interviews on
audiotape, but the other Japanese manager preferred to have his responses written
down, as it made him more comfortable. I was able to record and transcribe all the
interviews with the three foreign teachers.
Data Collection
Although the small number of participants prevents generalizing of the data I believe
most of the information reported in the study reflects the concerns and assumptions of
many in the ELT industry in Japan. Thus, I feel it is up to the reader to weigh the quality
of the data against their own experiences in ELT in Japan.
Interview with Two Japanese Managers
The following excerpts are from interviews conducted in Sapporo. They have been
translated from Japanese to English. The comments are in response to basic
questions revolving around concepts of professionalism, and English teaching in
general, in Japan (See Appendix B). Though heavily edited due to length constraints, I
tried to include comments I felt represented the greatest disparity between the two
groups (teachers and managers).
Manager #1
Foreign teachers often feel an eikaiwa is not school but rather a
business; that we (management) aren't concerned with education. It's
difficult for many foreigners to understand Japanese business
practices because they aren't familiar with our culture. For example,
some teachers get angry when we point out the need for friendliness
and enjoyment in the classroom. They have a different idea of how
students (and we) see teachers. In Japanese junior and senior high
schools teachers are not just expected to teach the subject material
but to serve as counselors, concerned with each student's well being.
Teaching and counseling are equally important... As for the question
about hiring qualified teachers, to be honest, we've had difficulty
finding professional teachers. When we do interview qualified
teachers they usually want to work part-time to supplement their
other sources of income (from high schools and colleges)... It's hard to
keep qualified teachers because they want a lot of money ...Yes,
teachers sometimes want to have more responsibilities and make
decisions but the problem we've had in the past is they don't stay long
enough at the school. After 1 or 2 years teachers leave and the new
teachers want to do things 'their' way... Students don't like it when
the system and teaching staff keep changing.
Manager #2
Some foreigners are serious about teaching, but many are here just to
make money. They don't want to work hard even though they are
paid a lot of money compared to other Japanese employees. Many
teachers aren't team oriented and feel the school is trying to control
them. In the past we hired real teachers but they were very hard to
handle. They wanted to change everything; the curriculum, the
number of students in the class, the working hours, and so on. ..I
don't think it's so important to have a teaching license. The most
important thing is to have a caring attitude. Teachers should try to
improve themselves...'trying', is the most important thing... It is very
expensive to train teachers. We can't spend the time really necessary
because we are a private school... My experience has been that
teachers aren't aware of what students need; some qualified teachers
are skilled (they have good techniques) but they are not good at giving
each student what they need...students want English that is useful
for them, specifically. Basically, we'd like the teachers to focus on
teaching and not think about sales. Sometimes teachers complain that
we (the managers) don't include them in the business side of the
company. We don't like to tell teachers a lot about the organization
because teachers move from school to school frequently, and, as it is a
business, we don't want other schools to know how we operate.
Interview with Three Foreign Teachers
Teacher #1
From a business point of view, Japanese language schools are part of
the service, not education industry... Often teachers are made to feel
that they are a necessary evil of the enterprise, and are given little
feedback on their teaching and/or very little information regarding
the company and its organization. Moreover, if teachers are made to
feel that they are easily replaceable, and if their level of
professionalism toward teaching is not recognized, it is also likely to
result in low morale and ill feelings toward management. An example
of this is the industry's employment criteria for selecting its teachers.
Although many schools contend that they wish to provide the best
possible lessons for their students, they are willing to turn away
qualified older teachers in favor of young non-qualified people to
maintain an image of youthfulness. Furthermore, most schools do not
seem to actively seek trained teachers, often relying on their 3 -days
to 1-week training programs to transform graduates of other fields
into suitable language teachers. To improve the work environment at
my present school, the management needs to raise its expectations of
the foreign staff; the teaching staff needs to be encouraged to be
actively involved in suggesting ways to improve the teaching and
student services of the school...In addition, the school needs to
actively employ more appropriately qualified teachers. This is not to
say that all employees need to be teacher-trained. Rather the more
suitably trained professionals they can gather, the more professional
the overall teaching will become.
Teacher #2
A comment I often hear from teachers is "they don't care 'what' I teach,
only 'how' I teach", in other words friendliness is the most important
thing. The whole idea of professionalism is confusing over here. All I
get day in and day out are speeches about professionalism - for
example, the importance of presentable attire, the importance of
friendly hellos, the importance of developing suitable material.
Another problem is that they ask me to train but they don't give me
the time. They usually give me one day to train a teacher. It's also
very difficult to get good teachers. The management just doesn't know
anything about education. On the other hand, when it comes right
down to it, most foreigners don't know anymore about teaching
English then the students they're teaching... The boss [Japanese
president of the school] doesn't like the teachers to discuss work
problems in the teachers' meetings because he thinks it will lead to
more problems [negativity]. Any problems should go through me and
then be passed on to him. The president makes most of the decisions
and my job is to make the teachers understand his decision.
Teacher #3
When I first got to Japan I knew nothing about teaching English. I
just assumed I would pick it up gradually. Only when I started
teaching did I realize how difficult teaching a language was. Many of
my friends back home have written to me about the possibility of
teaching English in Japan for a year or two. Before I came to Japan I
was told not to worry too much about teaching skills because the
Japanese managers didn't care so much about the quality. I think this
is a misconception people have about teaching in Japan. I tell anyone
who plans to teach in Japan that they should get some training in
EFL before they arrive. That way they'll feel they are actually
contributing something.
A summation of major points has been presented in the previous section (i.e. excerpts
from the interviews) and thus, a summary of the results is unnecessary.
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
<<Back Number | Top |
Recent Issue>>
|
