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    Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan
    Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan
    Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan
    Ebook353 pages4 hours

    Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan

    By Gene Thompson

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    About this ebook

    This book examines language teacher efficacy beliefs, focusing on the individual and collective beliefs of Japanese high school teachers. It discusses personal and collective dimensions of language teacher efficacy related to personal second language (L2) capability, instructional L2 efficacy and collective capability towards collaboration. The book provides a detailed discussion about the ways in which these beliefs develop and situates the findings within the wider field of teacher efficacy research. It helps further understanding of factors that may influence teacher self-efficacy and suggests new directions for research to explore in future studies. It will appeal to postgraduates and researchers with an interest in language teacher cognition, the psychology of language teaching and those in the wider fields of self-efficacy, teacher efficacy and teacher agency. It is also of use to those with an interest in the high school English education system in Japan, as well as researchers investigating similar contexts.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMultilingual Matters
    Release dateMay 14, 2020
    ISBN9781788925419
    Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan
    Author

    Gene Thompson

    Gene Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Business at Rikkyo University. His EMI-related research focuses on the intersection between learner self-beliefs and behaviour, appearing in journals such as the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, System, Studies in Higher Education, and Language Teaching Research.

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      Book preview

      Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan - Gene Thompson

      Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan

      PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING

      Series Editors: Sarah Mercer, Universität Graz, Austria and Stephen Ryan, Waseda University, Japan

      This international, interdisciplinary book series explores the exciting, emerging field of Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching. It is a series that aims to bring together works which address a diverse range of psychological constructs from a multitude of empirical and theoretical perspectives, but always with a clear focus on their applications within the domain of language learning and teaching. The field is one that integrates various areas of research that have been traditionally discussed as distinct entities, such as motivation, identity, beliefs, strategies and self-regulation, and it also explores other less familiar concepts for a language education audience, such as emotions, the self and positive psychology approaches. In theoretical terms, the new field represents a dynamic interface between psychology and foreign language education and books in the series draw on work from diverse branches of psychology, while remaining determinedly focused on their pedagogic value. In methodological terms, sociocultural and complexity perspectives have drawn attention to the relationships between individuals and their social worlds, leading to a field now marked by methodological pluralism. In view of this, books encompassing quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies are all welcomed.

      All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.

      Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.

      PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING: 5

      Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan

      Gene Thompson

      MULTILINGUAL MATTERS

      Bristol • Blue Ridge Summit

      DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/THOMPS5396

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

      Names: Thompson, Gene, 1978- author.

      Title: Exploring Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan/Gene Thompson.

      Description: Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: This book focuses on the individual and collective beliefs of teachers. It discusses personal and collective dimensions of language teacher efficacy, discusses the ways in which efficacy beliefs develop, helps further understanding of factors that may influence teacher self-efficacy and suggests new directions for future research studies— Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019021980 (print) | LCCN 2019981510 (ebook) |

      ISBN 9781788925396 (hardback) | ISBN 9781788925389 (paperback) |

      ISBN 9781788925419 (epub) | ISBN 9781788925402 (pdf) |

      ISBN 9781788925426 (kindle edition)

      Subjects: LCSH: English language—Study and teaching (Higher)—Japan. | English language—Study and teaching (Higher)—Japanese speakers. | Second language acquisition—Study and teaching—Japan.

      Classification: LCC PE1068.J3 T485 2019 (print) | LCC PE1068.J3 (ebook) | DDC 428.0071—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019021980

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019981510

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-78892-539-6 (hbk)

      ISBN-13: 978-1-78892-538-9 (pbk)

      Multilingual Matters

      UK: St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.

      USA: NBN, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, USA.

      Website: www.multilingual-matters.com

      Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat

      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters

      Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com

      Copyright © 2020 Gene Thompson.

      All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

      The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.

      Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India.

      Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.

      Printed and bound in the US by Thomson-Shore, Inc.

      Contents

      Figures and Tables

      Abbreviations and Japanese Terms

      About the Author

      Acknowledgments

      Preface

      1 Introduction

      1.1 Background of the Study

      1.2 Why Study Teacher Efficacy?

      1.3 Chapter Summary

      2 Teacher Efficacy as a Form of Self-Efficacy

      2.1 A Brief History: Two Views of Teacher Efficacy

      2.2 Teacher Efficacy within Social Cognitive Theory

      2.3 How Efficacy Beliefs Differ from Other

      Self-Constructs18

      2.4 The Development of Efficacy Beliefs

      2.5 Additional Factors that May Influence Efficacy Beliefs

      2.6 Assessment of Efficacy Beliefs

      2.7 Chapter Summary

      3 Language Teacher Efficacy

      3.1 Self-Efficacy for Language Teaching

      3.2 Dimensions of Language Teacher Efficacy

      3.3 Development of Language Teacher Efficacy Beliefs

      3.4 Other Factors Related to LTE Beliefs

      3.5 Language Teacher Efficacy in Japan

      3.6 Chapter Summary

      4 Approaches for Investigating Language Teacher Efficacy

      4.1 Considerations for Teacher Efficacy Researchers

      4.2 Approaches for Investigating Foreign Language

      Teacher Efficacy47

      4.3 Research Design: Exploring JTE Teacher Efficacy

      4.4 Chapter Summary

      5 Developing a Language Teacher Efficacy Scale

      5.1 Using a Local Panel to Develop an Efficacy

      Instrument59

      5.2 The Expert Panel

      5.3 The Exploratory Cycle

      5.4 Item Translation Process

      5.5 The Evaluative Cycle

      5.6 Chapter Summary

      6 JTE Language Teacher Efficacy Beliefs and Dimensions

      6.1 Key Areas of Challenge for Japanese Teachers

      of English74

      6.2 Teacher Efficacy Beliefs of Japanese High School

      English Teachers76

      6.3 Dimensions of JTE Efficacy

      6.4 Variation in Dimensions of Language Teacher Efficacy

      6.5 Chapter Summary

      7 Language Teacher L2 Efficacy and L2 Usage

      7.1 Perceived L2 Capability as a Dimension of

      Language Teacher Efficacy87

      7.2 Teacher Efficacy Beliefs and English Proficiency

      7.3 Use of English as a Teaching Language

      7.4 Factors that Influence Efficacy towards the

      Use of English96

      7.5 Chapter Summary

      8 Efficacy for Language Instruction

      8.1 Two Dimensions of L2 Instructional Efficacy

      for the JTE Context102

      8.2 Factors that Influence Efficacy towards L2 Instruction

      8.3 Factors Associated with Communicative

      Teaching Efficacy106

      8.4 Predictors of Efficacy towards Student Achievement

      8.5 Chapter Summary

      9 Efficacy Towards Collaborative Practice and

      Collective Action

      9.1 Individual, Collective and Collaborative

      Teacher Efficacy117

      9.2 Collective and Collaborative Efficacy in

      Language Teaching Contexts119

      9.3 Efficacy towards Collaborative Practice

      9.4 Predictors of Efficacy towards Collaborative Practice

      9.5 Towards Stronger Efficacy for Collective Action

      9.6 Chapter Summary

      10 Language Teacher Efficacy Belief Development

      10.1 Sources of Language Teacher Efficacy

      10.2 Personal Experience as a Source of Efficacy Information

      10.3 The Social Nature of Teacher Practice

      10.4 Efficacy Development Over Time

      10.5 Chapter Summary

      11 Where Next for LTE Research?

      11.1 Key Findings

      11.2 Where Next: Suggestions for Future Research

      11.3 Final Summary

      References

      Index

      Figures and Tables

      Tables

      Figures

      Abbreviations and Japanese Terms

      Abbreviations

      Japanese terms

      About the Author

      Gene Thompson is an associate professor of language and communication in the College of Business at Rikkyo University, Japan. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Education from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He also has a postgraduate diploma in Second Language Teaching and a masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of Waikato, New Zealand.

      His research on language learner and teacher cognitions started from his involvement as a teacher educator in Hiroshima, where he worked with pre-service elementary school teachers and consulted for city and prefectural boards of education. Gene continues to examine learner and teacher cognitions about language learning.

      This is Gene’s first book. He has published in international journals such as Studies in Higher Education, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education and the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. He maintains an interest in the teaching of English as an international language, and has co-authored a number of entries in the TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. He has also co-authored a chapter focused on translation fidelity for multilingual data collection and analysis in The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics.

      Acknowledgments

      The research reported in this book could not have been carried out without the help of many busy English teachers across Japan, who kindly volunteered their time to participate in the studies reported in this book.

      As much of the work reported in this book is derived from collaborative research efforts, I wish to thank Karen Woodman, Karen Dooley, Rebecca Spooner-Lane and Mayuno Yanagita for their contributions to the research presented here.

      I also wish to thank the series editors Sarah Mercer and Stephen Ryan, who gave me valuable feedback and helped make this book more readable.

      Finally, thank you to Mayuko and Alec, for putting up with me.

      Preface

      This book introduces readers to the developing field of language teacher efficacy (LTE) research. Teacher efficacy has been extensively studied within the wider field of education; however, it has received less attention within the field of applied linguistics. This book helps readers to locate language teacher efficacy within the field of teacher efficacy research, and focuses on the Japanese high school language teaching context. It discusses personal and collective dimensions of language teacher efficacy related to personal second language (L2) capability, instructional L2 efficacy and collective capability towards collaboration. This book presents previously unpublished research exploring the factors that influence language teacher efficacy, with discussion about the ways in which these beliefs develop.

      Teacher efficacy is discussed in this book as a type of self-efficacy, and refers to the self-beliefs of teachers about their perceived capability to execute actions and achieve valued teaching outcomes, via personal and collective effort (Bandura, 1997, 2006). A variety of terms have been used in the applied linguistics research literature to refer to the self-efficacy for teaching beliefs of language teachers, such as teaching self-efficacy (e.g. Hiver, 2013), English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher self-efficacy (e.g. Hoang, 2018), language teacher self-efficacy (e.g. Wyatt, 2018b) and EFL teacher collective efficacy (e.g. Göker, 2012). This book uses the term language teacher efficacy (LTE) as it aligns with the use of the term ‘teacher efficacy’ to refer to teacher self-efficacy beliefs in the wider fields of education and psychology; can be used to discuss efficacy as individual or collective beliefs; and can be applied to a variety of language teaching contexts (e.g. English as a second language [ESL], EFL and the teaching of languages other than English).

      My Interest in Language Teacher Efficacy

      This book, and the research presented here, came about from my experience as a teacher educator in Japan, during a period of curriculum reform that mandated L2-speaking teachers, at the high school level, to use English as the primary language for carrying out their classes. As a contributor to teacher training workshops, I met many highly motivated teachers giving up their weekends to attend seminars and attempt to learn useful new teaching strategies in preparation for the new curriculum. However, I also met teachers – many of whom were forced to attend such workshops – who were the opposite.

      I began to see a difference in the respective ‘confidence’ of teachers towards the different teaching tasks that the new curriculum guidelines encouraged. I began to wonder how confident are they about using English to teach? How confident are they about developing new activities? How can I further investigate confidence towards different teaching tasks?

      My focus on teacher ‘confidence’ further developed out of a collaborative project I carried out with a high school Japanese teacher of English (JTE) during the early 2010s (see Thompson & Yanagita, 2017). The teacher was struggling to understand exactly how to apply communicative language teaching (CLT) in her classes, and as noted in other studies (Cook, 2009; Underwood, 2012), she faced resistance towards implementing change in materials design and teaching from her colleagues, who preferred to rely on the grammar-translation teaching method called yakudoku. The teacher asked me to work with her as a mentor, and from my participant-observer status, I became interested in the change in her ‘confidence’ over the course of the project, as I learned about the broader teaching environment within which she worked.

      I surveyed the teacher cognition literature in order to identify a theoretical construct that specifically discussed the interaction between teachers’ perceptions of confidence, their teaching behaviour and how these were dynamically influenced by the contexts that they worked within. As a result, I developed an interest in language teacher efficacy, which I define as the beliefs that teachers have about their perceived capability to organise and carry out courses of action in order to effectively support the development of student L2 language ability.

      As Bandura (1997) has explained, feelings about experience (i.e. affective states) help shape and determine beliefs, and teacher self-beliefs have been argued as key mediators of teacher behaviour (Borg, 2003, 2006). Given the dynamic relationship between affect, beliefs and practice, the teacher efficacy research reported in this book grew out of a desire to explore what influenced JTEs’ self-beliefs about their capability to effectively teach English in their classrooms.

      Overview of the Book

      This book discusses findings from a sequential mixed method study of the self-efficacy for teaching beliefs of Japanese high school English language teachers. Certain chapters may be of more interest to different readers, and accordingly each is written in such a way that readers can visit and draw on different chapters without needing to read the entire book. I know that I seldom read a research book in full, and certainly not in one sitting, thus I have attempted to write this book as a series of integrated chapters that do not necessarily require the reader to read each page of each chapter.

      The book has 11 chapters. The first chapter introduces the reader to the context of the study, including the background of the research discussed in this book, contextual features of the Japanese language teaching environment and how this study of language teacher efficacy developed from an interest in language teacher ‘confidence’ towards the use of the L2 for language instruction.

      Chapter 2 introduces readers to teacher efficacy within the theoretical framework of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997, 2006) by tracing a brief history of teacher efficacy research, discussing the theoretical basis of efficacy beliefs as mediators of behaviour and considering the sources and assessment of efficacy beliefs. Chapter 3 then focuses specifically on language teacher efficacy beliefs, and further discusses the ideas raised in Chapter 2 by focusing on research carried out within the field of language teaching. It highlights the ways in which the current study contributes to knowledge within this developing field, and suggests some areas where further study is needed.

      The following two chapters move from the why and what towards the how. Chapter 4 discusses conceptual and measurement considerations for LTE researchers, introduces some approaches for examining language teacher efficacy and, as an example, provides the research design for the study discussed in this book, including discussion about the limitations of the research.

      One concern for teacher efficacy researchers is how to design surveys with strong construct and cultural validity that reflect the actual tasks where teacher efficacy beliefs operate in specific settings. Chapter 5 introduces the design process of the efficacy scale used in the research reported in this book. The Japanese Teacher of English Teacher Efficacy Scale (JTE-TES) represents an attempt to design a scale with task and contextual relevance for a specific population (i.e. for Japanese teachers of English). However, given that many of the challenges faced by JTEs are reflective of difficulties faced by language teachers in various contexts, the scale may also have utility for examining language teacher efficacy in other countries and teaching situations.

      Chapter 6 discusses efficacy towards different teaching tasks, and introduces various domains of language teacher efficacy. Three of these dimensions are further explored in Chapters 7–9. Chapter 7 examines efficacy towards the use of the L2 as part of the teaching process, Chapter 8 discusses L2 instructional efficacy and Chapter 9 focuses on L2 teacher efficacy beliefs towards collaboration. In each of these chapters, both the dimension of efficacy and factors that may influence these beliefs are examined.

      Chapter 10 focuses on the development of language teacher efficacy beliefs. This chapter synthesises findings from interviews with teachers and teacher consultants working in Japan, to discuss the sources of efficacy beliefs and their development. It notes the strong influence of social forces on teacher efficacy beliefs in the Japanese context, contributing to a growing discussion about the potential role of cultural forces as an influence on the development of teacher efficacy beliefs.

      Finally, this book concludes by looking forward. Chapter 11 provides a brief summary of the main contributions of this study, before providing suggestions for future language teacher efficacy research. The research presented in this book highlights the multidimensional nature of language teacher efficacy beliefs, and identifies a number of personal and contextual variables that could be explored in future studies, both within Japan and in the wider field of language education.

      1  Introduction

      Teachers are people; they make choices about the courses of action they pursue in trying to influence student achievement. They have agency. By proactively carrying out and reflecting on actions they take, they not only react to environmental forces, but also have the capacity to exercise control and effect change by setting goals and regulating their teaching behaviours (Bandura, 1991). They work with students, as part of teams, and within the confines of classrooms using the technology and resources available to them. As such, they are crucial contributors to what happens in their classrooms (Bandura, 1997), and in many cases, may be the strongest outside influence on the success of their students (Hattie, 2003). The beliefs and practices of teachers have therefore become a key area of research activity.

      Teacher efficacy refers to the confidence that teachers have in their capability to organise and carry out educational activities to influence student learning. The application of teacher efficacy to the language teaching field began during the early 2000s (e.g. Chacon, 2005) and has now reached a point at which reviews of language teacher efficacy (LTE) research are being released (e.g. Hoang, 2018; Wyatt, 2018b). This book introduces the reader to this developing field, with a focus on the LTE beliefs of Japanese high school teachers of English (JTEs).

      This book helps readers to locate LTE within its theoretical framework (Chapter 2), explains key findings from LTE research (Chapter 3) and outlines approaches to investigate LTE beliefs (Chapter 4). It then introduces an efficacy scale developed specifically for language teachers (Chapter 5), and highlights the multidimensional nature of LTE beliefs (Chapter 6), before focusing on personal and collective domains of efficacy related to perceived second language (L2) capability (Chapter 7), instructional L2 efficacy (Chapter 8) and language teacher beliefs about collaborative capability (Chapter 9). It finishes by discussing how LTE beliefs can be developed (Chapter 10) and highlights areas for future study (Chapter 11).

      This chapter introduces the background to the study, highlighting key difficulties of policy and methodology change within (and beyond) Japan, before discussing the rationale for studying LTE beliefs towards such challenges. Although this chapter focuses on language education reform efforts (and research) from the Japanese context, it also attempts to show how such movements reflect wider trends in the language teaching field.

      1.1 Background of the Study

      English has become a global language of business, science and education. Foreign language – and specifically English – skill has become a commodity that enables transnational mobility for individuals with sufficient ability (Cameron, 2012). As a result, in many countries where English is used as a foreign language (such as Japan), policies have been introduced during the past 30 years with the specific purpose of encouraging the development of foreign language ‘communicative’ ability in students (e.g. see Hato, 2005; Kirkpatrick & Bui, 2016; Nunan, 2003).

      These policies have generally emphasised oral communication in response to a perceived need for ‘communicative’ skills during this period of globalisation (Cameron, 2002), often due to requests from business groups, such as the Japan Business Federation (2000), who bemoaned the lack of English language ability in Japan. At the same time, there was a shift within language teaching towards communicative language teaching (CLT), an approach that focuses on meaning and authentic language use during language instruction (Richards, 2006; Richards & Schmidt, 2002). CLT was derived from L2 acquisition research that emphasised the negotiation of meaning as a crucial aspect of language development (Canale & Swain, 1980; Hymes, 1972; Krashen, 1981), resulting in a change in teaching methodology and policy.

      Primarily, reform efforts have been introduced as part of new (and revised) national curricula. For example, policies emphasising the teaching of CLT were introduced in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam (see Butler, 2011; Nunan, 2003). Beyond Asia, similar efforts have been implemented in countries across Africa, South America and in the Indian subcontinent (see Diallo, 2014; Kamhi-Stein et al., 2017; Obaidul Hamid, 2010). Within Japan, curriculum guidelines are known as the Course of Study (COS). New guidelines for secondary schools were introduced in the late 1990s (Ministry of Education, 1999) with further reforms in the early 2000s by the amalgamated Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2002), referred to using the acronym ‘MEXT’ in this book. These reforms specifically emphasised the importance of CLT

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