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Appropriating pedagogical tools: A case study of Japanese secondary school EFL teachers returning from overseas in-service teacher education program

Kurihara, Yuka
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187097104

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Teaching and Learning.
There are a growing number of teachers from English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings who participate in L2 teacher education programs in North American universities and then return to teach in their home countries. Given this trend, it is important to understand the nature of EFL teachers’ learning to teach, in particular, how they appropriate pedagogical tools presented in their programs into their own teaching contexts when they make a transition between the two settings. In the contexts of Japan, to promote communicative-oriented pedagogy in English education, the Ministry of Education (MEXT) has currently provided the government-sponsored overseas in-service teacher education (MEXT) programs for Japanese secondary school EFL teachers. However, little research has been conducted to examine their experiences of learning to teach. By using “activity theory” as a main theoretical framework, therefore, this study explores Japanese EFL teachers’ appropriation processes and illuminates sources and settings that shaped the processes (Grossman, et al., 1999; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006). A combined quantitative and qualitative methods approach was employed in this study. The participants of the quantitative method based on questionnaires, were sixty-six Japanese secondary school EFL teachers who participated in the U.S. MEXT programs from 1998 to 2003. To gain a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in their learning to teach, a qualitative case study was subsequently conducted with three teachers from the questionnaire respondents. Furthermore, I triangulated data sources such as teachers, school administrators, and program hosts in this study. The questionnaire results reveal that teachers had positive feelings about the training, especially in regards to their English language development and gained pedagogical tools related to communicative-based teaching and learning. However, the case study findings suggest that teachers faced challenges in appropriating the tools into their own teaching sites. The results also suggest that their appropriation processes involve the complex interplay between individual teachers’ histories and goals as well as the settings in which their learning to teach occurred. Based on these findings, I argue that EFL teachers’ learning to teach needs to be viewed as a dynamic co-constructed process rather than passive internalization of transmitted knowledge.
Keiko Samimy (Advisor)
Education, Teacher Training
Activity theory; appropriation; Communicative Language Teaching; in-service teacher education program; professional development

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kurihara, Y. (2007). Appropriating pedagogical tools: A case study of Japanese secondary school EFL teachers returning from overseas in-service teacher education program [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187097104

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kurihara, Yuka. Appropriating pedagogical tools: A case study of Japanese secondary school EFL teachers returning from overseas in-service teacher education program. 2007. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187097104.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kurihara, Yuka. "Appropriating pedagogical tools: A case study of Japanese secondary school EFL teachers returning from overseas in-service teacher education program." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187097104

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.