Teacher education for teaching English as a foreign language to children in Japan

The Course of Study which was introduced in Japanese elementary schools in 2002 prescribed English as a foreign language (EFL) activities as a part of international understanding in the "Period of Integrated Study". By 2008, EFL will be a required subject in Japanese elementary schools. This thesis discusses some of context and methodology that will be needed to train in-service teachers at Japanese elementary schools so that they will be able to teach EFL despite overwhelming difficulties. Japanese teachers participate now in teacher professional development in various workshops even though they are very busy. However, the Japanese centralized top-down way of teacher professional development occasionally contradicts the "Period for Integrated Studies" policy to develop diversities, creativities, and self-organization in students. The relation between in-service teachers and teachers' colleges is very weak in Japan. Hokkaido University of Education (HUE) is no exception. HUE will need to establish programs for in-service teacher education to meet teachers' needs and their own personal educational goals for continuous training. This thesis describes a program that could provide in-service teachers with the opportunity to take programs according to their individual needs and desires, in "Negotiated Lifelong Study Plans". Lifelong education is clearly the key to a teacher's acquisition of appropriate teaching practices. I argue for a general conceptual framework for addressing some of the teacher professional development needs of elementary school teachers in Japan by means of modified Activity Theory model provided by the Finnish social scientist Yrjo Engeström (1999) so that teachers may acquire skills and prerequisites to successfully teach EFL to children in Japan. My argument is that teacher development is a career-long, if not lifelong responsibility. Therefore, HUE needs to provide a program for teachers to engage in continual study. This educational circulation is suggested as the "Lifelong Dynamic Cycle for Teacher Professional Development" in this thesis. In addition, it is suggested that HUE should establish a community college system for practical field studies. Students can teach classes in the community college as students' teachers. In addition, in-service teachers in the professional graduate program can also use them as practical field studies.