| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000)
Fiscal Year 2010: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2009: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2008: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
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| Research Abstract |
English is deemed important in Japanese society, but Japanese graduate students need more than language proficiency to perform on par with English-speaking students worldwide. For this reason, a mentorship program (Smith & Davidson, 1992) was introduced to provide Japanese graduate students majoring in TESOL to assist them with conference presentations, journal publishing, teaching, and most importantly with conducting research. This study documented and explored the effects such mentorship has on the development of prominent young Japanese scholars.
Thirteen Japanese students (8 males, 5 females) and four instructors have participated in the program since October 2007 to March 2011. This study used qualitative research methods such as narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990 ; 2000), action research (Nunan,1990 ; 1992), self-study (Loughran et al., 2004), and ethnographic observation (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995) to document the instructors' and the students' learning.
The students heightened their awareness from an early stage as to understanding and appreciating what it means to be a language teacher as well as an applied linguist. Similarly, the instructors were able to follow students' process in becoming academics, giving rise to new understandings and implications for guidance. The program may be costly and demands efforts on the part of both the instructors and students (Kira & Kitano, 2008), but its effects have far-reaching and long-lasting influences on those who will be making Japan a distinct and strong research nation within international academic arena.
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