Investigating how expatriate English language teachers can overcome the obstacle of student silence in Japanese university classrooms

• Project/Area Number: 24K04097
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02100:Foreign language education-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu Sangyo University
• Principal Investigator: Shachter Jonathan 九州産業大学, 語学教育研究センター, 常勤講師 (10828461)
• Project Period (FY): 2024-04-01 – 2027-03-31
• Project Status: Granted (Fiscal Year 2024)
• Budget Amount: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2026: ¥130,000 (Direct Cost: ¥100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥30,000); Fiscal Year 2025: ¥130,000 (Direct Cost: ¥100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥30,000); Fiscal Year 2024: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
• Keywords: silence / Japan / EFL / non-Japanese teacher / wellbeing

Outline of Research at the Start

The approach of this project falls within a social-constructivist worldview, where open questions will be used as means to understand participant viewpoints. As such, this ethnographic case study will utilize event- based sampling and triangulate that data with semi-structured interviews at the end of each term.