Professional development for high school teachers of Russian in Japan: A londitudinal study

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370715
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Yokoi Sachiko 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科(研究院), 講師 (70635119)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HAYASHIDA Rie 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科, 教授 (70185651)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ロシア語教育 / 言語教育政策 / 外国語教師養成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This 2-year-long qualitative study examines how teachers of Russian locally negotiate the top-down FL education policy and recreate the Russian as a foreign language (RFL) education policy in their classrooms at 4 high schools in Japan. The collected data include participant observations, audio-recordings (Russian classes, 2 professional development workshops, interviews), and any related written materials and documents.
Our analysis highlights how the teachers locally negotiated and recreated the RFL education policy to fit their individual school contexts. In such moments, the teachers often reflected on their practice and took risks to try what they had learned in their professional development workshops in their own classes. We broadly argue that professional development may play a significant role in language education policy processes, giving opportunities and tools for teachers to practice their agency, challenge and recreate the given policy in their daily practices.

Free Research Field

外国語教育