Exploring Japanese University English Teachers' Professional Identity

By (author) Diane Hawley Nagatomo

Publication date:

30 January 2012

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781847696472

This book contributes to the growing field of EFL teacher identity, which is now recognized to influence numerous aspects of classroom teaching and of student learning. It focuses on an under-researched, and yet highly influential group of teachers that shape English language education in Japan: Japanese university English teachers. In three interrelated narrative studies, it examines how four relatively new teachers develop professional identity as they become members of the community of practice of university English teachers; how gender impacts the professional identity of seven female professors ranging in age from their early 30s to their 60s; and how one teacher’s teaching practices and beliefs reflect her personal and professional identity.

It is rare to encounter a volume in the TESOL field written in a meticulously researched style that, at the same time, presents an introspective, reader-friendly analysis of a very complex situation. Hawley Nagatomo's book is an important addition to the burgeoning use of narrative studies aimed at uncovering the sociopolitical underpinnings of identity constructions of professional ELT educators. Although the primary focus is on female tertiary-level teachers in Japan, readers situated in different contexts will recognize themes that resonate with their own experiences as language instructors.