Online Filipino English teachers and the platformization of Japan’s English education

Abstract The Japanese government is increasingly supporting the adoption of new technologies for language teaching. An important facet of this strategy entails hiring Filipino instructors to teach English in both physical and platform contexts. This article considers the position of online Filipino teachers by analyzing documents produced by various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education, for-profit education platforms, and news media. The findings demonstrate that Filipino teachers are alternately described as “native” and “non-native” teachers by these various stakeholders in order to serve individual interests. Although much has been said about the native and non-native dichotomy in the language education literature, this article adds to these discussions by demonstrating how the ostensible innovation underlying digital transformation masks the perpetuation of outdated language ideologies. These findings are used to provide suggestions that will closer align Japan’s use of platforms with current understandings of linguistic proficiency and language pedagogy.