Linguistic Ideologies of Foreign Assistant Language Teachers in Japan

Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Japan are recruited globally to provide support in primary and secondary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Though there are several recruitment programs, this study examined ALTs who participated in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Specifically, this study addressed the research question: how do foreign assistant language teachers (ALTs) teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Japan develop a linguistic ideology? To provide context to this research question, the literature review covered prescriptivism and descriptivism as two ends of a spectrum of linguistic ideologies, speakerism and pedagogy of Global Englishes, pragmatic communication skills, and relevant issues such as insufficient professional development among JET ALTs. In order to investigate the research question, a mixed methods approach was used. First, a survey was conducted to quantitatively determine what the linguistic ideologies of 34 ALTs were. From this data, it was found that the survey respondents had descriptive leaning linguistic ideologies. Then, a follow-up interview was conducted with 5 participants to collect qualitative data on what experiences informed their survey responses. This data led to understanding how participants' linguistic ideologies were developed. Finally, after integrative analysis of the data, it was determined that the ALTs who participated in this study developed their linguistic ideologies through the following ways: their awareness of English as a global language, their experiences teaching in Japan, their educational backgrounds, their knowledge of English’s history and legacy, their perceptions of other individuals’ ideologies, perceptions of societal ideologies such as Japan’s, personal analysis of how ideologies intersect, student needs, and an appreciation for English varieties. Revealed through this study was a need for clearer communication of EFL education goals among not only ALTs, but all of Japan’s primary and secondary EFL educators. Furthermore, training in pragmatic communication skills was found to be lacking among ALTs. Lastly, rather than a specific ideology, it was found that understanding how to apply prescriptivism and descriptivism appropriately was most impactful for EFL educators to know.