Exploring Japanese University English Teachers' Professional Identity

This book examines the professional identities of Japanese university English teachers. It focuses on how relatively new teachers develop their professional identities, how gender impacts the professional identities of female professors, and how teaching practices and beliefs reflect personal and professional identity.

Diane Hawley Nagatomo is Associate Professor at Ochanomizu University, Japan. Her research interests include teacher beliefs, teacher identity, materials development and gender. Her previous publications include Exploring Japanese University English Teachers’ Professional Identity (Multilingual Matters, 2012).

Diane Hawley Nagatomo has been living and teaching in Japan for more than 30 years. She is an Associate Professor at Ochanomizu University and her research interests include teacher and learner identity, teachers' beliefs, and EFL materials development. She has authored and co-authored numerous EFL textbooks for the Japanese market.

Exploring Japanese University English Teachers’ Professional Identity offers a fascinating picture of the current state of English teaching at the university level in Japan…The book is a valuable addition to the libraries of university teachers, as well as of those interested in studies of gender, professional identity, English teaching, narrative research, and the teaching context in Japan…Nagatomo illustrates her points in a clear, succinct, and conversational tone, creating a book that is both persuasive and easy to read.

Jennifer Tan, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam:

‘Exploring Japanese University English Teachers’ Professional Identity’ is the product of a study that has its origins in formal academia, yet it is written and presented in a reader-friendly format that makes it accessible, not only to the research community and English language teachers, but also to just about anyone interested in teaching and learning about higher education in Japan...Scholars of language study, particularly, teacher trainers, will find this book invaluable, as the reflections of the participants show that a one-size-fits-all type of pedagogical training may not be effective, and that consideration of the trainee’s sociocultural, political and personal contexts needs to be considered in order to yield best practices. Researchers intending to study teachers’ identity and beliefs will find the research methodology useful and easily replicated. Finally, this book will prove extremely useful to anyone intending to consider a teaching position in Japan. From the ‘backpacker’ (Thornbury, 2002) teacher to university teachers and researchers, this book is a must-read, as it gives a better understanding of the inner workings of the Japanese education system, in particular, the workplace culture...After reading this book, I now understand these juxtaposed attitudes. I truly enjoyed reading ‘Exploring Japanese University Teachers’ Professional Identity’ from the perspective of a language scholar, teacher educator and English teacher.

Roslyn Appleby, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia:

This book makes an important contribution to research on English language teaching through a series of studies that focus on the experiences of Japanese teachers of English in Japanese universities. It offers insights into the place of English in the Japanese higher education system, and the ways in which Japanese teachers of English negotiate their professional identities within that system. The book’s complex and detailed analysis of teacher identity, though small in scope, provides an important counter to a range of negative discourses that have circulated about English language teaching in Japan. The book has much to offer teachers, teacher educators, and researchers interested in English language teaching as an aspect of university education.

Laurel Kamada, Tohoku University, Japan:

I highly recommend this book to anyone teaching at the university level in Japan, or to anyone interested in the professional identities of women in the Japan workforce, as it is not only rigorously researched and analyzed through a variety of frameworks, but it is also presented in an engaging and easy to read narrative style allowing the honest self-reflections of the Japanese participants to be heard.

Miguel Mantero, University of Alabama, USA:

Nagatomo’s book presents an interesting interplay of policy, theory, and identity, as situated in Japan. The field will welcome such an indepth look into the Japanese university context. Additionally, the eight chapters in her book are valuable for teacher educators, applied linguists, and language teachers alike, in that the sociopolitical contexts of LTI are clearly brought to light throughout Nagatomo’s research.

Gregory Poole, Doshisha University, Japan:

Although the field of tertiary education in Japan has been described before by numerous observers, Diane Hawley Nagatomo's monograph is unique. Rather than being polemic in nature, this study offers a more balanced, 'thick' ethnographic account of how university language teachers construct their professional identities. This is a refreshing approach and a much-needed addition to the literature!

Thomas Farrell, Brock University, Canada:

Exploring Japanese University English Teachers' Professional Identity is a timely book on the topic of teacher identity that should be used as a blueprint for the topic in Japan. This is a wonderful study that has been carefully and thoroughly written. Teachers and teacher educators in all contexts can learn a lot from reading this book.

Andrea Simon-Maeda, Nagoya Keizai University, Japan:

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.