Ishiguro’s Japanese-English Identity and His Reception Internationally and in Slovenia

Kazuo Ishiguro is a British author of Japanese descent who has established himself globally as an award-winning writer of bestselling books. This article deals with the hybridity of the author, who is both Japanese and English, a popular writer who stirs reader emotions but is at the same time respected by critics. The article begins by addressing the ‘Japaneseness’ in Ishiguro’s work that is both obvious and skilfully concealed. In the second part, the article examines the reception of Ishiguro’s work by Slovenian readers and discusses potential reasons for their seeming lack of response.

Speaking Assessments by Japanese English Teachers Pre and Post Implementation of CEFR in the Midst of a Global Pandemic

Amid a global pandemic, while schools in many parts of the world were closed to adhere to quarantine orders, schools in Japan resumed face-to-face classes after only a month of closure with strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP). This study examined how speaking assessments were administered face-to-face for Grade 5 and 6 elementary school students prior to and after introducing the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and amid a global pandemic between April to October 2020. The paper also reports the challenges and strategies employed in carrying out the speaking assessments following the CEFR while adhering to the SOP. The study employed a qualitative research method that utilised semi-structured interviews to elicit information from four teachers who taught in eight schools within Niigata City, Japan. Findings suggest that prior to the implementation of CEFR, not all teachers carried out speaking assessments. However, the implementation of CEFR emphasised the need to teach speaking and carry out speaking assessments. The CEFR also served as guidance for the teachers in preparing the assessment scoring rubrics. The results also showed that the speaking assessments were implemented individually instead of in groups before the pandemic and the presence of the masks, which increased the student’s anxiety and affected their performance. However, the teachers employed various strategies to overcome the challenges by modifying the assessment tasks and utilising web conferencing technology.

Japanese English Learners’ Perceptions of Filipino Teachers’ Online English Lessons: Implications for Global Englishes Research

Situated in the domain of Global Englishes research, this study explores a question of how far the issue of the English model for Japanese learners is complicated by the hierarchical coexistence of regular English courses taught by Anglophone English teachers and extracurricular online English lessons taught by non-Anglophone instructors. A questionnaire survey was administered to 100 Japanese English learners aged 18–34 who have taken such lessons. This study provides both hopeful and challenging suggestions for Global Englishes research and practice, that is, Japanese English learners’ favourable perceptions of Filipino teachers’ affordable and flexible lessons that, they believe, would not interfere with their subsequent or concurrent study of ‘real’ English taught by native Anglophone teachers. This study indicates future directions of research and practice regarding the legitimate positioning of in-class or online English classes taught by Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other non-native English-speaking teachers in East Asian English classrooms that remain bound by native English norms.

“Teaching Pronunciation is Always on my Mind”: A 5-year Longitudinal Study on a Japanese English Teacher’s Developing Practices and Cognition about Pronunciation

Systematic inquiry into second language teacher learning has been carried out for 3 decades, but research into learning to teach English pronunciation is just emerging. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by examining the long-term trajectory of a Japanese teacher of English learning to teach English pronunciation. The case study examined the development of the instructor’s practices and cognition (i.e., beliefs and knowledge) about English pronunciation over a 5-year period. A 13-week pronunciation-pedagogy course, a narrative frame that elicited the instructor’s self-reported pronunciation teaching practices, and 2 classroom observations followed by a semi-structured interview were used to collect data. The findings demonstrated that the 5-year development of the teacher’s practices and cognition was a complicated and non-linear process. Several contextual factors were identified as being responsible for the uneven development of the teacher-participant’s practices, cognition, and uptake of content taught in the pronunciation pedagogy course. 第二言語教師学習についての系統的な研究は、過去30年間において数多くなされてきた。一方で、英語の発音指導修得における研究は未だ萌芽的段階である。本研究は、英語の発音指導を修得した日本人英語教師を長期的に研究することでこのような溝を埋める試みである。本ケーススタディにおいて、五年間にわたり教師の実践と英語発音に対する認知（ビリーフや知識）の発達についての研究を行った。データ収集として13週間の発音教授法コース、教師の発音指導実践を引き出すためのナラティブフレーム、及び二度の授業観察、そしてそれに続く半構造化インタビューが用いられた。その結果、五年間にわたる彼らの教育実践と認知は複雑かつ非線形であることが確認された。被験者である教師たちの実践、認知、そして発音教授法コースを通して修得された内容の理解についての不規則な発達の背景にはいくつかの文脈的要因が存在することが示唆された。

Rural Japanese Students’ Sentiments Regarding Japanese Teachers of English

English is not a single entity, but rather composed of infinite varieties known collectively as World Englishes. Published research in the Japanese context has overwhelmingly reported students’ preference for the Standard American variety, with Japanese English being typically subject to scorn. However, the current study argues that this established narrative has been subject to sampling bias due to homogeneous study locales (mostly in-and-around the Tokyo area) and sample selection (mostly English or Communication majors). Our precursor research on non-English majors residing in rural Japan found no statistical difference between the number of students preferring native English teachers vs. Japanese ones (Lee & Bailey, 2020). Following this line of research, the current study reports on a qualitative investigation into the sentiments of this underrepresented population. The factors of effective communication, interest in language-learning strategies, and peace-of-mind were found to be behind the students’ positive sentiments towards Japanese Teachers of English. 英語は単一ではなく無限の種類があり、それらは総称して「世界英語（複数形）」と呼ばれている。 これまでに発表された日本に関する研究では、学生が標準的なアメリカン・イングリッシュを好むという報告が圧倒的に多く、ジャパニーズ・イングリッシュは軽蔑の対象とされてきた。しかし本論はこのような結果は研究場所（主に東京周辺）とサンプルの選択方法（主に英語またはコミュニケーション専攻の学生）が均一的であるため、サンプリングバイアスの影響を受けていることを指摘した。日本の地方在住の非英語専攻の学生を対象とした筆者たちによる先行研究では、ネイティブの英語教師を好む学生と日本人教師を好む学生の間に統計的な違いは見つからなかった (Lee & Bailey, 2020)。この一連の調査を受けて、本論では過小評価された集団の感情に関する定性的調査の結果を報告した。 日本人の英語教師に対する学生の好意的な感情の背後には、効果的なコミュニケーション、語学学習戦略への関心、そして安心感という要因があることがわかった。