The English language's premise as a crucial determinant of university entrance, acquisition of well-paying jobs, access to high-quality research data, and association with elitism has propelled the mandatory incorporation of English as a second language (ESL) in Japanese curriculums. Advanced through teamwork between a native Japanese English Teacher (JET) and Assistant English Teacher (AET) from major English speaking countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, ESL's outcomes significantly depends on excellent collaboration skills. During a typical ESL lesson in Japanese classes, the AET introduces an English concept to the learners, and the JET translates it for the students, who later role-play to perfect their written and oral English skills.
However, most AETs and JETs become frustrated in and outside the classroom environments because of the challenges presented through flawed teamwork practice, such as over-glorification and undermining roles, language barriers, and differential teaching outcome goals, cultural misperceptions, and lack of institutional administrative support. However, TESOL's institution of restorative teamwork exercises can repair relationships between JETs and AETs when impaired and propel better pedagogical outcomes for learners. Plans, such as reinforcing the need for JET and AET co-training, need for AET to learn Japanese before deployment to ESL classroom contexts, increased administrative support, and respectful perception of shared roles have a high prevalence of enhancing "good" collaboration between team members, which also engenders positive student results.
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Rationale for the Action Plan
English as a universal communication language was propelled by colonization in the 19th century, increased international business practices, emigration, and industrialization. English has become the language of trade, science, diplomacy, engineering, and finance. Therefore, learning English as a second language for non-native speakers is essential to enhance their survival outside rural settings, where a mix of English and non-English speakers abound. Thus, positive ESL outcomes for Japanese students are a crucial factor that mandates positive team practices between AETs and JETs, which is threatened by the factors listed in section one above.
For instance, Japan requires all high school students to join public and private universities to sit and pass written English tests. The university entrance examinations have a high preference for vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar from traditional, inner-circle English representatives, such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia ( Copland et al., 2016) . Suppose a student fails the English university test mentioned above. In that case, they may blame their AET and JET teachers, mainly if blatant signs of strained teamwork were visible for learners during previous classroom sessions. Moreover, the world has become a “global village,” where the human capital flow is highly practiced and multicultural, international teams in the workplace being extremely valued. For a Japanese student to secure employment in a high-tech, well-paying organization with desirable business culture, they must have proficient written and oral English skills, whose foundation is ESL lessons taught through a team effort between AETs and JETs. Therefore, it is necessary to create a plan to counter detrimental habits that impact teamwork between AETs and JETs, to ensure that the ESL Japanese learner extracts and enjoys maximum benefits from the in and outside classroom English sessions.
Proposed Plan
As previously highlighted, teaching English as a second language in Japanese schools requires team efforts between Japanese English Teacher and Assistant English Teacher. If the relationship between JET and AET is strained, the learners pay a heavy price, such as loss of chances to acquire higher education, zero consideration in high-paying jobs, and low-self-esteem when placed in diversified constructs. Therefore, my proposed plan tackles the highlighted challenges above in various means as in table 1 below:
| Challenge | Proposed Action Plan |
| Language Barrier, where the JET speaks native Japanese while the AET has minimal knowledge of Japanese language | Ensure AET undergoes three-month training in Japanese as a second language to foster their understanding of students in class and enhance easier interaction with JET when posted to elementary learning institutions ( Underwood, 2017) . The training should be conducted three months before being posted to Japan to teach ESL. |
| Different teaching styles, where the JET prefers solo teaching while the AET prioritizes team teaching, or vice versa | The JET and AET will undergo co-training, where the two teachers will learn the strengths and weaknesses of their counterparts’ teaching techniques. The teachers will then understand the importance of interdependence in fostering positive learner outcomes. A compromise will be drafted where each team member accommodates the other’s teaching techniques without feeling offended. |
| Different cultural perceptions | AETs from native English speaking countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, have an individualistic culture, embodied by characteristics, such as independence, private work-life, self-management, and pleasure derived from personal achievements ( Sogancilar & Ors, 2018) . In contrast, JET’s have a collectivist culture ingrained in their actions, evinced by fancying group activities, intermixing of public and private lifestyles, and high esteem for empathy-based relationships with other people. Therefore, the JET and AET will undergo a one-week intensive cross-cultural training to understand the AET’s individualistic nature and JET’s collectivism preference that may be visible when conducting ESL lessons in the classroom setting. When crucial, the JET and AET will devise ways to suppress individualism or collectivism for positive learner outcomes. |
| Role conflict between JET and AET, where the JET feels the AET is a pompous person because they “own” English and the AET undermines the superiority of the JET in conducting English lessons. | Japanese students and teachers revere AET’s as actual “English owners” because they were raised in environments where English is a natural first language. Therefore, the AET may start being prideful, particularly when interacting with a JET with minimal English skills, affecting the team’s efforts to produce ESL students with proficient English speaking and writing abilities. Alternatively, the JET may undermine the AET in public classroom settings because the latter cannot understand Japanese or away from the classroom, which creates a role conflict where both teachers feel they are better than the other To counter the above problem, the JET and AET will regularly meet and plan lessons in a favorable, neutral environment, such as a quiet classroom where neither of the two can be supported by other Japanese or native English speakers in undermining the other. Additionally, the AET and JET must undertake intensive lessons on the importance of appreciating diversity and its role in promoting positive ESL learner outcomes to minimize the effects to curb role conflict issues that may affect classroom team teaching. |
| Lack of administrative support for the AET | TESOL mandates that the ESL curriculum adheres to specific materials and testing from native English origin. Often, the AET is better equipped with the knowledge on preferred materials a Japanese learning institution should have for better ESL learner results. If the AET frequently reminds the administration to buy ESL appropriate textbooks or audio-visual teaching material and the JET refuses to support the AET's efforts, the two teachers may conflict. Therefore, school administrations will be educated on how crucial their support is to the foreign AET, which positively impacts team teaching between the AET and JET. The JET will also learn the importance of TESOL's instructional materials in enhancing positive learner outcomes, which may motivate the latter to support their team member. |
| Irregularity of ESL lessons, which compels one teaching team member to perceive their role as less crucial and consequential. | In most Japanese schools, ESL learning is mandatory, but the government does not regulate classes' frequency within a week or term. Therefore, elementary schools devise a one-off ESL lesson per week, which may propel the AET or JET to think they are not that important, anyway. Conflicts arise if either the AET or JET wants to regularly discuss lesson challenges, opportunities, and directions to undertake, while their counterpart is reluctant because they feel unimportant. Therefore, Japanese schools should increase the regularity of ESL lessons within a week to at least one session daily, for the AET and JET to feel their roles' essentiality. |
Anticipated Implementation Constraints
The change plan above may face several implementation strategies. For instance, JETs may reject the plan to intentionally frustrate the AETs because of role conflicts. Additionally, AETs may resist the change plan if they feel consistently undermined by JETs or school executives. Finally, school administrators may resist the change plan above if they have constrained resources.
Resistance from school administration
Japanese school administrators may reject change proposals, such as the quick attendance to requests from AETs because of perceived arrogance of the latter, primarily if the AET unconsciously evinces individualism. The school’s administrators may also reject the proposed plan for increased ESL lessons' frequency if the government has not approved the request above. Further, school executives may refuse to allocate more learning resources to ESL learning, primarily if they have limited funds.
Strategies for Addressing Resistance from School Administrators
Educate the school administrators how critical ESL is to student’s future personal and professional lives.
Imply that school admins may attract more student clients if parents receive word that they have more ESL lessons weekly than other schools, which results to more profits
Resistance from JETs
The JET may reject the change plan proposed above if they have ingrained perceptions that AETs are proud individuals who think they “own” English. The JET may also reject the change above if they are adamant about learning how to be proficient in English speaking, to frustrate the AET after conflicting because of, say, teaching styles or cultural perceptions ( Setyant et al., 2019) . Finally, the JET may resist the plan above if they have a habit of enjoying time away from the classroom while earning income, especially if the AET starts suggesting the need for more lessons during a weekly elementary school session.
Strategies for addressing resistance from JET
Emphasize the need for team work for positive learner outcome.
Use reward method if learners perform better than when handled by other JETs ( Damawan & Azizah, 2019)
Resistance from the AET
A frustrated AET may refuse to improve their collaboration skills with the JET if they feel they are intentionally undermined. Additionally, the AET may refuse to implement the change plan above if they have an ingrained idea that JETs are inferior individuals who struggle to speak or write English and must be ruled over. Finally, the AET may refuse to accept the change above if the JET frustrates their efforts from identified conflicting reasons in the classroom setting, which humiliates the AET.
Strategies for Addressing Resistance from AET
Educate the AET on the essentiality of compromise in fostering positive learner outcomes.
Use reward system if voted “best teacher” of the year, which is only possible if team work is embraced by AET and JET.
Evaluation Plan
The school will undertake a monthly assessment to evaluate the English speaking and writing capabilities of students. If learners showcase improvements compared to pre-implementation of the change plan, then the transformation strategies above are effective. In contrast, if ESL students are worse-off than the pre-implementation period of the change plan above, the school will request an audience with the AET and JET to identify challenges experienced when executing the proposed change plan and suggested solutions to identified problems will be implemented.
Final Remarks
English as a second language is a crucial lesson for native Japanese students but requires team teaching between a JET and AET. Often, the two teachers may disagree because of the role, cultural or teaching style conflicts and lack of administrative support. However, the issues above may be appropriately resolved by implementing the change plan identified above. Eventually, if school administrators, JETs, and AETs adhere to the transformation plan above, their institutions' pedagogical practice will improve significantly.
References
Akbari, Z. (2015). Current challenges in teaching/learning English for EFL learners: The case of junior high school and high school. ScienceDirect , 394 – 401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.524
Copland, F., Davis, M., Garton, S., & Mann, S. (2016). Investigating NEST schemes around the world: supporting NEST/LET collaborative practices. British Council , 1-46. https://www.tesol.org/docs/default-source/education-programs/british-council_report_investigating-native-english-speaker-teachers.pdf?sfvrsn=4
Damawan, A. H., & Azizah, S. (2019). Resistance to Change: Causes and Strategies as an Organizational Challenge. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research , 395 . https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200120.010
Setyanto, E., Ikhwan, A., Amin, S., Shabir, M., & Suharto, S. (2019). Challenges of the Change Management for Managing People and Organizational Culture. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering , 8 (2), 3822-3826. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.B1503.0982S1119
Sogancilar, N., & Ors, H. (2018). Understanding the challenges of multicultural team management
. Pressacademia , 7 (3), 259-268. https://doi.org/10.17261/pressacademia.2018.954
Underwood, P. R. (2017). Challenges and Change: Integrating Grammar Teaching With Communicative Work in Senior High School EFL Classes. SAGE Journals , 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017722185
