RESEARCH BULLETIN OF NARUTO UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION Volume２１２００６ TheState of the JET Programme, Team Teaching and English Education in Japan. Gerard MARCHESSEAU （Keywords : Team Teaching, JET Programme, NEST, NNEST） １．Introduction tion system in Japan or Japanese language (CLAIR，２００５;Gillis-Furutaka, １９９４). Presumably The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Pro- this is due to the size of the programme and the gramme began modestly in １９８７ and has grown con- difficulty in recruiting such as large number of quali- sistently. Today it is one of the largest exchange fied instructors. programmes in the world. In July of １９９４ there were ５５６７ participants in the roles of ALT or CIR. ２．Justification for team teaching The vast majority of participants are Native English speakers working in public schools as ALTs. CIR Bailey ２００２,(cited in Murahata，２００４)suggests participants work for local governments as 国際交流 how the success of a teacher can be plotted graphi- 院.Thispaper will discuss some of the roles of cally, illustrated in figure １.Wecan assume that Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) and Assistant ALTs have high proficiency in English, as native Language Teachers (ALTs) which have been realized speakers of the language, though they may know lit- in the classroom. Challenges, successes and short tle about teaching or Japanese Education. JTEs on comings of the programme will be discussed and the other hand are qualified as teachers but their several suggestions that have been echoed in research proficiency in the target language may pose a weak- on the JET programme will be presented. ness in many cases. Where both an ALT and a Several definitions should first be clarified. Na- JTE are present in class however, the two compli- tive speaker teaching assistants on the JET pro- ment each other’s strengths and weaknesses so that gramme have been referred to as Assistant English the teachers as a team, function high in the first Teachers (AETs), (Wada and Cumminos, Eds. １９９４) quadrant. Considering the strengths and weaknesses but they are increasingly referred to as Assistant of ALTs and JTEs, Gillis-Furutaka (１９９４)summarizes Language Teachers (ALTs) and this is the term used that the role of the ALT is to “engage actively in in this paper, except when quoting other sources. communication and interaction with Japanese stu- The term ALT is specific to the JET programme and dents” (p．１３). About the role of JTE’s, she states : is not applicable to situations in other countries, nor is the term used consistently in private Junior or JTEs are expected to explain facts about English Senior High Schools. Native English Speaking language and answer learners’ questions.However Teachers (NEST) is the more accurate and applicable they are also expected to communicate and in- term. Non-NEST or NNEST refers to teachers of teract actively with their students, just like English, whose native language is not English. AETs. In fact, their active participation in com- Within this paper, the terms ALT and NEST are municative activities is far more important than both used, depending on the context and the specific their analysis and explanation of English lan- references being cited. Some generalizations should guage. (p．１３). also be pointed out to provide context. Most JET Programme ALTs are hired directly in their home These roles are very broad and specifically how countries and are recent University graduates with no teachers fulfill these roles is still a matter of discus- teacher training and little knowledge about the educa- sion and sometimes, controversy. Herein, I will de- ―１６８― Gerard Marchesseau scribe what the literature says about roles for ALTs Figure ２: Tajino and Tajino (２００１) and JTEs and then we’ll see what common patterns emerge. Figure １:Bailey (２００２) Among the limited amount of literature dealing with team teaching and the JET Programme, Studies in Team Teaching (２００４, Wada and Cuminos, Eds.), provokes constructive discussion, presenting a variety ３．More Specific Roles for ALTs and JTEs of sometimes contradicting views as to what role in the classroom ALTs and JTEs should assume. Many suggest that the ALTs role should be restricted to stimulating Tajino and Tajino (２０００)showed enthusiasm for communicative competencies such as speaking and team teaching. Reviewing １０ years of practice in listening. (Browne, C. and Evans, B. １９９４;Garant, Japan, they discussed the various roles that NESTs M. １９９４). Browne, C. and Evans, B．(１９９４) cast the and nonNESTs could play. Consistent with modern ALT in the narrow role of cultural informant to views, they suggest teachers should de-centralize the stimulate conversation. Their argument is on based classroom, proposing the term “team learning” rather linguistic research into communicative competence than “teach teaching”. They propose several patterns and assumes that students have little opportunity to indicated in figure １.Pattern A represents a tradi- communicate with JTEs. Others however, suggest tional role where the class is teacher fronted and the that ALTs can and should be able to assist the JTE teachers pass knowledge to the students. In pattern with reading and grammar classes. Law (１９９４)for B however, the students play an active role teaching example discusses the impact, or washback effect of the native speaker. We see an alliance between the entrance exams on team teaching and although reluc- NNEST (JTE) and the students such that the Japa- tant to criticize the exams, he states : nese teacher may help or facilitate the students, in teaching the JTE. The students may for example, If the role of the AET in team teaching is con- wish to teach the NEST something about Japanese ceived simply as that of improving listening and culture, or perhaps more interestingly, about their fa- speaking skills, the above may merely serve to vourite TV programme, etc. Pattern C has the confirm that college entrance exams are an in- NEST working with the students, perhaps to teach surmountable obstacle to reform. I wish to ar- the NEST something, or to translate what the gue here that this represents a historically and NNEST is saying in Japanese. In pattern D half of theoretically inappropriate view of team teaching, the students work with the NEST and the other half and instead advocate an active role for the AET work with the NNEST. Finally in pattern E, all of in encouraging fluency reading within an inte- the participants work together toward one common grated curriculum. goal. This pattern might be practical for group pro- jects such as correspondence with a sister school in There is a clear indication that the role of the an English speaking country or introducing students’ ALT is influenced by the washback effect of Univer- hometown in English. As Tajino and Tajino suggest, sity entrance exams. Yukawa suggests that given the these patterns are not exhaustive. priority that reading competence takes, ALTs should ―１６９― TheState of the JET Programme, Team Teaching and English Education in Japan. be able to assist with reading classes. She found ２．poor communication however, that when reading passages became progres- ３．the ALT’s limited sphere of influence, often in- sively more difficult, the JTE found it difficult to in- cluding limited interpersonal relations. corporate ALTs into the lesson, resorting to Japanese As a former JET programme participant working translation to ensure that students understood the con- at three different junior high schools from １９９８ to tent of reading passages. She also suggests that in ２００１,theauthor can comment on these points draw- exam track high schools, JTEs prefer not bring ALTs ing on personal recollection and journal entries. The into the classroom because time spent on ‘chatting’ first issue is certainly one of the salient aspects of is not efficient for preparing for exams. the ALTs position. It was not a stress factor per se Leaving the issue of entrance exams aside for for the author in most cases, but it was certainly a the moment, a pattern emerges regarding the role of challenge and a learning experience. Poor communi- ALTs and JTEs, namely that there is no clear con- cation and limited interpersonal relations, however sensus. Given their relative strengths one would ex- was frustrating at times. In many cases, particularly pect that JTEs would focus on grammar and ALTs when ALTs work at more than one school, they tend on communication but the roles have not been to be treated as a special guest. While advantageous clearly defined. Though the ideas put forth are at times, consistently being treated as an outsider in sometimes conflicting, the prevailing pattern is that in one’s place of work is certainly a stress factor. the absence of concrete guidelines about how to Voci-Reed (１９９４) goes on to describe stress fac- teach, every case is different. For teachers looking tors for JTEs : for answers to the questions ; “What should I do with １．Teachers are under constant pressure from exter- my ALT?” this might not seem to be a satisfactory nal sources such as parents and other school staff answer but is not necessarily a bad situation. JTEs to ensure successful performance on University En- and ALTs all have different styles and in most cases trance Exams. they have been able to adapt and settle into a vari- ２．Cultural differences ety of roles, sometimes through compromise, depend- ３．Lack of support for creativity in class. ing on the circumstances. Student needs and exter- It is significant to note that two of these ‘stress nal constraints such as entrance exams are other vari- factors’ are external to the relationship between ALTs ables which influence classroom practice. Therefore JTEs. Again we see the impact of entrance exams it is probably not appropriate for ‘Monkasho’ to de- playing a role.