Outsourcing in-service education in Japan: Challenges and issues

This paper examines a four-month program of pedagogical training for Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) in Canada based on a yardstick provided for communicative language teaching (CLT) in-service education and training (INSET) programs for teachers who teach English as a foreign language (EFL). In particular, with the purpose of determining the overall effectiveness of the Canadian pedagogical program and offering recommendations for future ones, this study examines three dimensions of the four-month program: the program planning dimension, the program execution dimension, and the cultural dimension. Three paradigms are used to compare cultural and educational differences between Japan and Canada: the interpretation-based versus transmission-based culture paradigm (Wedell, 2003), the collectionist versus integrationist educational paradigm (Holliday, 1994a), and the routine/uncertain culture versus non-routine/certain culture paradigm (Sato, 2002). This qualitative study indicates that while the program meets almost all of the recommended criteria, especially in the execution dimension, a more thorough knowledge of Japanese educational culture and a re-examination of some assumptions on which the program is constructed may be useful to program planners and trainers in helping JTEs overcome barriers to incorporating CLT practices into their lessons.