Advantages Held by Non-Native Japanese Language Teachers As Discovered through the Teaching Practicums

Abstract

While specializing in Japanese language teaching practices at graduate school in Akita International University, I took part in teaching practice sessions over the course of three semesters. Even though I am a non-native speaker of Japanese, the teaching practice consisted of the same training and coursework as for native speakers. My grammar and pronunciation mistakes were often pointed out and, at times, my confidence toward teaching was low. On the other hand, my confidence in my teaching skills rose after receiving students' appreciative words during an overseas teaching practice, due to the fact that I used the Chinese language effectively to help Chinese-speaking students better understand the material. The advantage of non-native Japanese-speaking teachers was noticed from this particular teaching practice. This article discusses the advantages held by non-native Japanese student teachers. In this article, the advantages of non-native Japanese student teachers are examined through a self-assessment and the need for non-native Japanese-language teacher-training is mentioned.