A Pre-Service English Teacher Education Program to Foster Student Teachers' Ability to Use Classroom English

Abstract

The Ministry of Education issued the "Strategic Plan to Cultivate 'Japanese who can Use English" in July 2002, which regards STEP Pre-1 grade, TOEFL 550 and TOEIC 730 as the level of English proficiency that junior and senior high school English teachers should attain. Soon after that, the Ministry announced the "Action Plan to Cultivate 'Japanese who can Use English" in May 2003, and the plan states "English lessons should be taught mostly in English, ...", and "..., teachers should conduct their everyday class mostly in English, ...". The ministry apparently requires not only English teachers' level of English proficiency but also their ability to teach English with mostly English in class. Furthermore, Foreign Language Activities became compulsory in 2011 at elementary school, which means elementary school teachers are also required to have a certain level of English proficiency to lead the activities. Such background demands have a direct impact on the student teachers who are going to teach the language in future. They have to prepare for such demand. This paper reports an pre-service teacher education program designed and implemented to foster student teachers' ability to use classroom English in English classes.