Current Status and Issues of Capacity and Competency of Japanese Language Teachers

Abstract

This paper explores the definition of Japanese language teachers’ competencies as well as future directions of Japanese language teacher education. Specifically, it investigated the characteristics of the competencies mentioned in the report of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and how they were determined. This study showed that Japanese language teachers’ competencies can be summarized as knowledge, skills, and attitude, and found that the “attitude to continue learning” was emphasized not only during training and the early stages of a career in Japanese language teaching but also at more advanced levels. The study determined that the grounds for advocating these competencies were backed up by opinions from Japanese language teacher training and are referred to as “new competencies.” Furthermore, challenges for Japanese language teacher education based on this view of teacher competencies were found to include 1) the possibility that teachers who are exploited as human widget may burn out, 2) division and opposition may emerge owing to differences in position and roles, and 3) teaching methods may fall into elementalism. Finally, in a move to eliminate such possibilities and maintain balance between the growth of teachers and the development of Japanese language teachers’ communities based on the concept of professional capital, the development of professional learning communities and cross-boundary learning was examined.