Abstract
The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge about the diffusion of foreign language education (FLE) policy through the central and local governments in Japan from the 1970s to the early 2000s by analyzing their policy concern. Previous research on FLE policy has foregrounded the central government’s prominent policies, such as the Course of Study, and has overemphasized its influence, which leads to neglecting various actors that are essential for understanding the overall policy process. By collecting FLE “research themes” settled by prefectural governments every year for three decades, local governments’ policy concerns are classified, and the way FLE policies have diffused from one government to another is analyzed. The main results are: (1) there are unique local policies other than replicas of the central ones; (2) there is a tendency for the policies of advanced local governments to become central policies and diffuse throughout the country; (3) only four of 10 local governments at most introduce such policies at the same time; and (4) the trend of neighboring local governments may affect the introduction of new policies. In conclusion, it is argued that FLE policy is composed of diverse actors and cannot necessarily be explained by top-down systems.
