COMPLETION REPORTThe Filipino Teachers in Japan: "Nonnativeness" and the Teaching andLearning of the English Language in Japan

Dr.Nelia Gayosa Balgoa(+1)
Department Chair, Associate Professor
Department of English
MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology

Title : The Filipino English Teachers in Japan: “Nonnativeness” and the Teaching and

Learning of English”
This study deals with the Filipino teachers who work as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) invarious public elementary and high schools in Japan under the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET)
program.
It attempts to explore and analyze the motivations of the Filipino teachers to migrate and teachEnglish in Japan and how their “nonnativeness” shape and reshape their identity as nonnative
English speaker teachers (NNESTs) and Filipino migrants in Japan thereby proving that English
learning and teaching is very much influenced by market demand, ideological forces andtransnationalism.
The paper argues that the teaching of English, considered to be the lingua franca or most often
the international language in this globalized world, can never be removed from the cultural,social, economic or political contexts in which it is used (Pennycook, 2017). From this perspective,
Filipino migration to Japan intersects with the dynamics of the politicization of teaching ofEnglish, thereby reinforcing the concept of “nativeness”. “Nativeness” confronts the idea of whoshould teach the language, what is the correct way of teaching it and whether there should be astandard English. “Nativeness” problematizes the idea of race and nationality in the teaching ofEnglish revealing inequitable conditions of power and reinforcing the ideological issues thatemerge from use and spread of English as an international language.
Data were culled from in-depth interviews of 18 Filipino ALTs who are based Oyama, Tochigi,
Osaka and Nagoya. Two focus group discussions were conducted , participated in by 3 in the firstand 4 in second, in Oyama Filipino ALTs. An interview was conducted in Cagayan de Oro City,
Philippines of an ALT from Nagoya who came home for a holiday. Interviews were transcribedand answers of the Japanese were translated. Patterns and similarities and differences from theanswers were studied and analyzed.

Confirming previous literatures on the push-and pull theory of Philippine migration not
only to Japan but to other parts of the world, Filipino ALTs migrate and decided to stay andteach English in Japan for “better” life” and “greener pastures”. All of the ALTs interviewed
were convinced that economically, life in Japan can be better. Whether this betterment is forthemselves or for their families, these ALTs believed that the Philippines can never provide
the quality of life that they yearn. Highly skilled and highly educated, being an ALT in Japan
can either be a career advantage or under utilization of their educational degree.
On the other hand, their being Filipino and therefore their being non native speakers ofEnglish necessitates the reconfiguration of their identity; to change their accent to American
which is considered to “native” and correct; to be less emotional and not to become close to
their students- attributes which they consider to be Filipino. Concessions were also made; tosettle for compensation lower than the native speakers and to work extra hours to beconsidered more qualified and better than the native speakers.
The results reveal that English teaching in Japan, within the context of Filipino ALTs
participation and their roles in the educational system of the country, particularly in thisglobalized and transnational world, is still tied to the concept of race, nation and culture.
Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue , Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter , etc.)
2nd National Conference on Language and Literature of MSU-IIT in Iligan City, Philippines
November 15-17.
International Society for Language Studies Conference in Hong Kong, June 20-22, 2019.
Thesis (Name of journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
I submitted a complete article of this research to the Journal of Language Teaching andResearch (JLTR) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal publishedbimonthly by Academy Publication. It is still waiting for results.

Book (publisher and Date of the Book, title and Author of the Book, etc.)
None