Native-speakerism is an ideology that endows those classified as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) the owners of the English language, the ideal models of its use, and the pedagogical experts in language teaching. These endowments, in turn, intrinsically devalue those classified as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) (Holliday,…

Globalisation poses a challenge for businesses with linguistically diverse staff, prompting the choice of English as the default corporate language. Although many studies extensively explored the role of corporate language policy in large corporations, employees' perceptions of such policy has not been explored adequately. Fewer studies…

This paper examines recent reforms in English-language testing in Japan using a policy distraction framework. We identify the term 'washback (effect)' and other related discourses as major distractors and investigate how 'washback' discourses have functioned as political slogans or catchphrases in policy deliberation processes and how they have…

Foreign language education primarily aims to cultivate learners' competence to communicate in an additional language. However, the meaning of communication competence is not entirely transparent, especially given the current neoliberal valorization of communication in the knowledge economy. The meaning of communication can be scrutinized in two…

This research investigates the extent to which emotional labour is experienced by non-Japanese teachers of English as a foreign language in Japan, what coping mechanisms are employed and how it impairs individual performance. Understanding these issues is pivotal in improving the competitive advantage of these organisations and the productivity of…

This article utilizes an autoethnographic story-telling perspective in which I situate myself as a critical participant observer. Through critiquing the "situatedness of the self and others" in context, I share a selection of narrative snapshots concerning place and positionality as a white male native speaker of English (i.e. an…

In this exploratory study, the author examines both students' and teachers' perceptions of Moxtra, a cross-platform cloud collaboration service, as a blended learning tool in a language course. Participants were 242 first-year students studying General English and 8 teachers at the Bunkyo English Communication Centre (BECC) at Hiroshima Bunkyo…

Here is documented investigation to assess the motivational drivers of a group of Japanese, first-year, dental-university students taking part in compulsory EFL classes and to compare those motivational drivers with an investigation into the motivational drivers of a group of Japanese IT students. There was a clear difference between extrinsic and…

Globalization has been one of the most important movements in business since the end of World War II. The business education establishment, as represented by the AACSB accreditation agency, has been struggling to get its member schools to properly prepare their graduates for this new global business environment. It has generally been conceded that…

This study examined demotivational factors among Iranian and Japanese college teachers of English. To achieve the purpose, the study used a 35-item questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results were compared with the similar study in Japan by Sugino (2010). The findings of the study revealed that Iranian and Japanese lecturers are much…

In the multinational corporation (MNC) context the crossing of linguistic boundaries and the fast-paced change of linguistic ecologies due to market trends and new business activities is the rule rather than the exception. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to discuss language policy and language practice in one consortium of three…

Linguistic instrumentalism, which underscores the importance of English skills for work and for achieving individual economic success, has influenced language education policies and proliferated the language teaching and testing industry in Japan. Linguistic instrumentalism is linked to the notion of human capital (i.e., skills deemed necessary…

This study examines how English speakers address, and are addressed by, their Japanese colleagues in Japan, and the deciding factors and motivation for the choice of address-forms in a given context. The local norms of English and Japanese are also examined through interviews with 15 British and 15 Japanese office workers in their home countries,…

This article is about conflict in an educational workplace setting. It reports on a case study investigating the emergence, development, and management of conflict among diverse native English speakers working as language instructors within a Japanese university. The example of conflict presented, which deals with divergent assumptions about the…

A study investigated the motivation and perceptions of 16 Americans teaching English as a Second Language in Japan. Data were gathered by oral interview, and the questions asked focused on: initial motivation for coming to Japan; motivation to extend the length of stay; proficiency in Japanese at the beginning of the stay and currently; reasons…