The Language Teacher

Many experienced EFL teachers strive for ways to articulate their beliefs about what makes good teaching and good teachers. Richards and Lockhart (1995) comment as follows:

Teachers' belief systems are founded on the goals, values and beliefs teachers hold in relation to the content and process of teaching, and their understanding of the systems in which they work and their roles within it. These beliefs and values serve as the background to much of the teacher's decision making and action . . . .
(p. 30)

However, few foreign teachers in Japan can speak with equal conviction about our students' educational beliefs and goals. From what background do students make their decisions? How do their values differ from teachers' values?

Numerous "good teacher" studies have been conducted worldwide with the purpose of better understanding students' needs, and to further our development as educators (Ryan, 1995; Shimizu, 1995; Brown, 1994; Freeman, 1992). This paper reports on the first stages of an ongoing cross-cultural ethnographic research project in Niigata Prefecture. The purpose of this part of the project is to discover what qualities Japanese college students identify as belonging to good teachers.

Subjects

A total of 165 Japanese college students (ninety-nine males and sixty-six females) participated in the project. The subjects consisted of eighty-nine first year students from Niigata University, and seventy-six third year students from Keiwa College, a private four-year liberal arts school.

More than half the students were born in Niigata Prefecture. The rest were from various prefectures in Honshu or from Hokkaido. A total of six classes took part in the study, with participating students from the following departments: International Studies (Keiwa College); Pre-Medical, Agriculture, Elementary Education, and Economics (Niigata University). All participants were enrolled in the required English courses at their institution. Each class met once a week for ninety minutes, and was composed of disparate numbers of strong and weak learners. The students' relative strengths and weaknesses as language learners were determined from attendance, test/homework scores, and class participation (cf. Hadley, 1995).

Method

The survey was designed to be open-ended, and to provide students with as much freedom as possible to express their views. All answers were analyzed according to text frequency and descriptive statistics. The research question for this study was formulated as follows: "What is a good teacher?"

To protect against threats to the reliability of this type of survey, we ensured that each class received the same form of instruction (cf. LeCompte & Goetz,1982). Each step of the procedure was first explained in Japanese, and then in English. Before commencing, all instructions were verified with the stronger students. These students would then double check with the weaker students. The stronger students' explanations were carefully checked to confirm that there were no misunderstandings. Students began work on the survey only after all students understood what they were supposed to do. This procedure was justified because later research instruments would require students not only to clearly understand the process they would participate in, but also to work together and communicate at deeper levels. The subjects' behavior was observed and recorded in a journal for later reference.

Procedure

Each class was told that it would participate in a research project, the results of which would be read on a larger forum. The research question was written in English on the blackboard. Students were asked to suggest eight or more attributes that best described a good teacher. They were assured that no part of this research was a test consisting of right or wrong answers.

Before starting, the subjects were advised not to misinterpret the question by: 1. writing what they personally thought of the teacher conducting the research; 2. producing answers which they thought the researchers might like to read; and 3. not suggesting qualities that they believed were applicable only to good foreign teachers. The participants were encouraged to suggest attributes that would apply to any teacher, Japanese or non-Japanese.

The subjects were asked to express themselves in Japanese. We felt that in this form the data would yield a better sample of the subjects' opinions. They were advised that if time allowed they were welcome to translate their answers into English. Only a few in each class wished to work alone. The majority asked to work in groups of close friends. We felt that an insistence on individual work would implicitly create a test-like atmosphere, and that this would negatively influence the subjects' responses. It was also believed that responses produced by these groups (most of whom were composed of close friends outside of class) would represent the cooperative effort of like minds.

The entire class period was given to the students to formulate their responses. Many students asked for examples of what they should write; however, we provided no hints in order to avoid contaminating the survey results. Individuals and members of different groups were asked not to confer with each other on their answers during the survey procedure.

Table 1 (Click for fill-size image)

After collecting all the responses, we translated them into English for the purpose of sharing the preliminary results with a wider audience. The data was then textually analyzed for response frequency. The most frequent responses can be found in Table 1. As with most ethnographic work, this research is data rich. It is not possible to list all the responses that occurred once or twice. However, most of the unlisted responses are related in some way to the elements listed in the table.

Despite the cognitive strain of the task, we observed the students to be very enthusiastic about expressing their opinions. The opportunity to express themselves in a non-threatening atmosphere was well received. An unexpected result was that certain normally 'chilly' classes became warm, cooperative and responsive after participating in the survey.

Analysis

The subjects' general portrait of a good teacher is that of a kind-hearted, friendly individual who is open-minded, sympathetic but impartial in student relations and class decisions. A good teacher never resorts to physical violence or forces an opinion on an issue. A good teacher is punctual for class, is fun to be around, and should not only be very understandable, but understanding as well. A good teacher focuses on the needs of students, not on tests or homework, and is knowledgeable and experienced, but humble. Whatever other teaching METHODS he or she uses, a good teacher is a storyteller who shares real-life anecdotes of interest to students. Enthusiasm for teaching, a sense of humor and cheerfulness will encourage students to participate in class. A good teacher can be admired, trusted, and depended on by students.

This depiction of a good teacher fits in well with the Japanese sempai approach to leadership. The bond between sempai, literally meaning "companion ahead" and kohai, meaning "companion behind" is an important one in Japan. This model for "up-down" relationships is essential to successful cooperation in Japanese companies, organizations or institutions. It is natural to expect therefore, that Japanese students would seek out these ideals in their teachers. Rohlen (1974) describes the relationship in this way:

Ideally, the sempai will represent, advise, console, teach and discipline their kohai. Kohai, in return, will confide in, listen to, depend upon, follow, and respect their sempai . . . there is an implication that leadership should be as sympathetic, protective and unselfish as good sempai. (p. 23)

This may be a reason why students mentioned storytelling as one practice of a good teacher. Wright (1995) says that storytelling involves a closeness between the speaker and listener. The subjects in this sample seem to support Wright's plea for teachers in Japan to give the technique of storytelling more of a place in their classes.

However, the issue of nonviolence as one of the top ten responses surprised us. We have personally encountered only a few teachers who openly speak about striking college students during class. Bullying from teachers has had a long history in Japan (Murakami, 1985; Horio, 1988). This sample seems to imply that we are not aware of the extent of violence in college classes.

The responses in this survey show a striking similarity to other "good teacher" studies conducted with Japanese college students (e.g., Shimizu, 1995). We feel that this congruency strengthens the validity of this and related studies. The results seem to suggest that Japanese students are not concerned about what their teacher does, but rather who their teacher is. Character issues far outweigh any skills or abilities the ideal teacher might have.

Implications for Teachers

We are not suggesting that teachers should simply conform to all student expectations in order to become a "good" teacher. A number of responses in the survey also indicate that students look for something unique in their teachers. We feel that one of the many major advantages native English teachers have is to provide Japanese students with unique opportunities to interact with representatives of the target language. This can be accomplished through interesting stories of their lives and experiences in their native countries, or by becoming more accessible to students outside of the classroom setting. As a consequence of this interaction, some students might be challenged to make allowances for good teachers that do not easily fit into their sempai category.

At the same time, we hope that this paper will suggest ways for interested teachers to adjust their approaches (when necessary) to facilitate learning. We now keep the results in table one with us while we teach. It has been helpful to look over the list in class and to consider how our actions might be interpreted by our learners. Especially on those days when students, for one reason or another, will not respond at all, keeping this list close at hand has saved us from certain disaster.

Conclusion

More research is necessary in order to enhance our understanding of the Japanese "culture of learning." We need to adopt a variety of approaches, using different research instruments, in order to deepen our understanding of learners' affective filters. We need also to investigate the values adhered to by Japanese and native English teachers. In anticipation of these needs, the second part of this project will use a personal construct repertory grid procedure to discover the deeper mental constructs underlying Japanese student attitudes towards teachers. Personal construct repertory grids, or "repgrids," have numerous advantages over the typical survey-centered approach to this field of study, as we plan to demonstrate in later published reports.

In the meantime, we hope that these preliminary results will encourage teachers as they consider issues of concern to their students. Tempering our teaching strategies with this knowledge is personally enriching, while the increased rapport with our students helps us to facilitate better learning opportunities.

References

" H. D. (1994). Teaching by Principles. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.