Proposal: Edited Volume on ‘The Language Teaching Experience in the Japan Context’
Working title: Language Teacher Journeys: The Japan Context
Publisher: TEFL Praxis Association
Editors: Darren Lingley, Paul Daniels, and Naomi Wilks-Smith
Project Background/Description: The TEFL Praxis Association is proud to announce a new publishing project on language teaching. This proposed edited volume of professional narratives, ethnographic accounts, and case studies will focus on the diverse experience of language teaching in the Japan context. Our principal aim is to better understand the broad diversity in teaching approaches, career development, and cultural influences as they relate to language education. This includes English teaching in Japan, the teaching of additional foreign languages in Japan, and the teaching of Japanese as a second/foreign/additional language in Japan and around the world. We therefore see this book as a potentially valuable resource for anyone who is currently on their language teaching journey and anyone considering a language teaching career. 

Based on our TEFL Praxis remit, our Association is well situated to publish a book of this nature. We are planning 12-15 chapters across three sections, plus an Introduction. The total number of words will be in the range of 75,000 with limited illustrations, tables and graphics. After formally launching this book project at the December 2025 Publications Board Retreat in Kochi, Japan, we will invite contributions from TEFL Praxis members that match the concept of the publication. These will demonstrate the great variation and richness of experience in Japan-related language teaching. These professional narratives will be uniquely context dependent, extraordinary in the personal insights they offer, and represent differing routes and stages in our respective journeys as language educators. We will also open a broader call for submissions shortly after the project launch. All submissions, including invited chapters, will be subject to a rigorous peer review process.

Our book aims to address the following questions: What challenges do language teachers face in the classroom? How do teachers negotiate cultural barriers and boundaries related to education? What makes a good language teacher? How do we, as language teachers, get to where we are in our careers? What is the experience of non-Japanese NNS teachers in Japan? How do teachers and teacher-trainers nurture Japanese language development? Are there parallels between the teaching of English, the teaching of ‘second foreign languages’, and the teaching of Japanese? What do NS and NNS teachers of English have in common? Where do they diverge, and is this distinction still relevant in our field? What Professional Development opportunities are there for teachers in Japan? How do language teachers deal with AI?

Contributions will range from 4500-6000 words. Authors are encouraged to write for a general audience of language educators but will be given great freedom to share their story in a register/style that best suits their needs. We will invite submissions within the following three thematic areas:

  1. Capturing Language Teaching Diversity in Japan: Challenging Tired Constructs
  2. Cultural Issues and Challenges in the Japan Language Teaching Context
  3. Japanese Language Teaching at Home and Abroad

Authors are encouraged to frame their contributions as follows:

  1. Personal essays, narratives and reflections on language teaching
  2. Perspectives on identity/educational issues facing language educators
  3. Rich-description experiential case studies and ethnographic studies
  4. Best practices in language education

While research-based submissions are welcomed, the primary remit of this project is to share the diversity of experience in language teaching from a broader career perspective. In cases where authors may need to reference published scholarly research in personal essays, narratives, reflections and experiential accounts, we ask that this be kept to a minimum.

Editor Bio Data:

Darren Lingley is Professor of Intercultural Communication and Comparative Culture in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kochi University, Japan. He is the former Editor of JALT Journal and currently serves as Editor of the TEFL Praxis Journal and Habitable Planet. His research interests include analysis of spoken language, intercultural communicative competence, and teacher education. He is the 2016 winner of the TESOL International Association’s Virginia French Allen award for outstanding scholarship and service and the 2023 winner of the International Association for Gondwana Research (IAGR) Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Cross-Disciplinary Contribution.

Paul Daniels is a Professor of English at Kochi University of Technology in Kochi, Japan. He serves on the Editorial Board of two international journals – the CALL Journal and the JALTCALL Journal and has published extensively in language learning and technology. His research focuses on project-based learning and CALL. He is Associate Editor of the TEFL Praxis Journal.

Naomi Wilks-Smith
Dr Naomi Wilks-Smithis Associate Professor in Primary Literacy Education in the School of Education at RMIT University, and a specialist in Languages and TESOL education. Naomi’s work focuses on translanguaging and the use of gestures in language learning and involves the integrated scholarship of research and education practice. She works with industry partners in schools as well as cross-School, external and international collaborations. She serves as Associate Editor of the TEFL Praxis Journal.

Darren Lingley:  lingley at kochi-u.ac.jp
Paul Daniels: daniels at kochi-tech.ac.jp
Naomi Wilks-Smith: naomi.wilks-smith at rmit.edu.au

Prospective Table of Contents 

Introduction

Section I: Capturing Language Teaching Diversity in Japan: Challenging Tired Constructs

  • The Native Speaker Teacher in Japanese University Contexts
  • Japanese-medium English Instruction in Universities
  • NNS FL Teacher Journeys (India, Singapore, Iran, Philippines)
  • Trends in the Teaching of Additional Languages in Japan (e.g. German, Chinese, Spanish, Korean)
  • Emergent Roles of Sessional Teachers in University Curriculums
  • Bilingual Role Models in ELT: Translanguaging in EFL Classrooms
  • English-medium Instruction: Delivering Specialized Content for Japanese Learners

Section II: Cultural Issues and Challenges in the Japan Language Teaching Context

  • The JTE as Boundary Rider
  • Understanding ALT Teacher Roles
  • The role of Non-ALT Foreign Teachers in Japanese Schools
  • Curricular Challenges for JTEs in Secondary Schools: (e.g. teaching speaking/pragmatics)
  • The Primary School Language Teacher 
  • Professional Development for Japanese Teachers of English
  • AI in Language Teaching
  • Issues in Language Testing in Japan
  • Post-Covid Communicative Language Teaching: Are Students Different Now?

Section III: Japanese Language Teaching at Home and Abroad

  • Teaching Japanese as an Additional Language 
  • Japanese Teacher Training Placements in Asian Universities
  • The Role of Japanese Saturday Schools Around the World
  • Japanese Language Residents and Volunteer Internships Abroad
  • Language Support for Migrant Learners in Japanese Public Schools
  • Trends in Japanese Language Teaching: Licensing and Career Opportunities
  • Volunteer Community Japanese Lessons 
  • Japanese Language Teaching Internships Within Japan

Proposals for other chapter themes that fit within the above broader sections are welcomed and will be carefully considered. Submit enquiries and submissions to: office@teflpraxis.org

Deadline: December 1, 2026

Publication: October 2027