Encountering and contesting native-speakerism in Japanese universities

ABSTRACT

‘Internationalisation’ in Japanese higher education (HE) is largely imagined in terms of English language acquisition. Native speakers of English are therefore desirable HE employees. However, ‘native-speakerism’ also reflects hierarchical notions of English language forms. In Japan, US and Anglo forms of English are privileged over others, which has uneven implications for English speakers employed in Japanese HE. In this paper, we discuss the findings of a qualitative doctoral study, conducted in 2015 and 2016, which involved interviews with 25 native English speakers working for Japanese universities. The study explored the interviewees’ experiences working in Japanese HE. Interviewees revealed that as so-called native speakers of English, they experienced a range of advantages in Japanese universities, but that their positioning also seemed to preclude institutional attention to their wider professional expertise. Participants’ narratives demonstrated how they sought to differentiate themselves from other native English speakers who were less qualified. We conclude the paper by considering the need for policies and practices in Japanese HE that acknowledge the diversity of ‘English speakers’, for example, by recruiting HE staff according to clearly defined skillsets (not just native speaker status) and developing internationalisation policies that move beyond English linguistic imperialism and native-speakerism.

KEYWORDS:

• Japan
• higher education
• native English speakers
• native-speakerism
• English linguistic imperialism
• internationalisation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express our sincere appreciation to the native English-speaking academics who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We do not use ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ as objective or neutral distinctions (Holliday, 2005, 2013, 2015). The term ‘native English speaker’ is often associated with the so-called ‘West’ and ‘Western culture’ (Holliday, 2005). While we recognise the term ‘native English speaker’ as controversial, we use it in this paper in order to problematise its use, and the dominant assumptions associated with it.

2 One participant was working for a university outside the Top Global University Project. However, the university was also actively promoting internationalisation processes and practices and was a relatively high-level university.

3 For more information about these initiatives, see https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-tgu/index.html.

4 All names used are pseudonyms.