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Description
This study examines ALT-led initiatives in Japanese schools and the factors shaping Assistant Language Teachers’ ability to initiate and sustain them. Using a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods survey, it identified three initiative types: supporting formal instruction, creating communicative opportunities, and enhancing language learning environments. Findings reveal that initiative-taking was unrelated to workload or formal role but differed in how ALTs perceived and navigated institutional constraints and their role, highlighting initiative-taking as a discretionary form of teacher agency.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
The results identified and grouped a range of ALT-led initiatives across elementary and junior high schools: supporting the existing instructional system, creating communicative opportunities, and enhancing the English learning environment. Initiative-taking was not associated with instructional workload, formal teaching responsibility, or school assignment. Initiators and non-initiators reported similarly positive working environments and perceived role balance. Differences emerged in how ALTs perceived their capacity to act and navigated contextual constraints: initiators framed constraints as implementation challenges; non-initiators viewed them as conditions discouraging initiation. Initiative-taking thus functions as a discretionary practice through which ALTs actively shape how their institutional roles are enacted.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
What ALT-led initiatives are currently being implemented in English language education in elementary and junior high schools in a single geographical area in Japan? What factors enable or constrain the ALTs' ability to initiate and sustain such initiatives?
Abstract section 1: Relevance
Despite the expanding role of Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in English education in Japan, their responsibilities remain ambiguously defined. Research has focused on isolated examples of ALT-led activities. Existing studies report ALT dissatisfaction linked to passive classroom roles (Binns & Johnston, 2022; Ohtani, 2010), yet few studies document initiatives across schools in a single geographical area or examine factors shaping ALTs’ capacity to initiate and sustain such efforts. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2020) and street-level bureaucracy (Lipsky, 2010), this study situates ALT-led initiatives within broader discussions of teacher agency, role interpretation, and discretionary action under institutional constraint.
Abstract section 3: Content/method
The study adopted a qualitative-dominant exploratory mixed-methods design using a cross-sectional online survey. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically to examine the types of initiatives ALTs conduct outside regular classroom instruction but within school hours and to examine perceived challenges, institutional support, and role balance. Quantitative items were analyzed descriptively to contextualize qualitative findings and explore patterned differences in initiative-taking.
Abstract section 5: References
Binns, A., & Johnston, S-K. (2022). Impact of assistant language teachers on English education in Shizuoka. In P. Ferguson, & R. Derrah (Eds.), Reflections and New Perspectives. JALT. https://doi.org/10.37546/JALTPCP2021-11
Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy, 30th Ann. Ed.: Dilemmas of the individual in public service. Russell Sage Foundation.
Ohtani, C. (2010). Problems in the Assistant Language Teacher System and English activity at Japanese public elementary Schools. Educational Perspectives, 43(1), 38–45. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ912113.pdf
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860
| Title | Initiative-taking by ALTs in Japan: Agency under constraint |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | Assistant language teachers |