THE FEMINIST EFL CLASSROOM: FEMINIST TEACHERS' IDENTITIES, BELIEFS, AND PRACTICES IN JAPANESE UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

In this study, I explore how EFL teachers in Japan become feminists, what feminism means to them, and how their feminist identities affect their teaching beliefs and practices. In relation to their feminist identities, I also examine what teaching beliefs they hold, how their teaching beliefs are applied to their teaching practices, and how they teach in their actual language classrooms. This study enabled me to understand more deeply what is going on in feminist EFL classrooms. To explore the research questions posed above, I employed poststructural feminist pedagogical theory as my conceptual framework and narrative inquiry as my primary methodological tool. I recruited nine self-identified feminist EFL university teachers in Japan as participants (four Japanese, five non-Japanese). The in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and teaching journals comprised the primary data. I analyzed all of the data and described their feminist teacher identities, teaching beliefs, and teaching practices. I found that even though each participant took a different path in becoming a feminist EFL teacher in Japan, the concept of gender equality and justice was shared by my participants. They believed that it was important to teach about gender-related topics in the EFL classroom or incorporate gender issues into the lessons. Even though some did not teach about gender topics in a straightforward way, they taught English according to feminist principles. A question arises as to what distinguishes feminist teaching and good teaching. What distinguishes them is whether feminist teachers are consciously aware of what they are doing and why. I also found that among some of my participants, their stated beliefs and actual teaching practices were not in synchrony because personal and contextual factors. From a poststructural feminist view, I analyzed compatibility and incompatibility among feminist teacher identities, beliefs, and practices. Through this process, I realized the importance of redefining feminist pedagogy in TESOL and defining it in TEFL in Japan. I hope my dissertation helps expand the knowledge of feminist pedagogy in TESOL and encourages both ESL/EFL teachers and feminist ESL/EFL teachers to practice feminist teaching in their classes.