実践現場から越境する省察的実践家としての 日本語教師の学習 ― 教師の自主勉強会での実践研究をとおして ―

Abstract

This paper is a practical study of the ‘Practical Community Study Group,’ which was implemented as a voluntary study group for Japanese language teachers to continue their own learning. The purpose of the study is to examine how teachers themselves can create opportunities for learning so that they can independently and autonomously advance their own Japanese language teaching activities. To this end, we first analyzed teachers' learning in voluntary study groups from the perspective of the concepts of ‘boundary crossing’ and ‘learning by boundary crossing’. The result of analysis shows that the teachers who participated in the study group crossed the boundary from their field of practice to the study group, came into contact with a different culture in the process of dialogue with others, became upset, and reexamined their own presupposed view of Japanese language education, or their own position as a Japanese language teacher, thereby transforming their own field of practice. This was the process of transforming their own Japanese language teaching practice. In considering the relationship between this kind of boundary crossing learning and the learning of Japanese language teachers as ‘reflective practitioners,’ it became clear that the common learning is the realization and reexamination of one's own position as a Japanese language teacher, which in turn fosters ‘teacher agency’ as a proactive and autonomous teacher. In other words, it is about fostering ‘teacher agency’ to be an independent and autonomous teacher. Result of study suggests that Japanese language teachers as ‘reflective practitioners’ should always be aware of their own boundary crossing situations to foster their own ‘teacher agency,’ and furthermore, they should continuously create opportunities to verbalize their own border-crossing situations and engage in dialogue with other teachers.