A linguistic ethnography of English language classrooms in a Japanese secondary school

Suzuki, Bunya and Potts, Diane (2025) A linguistic ethnography of English language classrooms in a Japanese secondary school. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

The theory of language socialization has long established that language learning and cultural acquisition are interrelated, and that learners and teachers are active agents in co-constructing classroom practices. However, there are surprisingly few studies that draw on these understandings in researching English education in Japan. In this ethnographic study, I examined the multidirectional socialization of Japanese teachers of English (JTEs), assistant language teachers (ALTs) and students at a large Japanese private boys’ secondary school. To analyze how social relations structured and were structured through language use, I draw on the analytical resources of systemic functional linguistics. Analysis shows the interest of classroom participants dominated. ALTs’ aspirations to belong led them to reproduce familiar routines of a Japanese classroom. JTEs’ priorities for maintaining established Japanese practices led to the reproduction of classroom management practices and existing distributions of power. Peer interactions routinely followed rote patterns with little space for meaningful negotiation of language. Interestingly, instances of translanguaging were integral with more extended negotiation of meaning between and among teachers and peers. As these findings illustrate, understanding participants’ social objectives and the multidirectional socialization of classroom participants is key to transforming long-existing classroom practices and relations. First, more attention is needed to ALTs’ orientation to their positions and their classrooms, and to their aspirations for belonging. Second, JTEs could be better supported by a) increasing awareness of the interpersonal and/or pragmatic functions of English and b) designing programs that raise their awareness towards ALTs’ relatively invisible realization of agency. Finally, the thesis illustrates the need to conduct more nuanced studies of translanguaging to further understanding of classroom dynamics. I conclude with contributions of this thesis, which draws attention to the value of plurilingual resources that function to co-construct key interpersonal relationships and impact classroom dynamics.