BLADIMIE GERMAIN (REITAKU UNIVERSITY)

INTEGRATION TO BELONGING: ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS' EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN : TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Perception of professional identity, efficacy, and institutional commitment has been shown to be connected to foreign language teachers’ (FLTs) integration into their institutions (Zhu, 2022; Scuzzarello & Moroşanu, 2023). However, Germain (2024) noted that although integration plays an integral role in the aforementioned points, the influence may be limited or enhanced by their sense of belonging. Despite this, integration and belonging remain an under-researched area especially in the Japanese university context, which may be having unintended consequences on foreign language education in Japan. Therefore, this research adopts a qualitative approach through an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with university English FLTs to analyse (1) FLTs’ perceived differences between integration and belonging, if any; (2) if, when, and how integration transitions into belonging; and (3) perceptions of what institutions, department, and peers can do to enhance integration and/or a sense of belonging. The results demonstrate that (1) participants viewed integration as structural and institutional efforts of inclusion, whereas belonging was seen to be an internal psychological process. (2) Transition from integration to belonging is often limited at peer and departmental level with little to none at institutional level. (3) Belonging was seen to be influenced heavily by perceptions of social and professional interactions within campus and engaging in professional activities outside of campus to strengthen perception of self as “true academics”. These findings challenge the notion that integration equals belonging, but also urges universities to prioritise fostering a sense of belonging to improve the wellbeing of English FLTs and other FLTs.

Bladimie is an Center for English Communication Lecturer at Reitaku University, Japan. He considers himself to be an early academic with his initial research practices centring students' using community of practice to engage with global issues. Recently, his focus shifted to educators' experiences in relation to organisational integration and belonging.