English-language teaching in Japan and Asia

The presenter will overview the situation of English-language teaching in Japan -- defined here as teaching the language itself, i.e., TESOL; as well as English-medium education more broadly. The talk is mainly based on the presenter's experience from his early days at an English-language school in the late 1970s, through several university positions with increasing responsibilities and status, up until his recent retirement. While Japan was once a relatively open job market for English speakers desiring to get a foot in the teaching profession, it has tightened considerably over the years, particularly in the higher education sector. With this in mind, opportunities in other Asian countries where the ELT market has developed more recently will also be examined based on secondary sources.

About Dr. Fred Anderson: 

Dr. Fred Anderson is an emeritus professor at Kansai University, Osaka, and a visiting professor (2022-23) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Program in Language, Literacy and Culture. While American by birth and citizenship, he is a permanent resident of Japan, where he has lived most of his adult life. He contributed to the seminal volume, A Handbook for Teaching English at Japanese Colleges and Universities (P. Wadden, ed., Oxford 1993), and its recent update,Teaching English at Japanese Universities: A New Handbook (P. Wadden and C. C. Hale, eds., Routledge 2019). Anderson has presented widely throughout Japan and Asia. He received his PhD in linguistics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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