The Language Barrier: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Assistant Language Teachers in Japan: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe and interpret the lived experiences of Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Japan as they faced some challenges with language barriers. There is still a gap that needs to be addressed because little did these foreign English teachers know that teaching English in a non-native English-speaking country like Japan comes with a lot of challenges especially with the language barrier. The theories that guided this study were Krashen’s (1981) Monolingual Approach and Bandura’s (1997) Social Cognitive Theory. The central questions of this study were intended to determine the lived experiences of ALTs with language barrier and how the ALTs ascribed to their experiences. Purposive sampling was used in which nine (9) participants consented to be a part of this study. Six (6) out of nine (9) participants were from Kyoto City, while the remaining three (3) were from Hamamatsu City. The study used in-depth interviews, which was cross-examined through behavioral observations from recorded videos and poetic transcriptions. The findings indicated that ALTs experienced language barriers when communicating with students and Japanese co-teachers, lesson planning, and lack of professional development and training.