Paul Underwood (Ph.D.)
I am Professor of English and Teacher Education in the Department of Social Sciences, Toyo Eiwa University, where I serve on the university's Board of Directors and Board of Trustees. I teach a practicum on Collaborative Lesson Research for the MA TESOL Program, Kanda University (Tokyo) as well as an undergraduate Academic Literacy EMI course, Global Perspectives on Politics and Society, in the Center for Global Interdisciplinary Courses (GIC) at Keio University (Tokyo). I am an advisor to the United Nations Association’s Test of English (UNATE).
My early research focused on the implementation of national curriculum policies in the secondary school context. My recent research interest has extended to Collaborative Lesson Research in the Japanese higher education context. Teaching in the Department of Social Sciences, this has led me to connect with subjects such as geopolitics, globalization, and the challenged, and changing, concept of state sovereignty. And so, perhaps unconventionally, I find that in addition to teacher education and educational policy, many of the undergraduate courses I now teach bring together the two fields of language education and global relations.
Supervisors: Luke Harding (Lancaster University, UK) and Dianne Wall (Lancaster University, UK)
Phone: (+81) 045-922-7722
Address: Toyo Eiwa University
Department of Social Sciences, Office 1218,
32 Miho-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan. 226-0015
My early research focused on the implementation of national curriculum policies in the secondary school context. My recent research interest has extended to Collaborative Lesson Research in the Japanese higher education context. Teaching in the Department of Social Sciences, this has led me to connect with subjects such as geopolitics, globalization, and the challenged, and changing, concept of state sovereignty. And so, perhaps unconventionally, I find that in addition to teacher education and educational policy, many of the undergraduate courses I now teach bring together the two fields of language education and global relations.
Supervisors: Luke Harding (Lancaster University, UK) and Dianne Wall (Lancaster University, UK)
Phone: (+81) 045-922-7722
Address: Toyo Eiwa University
Department of Social Sciences, Office 1218,
32 Miho-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan. 226-0015
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Journal Articles and Chapters by Paul Underwood (Ph.D.)
訳:This paper reports on an ongoing collaborative lesson planning project at Toyo Eiwa University, Japan. The aim of the project was to explore methods for implementing an Active Learning approach in courses with a large number of students. Drawing on an enquiry-based model of teacher development, Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR), three subject teachers and one language education specialist worked collaboratively to research, plan, teach, observe, and critically evaluate a 90-minute class (n=96 students) on multicultural society. The authors begin by describing the background, educational context, and project schedule. They then discuss various aspects of the project, such as student learning outcomes, the effectiveness of their post-lesson discussions, and their reflections on the collaborative planning process. While the authors did not intend to prove the efficacy of either Active Learning or CLR, as they discuss, the project provides some evidence that collaborative planning could be an effective step towards establishing new teaching approaches in a university context. Implications for further research in this area are presented.
and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course on global politics and society in a
required, sophomore English class1. Section 1 discusses the concept of CLIL and
describes the institutional and curricular background of the project. Section 2 focuses
on the rationale for the curriculum, situating the CLIL course within the competences
students require in an increasingly globalized society. Section 3 explains the curriculum
development process, detailing how the legitimacy of subject content at the curriculum
design stage was established. This is illustrated with examples of materials, assessment,
and tasks and cooperative learning activities (classroom procedures are presented in
the Appendices). Section 4 describes the data collection and analysis. Next, drawing on
qualitative and quantitative data that were collected from the class, Section 5 reports on
assessment outcomes and how the students reacted to their weekly lessons in terms of
the usefulness, enjoyability, and difficulty of subject-content topics, materials and
activities. Section 6 concludes with a discussion of the implications for the future
development of the course.
This article reports a multiple case study that explores the potential impact of Japan’s national curriculum for senior high school English as a foreign language (EFL), specifically in relation to the integration of grammar teaching with communicative work, a key component of the curriculum and an area globally underresearched in high schools. The beliefs and practices of four Japanese EFL teachers from different public and private high schools were investigated over a 16-month period. Quantitative data were collected from four classroom observations, while qualitative data were gathered through a preliminary beliefs questionnaire, 10 teacher journals, and postobservation and semistructured interviews. Extending the EFL literature to date, this article draws on the theory of planned behavior as an analytical framework to reveal a complex interrelationship between the various attitudinal, social, and contextual factors that would both obstruct and facilitate teachers’ integration of grammar teaching with communicative work. Importantly, the findings also bring to light a number of concrete ways in which some teachers manage severe social and other contextual pressures to successfully achieve integration, despite the influence of university entrance examinations that emphasize reading.
PhD Thesis by Paul Underwood (Ph.D.)
Based on preliminary research for this thesis (Underwood, 2012) and an ongoing review of the literature, I conducted a mixed-methods, multiple case-study investigation of teacher beliefs and current teaching practices. I collected data from a purposive sample of four Japanese senior high school teachers at public and private academic institutions, where the focus is on preparing students for entrance to university. Data collection instruments included open-ended surveys, teacher journals, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews. The study drew on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985, 1991, 2005) as the main theoretical framework.
The research found that teacher intentions to integrate grammar with communicative work under the new curriculum were largely informed by context-related factors. Specifically, the findings suggested that for teachers to implement the oral components of the new curriculum, more universities would need to assess oral skills as part of their entry requirements. However, the findings also strongly indicated that even if examinations were to change, for teachers to adopt communicative approaches in the classroom, major structural changes in schools must also occur in three key areas: (1) the establishment of collaborative, in-service professional development, which is relevant to teachers’ contexts; (2) an increase in cooperation between various stakeholders; and (3) the reassignment of English teachers’ extra-curricular duties.
訳:This paper reports on an ongoing collaborative lesson planning project at Toyo Eiwa University, Japan. The aim of the project was to explore methods for implementing an Active Learning approach in courses with a large number of students. Drawing on an enquiry-based model of teacher development, Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR), three subject teachers and one language education specialist worked collaboratively to research, plan, teach, observe, and critically evaluate a 90-minute class (n=96 students) on multicultural society. The authors begin by describing the background, educational context, and project schedule. They then discuss various aspects of the project, such as student learning outcomes, the effectiveness of their post-lesson discussions, and their reflections on the collaborative planning process. While the authors did not intend to prove the efficacy of either Active Learning or CLR, as they discuss, the project provides some evidence that collaborative planning could be an effective step towards establishing new teaching approaches in a university context. Implications for further research in this area are presented.
and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course on global politics and society in a
required, sophomore English class1. Section 1 discusses the concept of CLIL and
describes the institutional and curricular background of the project. Section 2 focuses
on the rationale for the curriculum, situating the CLIL course within the competences
students require in an increasingly globalized society. Section 3 explains the curriculum
development process, detailing how the legitimacy of subject content at the curriculum
design stage was established. This is illustrated with examples of materials, assessment,
and tasks and cooperative learning activities (classroom procedures are presented in
the Appendices). Section 4 describes the data collection and analysis. Next, drawing on
qualitative and quantitative data that were collected from the class, Section 5 reports on
assessment outcomes and how the students reacted to their weekly lessons in terms of
the usefulness, enjoyability, and difficulty of subject-content topics, materials and
activities. Section 6 concludes with a discussion of the implications for the future
development of the course.
This article reports a multiple case study that explores the potential impact of Japan’s national curriculum for senior high school English as a foreign language (EFL), specifically in relation to the integration of grammar teaching with communicative work, a key component of the curriculum and an area globally underresearched in high schools. The beliefs and practices of four Japanese EFL teachers from different public and private high schools were investigated over a 16-month period. Quantitative data were collected from four classroom observations, while qualitative data were gathered through a preliminary beliefs questionnaire, 10 teacher journals, and postobservation and semistructured interviews. Extending the EFL literature to date, this article draws on the theory of planned behavior as an analytical framework to reveal a complex interrelationship between the various attitudinal, social, and contextual factors that would both obstruct and facilitate teachers’ integration of grammar teaching with communicative work. Importantly, the findings also bring to light a number of concrete ways in which some teachers manage severe social and other contextual pressures to successfully achieve integration, despite the influence of university entrance examinations that emphasize reading.
Based on preliminary research for this thesis (Underwood, 2012) and an ongoing review of the literature, I conducted a mixed-methods, multiple case-study investigation of teacher beliefs and current teaching practices. I collected data from a purposive sample of four Japanese senior high school teachers at public and private academic institutions, where the focus is on preparing students for entrance to university. Data collection instruments included open-ended surveys, teacher journals, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews. The study drew on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985, 1991, 2005) as the main theoretical framework.
The research found that teacher intentions to integrate grammar with communicative work under the new curriculum were largely informed by context-related factors. Specifically, the findings suggested that for teachers to implement the oral components of the new curriculum, more universities would need to assess oral skills as part of their entry requirements. However, the findings also strongly indicated that even if examinations were to change, for teachers to adopt communicative approaches in the classroom, major structural changes in schools must also occur in three key areas: (1) the establishment of collaborative, in-service professional development, which is relevant to teachers’ contexts; (2) an increase in cooperation between various stakeholders; and (3) the reassignment of English teachers’ extra-curricular duties.