On the way to effective team teaching: A model of ICC development within the context of team teaching in Japan

Abstract

Team teaching has become a common practice in English classrooms across Japan, but since its inception, a number of problems have been observed. It is believed that the majority of these issues are due to miscommunication caused by cultural differences between the Japanese (JTs) and native-English teachers (NETs). Unfortunately, few studies have offered solutions on how teachers could improve their intercultural communication competence (ICC) so that the other problems can be rectified. Thus, the purpose of this paper is two-fold: 1) to illustrate the need for ICC among JTs and NETs through a review of literature and 2) to develop a model of ICC development specifically designed for the team teaching setting. By applying Iris Young's (1997) theory of asymmetrical reciprocity to ICC among team teachers, this study develops a model of ICC development within the context of team teaching in Japan so that future research may then apply this model to improving intercultural communication between the NETs and JTs and thereby enhancing the overall instruction in the team teaching classroom.