Relationships Between Young/Older Japanese Women and Filipino/Western English Teachers: Age, Gender, Ethnicity and English-Speaker Status

Abstract

Pre-pandemic studies indicate that East Asian students’ migration to ASEAN Outer Circle nations to study English by no means marks their departure from an idealized anglophone English world. Via research conducted during the pandemic when online learning had become mainstream, this study further explores the significance of such students’ English study with Outer Circle teachers. A questionnaire survey was administered to 200 Japanese female English learners aged 20–59 who have taken English lessons provided by both western and Filipino teachers. The textual data analyses reveal that the respondents’ essentialized appreciation of Filipino teachers’ ‘Asianness’ and their English-as-a-second-language background is caused by their identity as Asian English learners struggling to acquire ‘correct’ English. Meanwhile, quantitative analyses identify the presence of many Japanese women who study English as a hobby irrespective of their age and teachers’ ethnicity. This finding provides an additional insight about Japanese female English learners who are well discussed in light of marginalized young Japanese women's longing for western men from/in the idealized West. Moreover, based on the statistical analysis of age differences in reasons for taking private English lessons and concern about teachers’ accent, this study discusses a possible impact of teacher–student age/gender matching on young or mature Japanese female English learners’ perceptions about lessons provided by predominantly young Filipino women or western men. It concludes with suggestions for future research that examines the significance of learning English from Filipino and other Outer Circle English teachers amid the pervasive native English norms tied to Inner Circle English teachers.