School Libraries in the English Education of Japan: From the Perspectives of Practitioners

Abstract

In Japan, English has been taught as a foreign language. For surviving in the quickly changing 21st century, students have to learn English more autonomously, gathering authentic input by themselves. Though school libraries can be a solution to such problems, appeal to English educators is not sufficient and such educators do not fully understand the possibilities offered by school libraries. The voices of practitioners of English education who utilise school libraries were needed in this respect. This study shared the perspectives of practitioners, using interviews in order to reveal the potential uses of school libraries. The study concluded with the possibility that school libraries can form an English learning environment in which students’ autonomy is cultivated and authentic input is provided.