SOCIAL CHALLENGES AS A FACTOR IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE IN JAPAN

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of social challenges as a factor in the transformation of the content of foreign language teachers’ professional competence in Japan. The focus is placed on the impact of social, demographic, cultural, and technological transformations in Japanese society on the content of teachers’ professional activity and on approaches to understanding their professional competence. It is noted that contemporary Japan functions under the conditions of a demographic crisis, population ageing, depopulation of certain regions, a growing number of foreign residents, intensified intercultural interaction, internationalization of education, and digital transformation. Such processes gradually change social expectations of school education, expand its functions, and lead to the renewal of requirements for the professional activity and competence of teaching staff, particularly foreign language teachers.

The article emphasizes that, in the contemporary Japanese educational space, the professional competence of a foreign language teacher is not limited to subject knowledge, language training, or methodological skills alone. It is interpreted as a multidimensional phenomenon that includes linguistic, communicative, intercultural, digital, adaptive, and reflective components. It is substantiated that, under the conditions of globalization and the growing cultural diversity of Japanese society, the foreign language teacher increasingly appears not only as a teacher of a school subject, but also as a mediator between languages and cultures, an organizer of a communicative educational environment, as well as a participant in the processes of students’ social integration into contemporary society.

The study has found that demographic changes are an important factor in redefining the professional role of foreign language teachers in Japan, as they lead to a reduction in the number of students, school closures, and the need to work in small-sized educational institutions and under limited resources. At the same time, the growing number of students of foreign origin and the strengthening tendency toward multicultural coexistence actualize the need to develop teachers’ intercultural communicative competence, their ability to work in a heterogeneous educational environment, take into account students’ cultural characteristics, and foster openness to diversity. Under such conditions, social changes in Japan affect not only the organization of the educational process, but also the content of the linguistic, communicative, intercultural, and methodological components of foreign language teachers’ professional competence.