Recently, Japanese Ministry of Education policy has begun putting greater emphasis on the need for systematic teacher and professional development (PD) programs, beyond the requirement for license renewal. To be effective, it is critical PD respond to both teacher and institutional needs. This workshop will begin with a brief overview of PD in Japan and language education before outlining an approach being implemented in a language department of a Japanese university.

The workshop will then transition to a discussion of the affordances and challenges of creating a successful PD program in the hopes that attendees can leave with ideas that could be applied to their own teaching context.