To investigate the role of language teacher associations (LTAs) vis-à-vis their members, the case of Japan is notable for the apparent disparateness among the more than 50 associations that have formed over the past 90 years. An historical overview reveals that LTAs in Japan have emerged in four distinct waves, and a survey of representative…

In this article I elaborate a theoretical framework for examining teacher professionalism as an enacted discourse of power. Central to this framework is an understanding of professionalism as a process that relates to the ways teachers attempt to influence the quality and character of their work. For subject teaching associations this process…

Fear can be conceptualized differently as experienced by those inside and outside the school organization. Internally, participants respond to fear in a politics of maintenance aimed toward protection against anticipated job loss(es). This article examines internal organizational participants' fear, with particular attention to teachers' fear of…