Job Discussion Forums

[Basashi]

First off, a thanks to the kind soul(s) who created the FAQ threads stickied in this forum. A few of my questions have already been answered thanks to the information found there. Thanks to Glenski, wabisabi365, taikinbansei and others for the info they have shared in this forum as well.

My background: I am 30 years old, have a BA in TESOL, an MA in TESOL, and I have been teaching immigrants ESL at a pair of community colleges in Seattle for almost six years now. My Japanese is not fluent, but I am conversational having studied the language, lived in Kumamoto for a year, and married to my wife, who is from Japan. My reading and writing are not as good, but I can at least compose e-mails with few problems. That said, my wife and I love Seattle, but we are looking for a change. We are considering moving back to Japan (later this year or next year), but I would like to make this transition as smooth as possible. This leads to some questions:

1) I think the biggest strike against me is the lack of any publications. Should I not even bother looking for work at the university level because I have nothing in print?

2) How easy is it to join or start research (for possible publication) with a part-time or entry-level university position? What's the common time frame for completing research and then possibly seeing it online or in print?

3) If I were unable to find work at the university level, would taking a high school position hurt 'my professional image' (wow, I feel superficial now) - at least in the eyes of future, potential university level employers? If this is not a faux-pas, are there other viable options other than high school English for someone with a Masters in TESOL?

4) What is the best time to move to Japan to look for positions? I know the FAQ's stated February to March as ideal for most jobs, but I'm not sure if there even is such an ideal time for university positions considering the half-year and one-year in advance job postings. Any recommendations?

And last, Glenski, I think I saw your mention of living and teaching in Sapporo for eight years a few pages back. I'm not sure if you're still familiar with the university job scene there, but do you find Sapporo, or Hokkaido as a whole, to be more difficult for finding university employment as a newcomer? I suppose I should test the waters soon and subscribe to Ken Hartmann's list, but I was curious about your take on this.

I look forward to hearing your replies, and thank you for any help or insight offered.

よろしくお願いします。

[Glenski]

[wintersweet]

(Horning in, sorry...)

I wonder if some folks who've been hired at universities in Japan could give an example of the kinds of publications they had on their CVs. I know the standard line is "original research in a peer-reviewed publication," but that's still a pretty wide area. What's considered research? I assume it's field research only, and that's a bit daunting for me since I don't have access to an educational institution (I'm doing private corporate training). I'd really love some examples of what people have actually had counted as publications--however redacted or anonymized you'd like to make 'em.

My pending publication doesn't count, as far as I know--I submitted a writeup of a presentation that we did at a TESOL state-level affiliate conference to the proceedings. They were supposed to let us know in August, then October, and here it is January and I don't think anyone has heard yet. Even if it gets published, though, it's not field research, so ...

[Glenski]

wintersweet,
If I may first show some answers from other sources...

What do universities look for in the way of publications?
Many universities rate the accomplishments of the applicant on a grading scale. A full-length, feature publication in a reputable international journal will receive high marks while an institutional (in-house) journal or a magazine publication might have less value. Similarly, an invited presentation to an international conference would receive more weight than a presentation at a small conference.

Be advised that some interview panels will actually read your publications and even attempt to challenge your research, so be able to diplomatically defend both. The fastball question may be more of a test of your presence of mind under pressure, than an actual challenge to your research methodology. The point is research does count: it is often a vital consideration for the hiring committee. Moreover, the manner in which it is documented and defended is a crucial part of your overall presentation. Keep in mind, the presentation is not just the person (yourself), nor is it just the package (the documentation); it is a finely tuned orchestration of both. 2004 article, http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/articles/2004/10/mccasland

Another reply:
To be considered for a full professor's position, you need publications, preferably good ones in large numbers (Washida, 2001, p. 87-8. Some universities or even individual departments have ranking systems for publications and presentations. Even if the university to which you apply does not have an official ranking system in place, some informal ranking will naturally exist; e.g., a TESOL Quarterly publication will carry more weight than a local newspaper editorial. My university--a national one--as well as those at which close colleagues of mine now work, value such achievements along the following simplified lines, from highest prestige to lowest: sole authorship in a refereed international journal, in a refereed domestic journal, in a non-refereed journal; shared authorship in any of the above (worth less than sole authorship); a single presentation at an international conference, at a domestic conference, at a local conference, and finally as a poster presentation. In short, publications are worth more than presentations, books more than articles, refereed more than non-refereed, single author works more than shared, and international more than domestic. Similar systems may exist in other universities and may differ slightly in details, but I trust they are basically the same.

You should submit papers to the highest level journals possible; if the paper is rejected and subsequent editing and resubmission fails, work your way down the ladder of prestige until your paper is finally accepted. Most important, do not feel intimidated. Journals interested in furthering the exchange of ideas and understanding will accept papers from anyone so long as the content is lucid and original. Furthermore, if you are currently working part-time at an institution, you can use that institution for your affiliation. In addition, this affiliation may entitle you to submit papers to the university's or even department's kiyo, its journal, which you should do. The ideal strategy is to submit to the kiyo preliminary drafts focusing on facets of your research, because kiyo are only lightly refereed, thus worth fewer "publication points," while continuing to work on the papers to submit more complete versions to international refereed outlets, making note that preliminary versions appeared in the kiyo. You can also publish works by yourself (Washida, 2001, p. 119-120). Lastly, try to choose catchy, concise, and attractive titles for all your works (Washida, 2001, p. 119-120), since most of your publications will likely go unread beyond the titles in the hiring process. 2002 article, http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/articles/2002/09/glick

What you will see when you get the university's own application forms is often a breakdown of what you have published or presented. The breakdown is often as follows:
books
articles/papers
textbooks
monographs/thesis
other
These are described as single author or coauthor, date of issue, publisher or conference title, and a brief (100-200 words) description. The forms are usually in Japanese. The information is meant to show how often you publish, whether you publish or present more, how recently you published, what sort of material you publish and where, and whether you are the key author.

Ok, now for my particular case.
I got a job at a national science university. No liberal arts majors here. They specifically asked for a person with a Master's degree in Science with a science background and some TEFL background, if possible. As far as publications went, they asked for 2 copies of everything, bound in an organizer. (Thank you, 100-yen shop.) I had some scientific journal articles and poster presentations, a couple of operator manuals for scientific apparatus for my old employer, technical bulletins and lab protocols from my old employers, synopsis of training courses I'd created and conducted, my thesis, some EFL presentations at conferences, and a handful of online EFL publications.

[wintersweet]

Thanks, Glenski. I'll save that. Well, at least conference presentations are worth more than zero.

[Basashi]

My apologies for my late response. My 27 credits this quarter have been keeping me out of trouble and off the Internet more than usual.

Glenski, thank you. Your replies are invaluable and offer insight I would have much trouble finding for elsewhere.

[Glenski]

As for your first point, I have the same intuitive feeling that people would rather look for jobs and live on Honshu than elsewhere. Generally speaking, of course. I certainly couldn't say how many applications are received by any university, but Hokkaido has its own reputation of sorts as being a backwash or hillbilly area sometimes. The JALT Hokkaido members would agree and disagree, but one thing is certain about them: they are the largest and closest knit regional group in JALT.

I don't think Hokkaido is more insular, but I don't have any experience teaching elsewhere. I hope someone who is reading this and has such experience will respond. Again, it only makes intuitive sense that Honshu is more insular, simply because of the stiffer competition.

[Basashi]