Although the number of part-time teachers at Japanese universities has grown over the last 25years, their working conditions including salary range and the lack of fringe benefits have remained unchanged (Itakura, 2021). At some private universities in Japan, part-time teachers account for 60percent or more of the teaching staff (Itakura, 2021). Without these part-time teachers, Japanese universities would not be able to offer the breadth and depth of courses they offer to their students. In the field of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), part-time EFL teachers in Japanese universities teach many of the required and elective EFL courses to university students. These teachers have dedicated themselves to the teaching profession by ensuring that their students are able to use English in situations beyond the language classroom. In this transcendental phenomenological study, the lived experiences of part-time EFL teachers at Japanese universities were examined. Part-time EFL teachers at universities in Japan were surveyed and interviewed about their background, teaching environments, and concerns regarding their career. The findings from this study were analyzed and interpreted by linking Maslow’s employee engagement pyramid model of five levels—physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and-self-actualization—with the Job Characteristics Model of five characteristics—skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback (Hackman Kavya & Padmavathy, 2017). The findings indicated that after their physiological and safety needs were met, the part-time teachers were able to pursue higher levels of Maslow’s employee engagement pyramid model such as love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Skill variety, task significance, and autonomy helped them feel motivated to continue their careers in teaching.
Marian Wang (Mon,) studied this question.