Learning and Teaching Business in English in Japan:
Challenges and Issues
Kenichi Sato（Doshisha University）
Abstract
Transnational higher education, in which Japan aspires to become a key player, is prominent in many parts of the world. Stakeholders of Japanese business education at the university level, such as learners, practitioners, and scholars, are now involved in large-scale internationalisation,
in the process of which they must inevitably deal with a fundamental question: how business studies can be effectively learned and taught in English by non-native speakers of English.
Despite the widely accepted ‘benefitsʼ thereof, teaching or learning highly specialised content like business studies in English, which is a relatively new practice in Japan, poses a handful of problems to those concerned.
In an attempt to present a comprehensive discussion of this issue, this article first outlines the processes and trends of transnational higher education, then identifies challenges and issues that must be solved to expand the practice of learning/teaching business studies in English in Japan.
Finally, the concept of Business English as a Lingua Franca will also be briefly mentioned as accelerating this practice.