Language socialization process of Indonesian and Filipino nurses in Japan

This ethnographic study focuses on the language socialization processes of six Indonesian and Filipino nurses working in Japan; these nurses came to Japan under the country's Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with Indonesia and the Philippines. After the establishment of the EPAs with the two countries, the first group of EPA nurses arrived in Japan from Indonesia and the Philippines in August 2008 and May 2009, respectively. Under the current system, EPA nurses are allowed to stay in Japan for a maximum of three years. However, for them to remain in Japan, they are required to pass the national board exam for nurses by the end of their third year. During their stay, they had to seek to pass the national board exam while working as nurse's aides. Thus, apart from needing assistance in adjusting to the workplace, which was provided by their engagement in actual healthcare support activities, they were also required to obtain exam-specific language skills. Drawing upon literature on the social nature of learning and identity, the impacts of tests, and foreign medical professionals' challenges in new environments, the study demonstrates how EPA nurses become socialized in a workplace context involving the negotiation of their identities, competencies, participation, and power relations in daily practices as determined by the EPA-based scheme and the macro social context of Japan. Data include observation and video or audio recordings of their interactions, interviews with the EPA nurses and their Japanese mentors and colleagues, as well as various artifacts collected from a year-long fieldwork in a hospital in Japan. Through a description of their engagement in different activities in the workplace, such as learning for the exam and working as a nursing assistant, this study illustrates the impacts of the exam on their learning, complex and multifaceted process of participation within a community of practice, and differences between official expectations and everyday requirements of language proficiency.