Empowerment Evaluation Practice in a Japanese Language Program

Toyama University Sugitani Campus Japanese Language Program has been implementing Empowerment Evaluation (EE) since 2011. EE is still an emerging approach in Japan and is rarely practiced in language programs. During 2011, efforts went into building language instructors' understanding of the EE principles, creating the context and space for democratic curricular discussion, and developing a program mission statement. Based on the initial phase, evaluation project aimed at generating program-level student learning outcomes statement and gathering indicators to assess student achievement of the outcomes. Through a democratic and participatory process of aligning program activities and curriculum to the outcomes and mission statement, all instructors showed proactive engagement and program and evaluation ownership. As indicated in EE principles, evaluation activities brought tangible program change and organizational transformation to become a learning organization.