Culturally Responsive Teaching Among Filipino Assistant Language Teachers in Japanese Public Junior High Schools: An Interpretive Study

English language classrooms function as culturally situated spaces, yet instruction in highly structured systems often proceeds as if learner identity, voice, and cultural resources are peripheral to learning. This qualitative interpretive study examined how Filipino Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Japanese public junior high schools enact culturally responsive teaching (CRT) within textbook-paced, co-taught lessons. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Filipino ALTs deployed under an ALT dispatch organization in Kanto South Tokyo. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterned meanings across participants’ accounts of classroom practice, constraints, and enabling conditions. Findings indicate that CRT in this context is enacted primarily through micro-level practices embedded into mandated lessons rather than through curricular redesign. Participants described (1) using cultural and interest-based lesson entry points to build relevance and reduce anxiety, (2) designing interaction-first task structures (pair work, group work, role-play) to distribute speaking risk and support participation norms, and (3) applying access and affective scaffolds (sentence frames, visuals, pacing adjustments, strategic grouping) to protect emotional safety and enable equitable participation. Implementation was constrained by strict pacing requirements and the negotiation dynamics of co-teaching, which shaped what practices were perceived as “allowed.” Participants identified the need for context-specific CRT training, ready-to-use lesson inserts, and institutional recognition to increase feasibility and consistency. The study proposes practical CRT guidelines tailored to textbook-driven co-teaching contexts, emphasizing alignment mapping, short-format culturally responsive inserts, and collaboration routines that support culturally responsive participation without disrupting curriculum coverage.