Leaderful Classroom Pedagogy Through an Interdisciplinary Lens Merging Theory with Practice

Soyhan Egitim, EdD, has lived and worked in multi-cultural societies including Turkey, where he is originally from, Canada, and Japan. Since 2006, he has worked as an English language teacher in a range of educational settings in the Greater Tokyo Area. Upon completing his MA in TESOL at the University of Chichester in 2011, he pursued an academic career in Japan. In 2020, he was awarded a Doctorate in Education from Northeastern University in Boston, where he concentrated on collaborative leadership in the Japanese higher education contexts. Currently, he serves as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Global and Regional Studies at Toyo University where he teaches English and intercultural communication courses. As a multilingual expert in intercultural communication, language education, and inclusive leadership practices, Dr. Soyhan Egitim has strived to promote open, participatory, and equitable language education through academic lectures, publications, presentations, and training workshops.

Yu Umemiya, Ph.D., was introduced to Shakespeare at a young age and pursued his interest in studying his works during his undergraduate and graduate studies at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. After working as a part-time English teacher at secondary institutions in Tokyo for two and a half years, he moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, where he completed an M.A. in Shakespeare Studies at Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. While he was striving to fulfil his enrolment as an international student, he became an active member in a student theatre group where he served as a stage manager, a producer, and an assistant director in theatrical productions. Also, he appeared in promotion videos by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. After he returned from the UK, Dr. Umemiya served as a research associate and then as an assistant professor at Waseda University.