Increasing national provisions in Japanese language teaching

Japanese language teaching and learning is influenced by various types of human diversity. Diversity of gender, language, and culture are often addressed in learning materials, instructional practices, and professional discussions in the field. Yet, issues of race are often glossed over in everyday pedagogical practices and professional discourses on equity, diversity, and inclusion. To fill this gap, this article will focus on issues of race and introduce key concepts—race and ethnicity, racism, intersectionality, and new racism—by drawing on some examples from the survey results presented by Mori et al. (this volume). The article proposes antiracist engagement in Japanese language teaching that encourages the recognition of different forms of racism operating in various contexts and the exercise of hyper self-reflexivity to always question own positionalities and responsibilities in a complex web of power relations.

Download Full-text

Language Ideology and Its Manifestations: Exploring Implications for Japanese Language Teaching

Japanese Language and Literature ◽

10.5195/jll.2020.137 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 54 (2) ◽

pp. 305-316

Author(s):

Mahua Bhattacharya

Keyword(s):

Language Ideology ◽

Language Use ◽

Native Speaker ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Japanese Language ◽

Pedagogical Approach ◽

Language Pedagogy ◽

It Impacts ◽

Neutral Activity ◽

Selection Of

Language teaching is often seen as an ideologically neutral activity. Linguists have traditionally believed that what people say about language use or structure does not represent ‘real’ linguistic data (Schieffelin, et al, 1998:11). However, it is precisely this dismissal that modern linguistic anthropologists hope to dispel. This paper attempts to lay bare the workings of language ideology and how it impacts language teaching in general and Japanese language pedagogy in particular.The ideological orientation of what constitutes ‘standard’ Japanese language involves inclusion of certain components that are motivated by Nihonjinron discourses of ‘identity, aesthetics, morality and epistemology’ and processes of exclusion that ‘erase’ deviations from the ‘norm’ (Schieffelin, et al, 1998:3). Ideas about ‘native speaker’ understanding, selection of language materials, inclusion and exclusion of syntactical, lexical, and pragmatic forms in teaching manuals, etc., are all affected by these perspectives, some of which this paper will hope to enumerate. With concrete examples it will be demonstrated how flawed these processes are and how a critical pedagogical approach may help solve these issues.

Download Full-text

O ensino da Língua japonesa no Amazonas

Estudos Japoneses ◽

10.11606/issn.2447-7125.v0i32p131-141 ◽

1969 ◽

pp. 131-141

Author(s):

Michele Eduarda Brasil de Sá ◽

Ken Nishikido

Keyword(s):

Language Teaching ◽

Language Education ◽

The State ◽

Japanese Language ◽

History Of ◽

Japanese Immigration

This article is based on the results of a research entitled “History of Japanese language éducation in Amazonas”，registered in the Institutional Program of Scientific Initiation Scholarships (PIBIC) of the Federal University of Amazonas during 2011-2012. The aim of the research is to trace a chronology of Japanese language teaching in Amazonas, based on the history of Japanese immigration to the State.

Download Full-text