scholarly journals Diversity, Inclusion, and Professionalism in Japanese Language Education: Introduction to the Special Section

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-266
Author(s):  
Junko Mori ◽  
Atsushi Hasegawa
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Diverse Population ◽  
Educational Mission ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion have become a major concern in academic and professional institutions in recent years. As educators, we are responsible for creating environments where a diverse population of students can communicate beyond differences and learn from each other. While this educational mission is widely recognized, we have not sufficiently examined the extent to which a culture of diversity and inclusion has been fostered and actually practiced within our professional community. The current special section aims to facilitate dialogs on this topic among Japanese-language educators by sharing the results of an online survey conducted in 2018 and featuring commentaries prepared by twelve individuals who have contributed to Japanese language education in North America in different capacities. This introductory articleprovides a brief overview of the backgrounds and motivations for this special section and outlines its organization.

scholarly journals On Goals of Language Education and Teacher Diversity: Beliefs and Experiences of Japanese-Language Educators in North America

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-304
Author(s):  
Junko Mori ◽  
Atsushi Hasegawa ◽  
Jisuk Park ◽  
Kimiko Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Teacher Diversity ◽  
Regional Dialects

This article reports the results of the online survey on Japanese-language educators’ beliefs and experiences concerning their profession that we conducted in the fall of 2018. A total of 355 teachers in North America responded to the survey. The responses were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative data suggest that the survey respondents almost unanimously agreed on the importance of global and translingual/transcultural competence as a crucial goal for JFL education. However, the items concerning the legitimacy of language varieties (e.g., standard vs. regional dialects), the importance of accuracy (e.g., grammar, pronunciation), and the views on Japanese culture (e.g., emphasis on uniqueness) received rather conflicting responses from the participants. Moreover, qualitative comments brought up the issues of native-speakerism, nihonjinron, and heteronormativity ideologies as prevailing in JFL education. In short, the results illuminate both converging and diverging perspectives of the survey participants and contradictions or dilemmas between aspirational ideals and mundane practices.

scholarly journals Pedagogical Linguistics Training for Graduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-346
Author(s):  
Etsuyo Yuasa
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Ohio State University ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
State University ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Language Instructors ◽  
The Ohio State University ◽  
Prior Experiences

This commentary tries to address how we can foster diversity and inclusion among peers and potential peers in Japanese-language education based on my experience with providing pedagogical linguistics training to graduate students at The Ohio State University. Pedagogical linguistics training aims to instill future Japanese-language instructors with the knowledge of how the Japanese language works and to foster their ability to incorporate such knowledge into teaching. I would like to propose that pedagogical linguistics training can be a powerful tool to help individual teachers achieve their potential regardless of their prior experiences and backgrounds. I will discuss 1) the importance of pedagogical linguistics training and how it empowers future Japanese-language; and 2) issues in pedagogical linguistics training.

scholarly journals AATJ’s Role in Diversity and Inclusion: An Opportunity to Transform into a Well-Integrated Organization

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 423-434
Author(s):  
Suwako Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Language Education ◽  
Professional Organization ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Instructional Level ◽  
Professional Field ◽  
Survey Results

The survey results (Mori et al., this volume) show that there are divisions among subgroups based on instructional level and language background in the field of Japanese language education. This commentary discusses various kinds of divide or disparity in our professional field based on the author’s experience of involvement in three national professional organizations (ATJ, NCJLT, AATJ). In order for AATJ to become a well-integrated professional organization, the following three recommendations are made: (1) Reevaluate the AATJ’s current mission and bylaws to have a common goal, (2) incorporate the spirit of diversity and inclusion to foster a collegial culture in the organization, and (3) articulate what AATJ wants students to attain through the study of Japanese.

scholarly journals Toward Exhilarating Classrooms: Representation vs. Inclusion in Japanese Language Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-381
Author(s):  
Arthur M. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Identity Representation ◽  
Inclusive Teaching ◽  
The Way

This article responds to the important effort, regarding diversity and inclusion, to draw attention to the imbalance in identity representation amongst the ranks of Japanese language teachers and to interrogate whether this is a symptom of native speaker supremacy bias. While recognizing the presence of this bias, I argue that addressing it through frameworks of representation (e.g. increasing the number of non-L1 female-identifying teachers) could inadvertently serve to support larger frameworks of oppression. Promoting, instead, a method of inclusive teaching that prompts us to look inward and actually transform the way we teach by having the courage to draw attention to our gendered, racial, national, and class identities within the classroom and connecting them to the content we teach, I offer a tactic for more directly addressing native speaker bias, as well as other structures of exclusion, that can be practiced by any instructor, no matter what their identities.

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