Toward More Inclusive Japanese Language Education: Incorporating an Awareness of Gender and Sexual Diversity among Students

Authors

  • Jotaro Arimori University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jll.2020.129

Abstract

Many educational institutions in North America have declared a commitment to enhancing the diversity of their students, and to providing a learning environment free of discrimination. This diversity unequivocally includes sexual orientation as well as gender identity and expression, and we teachers are expected to play a role in fulfilling this commitment. Nevertheless, there are few opportunities for us to learn about the diversity of gender and sexuality in pre-service training or in-service professional development for Japanese-language education. This paper addresses issues that may create challenges for LGBTQ learners of Japanese, paying special attention to heteronormativity in Japanese language teaching materials and linguistic norms and ideology regarding gendered expression in Japanese, and suggests ways teachers might deal with these issues in order to create an inclusive learning environment for all students regardless of their gender and sexuality.

Author Biography

Jotaro Arimori, University of Toronto

Jotaro Arimori is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, in the
Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. His
research interests include language pedagogy, inclusive language
education, and Japanese linguistics. His current research primarily
focuses on the intersection of gender, sexual diversity and Japanese
language education.

References

Abe, Hideko. 2004. Lesbian Bar Talk in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, ed. Shigeko Okamoto and Janet S. Shibamoto Smith, 205–221. New York: Oxford University Press.

Arimori, Jotaro. 2017. Jendā aidentitī no tayōsē kara kangaeru nihongo kyōiku (Japanese Language Education and Diverse Gender Identities). CAJLE Annual Conference Proceedings 2017: 24–33. http://www.cajle.info/publications/conference-proceedings/cajle2017-proceesings/. Accessed September 14, 2019.

Banno, Eri, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno, Chikako Shinagawa, and Kyoko Tokashiki. 2011. An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Genki II, 2nd ed. Tokyo: Japan Times.

Benson, Phil. 2012. Autonomy in Language Learning, Learning and Life. Synergies France 9: 29–39.

Gray, John. 2013. LGBT Invisibility and Heteronormativity in ELT Materials. Critical Perspectives on Language Teaching Materials, ed. John Gray, 40–63. London, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hatasa, Yukiko Abe, Kazumi Hatasa, and Seiichi Makino. 2017. Nakama 2: Japanese Communication, Culture, Context, 3rd ed. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Hosokawa, Hideo. 2011. Kōkyō nihongo kyōiku to iu shisō e—Waseda nikken no kore made to kore kara (Toward the Idea of Public Japanese Language Education—The Past and Future of Waseda Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics). Waseda Studies in Japanese Language Education 20: 21–31.

Iori Isao, Shino Takanashi, Kumiko Nakanishi, and Toshihiro Yamada. 2000. Shokyū o oshieru hito no tame no nihongo handobukku (Japanese Handbook for Beginner Level Teachers). Tokyo: 3A Corporation.

Jaspal, Rusi. 2015. ESOL: An Opportunity for Challenging Homophobia. Language Issues 26(1): 21–28.

Japan Foundation. 2017a. Marugoto Japanese Language & Culture Intermediate 2. Tokyo: Sanshūsha.

— — —. 2017b. Marugoto Japanese Language & Culture Intermediate 2 Teaching Guide II: How to Teach Each Topic (Intermediate 2). https://www.marugoto.org/assets/docs/teacher/resource/intermediate2/intermediate2_teaching_topic.pdf. Accessed September 14, 2019.

Kappra, Rick, and Stephanie Vandrick. 2006. Silenced Voices Speak: Queer ESL Students Recount Their Experiences. The CATESOL Journal 18(1): 138–150.

Kinoshita-Thomson, Chihiro, and Sumiko Iida. 2007. Jyosē hatsuwa “mada meshi kutte nai” o meguru jendā to nihongo kyōiku no kōsatsu (Gendered Language in Japanese Language Education: An Examination of Female Utterance of “mada meshi kutte nai” and Beyond). Nihongo Kyōiku (Journal of Japanese Language Teaching) 134: 120–129.

Maree, Claire. 2011. Watashi wa nani o kataru koto ga dekiru no ka: Kotoba no manabi ni okeru fukugō aidentitī (Of What Can I Speak: Complex Identities in Language Learning). Gengo kyōiku to aidentitī: Kotoba no kyōiku jissen to sono kanōsē (Language Education and Identity: Language education praxis and potentialities), ed. Hideo Hosokawa, 63–74. Yokohama, Japan: Shumpusha Publishing.

Miyazaki, Ayumi. 2004. Japanese Junior High School Girls’ and Boys’ First-Person Pronoun Use and Their Social World. Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, ed. Shigeko Okamoto and Janet S. Shibamoto Smith, 256–274. New York: Oxford University Press.

Moore, Ashley R. 2016. Inclusion and Exclusion: A Case Study of an English Class for LGBT Learners. TESOL Quarterly 50: 86–108.

— — —. 2019. Interpersonal Factors Affecting Queer Second or Foreign Language Learners’ Identity Management in Class. The Modern Language Journal 103: 428–442.

Mori, Junko, Atsushi Hasegawa, Jisuk Park, and Kimiko Suzuki. This volume. On the Goals of Language Education and Teacher Diversity: Beliefs and Experiences of Japanese-Language Educators in North America. Japanese Language and Literature.

Nakamura Momoko. 2007. Sei to nihongo kotoba ga tsukuru onna to otoko (Gender and the Japanese Language, Women and Men Created by the Language). Tokyo: NHK Books.

Nelson, Cynthia D. 2009. Sexual Identities in English Language Education: Classroom Conversations. New York/London: Routledge.

Norton, Bonny. 2013. Identity and Language Learning Extending the Conversation, 2nd ed. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Oka, Mayumi, Junko Kondo, Shoko Emori, Yoshiro Hanai, and Satoru Ishikawa. 2009. Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese through Content and Multimedia. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.

Pavlenko, Aneta. 2001. “How Am I to Become a Woman in an American Vein?”: Transformation of Gender Performance in Second Language Learning. Multilingualism, Second Language Learning, and Gender, ed. Aneta Pavlenko, Adrian Blackledge, Ingrid Piller, and Marya Teutsch-Dwyer, 133–174. Berlin, Germany: Monton de Gruyter.

Sall Vesselényi, Máté. 2019a. Nihongo kyōiku ni okeru shisujendā chūshinshugi: Gakushūsha no kēken o chūshin ni (Cisgender Centrism in Japanese Language Education: Focusing on the Learners’ Experience). Master’s Thesis, Tokyo Gakugei University.

— — —. 2019b. Nihongo gakushūsha no jendā kēken: Hinigenronteki jendākan kara (Gender Experience of Japanese Language Learners: From a Non-Binaristic Perspective of Gender). Higashi Ajia Nihongo Kyōiku Nihon Bunka Kenkyū (Journal of East Asian Japanese Language Education and Japanese Culture) 22: 279–297.

Seigal, Meryl, and Shigeko Okamoto. 2003. Toward Reconceptualizing the Teaching and Learning of Gendered Speech Styles in Japanese as a Foreign Language. Japanese Language and Literature 37: 49–66.

Snelbecker, Karen, and Tom Meyer. 1999. Dealing with Sexual Orientation in the Classroom. The Change Agent 8: 6.

Sturtz Sreetharan, Cindi. 2004. Japanese Men’s Linguistic Stereotypes and Realities: Conversations from the Kansai and Kanto Regions. Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, ed. Shigeko Okamoto and Janet S. Shibamoto Smith, 205–221. New York: Oxford University Press.

Suzuki, Mutsumi. 2007. Kotoba no danjosa to nihongo kyōiku (Gender Language Difference and Japanese Language Teaching). Nihongo Kyōiku (Journal of Japanese Language Teaching) 134: 48–57.

Thomas-Reid, Matthew. Queer Pedagogy. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-405. Accessed September 14, 2019.

Wadell, Elizabeth, Kathryn Frei, and Sherri Martin. 2011. Professional Development Trough Inquiry: Addressing Sexual Identity in TESOL. The CATESOL Journal 23(1): 99–109.

Downloads

Published

2020-09-25

Issue

Vol. 54 No. 2 (2020): Japanese Language and Literature

Section

SPECIAL SECTION LANGUAGE AND PEDAGOGY

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licenseor its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a pre-publication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
  9. The Author agrees to digitally sign the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work.