Increasing Diversity of Japanese Language Teachers: Approaches to Teaching-Related Professional Development for College Students in North America

Authors

  • Amy Snyder Ohta University of Washington

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jll.2020.139

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to share approaches to raise undergraduate student awareness and understanding of Japanese foreign language (JFL) teaching careers, which might increase the number and diversity of our students who become teachers. These strategies, presented with examples from the Japanese program at <Institution Name>, are presented in order of ease of implementation, including  1) advisement to provide a space to consider JFL teaching as a possible career and to share share accurate information about JFL teaching opportunities and qualifications 2) guest lectures by local JFL teachers, 3) instructional units related to Japanese teaching and learning, 4) a new Japanese teaching-related internship program where students can get experience helping in a JFL classroom, and 5) courses on Japanese applied linguistics, including a newly-developed course on foreign language teaching methods featuring JFL in North American and EFL in Japan. 

Author Biography

Amy Snyder Ohta, University of Washington

Amy Snyder Ohta is an associate professor of Japanese Applied Linguistics at the University of Washington. Her most recent work considers how concept-based instruction can be applied in the teaching and learning of Japanese.

References

American Association of Teachers of Japanese, Jobline. https://www.aatj.org/jobs. Accessed June 29, 2020.

Asian Languages and Literature, Exploring Asian Language Learning with Internships, Asia Notes (2019-2020): 8, Seattle: University of Washington.

Bialystock, Ellen. 2018. Bilingual Education for Young Children: Review of the Effects and Consequences. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 21(6): 666–679.

Chou, Hsiao-Yi, Sok-Han Lau, Huei-Chia Yang, and Tim Murphey. 2007. Students as Textbook Authors. English Teaching Forum 3: 18–21.

Eun, Barohny and Hye-Soon Lim. 2009. A Sociocultural View of Language Learning: The Importance of Meaning-Based Instruction. TESL Canada Journal 27(1): 13–26.

Fitzgerald, Colleen. 2010. Developing a Service-Learning Curriculum for Linguistics. Language and Linguistics Compass 4(4): 204–218.

Furuhata, Hamako. 2002. Learning Japanese in America: A Survey of Preferred Teaching Methods. Language, Culture and Curriculum 15(2):134–142.

Chan, Yee Han, and Ngan Ling Wong. 2017. The Use of Anime in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology 5(26): 68–78.

Iwashita, Noriko. 2010. Features of Oral Proficiency in Task Performance by EFL and JFL Learners. Selected Proceedings of the 2008 Second Language Research Forum, ed. by Matthew T. Prior, Yukiko Watanabe, and Sang-Ki Lee. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 32–47.

Japan Foundation. Becoming a Language Teacher. https://www.jflalc.org/jle-teachers-licensure. Accessed January 20, 2020.

Johnson, Keith, An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Third edition, New York: Routledge.

Koyama, Nobuko. 2016. Introduction to a Dubbing Activity for a College First-year Japanese Language Course. Applied Language Learning 26(2): 69–88.

Leachtenauer, Jon Eric. 2015. Comparing Different Teaching Positions in Japan. The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings, ed. by Myles Grogan and Mathew Porter, 84-88. Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

Marchesseau, Gerard. 2014. Assistant Language Teachers as a Catalyst for Communicative Competence in Japan: Policy and Outcomes Regarding the ‘JET Program. Proceedings of CLaSIC 2014: Knowledge, Skills and Competencies in Foreign Language Education: 300-309. https://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/CLaSIC/clasic2014/proceeding.htm. Accessed June 29, 2020.

Mori, Junko. 2005. Why Not Why? The Teaching of Grammar, Discourse, Sociolinguistic, and Cross-cultural Perspectives. Japanese Language and Literature 39: 255–289.

Nishi, Hironori. 2019. Loanwords within Wapanese: Loanwords from English in Japanese as a Vocabulary Pool for EFL Education. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 29(2): 211–229.

Oga-Baldwin, W.L. Quint, and Yoshiyuki Nakata. 2014. Optimizing New Language Use by Employing Young Learners’ own Language. ELT Journal 68(4):410–421.

Ohta, Amy Snyder. 2017. From SCOBA Development to Implementation in Concept-Based Instruction: Conceptualizing and Teaching Japanese Addressee Honorifics as Expressing Modes of Self. Language and Sociocultural Theory 4(2): 187–218.

Okumura, Shinji. 2017. Homeroom Teachers or Specialist Teachers? Considerations for the Workforce for Teaching English as a Subject at Elementary Schools in Japan. Asian Journal of Education and Training 3(1): 1–5.

Polansky, Susan. 2004. Tutoring for Community Outreach: A Course Model for Language Learning and Bridge Building between Universities and Public Schools. Foreign Language Annals 37(3): 367–373.

Polansky, Susan, Timothy Andrianoff, Jaclyn B. Bernard, Ana Flores, Isabel A. Gardocki, Ryan J. Handerhan, Jihea Park, and Lisa Young. 2010. Tales of Tutors: The Role of Narrative in Language Learning and Service-Learning. Foreign Language Annals 43(2): 304-323.

Pellowe, William R., Stephen M. Paton, and Paul Shimizu. 2015. Encouraging Active Participation with Response Cards. The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings, ed. by Myles Grogan and Mathew Porter, 172–177. Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

Rupp, Michael James. 2015. Meeting Teacher Goals through Collaborative Lesson Study: Improvements in Classroom English usage. The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings, ed. by Myles Grogan and Mathew Porter, 210–216. Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

Shintaku, Kayo. 2019. Game-Mediated Activities in JFL Classrooms: Considerations and Issues in Learning, Teaching, and Implementation. Technology-supported Learning in and out of the Japanese Language Classroom: Advances in Pedagogy, Teaching and Research, ed by Erica Zimmerman and

Abigail McMeekin, 342–379. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Swan, Michael. 2010. Review of An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, first edition, by Keith Johnson. ELT Journal 64(1): 98–100.

Tabata-Sandom, Mitsue. 2017. L2 Reading Perceptions of Learners of Japanese: The Influence of Reading Instruction. Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal 15(1): 274–289.

Taguchi, Naoko. 2014. Development of Interactional Competence in Japanese as a Second Language: Use of Incomplete Sentences as Interactional Resources. The Modern Language Journal 98(2): 518–535.

Thomas, Margaret. 2014. A Role for ‘Air Writing’ in Second-Language Learners’ Acquisition of Japanese in the Age of the Word Processor. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 30:1–20.

Yamada, Mieko. 2010. English as a Multicultural Language: Implications from a Study of Japan’s Junior High Schools’ English Language Textbooks. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31(5): 491–506.

Yoshida, Reiko. 2010. How do Teachers and Learners Perceive Corrective Feedback in the Japanese Language Classroom? The Modern Language Journal 94(2): 293–314.

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.