The ‘Culture’ of Japanese language teaching in Australia

Nagata, Yuriko

doi:10.1080/10371399508521835

“…MEXT, 2004b The themes represented here are traditionalising themes that privilege distinctly Japanese practices that may have limited applicability for the lived experiences of Japanese people. While the scope of Nihonjijou is not as restricted to such practices, the approach is criticised for presenting an ethnocentric and stereotypicalised view of Japan that reinforces a view of the society as monoethnic, monocultural and monolingual (Nagata, 1995). It does this by constructing Japanese culture in terms of the macro-level studies of cultural topics, such as those listed in the quote above, rather than by engaging with the realities of contemporary Japanese life.…”

Section: Language Spread Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Internationalising Japan: Nihonjinron and the Intercultural in Japanese Language-in-education Policy

Liddicoat

¹

2007

Journal of Multicultural Discourses

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Language learning is frequently justified as a vehicle for promoting intercultural communication and understanding and language-in-education policies have increasingly come to reflect this preoccupation in their rhetoric. This paper examines the ways in which concepts relating to interculturality are constructed in Japanese language policy documents. It will explore in particular the ways in which ideologies of nationalism and Japanese identity have an impact on understandings of the nature and purpose of interculturality and how these are developed discursively in Japanese language-in-education policy. Japanese language policies construct a discourse of interculturality that focuses on the development of a nationalistic adherence to a particular conceptualisation of Japanese identity, which is unique, homogenous and monolithic. A multiculturalist perspective is taken in reexamining these themes in the contexts of Japanese policy documents relating to foreign language teaching, minority languages and Japanese language spread.

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“…(Toyota 1988b)] The nature of culture taught under a Nihonjijou approach is exemplified by the following extract from a description of the REX pre-departure training program: The themes represented here are traditionalising themes which privilege distinctly Japanese practices which may have limited applicability for the lived experiences of Japanese people. While the scope of Nihonjijou is not restricted to such practices, the approach is criticised for presenting an ethnocentric and stereotypicalised view of Japan which reinforces a view of the society as monoethnic, monocultural and monolingual (Nagata 1995). The teaching of Japanese culture for overseas learners of Japanese therefore focuses on an essentialised version of the culture and is conducted in a way which emphasises the distinctiveness of Japanese culture in conformity to the Nihonjinron ideology.…”

Section: Language Spread Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ideology of interculturality in Japanese language-in-education policy

Liddicoat

¹

2007

ARAL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Language learning is frequently justified as a vehicle for promoting intercultural communication and understanding, and language-in-education policies have increasingly come to reflect this preoccupation in their rhetoric. This paper will examine the ways in which concepts relating to interculturality are constructed in Japanese language policy documents. It will explore in particular the ways in which ideologies of nationalism and Japanese identity have an impact on understandings of the nature and purpose of interculturality and how these are developed discursively in Japanese language-in-education policy documents. Language policies construct a discourse of interculturality which focuses on the development of a nationalistic adherence to a particular conceptualisation of Japanese identity, which is unique, homogenous, and monolithic. These themes will be discussed in the contexts of Japanese policy documents relating to foreign language teaching and Japanese language spread.

show abstract

The Ideology of interculturality in Japanese language-in-education policy

Liddicoat

¹

2007

ARAL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Language learning is frequently justified as a vehicle for promoting intercultural communication and understanding, and language-in-education policies have increasingly come to reflect this preoccupation in their rhetoric. This paper will examine the ways in which concepts relating to interculturality are constructed in Japanese language policy documents. It will explore in particular the ways in which ideologies of nationalism and Japanese identity have an impact on understandings of the nature and purpose of interculturality and how these are developed discursively in Japanese language-in-education policy documents. Language policies construct a discourse of interculturality which focuses on the development of a nationalistic adherence to a particular conceptualisation of Japanese identity, which is unique, homogenous, and monolithic. These themes will be discussed in the contexts of Japanese policy documents relating to foreign language teaching and Japanese language spread.

show abstract

The ‘Culture’ of Japanese language teaching in Australia

Cited by 6 publications

References 3 publications

Internationalising Japan: Nihonjinron and the Intercultural in Japanese Language-in-education Policy

Internationalising Japan: Nihonjinron and the Intercultural in Japanese Language-in-education Policy

The Ideology of interculturality in Japanese language-in-education policy

The Ideology of interculturality in Japanese language-in-education policy

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