Social issues in Japanese language classrooms: Pilot study
Naoko Ozaki, Rice University, Yuki Waugh, Texas A&M University, & Yayoi Takeuchi, University of North Texas
Social justice topics may seem complex in the first year language courses; however, it is not only possible but valuable to include starting in the first year course (Kubota, Austin, Saito-Abbott, 2008). In addition to the health crisis, COVID-19 brought a sharp increase in the number of hate crime cases against people of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Yam, 2021). In this pilot study case, Japanese language instructors from three universities in Texas worked in collaboration to show students how to discuss these sensitive topics in Japanese. The topics discussed in class included LGBTQ in Japan, multiracial children of Japanese nationality, immigration, and education in Japan for non-Japanese children. The three instructors taught three different different levels (first-, second-, and third-year Japanese language courses) with an attempt to creatively think of ways to bring social issues to the language classrooms and compare the methods and outcomes.
The main purpose was to give the linguistic tools with which students would be able to express their opinions, and it was not to impose any viewpoints on the students. The instructors found some articles about social issues in Japanese and U.S. articles in English. Because the three instructors taught different levels of Japanese, they adjusted and modified these articles to make them legible and comprehensible at the respective learning levels. Themost advanced level class used authentic materials while the beginning levelclass used most modified and adjusted. In the first year class, the instructor used paralinguistic visual aids and had several class meetings with simpler stories to lead up to the session in which she shared thematerial that had been significantly simplified. In the second year class, the instructor used newspaper articles prepared by the NHK News Web Easy for Japanese as a foreign or second language learners. The third year instructors used authentic materials such as newspaper articles and video clips on the related topics, with some additional modified resources to help them understand the materials. After reading the articles, the students talked about the given topic from multiple perspectives. The students also studied the graphs that show the statistics based on the surveys conducted in Japan and the U.S. for comparison, which led to the analysis of the data and the prediction of the future generations. Through reading and discussing in the class and homework assignments, students learned vocabulary and expressions useful to express their own views and thoughts. The instructors then introduced the topic of the current hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
In this presentation, the instructors will share examples from the series of activities they used, as well as what they learned from their successes and challenges. They will also share their plans for the future studies which will include Critical Content-Based Instruction (CCBI) as it will encourage students’ learning to see social issues more critically (Sato, et. al., 2017).
References
Asahi Shimbun, (2021, March 22). Same-sex marriage supported by 65%, Asahi Shimbun survey says. The Asahi Shimbun. <https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP3P7DSCP3MUZPS003.html> https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP3P7DSCP3MUZPS003.html
Kubota, R., Austin, T., & Saito-Abbott (2008). Diversity and inclusion of sociopolitical issues in foreign language classrooms: An exploratory survey. Foreign Language Annals. 36 (1): 12 – 24.
Sato, S., Hasegawa, A., Kumagai, Y., & Kamiyoshi, U. (2017). Content-Based Instruction for the Social Future: A Recommendation for Critical Content-Based Language Instruction (CCBI). L2 Journal, 9 (3), 50 – 69.
Yam, K. (2021, May 9). Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020, mostly in N.Y. and L.A., new report says. NBC News. <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased -nearly-150-2020-mostly-n-n1260264> https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased- nearly-150-2020-mostly-n-n1260264