Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson

Evaluation of business Japanese textbooks: issues of gender

While the Japanese business community continues to be perceived as male dominated, the majority of students of Business Japanese in Australian universities are female. This paper examines Business Japanese textbooks from both macro (social practices) and micro (linguistic discourses) level perspectives, using critical discourse analysis as an analytical tool, to assess the adequacy of the textbooks to be used in a primarily female student community. The analysis reveals that the textbooks present a stereotypical and exaggerated version of social practices of the Japanese business community, based on idealised native-Japanese norms. Female characters in the textbooks have less access to managerial positions, and fewer opportunities to participate in business, than in reality. The analysis also highlights the invisibility of non-Japanese female characters in the textbooks. Female students using the textbooks are not provided with role models or spaces to acculturate into. These textbooks do not grant adequate learning tools for non-Japanese female students. The paper calls for textbooks which provide more diverse perspectives of the Japanese business community, where non-Japanese female students are able to construct their own social identities accompanied by relevant use of the Japanese language.

A Classroom Without Walls: The Future of Japanese Language Education in Australia

The paper visits some thoughts of educationists in the past to consider a sustainable future for Australian Japanese language education at the coal face of high attrition and scarcity of funds. Drawing upon the concept of ‘andragogy’ and a sociocultural approach to learning, the paper proposes that we should shed metaphorical walls outside of and in the classrooms in order to open access to more diverse resources and encourage more intense engagement by the learners in the classroom learning community. The new learning environment is termed ‘a classroom without walls’.The paper visits some thoughts of educationists in the past to consider a sustainable future for Australian Japanese language education at the coal face of high attrition and scarcity of funds. Drawing upon the concept of ‘andragogy’ and a sociocultural approach to learning, the paper proposes that we should shed metaphorical walls outside of and in the classrooms in order to open access to more diverse resources and encourage more intense engagement by the learners in the classroom learning community. The new learning environment is termed ‘a classroom without walls’.

What Keeps Them Going? Investigating Ongoing Learners of Japanese in Australian Universities

What keeps learners of Japanese going in formal study? In Australia, few continue to an advanced level of the language, despite large numbers of learners. This study found that compared to discontinuers, continuers showed much higher levels of motivation and integrative orientation, and their attitudes towards learning were much more positive. They showed greater autonomous learning, and engaged in more self-initiated activities outside the classroom. In interviews, advanced learners explained the paths that enabled them to continue, yet indicated that university policies affect continuation through timetable and study program restrictions. The predominant reason to continue was the hope to travel to Japan, but an interest in Japanese culture and in Japanese popular culture (J-pop) products (e.g., anime, manga) also was prominent. The enjoyment of J-pop was implicated at least partially in both retention and attrition in Japanese. It provides the motivation to learn Japanese, and in a cyclical fashion, the learning of Japanese itself is consumed so as to further consume J-pop. It may also be the case that once appetites for language consumption are satisfied, some learners could abandon formal study of Japanese at a relatively early stage.