Multilingual Activites in Japanese Primary Education: Why and How

Conférence avec Masahito Yoshimura

jeudi 8 septembre 2011 à l'IUFM d'Alsace 

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Biography

YOSHIMURA, Masahito is Professor at the Graduate School of Professional Development in Education at Nara University of Education, Japan.  His research is centrally concerned with the development of curricula and teaching materials for multilingual language awareness activities and international education in response to the linguistic and cultural diversity of classrooms in Japanese primary education.

Recent publications

• "Creating a Space for Language Awareness in Teacher Education in Japan: a Project Promoting Children's Awareness of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity." In Breidbach, S., Elsner, D. and Young, A. (eds.) Language Awareness in Teacher Education: Cultural-Political and Social-Educational Perspectives. Mehrsprachigneit in Schule und Unterricht, Band 13, Peter Lang, 2011, pp.137-149.
• "Japan." In Fishman, J.A. and Garcia, O. (eds.) Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives Vol.1/ Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp.486-500 (with Tomozawa, Akie).
• "Promoting Awareness of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity through English Language Activities in Japanese Primary Schools: Continuous Manifest and Latent Curricula" Conscience du plurilinguisme : pratiques, representationset interventions, Presses Universitaires de Rennes (PUR) publisher, 2008, pp.201-217.

Abstract

This presentation illustrates a series of projects concerning multilingualism at primary school in Japan which is frequently characterized as “linguistically, culturally and ethnically homogeneous.”  Firstly, I want to discuss why multilingual activities are necessary in the Japanese educational context, especially in primary schools, based on the analysis of the discrepancy between the language education policy and the sociolinguistic reality in school (and in the community).  Secondly, I will present how we have created a space for multilingualism in formal education, showing some results of our practices in the classroom, including a class in which a few linguistic minority children are enrolled.  Finally, I will introduce our new project for developing hands-on and user-friendly teaching materials for multilingual activities: the next step in disseminating multilingualism or plurilingualism in Japan.