Multiculturalism, Language, and Race in English Education in Japan: Agency, Pedagogy, and Reckoning

Multiculturalism, Language, and Race in English Education in Japan: Agency, Pedagogy, and Reckoning

Author: Gregory Paul Glasgow

Publisher: Candlin & Mynard

Published: 2023-03-15

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13:

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It is claimed that the English language teaching (ELT) profession incorporates principles of multiculturalism, tolerance, and pluralism, especially since it is viewed as a practical tool to promote intercultural exchange. However, as movements for social justice worldwide become more prevalent, some stakeholders in the field are beginning to question the field’s genuine commitment to such values. In Japan, for example, is the English language truly viewed as a practical communication tool to engage with diverse interlocutors on the global stage? Or do problematic discourses regarding the notion of the “ownership of English” and the ‘idealized speaker of English’ prevail due to the lingering dichotomy between so-called ‘non-native’ English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) and ‘native’ English-speaking teachers (NESTs) — a dichotomy that unfortunately intersects with views of ethnoracial and cultural difference, and which leads to discriminatory tendencies in pedagogical practices, educational cultures, and social structures? The overall purpose of this volume is to initiate conversations about how issues surrounding language, race, and multiculturalism currently inform pedagogical practice in English Language Teaching (ELT) in Japan. We—the editor and contributors—intend to explore these issues with the hope that the experiences and pedagogical actions documented in this volume will motivate others to reflect on current challenges, raise appreciation for diversity in ELT, and dismantle inequities.


The Role of English Teaching in Modern Japan

The Role of English Teaching in Modern Japan

Author: Mieko Yamada

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-25

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 1317803973

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The Role of English Teaching in Modern Japan examines the complex nature of Japan’s promotion of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). In globalized societies where people with different native languages communicate through English, multicultural and multilinguistic interactions are widely created. This book takes the opportunity to look at Japan and examines how these multiple realities have affected its English language teaching within the domestic context. The myth of Japan’s racial and ethnic homogeneity may hinder many Japanese in recognizing realities of its own minority groups such as Ainu, Zainichi Koreans, and Brazilian Japanese, who are in the same EFL classrooms. Acknowledging a variety of English uses and users in Japan, this book emphasizes the influence of Japan’s recent domestic diversity on its EFL curriculum and urges that such changes should be addressed. It suggests new directions for incorporating multicultural perspectives in order to develop English language education in Japan and other Asian contexts where English is often taught as a foreign language. Chapters include: Social, cultural, and political background of Japan’s EFL education Race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism Representations of diversity in Japanese EFL Textbooks Perceptions of English learning and diversity in Japan The role of EFL education in multicultural Japan


Native-Speakerism in Japan

Native-Speakerism in Japan

Author: Stephanie Ann Houghton

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2013-02-19

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1847698719

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The relative status of native and non-native speaker language teachers within educational institutions has long been an issue worldwide but until recently, the voices of teachers articulating their own concerns have been rare. Existing work has tended to focus upon the position of non-native teachers and their struggle against unfavourable comparisons with their native-speaker counterparts. However, more recently, native-speaker language teachers have also been placed in the academic spotlight as interest grows in language-based forms of prejudice such as ‘native-speakerism’ – a dominant ideology prevalent within the Japanese context of English language education. This innovative volume explores wide-ranging issues related to native-speakerism as it manifests itself in the Japanese and Italian educational contexts to show how native-speaker teachers can also be the targets of multifarious forms of prejudice and discrimination in the workplace.


Double! Not Half

Double! Not Half

Author: Rodney Gottula

Publisher: Bookbaby

Published: 2018-08-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781543937169

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When a young Montana boy and his family move to Japan, he faces the challenges of moving, learning a new language and adapting to a new culture. Eventually, though, he meets new friends and begins to enjoy living in Japan. One day, however, when he tells his father about another boy at school calling him "half," he learns a lesson he'll never forget.


Conceptual Shifts and Contextualized Practices in Education for Glocal Interaction

Conceptual Shifts and Contextualized Practices in Education for Glocal Interaction

Author: Ali Fuad Selvi

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-11-03

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9811064210

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This book employs the realm of English Language Teaching (ELT) as a discursive point of departure to explore how individuals, groups, entities and institutions apprehend, embrace, deal with, manipulate, problematize and resist glocal flows of people, ideas, information, goods, and technology. It apprehends and attends to tensions arising from the fluidly local-global construction and negotiation of borders of identity and interaction within a diverse array of contexts and English education therein. These tensions, whether conceptual or pedagogical, may arise in and through governmental and institutional policymaking, teacher training, or curriculum and materials development, and in the learning experience both within and beyond the classroom, as teachers and students engage with course content and each other.


Education Reform in Japan

Education Reform in Japan

Author: Leonard James Schoppa

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-03-11

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1134865163

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The Japanese education system, while widely praised in western countries, is subject to heavy criticism within Japan. Education Reform in Japan analyses this criticism, and explains why proposed reforms have failed. The author shows how the Japanese policy-making process can become paralysed when there is disagreement, and argues that this `immobilism' can affect other areas of Japanese policy-making.


Bloomsbury World Englishes Volume 2: Ideologies

Bloomsbury World Englishes Volume 2: Ideologies

Author: Rani Rubdy

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-05-20

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1350065854

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Bloomsbury World Englishes offers a comprehensive and rigorous description of the facts, implications and contentious issues regarding the forms and functions of English in the world. International experts cover a diverse range of varieties and topics, offering a more accurate understanding of English across the globe and the various social contexts in which it plays a significant role. With volumes dedicated to research paradigms, language ideologies and pedagogies, the collection pushes the boundaries of the field to go beyond traditional descriptive paradigms and contribute to moving research agendas forward. Volume 2: Ideologies explores the politics and economics of English, and the impact of language on local societies and cultures. In doing so, chapters discuss how English is often entangled in societal issues, such as inequality, (de-)colonization, racism, oppression and liberation.


Critical Multiculturalism

Critical Multiculturalism

Author: Stephen May

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 113516147X

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Brings together international scholars of critical multiculturalism to directly and illustratively address what a transformed critical multicultural approach to education might mean for teacher education and classroom practice.


Unequal Englishes

Unequal Englishes

Author: R. Tupas

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-05-26

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1137461225

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This book proposes, examines and unpacks the notion of unequal Englishes as a way to understand English today. Unlike many studies on the pluralization of English, the volume assumes that inequalities and Englishes are inextricably linked and must be understood and theorized together.


Language Policy in Japan

Language Policy in Japan

Author: Nanette Gottlieb

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-11-10

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1139504797

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Over the last thirty years, two social developments have occurred that have led to a need for change in language policy in Japan. One is the increase in the number of migrants needing opportunities to learn Japanese as a second language, the other is the influence of electronic technologies on the way Japanese is written. This book looks at the impact of these developments on linguistic behaviour and language management and policy, and at the role of language ideology in the way they have been addressed. Immigration-induced demographic changes confront long cherished notions of national monolingualism and technological advances in electronic text production have led to textual practices with ramifications for script use and for literacy in general. The book will be welcomed by researchers and professionals in language policy and management and by those working in Japanese Studies.