Japan

Roundtable Session

Diversity, Inclusion, and Professionalism in Japanese Language Education

Diversity and inclusion have become forefront topics of discussion in academic and professional institutions in recent years. As educators, we are responsible for creating environments where a diverse population of students can communicate beyond differences and learn from each other. While this educational mission is widely recognized, we have not sufficiently examined the extent to which a culture of diversity and inclusion has been fostered and actually practiced within our professional community, whose demographic composition can be seen as showing disproportional representations of “native speakers.” According to the Japan Foundation survey conducted in 2015, 77.3% of Japanese language instructors in North America were “native speakers” of Japanese. This is the largest percentage of all the world regions. 

Given the circumstance, critical reflection on our training, recruiting, and professional development practices is urgently needed. To this extent, the proposed session aims to provide space for candid and constructive dialogues by posing the following questions:

What are the goals of language education in today’s globalized world? And what kinds of qualifications are required for language educators in order to attain these goals?

What kinds of unconscious biases may be observed in our profession, and what are the challenges and obstacles that may arise in overcoming such biases? 

How can we foster diversity and inclusion among peers and potential peers?

How can we, as a group of Japanese language users and educators, present a model of global citizenship to our students? 

In preparation for the session, the organizers plan to conduct an online survey during Fall 2018, asking Japanese language educators in North America to share their experiences and perspectives on this topic. The survey results will serve as a prompt for the panel discussion that features four discussants who represent varying linguistic, cultural, national, and academic backgrounds that constitute the field of Japanese language education. In addition to these discussants’ remarks, the session will provide ample time for Q&A and discussion involving the audience. The goal of this session is to raise awareness of the issue, as well as to identify concrete actionable steps as we move forward.

Organizer(s)

• SS

  Susan Schmidt

  American Association of Teachers of Japanese
• JM

  Junko Mori

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

Discussant(s)

• MB

  Mahua Bhattacharya

  Elizabethtown College
• KJ

  Kimberly Jones

  University of Arizona
• RK

  Ryuko Kubota

  University of British Columbia, Canada
• SW

  Suwako Watanabe

  Portland State University