2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Support systems for children growing up in two or more linguistic environments: Case studies of Nikkei Bolivians

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	16K13548
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Sociology of education
Research Institution	Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
Principal Investigator	Yoshitomi Shizuyo 名古屋外国語大学, 世界共生学部, 教授 (20608559)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	常田夕美子国立民族学博物館, グローバル現象研究部, 外来研究員 (30452444) 津田守名古屋外国語大学, 現代国際学部, 教授 (50163811)
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Keywords	母語 / 言語形成 / 移民 / 継承語 / バイリンガル / 教育環境 / 地域コミュニティ
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Increasing number of children in Japan today grow up in two or more linguistic environments. However, as a result of prioritising education in the Japanese language at the expense of children learning their mother tongue, many children drop out of school before they sufficiently acquire any language, and are thus unable to become independent as adults. Our research findings confirm that there is an urgent need to create educational environments in Japan that are conducive to learning more than one language. We examined cases studies and personal histories of Japanese migrants and their descendants living in Colonia Okinawa, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as well as Nikkei Bolivians living in Japan, to explore possibilities of successful bilingual education. We also suggest concrete and practical measures for improving the conditions for language learning by mutual coordination and cooperation between the home, educational institutions and local communities.
Free Research Field	人間・環境学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	約30名の聞き取り調査をベースに、二言語をしっかりと習得した当事者4名にインタヴューを繰り返し、この4名とその支援者たちを参加メンバーとして、4名のライフヒストリーに沿ってその教育環境を整理し共有するためのラウンドテーブルを開催、実践者と研究者がそれぞれ現状把握とともに具体案を協議することとなった。その内容は説得力をもつ提案につながるなど学術的意義は大きい。また、その内容を日本語、スペイン語、英語での報告書にまとめて広く伝えたことで、2019年度には文部科学省が、自治体の外国人児童生徒の教育支援の助成対象に母語教育を加えるなど制度にも反映され、その成果は社会的意義にもつながった。