2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Investigating multiethnic students' learning of their heritage languages at Japanese universities
| Project/Area Number |
19K00797
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| Research Institution | Kanda University of International Studies |
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Principal Investigator |
PARK Siwon 神田外語大学, グローバル・リベラルアーツ学部, 教授 (00458639)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
杉田 めぐみ 神田外語大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (70366938)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | heritage language / plurilingual competency / interviews / identity / second generation / qualitative inquiry |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Our research goal for 2022 was to continue our data collection and analysis. We interviewed the participants and observed how they had been using their heritage languages in and outside their homes.
Our findings suggested that those who had already graduated from university had fewer opportunities to use their heritage language than when they were students. We also found that those heritage speakers can intentionally avoid using their heritage language, and instead choose to speak in Japanese in some contexts in order to keep a distance from their parents, who are not proficient in Japanese.
In November 2022, we organized a symposium at Kanda University of International Studies on heritage language education in Japan. The first part was a plenary speech by Dr. Kimi Kondo-Brown at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on heritage language education in the US. The second part was a panel discussion by Japanese university students with heritage language backgrounds. This symposium provided us with a chance to listen to the voices of heritage language speakers and understand how ethnic and linguistic minorities are living in Japan. It was also a great opportunity to think about how Japanese society should support ethnic and linguistic minorities.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We have been successfully interviewing the participants and analyzing the data as we planned. All of our participants have been understanding and cooperative with our study.
In 2021, all of our conference presentations were conducted via Zoom due to the spread of COVID-19. This year, we were able to attend some conferences and give a presentation in person.
As we had planned, we held a symposium on heritage language education in Japan in November 2022. We invited Dr. Kimi Kondo-Brown at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to give a plenary speech on heritage language education in the US. We also invited heritage language speakers studying at Kanda University of International Studies, who shared their personal experiences as heritage language speakers with the audience. It was a great opportunity to gain an understanding both of the theoretical and practical aspects of heritage language education.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We will continue to interview our participants individually both by Zoom and face-to-face and observe how their language use and identity have shifted over the past few years.
We will further analyze the data and gain insight into how our participants' plurilingual competency is related to their identity. We will pay attention not only to their mother tongue (Japanese) and heritage language but also to their foreign language, which in most cases is English.
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| Causes of Carryover |
For the past few years, we were unable to attend international conferences due to the spread of COVID-19. In 2023, we would like to attend international conferences if we get a chance.
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Research Products
(3 results)
