2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Integrating foreign workers through Japanese language skills
| Project/Area Number |
20K00695
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | life-long learning / integration / language skills |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the first year of the project, the investigator provided an overview of life-long learning programs offered to immigrant workers in Belgium, considered the programs’ efficiency, and their link with integration policies. The comparison with the situation in Japan is being delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic which caused extra workload for the online classes the investigator conducts.
The above overview about the Belgian situation was published in February 2021 (in the Japanese language) in a book that describes the multi-layeredness of Belgium's society. The results indicate that language skills are a necessity for integration (e.g., continued education and employment), but that many of the available services providing language education are lacking budget and manpower.
In addition, a lecture was conducted discussing the situation in Belgium and making connections with the situation in Japan. This lecture made use of newly collected data, shedding light on issues Belgium is facing related to integration. These issues include biases towards newcomers, i.e., immigrants or refugees, in society. This provides insights for the research concerning Japan where many projects offering language instructions for immigrants are relying on volunteers.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
The investigator planned to analyze life-long learning programs in Japan, create a motivation survey and contact prospective participants. Due to the Covid-19 situation, this proved impossible. More precisely, the workload to prepare online classes and the necessary course materials, in combination with the need to adapt to new platforms demanded time that unfortunately took away from the possibility to conduct sufficient research.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The investigator hopes to make up for the delay of the Fiscal Year 2020, but foresees extending the research project with one year to reach sufficient results and to make proper use of the allotted funds. More precisely, in FY2021, a proposal will be prepared to be submitted to the University's internal review board (Ethics Committee) to receive permission to conduct the motivation survey. In addition, life-long learning programs in Japan will be studied with a focus on language learning skills. In FY2022, the motivation survey will be conducted and analyzed. In FY2023 (extension), the investigator will work on recommendations about situation-specific language knowledge.
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| Causes of Carryover |
For FY2020, the investigator planned on using the budget mainly for equipment (PC, voice recorders, video camera, etc.) and conference participation. Having to focus more than planned on education due to the Covid-19 pandemic,1)purchasing equipment was put on hold, and 2) conference participation was difficult or online, so no actual costs were incurred. Expecting the situation to improve, the investigator will be able to focus more on implementing the research project, as well as physically attending conferences. Therefore the "Incurring amount" will be used in a responsible manner in the FY2021.
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