Heritage Language Education for Japan-born "Foreigners": Aiming to Connect with the Ethnic Education of Old Comers

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22255
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: :Education and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka Kyoiku University (2023); Osaka Seikei University (2020-2022)
• Principal Investigator: YABUTA Naoko 大阪教育大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (00880105)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 継承語教育 / ニューカマー / 民族教育 / 地域教室 / ベトナムにルーツをもつ子ども

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study focused on immigrant children, particularly "children born in Japan", and examined the actual situation and challenges of mother tongue/heritage language education, which is not limited to Japanese language support. Specifically, it looked at a heritage language class that has been running in the local community for about 20 years as a case study.
A common thread with previous ethnic education was that the strict positioning of mother tongue/heritage language in Japanese society meant that motivation to learn was easily diminished. On the other hand, from field research in the area, visits to two classrooms in Japan and interviews with those involved, it was possible to extract features related to the continuity of the classrooms, such as local management methods that do not leave it up to the ethnic community and the significance of actively utilising second-generation local human resources.

Free Research Field

教育社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで「外国にルーツをもつ子ども」は、日本語をはじめとする「適応指導」が必要な子どもとして捉えられがちであったが、多言語・多文化な存在として、かれらの母語・継承語の能力の可能性を位置づけることができた。本研究のデータは2度の実践報告を行ったうえで、共著『草の根から「多文化共生」を創る』（2023年、pp.207-224.）として出版することができた。また日豪の継承語教育の比較考察を行い「移民背景をもつ子どもにとっての継承語教育の重要性」（2023年、pp.69-78）として論考にもまとめた。
これらの調査によって、日本における継承語教育の実践の発信とその普及に寄与することができたと考えている。