Reconsidering Japanese Language Textbooks from the Viewpoint of Gender: Textbook Development that Reflects the Social Changes

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23520642
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: The University of Kitakyushu
• Principal Investigator: MIZUMOTO TERUMI 北九州市立大学, 基盤教育センター, 教授 (80326462)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 日本語教科書 / ジェンダー / 女ことば / 日本女性像 / 性別役割 / 日本の家族像 / 教材検証 / 教材開発

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research I performed analyses of the statistical survey results concerning the average use ratio of female sentence-final particles (FSFP) in the casual conversations by female standard Japanese speakers of the four generations from 20s to 50s, and confirmed that young women no longer used them, except for jokes. However, the survey results from the comparative studies of the conversations by young women in Japanese textbooks showed that the textbooks excessively used FSFP. Another comparative analysis revealed that the images of Japanese women at home and workplaces, women’s occupations, and Japanese family forms in the textbooks did not portray the current Japanese society but depicted the conventional stereotypes of 30 years ago obsessed by gender ideology. Conducting international questionnaire surveys involved in Japanese language education, I analyzed the teachers' consciousness of gendered images in the textbooks, and suggested some ideas for gender-equal textbooks.

Free Research Field

日本語教育、社会言語学、ジェンダー