The Idea of English in Japan

The Idea of English in Japan PDF Author: Philip Seargeant
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847696910
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies – drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history – inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language’s symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of ‘English as a global language’. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a ‘global’ language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world.

The Idea of English in Japan

The Idea of English in Japan PDF Author: Philip Seargeant
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847696910
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book

Book Description
This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies – drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history – inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language’s symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of ‘English as a global language’. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a ‘global’ language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world.

English as a Lingua Franca in Japan

English as a Lingua Franca in Japan PDF Author: Mayu Konakahara
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030332888
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
This edited book examines the phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the Japanese context, using multilingualism as a lens through which to explore language practices and attitudes in what is traditionally viewed as a monolingual, monocultural setting. The authors cover a broad spectrum of topics within this theme, including language education policies, the nature of ELF communication in both academic and business settings, users’ and learners’ perceptions of ELF, and the pedagogy to foster ELF-oriented attitudes. Teaching and learning practices are reconsidered from ELF and multilingual perspectives, shifting the focus from the conformity to native-speaker norms to ELF users’ creative use of multilingual resources. This book is a key resource for advancing ELF study and research in Japan, and it will also be of interest to students and scholars studying multilingualism and World Englishes in other global contexts.

Multilingual Japan

Multilingual Japan PDF Author: John C. Maher
Publisher: Multilingual Matters Limited
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
This book presents a new outlook on the language situation in Japan and provides a sociolinguistic profile of the language situation of the older mother tongues. It presents issues such as bilingual families and 'returnee' language maintenance and rejects the stereotyping of Japan as a 'linguistically homogeneous nation with a difficult language'.

Language Learning Motivation in Japan

Language Learning Motivation in Japan PDF Author: Matthew T. Apple
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1783090529
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
This book synthesises current theory and research on L2 motivation in the EFL Japanese context carried out by internationally recognized researchers and upcoming researcher-educators working in various educational contexts in Japan. Topics covered include the issues of cultural identity, demotivation, language communities, positive psychology, possible L2 selves and internationalisation within a key EFL context. The studies in the book utilise a wide variety of research methodologies aiming to narrow the gap between theory and practice and examine L2 motivation in primary, secondary and tertiary education. This volume will be of interest to research/teacher professionals who are currently engaged in active ESL/EFL practice, EFL educators, researchers, and teacher-trainers both inside and outside Japan, who are interested in research on L2 motivation in general and within the Japanese context in particular, as well as graduate and postgraduate researchers.

The Making of Monolingual Japan

The Making of Monolingual Japan PDF Author: Patrick Heinrich
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847696562
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Japan is regarded as a model case of successful language modernization. It is also often erroneously believed to be linguistically homogenous. This book explores the debates relating to language modernization from a language ideology perspective, and in doing so reveals the mechanisms by which language ideology undermines linguistic diversity.

The Languages of Japan

The Languages of Japan PDF Author: Masayoshi Shibatani
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521369183
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
A survey of the two main indigenous languages of Japan includes the most comprehensive study of the polysynthetic Ainu language yet to appear in English as well as a comprehensive analysis of Japanese linguistics.

The Making of Monolingual Japan

The Making of Monolingual Japan PDF Author: Patrick Heinrich
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847696597
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Japan is widely regarded as a model case of successful language modernization, and it is often erroneously believed to be linguistically homogenous. There is a connection between these two views. As the first ever non-Western language to be modernized, Japanese language modernizers needed to convince the West that Japanese was just as good a language as the national languages of the West. The result was a fervent desire for linguistic uniformity. Today the legacy of modernist language ideology poses many problems to an internationalizing Japan. All indigenous minority languages are heading towards extinction, and this purposefully created homogeneity also affects the integration of immigrants and their languages. This book examines these issues from the perspective of language ideology, and in doing so the mechanisms by which language ideology undermines linguistic diversity are revealed.

Language Life in Japan

Language Life in Japan PDF Author: Patrick Heinrich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136935932
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Despite its monolingual self-image, Japan is multilingual and growing more so due to indigenous minority language revitalization and as an effect of migration. Besides Japan's autochthonous languages such as the Ainu and Ryukyuan languages, there are more than 75,000 immigrant children in the Japanese public education system alone who came to Japan in the 1980s and who speak more than a hundred different languages. Added to this growing linguistic diversity, the importance of English as the language of international communication in business and science especially is hotly debated. This book analyses how this linguistic diversity, and indeed recognition of this phenomenon, presents a wide range of sociolinguistic challenges and opportunities in fundamental institutions such as schools, in cultural patterns and in social behaviours and attitudes. This topic is an important one as Japan fights to re-establish itself in the new world order and will be of interest to all those who are concerned language change, language versus dialect, the effect of modern technology on language usage, and the way national and social problems are always reflected through the prism of language.

Languages and Identities in a Transitional Japan

Languages and Identities in a Transitional Japan PDF Author: Ikuko Nakane
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317961897
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This book explores the transition from the era of internationalization into the era of globalization of Japan by focusing on language and identity as its central themes. By taking an interdisciplinary approach covering education, cultural studies, linguistics and policy-making, the chapters in this book raise certain questions of what constitutes contemporary Japanese culture, Japanese identity and multilingualism and what they mean to local people, including those who do not reside in Japan but are engaged with Japan in some way within the global community. Topics include the role of technology in the spread of Japanese language and culture, hybrid language use in an urban context, the Japanese language as a lingua franca in China, and the identity construction of heritage Japanese language speakers in Australia. The authors do not limit themselves to examining only the Japanese language or the Japanese national/cultural identity, but also explore multilingual practices and multiple/fluid identities in "a transitional Japan." Overall, the book responds to the basic need for better accounts of language and identity of Japan, particularly in the context of increased migration and mobility.

Language Life in Japan

Language Life in Japan PDF Author: Patrick Heinrich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136935940
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Analyses how linguistic diversity in Japan, and indeed recognition of this phenomenon, presents a wide range of sociolinguistic challenges and opportunities in fundamental institutions such as schools, in cultural patterns and in social behaviours and attitudes.