Japanese Applied Linguistics: Discourse and Social Perspectives

Description

This book showcases recent developments in the field of Japanese applied linguistics. It covers a wide range of current issues and influential theoretical and methodological frameworks, many of which are of concern not only for Japanese specialists but also applied linguists in general. At the same time, the book provides empirical studies that exemplify how these issues and frameworks manifest themselves in contexts that surround first and second language speakers of Japanese. The book is divided into four sections. The first examines language in action, providing a close analysis of language as it is used in interactions between speakers. The second section looks at sociological diversity in Japanese speakers, considering factors such as gender, age, or background. Section three explores how globalization has affected Japanese language use and acquisition. The final section reflects on classroom teaching of Japanese language and culture. This comprehensive, in-depth study will be useful for researchers and graduate students in both applied linguistics and Japanese linguistics.

Junko Mori is Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA where she teaches Japanese language and linguistics. Amy Snyder Ohta is Associate Professor at the University of Washington, USA where she teaches Japanese language and applied linguistics.

"This state-of-the art volume covers a wide range of topics on contemporary Japanese from the perspectives of sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and language education. Written by leading scholars in the field, the chapters in Japanese Applied Linguistics offer original and often surprising insights into Japanese language practices at the beginning of the 21st century. Through nuanced and accountable analyses, the authors unravel persisting myths about Japanese language, culture, and the learning of Japanese as an additional language, inviting readers to join their journey through the changing landscape of diverse, multilingual, multicultural Japan. With this book, editors Junko Mori and Amy Ohta have given us an outstanding example of applied linguistics as the study of language in the real world." - Professor Gabriele Kasper, University of Hawaii at Manoa "A lively and engaging portrait of the state of the art of Japanese applied linguistics as practiced by a new generation of scholars on both sides of the Pacific. It would be hard to imagine a more convincing testament to the way applied linguistics has outgrown its narrow association with second language education and come to embrace a concern with language use across the totality of human experience in the real world. Certain to become a standard in the field, this collection offers a rich variety of perspectives on the social, political, and educational dimensions of language use in Japan today in a way that promises to inform numerous disciplines both within and beyond the linguistic sciences proper." - Professor Wesley M. Jacobsen, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, USA Mention Book News, November 2008 Mention Chronicle of Higher Education, August 15, 2008 Reviewed in JALT Journal, 32.1, May 2010 'This book is eclectically informative, good scholarship, and a sound plug for conversation analysis'