Japanese language education in the United States
Japanese language education in the United States began in the late 19th century, aimed mainly at
History
Origins
The earliest
The schools' perceived connection to Japan and support for labor movements, including the 1909 and
World War II
Interest from
At the same time, Japanese language schools on the
For U.S. and the world to understand Japan and its culture, the United States Navy Japanese Language School, relocated from the
Post-World War II
The first program aimed at training
Japanese-language education aimed at
Current status
Currently, Japanese is not a widely-available college major in the United States, as only 132 U.S. colleges (including in U.S. territories) offer Japanese as an undergraduate major, while this number drops to 123 when excluding 2-year institutions.
Japanese in pre-collegiate education has not seen the same growth rates. In 2011-2012, there were 129,189 public and private primary and secondary schools in the US. Of this number, 30,861 were private and 98,328 were public (including charter schools). In 2007-2008, these numbers were 132,446, 33,740, and 98,916, respectively.[30] In 2008, the Center for Applied Linguistics found that the number of Japanese classes taught in primary and secondary schools dropped from their numbers in 1987. The organization did not specify the exact numbers of any year in their executive summary of their national survey of foreign language teaching in U.S. schools, however. The number of foreign language classes in total dropped in this time period.[32] Pre-collegiate institutions are increasing optional Japanese testing. The Japanese Language and Culture
Evolution of textbook pedagogy
Dr. Eleanor Harz Jorden, the author of Beginning Japanese, Parts 1 and 2, wrote the first pedagogical grammar of Japanese written by a linguist.[31] She also coauthored the widely used Mastering Japanese textbook, along with the Foreign Service Language Institute, and Hamako Ito Chaplin.[34] Colleagues in the field of Japanese pedagogy, such as Professor Mari Noda, say that Dr. Jorden was unusual in her time in that she insisted on the use of audio recordings to supplement the text-based grammar and vocabulary in her work.[31] She considered social interaction and vocal language the focus of her research. Noda remade Mastering Japanese into Japanese: The Spoken Language, which is part of a larger series on Japanese that also focuses on other aspects such as the written language. Japanese textbook dialogues have changed since the 1970s. Dialogues from the 1970s were thought to be less natural and practical than they should be by educators like Jorden.
After Dr. Jorden’s time, the trend of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) has been to focus on reading, writing, and grammar chapters arranged by themes based on pragmatic, real-life situations. Some emphasis is also placed on communicative, “real” language. For instance, in each of the two Genki textbooks, published by the
Junko Mori, Kimberly Jones, and Tsuyoshi Ono believe that use of cultural and discourse knowledge may be lacking in classrooms, making it so that students aren’t totally prepared for real-life interactions with native Japanese speakers. Mori used the example of doushite, a Japanese word for “why” that is frequently used in Japanese textbooks and exercises.
See also
- Japanese Language School of Greater Hartford
- Hoshū jugyō kō
- Kinmon Gakuen
- Nihon Go Gakko (Tacoma)
- Language teaching
- Farrington v. Tokushige
References
- ^ "Survey on Japanese-language Education Abroad 2012". Japan Foundation. 2012. Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- ^ https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/project/japanese/survey/result/
- ^ https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/project/japanese/survey/result/dl/survey2021/All_contents.pdf
- ^ https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/japanese/survey/area/country/2020/
- ^ a b Morimoto, Toyotomi (1997). Japanese Americans and Cultural Continuity: Maintaining Language through Heritage (Garland Reference Library of Social Science). United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 17–26.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nakamura, Kelli Y. "Japanese language schools". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
- ^ Harada, Koichi Glenn (1934). A Survey of the Japanese Language Schools in Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. p. 43.
- ^ Takagi, Mariko (1987). Moral Education in Pre-War Japanese Language Schools in Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. p. 18.
- ^ a b Asato, Noriko (September 2005). Teaching Mikadoism: The Attack on Japanese Language Schools in Hawaii, California, and Washington, 1919-1927. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
- ^ a b Niiya, Brian. Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present (1993), p 190.
- ^ Takagi, Yasaka (1935). Japanese Studies in the Universities and Colleges of the United States: Survey for 1934. Honolulu: Institute of Pacific Relations.
- Mills College on May 14, 2011. "Sotomayor, Denzel Washington, GE CEO Speak to Graduates". C-SPAN (US). May 30, 2011. Archived from the originalon June 23, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
- ^ "Japanese American Women in World War II". Echos of Silence: The Untold Stories of the Nisei Soldiers Who Served in WWII. AJA WWII Memorial Alliance. 2002.
- ^ Nakamura, Kelli Y. "Military Intelligence Service". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
- S2CID 143520470.
- ^ Fujimori, Leila (December 29, 2002). "Japanese school marks centennial". Hawaii Star-Bulletin. Retrieved March 15, 2007.
- ^ US Navy Japanese Language School Archival Project News (University of Colorado)
- ^ Edward Seidensticker, Translator, Is Dead at 86 (The New York Times, 2007)
- ^ NHK「映像の世紀」:「太平洋戦争 “言葉”で戦った男たち」(NHK TV Broadcast, 2022) (in Japanese)
- JSTOR 488774.
- JSTOR 329677.
- ^ "AP: Subjects: Japanese Language and Culture". The College Board. 2006. Archived from the original on November 5, 2005. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
- ^ Dillon, Sam (January 20, 2010). "Foreign Languages Fade in Class — Except Chinese". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ^ "National K-12 Foreign Language Survey". Center for Applied Linguistics. 2009.
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(help); see p. 1 of the executive summary - ^ .
- ^ 北米の日本人学校一覧(平成24年4月15日現在) (in Japanese). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). April 15, 2006. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
- ^ "私立在外教育施設一覧" (). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Retrieved on March 1, 2015.
- ^ "海外子女教育情報 : 北米の補習授業校一覧(Information about children's education overseas: List of weekend schools in North America)" (in Japanese). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). April 15, 2006. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
- ^ "College Search". Big Future. CollegeBoard. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
- ^ a b "Fast Facts". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ a b c Landsberg, Eddie (October 8, 2011). "Demand for Japanese language instruction in U.S. skyrocketing". Japan Today. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
- ^ Rhodes, Nancy C.; Pufahl, Ingrid. "Foreign Language Teaching in U.S. Schools: Results of a National Survey". Center for Applied Linguistics. Center for Applied Linguistics. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
- ^ "AP Program Participation and Performance Data 2016". CollegeBoard. CollegeBoard. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
- OCLC 48607624.
- ^ "Genki–Contents and Time Requirements". Genki Online. Japan Times. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
- ISBN 978-4-7890-1443-4.
- JSTOR 30038901.
Further reading
- Arnold, Bruce Makoto. "Pacific Childhood Dreams and Desires in the Rafu: Multiple Transnational Modernisms and the Los Angeles Nisei, 1918-1942".
- Jorden, Eleanor H.; Lambert, Richard D. (1991). Japanese Language Instruction in the United States: Resources, Practice, and Investment Strategy. Washington, DC: National Foreign Language Center.
- (in Japanese) Fujimori, Hiroko (藤森 弘子; Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japanese Language Center for International Students (留学生日本語教育センター)). "The Current State of Japanese Language Teaching in the U.S.A. : Report on Visits to a Saturday Japanese School for Japanese Students and Japanese Classes at Secondary Schools in the U.S.A." (米国日本語教育事情調査 : REX派遣先校と日本語補習授業校を視察して; Archive). Bulletin of Japanese Language Center for International Students (留学生日本語教育センター論集) 30, p. 139-152, 2004-03. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. See profile at CiNii. See profile at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Prometheus-Academic Collections (東京外国語大学学術成果コレクション). English abstract available (Archive).
- "変化への挑戦:アメリカにおける日本語教育のあゆみ (Challenge of Change: the History of Japanese Language Instruction in the United States)". 日本語教育通信 (Nihongo Kyōiku Tsūshin). 1 (2): 1–7. Spring 1990.