Paper short abstract:

This presentation analyzes international bridge engineers' transnational movement, work, and communication skills based on the presenter's dissertation research that analyses Indian information technology engineers' work and life in Japan.

Paper long abstract:

With the globalization of the economy and the expansion of Japanese companies overseas, training ブリッジ人材 (bridge resources) who can connect organizations across national borders and adjust for organizational, linguistic, and cultural differences has become a pressing issue for international businesses.

This presentation analyzes international bridge engineers' transnational movement, work, and communication skills based on the presenter's dissertation research that analyses Indian information technology engineers' work and life in Japan.

The presenter will illuminate bridge engineers' potential in both the workplace and the local community as agents of building a multicultural society, as well as their relevance to pluri-lingual and pluri-cultural education in Japan and in Europe.

References:

Horie, K.（2008）Ryuugakusei no shuushokushien no tameno bijinesu nihongo kyooiku ni motomerarer u mono wa nanika, Musashino University, 9, 132-140．

Murata, A. (2020) Gaikokujin roodoosha no junkanroodoo to bunka no chuukai: bridge jinzai to tabunka kyoosei. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.

Tsukasaki, Y.（2013）Global jinzai no tayoosei: kuni o towazu hataraku jinzai to nikokukan o tsunagu jinzai o chuushin ni, Journal of Japan Society of Human Resource Management, 14, 2, 27-51．

Paper short abstract:

In Europe, attempts to practice CLIL are expanding as plurilingual education and its effectiveness has been studied. What about plurilingual education for learning Japanese, which has a linguistic distance from the European languages? The purpose of study is examination of this research question.

Paper long abstract:

I have investigated the process of learning and acquiring Japanese for students of higher education institutions in France, who use pluri(multi)lingual and pluri(multi)cultural competence (Coste et al., 1997, 2009), to think about Japanese language learning and education in a dynamic society in the global age. In Europe, foreign language education according to plurilingualism and pluriculturalism, which is the principle of the CEFR, is being conducted, attempts to practice CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) are expanding as plurilingual education, and its effectiveness has been studied. But what about plurilingual education for learning Japanese, which has a linguistic distance from the European languages such as English, Spanish, and German that French students have learned? The purpose of this study is examination of this research question.

An ethnographic survey showed that learners' learning strategies based on plurilingual and pluricultural competence and pluri(multi)literacy competence (Moore, 2006) were used to acquire Japanese. The competence to acquire plurilingual competence (Castellotti & Moore, 2011), which has been acquired up to that time by learners, can also promote Japanese language appropriation (acquisition). In addition, we surveyed the process of Japanese language production activities of students and investigated how to use the pluriliteracy competence concretely. This study takes into account a paradigm shift characterized by diversification of learning objectives, learner mobility, and complexity of pathways. Then, based on the results of surveys on learning and practicing Japanese not only in the classroom but also in social life, we considered the possibility of plurilingual education that would also support autonomous learning.

Flexible communication of plurilingual speakers through multiple linguistic resources is not special, and multimodality is also progressing. While plurilingualism positively recognizes the mobilization of available abilities and resources of speakers to achieve one's goal, monolingual standard classrooms will not be able to take full advantage of such multilingual learner processes. The practice of plurilingual education and Translanguaging, in line with the realities of learners' plurilingual competence and language use, is indeed possible in Japanese language classrooms. An activity that supports learners in the process of producing Japanese using plurilingual competence and pluriliteracy competence, for example, focusing on negotiation of meaning of vocabulary, is conceivable.

Paper short abstract:

We first compare translanguaging and plurilingualism and introduce two different telecollaborative projects in Japanese classrooms in the USA. Demonstrating how students enlist various semiotic resources to communicate, we discuss the merit of translanguaging/plurilingualism in language education.

Paper long abstract:

"Translanguaging," as defined by Garcia (2009), is "the act performed by bilinguals of accessing different linguistic features or various modes of what are described as autonomous languages, in order to maximize communicative potential" (p.140). It acknowledges the multilingual speakers' natural and flexible language practices that draw on whole linguistic resources as one single repertoire beyond linguistic boundaries (Garcia and Wei 2014). Recently, the idea of translanguaging has gained attention in the field of language pedagogy as a way to support dynamic bilingualism that facilitates cognitive development, nurtures positive identity, and develops communication repertoires (Kano, 2016).

The idea of plulilingualism that was born in Europe underscores the principle of taking advantage of one's multiple linguistic resources in order to maximize the communicative potential in a similar way as translanguaging conceives. However, as the suffix "plu-" suggests, it seems to assume that there exist separate languages that are distinct, bounded systems, which are possessed by individual persons.

In this presentation, we first overview and compare translanguaging and plurilingualism. We then introduce two different telecollaborative projects in Japanese college classrooms in the USA. Both projects were informed by the idea of translanguaging and were conducted in collaboration with Japanese university students. In both projects, students worked collaboratively with their Japanese partners and created visual products (videos and online magazines). By drawing on various semiotic resources available to them, students engaged in numerous types of communication via technologies and accomplished the tasks. From the analysis of video-recorded students interactions, the final products, and post-project interviews, it was revealed that how students recognize the potentials of translanguaging was strongly influenced by each student's beliefs about language and language practices.

Although the projects were carried out in the USA, the findings are applicable to language education in the European contexts and beyond. In the field of world language education, there are resistance and a negative view toward "mixing" languages (Vallejo & Dooly 2020). However, language education that advocates translanguaging and/or plurilingualism would contribute to the transformation of our own views on language and language practices rather than maintain conventional practices of language teaching.