Paper short abstract:

Metrolingualism challenges the view of language as static and enumerable. I pose questions to the fundamental assumptions in the field of JSL in order to better depict our future challenges. In so doing, I discuss the developmental theory of Vygotsky, the CEFR-CV, and the Action-oriented-Approach.

Paper long abstract:

Underpinning Pennycook & Otsuji's metrolinguialism, a bricolage of rich and dynamic communication practices pervading urban space, is the massive movement of people through a newly globalized world. As such, metrolingualism fiercely challenges the view of language as static and enumerable. Such an essentialist view of language, however, forms the basis of assumption and has gone almost unquestioned in the field of JSL. This forces us to also reconsider the very foundation of JSL which has heavily relied on the institutional system of "schools."

It is worth noting that the view of language and of language education that purports to teach a solidly defined Japanese language or "correct Japanese" effectively by setting learners in competition with one another through score evaluation is highly compatible with current neoliberal political and economic trends. To the extent that "Japanese in the classroom" differs from real language usage and is somewhat artificial in experimental research labs, JSL classrooms will be limited in coping with the fluid and dynamic reality of the language that the most learners hope to learn.

Yet when confronting the fact that the disparity in educational opportunities is closely related to language proficiency, it may be useful to reaffirm the merits of written over spoken speech in terms of accuracy of information transfer. In that sense we should recognize the value of accumulated efforts over the years in the field of Japanese language education.

We cannot pretend there are easy answers to these questions. We may, however, find clues to approach the matter if we shift the paradigm from viewing learners as "passive indivi.duals" to "social agents," as Picard & North claim.

In this presentation, rather than engage in a technical discussion on teaching JSL, I pose questions to the fundamental assumptions in the field in order to better depict our future challenges. In so doing, I discuss the developmental theory of Vygotsky, the CEFR-CV, and the Action-oriented-Approach