Paper short abstract:

Although the definition of culture varies depending on field and context, students and teachers in L2 classrooms commonly perceive culture as national culture. This presentation will discuss implications for teaching a course on Japanese culture while avoiding essentialism.

Paper long abstract:

While many universities offer Japanese Culture courses as part of their language programs, some of the materials and contents may promote stereotypes and essentialism. Although the definition of “culture” varies depending on field and context, students and teachers in foreign language classrooms commonly perceive culture unconsciously as national culture. Moreover, emphasizing cultural differences, a common practice in such courses, can also result in the formation of stereotypes.

Many students taking courses on Japanese culture are initially fascinated by the surface culture and especially pop culture, including anime, manga, video games, and music as well as food, literature, and language. It is not uncommon for such students to have already formed specific stereotypes or images of Japan from the media they consume.

This presentation will first introduce various ways of understanding culture. Using the course related to Japanese culture I teach at a European university as an example, various challenges and initiatives involved in discussing Japanese culture with students will be shared. Based on previous studies of teaching culture as part of foreign language instruction, my own practice as well as course evaluations by students, I will propose an optimal design for a culture course that does not promote essentialism from the following perspectives: (1) selection of teaching materials presenting various perspectives and encouraging critical thinking; (2) appropriate ordering of topics from deep- to surface-level culture; and (3) learners’ identities. Instead of defining what culture is, teachers can provide opportunities for questioning and discussing how culture is used and what people do with it while deepening students’ understanding not only of Japanese culture but also of the diverse culture that surrounds each student's daily life.

Paper short abstract:

Kobanashi, a traditional Japanese performing art, was introduced to a Japanese course at a university. The lesson was devised in order to let the students experience Japanese culture even in the online setting. This report examines the second-year practice based on an interview and a questionnaire.

Paper long abstract:

In 2021, Kobanashi, a traditional Japanese performing art, was introduced to a Japanese course at a university, as the study in Japan program had been cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. The lessons which were devised in order to let the students experience Japanese culture even in the online setting, were highly evaluated and thus repeated in the next year with a number of improvements. In this report, the second-year practice of Kobanashi lessons are examined based on an interview to the guest lecturer and a reflection questionnaire by the students.

According to the questionnaire, the Kobanashi lessons were again highly evaluated. While some students stated that it would be better to learn acting in the classroom, others commented that online learning was good because acting in front of other people could cause embarrassment. In addition, Kobanashi lessons as an online experiential learning is discussed in the report by comparing the practice of the first year and the second year, as well as the learning effects analyzed along with the improved lesson contents. The major changes from the first year to the second year are the following five points.

First-year lessons:

- Students read 10 Kobanashis before the lessons.

- Plenty of background knowledge such as its history was introduced.

- The guest lecturer gave oral feedback to the students while watching the videos of students’ Kobanashi performances.

- Students recorded a video of their Kobanashi performance once.

- Participation in Kobanashi lessons was not counted for the course grade.

Second-year lessons:

- Students watched a video of a Kobanashi performance and explanation by the guest lecturer before the lessons, read 10 Kobanashis and chose their favorite one.

- Less background knowledge was introduced, focusing the lessons more on the acting and telling of Kobanashi.

- Students’ Kobanashi performance videos were viewed in class after the guest lecturer had given written feedback to the students.

- Students recorded their performance of Kobanashi for the second time after receiving feedback.

- Participation in Kobanashi lessons was counted for the course grade.

Paper short abstract:

In this practical report, we will examine the issue of impoliteness that was observed in the online interview conducted by students. Impoliteness in this context refers to situations in which the learners’ responses were unintentionally or unknowingly perceived as impolite by the interviewees.

Paper long abstract:

In this practical report, we will examine the issue of impoliteness that was observed in the online interview conducted by fourth-year students at the University of Manchester who were taking the Business Japanese Course. Specifically, we will focus on the use of laugh by Japanese interviewees and how it was perceived by the learners.

Impoliteness in this context refers to situations in which the learners’ words, responses, or reactions were unintentionally or unknowingly perceived as impolite by the Japanese interviewees. As part of the assignment, students were instructed to conduct an online interview with Japanese professionals working in Japan. They were also expected to use appropriate honorifics and demonstrate politeness throughout the interview.

To evaluate the impoliteness of the learners, we examined the use of laugh by the Japanese interviewees. Drawing on Sasakawa’s (2020) classification of laugh as an utterance-mediated act, we identified two distinct scenes. In the first scene, Japanese interviewees laughed in response to the learners’ inappropriate aizuchi or verbal responses. In the second scene, we will observe the learners’ response to the Japanese interviewees’ insertion of ‘laugh’ in a manner of ‘humbleness’.

In addition to analysing the students’ interpretations of laugh and their responses in these situations, we will explore ways to help students understand and appreciate the role of laugh in Japanese communication. We will also compare the use of laugh in Japanese with its use in English communication.

Reference:

Brown, P and Levinson, S.C. (1998) Politeness Some universals in language usage

笹川洋子 (2020)「おしゃべりなポライトネス　会話の中の共話・話題交換・笑い・メタファー」春風社