Paper short abstract:

Japanese language education in Brazil changed from training Japanese to Japanese as a foreign language. This study was conducted through an interview survey and reports the transformation of five Brazilian Japanese language teachers' attitudes toward Japanese language education.

Paper long abstract:

Japanese language education for Japanese children began along with Japanese immigration to Brazil in the early 1900s. At first, Japanese language education was offered under the assumption that the children would return to Japan, however as the second and third generations of Japanese immigrants were born in Brazil, the awareness of permanent residence gradually grew among the Japanese immigrants. With this change, language education for Japanese individuals in Brazil changed from training Japanese to Japanese as a foreign language.

Therefore, this study reports the transformation of five Brazilian Japanese language teachers' attitudes toward Japanese language education. This study was conducted through an interview survey via a web conferencing system to approach and clarify the methods and attitudes of the Japanese language teachers. SCAT was used as a qualitative analysis method and KH Coder as a quantitative text analysis. The results of both analyses were integrated and discussed. The subjects of the survey were a non-native mid-career Japanese language teachers who have been teaching in Brazil for more than 5 years and who work for Japanese organizations or language schools.

With the marked increase in opportunities for contact with foreign languages and cultures, the need to establish one's own identity in the international community, and the spread of Japanese culture and Japanese pop culture, Brazilian Japanese language teachers should not focus on the practice of Japanese language accuracy or the cultivation of the Japanese spirit, but rather on the transmission of Japanese culture and cross-cultural understanding. It was suggested that the education of the Brazilian people should be based on the awareness of the inheritance of Japanese culture and cross-cultural understanding. This is especially true in Brazilian society, where opportunities for the inheritance of Japanese language and culture are diminishing in Nikkei families, and Japanese culture is being reevaluated in Brazilian society. Additionally, Japanese language education is not limited to the education of young children or learners of Japanese descent, but is being practiced by all Brazilian learners, and transcends language barriers.