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Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this presentation is to present the philosophy and practice of 'Eidetic seeing' as a practical example of 'Japanese language education for an inclusive society' to Japanese language teachers living in Europe, together with easy-to-understand concrete examples.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this presentation is to examine the question "What is the goal of Japanese language education in an inclusive society?" from a practical perspective in the field of Japanese language education. The presenter, together with two researchers in the fields of philosophy of education and philosophy of education, is currently working on a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) research project on what can Japanese language education do to form the citizenship in an inclusive society, through practical activities of phenomenological dialogue. What kind of Japanese language education practices are necessary to realise an 'inclusive society' in which people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and different values can live together? The presenter posits the principles of phenomenology as the foundational principles of an inclusive society, and explores this from both theoretical and practical perspectives. As part of this research, the presenter is organising a workshop on the phenomenological method of philosophical dialogue 'Eidetic Seeing' (a method of gaining insight into the central meaning of concepts and things) for learners from different cultural backgrounds and teachers involved in the practice of Japanese language/linguistic education, in Japan and abroad. In the workshop, a single vocabulary word, a concept of common interest to the participants (e.g. freedom, justice, etc.), is chosen as the topic of dialogue, the question "What is '00'?" is asked, and the participants mobilise all their experience and knowledge to come up with a definition of the word that is acceptable to everyone. In the process, they realise the differences in their values and try to build consensus towards a common understanding. Through such participatory dialogue workshops, the project presents not only abstract theory building, but also concrete and practical ways of dialogue.

In this presentation, the dialogue practice of 'eidetic seeing' in the field of Japanese language education and inherited language education, which was practised in a certain European country as part of this Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research project, will be presented as a case study.