Self-expression in Japanese with local community members

A case study of a classroom language activity and the participants’ perceptions

Abstract

This study investigates a classroom language activity for a Japanese language course at a Japanese university. In this course, local community members participated as language supporters. To promote learners’ self-expression in Japanese, I designed and ensured the implementation of the classroom activity by employing a concept of appropriation, derived from Bakhtin’s language theory, capitalizing on local community members’ support by involving them in discussions. The author was actively involved in the class as a teacher. As the second step in the study, I conducted interviews with the participants. The interaction data were analyzed in terms of language supportive actions used by local community members. The result showed that language supportive interactions did not occur as frequently as expected. To investigate the participants’ perceptions of activity participation, interview data were also analyzed. It was found that there were gaps between the perceptions of the learners, community members, and teachers regarding themselves, the others, language learning, and the activity itself. These perception gaps might be responsible for the infrequency in the occurrence of language supportive interactions.