Not ‘Language’ Learning but ‘language’ Learning for Society 5.01

抄録

Mastering a ‘Language’ is probably an “impossible” task as no one can ever know everything about a natural human ‘Language.’ However, acquiring the various genres and varieties of a ‘language’ that we use daily is something that children do naturally and adults can manage when faced with the need to communicate. This paper will examine what is needed for “global” communication in a post-pandemic world where people now realize how truly interconnected human societies are. To resolve the many issues confronting us, the Cabinet Office of Japan has proposed the concept of Society 5.0 with integration of cyberspace and physical space. Achieving the communicative ability to fully achieve such a goal requires an awareness of the realities of linguistic relativity and finding ways to successfully communicate via genres developed by specific communities of practice. In this paper, we will examine how we can address the need for target language mastery at the professional level to transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries for effective global communication. The key to making this possible is a genre approach to language as it is used for specific purposes.