Developing Classroom Practice in Japanese Language Instruction with the aim of developing students' acceptance of others' "expression"

Abstract

The present paper proposes a new direction for Japanese Language Instruction at the theoretical level. Many of young people nowadays do not expect to be able to learn at school. They chat with a few friends during a break about dramas and movies they saw on TV the day before as well as comics and popular music CDs. Once the class has started, they adapt to the particular atmosphere of the teacher, and after it has finished, they just continue the same kind of chatting which is regularly interrupted by the classes. They are aware of this repetition and also see it as sufficient. In this situation, what would be the direction of Japanese Language Instruction that enables each student to experience their own learning in the artificial environment of a school? The present paper explores the possibility of effective practice from the viewpoint of "expression", and discusses the following issue: how would the direction indicated by this practice be realized in the classroom and how does it connect to the idea of "media literacy"?