(A.) Multiculturalism and Japanese Language Education

Abstract

Group A, "Multiculturalism and Japanese Language Education," was further divided into three categories, and had a total of 51 presentations. This paper discusses thirteen of them, pointing out how much the treatment of culture in Japanese Language Education has changed. This reflects a view of culture seen in terms of power relationships within society. This is no doubt due in part to increasing numbers of foreign workers in Japan, together with their spouses and children, as well as the pursuit of self-realization in the midst of changes in how people relate to society with the spread of the interne and people's increasingly dynamic cross-border mobility, trends that are intimately connected with language. I characterize these aspects as the second phase in which Japanese Language Education is exploring ways of relating to the language needs of people carrying on their lives in Japan.