Media Language Studies and their Implications for Japanese Language Teaching

Abstract

The media have the power to change how we physically feel ourselves, grasp the world, and communicate. The recent development and penetration of digital media on a global scale have made us realize the effects and influences the media have on every corner of our lives, particularly in communication. Japanese Language Teaching cannot escape from this new development. It must recognize the media as being deeply involved in our communication and start to investigate how they affect the Japanese language. It must also explore how learners are finding new ways to express and empower themselves through various media.

Media Language Studies lays an emphasis on contemplating the media as intervention in the framework. This paper investigates how the media and language have influenced each other by reviewing the adjacent media studies and recent language studies. It then focuses on changes in the themes and topics of media language studies in recent years. The latter half of this paper concentrates on introducing two media language studies papers. Miyake (2011) analyzes how Japanese hai (close equivalent to "yes" in English) is used in television broadcast discourse, and Jung (2005) compares Role Language (yakuwarigo) in Japanese and Korean comics. Using these as examples, it then discusses the purpose and the significance of media language studies and their implications for Japanese Language Teaching.