An Account of Fifty Years of the Journal of Japanese Language Teaching

Abstract

This essay looks back over fifty years of publishing the Journal for Japanese Language Teaching, and discusses developments seen over five periods in its history.

The first period, ten years from the inaugural issue to 1972, can be seen as a groundbreaking work to establish Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language as an academic field. In the second period, lasting till 1988, research tended to focus on the pedagogy itself, and even papers dealing with language increasingly took the classroom as their starting point. The third period continued until 1997, and saw the incorporation of psychology and sociology into research. Pedagogical researchbroadened in scope, with a larger contribution of research on teaching practices. The fourth period was one of an increasingly interdisciplinary approach, with more ties to related fields. The current period, beginning in 2004 is characterized by research of high quality that goes well beyond the discovery of issues. The necessity of a composite pedagogical research program spanning all relevant disciplines is clearer than ever. Future research must strive for a further deepening and broadening of efforts in our field.