Repositioning the relationship between text and thinking in Japanese language education

Abstract

Today's new learning environment, namely, the network society, accommodates increasingly diverse thought processes on the part of learners, but there tend to be many causes of confusion and stagnation. The purpose of this study is to suggest principles and methods in the field of Japanese language education for native Japanese speakers of educationally reconstructing learners' thought processes that are subject to these problems. To begin, the paper states that educationally imputing significance to learning processes created by learners themselves should be given higher priority than ways of thinking that emphasize traditional teaching materials and the system of language. This is because the learners' thought processes exist not so the learners can absorb existing values and norms, but create new values and norms for the sake of the learners' own lives. To make such a change of approach possible in Japanese language instruction, this paper reconsiders the relationship between text and thinking and the educational relationship between teacher and learner, thereby imputing significance to the learners' thought processes as an independent act of composing a “personal text” in dialogue with text clusters that are found throughout the world. The paper then discusses the outlook for instructional frameworks and methods that make this possible.