Summer Research Program: 2020-2021

Project duration:

7 weeks
2 - 8 December 2020
4 January to 12 February 2021

Project profile: 

COVID-19 considerations:  The project can be completed under a remote working arrangement but with occasional face to face meetings by arrangement. 

Description:

Summary:

Since 2018, UQ advanced Japanese language students have been sent to state high schools in Queensland as interns. While schools have welcomed them as role models to their younger learners, it has provided interns the opportunity to reflect on their journey from high school to university and from learner to teacher/practitioner. This project is significant in exploring emergent identities and investigating who successful Japanese language learners are. It examines how their journey has been discursively constructed and how it builds their intercultural understanding and sense of identity as an Australian citizen in the interconnected world.

Background:

Much attention in Second Language Acquisition research is placed on the learner and their personal motivation in L2 learning. There are also societal goals, and this leads us back to Language Policy and Planning. Intercultural understanding (IU) is one such goal in Australia, and it is embedded in the Australian Curriculum as general capability, which can and must be taught through all learning areas. In the curriculum, intercultural understanding has three interrelated elements: recognising culture and developing respect; interacting and empathising with others; and reflecting on intercultural experiences and taking responsibility. L2 motivation to acquire IU and global competency for English language learners is well recognised and researched, with the clear role of English as a global language. Much less attention has been paid to IU, however, as a goal of learners of languages other than English in Australia. Since the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper was published in 2012, selected Asian languages learning has been associated with learners’ “employability”. In the COVID-19 time, language skills seem to be re-identified as part of profiles of “job-ready” graduates.

Approach:

There are two stages in the project – 1. Analysis of interns’ autobiographical accounts (essay) of Japanese language learning and follow-up interviews; 2. Analysis of educational curriculum and language policy related documents at both state and federal levels in order to understand how language learners have been identified, expected, and desired in QLD and Australia. The Summer Scholar will be engaged in the second stage of the project by collecting relevant documents and providing preliminary findings.

Number of hours per week: 

20 hours per week

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

The Summer Scholar will gain skills in data collection and basic text analysis of public documents as well as in cultivating insight into the relationship between individual language learning and the larger framework of educational policies at both state and federal levels. The Scholar will be asked to produce a report at the end of the program.

Suitable for:

This project is open to applications from students with a background in Japanese, education, and/or related fields. UQ enrolled undergraduate (3-4^th year) students, honours, or postgraduate (Master coursework).

Applicants must have good command of Japanese and strong analytical skills in English.

Number of participants required: 

1

Primary Supervisor:

 Dr Kayoko Hashimoto

Further info: 

Please contact Dr Kayoko Hashimoto via email