Fukunaga 2006 FL literacy development using Anime ... - Oncourse

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“Those anime students”: Foreign language literacy development through Japanese popular culture We need to encourage students and ourselves to see things from multiple sources and aspects. What happens if anime students lose interest in anime? I was once asked, “Don’t you think students’ interest in popular culture is just a part of adolescence? They will soon forget about it.” I answered, “Yes for some students and no for others.” I believe that the three participants in this particular study are good examples of these multiple positions. All three students began studying Japanese motivated by their interest in anime and its subcultures. However, anime played different roles for each student. For Emily, anime was a social activity. Thus, Emily stopped studying JFL after establishing her agency in the anime community. For Ted, studying JFL and his anime activities were connected to his desire to become a translator. Most likely, Ted will continue to study JFL unless he changes his mind about a career. From a Japanese teacher’s view, Sean seems to be the most successful learner who is flexible enough to shape-shift his portfolio as he passes through different stages of life. Sean is the closest to using anime as part of his portfolio in Gee’s sense. In the time since the data collection, Sean received a competitive scholarship for study abroad, spent one year as an exchange student in Japan, and expanded his perspectives of that country. Now he has come back and is searching for a graduate school, hoping to be a Japan expert in areas of history, traditional and contemporary culture and society, linguistics, literature, and martial arts. Whether these students continue studying Japanese or not, their personal connections with the target language and culture is a shared attitude among them. All three participants simply wanted to explore new worlds. These anime students engaged with the new language and culture in unique ways to meet their own needs and desires to know about other people, languages, societies, and the world. The new version of Japanese enthusiast— the anime student—provides a new way of thinking about how students engage with language and suggests a more idealistic view of the process. Implications for teachers I have four suggestions for teachers that follow directly from the findings of this study and my ongoing work as a Japanese teacher and anime researcher. 1. Get to know the tools Knowledge of anime students’ activities can help teachers think about alternative ways to teach literacy in a multiliteracies framework. It may also help teachers appreciate students’ love of popular culture. The participants in this study cited their frequent use of the Internet for anime-related activities. Chandler-Olcott and Mahar’s (2003b) study also reminded us of “the need to consider how those tools are specifically used as part of membership in particular communities of practice” (p. 381). It goes without saying that the Internet is becoming a necessary tool for adolescents to gather information and construct their social identities by participating in online activities as members of certain affinity groups. As Ted suggested, some people prefer communicating with others on the Internet rather than through face-to-face interaction. We may be able to find students’ potential literacy skills and their multiple identities by paying attention to their activities with popular culture texts and the Internet. 2. Appreciate authentic aspects of other cultures Appreciating authentic aspects of other cultures is a better way to see language in context. In the 1960s, Japanese cultural aspects in anime had to be taken out or modified to appeal to viewers in the United States. Current anime fans enjoy watching both types of anime, the new hybrid type and anime based on authentic Japanese culture with some twists such as Hikaru no go (Hikaru’s Go). Instead of changing “other” cultural norms into “American” norms, anime fans have begun to respect Japanese culture and language. Some of the students who liked watching JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 2006 219
Hikaru no go formed a Go club and met weekly. It was a surprise to me that U.S. students took up the challenging and complicated game. Another example is from an anime and manga series called Fruit Basket, from which one of my students learned the zodiac in Japanese. Popular culture texts such as anime are a hook to draw students’ attention, and teachers can use them to help students expand their multicultural awareness. I suggest using anime that inspires discussions on aspects of Japanese culture as well as global issues. To discuss war and peace issues with elementary students, I suggest using Hotaru no haka (Graveyard of the Fireflies; Studio Ghibli & Takahata, 1988). For middle school students and older, Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; Takahata & Miyazaki, 1984) will provoke discussions related to war and environmental issues. In JFL classrooms, students can experience Japanese familybased humor while they listen to kansai-ben (Kansai dialect) in Houhokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas; Suzuki, Ishii, & Takahata, 1999). K–12 teachers can invite Japanese teachers or native informants from local colleges and communities into classrooms in order to provide knowledge of Japanese language and culture beyond popular culture. Every year around March, I visit a local elementary school and talk about Japanese culture to second graders as a part of social studies classes about Japan. If teachers cannot find any Japanese informants in their area, they can contact the embassy or consulate of Japan. For example, the Japan Information Center in the consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, offers a school-visit service for educators and students called Japan Caravan (www.japanatlanta.org/caravan.html). 3. Have a critical discussion The pedagogy of multiliteracies suggests the importance of developing a critical stance for both teachers and students. I suggest teachers should hold critical discussions throughout the school 220 “Those anime students”: Foreign language literacy development through Japanese popular culture year. Critical awareness is one way to encourage students to be active learners instead of passive learners. Questioning what they view is the beginning of critical awareness. “Please don’t believe my stories about Japan without questioning,” I tell my students. I try to present multiple voices from Japan. I have at least two native informants visit my classes and ask their opinions when we talk about culture. I intentionally select native informants from different areas of Japan, backgrounds, majors, age groups, and genders if possible. Hayao Miyazaki’s well-known anime film, Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro; Studio Ghibli & Miyazaki, 1988), introduces many Japanese cultural aspects and Japanese children’s perspectives. A few years ago, a JFL teacher posted a question on a JFL teachers’ listserv asking whether she should skip one part of the movie with U.S. elementary students. The part she was referring to was a scene of two little girls taking a bath with their father. Because I am familiar with Japanese hot springs and public baths, I viewed this particular scene of a parent and small children taking a bath together as a symbol of a happy Japanese family. However, this practice differs from U.S. cultural norms. I think it could be an opportunity for classroom discussion. Seeing the full film shows how peaceful and family oriented it is. Judging different cultural representations according to other cultural norms is not the best way to expand students’ multicultural perspectives. 4. Be aware of the power of popular culture Because some students shift their identities in a particular community, it is dangerous for teachers to judge popular culture based on their own assumptions. For a long time, popular culture has been looked down upon in the education field. Some teachers believe that reading comics is for children who have not reached the level of reading “real” books (Marsh & Millard, 2000). I once heard the following comment from a teacher educator who was my classmate in a graduate JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 2006
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