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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

“Those anime students”: Foreign language literacy development through Japanese popular culture course: “Oh, Pokemon. It contains too much fighting and violence for me.” I responded, “Really? I thought that show was more about the importance of friendship and fairness. Have you watched the show?” She said, “No. I never watch that kind of stuff.” I am not a big Pokemon fan, but I sensed a strong bias from this particular teacher against something about which she knew little. Sometimes some forms of popular culture, such as Pokemon cards, are banned in classroom settings and students might feel that teachers therefore reject their identities. Teachers can encourage students to share their insider knowledge of a particular form of popular culture and spend some time learning from students. Foreign language teachers need to encourage students to share their interests in the target language such as anime, music, and websites. The two girls in Chandler-Olcott and Mahar’s study (2003a, 2003b) are like these JFL students—they are aware of agency in their out-of-classroom literacy practices. Listening to students’ voices is one way to help students be active learners without taking the joy away from them. Being aware of students’ multiple identities will help teachers to rethink their fixed ideas on particular students. I believe that a JFL teacher’s job is to introduce multiple aspects of Japan. For serious anime fans like Ted, there is a tendency to believe that anime is the best thing that Japan offers. I know four JFL students who were big anime fans, but who did not talk about anime at all after coming back from one-year exchange programs. Anime students’ joy in learning is noteworthy. However, there is a hidden danger in having limited knowledge of Japan from anime alone. Teachers can give every student opportunities to widen his or her perspectives, so that students can explore and expand their knowledge of Japan. The potential of popular culture’s power is not limited to anime. For instance, the current trend of Hanryu (“Korean style”) in Japan was sparked by the broadcast of a South Korean TV drama. Many Japanese people began studying Korean and visiting South Korea, motivated by this particular drama. This is something governmentlevel relations could never have foreseen or created. It is not possible to predict the effect popular culture may have on a general audience. These trends might change the current notion of globalization as “Americanization,” such as having McDonald’s restaurants everywhere or placing too much emphasis on learning English in non- English speaking countries. Popular culture enables “other” cultural globalization. Young adults in the United States learning Japanese motivated by anime and its subcultures and Japanese audiences of a South Korean TV drama studying Korean indicate the beginning of an alternative version of globalization and multiculturalism. When people have a strong interest in popular culture originating in other cultures, they have the potential to develop a critical stance, foreign language skills, and cultural knowledge. This potential is a special feature of “other” popular culture, in addition to what popular culture in one’s own society can offer. These are some suggestions for both teachers and students to shape-shift, to have current knowledge of a different society through its popular culture. I am not suggesting that all teachers need to be experts in foreign popular culture. Nor am I suggesting that every anime fan should study Japanese as a foreign language, or that every anime student would be a successful JFL learner. Rather, I am exploring the potential influence that popular culture, especially popular culture from “other” societies, can have on developing multiple literacies. It is important to be aware that students’ communities of practice can provide a different kind of learning. By listening, watching students carefully, and asking questions, teachers might be able to bridge the generation gap between themselves and their young students. Teachers of adolescents and young adults need to be aware of students’ out-of-class activities in order to avoid preparing students for the future with yesterday’s skills (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003). JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 2006 221
REFERENCES Allen, J., & Labbo, L. (2001). Giving it a second thought: Making culturally engaged teaching culturally engaging. Language Arts, 79, 40–52. Allen, J., Fabregas, V., Hankins, K.H., Hull, G., Labbo, L., Lawson, H.S., et al. (2002). PhOLKS lore: Learning from photographs, families, and children. Language Arts, 79, 312–322. Altheide, D. (1987). Ethnographic content analysis. Qualitative Sociology, 10, 65–77. Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of “sex.” New York: Routledge. Chandler-Olcott, K., & Mahar, D. (2003a). Adolescents’ anime-inspired “fanfictions”: An exploration of multiliteracies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46, 556–566. Chandler-Olcott, K., & Mahar, D. (2003b). “Tech-savviness” meets multiliteracies: Exploring adolescent girls’ technology-mediated literacy practices. Reading Research Quarterly, 38, 356–385. Collins, J., & Blot, R. (2003). Literacy and literacies: Texts, power, and identity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Fukunaga, N. (2000, November). “Motivation for success”: Japanese animation and foreign language learning. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Washington, DC. Gee, J.P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (2nd ed.). London: Taylor & Francis. Gee, J.P. (2001). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education, 25, 99–125. Gee, J.P. (2002). Millennials and Bobos, Blue’s Clues, and Sesame Street: A story for our times. In D.E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents and literacies in a digital world (pp. 51–67). New York: Peter Lang. Gee, J.P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Glesne, C. (1999). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Longman. He, A.W. (2003). Linguistic anthropology and language education. In W. Stanton & B. Rymes (Eds.), Linguistic anthropology of education (pp. 93–119). Westport, CT: Praeger. Kubota, R. (2002). The impact of globalization on language teaching in Japan. In D. Block & D. Cameron (Eds.), Globalization and language teaching (pp. 13–28). London: Routledge. Lam, W.S.E. (2000). L2 literacy and the design of the self: A case study of a teenager writing on the Internet. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 457–482. 222 “Those anime students”: Foreign language literacy development through Japanese popular culture Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2003). New literacies: Changing knowledge and classroom learning. Buckingham, England: Open University Press. LeCompte, M.D. (2000). Analyzing qualitative data. Theory Into Practice, 39, 146–154. Manes, K. (2005). Anime gives U.S. students window on Japan. Retrieved April 26, 2005, from http://www.yomiuri. co.jp/newse/20050426wob3.htm Marsh, J., & Millard, E. (2000). Literacy and popular culture: Using children’s culture in the classroom. London: Paul Chapman. Napier, S.J. (2001). Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing contemporary Japanese animation. New York: Palgrave. New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 60–92. Parker, G. (2004, August 5). Learning Japanese, once about resumes, is now about cool. The Wall Street Journal, A1, A2. Rhodes, N.C., & Branaman, L.E. (1999). Foreign language instruction in the United States: A national survey of elementary and secondary schools. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics; McHenry, IL: Delta Systems. Siegal, M., & Okamoto, S. (1996). Imagined worlds: Language, gender and socio-cultural “norms” in Japanese language textbooks. In N. Warner, J. Ahlers, L. Bilmes, M. Oliver, S. Wertheim, & M. Chen (Eds.), Gender and belief systems: Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Women and Language Conference (pp. 667–668). Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Women and Language Group, University of California. Studio Ghibli (Producer), & Miyazaki, H. (Writer and Director). (1988). My neighbor Totoro [Motion Picture]. Japan: Tokuma. Studio Ghibli (Producer), & Takahata, I. (Writer and Director). (1988). Graveyard of the fireflies [Motion Picture]. Japan: Shinchosha. Suzuki, T. (Producer), Ishii, H. (Writer), & Takahata, I. (Director). (1999). My neighbors the Yamadas [Motion Picture]. Japan: Tokuma, Studio Ghibli, Nihon TV, Hakuhodo, Disney. Takahata, I. (Producer), & Miyazaki, H. (Writer and Director). (1984). Nausicaä of the valley of the wind [Motion Picture]. Japan: Tokuma & Hakuhodo. Young, J.P., Dillon, D.R., & Moje, E.B. (2002). Shape-shifting portfolios: Millennial youth, literacies, and the game of life. In D.E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents and literacies in a digital world (pp. 114–131). New York: Peter Lang. JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 2006
Page 1 and 2: 206 © 2006 INTERNATIONAL READING A
Page 3 and 4: practices through out-of-class acti
Page 5 and 6: (Allen et al., p. 314). However, th
Page 7 and 8: Anime conventions provide a means t
Page 9 and 10: several episodes, they naturally ge
Page 11 and 12: aware of how Japanese expressions a
Page 13 and 14: Naturally, JFL teachers use polite
Page 15: Hikaru no go formed a Go club and m

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?