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

(Allen et al., p. 314). However, the photographs
that participants took were not the main focus of
my study. Rather, they served as a stimulus for the
interview. They also helped to create a common
ground for conversation about Japanese popular
culture texts.
One week prior to their individual interviews,
the students took photographs of things
related to Japanese popular culture and language
learning that they considered important in their
everyday lives. Each student participated in a
two-hour, open-ended, audiotaped interview
and told stories about the objects. Following are
some examples of interview questions: How did
you become interested in anime? How does anime
affect your Japanese learning? How does anime
affect your social relationships? After the
interview, students wrote a one-page reflection.
To corroborate my initial interpretations, I asked
each student to meet for a follow-up interview
that lasted for about one hour. I transcribed
each interview, showed the transcript to each
student, and got some feedback. I analyzed the
interview transcriptions, photographs, and written
responses using the ethnographic content
analytical method (Altheide, 1987; LeCompte,
2000). I created categories and subcategories focusing
on the insider’s perspective of this cultural
group. To ensure internal reliability, I used
triangulation (Glesne, 1999) with the three data
collection methods. I also used ongoing and final
member checks for validity to make sure I
represented the participants and their ideas accurately.
My analysis is shaped by my status as both
an insider and outsider in the anime community.
As a native Japanese, I have my own conception
of anime because of its strong presence in
Japanese popular culture; however, I am not a
fan who claims to know everything about anime.
I question whether JFL students have the
same concept of anime as Japanese natives.
Many Japanese people grow up with anime as a
part of everyday life. Throughout this study, I
have been careful not to assume anything is
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“Those anime students”: Foreign language literacy development through Japanese popular culture
“normal” just because I experienced it. Rather,
my goal is to understand JFL students’ perspectives
on anime. I began wondering about anime
students’ perspectives and their activities outside
of the classroom while I was teaching Japanese
at South University, observing students and
communicating with them in class. Anime students
reminded me of my own experience of
learning English as a second language through
popular culture such as Hollywood movies and
the Beatles. I was curious to see what parts of
anime U.S. students are interested in and why
such students are fascinated with it. I avoided
including students who were in my Japanese
classes as participants in this study so that I did
not need to worry about participants acting as
“good students,” intentionally or not.
Findings: Anime and foreign
language literacy learning
My findings fell into four categories: overview of
participants’ activities with Japanese popular culture,
uniqueness of anime, advantages for JFL literacy
development, and individual differences. I
found that anime played different roles for each
student.
Overview of participants’ activities
with Japanese popular culture
Emily, Sean, and Ted described the aspects of anime
in which they were engaged. I noticed that
their use of the word anime was not limited to
animated films and TV programs; rather, it included
subcultures around anime. In this larger
concept of anime, there were subcultures of manga,
video games, anime music, and anime-related
activities (see Figure 1). In Figure 1, the solid lines
indicate strong and direct connections between
each subculture of anime while the dotted lines
indicate that some parts may or may not have a
direct connection to anime.
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 2006