Finding a Balance between Diversity and Target Language: A Case of a Japanese Language Program in a Private University

Shinsuke Tsuchiya

doi:10.5195/jll.2020.130

Abstract

One of the challenges that language professionals face in our increasingly diverse communities is establishing a balance between diversity and language standards. While Standard Japanese can be considered a common language to interact with the majority of Japanese speakers who may not be accustomed to nonnative speech (ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 2012), the strict requirement to follow the monolingual standard may disregard the legitimacy of multilingual speakers, including nonstandard dialect speakers. This article discusses pros and cons of setting standards in language programs and relevant findings concerning the native speaker fallacy (Author, 2019). Then the author will share his shifting perspectives on errors, interlanguage, dialectal differences, and certain “nonstandard” practices (e.g. translanguaging) in his experience of training, hiring, and supervising teaching assistants at Brigham Young University.

Highlights

One of the challenges that language professionals face in our increasingly diverse communities is establishing a balance between diversity and identifying a so-called target language
The following potential sources of influence from the language program should be noted: (1) the seemingly stricter enforcement of the standard dialect pronunciation in the Japanese program, (2) the fact that more non-native-speaking faculty are involved in teacher training in the Chinese program, and (3) the type of teaching assignments given to native speakers of Japanese and Chinese
The attention to the standard variety pronunciation and pitch accent patterns seemed to be more emphasized in the Japanese department, perhaps because nativespeaking faculty outnumbered the lone non-native in the Japanese department among those who engaged in language teacher training at the time of this study

Summary

Introduction

One of the challenges that language professionals face in our increasingly diverse communities is establishing a balance between diversity and identifying a so-called target language. The following potential sources of influence from the language program should be noted: (1) the seemingly stricter enforcement of the standard dialect pronunciation in the Japanese program, (2) the fact that more non-native-speaking faculty are involved in teacher training in the Chinese program, and (3) the type of teaching assignments given to native speakers of Japanese and Chinese. The attention to the standard variety pronunciation and pitch accent patterns seemed to be more emphasized in the Japanese department, perhaps because nativespeaking faculty outnumbered the lone non-native in the Japanese department among those who engaged in language teacher training at the time of this study.

Results

Conclusion