JALT Bilingualism SIG
Living in two languages
JALT 2013 National Conference
Kobe Convention Center
October 26-28
Make sure to highlight the Bilingualism SIG's presentations on your conference program. Check out the descriptions below.
If you are interested in becoming more involved with the SIG, be sure to attend our Annual General Meeting on Saturday in the Main Hall (Stage) from 6:35 pm.
We are also currently taking reservations by email for our banquet. It will be in Sannomiya from 8:30pm on Saturday the 26th and will cost approximately 3000 yen.
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Saturday
​October 26
1:20 to 1:45 pm
Room 503
Monika Rankin
Mary O'Sullivan
Parents Using Skype to Teach Literacy
This presentation will demonstrate how parents of bicultural children in Japan used Skype video conferencing successfully to develop and maintain native level L2 literacy with a group of Grade 6 children living in two different parts of Japan. It will focus on the logistics of setting up and managing an online classroom. It will also describe the resources and study materials used.
1:55 to 2:20 pm
Room 407
Andrea Carlson
Exceptional Multicultural Children in Japan
This paper describes issues in finding support for exceptional multicultural children and young people in Japan, including children with physical or learning differences and/or emotional or mental health problems. I will first present findings from an ongoing study investigating the experiences of parents of exceptional multicultural children and teenagers in both rural and urban parts of the country. I will then outline resources for supporting exceptional multicultural children and young people in Japan.
4:15 to 5:45 pm
Room 307
Ron Murphy, Mayuri Sasuga, Rika Yamashita, Sean Hanratty, Simon Weedon
Issues, Oportunities and Experience of Returnees
Japanese returnee students' unique life experience sometimes sets them apart from their social and academic, Japanese peers, and can influence subsequent school and career choices, social standing, and identity. This panel's speakers are two returnees (now adults) and two high school teachers of returnees. The discussion will include issues related to L1 maintenance while abroad, L2 maintenance upon return to Japan, reintegration issues, systems abroad to maintain Japanese grade-level academics, and practical advice.
Sunday
October 27
9:00 am to 9:25 am
Room Tsutsuji
Yukie Saito
Re-examination of an English-only Policy
This presentation reports on Japanese university teachers' practices and beliefs regarding an English-only policy. The data for this study, collected from classroom observations and interviews, will be analyzed in terms of teachers' and students' use of L1 in the classroom. Students' use of Japanese, which seems to play an important role in L2 learning, will be analyzed according to its different functions. The findings of this study will be informative for teachers and course designers.
10:15 to 11:15 am
Main Hall (Plenary session)
Caroline Linse
Interlingual Families Raising Bilingual Children
Globalization, fueled by advances in travel and communication, has resulted in more people representing different cultural and linguistic backgrounds coming together to create long-term relationships. More and more families possess a variety of linguistic capital with one parent having grown up with one home language and the other parent having grown up with an entirely different home language. These interlingual families face enormous benefits and dilemmas.
12:45 to 1:10 pm
Room 304
Alexandra Shaitan
Haafu Identity: Half, Hybrid or In-between
In this paper, we explore how half-Japanese individuals between the ages of 41 and 51 years old construct their hybrid identities via positioning, stance and categorization in relation to labels ascribed to them in Japanese society and the affiliations they seek throughout their lived marginalized experiences. The results from the semi-structured sociolinguistic interviews and focus group discussions reveal that being "half" is often not an asset, rather a problem.
11:35 am to 12:35 pm
Room Tsutsuji
Mary Nobuoka
Raising Bilingual Children in Japan
Mary Nobuoka, coordinator of the Bilingualism Special Interest Group of JALT, will talk about the advantages and challenges of raising bilingual children in Japan. The pros and cons of various educational options and ideas for supporting bilingual children's linguistic development will be presented. This presentation is sponsored by the Bilingualism SIG and the Kobe chapter, and allows parents of bilingual children in Kobe to get information on bilingualism without having to attend the JALT national conference.
1:20 pm to 1:45 pm
Room 505
Jane Ward
How Can Bilingual Kids Become Biliterate Too?
This presentation reports on Japanese university teachers' practices and beliefs regarding an English-only policy. The data for this study, collected from classroom observations and interviews, will be analyzed in terms of teachers' and students' use of L1 in the classroom. Students' use of Japanese, which seems to play an important role in L2 learning, will be analyzed according to its different functions. The findings of this study will be informative for teachers and course designers.
5:00 pm to 5:25 pm
Room 401
Takara Allal
Language Acquisition by Mixed-Roots Individuals
In this research, individuals who have not only Japanese roots but also other ethnic and cultural roots were interviewed regarding their language acquisition experiences and language proficiency in Japanese society. Their experiences related to language acquisition seem to have been greatly affected by the society they belong to, and this, in turn, influenced psychological factors. In this presentation, I will introduce several cases and identify influential factors that affected their process of language acquisition.