Japanese sociolinguistics: Reacting to the Past and beyond

要旨

This chapter discusses a simplified Reacting to the Past (RTTP) role play in a Japanese sociolinguistics course, in which students play the roles of language planners in modern Japan discussing the future of the Japanese language. In authentic RTTP, students assume the roles of historical figures in a play with no fixed script or expected outcome, embracing historical tensions. Although authentic RTTP is proven effective in engaging students, it may not be feasible because published RTTP materials on East Asia are scarce. Moreover, students with limited English proficiency and no familiarity with the principles of creative conflict find the task of the role play challenging. Therefore, the chapter designed a simplified RTTP role play with some mechanism to engage these disadvantaged students—at the same time raising all the students’ awareness of communication style differences between English and Japanese as well as diversity and inclusion in the classroom. The result showed that the simplified RTTP is equally effective as the authentic one. Furthermore, the chapter also discusses ways to increase students’ interest in foreign language beyond RTTP, such as the task of comparing pronunciation of certain Japanese phrases by students and informants in learning regional dialects.

主題