Presented by the Ohio Association of Teachers of Japanese (OATJ):
"A New Approach to Teaching and Learning the Japanese Language in the 21st Century: Social Networking Approach -From Japanese Language Education as a Tool to Japanese Language Education to Develop Global Citizenship"
Yashiko Tosaku, University of California, San Diego
Registration Link (Deadline: October 20)
Website: OATJ Website
Abstract: The 21st-century world is characterized by technology-led, rapid, drastic, continuous changes. The main purpose of education is to create people who can live productively as well as effectively in the society where they are living. Now that the 21st-century world is, far different from the 20th--century counterpart, so volatile, complicated, uncertain, and ambiguous, we need to have a special set of knowledge, skills, and qualities, generally called the 21st-century skills or key competencies in order to survive in this global age. Japanese language educators are also expected to produce people who are equipped with them. So far, the main goal of foreign language education has been to impart foreign language knowledge and skills and produce people out of our classroom who can use them as a tool. Now we are expected to produce global citizens who, taking full advantage of their rights and skills, can work collaboratively with other people in multilingual and multicultural societies, contribute to and improve local and global societies. Social Networking Approach (SNA), proposed by Tohsaku (2013) , is a new, innovative approach to teaching and learning foreign languages to help language learners develop language, cultural, and social skills necessary for leading a productive life in the 21st century. The presenter will introduce SNA and demonstrate that SNA is a new language learning and teaching approach that responds to the needs of the 21st-century society. The presenter will also discuss how the goals and ideas of SNA can be implemented in the Japanese classroom through a variety of instructional strategies.
This event is sponsored in part by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.