Making of a degree program in Japanese Studies - PowerPoint Presentation

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Making of a degree program in Japanese Studies

JSAC2014@Ryerson University

October 17-19, 2014

Norio Ota, York UniversitySlide2

Minimum requirements:

All students must take at least

36 credits within the course offerings of Japanese Studies, of which at least 6 credits must be at the 4000 level. Those who are exempted from AP/JP1000 6.00, AP/JP 2000 6.00 or AP/JP 3000 6.00 must take AP/JP 4000 6.00 and at least one more 4000 level course.(i) Japanese Studies Core - 24 credits (compulsory):AP/JP1000 6.0 Elementary Modern Standard Japanese AP/JP2000 6.0 Intermediate Modern Standard Japanese AP/JP2700 6.0 Contemporary Japanese Culture and SocietyAP/JP3000 6.0 Advanced Modern Standard Japanese(ii)12 additional credits at the 3000 or 4000-level chosen from:AP/JP3070 3.0 Japanese Language in the MediaAP/JP3100 3.0 Japanese Linguistics I: Structure of Modern Japanese LanguageAP/JP3200 3.0 Japanese Linguistics II: Structure of Modern Japanese LanguageAP/JP3600 3.0 Japanese popular culture: Manga and anime (proposed)AP/JP3650 3.0 Japanese popular culture: Beyond manga and anime (proposed)AP/JP3751 3.0 Japanese Business Culture and CommunicationAP/JP3900 6.0 Independent Reading and Research (Co-op/full-time internship in Japanese Studies)AP/JP4000 6.0 Advanced Readings in Modern Standard JapaneseAP/JP4010 6.0 Classical JapaneseAP/JP4100 6.0 Teaching of Japanese as a Foreign/Second Language AP/JP4120 6.0 Translation: Japanese - English; English – JapaneseAP/JP4600 6.0 The Japanese Immigration Experience in Canada (proposed) AP/JP4900 6.0 Independent Reading and Research

New

honours

minor degree program in Japanese Studies @ York University

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Overall Program Design and Outcome Emphasis

Programs provide more conceptual sophistication, specialized knowledge and intellectual autonomy. Students learn appropriate applications of conceptual frameworks. Normally require students to prepare, under supervision, a terminal research paper, thesis, project, exhibition, etc.

May also require to complete other practice-based exercises intended to develop and demonstrate the student's readiness for employment.Types:Academically-orientedProfession-orientedIn an applied area of studyQualification Standards:Depth and Breadth of KnowledgeConceptual & Methodological Awareness/ Research and ScholarshipCommunication SkillsThe ability to communicate information, arguments and analysis accurately and reliably, orally and in writing, to specialist and non-specialist audiences using structured and coherent arguments, and, where appropriate, informed by key concepts and techniques of the discipline.Application of KnowledgeProfessional Capacity/AutonomyAwareness of Limits of KnowledgeSource: OQF http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/pepg/programs/oqf/certificate11.htmlOntario Qualifications FrameworkSlide4

The

liberal arts

(Latin: artes liberales) are those subjects or skills that in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free person (Latin: liberal, "worthy of a free person")[1] to know in order to take an active part in civic life, something that (for Ancient Greece) included participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and most importantly, military service. Grammar, rhetoric, and logic were the core liberal arts, while arithmetic, geometry, the theory of music, and astronomy also played a (somewhat lesser) part in education.[2]In modern times, liberal arts education is a term that can be interpreted in different ways. It can refer to certain areas of literature, languages, art history, music history, philosophy, history, mathematics, psychology, and science.[3] It can also refer to studies on a liberal arts degree program. Source: Liberal Arts education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_educationIn short, a liberal arts education is aimed at teaching you how to think. It helps you to develop strength of mind, and an ordered intellect. To exercise the mind, any relevant discipline can be utilized – literature, sociology, or biology. The idea is that training the mind in one area will prepare it for learning in other areas as well. The following quote by educator Robert Harris makes this point well: "The mind is like a muscle; exercise makes it stronger and more able to grasp ideas and do intellectual work. Exercising the mind in one area – whether literature or sociology or accounting – will strengthen it for learning in other areas as well. What at first was difficult – the habits of attention and concentration, the ability to follow arguments, and the ability to distinguish the important from the trivial and to grasp new concepts – all these become easier as the mind is exercised and enlarged by varied study." Think of a liberal arts major as a gym for the mind. (Department of Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA)http://www.spanport.ucla.edu/undergraduate-/purpose.htmlYale is committed to the idea of a liberal arts education through which students think and learn across disciplines, literally liberating or freeing the mind to its fullest potential. The essence of such an education is not what you study but the result – gaining the ability to think critically and independently and to write, reason, and communicate clearly – the foundation for all professions

.

(A Liberal Arts education, Yale

University)

http://admissions.yale.edu/liberal-arts-education

Liberal ArtsSlide5

You will become a more well-rounded

WORLD CITIZEN

. (WSU)The study of foreign languages and literatures makes communication possible among people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and fosters intercultural understanding. This enables our students to engage the global community thoughtfully and creatively. (YU)Studying another language also: … prepares you to interact successfully with people of different cultures in an increasingly globalized environment. (IUPUI)What better way to learn about oneself and to engage this culturally diverse world than by embarking on the study of a language and a culture other than one's own?! The University's Mission Statement defines a liberal education as "preparation for students to lead rich and rewarding lives, rejoicing in the diversity of the world." In addition, familiarity with a second language is a necessary tool for successfully living in an increasingly multicultural, multilingual, and interdependent world. (Willamette University)Why study foreign languages?Slide6

East Asian StudiesService program

Interdisciplinary nature

Professional and technical natureComprehensive educational trainingAnalysisSynthesisApplicationCreativityCommunicationTechnology and language learning and teaching Discipline – Cross-cultural communicationForeign language in liberal artsSlide7

EAS: declining enrollments

EAS major/minor in Japanese – small

portion of the Japanese language programEAS major/minor requirements – intermediate level at bestContent courses – wide coverage but not in-depthNo clear discipline except for languageDifficult to develop a full language and Japan Studies program under the rublic of EASMany students tend to wish to focus on one language and culture in depthStudents major in various disciplinesFaculty members are wide spread Under East Asian studiesSlide8

IN THE company of the liberal arts, introductory foreign language study has often

seemed an unequal partner

. While the beginning courses in subjects like philosophy, psychology, and literature hold out the opportunity for important intellectual discovery, the early semesters of proficiency-based language study seem aimed at lesser accomplishments, like ordering from menus, buying train tickets, and reading traffic signs—what the profession calls “meeting basic survival needs.” First-year college students, moreover, often set out to learn a second language just at the moment they enter into a more urgent language crisis. Marshaling expanding resources in English, they must rise swiftly to competence in new kinds of precisely formed discourse. This is the moment, especially in the humanities disciplines, when students struggle to carve out an intellectual voice in their native idiom. At such a critical juncture it may seem curiously out of step to repeat childhood ontogeny by learning a new language. Students' mental energies, one might think, ought to be invested in tasks that follow the natural order of cognitive development. Apologists for foreign languages might therefore argue that this study makes its greatest contribution to liberal disciplines by cutting against the grain of ordinary liberal education to teach the adaptability suited to the fundamental rhythm of learning and surviving: that of passing from the known and risk-free to the unknown and contingent, of periodically beginning anew, of becoming childlike to gain new powers of understanding. Learning a second language, it has long been held, also supports habits of precision and systematic mastery that could under favorable circumstances offer a valuable counterpoint to the often superficial “exposure” given in other liberal subjects. 1 And, according to the familiar geopolitical argument, a global economy and community increasingly require liberally trained citizens who can adapt readily to other languages and cultures—now even more than when the Modern Language Association first sounded this admonitory note in the fifties. In profound ways, foreign language training does indeed seem instrumental to “basic survival.” 2 Genuine partnership between foreign language and liberal studies means grasping how profoundly survival depends on competence in language. But it also means openly acknowledging that foreign languages do not fit the conventional liberal studies mold. If the proficiency movement has done little else, it has brought us finally to face an uncomfortable fact: if a modest degree of foreign language competence were actually to become a serious goal of general education, the time spent on that task in beginning courses would need to increase at least fourfold. 3 The experience of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) shows that students of French or Spanish require some 240 hours, or eight weeks of intensive instruction at about thirty hours a week, to attain the lowest proficiency level, 1/1+, in speaking. At this stage, according to the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) guidelines, the learner “can order a simple meal, ask for shelter or lodging, ask and give simple directions, make purchases, and tell time.” Vocabulary remains elementary; errors in pronunciation and grammar still abound. To reach level 1/1+ in German or Russian, moreover, a student might require 480 hours, of sixteen weeks of concentrated instruction. 4 Equal partnershipSlide9

The

creation of a discrete “foreign language year,” situated between the freshman and sophomore or the sophomore and junior levels, removes this obstacle in a dramatically conclusive way.

The foreign language year would feature intensive training along the lines of the model successfully used for several decades by the Foreign Service and Defense Language Institutes. Students would be involved some six hours of language activities daily, combined with two to three hours of private study, five days a week. For most languages this preparation would bring 2/2+ skills into reach in twelve months or less. 16 During the year ancillary study in history, politics, economics, anthropology, religion, literature, and culture—some in English, some in the foreign language—would help shape the cultural, historical, and social context for the intensive language work. A sizable portion of the year, or even the entire year, could be spent abroad. A bold project of this sort would put genuine second-language competence and bicultural understanding at the very heart of undergraduate education; it would draw many of the liberal arts into direct interdisciplinary play. Concentrating basic foreign language study in one year also has the advantage of clearing the way for more rigorous and undiluted liberal study during the remaining four years. The first year or two might even be devoted to an integrated core curriculum. In the last two years, advanced students could apply their foreign language expertise in FLAC-enhanced courses, and they could assist as student apprentices in language courses. Majors might even shoot for level 3/3+ proficiency. Few would ask, “Where's the beef?” This essay directly confronts the predicament of foreign languages in a liberal arts setting. If first- and second-year courses continue to produce low-level multiskill proficiency, then foreign language study will continue to find itself the odd subject out among the competing interests that make up general education. The introductory stages of other humanities require substantially less time and effort for greater intellectual return. Innovatives strategies, like FLAC and the Utah immersion approach, intended to bridge the gap between lower-level foreign language courses and liberal studies do not remedy the situation. Without 500 hours or more of basic instruction, language students do not develop the skills for advanced application. There is no clever reversal of priorities, no pedagogical sleight of hand, that can substitute for adequate instruction time. Only two alternatives, both radical in certain respects, can make foreign language study a full partner in liberal education. If the beginning stages must conform to a traditional low-intensity schedule, then the focus of requirement-level courses should perhaps narrow to a single skill, that of reading, to ensure the 2+ proficiency needed for substantive application. The ideal alternative, on the other hand, bilingual language competency, cannot be realized without an extraordinary increase in foreign language instruction and second-culture exposure: an extra year of undergraduate study combined with study abroad. The price of full partnership between the foreign languages and the other liberal arts is steep, but the gains would be high for both partners. (Sudermann, 1992) Source: http://www.adfl.org/bulletin/V24N1/241040.HTMEqual partnership (2)Slide10

Short study period

Minimum contact hours

Lack of access to instructional materialsLack of EE experienceMostly service programsQuality of instructionPoor preparation in the secondary educationLack of understanding re foreign language learning and teachingTypes and motivations of learnersLack of support by administrationCanadian predicamentSlide11

Developing self-study interactive material24 hour-access to the online material

Implementing EE activities

Enhancing teaching and learning approachTaking advantage of extra-curricular activitiesPromoting overseas studyAttracting learners with job prospectSetting up intensive streamsCreating a degree program Possible solutionSlide12

Modular-Synergy approach

No core textbook

Authoring instructional materials for specific purposesEach module has its own syllabus.Modules enhance synergistic effects.Developing materials to enhance synergyPersonalizing instructional materialsDeveloping internally condensed materials for short study periodCommunicative-empathic approachContent-based language learningLanguage learning for university educationTaking advantage of extra curricular activitiesIncreasing accessibility via the Internet Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)Multi-dimensional – involving distant learnersEmpowering language professionals and learnersParadigm shifts in TJFLSlide13

Washback

hypothesis

PositiveNegativePositiveNegativeNegativeNarrow definition: Effects of testing on learning and teachingPositiveOta (2014)Slide14

Washback

: wide definition

LearningOta (2014)Slide15

Module & Synergy

Ota (2014)Slide16

What technology has made possible

Ota (2014)Slide17

Essence of new paradigm

Ota (2014)Slide18

EnrollmentFaculty

Web-based curriculum

Extra-curricular activitiesInternationalizationCommunity involvementResearch High quality and reputationExternal grantsPreparationSlide19

Major or minorEast Asian Studies

Humanities

Other languagesPrograms in other institutionsModelNew conceptsExperiential education (EE)Proposal Slide20

Departmental levelFaculty level

Senate level

External advisersInternal advisersStudents’ inputCollegial inputAdministrative consultationFundingWriting a proposalSlide21

ProblemsRules and regulations changed

Requirements changed

Delaying tacticLack of supportRewritingSlide22

2006 versionCreation of a four-year minor B.A. degree program and a three-year major B.A. program in Japanese Studies

2010 version

Creation of an Honours B.A. program, a 90-credit B.A. program and an Honours Minor program in Japanese Studies.2013 versionCreation of an Honours Minor degree program in Japanese Studies.Proposal Slide23

Major degree programDistance education courses

Experiential education

InternationalizationGlobal networkingResearch initiativesFutureSlide24

Holistic planning and

much

patience and endeavorInternal and external networking and supportAccommodating students’ needsEmpowering the colleaguesShowing resultsCreative, innovative and risk-takingTaking advantage of opportunitiesSecuring a large enrollmentCreating and adopting new strategies and approachesWinning external funding in order to increase the number of full-time faculty – Tanaka FundSuccess in students’ extra-curricular activities – speech contestsPioneering TEL projects – web-based course and material development, distance education via video-conferencing, online testing, online seminars Internationalization – exchange programs, JET program, technical cooperation to CubaResearch activities – hosting and attending international and domestic conferencesSpearheading in Experiential Education (EE) – summer internship and co-op programsCommunity involvement – participating in post-secondary education, hosting the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), online seminar for high school teachersConclusionWhat workedSlide25

Hartono, Paulina M.

(

2014?) A History of the Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkley http://ieas.berkeley.edu/about/history.htmlNEA (2007) The benefits of second language study: research findings with citations http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/Curriculum/Curriculum_Root_Web_Folder/BenefitsofSecondLanguage.pdfMiddlebury interactive (2013) Second language acquisition by the numbers (infographic) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/second-language-infographic_n_4136915.htmlOta, Norio (2014) Washback and paradigm shift – The post-communicative paradigm with technology, unpublished paper presented at 12th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities, Jan. 10-13, 2014Sudermann, David P. (1993) Foreign language and liberal studies: toward an equal partnershiphttp://www.adfl.org/bulletin/V24N1/241040.HTMReferences