Studies in Japanese Bilingualism »

Mary Goebel Noguchi is a Professor of English in the College of Law at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. In addition to research and translation in the field of Japanese studies, she has taken an interest in the development of bilingualism by bicultural children in Japan and Japanese returnees. In 1995 she helped found the Japan Journal of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism and has since served as its editor. Sandra S. Fotos is a Professor of English at Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests include bilingualism and the effects of formal instruction on second language acquisition. She has published in journals such as Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, ELT-Journal and TESOL Quarterly. She is editor of the JALT Journal, published by the Japan Association for Language Teaching.

This collection of twelve empirical studies helps fill the gap in information on bilingualism in Japan. The introduction examines the widely-held myth of "Japanese homogeneity", demonstrating how language contact has increased dramatically in the past two decades as Japan's economy has attracted new immigrants. The results of a survey on Japanese attitudes towards bilingualism suggest that only certain languages are associated with bilingualism in Japan - a trend that has serious implications for the treatment of Japan's minorities. Developments in language use by three of Japan's oldest linguistic minorities are examined. Two ground-breaking studies analyse language use by new minorities in Japan, and the problems faced by language-minority students in Japanese schools are also surveyed. Elite bilinguals are the focus of studies on factors affecting the development of active bilingualism in bicultural children and the progress of students in Japan's first English immersion programme. Two studies on codeswitching provide a Japanese perspective on this emerging field of research. The collection closes with an overview of research on language attrition in Japanese contexts.

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Linguists and educators, most from or working in Japan, present a dozen empirical studies on such topics as a survey of Japanese attitudes toward bilingualism, language and identity in Okinawa today, the language environment of Brazilian immigrants in Fujisawa City, year four of a partial immersion program for the bilingual education of children, and university students' use of their native language as a learning strategy. The introduction challenges the myth of Japanese homogeneity. Distributed in the US by University of Toronto Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)