This talk explores how Japanese as an Additional Language education can navigate and move beyond monolingual and monocultural ideologies deeply embedded in cont emporary Japanese society. Drawing on current Japanese government policies and K–12 educational contexts\, Dr. Yumi Sugihara will first outline the key challenges faced by educators and learners\, including the tensions between institutional c ircumstances and increasingly diverse student identities.
She will th en highlight three empirical studies conducted in collaboration with collea gues in Japanese university settings: 1) Valuing “My Language” (Watashi no Kotoba): Exploring how plurilingual learners can resist AI-driven linguisti c homogenization and reclaim their unique voices\; 2) Critical Intercultura l Communication: Challenging the Japanese/foreigner binary through examinin g cultural homogeneity critically and self-reflectively\; and 3) Creating T ranslanguaging Spaces: Acknowledging diverse linguistic repertoires in a bi lingual graduate seminar to decenter the dominance of hegemonic languages.< /p>
The talk demonstrates how the potential of small-scale pedagogical sh ifts can empower learners’ agency and contribute to transforming broader so cietal ideologies toward a more inclusive\, multilingual and multicultural society.
Yumi Sugihara\, PhD\, is a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies (UBC)\, and an Associate Professor at Keio Uni versity\, Japan. Her work explores Japanese language education and intercul tural education\, focusing on critical interculturality and ideologies of l anguage\, culture\, and ethnicity in Japan and beyond. Her most recent co-a uthored article is “Learner Self-Reflexivity in a Japanese Critical Intercu ltural Communication Classroom.” Intercultural Education\, 2025. d oi:10.1080/14675986.2025.2555751
CATEGORIES:Featured Events,Featured Japanese LOCATION:Asian Centre\, Room 604 GEO:49.263704;-123.254783 URL;VALUE=URI:https://asia.ubc.ca/events/event/beyond-monolingual-and-monoc ultural-ideologies/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://asia.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2026/03/Sugihara-flyer.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 DTSTART:20260308T100000 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR