Join us for a talk by Dr. Michi Ann Saki (Visiting Scholar from Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts), who will discuss viewpoints and experiences of educational stakeholders engaged in offering Japanese language assistance to ethnic minority children in public elementary schools in Japan.
Saki will discuss a 2020 study she carried out on the viewpoints and experiences of educational stakeholders engaged in offering Japanese language assistance to ethnic minority children enrolled in public elementary schools in a mid-sized city in the Kansai region of Japan, ages 6 to 12. 41 participants in a variety of roles and organizations were interviewed for the entire study. However, the qualitative data from nine participants who worked directly with ethnic minority children at the school level will be the specific focus of this presentation. The study aims to give priority to the firsthand experiences and interpretations of these frontline educators and support staff, as well as the contextual challenges they encounter when providing equitable language support, by elevating their voices.
“Centering the voices” is a deliberate research strategy that highlights the lived realities and complex perspectives of those who are most directly involved in the day-to-day operations of language instruction, who are frequently marginalized in discussions at the policy level. The study’s conclusions from this section provide well-founded understandings of the interpersonal and structural obstacles encountered when delivering long-term language assistance, as well as the sense of accountability and advocacy that these stakeholders possess. This research contributes to the growing field of multilingual education in Japan by illuminating practitioner voices that are vital to improving culturally and linguistically responsive educational practices within the mainstream educational system in Japan.
This talk is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
Date & Time:
Friday, October 17, 2025 | 12:00pm – 1:30pm PT
Location:
Room 604, Asian Centre, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver
Speaker
Michi Saki is a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the Faculty of Education (UBC). She is an Associate Professor from the Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Japan. She earned her Ph.D. in Transformative Education from the Graduate School of Human Sciences at Osaka University, Japan. With a strong foundation in sociolinguistics, her research interests include bilingualism, language education, identity, and the sociocultural dynamics of language use in multilingual and multicultural contexts. Her work bridges theory and practice in exploring how language shapes learners’ identities and educational experiences, particularly among linguistically and culturally diverse populations.
