Ai Nishino is a Japanese language educator and researcher with extensive experience in language education and teacher training. Teaching roles at several universities across the Asia-Pacific, along with work as a full-time language education specialist at Japanese government-affiliated institutions, have supported her contributions to curriculum and teacher development. Multilingual in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Thai, she explores language learning in cross-cultural contexts through her research.

My research explores the career development and professional formation of secondary Japanese language teachers in Asia. Using a cultural psychological perspective and the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA), I examine how graduates of teacher training programs build their careers, shaped by cultural, social, and historical contexts, with a particular focus on Thailand. On a practical level, I am also engaged in classroom-based research and teaching material development, focusing on task-based language teaching (TBLT) and how culturally rooted materials, such as traditional Japanese folktales, can support language learning and foster intercultural understanding in overseas Japanese language education.