Keynote Address by Dr. Yasu-hiko Tohsaku

In the current era of disruptive innovation and rapid changes in society, society needs people with different abilities from the past, and Japanese language education is also expected to produce people with different abilities from the past. The advent of pandemics and the recent rapid advancement of generative AI will further accelerate these changes, and we are entering a new era. This is a good opportunity to rethink our own educational vision. It is also a good chance to rethink what and how to teach in order to maximize learning effectiveness based on that vision. In today's era of major changes in society, economy, technology, knowledge and information, it is not enough to simply add new things to or change conventional education. A paradigm shift to new and innovative education needs to be implemented. In this lecture, I will discuss the vision, purpose, and methodology of Japanese language education with an eye toward the future, which will continue to undergo rapid and repeated changes.

破壊的イノベーションの時代といわれ、社会が常に急激に変化をしている現在、社会はこれまでとは異なる能力を持った人材を必要とし、日本語教育もこれまでとは異なる人間を生み出すことが期待されています。パンデミック、さらに生成AIの出現で変化にさらに拍車がかかり、新しい時代を迎えようとしている今、変化する世界で生きるために学生にどのような人間になってほしいか、それを助ける教師としての自分の価値は何なのか、自分の強みは何なのかを考え、自らの教育理念を見直すいいチャンスと言えます。その理念のもと、学習効果を最大限上げるために何をどう教えるかを考え直すいいチャンスでもあります。現在のように社会、経済、テクノロジー、知識・情報の大きな変化が起こっている時代にあっては、これまでの教育に新しいものを付け加える、あるいは変化させるだけでは十分な教育はできません。パラダイムシフトとも言うべき新しい創造的な教育が実施される必要があります。この講演では、急激な変化を繰り返す未来を見据えた日本語教育の理念と目的、方法論を皆さんと考えてみます。

Dr. Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku (Ph.D. in linguistics, University of California, San Diego) is Professor Emeritus at School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego. His current research interests are second language acquisition, language pedagogy, and language assessment. His publications include “Yookoso!: Invitation to Contemporary Japanese”, “Yookoso!: Continuing with Contemporary Japanese” (McGraw-Hill 2006), “Doraemon no Dokodemo Nihongo (Japanese Language Learning Anywhere by Draemon)” (co-author 2009), and “Gakushu no Meyasu (Curriculum Guidelines of Chinese and Korean Instruction in Japanese High Schools)” (co-author, The Japan Forum 2012, 2013), “Japanese Language Instruction: 77 Tips Series” (co-general editor, Kuroshio Shuppan 2012-) and “Japanese Language Education x ICT” (supervising editor, Hitsuji Shobo 2019). In “Nippon 3.0 no Shohosen (Prescription for Japan 3.0) “(Kodansha 2013), he proposed a new approach to language teaching and in his recent publication, “Social Networking Approach to Japanese Language Teaching: Intersection of Language and Culture in the Digital Age”, (co-editor, Routledge 2021), he explores this new approach. 

He was formerly President of Association of Teachers of Japanese and American Association of Teachers of Japanese, a board member of Joint National Committee on Languages, a task force member of AP Japanese, Chair of the inaugural AP Development Committee, and Executive Director of Global Articulation Project of Japanese (J-GAP). He is currently the Japanese representative to the Executive Board of the National Standards (World-Readiness Standards) Collaborative Project, President of the International Association of Computer-Based Japanese Instruction (CASTEL/J), and a board member of Japanese Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (JACTFL) and Society for the Teaching of Japanese Language as a Second Language (Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai). He is also currently Visiting Professor of Kansai University and Ho Chi Minh City National University of Education. He received the 2015 Society of Teaching Japanese as a Second Language Award. He also received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from American Association of Teachers of Japanese and the 2022 Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award from the Japanese Government.

カリフォルニア大学サンディエゴ校（UCSD）グローバル政策・戦略大学院(GPS)名誉教授。カリフォルニア大学サンディエゴ校大学院修了（Ph.D）。専門は第二言語習得理論及び外国語教授法。アメリカ外国語教育ナショナルスタンダーズ理事会日本語代表理事、コンピュータと日本語教育学会会長、一般社団法人日本外国語教育推進機構（JACTFL）理事、公益社団法人日本語教育学会理事を務める。Association of Teachers of Japanese会長、外国語教育ロビー団体Joint National Committee on Languages日本語代表、全米日本語教育学会会長など米国の外国語教育関連機関の要職を歴任。”Yookoso!: Invitation to Contemporary Japanese"、"Yookoso!: Continuing with Contemporary Japanese" (McGrow-Hill Higher Education)、『ＮＩＰＰＯＮ３．０の処方箋』（講談社）、『ドラえもんのどこでも日本語』（小学館）、『日本語教師の専門能力開発：アメリカの現状と日本への提言』（日本語教育学会）、“Social Networking Approach to Japanese Language Teaching – The Interaction of Language and Culture in the Digital Age”（Routledge）等、外国語教育・日本語教育に関する著書多数。国際文化フォーラム（TJF）主宰の「外国語教育のめやす」作成プロジェクトの監修者。日本語グルーバル・アーティキュレーション・プロジェクト（J/GAP)統括責任者。2015年第13回日本語教育学会賞受賞。2021年American Association of Teachers of Japanese Lifelong Achievement Award受賞。2022年、文化庁長官賞受賞。