Promoting ‘Third Space’ Identities: A Case Study of the Teaching of Business Japanese

This paper argues that the teaching and learning of a foreign language involves students in the construction of their own identities between cultural and linguistic practices. The study looks at the interconnected practices of the content of the textbook, the classroom teaching and teacher’s ideological stance in relation to students’ gender identity construction. It examines how all the practices jointly contribute to a foreign language learning experience. In particular, the construction of (gender) identities of the learners explicated through a case study of a Japanese business classroom practice. This paper is a case study, which looks at the treatment of gender, i.e., the ways in which a textbook and a teacher address matters of gender, how two female students received input on gender representations in relation to their ideological stance and identity. Furthermore, it examines how the students responded to gender representation in the textbook, and how teacher practices impacted on this. The result of the study reveals that the students construct their own ‘third space’ in a process of adaptation and appropriation of other cultural and linguistic practices. The limitations posed on students can be addressed by awareness of ‘third space’. This paper concludes with the implication of language teaching and learning and the importance of encouraging students to make a conscious choice in order to position themselves in the ‘third space’. To this end, the explicit incorporation of ‘third space’ in teaching and learning practices on content of the textbook and classroom activities as well as the teachers involvement in creating ‘third space’ environment were proposed. Thus, it is suggested that not only students but also teachers need to reflect and enact as an agent by positioning themselves in the emancipative ‘third space’

ビジネス ニホンゴ キョウカショ ト ジェンダー ノ タメンテキ コウサツ

ステレオタイプ的な「女ことば」「男ことば」は、「言語資源」として、様々なアイデンティティーの構築に貢献する(中村2007)。本稿ではビジネス日本語の教科書を取り上げ、その教科書を巡る日本語教育をジェンダーの視点から検討した。従来の教科書分析を発展させ、教科書の内容分析だけでなく、教科書著者チームとの質疑応答、授業観察、教師と学習者へのインタビューをデータとし、教科書がどのように作成され、ジェンダーが表現され、そして、それがどのように使われ、学ばれるかを考察した。分析結果、熟練の教師が教えた場合でも教科書を批判的に使いこなすのは難しいこと、教科書にまつわる事象は非常に複雑であることが明確となり、「言語資源」としての「女ことば」「男ことば」を世界の日本語教育自分のものとして使いこなせるように学習者を支援するためには、女同士、男同士の会話の提示だけではなく、解説やタスクを入れる必要があることがわかった。本稿は、このような複雑な状況を理解するために、教科書分析の多面的な展開を提唱する。In Japanese,"female language"and"male language" are "language resources" (Nakamura 2007), which people use or avoid using to construct individual gender identities. This study examined a business Japanese textbook from the perspective of gender. In order to understand Japanese language teaching and learning practices in terms of gender, the study carried out a content analysis of the textbook, email interviews of the textbook writers, classroom observations, as well as interviews with the teacher and students. The discussion of data includes how gender was understood and expressed in the textbook and how it was taught and learned using the textbook. The study found that it is difficult for even the most experienced teacher to critically consume the textbook content; and the events surrounding the textbook are quite complex. We, therefore, suggest the need for textbooks to include explicit explanationsand tasks that enable learners to use"language resources"effectively. The paper also advocates multiperspective textbook analysis in order to grasp complexity