Informing Teacher Education through Cross-Cultural Teaching and Learning: Dialogic Inquiry into Japanese and Canadian School Experiences

This article examines the hermeneutic, narrative, and social co-construction of cultural understanding as two educators shared their teaching and learning experiences in Japanese and Canadian schools. Our dialogic inquiry reveals how perceptions of practices in one culture—including curricula in non-core, academic subjects, stances on student assessment, and attitudes toward extracurricular activities—were shaped by our prior school experiences. The study reveals that reconstruction of previous overseas experience and co-construction of meaning from this reconstruction can serve as a powerful means of enhancing understanding of cross-cultural issues. The reconstruction process also offers a means of engaging those who do not have international, educational experiences in discussion of these issues. The article concludes that seemingly casual, everyday conversations can offer insights that inform teacher practice as well as preservice teacher education

How Effective is Interactive Learning? Investigating Japanese University Students’ Language Patterns in a Collaborative Writing Task

According to Swain, Kinnear, & Steinman (2011), we use a language with others as a form of shared cognition, and in the process we scaffold each other. This action research investigates how students’ online written output affects each other’s writing. One thousand twenty online entries written by 21 Japanese university sophomore English majors were collected and analysed, specifically focusing on changes in two linguistic features: subject-verb agreement, L1 use and variant L1 spelling in L2 writing. First, all 21 students accessed a specific Social Network Service (SNS). For two months, each student took turns offering a discussion topic with a minimum of 150 words, and the rest of the class members commented online with a minimum of 20 words. The task resulted in 54 topic strands. Each student was tracked to see if his/her language use reflected the output of others. Then the linguistic developmental patterns were further investigated in a post-treatment interview. It was discovered that students lacking confidence in English learning are less likely to imitate and internalize from others. The study suggests that, in addition to scaffolding provided by peers, positively affecting the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is closely related to affective domains that give rise to particular identity formation. This paper therefore argues that the extent of languaging is significantly influenced by affective factors

Nutritional Guidance in Sakado Folate Project

Background: Serum folate levels are lower in TT homozygotes of the single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs1801133) of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) than in CC homozygotes and CT heterozygotes

スーパー ダイバーシティー ト ハ ナニ カ

スーパーダイバーシティ（超多様性）は社会人類学者 Steven Vertovec (2007) によって打ち出された比較的新しい概念で、人々の移動やテクノロジーによって促進される多様性の中の多様性を指す。この概念を社会言語学者 JanBlommaert (2013) が、環境そして歴史的背景に即した言語使用の変容に結びつけて発展させた。彼によると社会的均衡（共愉、 convivialilty) を保つために人々は言語を自分達のニーズに合う様に変化させ、その結果特殊なパターン（一様化、entropy) が浮上する。超多様性は従来の応用言語学のアプローチで解明するのは困難であることから、今までの実証主義的なアプローチではなく、ポストモダン的視座からの質的研究によって言及出来る、と考える。具体的には様々な環境や時代の事例を多く集め、発表することで継承語研究や教育に貢献出来ると考えている。Superdiviversity is a relatively new concept first presented by a social anthropologist Steven Vertovec (2007). Superdiversity describes the diversity within a diversity which results from mobility and technology. This notion is furthered by sociolinguist Jan Blommaert (2013) to show how people adapt their linguistic repertoire and language use based on the ecology as well as history in which they are situated. In order to strike a social balance (conviviality) people devise language systems that best address their needs and concerns, giving rise to a particular sociolinguistic pattern (entropy). According to Blommaert (2013), superdiversity is characterized by mobility, unpredictability, and complexity. Given its nature, it is argued that traditional, prescriptive applied linguistics is insufficient to capture and address the complex nature of today's language learning and use. Specifically, instead of offering prescriptive instructions in nurturing bilingualism and heritage language maintenance, it is suggested that we turn to a more qualitative approach where scholars collect narratives of bilingual experiences from a wide range of individuals from different parts of the world. This way we can preserve postmodern approach in applied linguistics, yet offer concrete models by which the public can eclectically choose elements that would be relevant for them in actualizing heritage language maintenance.対談Intervie

Informing Teacher Education through Cross-Cultural Teaching and Learning: Dialogic Inquiry into Japanese and Canadian School Experiences

This article examines the hermeneutic, narrative, and social co-construction of cultural understanding as two educators shared their teaching and learning experiences in Japanese and Canadian schools. Our dialogic inquiry reveals how perceptions of practices in one culture—including curricula in non-core, academic subjects, stances on student assessment, and attitudes toward extracurricular activities—were shaped by our prior school experiences. The study reveals that reconstruction of previous overseas experience and co-construction of meaning from this reconstruction can serve as a powerful means of enhancing understanding of cross-cultural issues. The reconstruction process also offers a means of engaging those who do not have international, educational experiences in discussion of these issues. The article concludes that seemingly casual, everyday conversations can offer insights that inform teacher practice as well as preservice teacher education

Raising bilingual and trilingual children, Japanese immigrant parents' child-rearing experiences

grantor: University of TorontoThis research collected and documented the voices of six Japanese immigrant parents who raised or are raising their children as bi- and trilinguals in Toronto, Canada. It is an attempt to show the intricacies and complexities behind the language choice immigrant parents make on behalf of their children. In order to reflect the rich narratives of these parents, a life history research method was chosen. Life history research allows the researcher to examine the people's stories by placing them in a larger social framework. This study shows that the major motivating factor behind choosing to use L1 (i.e., Japanese) at home is the desire, on the part of immigrant parents, to maintain strong family bonding. This in turn implies that L1 oral communication, which is a vital tool for family cohesion, is fostered and encouraged, but the development of L1 written skills is, in some cases, not given equal attention. Furthermore, when the goal is to achieve communication and not necessarily to nurture bilingual development, important elements such as elevated vocabulary usage is not actively sought by the parents. Some parents seemed to have fallen victims of the myth about second language acquisition (SLA) that their insistence on L1 maintenance could be burdensome or damaging to their children. The desire for their children's academic success deters some parents from actively pursuing L1 maintenance or considering L3 learning. In fact, in interviews some parents shared their feelings of guilt for choosing to raise their children using L1 at home, blaming their own limited L2. Yet their consistent use of L1 is a vital instrument in successful bilingual child-rearing. It is unfortunate to see how immigrant parents, given more-or-less successful bilingual child-rearing experiences, are caught in an inescapable predicament of guilt. As far as the L1 maintenance and L2 learning was concerned, a clear division of labour was found. Home was where the L1 was fostered and used with the children, and the school was where the children's L2 was taught. This clear schism functioned as a double-edged sword: The exclusive use of L1 by the parents seemed to endorse their Japanese identity and helped children to focus on their L1. Similarly, at school, the consistent and continuous L2 usage helped the children's SLA. However, in many cases parents' adherence to L1 and their limited L2 and the school's focus only on L2 skills led to the alienation of the parents from the school, leading, in turn, to non-communication between the two. Some parents believed that the sharp division also contributed to a lack of development of certain language skills in L1 and limited vocabulary growth in L2.Ph.D

LEAD EXPOSURE IN A MIDDLE CLASS POPULATION OF ANCIENT ROME

The cemetery population of Isola Sacra dates to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and consisted of middle class traders and craftsmen as suggested by tomb inscriptions. We present data to show that most of the skeletal remains (humans as well as domestic animals) at the site have become diagenetically contaminated with lead. Analysis of 22 bones from protected monumental tombs, believed to be free of post-mortem changes, shows average lead concentration of 10 μg/g, with the range being 0.87-36 μg/g. The observed bone lead levels are comparable to values that have been reported for many modern urban populations. Calculated average blood lead level was 10 μg/dL (range, 0.89-36 μg/dL) and suggest that exposure to lead was not just restricted to the aristocracy but was pervasive among all social classes of the Roman population. The health risk of the suspected lead exposure dose would have been marginal for the adult population but likely inimical to children. The isotopic composition of the bone lead suggests that the cemetery population obtained their lead from multiple ancient sources. The aim of releasing this report is to encourage further debate and research on the role of lead poisoning in the decline of the ancient Roman Empirehttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146763/1/LEAD EXPOSURE IN A MIDDLE CLASS POPULATION OF ANCIENT ROME.pd

スーパー ダイバーシティー ト ハ ナニ カ

対談Intervie