East Asian Humanities Workshop: "Teaching and learning of East Asian languages in the era of ‘trans-,’" Junko Mori

The last two decades have seen a surge in the use of the ‘trans-’ prefix that acknowledges the fluidity and complexity of social practices and activities observed in late modernity: transnational, transcultural, translingual, translanguaging, transdisciplinary, just to name a few. These ‘trans-’ terms in essence challenge the existence of borders, boundaries, categories, and associated ideologies, and celebrate the possibilities of transcending these orthodox understandings. Yet, at the same time, these terms also recognize the very existence of traces of the past and their continuous impact on our practices and activities today.

This presentation considers how these recent developments that acknowledge various aspects of ‘trans-’ realities and discontents apply to teaching and learning of East Asian Languages in U.S. institutions of higher education. I will first offer a brief overview of the transdisciplinary framework presented by the Douglas Fir Group (2016), focusing on the macro- and meso- layers of the ecological systems discussed in their framework. Subsequently, I will review the history of East Asian Language Programs in U.S. higher education, examine commonly observed institutional policies and structures in today’s higher education, and consider how they serve as enablers or obstacles for exploring and implementing innovations and collaborations inspired by the trans- turn. Finally, the presentation concludes by summarizing the renewed, nuanced understanding of constructs such as language, learners, teachers, and teaching and learning activities that have emerged from the critical reflection of infrastructural conditions and imagining the future of language education.

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Junko Mori is Professor of Japanese language and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a past president of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese. As a researcher, she has examined various types of social interactions involving first and second language speakers of Japanese. In recent years, the scope of her research has expanded to address the issue of diversity and inclusion in the classroom, workplaces, and the professional community of language educators.