Fractured lives : Australian prisoners of war of the Japanese and their families

Examines how the particular nature of captivity by the Japanese during World War II intensified and complicated the impact, legacy and memory of war for POWs and their families. It presents insights into the experience of the prisoners' wives and how battalion associations protect and promote the remembrance of war.

A case study exploring the sociocultural characteristics of adult Japanese ESL learners in Australian EAP programs

Research findings show that the poor level of English accomplishment amongst Japanese students in English as Second Language (ESL) settings continues to be an issue of concern. This interpretative study adopted an ethnographic case method to explore and advance reader’s understanding of Japanese learner’s sociocultural characteristics and, also, to investigate how cross-cultural similarities/ differences between the sociocultural heritage of Japanese learners and the contextual factors of Australian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) study abroad programs interact. This study aims to interpret the problems surrounding the poor performance of Japanese students in Australian ESL contexts and identify issues not present in the literature that warrant further investigation. Interviews, structured by a thematic reporting framework, were used as the interpretive instrument for data collection. Data, supported by the reporting framework, was analysed using a constant comparative method. The exploratory nature of this report led to the following conclusions. Firstly, Japanese students’ past educational experience interferes with Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in Australian EAP study abroad programs. Secondly, Japanese students have a predisposition towards integrative motivation. Thirdly, significant others influence Japanese learners’ ability to cope with transition issues, such as managing academic and social problems. Finally, contextual factors of Australian EAP programs (e.g. course materials, teaching and learning methodology and assessment) negatively impact English language learning. This study raises questions about the difficulties experienced by Japanese learners in Australian EAP study aboard programs.

Multimodal synthesis and the voice of the multimedia author in a Japanese EFL context

This paper examines a powerful potential of multimodal design: meaning that transcends the total semiotic contribution of a text's constituent parts. With reference to data drawn from the digital storytelling practices of Japanese university students, the author argues and demonstrates that in the current semiotic climate, characterised by the increasing availability and complexity of communication tools and ready appropriation of available designs, practices of multimedia authorship truly can evince expression that is authentically multiplicative. However, this sort of meaning making does not automatically come about. Controlling the inherent polysemy of multimodal texts, in the author's view, is a matter of recognising points of semantic correspondence among co-deployed images, language, etc. and creating syntheses of potential meaning that cut across these semiotic modes. The author further argues that it is in this way that the voice of the multimodal author can most clearly be heard, particularly in cases in which a language learner–author integrates elements within a multimedia text that encode meaning in the L2.

Japanese lesson study : teacher professional development through communities of inquiry

Japanese Lesson Study has come under increasing attention from educators in the West and throughout South-East Asia since it was revealed outside Japan through the release of the TIMSS Video Study. In this paper we argue that Japanese Lesson Study provides a model for large scale, sustainable professional development. In particular, we draw on our own experience of Japanese Lesson Study and the research literature to describe its characteristic features and examine some of the cultural assumptions that underpin its implementation.

Cultural influences on body dissatisfaction, body change behaviours and disordered eating of Japanese adolescents

We administered a paper-and-pencil questionnaire to 133 female and 99 male Japanese high school students 13–18 years old (M = 15.9, SD = 1.57) from the Kansai area to examine cultural influences on their body image and body change behaviours. Our aim was to ascertain the independent and combined influences from traditional Japanese, modern Japanese, and Western values. Cluster analyses identified four ‘acculturative’ groups: ‘anti-modern’, ‘traditional’, ‘pro-modern/anti-traditional’, and ‘pro-Western/anti-Japanese’. Pro-modern and pro-Western adolescents were most dissatisfied with their bodies, and pro-Western adolescents were also most likely to attempt weight loss. The results demonstrate the value of assessing cultural interactions in Japan along three dimensions.