グローバル教養科目（Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language）

In this course, students will explore the diversity of the Japanese language and culture with a focus on Japanese sociolinguistics. The course will introduce a variety of basic linguistic and sociolinguistic phenomena and terminology widely used in studying, researching, and teaching the Japanese language and culture. The goal of the course is to develop students’ awareness of fundamental sociolinguistic issues and cultural and linguistic diversity in Contemporary Japanese through discussing such issues as dialects, sociolects, language contact, bilingualism, and translanguaging. Understanding the diversity within the culture and the language is essential for ensuring and developing an equal and non-discriminatory environment allowing all its representatives for efficient and successful communication. Class activities will include reading and analyzing research papers and textbook chapters on a variety of sociolinguistic topics such as gender and regional variations coded in the language, in order to develop discussions incorporating students’ reflections on their experiences. The evaluation of the course will be based on active participation in class discussions, reflective written assignments in preparation for the class discussions, short academic essays, and final presentations in English.