Fukunaga 2006 FL literacy development using Anime ... - Oncourse
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206<br />
© <strong>2006</strong> INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION (pp. 206–222) doi:10.1598/JAAL.50.3.5<br />
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong><br />
<strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
Animation and other popular culture texts<br />
motivate and teach students about<br />
language, society, and culture.<br />
I remember reading about that, thinking<br />
“Man! That’s not fair! I wanna play these<br />
too!” So, all of this is important because<br />
it eventually led to this idea that I got to<br />
around the seventh grade. I got this idea<br />
if I study Japanese and learn to read<br />
Japanese I can buy these imported video<br />
games, because, you know, you can import<br />
these video games and then I can play them even<br />
if, even if they haven’t been translated into English.<br />
(Sean, 21-year-old male Japanese major)<br />
This excerpt is from an interview with Sean (all student<br />
names are pseudonyms), a U.S. college undergraduate.<br />
Sean described how he found that there<br />
were a lot more video games available in Japanese<br />
because they were imported from Japan. Sean’s experiences<br />
with Japanese video games brought him<br />
to anime (Japanese animation), and motivated him<br />
to learn Japanese. Strictly speaking, anime is a word<br />
for Japanese animated films and TV programs.<br />
Some definitions include subcultures of anime<br />
such as Japanese video games and Japanese music.<br />
Interest in Japanese popular culture such as<br />
anime, manga (Japanese graphic novels), and<br />
video games is growing rapidly among youth in<br />
the United States (Gee, 2003; Napier, 2001). The<br />
front page of The Wall Street Journal on August 5,<br />
2004, featured an article titled “Learning Japanese,<br />
once about resumes, is now about cool” (Parker,<br />
Natsuki <strong>Fukunaga</strong><br />
<strong>Fukunaga</strong> teaches at<br />
Marshall University and may<br />
be contacted at Department<br />
of Modern Languages,<br />
Smith Hall 751, Marshall<br />
University, One John<br />
Marshall Drive, Huntington,<br />
WV 25755, USA. E-mail<br />
andersonn@marshall.edu.<br />
2004). The author interviewed Japanese instructors<br />
and Japanese as a foreign language (J<strong>FL</strong>) students<br />
in the southern United States and reported<br />
how the availability of Japanese popu-<br />
lar culture has changed Japaneselanguage<br />
students in the United States.<br />
Learning Japanese used to be “a smart<br />
choice for ambitious, business-minded<br />
college students” (Parker, p. A1) and is<br />
now about “cool pop culture, through<br />
comics, street fashion and animated<br />
movies called anime” (Parker, p. A2).<br />
Moreover, Manes (2005), a Japanese teacher in<br />
Philadelphia, pointed out that J<strong>FL</strong> students have<br />
become younger in the past 10 years. J<strong>FL</strong> learners<br />
used to be businesspeople, lawyers, and doctors<br />
who “had a lot of knowledge about Japanese culture,”<br />
although they “retained a certain detached<br />
attitude toward it” (Manes, p. 1). Young students<br />
who are now attracted to Japanese by the country’s<br />
popular culture were “absorbing Japanese<br />
language and customs directly with their eyes and<br />
ears” (Manes, p. 2). The National Survey of K–12<br />
Foreign Language Education (Rhodes & Branaman,<br />
1999) showed that Japanese-language learners are<br />
the fastest growing group among students of less<br />
commonly taught languages in the United States.<br />
It is clear that popular culture has affected the demographics<br />
of J<strong>FL</strong> learners (<strong>Fukunaga</strong>, 2000).<br />
These students’ involvement with Japanese popular<br />
culture also affects their Japanese <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong><br />
and their social activities. Motivated by<br />
the growing interest in anime I found among my<br />
students, I began searching for literature on popular<br />
culture and language learning.<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong>
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
I conducted an interview study in 2003 with<br />
three anime fans, Emily, Ted, and Sean. This article<br />
looks at their multiliteracies and the sociocultural<br />
context of foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong>.<br />
Although these “anime students” were college-level<br />
J<strong>FL</strong> learners at South University (pseudonym),<br />
they mostly talked about their experiences with<br />
anime in their adolescence. Building on previous<br />
studies of anime and popular culture (<strong>Fukunaga</strong>,<br />
2000; Napier, 2001), I will discuss the findings<br />
from my data, connecting them to sociocultural<br />
perspectives of language learning (Gee, 2002) and<br />
to the studies of new literacies and multiliteracies<br />
(Collins & Blot, 2003; New London Group, 1996).<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> in the framework of<br />
multiliteracies<br />
In contrast to the singular <strong>literacy</strong>, multiliteracies<br />
and new literacies are wider concepts that include<br />
texts, language, situated meaning, technology,<br />
popular culture, power, identity, and critical<br />
stance (Collins & Blot, 2003; Gee, 1996). New<br />
forms of communication such as those spawned<br />
by the Internet have become vital information<br />
sources for U.S. anime fans (<strong>Fukunaga</strong>, 2000).<br />
However, individual students have different relationships<br />
with anime and its community. Two of<br />
Gee’s (2002) concepts are useful for understanding<br />
these theories in relation to anime: shapeshifting<br />
portfolio people and affinity groups. My<br />
interviews with J<strong>FL</strong> learners provided some examples<br />
relevant to these concepts.<br />
Shape-shifting portfolio people<br />
Gee’s (2002) concept provides a useful framework<br />
to understand anime as a product of multiliteracies.<br />
Gee described millennials, who were born between<br />
1982 and 1998, as youth who shape<br />
themselves according to “class-based customized<br />
standardization” (italics in original) to become<br />
“shape-shifting portfolio people” (Gee, pp.<br />
62–63). The word portfolio does not necessarily<br />
mean a collection of documents; rather, it is used<br />
as a metaphor for the invisible skills needed for<br />
success. Gee used the expression to describe youth<br />
who collect skills in order to access a variety of resources<br />
and to be successful in capitalist society.<br />
These youth continue to revise their portfolios<br />
with new experiences in order to make themselves<br />
available for different tasks in different times. In<br />
the New Capitalism, “the capitalism of our current<br />
technologically driven, knowledge-based<br />
global economy” (Gee, 2001, p. 100), class is defined<br />
not only by the amount of money one has<br />
but also by the nature of one’s experiences, skills,<br />
and achievements. For example, millennials “customize<br />
themselves” (Gee, 2002, p. 63) to gain entrance<br />
to elite schools.<br />
Young, Dillon, and Moje (2002) criticized<br />
Gee’s description of shape-shifting portfolio millennials<br />
for being “too generalized and too global”<br />
(p. 129). One of the examples that Young et al. described<br />
is of a middle class youth who resisted being<br />
labeled as a “successful candidate” so he did<br />
not shape-shift his portfolio. <strong>Anime</strong> students’<br />
goals are not transferable to mainstream success<br />
either. For anime students, gaining Japanese linguistic<br />
and cultural knowledge is one way to build<br />
their portfolios by exploring authentic Japanese<br />
popular culture. What happens once these anime<br />
students lose their interest in Japanese popular<br />
culture? Will they shape-shift their portfolio according<br />
to “shifting” goals? I explore these questions<br />
in later sections. While there is a need to be<br />
cautious about overgeneralization, the idea of a<br />
“shape-shifting portfolio” remains a helpful description<br />
of anime students’ <strong>literacy</strong> activities.<br />
Affinity group<br />
Knowledge of Japanese language is one way for<br />
anime fans to shape-shift their portfolios.<br />
Computer skills and access to the Internet also<br />
add to anime fans’ portfolios in the anime community.<br />
Gee’s concept of the “affinity group”<br />
(2002) is a form of portfolio building that incorporates<br />
sociocultural aspects of students’ <strong>literacy</strong><br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 207
practices through out-of-class activities. An affinity<br />
group is<br />
a group wherein people form affiliations with each<br />
other, often at a distance (that is, not necessarily faceto-face),<br />
primarily through shared practices or a common<br />
endeavor (which entails shared practices), and<br />
only secondarily through shared culture, gender, ethnicity,<br />
or face-to-face relationships. (Gee, p. 65)<br />
Gee explained this concept citing the example of<br />
Almon, an immigrant boy in Lam’s study (2000),<br />
who successfully learned language within an<br />
affinity group. Almon worried about his future<br />
career because, even after living in the United<br />
States for five years, he felt his English skills<br />
would never be good enough. However, his attitude<br />
toward English dramatically changed when<br />
he began discussing Japanese pop music with<br />
people from different countries through the<br />
Internet. Not only did Almon improve his written<br />
English skills, but also through his connection<br />
with this particular virtual community, he<br />
gained self-confidence.<br />
Such <strong>literacy</strong> practices may also occur<br />
through out-of-class activities. Chandler-Olcott<br />
and Mahar (2003a, 2003b) looked at two female<br />
students’ informal “fanfictions” (fanfics) that included<br />
anime characters, and were surprised at<br />
the students’ talent as writers. Those fanfic writings<br />
looked very different from their classroom<br />
essays. Chandler-Olcott and Mahar suggested<br />
that teachers should be aware of <strong>literacy</strong> learning<br />
that is not valued in school settings.<br />
Different writings such as fanfics can be used to<br />
get to know students’ “hidden” <strong>literacy</strong> skills,<br />
because the girls in this study admitted that<br />
they spent “far more time and energy” (2003a,<br />
p. 561) on their fanfics than they did on school<br />
assignments. The two girls in Chandler-Olcott<br />
and Mahar’s (2003a) study are like the students<br />
I studied who found “joy” in their anime-related<br />
<strong>literacy</strong> practices. Teachers may be surprised<br />
that some students who are not successful with<br />
classroom practices may be actively learning<br />
with out-of-school practices (Chandler-Olcott<br />
208<br />
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
& Mahar, 2003b; Lam, 2000). Like the students<br />
in Chandler-Olcott and Mahar’s and Lam’s<br />
studies, anime students use a tool (in this case,<br />
Japanese) to acquire agency within an affinity<br />
group.<br />
Students’ <strong>literacy</strong> practices have expanded<br />
dramatically in the Internet era. The Internet<br />
enables students to access many cultures and<br />
languages. Because of this, it is difficult for classroom<br />
teachers to imagine what kind of out-ofclass<br />
activities are connected with the students’<br />
<strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong>. Although there are increasing<br />
numbers of studies on Japanese popular culture<br />
in relation to first language (English) <strong>literacy</strong><br />
<strong>development</strong> in the areas of multiliteracies and<br />
the new <strong>literacy</strong> studies (Chandler-Olcott &<br />
Mahar, 2003a, 2003b; He, 2003; Lam, 2000), little<br />
information is available to understand popular<br />
culture’s effects on J<strong>FL</strong> <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong>.<br />
What, then, is anime “good for”? What<br />
draws students to it? The purpose of this study<br />
was to identify J<strong>FL</strong> students’ perspectives on anime<br />
and to explore how three students made use<br />
of their anime knowledge while learning<br />
Japanese. Data for this study came from photographs<br />
taken by participants, individual interviews,<br />
and participants’ reflection papers about<br />
the interviews. I supplemented these data with a<br />
previous survey and interview study (<strong>Fukunaga</strong>,<br />
2000) on U.S. anime fans’ perspectives of<br />
Japanese popular culture.<br />
The current study contributes to several<br />
areas of educational instruction. In the fields of<br />
first- and second-language (L1 and L2) <strong>literacy</strong><br />
studies, this study helps teachers to understand<br />
the cultural context of anime and its value for<br />
students as an out-of-class L2 learning tool. This<br />
study also gives students and teachers a better<br />
sense of the effect and scope of popular culture,<br />
especially that originating in “other” cultures. In<br />
addition, this study provides sociocultural perspectives<br />
on learning from interdisciplinary<br />
studies including L1 and L2 <strong>literacy</strong>, multiliteracies,<br />
cultural studies, media <strong>literacy</strong>, and critical<br />
pedagogy.<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong>
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
Setting and participants<br />
Ta b l e 1<br />
Students’ background information<br />
Name Age Sex Major Japanese study Interests<br />
Emily 21 F Instructional Took 3 semesters <strong>Anime</strong> Club, manga, fantasy,<br />
Technology and stopped the Internet, science fiction,<br />
in Education collection of anime products<br />
(toys, cards)<br />
Ted 21 M Japanese In the 4th semester <strong>Anime</strong> Club, video games,<br />
of study collection of anime series,<br />
the Internet<br />
Sean 21 M Japanese Went straight into <strong>Anime</strong> Club, manga,<br />
the highest level Japanese films, video games,<br />
(8th semester) of Japanese book reading circle,<br />
Japanese class BBS (Bulletin Board System),<br />
the Internet<br />
In order to understand J<strong>FL</strong> students’ perspectives<br />
of anime and Japanese <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong><br />
through anime, I conducted an interpretive, qualitative<br />
interview study. Emily, Ted, and Sean were<br />
chosen as participants in this study by purposeful<br />
sampling. The criteria for selection were (1) students<br />
who were at least intermediate level in<br />
Japanese, (2) students who were not taking<br />
Japanese classes from me when I conducted the<br />
study, and (3) students who had a particular interest<br />
in anime and Japanese popular culture.<br />
Emily, Ted, and Sean are Caucasian, were born in<br />
the United States, and are native speakers of<br />
English. The participants’ background information<br />
is described in Table 1.<br />
Emily, Ted, and Sean started watching anime<br />
when they were in high school. Thus, watching<br />
anime was a part of their youth culture. Emily<br />
and Ted regularly attend the <strong>Anime</strong> Club meetings<br />
at South University. <strong>Anime</strong> Club is a student<br />
organization for people who enjoy watching anime<br />
and playing Japanese video games. <strong>Anime</strong><br />
Club members gather at a theater on campus<br />
to watch six 30-minute anime programs on<br />
Mondays from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. For three<br />
hours, the people at the meeting listen to<br />
Japanese while they watch anime with English<br />
subtitles. Ted told me, “True anime fans only<br />
watch anime with English subtitles. Many people<br />
begin watching dubbed versions of anime on<br />
Cartoon Network on TV and most of them eventually<br />
move away from dubbed anime [because]<br />
they are not authentic.” Most anime programs<br />
last for 30 minutes and have an opening theme<br />
song and an ending song. Several members of<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> Club attend weekly leadership meetings<br />
on Wednesdays. Emily and Ted attend both meetings<br />
regularly while Sean occasionally attends<br />
Monday meetings.<br />
Data collection and analysis<br />
I used a data collection method that Allen and<br />
Labbo (2001) and Allen et al. (2002) used in their<br />
project PhOLKS (Photographs of Local<br />
Knowledge Sources). This method provides a<br />
view of students’ out-of-school lives. Students<br />
were asked to photograph important objects in<br />
their homes and neighborhoods. This project allowed<br />
teachers to “extend the classroom community<br />
to include children’s home communities, to<br />
build reciprocal relationships with families”<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 209
(Allen et al., p. 314). However, the photographs<br />
that participants took were not the main focus of<br />
my study. Rather, they served as a stimulus for the<br />
interview. They also helped to create a common<br />
ground for conversation about Japanese popular<br />
culture texts.<br />
One week prior to their individual interviews,<br />
the students took photographs of things<br />
related to Japanese popular culture and language<br />
learning that they considered important in their<br />
everyday lives. Each student participated in a<br />
two-hour, open-ended, audiotaped interview<br />
and told stories about the objects. Following are<br />
some examples of interview questions: How did<br />
you become interested in anime? How does anime<br />
affect your Japanese learning? How does anime<br />
affect your social relationships? After the<br />
interview, students wrote a one-page reflection.<br />
To corroborate my initial interpretations, I asked<br />
each student to meet for a follow-up interview<br />
that lasted for about one hour. I transcribed<br />
each interview, showed the transcript to each<br />
student, and got some feedback. I analyzed the<br />
interview transcriptions, photographs, and written<br />
responses <strong>using</strong> the ethnographic content<br />
analytical method (Altheide, 1987; LeCompte,<br />
2000). I created categories and subcategories foc<strong>using</strong><br />
on the insider’s perspective of this cultural<br />
group. To ensure internal reliability, I used<br />
triangulation (Glesne, 1999) with the three data<br />
collection methods. I also used ongoing and final<br />
member checks for validity to make sure I<br />
represented the participants and their ideas accurately.<br />
My analysis is shaped by my status as both<br />
an insider and outsider in the anime community.<br />
As a native Japanese, I have my own conception<br />
of anime because of its strong presence in<br />
Japanese popular culture; however, I am not a<br />
fan who claims to know everything about anime.<br />
I question whether J<strong>FL</strong> students have the<br />
same concept of anime as Japanese natives.<br />
Many Japanese people grow up with anime as a<br />
part of everyday life. Throughout this study, I<br />
have been careful not to assume anything is<br />
210<br />
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
“normal” just because I experienced it. Rather,<br />
my goal is to understand J<strong>FL</strong> students’ perspectives<br />
on anime. I began wondering about anime<br />
students’ perspectives and their activities outside<br />
of the classroom while I was teaching Japanese<br />
at South University, observing students and<br />
communicating with them in class. <strong>Anime</strong> students<br />
reminded me of my own experience of<br />
learning English as a second language through<br />
popular culture such as Hollywood movies and<br />
the Beatles. I was curious to see what parts of<br />
anime U.S. students are interested in and why<br />
such students are fascinated with it. I avoided<br />
including students who were in my Japanese<br />
classes as participants in this study so that I did<br />
not need to worry about participants acting as<br />
“good students,” intentionally or not.<br />
Findings: <strong>Anime</strong> and foreign<br />
language <strong>literacy</strong> learning<br />
My findings fell into four categories: overview of<br />
participants’ activities with Japanese popular culture,<br />
uniqueness of anime, advantages for J<strong>FL</strong> <strong>literacy</strong><br />
<strong>development</strong>, and individual differences. I<br />
found that anime played different roles for each<br />
student.<br />
Overview of participants’ activities<br />
with Japanese popular culture<br />
Emily, Sean, and Ted described the aspects of anime<br />
in which they were engaged. I noticed that<br />
their use of the word anime was not limited to<br />
animated films and TV programs; rather, it included<br />
subcultures around anime. In this larger<br />
concept of anime, there were subcultures of manga,<br />
video games, anime music, and anime-related<br />
activities (see Figure 1). In Figure 1, the solid lines<br />
indicate strong and direct connections between<br />
each subculture of anime while the dotted lines<br />
indicate that some parts may or may not have a<br />
direct connection to anime.<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong>
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
Figure 1<br />
J<strong>FL</strong> students’ perspectives of anime and its subcultures<br />
Manga:<br />
comics,<br />
Dojinshi<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> products:<br />
stationery, toys,<br />
T-shirts<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> (Japanese animation)<br />
To J<strong>FL</strong> students, anime includes TV programs,<br />
animated films, DVDs, and videos. One<br />
anime subculture, manga, includes comics and<br />
dojinshi or zines, small hand-made booklets<br />
written by anime fans that parody manga or anime.<br />
Many Japanese and English dojinshi are<br />
available on the Internet. The “fanfics” in<br />
Chandler-Olcott and Mahar’s study (2003a,<br />
2003b) can be considered a type of dojinshi. Sean<br />
and Ted entered the world of anime through<br />
playing video games from Japan, in particular,<br />
role-playing games, which have many characteristics<br />
of anime. Sean describes the connection<br />
between anime and video games this way:<br />
“Japanese video games like Nintendo games and<br />
Japanese anime are closely connected. Often<br />
video games are based upon on anime, and anime<br />
is based upon video games.” In the interview<br />
and in his written responses, Ted tried to form a<br />
theory about the relationships among anime<br />
fans, video game fans, and computer enthusiasts.<br />
TV programs,<br />
animated films,<br />
DVDs, videos<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> activity:<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> Club, online bulletin board<br />
services, the Internet, amime<br />
conventions, cos-play<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> music:<br />
soundtrack,<br />
Seiyu (cast)<br />
Games:<br />
video games,<br />
computer games<br />
J-pop,<br />
J-rock<br />
First, Ted showed me a photograph of his computer<br />
and audio equipment (see Figure 2) and<br />
explained how important technology is for him.<br />
Ted described his theory as follows: “People<br />
who are interested in anime also enjoy playing<br />
video games, and people who like computers often<br />
enjoy anime and video games.” Emily and<br />
Sean talked about similar situations involving<br />
anime fans, video game fans, and computer enthusiasts.<br />
In fact, all three participants fit this theory<br />
because they enjoy activities with anime,<br />
video games, and computers. <strong>Anime</strong> fans in the<br />
United States get most of their information from<br />
the Internet, which presupposes a certain level of<br />
computer skill. Emily did not talk much about<br />
video games, although she did mention that her<br />
boyfriend plays Japanese video games.<br />
<strong>Anime</strong>-related activities are important for<br />
Emily and Ted. <strong>Anime</strong> clubs and anime conventions,<br />
in particular, help to create communities.<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 211
<strong>Anime</strong> conventions provide a means to see how<br />
anime consists of subcultures such as manga, anime<br />
products, music, costumes, video games, and<br />
animation itself. For Emily, anime products such<br />
as stationery, toys, cards, and posters were part of<br />
the subculture. All the participants talked about<br />
the strong connection between watching anime<br />
and listening to anime theme songs. Emily shared<br />
some CDs of music that was used as opening and<br />
ending theme songs of anime. This is consistent<br />
with previous interviews I conducted in which<br />
participants noted that anime fans began listening<br />
to Japanese pop or rock music once they<br />
learned some Japanese songs from anime.<br />
Uniqueness of anime<br />
All the participants pointed out that the uniqueness<br />
of anime, which differs from U.S. animation,<br />
attracts anime fans in the United States. Table 2<br />
presents an outline of the differences between<br />
212<br />
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
Figure 2<br />
Ted’s computer and audio equipment<br />
anime and U.S. animation from the three U.S.<br />
college students’ perspectives.<br />
Emily, Ted, and Sean expressed that the distinctive<br />
art style of anime, exemplified in drawings<br />
of characters with “big eyes,” is one of the<br />
unique qualities of anime. The participants also<br />
noted that the humor in anime differed from<br />
what they were used to with U.S. animation.<br />
When Sean first read Ranma 1/2 in translated<br />
Japanese manga comics (see Figure 3), he found<br />
himself loving it.<br />
Just because, it was...it was funny, but it wasn’t just<br />
funny. It had this really quirky sense of humor. I don’t<br />
even know how to describe it, but it was just this almost<br />
oddball sensibility that you just don’t find...in<br />
American comics. (Sean’s interview transcript)<br />
Soon after Sean read the first manga in English,<br />
he began watching anime.<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong>
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
Ta b l e 2<br />
Differences between anime and U.S. animation<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> (Japanese animation) American animation<br />
• Variety of issues, no censoring • Limited variety, strict censoring<br />
• Distinctive art style • Controlled contents<br />
• Quirky sense of humor • Sitcom style<br />
• Detailed and continuous story line • Childish stories<br />
• Deep, involved relationships<br />
• Stronger character <strong>development</strong><br />
• High-quality voices<br />
• Creativity<br />
• Popular music<br />
The participants in this study agreed that<br />
the story lines in anime are detailed, complicated,<br />
and continuous. Emily commented, “If the<br />
character dies, he doesn’t come back on the next<br />
show!” A participant in my previous study<br />
(<strong>Fukunaga</strong>, 2000) also mentioned the narrative<br />
style of anime as an attraction because of the<br />
range of issues in the stories. The most frequently<br />
emphasized point across the three students<br />
in the current study was that anime covers so<br />
many different themes, such as fantasy, everyday<br />
Japanese life, cooking, action, adventure, martial<br />
art, sports, romantic drama, comedy, and samesex<br />
relationships. Because U.S. television networks<br />
are subject to regulation and censorship,<br />
the content of anime sometimes is changed. This<br />
causes some problems for U.S. anime fans and<br />
frustration with the “American” version of anime.<br />
For example, in the first season of Sailor<br />
Moon, there were two male characters who had a<br />
relationship. According to Sean, one of them was<br />
very feminine looking, so “they turned him into<br />
her. They gave him a woman voice actor and it<br />
looked like a woman, and you couldn’t tell a difference<br />
unless” you watched the original anime.<br />
Sean said, “I remember my shock when I found<br />
out about that. I was like, no way!” The deceptive<br />
treatment of particular parts of anime in the<br />
American versions made Sean begin comparing<br />
original anime with the dubbed versions.<br />
Advantages for J<strong>FL</strong> <strong>literacy</strong><br />
<strong>development</strong><br />
Repetitive watching of anime provides multiple advantages<br />
for learning Japanese. My data suggest<br />
three linguistic aspects to the advantages: word<br />
recognition, listening and pronunciation, and<br />
awareness of various Japanese linguistic features. In<br />
the interviews, students used some Japanese words<br />
that describe anime-related concepts such as otaku<br />
(anime geeks), hentai (pervert), shōnen (boys), and<br />
shōjo (girls). Hentai refers to a genre of anime that<br />
includes pornography. Proper nouns such as characters’<br />
names (Michiru) and names of places<br />
(Harajuku), and ways to address people such as<br />
sensei (teacher), okāsan (mom), and onēchan (my<br />
big sister), are also common words learned through<br />
anime (<strong>Fukunaga</strong>, 2000). Ted shared his experience<br />
of playing video games from Japan and noticing<br />
the Japanese names of the characters: “Even though<br />
it is all in English it has all Japanese people’s names,<br />
so you can have a child who recognizes that these<br />
aren’t American names.”<br />
Emily, Ted, and Sean hear Japanese conversation<br />
at a natural speed in anime. In one of<br />
Emily and Ted’s favorites, Kareshi kanojo no jijō<br />
(His and Her Circumstances), the introduction of<br />
each 30-minute show and the opening and ending<br />
theme songs stay the same. As students watch<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 213
several episodes, they naturally get used to hearing<br />
the characters’ fast Japanese speech. Emily<br />
owns a couple of Japanese music CDs because she<br />
liked the theme songs of some anime shows, so<br />
she looked up the artists and bought the CDs on<br />
the Internet. People at <strong>Anime</strong> Club meetings sing<br />
the theme songs in Japanese even though most of<br />
these students do not take formal Japanese lessons<br />
(<strong>Fukunaga</strong>, 2000).<br />
After watching many anime shows in<br />
Japanese with English subtitles, Ted, Emily, and<br />
Sean told me that they became aware of several<br />
Japanese linguistic aspects such as male and female<br />
speech endings, tone of voice, formal and<br />
plain forms of speech, slang, and good or bad<br />
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Figure 3<br />
Sean’s manga collection<br />
translation. Because most of the narratives in anime<br />
are conversational, students are exposed to<br />
slang and plain forms of speech that are not<br />
taught at the beginning level of Japanese classes.<br />
In Kareshi kanojo no jijō the change in speech is<br />
obvious because the main female character,<br />
Yukino, is an honor student at her middle school<br />
where she uses “proper” manners and polite<br />
speech, while she acts quite differently at home.<br />
Thus, viewers get some ideas of different speech<br />
types and mannerisms in Japanese society. All<br />
three participants also expressed their feelings<br />
about good and bad translations of anime. Emily<br />
and Ted have made their own “fansubs,” anime<br />
videos subtitled in English by anime fans. Before<br />
DVDs and high-speed Internet were available,<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong>
“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
Figure 4<br />
Cycle of anime students’ J<strong>FL</strong> learning<br />
<strong>Anime</strong><br />
Pre-exposed and reinforced by linguistic and<br />
cultural knowledge<br />
anime fans watched videos owned by local anime<br />
clubs that were not yet “officially” released in the<br />
United States with fansubs. Watching many fansubs<br />
made participants sensitive to and critical of<br />
how the language was translated.<br />
Another important advantage that learners<br />
found from watching anime was increased<br />
Japanese cultural knowledge of nonverbal gestures,<br />
mannerisms, social settings and rules, families,<br />
meals, and homes. From Kareshi kanojo no<br />
jijō, Emily explained that she learned about<br />
Japanese school settings, juken jigoku (examination<br />
hell), ijime (bullying), and katei houmon<br />
(teacher’s home visit). Ted mentioned that some<br />
of his friends started playing Go, a Japanese<br />
board game that uses black and white stones, after<br />
watching Hikaru no go (Hikaru’s Go). There<br />
are countless examples of mannerisms in Japan<br />
such as bowing, <strong>using</strong> chopsticks, and taking<br />
shoes off at the genkan (entrance of the house).<br />
Ted and Sean told me how they developed visual<br />
images of how streets look in Japan with vending<br />
Japanese class<br />
Learn and pratice grammar,<br />
writing system, speaking,<br />
and culture notes<br />
machines and konbini (24-hour convenience<br />
stores). Emily explained,<br />
In anime, you pick up the words, then go to class, you<br />
learn what the words mean, and go back to anime,<br />
...to see them in context.... So basically, just like, you<br />
keep going back, the more you learn and more you<br />
can apply to anime.<br />
As a result of my findings, I developed a cycle of<br />
anime watching and Japanese learning often experienced<br />
by anime fans (see Figure 4).<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> students have been exposed to many<br />
aspects of the language and culture of Japan<br />
through anime and its subcultures before they<br />
start taking Japanese courses. In Japanese class,<br />
anime students put their prior knowledge to use<br />
while they gain new knowledge of vocabulary,<br />
grammar, writing systems, and culture. When<br />
these students go back to anime, they find themselves<br />
recognizing more words than before and<br />
reviewing things they learned in the past. As students<br />
continue this cycle of practice, they become<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 215
aware of how Japanese expressions are translated.<br />
Thus, watching anime becomes a reinforcement<br />
of Japanese knowledge. Some anime students<br />
might extend this cycle by digging into subcultures<br />
such as Japanese music, manga, and video<br />
games.<br />
Individual differences<br />
Each participant in this study had a different relationship<br />
with Japanese popular culture and language<br />
learning. Emily told stories of how she<br />
began watching anime with her best friend in<br />
high school while showing me a photo of her collection<br />
of Sailor Moon toys (see Figure 5). This<br />
photo symbolizes her relationship with the friend<br />
with whom she collected anime toys. In contrast<br />
to these happy memories, Emily also told some<br />
stories of her fear of not being understood by<br />
other students in her college dormitory. In her reflection<br />
paper on the interview conversation,<br />
Emily expressed her uncomfortable feelings:<br />
My friends before I met the anime club people were<br />
just the people who were there—my roommate, and<br />
neighbors on my dorm hall. They were nice enough<br />
most of the time but we didn’t share many interests<br />
at all and they thought I was weird because I liked<br />
anime.<br />
Emily had been looked down upon and ridiculed<br />
by others for being “strange” and “weird” because<br />
she watches “cartoons” and reads a lot of fantasy<br />
novels, including some manga. On the other<br />
hand, Emily often used the words weird and<br />
strange in positive ways when she explained the<br />
content of some anime shows during the interview.<br />
Emily also used these words to describe her<br />
anime friends and herself. She suggested that it<br />
was good for “anime friends” to be weird and<br />
even to use the word to describe one another because<br />
they all knew they were weird. Emily used<br />
the word weird several times in her interview.<br />
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I mean these people are weird and very accepting<br />
people because they know they are weird and you<br />
know...you know...and [because] everyone has the interest<br />
that people outside of the interest think it’s<br />
weird, you have more of the connection to each other.<br />
Because...they don’t see you as weird for liking that<br />
stuff. (Emily’s written response)<br />
The word weird in this case empowers Emily and<br />
her anime friends. The word weird has different<br />
meanings depending on who uses it to describe<br />
whom. That Emily takes an active role in calling<br />
herself weird implies that she is aware of her<br />
agency, instead of being passive about being<br />
viewed as weird by others. It seems as though<br />
Emily has been searching for some alternatives in<br />
her life and she found one by constructing herself<br />
through social activities within an anime community.<br />
Ted has a clear vision of how Japanese will<br />
be part of his future. He wants to be a translator<br />
of anime and video games, so he takes Japanese<br />
classes and East Asian literature classes seriously.<br />
To answer my question about whether or not anime<br />
influenced his future, Ted explained, “I think<br />
it definitely impacted, I guess, where I think my<br />
career is going. Because I liked anime so much so<br />
I decided to translate to English.”<br />
Sean started playing Japanese video games<br />
when he was in fourth grade, and he decided to<br />
study Japanese to be able to play the original<br />
Japanese games when he was in seventh grade.<br />
Then, when he started watching anime, he realized<br />
that there were many shows not imported to<br />
the United States, so he started taking private<br />
Japanese lessons from a Japanese woman.<br />
It’s really funny but in the meanwhile, I really got interested<br />
in Japanese itself and I kind of lost interest in<br />
the video games. So it was like that video games were a<br />
stepping stone into the study of Japanese language<br />
and culture, so...but I still get kind of nostalgic when I<br />
think back on it now.... (Sean’s interview transcript)<br />
Sean told me enthusiastically about traditional<br />
and historical Japanese cultural events in which<br />
he participated. In a way, Sean is shape-shifting<br />
his portfolio as a Japanese learner (Gee, 1996).<br />
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“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
He does not limit himself to being a “Japanese<br />
video game fan” or “anime fan.” Instead, he actively<br />
searches for new interests.<br />
Popular culture and multiple<br />
literacies<br />
Figure 5<br />
Emily’s Sailor Moon toy collection<br />
In discussing this study, I offer a new perspective<br />
about how anime students engage with a new<br />
language by connecting my findings to the pedagogy<br />
of multiliteracies (Lankshear & Knobel,<br />
2003; New London Group, 1996), foc<strong>using</strong> on<br />
contextualized <strong>literacy</strong> practice, identity, cultural<br />
diversity, and critical dimensions of <strong>literacy</strong>. The<br />
most significant advantage that anime offers to<br />
J<strong>FL</strong> students is in the contextual and multiple<br />
meanings of text. Foreign language learning in<br />
the United States often lacks a cultural context.<br />
Therefore, some learners only gain surface knowledge<br />
of language and culture and keep “a certain<br />
detached attitude” toward the target language and<br />
culture (Manes, 2005, p. 1). <strong>Anime</strong> students compensate<br />
for this situation by becoming members<br />
of the anime community. The findings of this<br />
study include multiple advantages that anime offers<br />
to linguistic and cultural aspects of J<strong>FL</strong> <strong>literacy</strong><br />
<strong>development</strong>. Because they are accustomed to<br />
listening to Japanese speech, some anime students<br />
in my classes have excellent pronunciation, and<br />
they have also been exposed to multiple Japanese<br />
social contexts. As a part of the final oral exam,<br />
my J<strong>FL</strong> students performed minidramas in small<br />
groups. I can sometimes spot “secret” anime students<br />
in my classroom by listening to their<br />
Japanese speech in these minidramas.<br />
One challenge for J<strong>FL</strong> teachers is how to<br />
incorporate colloquial speech with class work.<br />
Most J<strong>FL</strong> textbooks introduce polite speech in<br />
beginning Japanese classes. In Japan, students are<br />
supposed to use polite speech with teachers.<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 217
Naturally, J<strong>FL</strong> teachers use polite speech in classroom<br />
settings. However, J<strong>FL</strong> students point out<br />
that none of their Japanese friends talk like that<br />
among themselves. <strong>Anime</strong> students are used to<br />
hearing different speech styles in Japanese according<br />
to different situations. In classroombased<br />
minidrama performances, it is clear that<br />
some anime students are comfortable with different<br />
speech styles. These anime students also seem<br />
to have less anxiety about studying Japanese.<br />
Japanese is rated among the most difficult languages<br />
to learn for English native speakers. To<br />
have less anxiety helps students enjoy learning<br />
Japanese.<br />
<strong>Anime</strong> students are very aware of the national<br />
origins of anime. Kubota (2002) questioned<br />
the way culture should be taught in<br />
foreign language classrooms, criticizing the<br />
“static” knowledge of culture taught in language<br />
classrooms and calling for recognition of “the diversity<br />
and dynamic nature of language and culture”<br />
(p. 26). Taking this into account, I consider<br />
anime students to be active learners who gather<br />
information about Japan from multiple sources<br />
through media. What foreign language teachers<br />
should do is help all students to be active learners.<br />
These anime students actively expand their<br />
knowledge, inspired by anime. For example, one<br />
female anime student refers to herself as boku,a<br />
term commonly used by boys and men, in my<br />
Japanese class. She explains, “I know that some<br />
anime female characters call themselves boku instead<br />
of watashi. I think it suits me [because] I<br />
am a tomboy.” I was impressed by what this particular<br />
student brought to my J<strong>FL</strong> classroom.<br />
Another example of anime students’ multiple<br />
viewpoints is gendered language usage. While<br />
many J<strong>FL</strong> texts represent fixed use of gendered<br />
languages—for example, males use da while female<br />
use wa for speech endings (Siegal &<br />
Okamoto, 1996)—anime students are aware of<br />
the shifting nature of these gendered languages<br />
depending on social situations. This type of student<br />
becomes a constant reminder to get away<br />
from teaching “static” knowledge of language and<br />
culture.<br />
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My findings reiterate the importance of the<br />
learner’s identity and community of practice<br />
(Chandler-Olcott & Mahar, 2003a, 2003b). A<br />
problem in many educational settings is that<br />
teachers do not have insider knowledge of anime.<br />
A study of anime fans shows that they recognize<br />
the lack of social legitimacy for anime (Napier,<br />
2001). For example, some anime fans express<br />
their dilemma of enjoying anime and animerelated<br />
activity but being viewed as “weird” by<br />
others, including family members, friends, and<br />
teachers. In Napier’s words, “[b]ecause the object<br />
of their interest is not an American pop culture<br />
icon, they may therefore feel more marginalized<br />
than fans of American cultural products” (p.<br />
244). The three J<strong>FL</strong> students showed concerns<br />
about how they were perceived by nonfans, but<br />
the anime community’s support enabled Emily<br />
to be empowered by the word weird. This act reminded<br />
me of the use of the word queer in Queer<br />
Theory: The word is used pejoratively by those<br />
outside the affinity group, but those inside the<br />
group embrace it as a way of identifying with<br />
one another and empowering themselves (Butler,<br />
1993). Emily seems to have been empowering<br />
herself through building relationships with anime<br />
fans.<br />
This critical nature is not limited to anime—indeed,<br />
many popular culture texts address<br />
it. Themes that are taboo in certain cultures can<br />
be discussed in popular culture as a creative<br />
medium. <strong>Anime</strong> creates space for new discussion<br />
topics among non-Japanese consumers. This<br />
openness within popular culture is important to<br />
understanding U.S. college students’ interaction<br />
with this medium. In a postmodern society, we<br />
are exposed to a huge amount of information. As<br />
the “American” version of Sailor Moon suggests,<br />
what we see is not necessarily true. An essential<br />
skill to develop is that of questioning what we<br />
see. This needs to be applied to every media, including<br />
anime. While anime offers advantages in<br />
terms of cultural and linguistic knowledge about<br />
Japan, it is fictional. It is dangerous to take<br />
knowledge of something only from one source.<br />
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“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
We need to encourage students and ourselves to<br />
see things from multiple sources and aspects.<br />
What happens if anime students lose interest<br />
in anime? I was once asked, “Don’t you think<br />
students’ interest in popular culture is just a part<br />
of adolescence? They will soon forget about it.” I<br />
answered, “Yes for some students and no for others.”<br />
I believe that the three participants in this<br />
particular study are good examples of these multiple<br />
positions. All three students began studying<br />
Japanese motivated by their interest in anime and<br />
its subcultures. However, anime played different<br />
roles for each student. For Emily, anime was a<br />
social activity. Thus, Emily stopped studying J<strong>FL</strong><br />
after establishing her agency in the anime community.<br />
For Ted, studying J<strong>FL</strong> and his anime activities<br />
were connected to his desire to become a<br />
translator. Most likely, Ted will continue to study<br />
J<strong>FL</strong> unless he changes his mind about a career.<br />
From a Japanese teacher’s view, Sean seems to be<br />
the most successful learner who is flexible enough<br />
to shape-shift his portfolio as he passes through<br />
different stages of life.<br />
Sean is the closest to <strong>using</strong> anime as part of<br />
his portfolio in Gee’s sense. In the time since the<br />
data collection, Sean received a competitive scholarship<br />
for study abroad, spent one year as an exchange<br />
student in Japan, and expanded his<br />
perspectives of that country. Now he has come<br />
back and is searching for a graduate school, hoping<br />
to be a Japan expert in areas of history, traditional<br />
and contemporary culture and society,<br />
linguistics, literature, and martial arts.<br />
Whether these students continue studying<br />
Japanese or not, their personal connections with<br />
the target language and culture is a shared attitude<br />
among them. All three participants simply wanted<br />
to explore new worlds. These anime students engaged<br />
with the new language and culture in unique<br />
ways to meet their own needs and desires to know<br />
about other people, languages, societies, and the<br />
world. The new version of Japanese enthusiast—<br />
the anime student—provides a new way of thinking<br />
about how students engage with language and<br />
suggests a more idealistic view of the process.<br />
Implications for teachers<br />
I have four suggestions for teachers that follow<br />
directly from the findings of this study and my<br />
ongoing work as a Japanese teacher and anime researcher.<br />
1. Get to know the tools<br />
Knowledge of anime students’ activities can help<br />
teachers think about alternative ways to teach <strong>literacy</strong><br />
in a multiliteracies framework. It may also<br />
help teachers appreciate students’ love of popular<br />
culture. The participants in this study cited their<br />
frequent use of the Internet for anime-related activities.<br />
Chandler-Olcott and Mahar’s (2003b)<br />
study also reminded us of “the need to consider<br />
how those tools are specifically used as part of<br />
membership in particular communities of practice”<br />
(p. 381). It goes without saying that the<br />
Internet is becoming a necessary tool for adolescents<br />
to gather information and construct their<br />
social identities by participating in online activities<br />
as members of certain affinity groups. As Ted<br />
suggested, some people prefer communicating<br />
with others on the Internet rather than through<br />
face-to-face interaction. We may be able to find<br />
students’ potential <strong>literacy</strong> skills and their multiple<br />
identities by paying attention to their activities<br />
with popular culture texts and the Internet.<br />
2. Appreciate authentic aspects of<br />
other cultures<br />
Appreciating authentic aspects of other cultures<br />
is a better way to see language in context. In the<br />
1960s, Japanese cultural aspects in anime had to<br />
be taken out or modified to appeal to viewers in<br />
the United States. Current anime fans enjoy<br />
watching both types of anime, the new hybrid<br />
type and anime based on authentic Japanese culture<br />
with some twists such as Hikaru no go<br />
(Hikaru’s Go). Instead of changing “other” cultural<br />
norms into “American” norms, anime fans<br />
have begun to respect Japanese culture and language.<br />
Some of the students who liked watching<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 219
Hikaru no go formed a Go club and met weekly. It<br />
was a surprise to me that U.S. students took up<br />
the challenging and complicated game. Another<br />
example is from an anime and manga series<br />
called Fruit Basket, from which one of my students<br />
learned the zodiac in Japanese.<br />
Popular culture texts such as anime are a<br />
hook to draw students’ attention, and teachers<br />
can use them to help students expand their multicultural<br />
awareness. I suggest <strong>using</strong> anime that inspires<br />
discussions on aspects of Japanese culture<br />
as well as global issues. To discuss war and peace<br />
issues with elementary students, I suggest <strong>using</strong><br />
Hotaru no haka (Graveyard of the Fireflies; Studio<br />
Ghibli & Takahata, 1988). For middle school students<br />
and older, Kaze no tani no Naushika<br />
(Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; Takahata &<br />
Miyazaki, 1984) will provoke discussions related<br />
to war and environmental issues. In J<strong>FL</strong> classrooms,<br />
students can experience Japanese familybased<br />
humor while they listen to kansai-ben<br />
(Kansai dialect) in Houhokekyo Tonari no<br />
Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas; Suzuki,<br />
Ishii, & Takahata, 1999).<br />
K–12 teachers can invite Japanese teachers<br />
or native informants from local colleges and<br />
communities into classrooms in order to provide<br />
knowledge of Japanese language and culture beyond<br />
popular culture. Every year around March, I<br />
visit a local elementary school and talk about<br />
Japanese culture to second graders as a part of social<br />
studies classes about Japan. If teachers cannot<br />
find any Japanese informants in their area, they<br />
can contact the embassy or consulate of Japan.<br />
For example, the Japan Information Center in the<br />
consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, offers a school-visit<br />
service for educators and students called Japan<br />
Caravan (www.japanatlanta.org/caravan.html).<br />
3. Have a critical discussion<br />
The pedagogy of multiliteracies suggests the importance<br />
of developing a critical stance for both<br />
teachers and students. I suggest teachers should<br />
hold critical discussions throughout the school<br />
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year. Critical awareness is one way to encourage<br />
students to be active learners instead of passive<br />
learners. Questioning what they view is the beginning<br />
of critical awareness. “Please don’t believe my<br />
stories about Japan without questioning,” I tell my<br />
students. I try to present multiple voices from<br />
Japan. I have at least two native informants visit<br />
my classes and ask their opinions when we talk<br />
about culture. I intentionally select native informants<br />
from different areas of Japan, backgrounds,<br />
majors, age groups, and genders if possible.<br />
Hayao Miyazaki’s well-known anime film,<br />
Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro; Studio<br />
Ghibli & Miyazaki, 1988), introduces many<br />
Japanese cultural aspects and Japanese children’s<br />
perspectives. A few years ago, a J<strong>FL</strong> teacher posted<br />
a question on a J<strong>FL</strong> teachers’ listserv asking<br />
whether she should skip one part of the movie<br />
with U.S. elementary students. The part she was<br />
referring to was a scene of two little girls taking a<br />
bath with their father. Because I am familiar with<br />
Japanese hot springs and public baths, I viewed<br />
this particular scene of a parent and small children<br />
taking a bath together as a symbol of a happy<br />
Japanese family. However, this practice differs from<br />
U.S. cultural norms. I think it could be an opportunity<br />
for classroom discussion. Seeing the full film<br />
shows how peaceful and family oriented it is.<br />
Judging different cultural representations according<br />
to other cultural norms is not the best way to<br />
expand students’ multicultural perspectives.<br />
4. Be aware of the power of popular<br />
culture<br />
Because some students shift their identities in a<br />
particular community, it is dangerous for teachers<br />
to judge popular culture based on their own assumptions.<br />
For a long time, popular culture has<br />
been looked down upon in the education field.<br />
Some teachers believe that reading comics is for<br />
children who have not reached the level of reading<br />
“real” books (Marsh & Millard, 2000). I once<br />
heard the following comment from a teacher<br />
educator who was my classmate in a graduate<br />
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“Those anime students”: Foreign language <strong>literacy</strong> <strong>development</strong> through Japanese popular culture<br />
course: “Oh, Pokemon. It contains too much<br />
fighting and violence for me.” I responded,<br />
“Really? I thought that show was more about the<br />
importance of friendship and fairness. Have you<br />
watched the show?” She said, “No. I never watch<br />
that kind of stuff.” I am not a big Pokemon fan,<br />
but I sensed a strong bias from this particular<br />
teacher against something about which she knew<br />
little. Sometimes some forms of popular culture,<br />
such as Pokemon cards, are banned in classroom<br />
settings and students might feel that teachers<br />
therefore reject their identities. Teachers can encourage<br />
students to share their insider knowledge<br />
of a particular form of popular culture and spend<br />
some time learning from students.<br />
Foreign language teachers need to encourage<br />
students to share their interests in the target<br />
language such as anime, music, and websites. The<br />
two girls in Chandler-Olcott and Mahar’s study<br />
(2003a, 2003b) are like these J<strong>FL</strong> students—they<br />
are aware of agency in their out-of-classroom <strong>literacy</strong><br />
practices. Listening to students’ voices is<br />
one way to help students be active learners without<br />
taking the joy away from them. Being aware<br />
of students’ multiple identities will help teachers<br />
to rethink their fixed ideas on particular students.<br />
I believe that a J<strong>FL</strong> teacher’s job is to introduce<br />
multiple aspects of Japan. For serious anime<br />
fans like Ted, there is a tendency to believe that<br />
anime is the best thing that Japan offers. I know<br />
four J<strong>FL</strong> students who were big anime fans, but<br />
who did not talk about anime at all after coming<br />
back from one-year exchange programs. <strong>Anime</strong><br />
students’ joy in learning is noteworthy. However,<br />
there is a hidden danger in having limited knowledge<br />
of Japan from anime alone. Teachers can<br />
give every student opportunities to widen his or<br />
her perspectives, so that students can explore and<br />
expand their knowledge of Japan.<br />
The potential of popular culture’s power is<br />
not limited to anime. For instance, the current<br />
trend of Hanryu (“Korean style”) in Japan was<br />
sparked by the broadcast of a South Korean TV<br />
drama. Many Japanese people began studying<br />
Korean and visiting South Korea, motivated by this<br />
particular drama. This is something governmentlevel<br />
relations could never have foreseen or created.<br />
It is not possible to predict the effect popular<br />
culture may have on a general audience. These<br />
trends might change the current notion of globalization<br />
as “Americanization,” such as having<br />
McDonald’s restaurants everywhere or placing<br />
too much emphasis on learning English in non-<br />
English speaking countries. Popular culture enables<br />
“other” cultural globalization. Young adults<br />
in the United States learning Japanese motivated<br />
by anime and its subcultures and Japanese audiences<br />
of a South Korean TV drama studying<br />
Korean indicate the beginning of an alternative<br />
version of globalization and multiculturalism.<br />
When people have a strong interest in popular<br />
culture originating in other cultures, they have<br />
the potential to develop a critical stance, foreign<br />
language skills, and cultural knowledge. This potential<br />
is a special feature of “other” popular culture,<br />
in addition to what popular culture in one’s<br />
own society can offer.<br />
These are some suggestions for both teachers<br />
and students to shape-shift, to have current<br />
knowledge of a different society through its popular<br />
culture. I am not suggesting that all teachers<br />
need to be experts in foreign popular culture. Nor<br />
am I suggesting that every anime fan should<br />
study Japanese as a foreign language, or that every<br />
anime student would be a successful J<strong>FL</strong> learner.<br />
Rather, I am exploring the potential influence<br />
that popular culture, especially popular culture<br />
from “other” societies, can have on developing<br />
multiple literacies. It is important to be aware<br />
that students’ communities of practice can provide<br />
a different kind of learning. By listening,<br />
watching students carefully, and asking questions,<br />
teachers might be able to bridge the generation<br />
gap between themselves and their young students.<br />
Teachers of adolescents and young adults<br />
need to be aware of students’ out-of-class activities<br />
in order to avoid preparing students for the<br />
future with yesterday’s skills (Lankshear &<br />
Knobel, 2003).<br />
JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER <strong>2006</strong> 221
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