Charu Gupta will be defending her dissertation proposal on Friday, July 25 at 1:30pm online via Zoom.
Supervisory Committee:
Co-Supervisors: Dr. Ryuko Kubota & Dr. Anwar Ahmed
Committee Member: Dr. Meike Wernicke
Dissertation Title:
Language Ideologies and Identity Constructions of Japanese University Students: An Ethnographic Multiple Case Study of Study Abroad Experiences
Abstract:
Canada is one of the most popular study abroad destinations for students from Japan (JAOS, 2024), and yet most research in the field centres students from USA or Europe (Dietrich, 2018; Kinginger, 2009). Moreover, there is a need for more longitudinal research that looks at sojourners as more than language learners, who act on and are acted on by the contexts they inhabit (Kinginger, 2017; Kubota et al., 2022). Thus, my doctoral study aims to explore the experiences of undergraduate sojourners from a Japanese university, particularly focusing on how language ideologies and their identity constructions interact with their study abroad environments to shape their perceptions of languages, sojourning, and themselves over one academic year. I plan to generate data with my participants (n = 6 to 8) through an ethnographic multiple case study using semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, document analysis, and journal writing. By looking at students sojourning in a Western country, my proposed study will examine an oft-ignored population. Within each case, my analysis opens up the possibility to unpack various language ideologies, while also investigating the roles of students’ multiple identities in their process of internalising, reinforcing, or challenging these ideologies. Furthermore, it will draw important connections between language, ideologies, identities, contexts, and study abroad, which could help not only to understand the experiences of Japanese study abroad students better, but also provide suggestions for study abroad programs to construct a better experience for future cohorts.