Nihonjingakkō is a full-time school for children of Japanese expatriates
which offers compulsory education of the same standard as that provided in
schools in Japan. Most nihonjingakkō situated in non-Anglophone regions have
been providing courses on local languages as ‘education for understanding the host
society’ genchi rikai kyōuiku’. This is also the case for nihonjingakkō in Brussels,
located in multilingual Belgium, which provides French language education. At
first, the school seemed to value the local language. However, as the qualitative
case study research which adopted ethnography progressed, it became evident that
the school’s foreign language education did not consider the diversity of language,
race, and culture which poses a risk of reinforcing stereotypes. In this article,
by analyzing the foreign language education in nihonjingakkō in Brussels from
the viewpoint of language ideology, I discuss implications for foreign language
education in nihonjingakkō and Japan.
Research papers (publications of university or research institution)
