Dr Naomi Kurata - Researcher Profile

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Address

School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Faculty of Arts, Clayton

Biography

I commenced my teaching career in Tokyo at the secondary level after completing BA in English language and literature. Although I enjoyed teaching English to Junior High School students in those days, I always wished to pursue further studies related to language learning and teaching. When I immigrated to Australia in 1999, I decided to study MA in Applied Japanese Linguistics at Monash University.

While I was undertaking MA at Monash, I became interested in research topics, including language selection by learners as well as teachers. In particular, I became very interested in conducting research into language use and learning in Japanese language learners’ social networks.

My MA research presented a case study of the social networks of four upper-intermediate level Japanese language learners studying at an Australian university. It examined the relationship between the learners’ networks and second language acquisition in their home country. I expanded this earlier study into my PhD study. Through the use of ethnographic interviews with six learners of Japanese at an Australian university, as well as analysis of their natural interactions, this study focused on the major social factors affecting the construction of opportunities for these learners to use and learn Japanese. I qualified for the PhD in October 2008, graduating in March 2009.

I have worked as a Japanese language teacher at a TAFE and at Monash for over seven years. At Monash, I have taught a variety of classes, at levels 1, 2, 5-8 over the past seven years. I have been a coordinator of beginning, intermediate and advanced level Japanese units at Monash University for more than five years. I enjoy preparing creative teaching materials and interacting with students in the classroom. I have been appointed to a continuing lectureship from the beginning of 2010.

The Japanese program invited me to lead the development of a course for background/heritage speakers of Japanese which commenced in 2010 at Monash. This development includes organising and implementing survey and focus group interviews for the purpose of student needs analysis, and developing curricula and resources for two units (Japanese for Background Speakers Parts 1 and 2). In collaboration with the members of the advisory committee for this course development, we have developed an innovative course in order to cater for these background speakers’ needs that are very different from those of the non-Japanese background majority.

Qualifications

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 2009
MASTER OF ARTS
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 2002

Publications

Books

Kurata, N., 2011, Foreign Language Learning and Use: Interaction in Informal Social Networks, Continuum International, London UK.

Book Chapters

Kurata, N., 2013, Social networks in second language acquistion, in Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, eds Carol A. Chapelle, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester West Sussex UK, pp. 5248-5256.

Kurata, N., 2007, Social and contextual factors influencing L1/L2 use in learners' social network contexts: a case study of learners of Japanese in Australia, in Learning Discourses and the Discourses of Learning, eds Helen Marriott, Tim Moore and Robyn Spence-Brown, Monash University ePress, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 15.1-15.19.

Journal Articles

Kurata, N., Koshiba, K., 2012, Language identities of Japanese home-background speakers and their language learning needs, Japanese Studies [P], vol 32, issue 3, Routledge, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, pp. 357-375.

Kurata, N., 2012, Needs analysis of heritage learners of Japanese and a course development for these learners at a university in Melbourne, Studies in Mother Tongue, Heritage Language, and Bilingual Education, vol 8, Mother Tongue, Heritage Language and Bilingual Education Research Association, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 57-76.

Kurata, N., 2012, Noting and other language management processes of a learner of Japanese in his bilingual social networks, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication [P], vol 22, issue 2, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, Netherlands, pp. 232-248.

Kurata, N., 2010, Opportunities for foreign language learning and use within a learner's informal social networks, Mind, Culture, and Activity: An International Journal [P], vol 17, issue 4, Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, United States, pp. 382-396.

Kurata, N., 2007, Language choice and second language learning opportunities in learners' socia networks: a case study of an Australian learner of Japanese, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, vol 30, issue 1, Monash ePress, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 05.1-05.18.

Kurata, N., 2004, Communication networks of Japanese language learners in their home country, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, vol 14, issue 1, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam The Netherlands, pp. 153-180.

Kurata, N., 2004, Social networks of language learners and collaborative interaction with native speakers: A case study of two Australian learners of Japanese, ASAA e-journal of Asian Linguistics & Language Teaching, vol 7, issue 7, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 1-22.

Other

Kurata, N., 2008, Opportunities for second language learning and use in foreign language learners' social networks.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The impact of study abroad on Japanese language learners' out-of-class interaction and Japanese-speaking networks.
Supervisors:
Spence-Brown, R (Main), Kurata, N (Associate).