“My Language System is Broken!”: Striving for the Wellbeing of Individuals and Society | 「言語のシステムが壊れちゃった！」 ―個人と社会のウェルビーイングにむけて―

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2024

Publication Title

The Japanese Journal of Language in Society

Abstract

Currently, the impact of the new coronavirus, climate calamities, and conflicts and wars in various regions of the world have brought attention to individual wellbeing and social justice in both society at large and in the field of education. In this study, through the critical examination of the concepts of welfare linguistics and translanguaging, we attempt to scrutinize what constitutes wellbeing. To this end, by employing critical discourse analysis on the data of one student in a Japanese language class at an American college, we unpack how she was caught between monolingual ideology and her actual translanguaging practices. The results suggest that translanguaging does not necessarily guarantee wellbeing, and that wellbeing is influenced by factors such as individual life experiences, parental beliefs, and social environment. The implications for language education are that both students and teachers, as members of society, should not simply accept prevailing ideologies, but rather engage in continuous dialogues and reflections with others by using a range of available (linguistic) resources to envision and work towards the betterment of society. We believe such efforts would enhance the wellbeing of both individuals and society.

Keywords

wellbeing, translanguaging, critical discourse analysis, dialogue, international collaborative learning

Volume

27

Issue

1

First Page

31

Last Page

46

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