Pedagogical Linguistics Training for Graduate Students

This commentary tries to address how we can foster diversity and inclusion among peers and potential peers in Japanese-language education based on my experience with providing pedagogical linguistics training to graduate students at The Ohio State University. Pedagogical linguistics training aims to instill future Japanese-language instructors with the knowledge of how the Japanese language works and to foster their ability to incorporate such knowledge into teaching. I would like to propose that pedagogical linguistics training can be a powerful tool to help individual teachers achieve their potential regardless of their prior experiences and backgrounds. I will discuss 1) the importance of pedagogical linguistics training and how it empowers future Japanese-language; and 2) issues in pedagogical linguistics training.