Abstract
In this piece of authoethnography, Andrea Simon-Maeda provides an intriguing investigation into her experiences ‘being and becoming a speaker of Japanese.’ This work offers a rich ethnographic and highly personal account of Simon-Maeda’s story as a long time learner of Japanese and foreign resident of Japan. It is supplemented with insightful theoretical and analytical discussions that carry implications for scholars that span multiple academic disciplines.
The author situates this manuscript as a postmodern critique of positivist inquiries into the language learning process, as well as a broad critique of positivist approaches in general. However, she acknowledges that there is much to be gained from combining these approaches and emphasizes that she is not necessarily arguing ‘against’ positivism. She is rather suggesting that positivist inquiries into language learning have not been able to capture the full range of phenomena extant within the language acquisition process. She therefore argues that ‘researchers need to widen their investigative lens through the use of alternative methodologies, such as autoethnography, in order to capture the multilayered nature of language learning and use’ (p. 10). In doing so, she explicates how personal narratives can be an important source of ethnographic data, as well as a crucial mechanism through which a better understanding of the language acquisition process can be obtained. Simon-Maeda notes that narratives have become increasingly popular in second language acquisition studies because they offer novel, detailed, and otherwise unexplored data about the language learning process.
This book is divided into two parts: the first establishes the book’s conceptual framework, whereas the second is mainly made up of the book’s ethnographic content. Part I introduces Simon-Maeda’s theoretical framework for establishing this work as a postmodernist critique. She argues that because language learning is both individually experienced and embedded within a larger web of social interactions and discourses, studies attempting to more carefully examine the language acquisition process must pay closer attention to the idiosyncrasies and subjectivities of the language learning experience. To validate the use of this framework, she explores how ethnography can reveal ‘unquantifiable’ dimensions of the language learning experience that are otherwise overlooked in more quantitative analyses. Simon-Maeda references a number of postmodern and poststructuralist scholars – e.g., Aneta Pavlenko, Bonny Norton, Donna Haraway, Judith Butler – to argue that any social action (e.g., language learning) is situated within a broader cultural and historical context, which must be given attention in scholarly analyses.
This is particularly significant because as one embarks on learning a language, it affects one’s conception of self-identity. Both the study of a language and the actual utilization of acquired linguistic and cultural skills provide the second language learner a platform to reconstruct their identity in dynamic ways. However, as Simon-Maeda also recognizes, this is not simply an unrestricted space for liberated identity (re)construction. Rather, the identities that emerge from these processes are situated within a larger framework of institutional norms related to conventional understandings of race, gender, and profession, among others, all of which are explored in detail in this work. Thus, Simon-Maeda demonstrates how autoethnography and qualitative analysis can remedy some of the fragmented variables that account for subjective learning experiences.
Part II is made up of the book’s ethnographic content. It provides the reader a lucid picture of how the author found herself in her current situation and highlights some of the most important influences on her identity construction. These chapters elucidate how Simon-Maeda has grappled with disparate and sometimes conflicting identities as a mother, professor, wife, neighborhood member, and foreign resident of Japan. Each of these different roles influenced her development as both a Japanese speaker and individual. For example, she explains in detail how her ‘interracial’ marriage situated her within a complex nexus of variables that shaped her everyday experiences, linguistic tendencies, and identity trajectory. It is clear that there has been a great deal of change and negotiation throughout this process and Simon-Maeda does a nice job of documenting how these changes affected her understanding of identity.
Several important themes are addressed in Part II. First, Simon-Maeda explains how her ‘cultural capital’ as a white, educated, female university professor provides a particular milieu through which she engages with Japanese society. She proceeds to compare this milieu to those of other Japanese learners from more diverse backgrounds to elucidate how certain demographic variables can affect learners in different ways. Second, she demonstrates how Japan’s gender norms influenced her identity development. At times, Simon-Maeda was forced to conceptually confront these norms and go against the grain in order to fulfill her own personal and professional ambitions. Third, she examines the impact that particular contextual variables, such as working in a Japanese university, have had on her identity trajectory. Simon-Maeda shows how her positionality within various social institutions has affected her identity in particular and multifaceted ways. Other themes investigated in Part II include the culturally grounded role of parenting, Japan’s treatment of foreigners in general, and the wider implications for future research.
Although this is an intriguing book, there are two critical points about Being and Becoming a Speaker of Japanese I would like to raise. First, I am not entirely sure of how Simon-Maeda treats the role of agency and motivation in the language learning process. In addition to her own experiences, Simon-Maeda also delves into discussions concerning the experiences of other Japanese learners from backgrounds different from her own. However, the role of agency and motivation are not much addressed and I believe a more thorough and critical examination of these factors would help to contextualize Simon-Maeda’s arguments. Second, much less a critical point and more of a personal interest, this book is more about Simon-Maeda’s ‘being’ rather than ‘becoming.’ My desire to learn more about the process of her ‘becoming’ were not entirely fulfilled, though I believe this is an intriguing avenue for further research. Of course, this is no fault of the author, because documenting this process would require immense effort and longitudinal commitment long before this manuscript was likely conceived. Nonetheless, I believe future studies can build on Being and Becoming a Speaker of Japanese to examine more meticulously the ‘process’ of identity formation as individuals acquire a second language and negotiate their identities through their everyday utilization of it. Because this work is more of a reflection, this task must be explored elsewhere. However, Simon-Maeda has provided an excellent springboard for examining these issues in greater detail, particularly through an ethnographic or autoethnographic lens.
Overall, Simon-Maeda provides a compelling account of her life experiences and reflections as a Japanese language learner. Although more positivist and quantitative scholars will likely find this work of limited use, those interested in the more subjective, idiosyncratic, and qualitative experiences of language acquisition will find this book especially enlightening. It can also be of use to those interested in understanding how identity and language learning intersect to influence the social trajectories of individual actors.