NSJLE 2016 Proceedings: Visible and Valuable

Addressing the challenge of languages education in Australian schools:
using promotion and popular culture to make Japanese visible and valuable
John Hajek
Director, Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-cultural Communication(RUMACCC) and Professor of Italian Studies
University of Melbourne

Introduction
The theme of the third National Symposium on Japanese Language Education held in
Melbourne in November 2016 was making Japanese language teaching and learning visible
and valuable in Australia. This contribution is based on my keynote lecture at the Symposium,and has the following aims:(a) to provide simple tools to frame the way we can think and talk about the challenges
for languages education in Australia, and Japanese in particular; and(b) to suggest practical solutions to these challenges in order to significantly strengthen
the place of Japanese language and culture inside and outside the classroom.
Japanese has many potential positives in its favour at all levels of education, despite thechallenges it faces along with languages education more broadly in Australia. At the macrolevel, there is great depth of engagement with respect to Japanese within Australian education– both over time and scale of effort and uptake. At the micro level, the richness and appeal ofJapanese language and culture mean that Japanese is well placed to be successful in our
schools and to generate interest and support more broadly in school communities. In thiscontext, it can also serve as a successful model for all languages.

Understanding the challenge for languages education in Australia
How do we make languages indispensable in the Australian education system and wider
society? We have decades of experience showing us how difficult this aim is to achieve. In
the case of Japanese in our schools, there are specific concerns about the long-term impact of
the termination of national funding programs to support Asian language and literacies inschools, and the rise of Chinese and China in the context of the Asian Century (see e.g.
Tohsaku, 2014). In this context, we need to think laterally, and engage in new (and old) ways,
to make Japanese (and other languages) desirable and in turn valuable.
The task is a serious one, but I would argue it should also be engaging. Humour can be auseful tool to help get the message across. As I explained and I hope I also demonstrated
during my keynote presentation, such an approach should not be seen as undermining theimportance of what we do as language educators and what needs to be done to strengthen
languages education in Australia. Instead, humour can be a valuable additional tool to makeimportant points and to change people’s minds when they might otherwise be resistant tochange. It is difficult to translate the particular humorous approach into written form, so I do
not aim to replicate it here, other than to say it sits within a broader positive approach to thepromotion of languages education that much of this contribution is written in.

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NSJLE 2016 Proceedings: Visible and Valuable

Why aren’t languages thriving in our schools? A simple frame
It is often said that languages are not thriving in Australian schools.1 This is certainly the casewhen we compare with other nations that are high achievers in education. In the case of
Finland, which has become a fashionable model for Australian education policymakers tofollow and visit, each student receives significant school time in three languages in addition totheir mother tongue. Most children have Finnish (more rarely Swedish) as their first language,and Swedish (more rarely Finnish), English and one other language. The average Finnish
student leaves school with reasonable to good fluency in at least two (usually Swedish andEnglish) of the three additional languages (a fact confirmed by my own observation).
In order to address this challenge in Australia, where do we start? While there are many ways
to talk about languages education and the challenges it faces, I suggest it may be useful tounderstand them first by framing them in a relatively simple and accessible way.
It is important to understand that the problem is greater than our classrooms, and does not
begin in our classrooms. It is in fact a wider societal issue that then impacts on policy settings,
resourcing and provision for languages in our education system. Australia is not alone on thisfront – it is a fundamental challenge for all English-speaking countries. The broader ‘language
challenge’ can be usefully explained by the powerful interaction of two phenomena: (a) themonolingual mindset; and (b) the so-called Anglobubble, a term I have proposed on previous
occasions. These simple concepts are very useful in helping us understand the language
challenge in Australia and how we might respond to it.
The term ‘monolingual mindset’ was first introduced into English by Professor Michael Clyne,
and he defines it in the following way:
The greatest impediment to recognizing, valuing and utilizing our language potential
is a persistent monolingual mindset. Such a mindset sees everything in terms ofmonolingualism being the norm, even though there are more bi- and multilinguals in
the world than monolinguals. (Clyne, 2005)
The monolingual mindset is not inherently linked or restricted to English, but it has been
repeatedly identified as characteristic of present-day English-speaking societies such as
Australia. This is in spite of the increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse nature of the
populations of the major L1 English-speaking countries as a result of ongoing migration (seee.g. Hajek & Slaughter 2014 for examples of the operation and impact of the mindset).
The term ‘Anglobubble’ can be understood as follows:This is that part of the world, with a concentration of monolingual English speakers,
that operates in English, and thinks it only natural that:(a) everything should happen in English and should logically be experienced andunderstood in English; and that(b) everyone speaks or should speak English.
There is a clear connection between being English-speaking (particularly as first and only
language) and a bounded but see-through separation from the multilingual diversity andreality of the world outside the bubble. It is intended to be slightly tongue in cheek, precisely
to contrast with more serious terms such as ‘Anglosphere’ or ‘English-speaking world’. It is
this aspect that makes it particularly useful in helping to frame the way we can talk about

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languages education to engage with different audiences. It is especially useful when talking,for instance, to students about why learning other languages may be useful or beneficial. My
own direct experience has shown that students understand the term and are able to play with it,
quickly giving examples that show the Anglobubble (and monolingual mindset for thatmatter) in action in their own experience of the world.
Given the enormous social and economic capital of English around the globe, it is not
surprising to see how easily the concepts of monolingual mindset and the Anglobubble cancome together, nor why they are so difficult to dislodge once enmeshed. Steve Price, anAustralian media personality with significant influence, makes no bones in an opinion piecein a major daily about his views on languages and languages education, as seen in this shortquote:The new national curriculum will, after establishing Italian and Chinese, also teach
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Why? Can't someone explain to thebureaucrats and educators that this is a massive waste of time and resources? English,
as anyone who regularly travels will tell you, is the universal language of business,
diplomacy and entertainment. (Price 2011)
The words ‘anyone who regularly travels’ (by implication, the author of the quote) highlights
one important element of the Anglobubble: it is not fixed to any one location, but is easily
portable, able to move with L1 English speakers wherever they might go. They are likely, forinstance, when travelling to stay in hotels and seek services in some form of English (often ata significant premium). Steve Price has clearly not been to Japan (or many other places)
where, based on my own experience, the ability to function in English as an outsider entering
the country is extremely limited.
Responding to the challenge
Now that we have a simple way of framing the challenging context in which Australianschools and languages education operate, what can we do so that languages education thrives?
More specifically, how can we ensure that native English speakers understand they need morethan English to operate in the world, so that they want to participate in language learning?
How can we do this in a way that is compelling and perhaps surprising?
In the first instance, we need to increase demand and desire for languages inside and outsideclassrooms. Without this, we are unable to address all the issues that we have long been awareof, such as inadequate policy, resources, and teacher quality and supply.2
To increase demand and desire, it is essential to have a strong strategy both at the local level(in our schools) and nationally (across society). The local level is one educators and teachers
can address themselves, individually, but ideally working together with other teachers – and is
the focus of this contribution. The national level needs significant institutional/politicalsupport, of a kind that is ideally consistent, long term and well funded. In both cases,
promotion and advocacy are essential, supported by high-quality marketing and a range ofideas old and new to be implemented. Successful marketing requires good strategy and inparticular, a great product – something that Japanese clearly is (see below).
As part of this pro-language approach, I am a strong proponent of using popular culture to ouradvantage, both for promotional purposes to generate interest inside and outside theclassroom, and to support classroom learning. It is self-evident that target language and3

NSJLE 2016 Proceedings: Visible and Valuable

culture are always essential elements in both these contexts, but, as I argue below, attention
should also be given to using our students’ own Anglo-oriented culture as an unexpectedly
effective tool.
We should always be careful to extend our efforts well beyond the classroom within theschool – to students not currently learning Japanese as well as to other teachers, principals andparents. Popular culture can be a very effective element of a ‘whole of school’ approach.
What happens outside the classroom can have significant impact on what happens inside. This
presents a challenge to language teachers who, given the local and national contexts that they
operate in, are expected to be skilled in the promotion of and advocacy for language educationin schools as a valuable learning area for students.
Where is Japanese in all this? A great product which could do with a hero-based strategy
While I have raised some concerns about the current place of Japanese in our education sector(see also Tohsaku 2014 and de Kretser and Spence-Brown 2010), the factors that weigh on
Japanese language teaching are not specific to the language, but are the result of externalpressures that impact on the entire languages education sector. It is important to understandthat Japanese (understood as shorthand for Japanese language and culture together) is, from amarketing perspective, a marketer’s dream. Japanese culture – both traditional and modern –offers amazing possibilities to engage with students, schools and the broader public. I don’t
need to list them all for you, other than to point to the very broad range – from traditional artsand cuisine to manga, anime, high tech and beyond. However, using elements of Japanese
language and culture to motivate Japanese language learning, while essential and inevitable inthe classroom, is in itself not sufficient. These elements need to be integrated within a broader
framework that motivates and sustains interest in Japanese inside and outside the classroom.
In the first instance, the framework requires, amongst other things, a human approach, i.e. an
understanding that as social animals we are likely to respond to the interests and influence ofother people. In the Australian context, this is easily exemplified by the popularity and impactof sporting heroes – their success on the field is used by marketers precisely to motivate andchange the perceptions and behaviours of the target audience. This may be, for instance,
through the use of sporting heroes to promote products, or sponsored visits by sporting heroes
to schools to encourage participation in sport. The fact that advertisers spend large fortunes onsponsored deals with sporting heroes year after year confirms the impact these individuals
have on people around them.
It is in this context that I suggest we need heroes to promote Japanese inside and outside ourschools. The question then becomes: who are the Japanese-language heroes Australians canrecognise and connect with? I suggest a two-pronged response here:(a) We need real people and stories that people can connect with; and more generally,(b) We also need to use star power, role models, Anglo culture – anything and everythingat our disposal.
A hero-based approach is designed to get the language message across and to increase thevalue of and desire for languages in our schools. That’s good marketing!
In the first instance, students need heroes to connect with the idea that it is perfectly ‘normal’as an Australian to speak Japanese, or to want to do so. But where are the language heroes forJapanese? For a successful strategy we need both people ‘just like us’ and the big stars with
influence. At the moment, developing a hero-based approach to Japanese remains a challenge,

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since it is difficult – even after decades of Japanese language education in Australia – to findthem, especially at national level. I am currently aware of only two such national heroes who
are fluent in Japanese:(a) Adam Liaw, a well-known celebrity TV chef(b) Gotye, an internationally successful singer and musician.
Adam Liaw was originally a lawyer who was sent to Japan for work before winning the firstedition of the Australian television reality show Master Chef. He lived in Japan for someyears and now has a Japanese wife and speaks very good Japanese. He is a successful authorand seen regularly on Australian television. He can be found on Youtube promoting Japanese
language and culture, e.g. ‘Nine Useful Japanese Phrases with Adam Liaw’.3
Gotye, raised in Melbourne, is best known for his global smash hit ‘Somebody that I used toknow’ which broke records around the world, including in the USA. The official video clip4
has had more than 890 million views and both the song and the clip are very well known to
our students – something that should be borne in mind. Few know, however, that he is also afluent speaker of Japanese – a language he studied at school and at university in Australia. He
can also be found online speaking in Japanese on television, in interviews and in concerts inJapan.5 It is only a pity that we cannot find clips of Gotye with a digital quality that would
maximise the impact of his speaking Japanese.
There is a third candidate, somewhat limited but useful nevertheless: Australian supermodel
Miranda Kerr, who has headlined a series of major advertising campaigns on Japanese
television.6 In many cases, especially for the laundry product, Fundry, she is seen speaking
coached Japanese.7 Whilst Kerr is not fluent in any real sense, the element of surprise here isuseful in generating interest.
The paucity of identifiable Japanese-speaking Australian national heroes is an indication of
how difficult it is to change entrenched patterns favouring monolingualism in Australia. Thatsaid, the three heroes identified here provide teachers with practical opportunities. They canbe used by teachers of Japanese with students but also, critically, with parents and others
during language promotion events. The various clips available online, particularly theadvertisements, also provide valuable teaching and learning material. Teachers might want,
for instance, to (a) translate and recreate ‘Somebody that I used to know’ in Japanese; (b)have students contact language heroes directly to ask about their Japanese language
experiences; and (c) analyse the language and cultural content of Miranda Kerr’s Fundry
advertisements.

Additional practical suggestions for language promotion and teaching
With a clear and effective multi-faceted strategy that addresses the needs and interests of all
sections of the school community – students, fellow teachers, principals and parents – it isentirely possible to foster a strong languages program supported by the entire schoolcommunity. However, such an outcome also involves effort and visibility inside and outside
the class.
While language promotion through distribution of information, e.g. flyers, bookmarks, giftbags, is undoubtedly essential, it is important to understand that practical activities are also

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very powerful in drawing students’ attention and motivating them to begin and to continue.
There are many practical suggestions – some of which, often provided by Japanese language
teachers, are outlined in the sections that follow.
Japanese language teachers in Australia share their ideas
There is no paucity of practical suggestions available to language teachers for language
promotion and teaching. Many of these come from the direct experience of Japanese language
teachers keen to share their knowledge and ideas at the National Symposium event. For
instance, Lane (2016), drawing on his experience as a Japanese language teacher in Australia,
provides a very useful comprehensive list of the kinds of whole-of-school activities that are
useful in reaching out to students, parents and teachers. Howard (2014) discusses her
experience of the Japanese language speech night – an activity where students engage outside
the classroom with the school community. Lee, Asano and Koga (2016) use the Tohoku
earthquake and tsunami to bring real world events into the school environment. Venning(2014) outlines her experiences of using wikis to generate interest amongst students andparents. She highlights in fairly simple fashion how a technologically oriented activity
functions and can also be effective in generating interest and support amongst parents.
Undoubtedly more exciting and more challenging is the staging of Japanese language
flashmobs, as described in detail by Venning (2016), who explains the process as well as thebenefits. The motivating impact of this inclusive activity on students is very evident in her
account.
The cover song
I have long promoted the cover song as a secret weapon for pedagogical and promotional
success for languages education. That is, well-known English-language songs that aretranslated into the target language, e.g. Japanese.
I use the term ‘secret weapon’ not because teachers haven’t used the cover song for teaching
purposes in the past, but because I don’t think its potential utility and effect have been
understood. While much of our work as language educators is to foster inter-cultural
understanding and awareness of the other through exposure to what is different and unique inother languages and cultures, we should also be aware of the powerful motivating effect of
seeing oneself in translation. Students (and others) connect emotionally with cover songs forvery good reason – since they ‘understand’ them already. Pre-existing exposure within thecontext of one’s own language and culture also facilitates learning, as well as generating
genuine curiosity that we can tap into.
Teachers might consider Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I used to know’ as a useful starting point,
especially with older students. While linking with the language-hero back story, one mightstart with translation of the song’s lyrics as a classroom-based task before moving to actualmusical production and the possible creation of a video clip – in collaboration with music andart teachers respectively. Otherwise, a great place to start for all ages is the Cup Song – an oldsong revived in the teen movie Pitch Perfect (released in 2012). The song has since achieved
global success and is well known to young people for its use of simple clapping and cups tocreate an audible beat and visual effect. 8 There are thousands of imitations and lessons
devised by individuals on line. There is also an appealing Japanese version with young female
students9 as well as a short commercial that was broadcast on Japanese television.10 Both ofthese can be used as models for students to imitate. However, an excellent real-life example of
how the Cup Song can be used as a ‘whole of school’ activity or event is found in Coláiste6

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Lurgan’s Irish Gaelic version involving the participation of hundreds of L2 learners, which
has had millions of views.11
What the Cup Song highlights in any language, including English, is the positive multimodal
aspects and impacts it provide. It is fun and practical, and is of equal interest to boys and girls.
It supports all learning styles, and is experiential, given the integration of physical movement,song and language learning. It is also up to the moment, and clearly outcome-oriented in a
way that students and those watching understand. One only has to watch the end of Coláiste
Lurgan’s version of the Cup Song to see the wildly positive effects of the approach.
Turn your principal into a local language hero
Everyone knows that principals play a critical role in supporting languages programs in our
schools. Principals’ responsibilities are great, as is their impact on every aspect of theirschool’s operation. Where principals are very positive, they function as strong role models forteachers and parents and are more likely to provide adequate resourcing, appropriate
timetabling and moral support. In this context, languages programs are undoubtedly more
likely to thrive. Unfortunately, long experience has also told us that in many cases principals,
for a long list of reasons not discussed here, are not positively inclined towards languages
education. They often have negative attitudes towards languages (the monolingual mindset atwork), making life more difficult for language teachers and their programs (see e.g. De
Kretser and Spence-Brown 2010). In these cases, we need to think about how we cantransform attitudes and turn the principals in question into supportive role models – in acontext where resistance to change can be ingrained.
While there are many ways we can try to reach out to principals, undoubtedly the mosteffective way to change attitudes and to turn principals into positive role models is to send
them to Japan. There are programs currently in place, and these are well thought out, withpre- and post-departure support in addition to time in Japan. While home-stay in Japan may
not be effective for every principal, it is undoubtedly the case – based on frequent observation
by Japanese language teachers – that immersion visits really do change most principals and inturn the environment for Japanese language teaching in the schools these principals manage.
Food – the not-so-secret weapon
It should not surprise an outsider that language teachers often rely on food for educational andpromotional purposes; Italian gelati days must be very well known. Lane (2014) integrates
food consumption into his whole-of-school approach to the promotion of Japanese. A foodbased strategy, if well thought out, can be particularly effective in the Australian context.
National surveys show that 95% of Australians identify food as the strongest and best
evidence of successful multiculturalism in this country. In this context, Japanese isparticularly well placed given the depth of its culinary history and practices. It is easy toorganize activities and events around many different Japanese food elements. One can be surethat many teachers, for instance, regularly teach students how to prepare sushi. But there aremany other elements to explore, especially ones that are less well-known to the broader
population, e.g. tempura – both in terms of its history as an intercultural contact phenomenon
between East and West, and the technique involved (the technique and its name wereborrowed from the Portuguese centuries ago). There are other exciting possibilities, including
the concept of umami – novel to most Australians and something that can be integrated into
language teaching and promotion in many different ways. From a pedagogical perspective,
umami can also be linked into science lessons – given its controversial nature and recent

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scientific research in the west that seeks to understand what it is or isn’t. An Umami Day
event for the whole school is likely to intrigue not only students but also teachers and parents.

Conclusion
There are many things we can say about the difficulties and challenges that languages
education in Australia faces; these have been well described and reported by many different
observers. It is helpful, however, to think in relatively simple terms, using concepts such as
the monolingual mindset and the Anglobubble, about the macro or big-picture issues that
impact negatively on the learning and teaching of Japanese and other languages. It makes it
easier for us to explain and discuss the issues to others – whether we are talking to students, toteachers, principals or parents. We need to think about strategies to improve and support
language teaching. Promotion and marketing are critical. Japanese language and culture sellthemselves very easily in this context. However, we also need to work more broadly throughstrategies such as finding Japanese-speaking heroes, adopting a whole-of-school approach,and establishing a program of practical activities and strategies that support, motivate andideally transform. A number of suggestions have been made here, for example, drawing on
existing cultural knowledge by using Japanese cover versions of English pop songs, sending
principals to Japan on an immersion experience, and thinking of new ways of exploiting
Japanese food culture – these and other suggestions are all intended to make Japanesevaluable, visible and ultimately highly desirable and successful.

References
Anderson, K. (2016). Does making Japan still matter: teachers, study-abroad and relevance.
In Thomson (ed.), pp.14-25.
Clyne, M. (2005). Australia's language potential. Sydney: University of New South Wales
Press.
De Kretser, A. and R. Spence-Brown (2010). The current state of Japanese language
education in Australian schools. Carlton South, Australia: Education Services

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Hajek, J., and Y. Slaughter (eds) (2014). Challenging the monolingual mindset. Bristol:Multilingual Matters.
Howard, M. (2014). Japanese speech night at the primary school level: advocacy throughlanguage learning. In Thomson (ed.), pp.83-94.
Lane, N. (2016). A whole-of-school approach to promoting Japanese involving students,
teachers and parents. In Thomson (ed), pp.130-137.
Lee, C., M. Asano and H. Koga (2016). Japanese beyond the classroom: learning about the
Tohoku disaster to connect Japanese language learning to the real world. In Thomson(ed.), pp.103-116.
Nicholas, H. (2014). Losing bilingualism whle promoting second language acquisition inAustralian language policy. In Hajek and Slaughter (eds), pp.165-182.
Price, S. (2011). Let's ditch the study of languages. Herald Sun (3 February).
Slaughter, Y. (2011). Bringing Asia to the Home Front: The Australian Experience of Asian
Language Education through National Policy. In C. Norrby and J. Hajek (eds),
Uniformity and diversity in language policy: global perspectives. Bristol: Multilingual
Matters, pp.157-176.
Spence-Brown, R. (2016). Japanese language education in Australia today: an overview. In
Thomson (ed.), pp.26-42.
Thomson. C. K. (ed.) (2014). National Symposium on Japanese Language Education
Proceedings 2012: Creating the Future. Sydney: The Japan Foundation.
Thomson, C. K. (ed.) (2016). 2014/Local Connections, Global Visions. National Symposium
on Japanese Language Education Proceedings. Sydney: The Japan Foundation.
Tohsaku, Y-H. (2014). Japanese language education in the global era: new perspectives andadvocacy. In Thomson (ed.), pp.3-14.
Venning, W. (2014). Wiki wonderland: a tool for learning and advocacy. In Thomson (ed.),pp.73-82.
Venning, W. (2016). Funk up your Japanese with a flashmob! In Thomson (ed.), pp.60-69.

NOTES
1

See e.g. Nicholas, 2014; Slaughter, 2011; de Kretser & Spence-Brown, 2010, for an overview of many of thefactors at play.
2
See e.g. Slaughter, 2011 on the vagaries of national policy on Asian languages education
3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuCDtrhI6k4
4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
5https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-1G0pv2lQ
6
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2425001/Victorias-Secret-model-Miranda-Kerr-stars-Japanesedetergent-advert.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnlggqGKeXc
7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeXh-yXwEXM
8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOW0QnHKoHc
9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlOW9cZqjk
10
The Youtube version of the commercial viewed for this paper is no longer available
11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz63M3v11nE

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