Contributor Biographies

Contributors
Matthew Absalom is a university teacher and researcher, professional linguist, Italianlanguage coach, translator and author. His current appointment is in the Italian Studies
Program at the University of Melbourne. He holds qualifications in music, education,languages and linguistics, and his research interests cover Italian linguistics, computerassisted language learning and languages education. Matthew is President of theAFMLTA.
Kent Anderson is a comparative lawyer specialising in Asia. He joined the Universityof Adelaide in 2012 as Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) and Professor of Law in theAdelaide Law School. He has an eclectic background, having completed his tertiarystudies in Japan, the US and the UK in law, politics, economics and Asian Studies. Forthe decade before joining the University of Adelaide, Kent was a joint appointment at
the Australian National University College of Law and Faculty of Asian Studies, where
he was Director from 2007-2011. He was the Foundation Director of the School ofCulture, History and Language in the ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific. Kent isa Board Member of the Asia Education Foundation and Vice-President of the AsianStudies Association of Australia. He was President of the Japanese Studies Associationof Australia from 2007-2009.
Anne de Krester is the Director of the Melbourne Centre for Japanese Language Education.
Her work includes providing professional learning opportunities, resource development,and advice and support to pre-service teachers, teachers, schools and institutions inAustralia, mainly in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Anne is also co-author of thereport, The current state of Japanese language education in Australian schools.
Mariel Howard has 15 years of experience teaching languages across all year levels inAustralia and in Japan. For the past six years she has taught Japanese at Kalamunda
Christian School in Western Australia. She has presented extensively in Perth, as well
as at the AFMLTA National Conference 2013. In 2012 she was awarded the JLTAWALanguage Teacher Award. In 2013 she started a CLIL support hub in Perth and ran
her first CLIL program teaching Art to Year 6 students in Japanese. In January 2014
she became the Languages Consultant across Swan Christian Education Association
schools in WA.

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Hiroko C. Kataoka is Professor of Japanese at California State University, Long Beach.
Her current research and writing focus on heritage speakers of Japanese and Japaneseimmersion programs. Her most recent book is Amerika de sodatsu Nihon no kodomotachi [アメリカで育つ日本の子供たち], co-edited with Gun’ei Sato. Hiroko has conductednumerous workshops in the US and abroad on pedagogy-related issues. She has also
served on many national committees and boards, including the Japanese NationalStandards Task Force (Chair), AP Japanese Task Force, and the boards of directors forATJ, NCJLT and Aurora Foundation. In 2007 she received ACTFL’s Florence SteinerAward for Leadership.
Hyogyung Kim holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Ochanomizu University. Shewas Lecturer at the Japanese-Language Institute from 2009 to 2012, and then Senior
Language Consultant at The Japan Foundation, Sydney from April 2012 to April 2014.
She is currently a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at Osaka University. She has
published teaching resources work on classroom research.
Kathe Kirby is the Executive Director of Asialink and the Asia Education Foundation at
the University of Melbourne, where her work focuses on equipping young Australians
for the Asian Century. Asialink is Australia’s largest Asia-Australia centre and works
across the education, business, arts and community sectors. Kathe has a backgroundin education as a teacher, university lecturer and policy maker. She is a Board memberof the Foundation of Young Australians and the Australia Malaysia Institute. Kathe is aregular contributor to the media on Asia literacy in Australian schools.
Aya Kondoh holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Ochanomizu University, as
well as a Graduate Diploma in Education of Language Teaching (Japanese) from theUniversity of Technology, Sydney. She has been Associate Professor of the National
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, and Director of Japanese Language andCulture Program. Since April 2014 she has been Professor at Reitaku University. Her
research interests include business communication and teaching resources.
Paul Moore lectures in applied linguistics at the University of Queensland, School ofLanguages and Comparative Cultural Studies.
Mari Morofushi has research interests including curriculum development, interculturalcommunication and technology in teaching and learning Japanese. She also conducts
research evaluating the effectiveness of online lessons for expanding learning
opportunities.

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Tetsushi Ohara is a PhD candidate in Japanese language pedagogy at the University ofNew South Wales. His research interests include learner autonomy and learner agency,
designs of classroom activities, and application of sociocultural theory to Japanese
language education. He also has experience in teaching Japanese language at UNSWand language schools in Sydney.
Yuji Okawa is an MA research candidate at the University of New South Wales. Yuji’s
research areas include voice in writing, NSW HSC Japanese courses and Japanese
language education in secondary schools. Yuji is also teaches Japanese language at ahigh school in the Sydney region.
Sarah Pasfield-Neofitou is a lecturer in Japanese and the eEducation Coordinator forthe Arts Faculty at Monash University. She is the author of “Online Communication in a
Second Language: Social Interaction, Language Use, and Learning Japanese” (MultilingualMatters 2012). For more information, see http://sarahpasfieldneofitou.com.
Angela Scarino is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics and Director of theResearch Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia. Her
research and publications are in the areas of language learning, languages and cultures ineducation, and language assessment. Her experience includes research and development
work in Australia, as well as in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. She
has led a number of research projects of national significance focused on intercultural
language learning and on assessment of student achievements in learning languages.
She has served as the President of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia andPresident of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations.
Noriko Shimada is the President of the HSC Japanese Committee, Inc., which is a non-profit
organisation working with the Japanese community, academics and relevant governmentorganisations to encourage the study of HSC Japanese and provide support and information tointerested parties. For more information, see http://hscjapanese.web.fc2.com/index.html.
Kaori Shimasaki is a third-year PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales,
majoring in applied linguistics. Kaori’s research interests include Japanese language
education; in particular how Japanese language learners are learning Japanese incommunities outside the classroom. Besides researching, Kaori has taught at a heritage
language school and has experience as a tutor at the University of New South Wales.

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Robyn Spence-Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Culture andLinguistics, Monash University. She teaches postgraduate units in applied linguistics
and introductory Japanese. Robyn’s research interests include language assessment,the impact of ICT on language teaching and learning, and the teaching of Japanese inAustralian schools.
Carolyn S. Stevens was appointed Professor of Japanese Studies and Director of theJapanese Studies Centre at Monash University in 2012. Her work spans a range ofareas of cultural and social anthropology, including disability and social welfare inJapan, Japanese popular music, consumer culture and fandom in contemporary Japanand sensory anthropology. She was President of the Japanese Studies Association ofAustralia (2011-2013), and currently edits the Association’s journal, Japanese Studies.
Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of New
South Wales. She represents the Japanese Studies Association of Australia in the Global
Network of Japanese Language Education and is a past President of the association. Her
research interests include learner agency and autonomy in Japanese language learning,and Community of Practice of learners and speakers of Japanese.
Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku is a Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where
he is Director of the Language Program at the School of International Relations andPacific Studies and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Japanese Language Program.
He received his PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego. He isformer President of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese.
Masae Uekusa holds a Masters in Applied Linguistics for Language Teachers and has
four years’ experience teaching Japanese in Australia. In addition, she has undertaken
tablet training through the eEducation centre in order to prepare for her current project.
Wendy Venning, PhD, has over 25 years of experience in languages education, and hastaught every age group from 4 year olds to adults in a variety of settings in Australia andJapan. Her success in language teaching has been recognised in an Outstanding TeacherAward, presented by the Premier of Victoria. Wendy has lectured in Language Teacher
Education, and has presented papers at international conferences in Brisbane, Canberra,and Melbourne. Her research has been published in numerous papers, book chaptersand newspaper articles. She finds Junior Primary students demanding but delightful.

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