Internationalization and Diffusion Strategiesof the Societe iaponaise de Didactique duFranfais as a Field
Norlyuki NISHIYAMAJapan is home to several academic societies that focus on the research offoreign language education. including English. German. French. Chinese.
and Korean. among others. The education of each language has its own
characteristics and unique position in Japanese society and thus eachsociety has its own approach and strategies for internationalization anddiffusion of information. This paper will focus on French language
education. examining the foundation of academic societies concerned with
French language education as well as the issues they deal with ininternalization and diffusion. and the directions in which they are heading.
The history of French language societies in Japan dates back to the Meiji
Period. As space precludes discussion of the full history of such groups. thispaper will focus on French language education post World War n.

1. The formation of the French language education as a Field
The history of French language educatiiIl research organizations in the
post-war era dates back to the founding of the Society for French
Literature in 1946 (renamed the Japan Society for French Literature in1950). Following this. the Societe de lillguistiQJle du jrall,ais [Society for
French Linguistics]. (renamed Societe iaponaise de iitlguistique du /ran,ais[Japan Society for French Linguistics] in 1952) was established. before thetwo societies were amalgamated in 1962 to become the Societe Japonaise delangue et Utterature jran,aise [Japan Society for French Language andLiterature]. Following appeals from researchers desiring academic
publications on French linguistics. the Research Association for French
Linguistics was established in 1967. before being renamed the Societelnternationnlization and Diffusion Strategies of the Societe Japonaiu de Didactiqllc du Frur.rQls as a FiC'ld

69japonaise de Linguistique Fran,aise Uapan Society for French Linguistics].
which it remains to this day.

Those involved with the French Language have referred to the Societejaponaise de langue et litterature /ran,aise as 'the [academic] society', thus
essentially recognizing the organization as representative of Frenchlanguage and literature research in Japan. This custom of labelling in effectsymbolizes French linguistics and French literature as legitimate academic
fields in French language and literature research.
Academic societies have been defined as organizations that promote
communication between academics, the advancement of research, exchange
of knowledge and information and the furthering of academia throughconferences, amongst other ventures (Kojien Japanese Dictionary). The
notion of academic fields is rooted in Bourdieu's field theory, and represents
a social space constructed by agents that produce intellectual and culturalcommodities. A field is an autonomous space, self-contained, and unmoved
by any other authority A field is entered into and participated in by anumber of agents who abide by the field's rules. and upon entering the fieldundergo rite of institution, and engage in the exchange of various capital,social and cultural (Bourdieu, 1987). The Societe japollaise de langue et/itterature /ran,aise is an academic field that has been in effect consecrated
as such by agents involved with French language and literature.
This academic society is almost entirely unconcerned with the educationof the French language. and consequently, French language education has
not been integrated into the academic field. Education has been excluded.
and is a domain left to those outside the society. This is a result of the tacithierarchy that exists between literature, linguistics. and language education.
While agents of literature and linguistics are readily acknowledged by thesociety. and thus their participation recognized, education occupies a lower
position and as such is regarded as beyond the borders of the academic
field (Disson, 1996; Kato. 1998). This positioning of education is not uniqueto Japan, and can be seen in other countries. That language education has
typically contented itself with its subordinate position, being seen as themere application of linguistic theory, or as a tool for the study of iiteratureor linguistics, may be the main reason for this. Nevertheless, members of70

the society itself are not exclusively concerned with literature or linguistic
research, but rather the for the majority French language education istheir livelihood. Indeed. as if in acknowledgement and support of this, thesociety has in the past held training sessions on French language teaching.
With the financial backing of the Japanese Ministry of Education (at thetime) Societe japonaise de langue et litterature /rall,aise and the French
Embassy jointly conducted French language summer training seminars
between the years of 1963 and 2009. The purpose of these seminars was tofoster the French language ability of Japanese French language instructors,
as well as to prepare them for workshops to be held in France following
their year of participation. The Japanese Ministry of Education provided
funding for travel costs. while the French government provided aid forworkshop and accommodation costsl. Before the Plaza Agreement in 1985,
and the accompanying increase in value of the yen. travel to France was
not easy for Japanese teachers, and thus for them the publicly fundedsummer seminars were precious opportunities.
The seminars in Japan were intensive training courses over a two-weekperiod, overseen by French native language teachers, and held in thesummer holiday period in summer resorts, such as Hakone (1963),
Karuizawa (1964-1968), Shiga Kogen (1969-1999). and Tateshina Kogen(2000-2006). The international workshops, held the year following
participation in the domestic seminars, were an opportunity for teachers ofFrench worldwide to mingle, and thus an important opportunity for theinternationalization of those teachers. Many of the Japanese teachers ofFrench specialized in literature or linguistics. mostly advancing the work ofFrench researchers that preceded them. ahd conducted their educational
pursuits with little interest in or opportunity for interaction with the restof the French teaching world. In this sense. the opportunity for interaction
gave the Japanese teachers of French a unique opportunity to catch aglimpse of French language education in entirely different contexts.
Whole most French language education in Japan is conducted at thetertiary level. for the rest of the world. the majority of instruction happensat the secondary level. In many cases, French language education at thetertiary level abroad is focused on the education of French language
Internationalization and Diffusion Strategies of the Socidr Japonaist de DidCU'trQue d" FnJllrai.~ ns a Field

71

specialists. or the training of teachers of French for the secondary level. In
other words. countries that first offer French language education to
students at the tertiary level, such as Japan does. are exceedingly rare. In
this sense. for Japanese teachers of French. the workshops were importantoPPortunities for interaction with foreign colleagues. an opportunity toexperience the multiplicity of the globalized world. and provided a relative
viewpoint from which to consider the state of foreign language educationin Japan (Fukagawa, 2010).

2. FIPF and the founding of French language educationsocieties in ,JapanIn 1969. when French language associations in Japan were still centeredaround literature and linguistics. headed by Belgian French language
instructors. the Federation Internationale de Pro/esseurs de Fran~ais (FIPF)
was founded on July 23 in. Paris. as a federation of French language
associations around the world. with participants from associations in 26
countries. with four Japanese participants attending the inauguralconference in Paris (Alexandre. 1983). Amongst the participants was
University of Tokyo Professor and specialist in Stendhal's works. Tadashi
Kobayashi (1916-1975), who after returning to Japan. encouraged theparticipation of the Japan Society for French Literature in the FIPF.
Kobayashi was at the time. the vice president of the society. and having
spent 3 years on a government funded exchange to France before the war.
was motivated to engage in international exchange. Kobayashi himself.
after the ban on privately funded student exchanges to France was lifted
in April of 1965. financially supported the study abroad of Japanese
students in France. and was closely involved with the founding in 1966 of
the Ce1ltre d 'exchmlges culturels /ranco-japonais, a center with the objectiveof enhancing cultural exchange between the Japanese and French. Thiscenter has seen several changes, renamed Centre culturels /ranco-japollais
in 1970. before being reformed as the private organization Association pourla promotion de l'enseignement du francais au Japon (APEF) in 1984. In
1986 it became an incorporated foundation. which is remains to this day.
Kobayashi was obviously not content to be idle, but put a great amount of72

thought into French language. literature. and education in the international
community.
In response to Kobayashi's appeals. the Societe Japonaise de langue etlitterature /rall~aise asserted that. "in accordance with the society
regulations. (the objective of this association) is the furthering of researchin French linguistics and literature. and as such are not directly concernedwith French language education" (Tajima 2002. p.l9). and refused funding.
thus "Tadashi Kobayashi and several likeminded individuals. hoping toachieve international cooperation with French language education
researchers" (ibid). were left with no option but to found their own.
separate organization. This organization that they were compelled to foundwould later become the Societe Japonaise de Didactique du Fran~ais Uapan
Society for French Language Education: SJDF].
However. the executive committee of the Societe Japonaise de langue etlitterature /rall~aise Uapan Society for French Language and Literature]
were not the only ones indifferent to education. Members of literature andlinguistic societies. while many of them were involved with the teaching of
French as a second language. considered literature or linguistics as theirrespective special ties. and French language instruction as ancillary.
depriving any discussion of language instruction of momentum. This was
one of the factors that would lead to the formation of a new society.
426 Japanese. and 25 foreign nationals responded to Kobayashi's appeal
for the creation of a new group. and on f\4ay 1rh. 1970 the inaugural
meeting of the Association Japollaise de Pro/esseur de Fran~aise[Association of Japanese teachers of French] (so named at the time) was
held at blstitut Francais (Nomura. 1997).

3. The Inaugural Japan-France French Language Symposium
To celebrate the formation of the Association Japotlaise de Pro/esseur deFrallcaise. the first symposium in Japan on French language education. wasstheld at the Athhzee Fran~aise Cultural Center in Tokyo from the 21 ofApril through to the 16th of May. 1970. The symposium. entitled Premiercolloque /rallco-japonais pour I 'orgallisatimt de la la1zgue /rall(aise au Japon[The Inaugural French-Japanese Symposium for the organization French
Internationalization and Diffusion Strategies of the S(1Ci~tc Japonais<' d .. f>idactiquc du f"mn(ais as a Field

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ilLanguage in japan1, was jointly sponsored by the French Embassy, Societejaponaise de langue et litterature /ran,aise, the Association japollaise dePro/esseur de Fran,aise, Athenee Fran,aise, the Institut /ranco-japonais deTokyo, and the National Institute for Educational Research. The symposium
was held over nine days, included several special interest groups, and 13
presentations conducted in the French language by 8 French natives and 5
j apanese. the majority of which covered issues in French language
education; phonetics, psychology of learning, syntax, vocabulary, grammar.
basic French, civilization, audiovisual instruction, and the direct method(Cortes, 1970). The symposium was concluded with Kobayashi'spresentation discussing French education in japan from the 19th century
through to the present. Kobayashi touched upon French education under
the former higher education system, and the systematic reform of French
education under the new universities, lamenting the severe lack of classhours in French education in post-war education (Cortes, 1970: 220). Under
the former system, French as a first foreign language was allotted around10 hours of instruction time per week. amounting to a total of 750 hours
over a three-year period (Tanaka, 2005). However, while the number ofstudents taking French as a second foreign language under the new
university system increased dramatically, the hours of instruction per week
were significantly reduced to 3 hours, totaling a mere 160 hours of
instruction over two years. Through this Kobayashi discerned the greatest
problem facing French education in post-war japan: that perhaps the issue
with second foreign language education was not in the reform, but that theideas driving the education remained fundamentally unchanged, inherited
with little revision from the pre-war curriculum.

4. The polarization of French Language Education Research
Associations
Entering the late 1980's, the polarization of French Language Research
Associations -persisted. Taking the initiative was Keisuke Nakamura's
Tsudoi [gathering1, held in the Kansai region from 1982 (N~kamura, 2011).
Gaining impetus from this, in 1987 the Recontres pedagogiques du Kallsai[Meeting for Education in Kansai] (Recontres for short), was established,74

and the journee pedagogique [Education Days] (jOUrltee for short) was
launched by Dokkyo University in Tokyo, each organization bringing with
it opportunities for educations to discuss educational practice freely inworkshops. Furthermore, at the suggestion of the French embassy, theSeminar for French Language Education was held in 1989 through thecooperation of the embassy and the Societe japonaise de Didactique duFran,ais. This seminar continued until the 2006 joint hosting of theDomestic French Language Symposium by the two associations.
In contrast to the summer seminars organized by the Societe japonaise
de langue et litterature /ran,aise, which were comprised of solely native
French instructors, the Domestic French Language Symposium wasconducted by both native French and j apanese instructors. The symposium
was held on weekends over a three-month period in Tokyo, and focused on
the training of teaching methodologies. In 1991, members of the seminar
formed the majority in the creation of the Pedagoji 0 kangaeru ka;[Thinking on Pedagogy Group] (Peka for short). Also free from theconstraints of academic associations, Peka was a group formed at theinitiative of teachers of French. According to an attache at the Frenchembassy2, at the time supervisor of French language education. theembassy believed that this group would in future take the leading role inFrench language education in japan, and granted an equal amount offinancial support as that provided to the Societe japonaise de Didactique duFrall,ais. On the other hand, nevertheless, were misgivings about thegrowing polarization of French language education groups, and theembassy sought to ease the tense relations and promote reconciliation
between the two groups by transferring ftmds set out for Peka into theSociete japol1aise de Didactique du Frall(ais account. encouraging
communication between the groups. Making use of the embassy's financial
support, Peka began to circulate their own publications, aiming to establish
a new field as a 'non-organizational organization'.
In this way, in the early 1990's, a total of four educational researchgroups had been founded, with Recontres, jou,rnee, and Peka alongside theSociete japonaise de Didactique du Fran,ais. The administration of jOUr1lee
was overseen by the Research Institute of Foreign Language Teaching at
Internationalization and Diffusion Strategies of Iht' SociClci laPOnai~c dt' Diclm"h"tJlU! du Fran(als as a Field

75

Dokkyo University. As Recontres and Peka were groups organized andoverSeen by volunteers, they did not become academic societies. This
fracturing was the result of the goal of the Societe Japonaise de Didactiquedu Fran,ais to become an authoritative association, which neither allowed
the society to provide an arena for the earnest debate of pedagogicalpractice, nor allowed it to provide sufficient support or recommendations
for practice to younger teachers. It may be said that the founding of theseself-described non-organizational organizations were founded in opposition
to the Societe Japonoise de Didactique du Fran,ais in order to address theselacks.
It is necessary now to pay heed to the fact that the term pedagogy
became the emblem for this reform in the early 1990's. It is also importantto point out that differentiation between the French terms enseignement,
Pedagogt."e, and didactique is not always obvious in the Japanese language.
Each of the terms may be interpreted in the Japanese language as kyoiku(education) or kyojuho (teaching methodology). While the French term
Pedagogie (pedagogy) emphasizes methodology, or ways of teaching, anddidactique [didactics] emphasizes the more scientific nature of language
education, this distinction is often confused in the French language itself(Cuq, 2003). In 1997, the Societe Japonaise de Didactique du Fran,ais invited
Henri Besse, a leading figure in French language education. to the Spring
Conference. where he gave a presentation entitled "D'une linguistique trop
aPpliquee ti une didactz'que trop ec/atee" [Overly divided education from an
overly applied linguistics]. addressing trends in didactics (Besse. 1997).
Didactics, however. only began to truly show its presence in the society in
2005. with the reform of the society's journal. and its first publication under
the title Didactique.
Incidentally. while one purpose behind the founding of the Societe
Japollaise de Didactique du Fran,ais was to join the internationalorganization Federation Internationale de Professeurs de Fran,ais, asevident in its appeals to cooperation in the international community, theother research groups founded in the late 1980's and early 1990's were in asense more inwardly-oriented. and were not proactive in coordinating withthe global community.
16

Until recently, foreign language education has centered around the native
speaker as a model. and the native speaker fallacy is as prevalent as ever.
In French language education. French as spoken by the native has asymbolic power in practice. as a model. and as orthodox language. As
almost all new teaching methodologies have been imported, Westernknowledge has maintained its prestige. Notwithstanding, there was anunderstanding that French language education in Japan needed to beadapted to the Japanese social and cultural context, and in order to
optimize education for Japanese learners, there was thus an implicit needdistance itself from French-developed French language education. and not
rely on foreign methodologies as models. In this sense. this passive stanceto interaction with France in terms of educational research was an advancetowards the independence of French language education in Japan.

5. Hosting the World Conference of the Federation
Internationale de Professeurs de Fran~als
In 1996. the Societe Japollaise de Didact':que du Fran,ais (SJDF) hosted
the World Conference of the Federatz'on bzter'llationale de Professeurs deFran,ais at Keio University. with an attendance of close to 1.000
participants. It was the first world conference to be held in Asia, with
French language instructors from Japan discussing not only Frenchlanguage education. but also importantly its diversity. including the state of.
and issues in. French language education in various international contexts.
There was. however. division in the bid fot hosting. Many members,
though passionate about French language education. responded negatively
to the bid. Their reluctance to prepare for. or participate in, the conference
was to become the breeding ground for future troub1es. The large financial
burden of hosting the conference. and the unclear aims of its hosting.
provided some pretext for this negative reception. The 1990 hosting of theGermanist international conference in Japan. as well following year's
comparative literature world conference perhaps provided some impetus tohost the IFPF's world conference. However. it appeared that the rather
than encouraging the internationalization of French language education in
Japan, the simple hosting of the conference was in itself the society's
Int("matinnalization and Diffusion Strategies of the SQCjtt~ /apoTlai~ dr DidarfUiur du Frall,.·als as 11 Field

11objective. As a result. many members left the administration of the SjDF
following the conference. For the society. the hosting of the worldconference itself was to be aspired to. nothing more or nothing less.
Furthermore. attracting the world conference to japan was the fervent
desire of the society's founder. Kobayashi. For Kobayashi. having
experienced the war personally. just as the Tokyo Olympics had been
symbolic of japan's complete return to the international community. so thehosting of the world conference would represent j apan's renewed
participation in the global academic community. In any event. the hostingof the world conference was an enterprise mired in controversy.
Not all of the members involved in the hosting of the world conference
were French language education specialists. As previously mentioned. thegreater part of the SjDF were Japanese teachers whose areas of expertise
were either in French literature or linguistics. Whatever their special ties
were in the narrow sense. however. the majority made their livelihoods
through teaching the French language. Thus. as practitioners. the membersof the society were directly involved with education.
Regardless of the language in question. there is a duality in between
practitioners' narrow fields of research and language education. and thisinfluences the social standing of language education. Practicing language
teaching is often understood. or misunderstood. as specializing in language
education. Very few Japanese French teachers join French language
education societies in order to become specialists in French language
education. Rather. they become members of these associations because
they are practicing teachers. These circumstances differ greatly from thoseof English language education associations. often primarily comprised ofEnglish language education specialists. These underlying circumstances arelikely to be shared by other foreign language communities. such as German
or j apanese.
With these circumstances in mind. reflecting on the operation of theworld conference. it is easy to understand the reason that the organizing
committee was not primarily made up of French language education
specialists. In other words. the world conference functioned not as an
endeavor supported by French language education experts in the narrow78

sense. but rather as a more flexible. practice-oriented platform forexchange. Thus if the society for French language education had been
unable to maintain a rigorously academic approach to language education.
the reason for this lay not only in the fact that French language education
was a relatively new academic discipline. but also in the specialized fields
and knowledge of French language instructors in Japan.

6. Strategies for internationalization in academic societies
Following the world conference. the society for French language
education amended its French title. from the Association jap01zaise desPro/esseurs de Francaise Uapan Association of French Teachers: AjPF].
rechristening itself as the Societe japonaise de Didactique du Francais[J apan Society for French Language Education: SjDF]. to reflect thesociety's orientation towards greater academic specialization. Furthermore.
the society's conventions were revised to become more democratic and to
avoid fossilization of the administration. introducing policy in which thepresident and directors would be decided through a vote open to allmembers. and restricted to two terms and a maximum of six years in theirroles.
At present. the SJDF has just under 700 members. about one fifth ofwhom are native speakers of French. Accordingly. administration is inprinciple conducted bilingually. as can be seen on the society's websites
and in publications which appear in both French and Japanese. Generaladministration being conducted bilingually is not common in japan. with
only a few academic societies conducting their affairs in more than one
language. In fact. the two academic societies*for French language researchin Japan are operated entirely in Japanese. and even amongst language
education societies there arc not many that are conducted bilingually. The
annual SJDF spring conference however. invites'researchers from France
amongst other foreign nations yearly. to give lectures and researchpresentations in French. As a result. the annual conference of the society
itself has taken the form of an international conference.
The French embassy sponsored cultural ambassadors to take part in thespring conference until 2009. when financial difficulties caused the program
Internationalization and Diffusion Strategies of the Soci(t(; Japo"ai~ tic Didartiqut' dll FronC"ms as !l Field79

to cease. Following this, grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS) and Japanese university budgets provided funding tocontinue to invite experts in the field, maintaining a lively academic
exchange. Previously ambassadors had been dispatched at the inclination of
the French embassy, and thus did not necessarily reflect the desires of theJapanese organizers. In this sense, funding provided from the Japanese side
allowed for more autonomous international exchange. Furthermore,
whereas previously the exchange had been unilateral, with culturalambassadors lecturing to the Japanese members, with the funding changes
putting the initiative in Japanese hands, research exchange became
gradually more bilateral, engendering tangible accomplishments3•

7. Activities of academic fields In the international community
The hosting of the world conference in 1996 marked the beginning ofJapanese teachers of the French language becoming more actively involvedin the activities of the Federation Internationale de Pro/esseurs de Francais.
In 2000. nearly 100 Japanese participants attended the Federation'sconference in Paris, with many members continuing to participate regularly
in following conventions; 2004 in Atlanta, 2008 in Quebec, and 2012 in
Durban. The inauguration of the Asia-Pacific Regional Members Conferencein 2006 drew the interest of members, further stimulating the exchange of
research between practitioners and researchers outside of France orfrancophone nations. The first conference was held in Taiwan in 2006,
followed by the Australian and Indian conferences in 2010 and 2014
respectively, and is scheduled to be held in Kyoto, Japan: in 2017. Presently,
Japanese members are participating not only in the FIPF conferences. but
are actively presenting research at other conferences both in France andother countries. Thus. there has been steady progress in diffusion of
infonnation and the results of research to the international community.
Serving as links in international academic exchange, Japanese members
have also taken administrative roles, as board members and as vicepresident to the FIPF, as well as on the committee of the Asia-PacificRegion chapter. Japanese members have also served as editors to theFederation's journal, Recherches et applications, making intellectual and80

personal contributions to the international society.
As French language education is practiced not only in France, but incountries around the world, its center is diffusing. Caribbean author
Edouard Glissant (1928-2011), advocates the view that francophones do notinhabit a world of concentric circles with France at the center, but rather
just as the Antilles form one archipelago from its separate islands. so too
do francophones exist together. albeit in a centerless world (Glissant. 1990).
If France is to be seen as the center of this world. then countries such as
Japan. where French is taught and used as a foreign language, are situatedon the outermost boundary. If the French world may be viewed
symbolically as diverse islands loosely bound. issues of authority between
the center and peripheral will not arise. Rather. each country or region will
maintain its own status. while engaging in cooperation with the other.
Exchange with the Korean French language & literature society. Societe
Coreemze de I 'Ellseigllemellt de Lallgue et de Litterature Francaises, is aninteresting example of this sort of geopolitical configuration. Throughparticipation in world conferences post-2000. Japanese members becameacquainted. and began to conduct exchange. with Korean instructors ofFrench. This exchange has been normalized through the regular inviting of
Korean researchers to the yearly research conference held at Kyoto
University since 2006. In response to this. Japanese researchers have also
been invited to give presentations at the Korean French language &literature society conferences. The exchange was further deepened withthe joint hosting of a 2013 conference at Seoul National University by boththe Korean and Japanese societies. Such exchange continued to gain
momentum. and through cooperation with the Taiwanese French language
education society, all three societies came ~ogether to host the joint JapanKorea-Taiwan conference in Fukuoka in 2015.
Until recently. the French language had only a meager influence inNortheast Asia. Northeast Asia is home to ~ much shared cultures andhistories. For both the Japanese and Koreans, however. French is not asecond language commonly used in social life. but a foreign language. For
this reason. the French language is an extremely neutral language between
these two politically and historically indivisible countries. and as theInternationalization and Diffusion Strategies of the Societr JaponaiM dt Dirlactiquc du Joron(ais IlS a Field

81

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language of a third party. therefore lacking inherent bias. has the potential
to function as a tool to encourage sincere and earnest debate. It is not.
though. obvious to Japanese or Korean instructors of French that thelanguage may fulfill this role as a medium of communication between thetwo countries. Most Japanese and Korean instructors of French were
motivated to pursue their studies through an interest in France orfrancophone countries, and the intention of communicating withfrancophones. Most would never have imagined engaging in debate inFrench with people of their neighboring countries. The spread ofglobalization, however, has been fortuitous in creating a shift in the worldof French language education, from France-at-the-center to a centerlessworld, and thi$ has advanced exchange between neigh boring countries in
the French language. French language is achieving a shift in status fromthe language of the French people to a to deeper significance as language
shared by the international community.

8. Diffusion of information through academic publications
In the diffusion of academic knowledge into the international community,
the role of academic journals cannot be ignored. Academic journals andspecialist publications function as apparatuses that make clear who themembers are that make up a particular field, what themes are
acknowledged and dealt with, and the standards and norms upon which thefield has been established. In this sense, academic publications are
inherently bound to the creation of academic fields (Chevalier et Encreve.
2006). This point of view will guide the discussion of academic publications
on French language education in Japan, and they role they have played insuch diffusion.
The Societe japonaise de Didactique du Francais published its journal
entitled Enseignement du /rancais au japon [French Language Education]from 197-2 until 2005. The majority of the journal's articles werepractitioner reports on certain teaching methodologies. with research
articles on French language education in the narrow sense being sparse.
This was unarguably due to the fact that the majority of the Societejaponaise de Didactique du Francais members conducted their research in82

the fields of literature and linguistics, with few members specializing in
French language education. Even under these circumstances, articles to be
published underwent review by several peers. However, this process was
not highly transparent, and as a result, the academic reputation of thejournal suffered.
That French language education as a field lacked a strong academic
tradition. and thus prestige, was one factor in its being unable to establish
a solid reputation. This relatively poor reputation when compared to thefields of literature or linguistics resulted in little increase of researchers to
the field, and thus stifled increased sophistication in research.
In other words. the lack of researchers throttled advancement inresearch, and the lack of advanced research meant that few researchers
were drawn to the field. Incidentally, while it was in 1970s that the word
didactique [didactics] appeared in language education in France, it was not
until the mid-1980s, and the founding of Didactique du /rancais tangueetrallgere [Association for Education of French as a Foreign Language] that
didactics began to emerge in education of French as a foreign language.
and French language education had long been discussed under theumbrella of applied linguistics. lacking sufficient autonomy as an academic
field of study in itself4.
From 2005. national universities in Japan underwent independentadministrative institutionalization. and university instructors were now
exposed to the threat of evaluation. Instructors were thus exposed to agreater compulsion to publish articles in respected journals. International
journals were particularly highly regarded. and publication in these lead tohigher evaluation of both the individual. as well as their universities.
As a result of this change. French+language instructors' academic
achievements also underwent evaluation. and French language educationneeded to establish itself as a legitimate academic field. requiring complete
reform in its academic publications. The Societe japollaise de Didactique duFrallcais began reform on its publications in 2003. after receiving a JSPS
grant. although the reform was only partial. never achieving a complete
overhaul. Thereupon further reform was carried out. including a retitling.
explicit stating of editorial objectives. internationalization of the peerInternationalization and iJiffusion Strategies of the .<;u,-irfl' Japon4lsI! cle [JidQ(ti~ du fo'm"fQU as a Field

83

review process, and volumization of the publications.
The journal's previous title, Furansu-go Kyoiku [French language
education], was somewhat lacking in academic credibility, and thus in 2005
was rechristened in French, Revue japonaise de didactique du /ran,ais[Japan journal for French language education], and published in two
separate volumes: Etudes didactiques [Educational research], and Etudes/rancophones et /ran,aises [Research on France and francophones]. This
volumization of the society's journal was deeply tied to trends in Frenchlanguage education as a research discipline. and an academic field. Frenchlanguage education did not deal only with the education of French as alanguage, but alS0 included research into the countries and cultures inwhich the French language was used.
Until this time, articles in the journal had been centered around researchon teaching methodology in French language education. Following theuniversity reform, less gravity was put on the teaching of a second foreign
language, and a stronger trend towards introduction seminars or lectures
on France and the francophone sphere developed. Instructors of French
were required to give such lectures in additi9n to their conventional
French language classes, and thus required specialized knowledge in theseareas. Expertise. or lack therefore. is the deciding factor in academic
journal pUblications. Publication in academic journals signifies that one's
work is a recognized product of that academic field, that the content
producer has accepted and abided by the rules of that field, and has thus
their participation in the field accepted.
Internationalization of the peer review process was also a necessary
condition in raising the sophistication of the journal. Until the reform. thereview process of articles written in French had been overseen by
domestic Jap~ese or French members of the society, while post-reformpeer review of French articles was entrusted to leading academics outside
the country. At present, thirty supervisors from eleven different countries
are responsible for conducting peer review, researchers in France, Canada,
Belgium, Switzerland, England, the United States, Australia. South Africa,
Tunisia, China. and Korea Articles submitted for publication in Japanesecontinue to be reviewed by Japanese members, although to ensure
84

transparency in the review process. the names of these members, as wellas the overseas editorial panels. are made publicly available. As a result.
there has been a steady increase in the prestige of the society's
publications, and when compared to the Furansu-go Kyoiku era. the new
system has seen a dramatic increase in publications, and resulted in amarked improvement in the academic quality of articles submitted.
The society's publications have also received submissions from theFederation 11lterllatiollale de Pro/esseurs de Fran,ais. and has positioned
itself at the center of research in the Asia-Pacific region. Publishingsubmissions from Taiwan, China, Korea. Indonesia. and Vietnam. thesociety's publications are an accumulation of the achievement of academic
exchange in the region. The diffusion strategies in the internationalizationof publications have in the past few years resulted in an increase inmembership of foreign national researchers. and is increasingly being
viewed as the base of French language education research in East Asia.
Incidentally, the most recent publications (9(1) & 9(2), 2014) include
submissions from both China and Korea.
This set of reforms and initiatives has led in 2015 to the official
recognition of the society's publications by the Agence U1liversitaire de laFral1COphollie [Association of Francophone Universities]. This journal is the
only publication in the Asian region to achieve this recognition. and can beseen as a statement that the journal has been acknowledged as an
academically legitimate French language publication by the international
community. Furthermore, the journal has been awarded the "A" rank by
the National Taiwan University's committee for evaluation of academic
publications. The international status of the journal in the field of Frenchlanguage education has clearly been recognized in the Asian region as well.

•

Future prospects
Taking the Societe Japollaise de Didactique du Fra'll,ais as an example.
this paper considered internationalization and diffusion of knowledge in thefield of foreign language education research. Three areas ofinternationalization raised were the internationalization of the societies
themselves, their members' contributions to the academic community. andInternationalization and Diffusion Strategies of the SociNr Ja/HIIlllis(! dll Didacliqul! du Fmn,'ais as Q Field85

, '; f"P""t"S

the internationalization of academic publications. In this age of increasing
globalization. there is a trend towards increase contribution to theinternational community, and at least with respect to French language
education, Japanese diffusion of information is also increasing. However, asinternationalization of societies and their publications are deeply boundwith the internationalization of Japan's organizational culture, it is not
something that may be achieved through suggestion at the individual level,
but requires some sort of incentive from the country, or from theinternational community. Correspondingly, we must not forget that
achieving successes in such ventures will require more time than individual
endeavors.
Notes
1

This undertaking was continued until 2009. at which time. due to a decreasein the number of university instructors participating. and an increase insecondary level educators. as well as the comparative ease of travel to France
for participation. funding by the Japanese Ministry of Education was halted.
However. the French government continued to provide funding in a different
manner for workshops in France.
2 Personal correspondence with former French embassy attache Jean
Maiffredy. 2pt July. 2015.
3 An example includes International Symposiums on contextualization of theCommon European Framework of Reference for languages. and reports on
their outcomes (Castellotti & Nishiyama. 2011).
4 The word didactique first appeared in the French literature with William
Francis Mackey (1972). A Canadian-born linguist. he published Language
Teaching Allalysis in 1969. It was translated into French in 1972 under a title
suggested by the translator. Prillcipe de didact;que alla/ytique.

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International Exchange among Japanese
Academic Associations of Russian Language
and Literaturekinenkan.

Yukiko KUROIWA

Introduction
Introduced and taken up in the mid-nineteenth century. Russian language
and literature has the longest tradition of research and learning of aEuropean language in Japan after Dutch Studies. and also had an influenceon the establishment of modem literature in Japan. Today the number ofRussian literature lovers in Japan is as high as anywhere in the world. andRussian language courses are available at over 200 universities and otherinstitutes of higher education nationwide. On the other hand. having
experienced the Russo-J apanese War. the Russian Revolution and dispatchof Japanese troops to Siberia. the' Second WorId War and the Cold War.
relations of Japan with Russia and the Soviet Union have been antagonistic
for long periods. and researchers. at the mercy of these bilateral ties. havefrequently had their freedom of intercourse severely restricted. The
situation. though. was utterly transformed with the conclusion of the Cold+
War and disintegration of the Soviet Union. and Russo-Japanese academic
exchange subsequently developed to the level it enjoys today.
As well as offering an outline of Russia-related academic societies inJapan and the specifics of their international outreach. the purpose of thisarticle is to introduce their current programs for international exchange
and outline future problems and prospects. Were this to focus narrowly on
Russian language and literature societies. it would descend into trivia. so it
will seek to provide an overview of current trends applicable to all
humanities and social scientific organizations with some relation to Russia

88International F.xchange among Japanese Academic Associations of Russilln Lnngwge and Literature89!
.