Description
Book SynopsisThis autoethnographic account of the author’s Japanese as a second language learning trajectory is an important and unique addition to diary studies in SLA and applied linguistics qualitative research circles. In-depth ethnographic details and introspective commentary are skilfully interwoven throughout Simon-Maeda’s narrative of her experiences as an American expatriate who arrived in Japan in 1975 – the starting point of her being and becoming a speaker of Japanese. The book joins the recent surge in postmodernist, interdisciplinary approaches to examining language acquisition, and readers are presented with a highly convincing case for using autoethnography to better understand sociolinguistic complexities that are unamenable to quantification of isolated variables. The comprehensive literature review and wide ranging references provide a valuable source of information for researchers, educators, and graduate students concerned with current issues in SLA/applied linguistics, bi/multilingualism, and Japanese as a second language.
Trade ReviewSimon-Maeda’s poignant autoethnography makes a compelling reading, whose significance transcends that of a common autobiography. Interweaving personal experiences with scholarly insights, her feminist account illuminates the socio-political situatedness of second language learning and reveals ways in which a second language self is fashioned both within and against norms prevalent in one’s adopted society.
-- Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University
Overall, the rich, multilayered analysis as well as the clarity and balance with which she approaches the subject, makes this book worthwhile reading for researchers, teachers, and language learners alike. She argues convincingly, and her book shows us that it is indeed so, that autoethnographies can teach us much about the relationship between language learning, identity, and social contexts.
-- Abigail McMeekin, University of Lethbridge * Studies in Second Language Acquisition / Volume 34 / Issue 03 / September 2012, pp 525 525 *
It’s a fascinating book both as a scholarly look at the nature of language learning and as a documentation of the human experience of living across two or more cultures. This book is a timely and valuable contribution to understanding the essentially social characteristic of learning a language and becoming a participant in a language community.
-- Michael Carroll, Momoyama Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan * JALT Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, November 2012 *
Table of ContentsPART I
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Postmodern Basis of Autoethnography
Chapter 2 Narrative Inquiry in SLA and Applied Linguistics
PART II
Chapter 3 In the Beginning: Situating the Story
Chapter 4 In the Middle: Love, Marriage, Family
Chapter 5 Career Discourse(s)
Chapter 6 Where I Am Now: Two Days in the Life of an Expatriate
Closing Discussion
