Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan
This case study examines an American undergraduate student’s study abroad (SA) experience in Japan, focusing on his self-perceived interactional experiences. Despite achieving notable success in language acquisition and developing social networks during his SA period, the student viewed his experie...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Japanese Language and Literature |
| Online Access: | http://jll.pitt.edu/ojs/JLL/article/view/310 |
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| _version_ | 1850146418813042688 |
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| author | Hiromi Tobaru |
| author_facet | Hiromi Tobaru |
| author_sort | Hiromi Tobaru |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This case study examines an American undergraduate student’s study abroad (SA) experience in Japan, focusing on his self-perceived interactional experiences. Despite achieving notable success in language acquisition and developing social networks during his SA period, the student viewed his experience in the context of academic language learning—specifically, learning Japanese—as a failure due to his predominant use of English. This study explores the gap between the student’s experience and perception through quantitative and qualitative analysis of the student’s language use. Quantitative analysis revealed that overall, the student used Japanese more frequently than English, but most of his interactions outside the classroom involved either English or a combination of English and Japanese. Qualitative analysis uncovered the student’s struggle in reconciling the locals’ preference for English conversations with his own desire to use Japanese when interacting with Japanese local people. The results also indicate that the student encountered challenges in effectively using English as a global language, illustrating the complexity of navigating intercultural interactions. These findings suggest that the global dominance of English impacts and, at times, complicates the language-learning experiences of Anglophone SA students in Japan.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fa16107e76a8447a9eb3d23385c1bb8e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1536-7827 2326-4586 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Japanese Language and Literature |
| spelling | doaj-art-fa16107e76a8447a9eb3d23385c1bb8e2025-08-20T02:27:50ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghJapanese Language and Literature1536-78272326-45862025-04-0159110.5195/jll.2025.310Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in JapanHiromi Tobaru0California State University, Fullerton This case study examines an American undergraduate student’s study abroad (SA) experience in Japan, focusing on his self-perceived interactional experiences. Despite achieving notable success in language acquisition and developing social networks during his SA period, the student viewed his experience in the context of academic language learning—specifically, learning Japanese—as a failure due to his predominant use of English. This study explores the gap between the student’s experience and perception through quantitative and qualitative analysis of the student’s language use. Quantitative analysis revealed that overall, the student used Japanese more frequently than English, but most of his interactions outside the classroom involved either English or a combination of English and Japanese. Qualitative analysis uncovered the student’s struggle in reconciling the locals’ preference for English conversations with his own desire to use Japanese when interacting with Japanese local people. The results also indicate that the student encountered challenges in effectively using English as a global language, illustrating the complexity of navigating intercultural interactions. These findings suggest that the global dominance of English impacts and, at times, complicates the language-learning experiences of Anglophone SA students in Japan. http://jll.pitt.edu/ojs/JLL/article/view/310 |
| spellingShingle | Hiromi Tobaru Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan Japanese Language and Literature |
| title | Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan |
| title_full | Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan |
| title_fullStr | Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan |
| title_short | Everyone Wants to Speak English: The Struggles of an American Study-Abroad Student in Japan |
| title_sort | everyone wants to speak english the struggles of an american study abroad student in japan |
| url | http://jll.pitt.edu/ojs/JLL/article/view/310 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hiromitobaru everyonewantstospeakenglishthestrugglesofanamericanstudyabroadstudentinjapan |