Mitsuyo Sakamoto

Professor

English Studies

This study was co-presented with Dr. Yuriko Miyamoto Caltabiano of University of California, Berkeley, with whom I have been working together on our Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) (Rubin, 2022) project. In this study, we presented our data that were collected in 2022 and 2023 to see if our COIL initiatives can lead to eradicating native speakerism and fostering critical and decolonialized language learning (Makoni & Pennycook, 2027, 2024).

From October to November 2022 and 2023, one designated student from each cohort took turns writing online 100 words in English/150 characters in Japanese daily, amounting to 51 topics in 2022 and 50 in 2023. A pre- and post-treatment questionnaire were disseminated in September and December, asking for their impression toward the task and the other cohort. The two instructors discussed the results and the observations made during the two months of the online diary exchange, and selected students (two Japanese and four Americans per year, totalling 12 students) for post-treatment interviews. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. Each instructor first coded separately, then compared their results to thematize the findings.

Thanks to the nature of the task, students on their own spontaneously oriented to critical, decolonial perspectives in their work and post-project interviews. For example, themes such as that of interacting with a diverse group, enhancing intercultural understanding, reducing intimidation, feeling encouraged, cultivating friendship, having respect towards each other, and building confidence/ were identified to be associated with critical/decolonial enlightenment afforded by COIL.

COIL proved to be a possible option to compensate, at least partially, for a lack of international exchange during COVID-19. Importantly, both groups were studying each other’s L1, positioning them as foreign language learners, embracing a sense of respect towards each other, unlike a setup where one group is the native speaker and the other foreign language learner. Eradication of native speakerism (Holliday, 2006, 2013) is not easy, but we argue that COIL can provide possibilities in actualizing decolonial pedagogy.

We have since co-authored a paper based on our presentation and is currently under review.

Paper presented at the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 11-16, 2024.

References

Holliday, A. (2006). Native-speakerism. ELT Journal, 60(4), 385-387.

Holliday, A. (2013). ‘Native speaker’ teachers and cultural belief. In S. A. Houghton & D. J. Rivers (Eds.), Native-speakerism in Japan: Intergroup dynamics in foreign language education (pp. 17-26). Multilingual Matters.

Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. In S. Makoni & A. Pennycook (Eds.), Disinventing and reconstituting languages (pp. 1-41). Multilingual Matters.

Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (2024). Looking at multilingualism from the Global South. In P. Makoe, C. McKinney & V. Zavala (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (2^nd ed.) (pp. 17-30). Routledge.

Rubin, J. (2022). Preface to an evolving international educational landscape. In J. Rubin & S. Guth (Eds.), The guide to COIL virtual exchange: Implementing, growing, and sustaining collaborative online international learning (pp. 3-18). Stylus.