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The Modes of Governmentality in Language Education: Blog Activities in a Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom

The Modes of Governmentality in Language Education: Blog Activities in a Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom
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Author(s): Neriko Doerr (Ramapo College, USA)and Shinji Sato (Columbia University, USA)
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 19
Source title: Interactive Media Use and Youth: Learning, Knowledge Exchange and Behavior
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Elza Dunkels (Umeå University, Sweden), Gun-Marie Franberg (Umea University, Sweden)and Camilla Hallgren (Umea University, Sweden)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-206-2.ch009

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the validity of incorporating blog activities in language education classes as an equalizing practice. The authors examine blog activities aimed at providing a way for foreign language learners to communicate in a space free from any teacher-student hierarchy as part of a Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language class at a university in the United States. The authors show that a teacher-student hierarchy still seeps into the blog space, albeit in a different form. Using Michel Foucault’s notion of modes of governmentality, they analyze how the blog’s postings and readers’ comments define the space of a particular blog by evoking modes of governmentality of schooling and of “native” vs. “non-native” speakers. They suggest the importance of acknowledging the existence of relations of dominance in what was initially perceived to be a power-free online space and encourage educators who use blogs in classes to involve learners in the understanding and transformation of such relations of dominance.

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