ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the emerging humanistic roles of Japanese language education that go beyond the conventional norms of teaching the language and culture to nonnative speakers of Japanese in a context of Japanese language education outside of Japan. It problematizes the traditional views on the roles of foreign language education and its goals, and extends educational roles of Japanese language in tertiary education institutions in Australia. The chapter discusses two case studies on Japanese language education conducted in Australian tertiary institutions in an attempt to extend educational values of the language. The first case is situated in the context of an Australian university and it explores an educational role that Japanese language can play outside of Japan. The second case is situated in the Technical and Further Education sector in Australia. It explore the aforementioned notion of humanistic values of the second/foreign language learning in the context of a Japanese intensive program in a TAFE sector at an Australian university.
