Speaker
Description
Although the Japanese government has long emphasized the necessity of reforming English education in response to an increasingly internationalized society, English learning in many Japanese contexts has remained centered on examinations, textbook exercises, and decontextualized language practice, with limited opportunities for meaningful social communication. This presentation explores how manga (i.e., Japanese comics) creation projects can reposition English as a communicative and socially situated resource rather than merely an academic subject or credit requirement. In a university-level English course in Japan, students created English-language manga to promote local businesses and inbound tourism in the area surrounding the university. Through the analysis of colloquial expressions in manga and the production of narrative texts in English, students used English to introduce local businesses to international audiences. The project encouraged learners to move beyond accuracy-focused classroom activities toward more meaningful communicative engagement through multimodal content creation. The presentation discusses how project-based manga creation may help provide socially meaningful opportunities for English use within traditionally test-oriented environments.
Biography
Takako Yasuta is a Professor at the Center for Integrated Sciences and Humanities, Fukushima Medical University, Japan. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and an MTESL from Arizona State University. She has extensive international experience, having studied in the United States and South Korea. Her research interests include second language (L2) writing and L2 phonology. Her current research focuses on innovative approaches to English language education, particularly the use of manga (Japanese comics) as a pedagogical tool in project-based and multimodal learning environments. She is especially interested in how English can be used as a socially situated communicative resource beyond test-oriented instruction in EFL contexts. Her work explores how manga creation can connect classroom learning with local community engagement and real-world communication. She also investigates the potential of AI tools to support learners’ writing and communicative development.
| Affiliate type | University |
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