User:Masahiko Minami

Masahiko Minami (linguist/developmental psychologist) (南 雅彦, Minami Masahiko) is Professor of Japanese at San Francisco State University. He is also Coordinator of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (日本語能力試験, Nihongo Nōryoku Shiken: JLPT) for Northern California. He earned his doctorate from Harvard University. His special field of research is in bilingual education and cross-cultural studies. He has written extensively on psycholinguistics/sociolinguistics with particular emphasis on cross-cultural comparisons of language development and narrative/discourse structure.

He has published works covering cultural constructions of meaning, childcare quality in Japan, and the experiences of East Asian students in US classrooms. His books include "Language Issues in Literacy and Bilingual/Multicultural Education" (Harvard Educational Review, 1991), "Culture-specific Language Styles: The Development of Oral Narrative and Literacy" (Multilingual Matters, 2001), "Culture and Psychology: People Around the World" (translation: Kitaoji Publishers, 2001), "Yochien: Diversity and Change in Japanese Preschools" (translation: Kitaoji Publishers, 2004), "Applying Theory and Research to Learning Japanese as a Foreign Language" (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), "Gengo-gaku to Nihongo-kyooiku: New Directions in Applied Linguistics of Japanese II, III, IV, and V" (Kurosio Publishers, 2001—2007), and "Studies in Language Sciences, 3, 4, 5, and 6" (Kurosio Publishers, 2004—2007).

He also summarized his many years of sociolinguistic research and published Gengo to Bunka: Gengo-gaku kara Yomitoku Kotoba no Barieeshon (Language and Culture: Understanding Language Variations from the Viewpoint of Linguistic Theories, Kurosio Publishers, 2009).

He is also President of the Northern California Japanese Teachers’ Association (NCJTA), where he is devoting his efforts towards fostering collaborative efforts between the board and the general membership in order to create opportunities for NCJTA to engage actively in intellectual exchange and discussion, and to promote studies aimed at increasing the scope of knowledge among persons interested in Japanese language and culture.