Career
Masahiko Minami is Professor of Japanese at San Francisco State University. He also served as an Invited Professor at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2012-2016) based in Tokyo. Dr. Minami is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Japanese Linguistics (also visit De Gruyter Mouton) and Associate Editor of Narrative Inquiry; he also edits the Handbook of Japanese Applied Linguistics in the Handbooks of Japanese Language and Linguistics series. He is also Coordinator of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) for Northern California. He earned his doctorate from Harvard University. His primary area of interest in research is bilingual education and cross-cultural studies. He has written extensively on psycho/sociolinguistics with particular emphasis on cross-cultural comparisons of language development and narrative/discourse structure.
Dr. Minami 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, V, and VI Kurosio Publishers, 2001—2010), Studies in Language Sciences (3, 4, 5, and 6, Kurosio Publishers, 2004—2007), Telling Stories in Two Languages: Multiple Approaches to Understanding English-Japanese Bilingual Children’s Narratives (IAP-Information Age Publishing, 2011), and the Handbook of Japanese Applied Linguistics (De Gruyter Mouton, 2016). [For further information about his publications, click here.]
Dr. Minami 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), and Shakai-shikoo no Gengogaku (Socially Oriented Linguistics, Kurosio Publishers, 2017). [For further information about this book, click here to read a review.]
Dr. Minami currently serves as the Omicron Chapter President of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest honor society in the United States. He is one of the four Teaching Excellent Laurietes of 2007 selected by the Northern California Association of Phi Beta Kappa. He was President of the Northern California Japanese Teachers’ Association (NCJTA) (2005-2011). He was also President of the Foreign Language Association of Northern California (FLANC) (2010-2014). He is devoting his efforts towards fostering collaborative efforts between the board and the general membership in order to create opportunities for NCJTA and FLANC to engage actively in intellectual exchange and discussion, and to promote studies aimed at increasing the scope of knowledge among persons interested in foreign languages and cultures.
