This study reports the students' analysis of linguistic imperialism initiated by Philipson (1992) in a multicultural classroom where domestic students and international students study together in a university in Japan. Linguistic imperialism is the imposition of a dominant language, in particular, English. The negative view included in this concept can be traced in history that the expansion of English was the result of colonialism and hegemonism, and as a result the inequalities between English and other languages were generated.
The impositions of other languages have also been repeated in many areas of the world, often under the circumstance of conflict. It seemed to be a thought-provoking topic in a multicultural classroom since the linguistic backgrounds of the students vary and its aims include the dimension of learning from differences and otherness.
Each student investigated an area of the world which experienced the imposition of other language. Fifteen students’ written products such as reflections assigned every after class and essays became the main data of this study to qualitatively analyse how students’ views developed through this project.
Although many students showed negative views on hegemony, most of them also pointed out the complexity of the issues and positive input of the dominant language, as well as protecting the indigenous language right. The solution suggested most was that the context using more than one language, i.e. multilingual or plurilingual settings should be much more common.

Authors:
Etsuko Yamada, Hokkaido University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Etsuko Yamada is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Hokkaido University in Japan

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