Yoko Matsumoto-Sturt

Lecturer in Japanese

Asian Studies
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Tel: +44 (0)131 650 4228
Email: Y.M.Sturt@ed.ac.uk
Web: Edinburgh Research Explorer profile

Street: Room 4.23
50 George Square
City: Edinburgh
Post code: EH8 9LH

Biography

Background

Yoko Matsumoto-Sturt took up a position as lecturer in Japanese Studies in 2004.

After her first degree in Phonetics and Linguistics at University College London, she took her master and doctoral degrees in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.

During her postgraduate degrees, she was engaged in research and teaching in Japanese Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and she also had various professional experiences in the translation industry as an in-house interpreter/translator for the BBC (broadcasting translation) and the automobile industry (technical translation).

After her PhD, she was engaged in various funded research projects including a residence at Rikkyo University and Waseda University, Tokyo, as a Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Education fellow (2006). Yoko is currently working on topics related to Applied Japanese linguistics, Japanese pedagogy and second language translation.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Memberships

AILA Research Network in Early Language Learning
Association of Japanese Language Teachers in Europe (AJE)
The British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ)
Film in Language Teaching Association (FILTA)

Academic service (internal)

2011-present: Director of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Edinburgh Test Centre
2006-present: Personal Tutor

Academic service (external)

2012-2016: External (visiting) examiner for the two MA programmes for School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS): MA Applied Linguistics and Language
2016: External examiner (PhD) for Graduate School, SOAS.
2007-present: Ad-hoc peer reviewer: Routledge (12/2007), Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching e-FLT (04/2010), Bologna University Press (02/2011), Oxford University Press (03/2012), Foreign Language Annals (06/2012)
2007-2010: Editorial board, BATJ Journal

Non-academic activities (external)

2012-2016: Member of the BATJ Executive Committee
Contributing to ‘The sixth Japanese Speech Contest for University Students’ as an interlocutor on 26th February 2011.
Contributing to ‘The Fifth Japanese Speech Contest for University Students’ as an interlocutor on 27th February 2010.

Teaching & PhD supervision

Undergraduate teaching

Dr Matsumoto-Sturt organizes/teaches courses on Kanji: A Linguistic and Cultural Introduction, Supernatural Japan: Doing Japanology through Yokai, Language Communities and Variation in Japanese, and Japanese Language Beyond University. She also contributes to Researching Japan: Skills, Methods and Critiques.

Postgraduate teaching

Dr Matsumoto-Sturt organizes/teaches courses on Language Communities and Variation in Japanese, Japanese Language Beyond University, and Portfolio of Written Translation Exercises in Japanese 2.

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

Grey Micah (2019-current), Doctoral (Translation Studies)

Past PhD students supervised

Co-supervision with other Schools

Maki Kubota (2015-2017 with (1) JFEC Grant no.5780416, £1850.00, and (2) The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Youth and Education grant, £1000.00).

Research

Research summary

Yoko's main research interests are Japanese Applied Linguistics, Translation pedagogy, and Japanese social media and discourse.

Her recent research covered the following research topics: (1) Japanese and L2/foreign language learners (Second language translation, CLIL: Content and language Integrated Learning on kanji), and (3) Language, Society and Culture, including <Yasashii Nihongo> and L2 study

Current research interests

Translanguaging and linguistic accommodation in the foreign language classrooms; Experiential learning and CLIL in Higher Education; Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) for Young Learners

Past research interests

Second Language Translation as an Academic exercise at Higher Education in UK and Beyond [国際交流基金　日本語教育フェローシップ]

Knowledge exchange

Japanese for Young Learners project [2015-2019]

Projects

Project activity

Japanese for Young Learners project

The project aims to develop the teaching and learning of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) for young learners in Scottish primary/secondary schools, and to explore approaches to supporting schools and training teachers. This research and development on the teaching and learning of Young JFL content will be beneficial for the day-to-day teaching practices of primary and secondary school JFL teachers within and beyond Scotland.

The current research on Young JFL has two components: (a) a theoretical perspective on designing teaching/learning contents based on <Yasashii Nihongo>[1] (Easy Japanese) with an emphasis on the reduction of grammatical content, for very limited required teaching hours in JFL classroom; and (b) a perspective on a newly-introduced non-alphabetic literacy that is underpinned by empirical studies of JFL academic writing and kanji class[2].

[1] <Yasashii Nihongo> (Easy Japanese) research

[2] on non-alphabetic literacy

Current project grants

The Japan Foundation Grant Program for Sakura Network (£2,830) for University of Edinburgh Seminar, Workshops and Teacher Training Session (August 2018-March 2019)

Past project grants

The Japan Foundation Grant Program for Sakura Network (£2,676) for one day conference - Developing young JFL in the Scottish primary context: Japanese for Young Learners Project (スコットランド児童生徒に対する日本語教育の実践と研究) held on 28 August 2017.

Conferences

Conference details

The 3rd EAJS Japan Conference in Japan - University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, 14-15 Sep 2019
15th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies, 30 Aug - 2 Sep 2017
Languages’ in the Primary Classroom, 22-23 June 2017
The 18th BATJ Annual Conference, 4 -5 September 2015
East Asian Translation Studies Conference on19 - 20 Jun 2014

Invited speaker

'Japanese Language Education and CLIL Approach - From a European Multilingual Perspective'(日本語教育とCLILアプローチ - 欧州の複言語主義の観点から) at The 3rd J-CLIL Annual Bilingual Conference (online), Tokyo, 3 October 2020
スコットランドにおける年少者日本語教育と＜やさしい日本語＞ 2018年2月17日‐18日、２０１８年学習院大学主催シンポジウム＜やさしい日本語＞と多文化共生
' Japanese onomatopoeia and mimetic words - Why are they difficult to translate? ' at Scottish Society part of the Chartered Institute of Linguistics, Scotland on 21 Nov 2015

Organiser

Japanese for Young Scottish Learners: Practice, pedagogy and reflection on 28 Aug 2017
Japanese for Young Learners Project - 6 week teacher course, 20 April- 25 May 2017
Turning Japanese! An introduction to Japanese for young learners on 24 Jan 2017
Primary/Sexondary Teacher workshop (Fife) on 5 May 2016
Japanese Teacher workshop - Marugoto@Edinburgh on 20 Jun 2016.
Volunteer Japanese Teaching Opportunity at University of Edinburgh Training Day on 30 Mar 2015.
BATJ Early Summer Conference on Translation in Japanese Language Teaching at University of Edinburgh, 22- 23 Jun 2013

Participant

1+2 Languages Leadership Programme on 3 Jul -7 Jul 2017

Papers delivered

'Walking through invisible uncanny landscapes in kanji', The 3rd EAJS Japan Conference in Japan - University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, 14-15 Sep 2019
'1+2 APPROACH: Teaching Young Japanese Learners in Scottish Primary Education', 15th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies, 30 Aug - 2 Sep 2017
‘Japanese language in the Scottish primary classroom’, Languages’ in the Primary Classroom, 22-23 June 2017
'Japanese for members of society: Putting intercultural communication and attitudinal expression into social context in JFL advanced class', The 18th BATJ Annual Conference, 4 -5 September 2015
'Pedagogical translation in Scottish Picture book for Japanese Children', East Asian Translation Studies Conference , 19 - 20 Jun 2014