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Abstract
This is a qualitative study of a small subset of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) students who are interested in Japanese popular culture and language, focusing on language-in-use. The purpose of this study is to understand the multiple ways contemporary Japanese culture is experienced by JFL college students who are also secret fans of anime and Japanese popular culture. In particular, this study is interested in the critical aspect of the relationship between JFL learners experiences and its impact on their individual identities in everyday life. Informed by discourse and identity theories, this study will investigate aspects of contemporary Japanese popular culture that JFL students are attracted to and engaged in, and explore Japanese learners social identities through multiple media and in different contexts: 1) photographs taken by participants, 2) individual photo-elicited interviews, and 3) a series of group discussions of Japanese popular culture texts. The central questions guiding the study are as follows: 1) How do JFL students narrate their identities as Japanese popular culture fans in diverse social situations? 2) How do JFL students narrate their critical stance on both Japanese and U.S. societies? By understanding how learners of Japanese construct their own identities using individual agency, and how the process is mediated by both Japanese language and popular culture texts, this study will contribute to new and dynamic understandings of Japanese culture and JFL learning as experienced by Japanese learners in the U.S.