Hiroko Noro

Hiroko Noro
Position
Associate Professor
Pacific and Asian Studies
Contact
Office: CLE C206
Credentials

PhD, University of Toronto

Research Interests
  • Japanese language
  • Sociology of language
  • Intercultural communication
  • Second-language pedagogy
Biography

Hiroko Noro, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. is Chair and Associate Professor of Japanese and Japanese sociolinguistics in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, sociology of language, Japanese linguistics, intercultural communication and second-language pedagogy. She has taught a wide variety of courses from beginner’s level Japanese language to advanced Japanese linguistics, demonstrating the complexity of the Japanese language in a way that is readily understood by her students. She presents language not as an isolated entity but in terms of how it is influenced by culture, society, and history. Her passion to facilitate the student’s learning process won her the University of Victoria Alumni Association’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.  She has served on many committees within the University as well as academic associations, such as the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education (Director and President) and the International Association of Performing Language (Executive Director).

Publications

Books and CD-ROMs

  • Voices of Kakehashi in Multicultural Canada: Transcultural and Intercultural Experiences. Edited by Noro, Hiroko; Suzuki, Tadanobu, University of Victoria, 2016. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/7087
  • Doramachiiku Nihongo Komyunike-shon (Dramatic Japanese Communication), edited and authored by Hiroko Noro, et.al.,  Tokyo:Koko Publishing, 2012.
  • Tokyo Noto: Riaru na nihongo wo manabo! (Tokyo Notes: Real Japanese Using Oriza Hirata’s Tokyo Notes (CD-ROM for Japanese language learning), Kinokuniya Bookstore, 2007.

Articles

  • “Tabunka Kanada no Kakehashi-tachi: Kanada ni okeru nihongo gakushusha no hensen” (Bridges-across in Multicultural Canada: Changes of Learners of Japanese Language in Canada), Ekkyo to Rendo no Nikkei Imin Kyoiku-shi(Educational History of Overseas Japanese: Transnationalism and Interconnection), edited by S. Inoue and S. Negawa, Tokyo: Minerva Shobo, 2015, pp. 99-115.
    Intaakaruchuraru Kyoiku to shite no nihongo kyoiku ni okeru eizo media no yakuwari (The Role of Visual Media for Japanese Language Education as Intercultural Education), Ibunka Kyoiku (Intercultural Education), Vol. 38, 2013, pp. 60-72.

  • “Kanada no nihongo gakko: Nikkei kyoiku no hensen to shinka” (Japanese language schools in Canada: Transition and Evolution of Nikkei (people of Japanese descent) education),  in Toransunashonaruna “Nikkeijin” no kyoiku, gengo, bunka-kako kara mirai ni mukatte (Transnational “Nikkei” and their education, Language and Culture: Learning from the Past for a Better Future), edited by T. Morimoto and S. Negawa, Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 2012, pp. 37-52.

  • “The Role of Japanese as a heritage language in construction ethnic identity among Hapa Japanese Canadian Children,” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol. 30, No. 1, Feb., 2009, pp. 1-18. 

  • “A Tale of Two Cities: Japanese Ethnolinguistic Landscapes in Canada,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language Volume: 2006 | Issue: 182, November 2006, pp. 87-99.
  • From “Bridge Across the Pacific” to Global Citizen: Japanese as a Heritage Language in Canada, Nikkei Images: National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre Newsletter, Spring 2006, vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 9-12.
  • “The Role of Canada’s Multiculturalism Policy in Minority Heritage Language Education: The Case of Japanese as a Heritage Language in Canada,” in Osaka University the 21st Century COE Program: Interface Humanities Research Activities Series: Languages in Contact and Admixture: Multilingual and Multicultural Aspects of Japanese Society Today, Osaka University, edited by Aoi Tsuda and Shinji Sanada, Osaka University the 21st Century COE Program: Interface Humanities, 2005.
  • “Exploring drama and theatre in teaching Japanese: Hirata Oriza’s play, Tokyo Notes in advanced Japanese conversation course”, co-authored with Denton Hewgill and Cody Poulton, Japanese-Language Education around the Globe, vol. 14, The Japan Foundation, Japan, 2004.
  • "Family and Language Maintenance:  An Exploratory Study of Japanese Language Maintenance among Children of Postwar Japanese Immigrants in Toronto," International Journal of the Sociology of Language, No. 86, 1990, pp. 57-68.
Courses

PAAS 130:  Introductory Japanese I
PAAS 131:  Introductory Japanese II
PAAS 209:  Intercultural Service Learning in collaboration with Coop and Faculties of Social Sciences and Education
PAAS 331:  Advanced Reading in Japanese I
PAAS 332:  Advanced Reading in Japanese II
PAAS 333:  Advanced Japanese Listening and Conversation
PAAS 336:  Japanese through Popular Culture  [view outline]
PAAS 399:  Sociolinguistic Issues in Japan
PAAS 430:  Readings in Modern Japanese Literature 1060-present
PAAS 550:  Graduate level research design and thesis preparation course

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