Language Learning, Gender and Desire—Japanese Women on the Move

This slim volume in the Critical Language and Literacy Studies series examines English-language learning among Japanese women studying and living in Australia. Takahashi's (English, Assumption U.) research is not concerned with exigencies of language pedagogy, but rather the various motivations Japanese women have for learning English, namely mobility and freedom from Japanese cultural expectations, as well as access to Western culture. She draws on ethnography as well as research on English-language learning, particularly among Japanese women. She considers issues of race, agency, sexuality and sexual desire, multiculturalism, and the allure of Western culture. The chapters are highly structured, with a numbered progression of topics, as well as an introduction and summary. The book will be of interest to students of Japanese culture and third-wave feminists concerned with the intersection of race and class with gender. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kimie Takahashi is Lecturer at the Graduate School of English at Assumption University of Thailand. Her research interests centre on gender, second language learning and social inclusion in the context of transmigration. She is co-founder of the sociolinguistics website Language on the Move (www.languageonthemove.org).