Juxtaposition of English and Japanese native-speakerism: through the concept of the international university being a heterotopia

ABSTRACT

Research on the native-speakerism ideology of different languages has demonstrated the unbalanced power relation created between those who are labeled as native speaker (NS) and as non-native speaker (NNS). While the research on native-speakerism has expanded beyond the English language, the juxtaposition of native-speakerism of different languages is under-explored. This study applies Foucault’s concept of heterotopia to investigate how international universities in Japan, as a heterotopia, create spatial distinguishments of English and Japanese native-speakerism and how migrant students construct native-speakerist discourses while shuffling among different spaces. The interview result demonstrates that the international university led a Vietnamese migrant to reinforce native-speakerist discourses while providing space for counter-native-speakerist discourse to occur. It also shows that counter-native-speakerist discourses emerge in spaces where native-speakerism decoupled from the neoliberal market. Unveiling the multiplicated function of the juxtaposition of different native-speakerism, this result provides clues for tackling native-speakerism in Asian multilingual contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Native-speakerism
• migrants
• heterotopia
• international university
• ideology construction
• English language in Asia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2024.2350085

Notes

1. All names presented in this article are pseudonyms.

2. The number itself does not have a significant meaning. It was used to evaluate in what contexts the participant regarded herself as closer to an NS and in what contexts she regarded herself as closer to an NNS.

3. I am fully aware there is a critique toward using the ‘NS/NNS’ label as the analytical tool. Nevertheless, I still choose to use these labels because they demonstrate how the participant perceives and is perceived in her daily life. A seemly neutral label that focuses only on the linguistic factor (such as first language/LX) only functions as a color-blind policy as if the participant is not perceived under other factors (such as race).