"Fail Better: Learning to Participate in Another Culture"
Mari Noda
Professor Emeritus in Japanese, The Ohio State University 

Learning a language is like learning to play a new game. Since the rules of the game are determined by the culture, players new to the culture will experience failures. These failures are both inevitable and frequent. Their consequences could be serious, too. Yet the game is thrilling enough to keep players at it, and through playing, the players who keep at it improve on their scores. The improved scores entice players to take more risks. Pedagogical materials offer ways for both language learners and their teachers to continuously improve their level of performance in the language game.

I will discuss the role of pedagogical materials in the language game of participating in another culture. In doing so, I hope to address questions such as the following: What can we expect to see in well-designed pedagogical materials? What can we expect to experience with well-designed pedagogical materials? What can we do to learn to participate in another culture with the help of well-designed pedagogical materials? What can we do to ameliorate shortcomings of pedagogical materials?

Bio: A specialist in East Asian language pedagogy, Mari Noda is primarily interested in curriculum, material development, and assessment. She directs SPEAC (Summer Programs East Asian Concentration), which currently offers intensive Japanese and Chinese language programs. She is a lead producer of the NihionGO NOW! series (2021, Routledge), a new beginning-to-intermediate-level learning material, and the Japanese Sills Test (JSKIT), a low-stake online assessment tool. She is also a co-author of Japanese: The Written Language (2006 and 2018, Yale University) and “Remembering the future: Compiling knowledge of another culture” (with Galal Walker, 2010, National East Asian Language Resource Center at The Ohio State University). She serves on the Board of Directors of Japan-America Society of Central Ohio. At OSU, she serves as the faculty advisor for the Nihongo Osyaberi-kai (Japanese Conversation Club).

This event will be held in person in G25 Stimson and will also be streamed live over Zoom (registration required). Join us at the LRC or on Zoom. 

The event is free and open to the public. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell's public health requirements for events.