UNC School of Education

Professor of Second Language Education and Professor of Japanese Language and Pedagogy

T 919.962.2523
F 919.962.1533
rkubota@email.unc.edu

105B Peabody Hall
CB 3500

Ryuko Kubota holds a dual appointment from the School of Education and the Department of Asian Studies as a professor of second language education and Japanese language and culture. Originally from Japan, she taught English as a foreign language for five years in middle and high schools there and subsequently has taught Japanese as a foreign language in North America since 1988. She has helped a local school district establish dual language (two-way immersion) programs in Spanish/English and in Chinese/English.

Kubota is active in professional communities that include the fields of teaching English to speakers of other languages, foreign language education, applied linguistics and teaching Japanese language and culture. She has provided professional service for organizations such as the International Society for Language Studies, the American Association for Applied Linguistics, the Association of Teachers of Japanese, the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers and the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina. She has also served on the editorial advisory boards of TESOL Quarterly (a publication of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) andthe Asia Pacific Journal of Education and Reflections on English Language.

• Ph.D. 1992 - University of Toronto, Education (Second language education)
• M.A.T. 1987 - School for International Training, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
• B.A. 1980 - Rikkyo University, English (linguistics)

• Second Language Education
• Second Language Writing
• Critical Pedagogy
• Research Overview

• Foreign Languages
• English as a Second Language

• 1999, Received Honorable Mention in the contest for the Journal of Second Language Writing award: "An investigation of L1-L2 transfer in writing among Japanese university students: Implications for contrastive rhetoric." Recognized in the From the Editors page of Volume 8, Number 2 (1999) of the JSLW.
• 1999, Received Phi Delta Kappa Carolina Chapter Outstanding Research Award for "An investigation of L1-L2 transfer in writing among Japanese university students: Implications for contrastive rhetoric," appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing. 1998, The article "An investigation of Japanese and English L1 essay organization: Differences and similarities" published in The Canadian Modern Language Review was selected for reprint in Asia Pacific Journal of Language Education.

• January 2007 – December 2007, The Japan Foundation Research Fellowship: “Forming Identities in an Imagined World: The Business of Learning Eikaiwa in Japan.”
• 2001, UNC University Research Council Small Grant.
  
• 2000, "Cultural and linguistic diversity and second language education" Chapman's Family Fellowship. Institute for Arts and Humanities
  
• 2000, UNC University Research Council Small Grant.
  
• 1998, "The 13th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Association of Teachers of Japanese" to be held at UNC-CH on March 14 and 15, 1998. Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Northeast Asia Council (NEAC) Small Grants for Japanese and Korean Studies.
  
• 1998, "The 13th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Association of Teachers of Japanese" to be held at UNC-CH on March 14 and 15, 1998. Japan Foundation Language Center in Los Angeles, Workshops/Conferences Grant.

• 2003-present, Director-at-Large, International Society for Language Studies
• 2004-2007, member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers
• 2004-2006, member of the Nominating Committee of the American Association for Applied Linguistics
• 2000-2006, Consultant for the dual language program (Spanish/English and Chinese/English) at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
• 2000-2003, Member of the National Board for the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ).
• 1999-2002, Member of the Board of Examiners for the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)

Kubota, R., & Catlett, S. (2008). Spanish only for foreign language at the elementary school (FLES): Competing discourses in local language policy. Foreign Language Annals, 41, 102-118.

Shin, H., & Kubota, R. (2008). Postcolonialism and globalization in language education. In B. Spolsky & F. M. (Eds.), The handbook of educational linguistics (pp. 206-219). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Kubota, R., & Austin, T. (2007). Critical approaches to world language education in the United States: An introduction. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 5 (2&3), 73-83.

Shi, L., & Kubota, R. (2007). Patterns of Rhetorical Organizations in Canadian and American Language Arts Textbooks: An Exploratory Study. English for Specific Purposes, 26 (2), 180-202.

Kubota, R., & Lin, A. (2006). Race and TESOL: Concepts, research, and future directions. TESOL Quarterly, 40 (3), 471-493.

Kubota, R. & Lehner, A. (2004). Toward critical contrastive rhetoric. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13, 7-27.

Kubota, R. (2004). Critical multiculturalism and second language education. In B. Norton & K. Toohey (Eds.), Critical pedagogies and language learning (pp. 30-52). Cambridge University Press.

Kubota, R. (2004). The Politics of cultural difference in second language education. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 1 (1), 21-39.

Kubota, R. (2003). Unfinished knowledge: The story of Barbara. College ESL, 10 (1 & 2), 11-21.

Kubota, R., Austin, T. and Saito-Abbot, Y. (2003). Diversity and inclusion of sociopolitical issues in foreign language classrooms: An exploratory survey. Foreign Language Annals, 36 (1), 12-24.

Kubota, R. (2003). Critical teaching of Japanese culture. Japanese Language and Literature, 37, 67-87.

Kubota, R. (2003). New approaches to race, class, and gender in second language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12 (1), 31-47.

Kubota, R. (2001). Discursive construction of the images of U.S. classrooms. TESOL Quarterly 35 (1), 9-38.

Kubota, R (2001). Teaching World Englishes to native speakers of English: A pilot project in a high school class. World Englishes, 20 (1): 47-64.

Kubota, R., Gardner, K., Patten, M., Thatcher-Fettig, C., and Yoshida, M. (2000). Mainstream peers try on English Language Learners' shoes: A shock language experience. TESOL Journal, 9 (4): 12-16.

Kubota, R. & Ward, L. (2000). Exploring linguistic diversity through World Englishes. English Journal, 89 (6): 80-86.

Kubota, R. (1999). Japanese culture constructed by discourses: Implications for applied linguistic research and English language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33 (1), 9-35.