Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/30/2025
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
4010 JFSB
Category(ies)
Our colloquium this week features the Foreign Language Housing Research Group on Thursday, January 30th at 3:00 pm in 4010 JFSB. They will sharing their research about balancing language development and belonging in a domestic language immersion program. Refreshments will be served.
Title: Integrating Native Language and Meditation to Enhance Immersive Learning
Assistant Professor Shinsuke Tsuchiya and Teaching Professor ShuPei Wang from Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, in collaboration with psychologist Adam Fisher from Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), will discuss a crucial strategy for reducing stress and improving outcomes in immersive language programs: intentional use of one’s native language. Through weekly meditation sessions in English with students at BYU’s Language Immersion Student Residence (LISR), their research demonstrated that balancing native and target language use not only lowers stress but also fosters greater sense of community and language proficiency. Findings indicate that effective immersion involves embracing both linguistic and cultural identities, enabling language users to navigate their languages -learning journey with resilience and purpose. Their research was recently featured in the College of Humanities: https://hum.byu.edu/speak-your-language.
About our presenters:
Dr. Shinsuke Tsuchiya earned a Ph.D. in Japanese Language Pedagogy from The Ohio State University and an M.A. in Second Language Acquisition from BYU. His research focuses on language teacher training and welfare linguistics, which addresses social change through language teaching. His work specifically examines the unique socialization experiences of “divergent” language users of Japanese. Dr. Tsuchiya is a co-author of the Japanese textbook series NihonGO NOW!
ShuPei Wang earned a Ph.D. in Instructional Psychology and Technology from Brigham Young University, focusing on Second Language Acquisition with an emphasis on Mandarin. Her research includes grammar errors and language attrition in adult learners of Mandarin as a second language. She also holds an M.A. in Language Acquisition (Chinese emphasis) from BYU and a B.A. in Chinese Literature and Linguistics from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. Dr. ShuPei was honored with BYU’s Karl G. Maeser Professional Faculty Excellence Award in 2013.
Dr. Adam Fisher earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University with Post-doc in Couple & Family Therapy from Northwestern University. He also holds an M.A. in Counseling from University of Gonzaga and B.A. in Psychology and Japanese from University of Utah. Dr. Fisher enjoys facilitating therapeutic conversations on challenging topics such as parenting, politics, sexual health, and religion.
