NSW high school students construction of democratic citizenship through language learning: a case study of Japanese language learning experience

This study reports on the perceptions of five high school students in NSW who have been studying Japanese language since their primary schooling. The study examines how the students construct their self and others within their Japanese language classes and how the classes contribute to citizenship education. The discussion, based on data derived from in-depth and semi-structured interviews is focused on perceptions of language learning, interculturality and citizenship education. The results suggest that language learning contributes to the students’ construction of interculturality, which in turn provides a focus for meting the students’ needs for citizenship education.